Celebrations!

 THANK YOU MOM AND DAD for the help!  I just heard from the VA appraiser and the house has passed all inspections...and so has the potting shed.  (Time for me to update the house blog, but I'm not at home, and it took me about an hour to download these few pics.  I think they are on dial-up here!  Where you ask?  I'll tell ya later...I must finish last week first!)

I got the potting shed finished just in time to clean up and go to crochet group.  I started making my brother one of those long tailed hats we had in the 60's with the tassel on the end.  Only I decided it needed to have some stripy colors mixed in, so I ripped it out.

I canned some more apples.  I tell ya, it takes a lot of apples to get four quart jars.  I did two batches, along with housework, and making apple crisp for birthday desserts.

 This isn't a great picture...but you can see our family went out to eat at at place called Pizzaology(something like that)

 And Joey, on the right end told us he passed the bar!!!!  He is now a lawyer!  He needs a lawyer job.  And Adrienne, on the left end, told us she is pregnant!!!!!  I'm going to be a great Aunt again!  YAY!  And Theresa was being all serious getting our names ready to draw for Christmas!

 DONE!  (Doesn't Lorri have two r's in her name?)

 This is the best pizza I have had since Italy!

 I was just trying to get one good picture of these guys.

 To replace an old picture I have in a frame at home.  Didn't happen.  It's their birthdays.  My Shug on the left is October 8, my BIL (Sisters Husband) in the center October 7, and my Bro October 5.

 And this is my sister acting all happy and ready to serve dessert.  Truth is, I opened her cabinet and three mugs fell out and broke.  Yikes!  But not my fault.  And things kind of went downhill from there...

but it was all in fun!  Happy Birthday to the boys.
Happy Passing the Bar to my Nephew -in-Law?  (is that what he's called?)
Happy Pregnancy to my Niece.  (Pray for her to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.  There has been complications)
AND Happy House Passing Inspection.

WE HAVE A LOT TO CELEBRATE!

Cindy Bee

PS - After I cleaned the house, canned apples, made apple crisp, celebrated birthdays...I packed.  I'm outta here!!!!

More randomness....

I'm liking these random posts!  

I posted the story on the house blog about our house in town and what happened to the offer.  It's at the bottom of this post.  And our realtor called us last night, and he has an offer on our house! We'll know more this evening.  Cross fingers and toes!

 I'm crocheting a hat and enjoying it.  Yes I still have my ripple blanket that I'm working on.  I had to try out this new yarn, and I needed a little 'to go' project.  I'm learning this rib stitch in crochet.  Fun!

We have lots of apples on our trees.  And they do not LOOK perfect.  But they make the best apple pies, and apple dumplings!

 I made the pie

 

Mom made the dumplings.  Thanks Mom!  It's tradition in our family for Mom to make these for us.  I freeze them.

Here is something I learned from our neighbor who is hands down THE BEST GARDENER! 

 He gave me these apples about a month ago.  He said they are "transparent apples."  And he said he picked them up off the ground, that I need to cut around the bad spots, and they will make the best apple pie.

 HE

 WAS

 RIGHT!

This pie brought tears to my Shug's eyes!!!  He ate three pieces that night.  I'm going to get a transparent apple tree.  Never heard tell.

I will be canning apples later in the week.  

 Something about slicing apples and watching movies on laptops just go together!

 Oh yeah...what I learned from Kenny.  I used to leave the apples on the ground.  Now I use them for pies! 

I'm also letting my bees clean out the supers I extracted honey from.  I'm putting these supers away for the winter.  Don't know if I'll be extracting any more honey or not.  I was SO BURNT OUT for awhile, that I said I wasn't going to extract any more honey.  I just needed a break.  I'll be getting back in the hives to see what's up, one last time before closing them up for winter.  If I NEED to extract, I will. 

 (hear that Vickie)

 I did set up a booth at our town's First Friday event and at Groovy Girl Yarn's sidewalk sale last weekend.  Both days were successful.  I took my beekeeping hat and let kids try it on and ask questions.  They loved it.  I was invited to two other events!

 Speaking of kids....This one makes me laugh!  How did he do this?  (This is the baby I used to watch!)

More produce randomness.  Our neighbor Kenny gave us peaches

 and corn. I froze the corn and we are eating the peaches! I have a question for you peeps.  Think about this.  And I've done it for years....until this year.  You know how you put up corn, right?  Well, most people put it in freezer bags to freeze it.  But the corn is hot when you put it in the bags.  Isn't that bad for you to put hot things in plastic?   

 Lastly, I came home to two pee spots yesterday.  Dixie's bed got moved to inside a cage.  When I'm gone, the door gets closed.  He doesn't even seem to mind.  He goes right in it and sleeps. 

 What's up in your life?

Cindy Bee

Randomness

Some random thoughts...

I am not ready for winter.

I'm never ready for winter.

 I feel it coming...

Magnolia Moose is getting restless.  He's roaming.

Apples are on the trees.  They do that in the fall you know.

So I stayed home and picked apples today, among other stuff. 
I'm hoping Mom will make some apple dumplings.
I always freeze them, and save them for a special day.  A day when I just need an apple dumpling.

 I can't bear to see the food go to waste.  When I was a kid I was made to clean my plate because people in China were starving.  Ironic isn't it?  China is richer than we are, people there are still starving, and I'm fat.  But, I've lost ten pounds, and I can pull my pants down without unzipping them, which makes it nice when I first walk in the door from running errands (or picking apples).  Because when I first walk in the door, I always have to run to the bathroom.  Do you do that?  What is the deal with that anyway?  It's like...walk in the door....gotta potty.

Anyway, here are some more random things I felt necessary to post about.

 

 (shitload of honey)

 I've decided to have less hives next year.  I might start selling bees instead of honey.  Maybe a little of both.  I don't know.  I have decided I don't need a dozen hives.

It's just so much work.

 I might set up a booth at First Friday, on Friday evening to sell some honey. 

And I am setting up a table at the yarn store THIS Saturday, and she is having a sidewalk sale.  It's a secret though.  So don't say anything.

 And these bears...they are up to no good.  I can tell.

Just like this dog, who is cute...adorable even...but also up to no good. 

 

 He pees on stuff. 

 See the yellow spot.  

 

That's the bottom of our bedspread.  It's just enough to make him think he's boss, and make me have to wash it.  He changed.  When we went on vacation back in June, and then came home and had kids stay with us the week....he changed.  We've been having problems since.  I think I get him back on track, then bam, I find something like pee on a bedspread. I know I will never get rid of him.  I also know I'm never going to have another male dog in the house.  I've said it before, I'm saying it now and I MEAN IT!
NEVAH YOU HEAR ME!

The diet...it's hard peeps.  When you are 55 years old, dieting is hard.  I'm lucky if I lose a pound a week.  I'm doing My Fitness Pal which is an app on my Iphone.

 I'm eating a lot of healthy stuff and as I said, I lost ten pounds.  You can't really tell when a person that weighs what I weigh loses ten pounds.  Maybe at 20pounds.  The other day I took some oats, chocolate chips, and almond slivers and drizzled honey on them and ate them just like that.  Yum.  Kind of high in calories but it felt healthy.  You should try it.  It's a good honey recipe.

 I eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast with a few walnuts, cinnamon, honey, and fruit.  Yum again.

 Even though you can't tell I'm losing weight, I feel so much better. These berries came from our neighbors bushes.  Shhhh, don't tell them!  

I'm KIDDING!  

They went on vacation and told us we could pick from their garden.  We were so busy that week that we went once.  By the time we went back, they came home early and they picked all the berries!

 And even though I'm on a diet, if I go to Logansport, IN, I will get a custard.  It's a smooth ice creamy type thing, for those of you who have never had one.  And Sycamore custard stand in Logansport is the best.  I used to have a lot of relatives in that town and we'd visit often when I was a child and We always got a custard.  It's tradition.

 

We had an accepted offer on our house in town, and at the last minute, it fell through.

I will tell you the story  on the neglected house blog....tomorrow.  So much of our spare time last week was spent talking to realtors and sprucing up our house in town....dusting....getting rid of the spiders that took up residence in the bathtub...stuff like that.  {sigh}

  This book is fabulous....

 

she is one of my favorite authors...and during the wedding reception at the end, I was laughing out loud.  Get the book, read it, it's summer fun reading.  Who cares if it's fallish outside. It's officially still summer, and I'm still carrying my summer fun purse!

  Remember this friend...

who helped me move 4289 bricks, and wrote PLEH on my husbands truck when we got stuck in the mud?

 

Well I had another friend paint a Kokomo brick for her.

 I took her to lunch and gave her this brick as a thank you.

 Cute huh.  You can read about the brick moving fun here and here.

 

 This is the easiest, quickest meal ever.  Take this ravioli,

 cook it, drizzle olive oil and parmesian cheese on it, and it's done.  Side of salad and it's a meal.

So, where did summer go?  Who knows....It is September already.  I haven't even posted about the Haynes Apperson Festival in July, or Hortons in July, or weaving at the Howard Co. Fair, or the State Fair that we went to for the first time in ten years.  I think I will save some summer posts for the winter...and survive on summer pictures and sunshine!

And talking about summer sunshine...
A friend bought all of these flower seeds for me!  

She said they were on sale at the dollar store for 3cents!  

 I will not count on Jasmine to help plant them.

 I found out this year....she is the worst gardener.  She didn't pull one weed.

Cindy Bee

 PS....he's trouble I tell ya.  I turn my back and he has been chewing on this ear of corn he removed from the compost bucket.  Deeeeeep cleansing breaths.  The floor is a mess.

 Where is his Mom and why isn't she paying attention to what he is into?

Buh bye...I got work to do.