Kitchen goal

I have worked on my goal to clean out the cabinets this year and wash all the cabinet fronts.  I did it unexpectedly, you might say. 
This summer and fall the mice have been terrible.  In the last 2 weeks or so I have caught 10 mice in the house.  I have not had any for the past 4 days.  I hope this means I have them all now.  The big question is where do they all come into the house at.  Dad and I filled everything we thought might be an option for those little critters last December.  Evidently they have created a new entry point that I have not been able to find. 
One day I was getting something out of the upper cabinets and saw a couple marshmallows on the shelf that were not in the bag.  I am not that messy in that cabinet that I have chocolate chips or nuts or marshmallows laying loose.  I always have clips on the tops of opened bags.  I began to look a little more and found the evidence of a mouse being in the upper cabinets.  I have had them in the lower ones quite a bit between the refrigerator and stove but never in the upper cabinets before.  As I researched I found out that the little critter got in the vegetable bins, chewed the edge of the cabinet shelf to gain access to the upper shelves. 
So began the cleaning.  I took everything out of the cabinets, scrubbed them out, wiped the cabinet doors, put everything in plastic containers or glass.  When everything was back in the cabinets, they really do look good and organized.  I even got all the counter tops cleaned off and organized.  Now if only I would get the table cleaned off.

Now how long do you really think I can keep it looking this nice? Any wagers?  I will not bet in my own favor for long.  I just am not the most naturally organized person.  The inside of the cabinets will stay looking pretty good for a while (only because nothing else can fit in there) but the counter tops will surely be cluttered again as soon as I go to the store or get busy with things other that in the house at home.  I am scheduled to sub at school coming up and a few other things so my guess is it won't last as long as I'd like.  But--At least I can say I got it done.
By the way, my laundry room still looks clean and organized.  As of today, I have a box on the floor that has some white clothes to fold and one batch of folded laundry on the dryer top to be put away.  That will be done this week when I do more laundry.  I am pretty happy with myself.  Now to clean and organize the mud room where everything went that did not belong in the laundry room.  Oh, well.  This is par for me.
Rose

Another week on the farm

I was asked to put together a rag quilt from the blocks that were signed at the baby shower for my nephew and his wife, Isaac and Kate. Valerie gave me the blocks and all the other flannel she purchased.  I finished the quilt and got it all clipped last Wednesday.  I gave it back to Valerie to wash and dry it to fray the edges or else she can give it to Kate to do that.  Their baby is due in just a few weeks. 

 

 

When Valerie came out last week she also brought me two grocery sacks of tomatoes that she picked from her garden.  These tomatoes were the most dense I have ever seen for large tomatoes.  Roma tomatoes are this dense but they are small.  I took all the peppers from my freezer and made salsa.  I ended up with 33 pints and 3 quarts of salsa from this.  I will have some good eating *snacking* this winter.  I will share some with Karen as she always shares hers with me. This year her garden was not so good. 

 

 

This past week I also helped Dad and Mom build a corral in the north pasture in order to make it easier to load the cattle out of there instead of trying to walk them home across the field which is usually planted to something.  Dad decided to make it from old grader blades and make the corral permanent.  Those blades are solid steel, 8 foot long and 6-8 inches high and (I'm guessing) 3/4 inch thick.  They are heavy!!  They are hard to handle.  Dad started out working on this alone.  Why is it so hard for a man to ask for help?  Mom went out to help the next time he worked on it.  She can't really lift but she could place the bolts in and put the nuts on.  I went out to help the next time.  I helped did post holes (my tractor skills are not so smooth when I am to backup only an inch at a time).  I helped lift the blades and carry them to where they were to be used and then held them in place till bolts were in place.  Dad finished up the gate and moved some of the cattle home so they could be taken to the sale. 

 

I had a lot of sore muscles after helping on the corral Thursday evening and Friday morning then standing at the sink working tomatoes and peppers for salsa.  I am not used to that kind of hard physical work all on one day.  I now need a couple days to rest but that won't happen for a few days.

 

Rose



 

Macie & Rose day

Last week Dana's first day teaching at the college was before the kids started school.  Layne went with his Daddy cutting silage and Macie and I had time together.  We have been looking forward to this day all summer.  Macie picked out fabric and ribbon for a dress that we were going to make together when we had a one-on-one day.  It was finally sewing day.  Macie likes the idea of sewing the dress but is not that into doing it.  I was sewing and had her try the dress on to see how it fit.  She had to go into the bedroom and close the curtain to change her clothes.  After trying it on and I was sewing more, she was in the bedroom and being very quiet.  I finally decided to look in on her and she was playing at my makeup table.  This is what she did.

She had opened and used every container, tube and brush.  Foundation, shadows, blushes and lipstick were all over her face and chest.  When I told her that was probably enough makeup, she went to the bathroom to clean herself up.  She spent a lot of time in there also being very quiet.  She came out of the bathroom saying it did not all come off.  There was staining from the lipstick and the eyebrow pencil did not all come off. 

After taking her home I went to the bathroom and found a huge wad of wet toilet paper the size of a cantaloupe that she used to wipe off the makeup.  There was also a bath sheet that was in the sink that was three quarters sopping wet.  I discovered that she had sprayed the dish soap/vinegar water cleaner on both mirrors but then could not reach them to wipe them off.  I had a sticky, streaky mess there.  She must have been trying to help me clean. 












Before Dana got home from school, we got the dress finished.  Here it is. 



Later I was telling Derrick about Macie's day and he asked if I spanked her for getting into things she had no business getting into and making a huge mess.  I told him that I did not because she had such fun.  That is what time with Aunt Rose is all about--doing things that you do not usually do at home.





I love you, Macie, and I'm glad we had a chance to share time together.

Rose 
 PS--A couple days later I asked Layne if he was ready for his one-on-one time together.  His reply, "No, thank you."  OK----At least he was honest and polite.  He'd rather spend time with his daddy and Papa working around the farm than spend time with Aunt Rose anymore.  He is growing up.