What a weekend!

Dan and I went to my parents place for the weekend. I asked off Friday so I could go down on Thursday night and then Dan came after work on Friday. So much fun! I can still feel it though. See, instead of hanging around, eating, drinking, playing pool, sitting in the hot tub and just plain old hanging out together, we did all of that plus worked on Amy and Joel's new home. They are probably moving in at the end of Nov. but until then there is A LOT of work to be done. The house is an old farm house that could be pretty good except that the owners have a huge problem throwing anything out - including too many cats. Mom W. would have been completely disgusted. They keep everything, including junk, and don't clean up. So Thurs. night I went with Amy to the house and cleaned the upstairs with her in-laws (a long sore night). Friday, Cass and I started a job that didn't end till the end of our work day on Saturday. We painted cupboards. You know those old house cupboards that line every wall of the kitchen and have so many hooks and compartments and crannies everywhere? Fun to stock but a PAIN to paint. Especially with oil based paints. What a job. We came away with lots of paint on our arms, faces and hair (it's actually still there) but a good looking kitchen. It was a good time though. It was fun to help them change the house into their new home. Like I said, they probably have a lot of work to do yet but I'm excited to come over and visit when it is done and moved in. I can't wait to walk into the kitchen that will be clean and stocked. I'm sure there will always be lots of candy and garlic in that kitchen. And beside that room, I bet the quilting room is going to be a favorite well-used room too. Amy is always working on lots of absolutely gorgeous quilts- gigantic, beautiful projects. I can't wait to walk into a room that will probably look like a quilt itself with all the fabric and sewing stuff everywhere. And then, going upstairs, I can't wait to walk into an inhabited baby room! My sister is pregnant!! I still can't believe it. It kicked me this weekend!

And at the end of the great weekend, Dan and I came home with another pet. Yup, we took one of those wretched cats home. She's just a tiny kitten still and seemed healthy, clean, and nice. We figured we could use a mouser for in the barn and we are saving it from a sure death so, hey, why not. Now I just have to make sure Dan doesn't talk me into letting it come into the house. What a sucker.

Pictures

I updated flickr. Click on the badge and you should be able to see the pics that I chose to post from this summer. I wish I could get into a better habit of taking more pictures and making them more interesting. I love seeing pictures on blogs so enjoy!

Here's a few for those too lazy to click on the badge:

I also wrote little comments at the bottom of the pictures too so if you look at them on the slideshow make sure you enable the comments.

Life lately

The premature winter blues has been subsiding. It's probably the weather but I'll take whatever I can get. The grass is bright green again and Dan's even mowed it this last month... I think that's only the second time he's done it this year (Thanks Caleb!!). I would say that my flowers have been blooming like crazy but Mozz has aquired a new taste for geraniums! All summer she would sniff at them and move on and then one day I looked out the window and they were mowed right down. There wasn't even a point to chasing her away from them so for now, my geraniums look like crap (although they keep trying to bloom). My herbs are looking good though. I saved some of the basil seeds and they smell great. I planted my herbs where I planted snap dragons last year and guess what has sprouted up.... so I'll grab some of those seeds too. I've been doing a lot of seed collecting lately. My garden needs to be cleaned up and tucked away. I've got lots of zinnias blooming still and my spinach is coming up and looking great. The grass seed that I planted hasn't taken off at all and only a few pea plants have come up. I have to plant some garlic and some spring spinach yet once the garden is cleaned out. I shouldn't have left my gardening tools out so long because some of them are rusting. I'll have to polish my hoe now. :)
The animals are doing great. Chloe is in heat again. We were going to breed her this time but we haven't gotten her hips x-rayed yet and besides, her pups would be born a bit before Christmas and we wouldn't be able to go away much... maybe we'll try for next time. I'm sure Mozz is ready now too and I do want to breed her. She needs some company besides Chloe and the chickens. She's eating everything still and is really starting to look to fat again. She ate a burning cigarette butt (oops) and quickly went for the closest grass to wash it down with. While I was washing windows I went to answer the phone and later found a tiny bit of barf beside the pail of ammonia water (oops). Sorry Mozz. It's not like I'm a bad caretaker... she just eats it quicker than I can stop her. The chickens are doing amazing. Both my hens are laying again and one just went through an ugly molting stage. I found a hidden nest of 7 eggs that one was hiding from me. The babies are getting soooo big. Some are the size of my layers already but I'm sure they are just going to get bigger. They don't listen to me and come when I call them but they do go in at night on their own. They are a bit wild and quite scared of me. I hope time just takes care of that for me. I need to winter-ize the coop for them... a heat lamp and a good wall would help. For the last couple of weeks I've been going to the local market and so have been inspired to make some pretty cool meals. I LOVED the samosas and think that next time will me much easier. Perogies will go smootly next time too since now I now the correct time to boil them for (4 to 5 minutes... not 45 minutes).
Well, that's it for now... it's time to pick Dan up. Oh, and I get another unrequested weekend off! Isn't that great? A full thanksgiving weekend. I hope I get to cook lots. See ya!!!