I told you my house was dirty

Have I ever complained about my messy house? About the dust that you can write your name in?
That you can wipe off of the tables and then the next day

it is back? And you can write your name again?
This is the view while standing in my front door. The tractor is looking straight out and the barn is to the right.
Has anyone noticed the name of my blog?
Let me help you.

Husband,"Farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out so far and wide, keep Manhattan, Gimme that countryside!"

ME, "I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue."

Heck, I'd take a walk up in Brooklyn!

Today Adrian and I went and looked at houses.

Houses with yards. Houses on lots. NOT acreage. Houses that cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Houses that make me drool on his passenger window. And wonder why he didn't go to dental school.

And then something magical happened. He said," I love these houses. They were all great. You just need to work on your location. I was thinking if we bought a hundred acres and built one of these house right in the center."

And then I wanted to start humming and covering my ears and rocking back and forth. SO he took me to Applebees and plied me with Oriental Chicken Salad.

But i will not give up. Someday I will have a big house situated on a postage stamp sized yard.


It is the American Dream!!!!!!!!1

Last Monday we went kayaking

Okay, I use the term we very loosely. The kids went kayaking and I watched. It was really a chance for Ella and Molly to get some experience. The older kids have been kayaking but the little girls haven't had a chance, yet. They just paddled around at River Front Park. They had LOTS of fun. We even brought Bandit. He must not have much Retriever in him, even though it looks like he does cause he just will not get out in the water. But he laid in it on the edge of the river and drank about 10 gallons worth!

After the kayaking we had a picnic. Leftover tacos. It was a really good picnic food cause it was all in little containers in the fridge already from Friday night when we first had it. I just warmed the meat, beans and rice up.

And then a big banana pudding for dessert or leftover chocolate cake for the kids that don't like pudding. Even though I do NOT understand how anyone could not LOVE pudding!

and then some ducks showed up.
and then Molly got too cool for kayaking and put her feet up. How many of us can fit into a kayak with our feet up? Oh, Molly was so funny, she was soooo excited to kayak until she went to get into the kayak. She saw dirt and spiderwebs in them. She said she would not get in until Adrian cleaned out the kayak. Little Cynthia! Lucy did some paddle posing.

And the evening ended with Harrison accidentally flipping over. What a shocking accident it was, too!

We have installed Net Nanny on the computers here at the house. And let me just start out by telling some of you, GOODBYE. I will miss you.


Net Nanny has banned some of my blogs.







That is okay, thought. I want to be careful in what I read and see on the Internet, so Net Nanny can help me to avoid the times when some of you get colorful with your language or topics. As long as your homepage is clean, I can visit, so I will be lurking when allowed.

I am really liking it. Today was a little awkward because I am trying to find a vintage pattern to sew Ella a Nancy Drew looking dress for her birthday and everytime i thought I had found something Net Nanny would stop me from going because of lingerie. Can you imagine sewing lingerie? I can't even imagine wearing it much less sewing it! Anyway, I think my best Net Nanny moment happened on Friday night.


My parents went to Chicago this week and as they came back through they stopped and had my 15 year old niece with them. She was on the computer and all of the sudden goes,

"Ummm, I am blocked..."


So I said, "Well, you must be trying to go somewhere that has inappropriate content, sorry."


And then Lane says, "But I was going to my own website!"


I have laughed about this for days.


So I am sure that her website probably was fine. Net Nanny is just very strict. I like it that way. She is my favorite Nanny!

more summer

We made freezer jam from some of our strawberries. We did not clean the counter behind Ella and Molly! We planted 4 tomato plants in our very sad, once grand herb garden. This used to have oregano, chives, mint, garlic, rhubarb, basil, sage (pretty PURPLE sage), and a rosemary plant that was waist high. I loved that rosemary plant! And then things started to die. Now it just has some oregano and garlic. And these happy little tomato plants. This is a far cry from the days when Adrian would plant 50 tomato plants. And equally large amounts of corn, potatoes, onion, cucumbers, etc.

I found these random pictures

First we have a very strange game that we played at our family night several years ago. They had to get a dime off of a pile of flour without using their hands.

What was I thinking letting Harrison do this on the carpet? We still have this same carpet and I understand now why it looks so creepy!

That is William. He is asleep. My guess is that he went camping the night before. he thinks it is fun to stay up ALL NIGHT when he is camping. What he calls fun we call "Family Torture Saturday"!!

What is this? Why do we have a picture of it? Someone help me please!
oh boy, must have been a spirit day activity. Go Pep Club! I have absolutely no memory of her ever looking like this. But this is my child, in my house, so chances are I saw it. Okay..... moving on.Good grief, what is this, the Rachel show?

Aright, grab your jackets, cause fall has arrived. We are morphing into October and the carnage that we like to call

AFTER THE TRIP TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH

It must have been a little cool out because the girls decided to put on a coat. But in true redneck spirit...

They are barefoot. And we obviously had a litter of puppies at this time.

So how was your Halloween candy? Good? Fabulous, because it is time for Thanksgiving at the beach house. Here is a little pilgrim girl we call Prudence, no, Charity, no wait, MOLLY! Okay, the worst part of this picture is that I sewed this same outfit for ALL of the little girls in Molly's kindergarten class. I just have oodles of free time I am trying to fill. Would anyone like me to sew some random costumes for their kids classrooms?Christmas just seems to come earlier and earlier each year. Molly sure enjoys a drumstick!I would enjoy it if I got the broom and laundry basket put away. Sheesh!

On Saturday

Adrian decided to set this big pile on fire. He lit it while the kids and I were gone watching Prince Caspian. This pile is here because Adrian decided it was time to tear down the scary falling in barn.

But he decided that only half of it was scary so he left the other half standing. Then he called me and asked me to stop and get some hot dogs and marshmallows.

Did I hear wiener roast? That sounds like no cooking and no clean up. Woohoo.

Here is a picture of the fire late Saturday night with the flash turned on:

and some with the flash off:

Then on Sunday it suddenly it felt like summer when William was eating this with strawberries picked in our front yard

and Molly was doing this on the back deck