A good mail day!

It was a good day here, all around!

For one thing, Dad got the car fixed (it was the fuel filter).

Also, the guys put in our new DISH-washing machine (Mother's birthday present from Dad)!

Here the boys are putting their heads together, almost literally, trying to figure out the best way to install the fancy present...


Ah hah! It works like a dream. We haven't had use of a dishwasher for a few years now, so we feel very spoiled and blessed. :)
Oh yes, I was going to tell you about our good mail day!

• I got paid for some babysitting I did (that's always nice.)
• We got another Holiday letter/picture from friends (that's always nice.)
• Mother received a belated birthday gift from a dear friend of hers (that's always nice. :) )

... It can either be worn as a pin or a necklace and it has a girl and two boys on it--

with our correlating birthstones even!

AND Mom and I received a package from my Aunt LV, containing: 5 hats that she'd crocheted!

AND a set for each of us of a hat, scarf, and fingerless mittens, made of very soft yarn! She thanked me for getting her started on knitting when they were here for Thanksgiving and said she's having a blast learning more from the book she bought on the subject. :) WOW! We were so surprised! Aunt LV also shared her pattern for making the hats, so if anyone is interested, I can share that here too...


These next two pictures are from New Years day, when we played a game of "Carcassonne".

Has anyone else played this game?

Well, I've run out of pictures, so I'll bid you good night and get some sleep. That is, if I can get to sleep with that owl hooting and the dogs barking/howling. (It's so nice out tonight that Lady stayed outside with Millie.)

"It" came!!!

...But, I will leave it up to my dear readers to decide which "It" I am speaking of in my blog title, because.....

"It", my dad's generator showed up this morning!

Also, "It"--the last snow of the Winter, arrived today as is evident in this picture: (It snowed a little bit all day long.) "Happy Spring to one and all!"

And, "It" was finally the day that the driveways were dry enough that our elderly neighbor lady wished for me to come up and trim her hair for her, which I did... She blessed me with some clothes, plus some cute pot-holders she sewed and a hand-towel that she'd crocheted the top onto. (She also sent some along for Mother as a gift--so sweet!) She, her husband and I had tea and cookies together and looked at pictures of their family. She also told me a really neat, old-fashioned hair-care tip, but I'll share that with you another time....

The last possible "It" that came today really, really surprised me!!! (This silly picture's included here just especially for you, Grace and Hannah!!! I really was surprised by your sweet gift, however, this photo was staged... :) )

"It" arrived in a little brown package...

...and "It" contained:

1 pair of home-spun and knitted mittens--that are so soft!,

1 bag of home-made maple sugar--that is so tasty!!!,

and 1 beautiful card and sweet note--that was so much appreciated!!!!!

"Thank you so much, dear sisters!!!" You made this day a very, very special one. :)

I am thanking the Lord tonight for all the special friends that He has blessed me with--in just under a years worth of blogging!

And, now that I've shared about "It" all, I'd best head for my pillow. Sweet dreams~

I graduated today! :)

This has been a very interesting and eventful day! Let me tell you about the highlights...

Dad bought a generator!!! PTL! He found one in Pennsylvania and had the bank "Wire" the money there today, so hopefully the generator will get here just in time for the busy cleaning season. Thankfully, it's raining now, so the guys couldn't be cleaning grain even if they had the machines ready to go...

Mother and Jacob were gone most of the day in Bismarck--Mom doing health sessions and Jacob doing his schoolwork in her office (and they brought home 5 cute fish--yay!!!)

Andrew worked on his grain cleaner all day again and cut with the cutting torch for the first time. :)

I baked bread; made a pizza; and mixed up a crumb cake...

After our noon meal, Dad and I went to Napoleon for some farm supplies--mineral tubs for the cows and ear-tags for the newborn calves who should be starting to show up the end of this month!

While in town, my dad dropped me off at the courthouse and I had my last meeting with Mr. H. and "Graduated" from the Farm Business Management program that I've been doing for 2 years. Mr. H. ordered my certificate and it should be showing up in the mail in a few days. :)

Also, while in town, I picked up an application at the Care Center (nursing home)--the place I'm thinking of working at. The lady in charge there was really friendly and helpful and I learned a lot more about what it takes to become a CNA--plus several other things... There's also an opening for helping with activities, so she suggested that I come in sometime next week and follow behind one of the CNAs to see what the job requires and also to see what's required for helping with activities, which sounds like a really good idea to me! I know for sure 3 of the ladies who work at the Care Center, so if I do start working there, I'll not feel so totally lost... Thank you for praying (and please continue to pray) and for sharing your thoughts! I've also been so glad to hear of more specific ways that I can pray for you, my friends.

Somewhere in there, I took pictures of the special gifts I got for my birthday, so I'll share those pictures with you now before calling it a day...........

This sweet tin-full of "Girly treasures" arrived a couple days before my birthday from my dear friend, Dorena. :)

As Dorena had gone on a missions trip to India last year, she sent each of us some of the Indian money (Rupees) that she'd brought back with her!!!

The elderly lady we rent some of our land from sent me this pretty card; a nice note; and a crisp 2 dollar bill!

My dear friend, Miranda gave me this movie when she came to visit... (We really enjoyed it!)

A wonderful surprise package from my dear friend, Rachel came in the mail! :)

Aren't these cows "Udderly" adorable???? :) They're just SO cute! Rachel definitely knew what I'd like!

This pretty card (and some money enclosed) came from my B. grandparents...

Mother B also knew what I'd like and bought a new piano duet book for us to play! I think perhaps she likes it too. :) (This is the book we played out of for 2 hours on my birthday.)

You may remember too that right after I got Lady, my mom and Jacob bought me an early gift--a dog bed and doggie treats. :)

And then, of course, there is the aquarium--and the fish fund!!!!!!

It was SO exciting to finally be able to put some fish in my "Thing you put things in...", although it was tricky to get the fish out of the bag, as the lady at the pet store said not to put the water that they were in into the tank but just to put the fish in...

I took several pictures of the fish, but they kept moving around so quickly that most of the pictures blurred. This one turned out fairly well though and you can see my male Molly and two of the smaller Tetras. It was so fun to watch them eat and we all just spent several minutes watching the fish discover their new surroundings!

Also treasured gifts were all the sweet comments and notes that I received from friends on my special day. Thank you to each of you for your friendship!!!

And now, the day is done, down the sun, and I need to get to bed, as it's actually tomorrow already, or rather, it's today, but it was yesterday's tomorrow, so, yes, I need to sleep some this morning yet. :)

A post on hard and soft surfaces~

Has anyone else ever realized how slippery compacted snow can be?

Well......

Last night during chores, I was carrying 2 pails of water to a group of calves. This involves filling the pails in the heated part of the barn and then going outside and walking to another section of the barn where the calves are. Unfortunately, the path on the way to the calves has gotten pretty packed down and, as a result, is very slippery. Several times I have almost fallen down on my journey back and forth, but I've always managed to do a quick, instinctive maneuver and avoided the fall. Last night, however, my instincts weren't fast enough and--thud--splash--down I went, spilling all the water beside me. Thankfully, I wasn't hurt too badly and the worst of it all was that some of the water had run inside my gloves and I had to go find a dry pair!

Well........

Tonight, Andrew & I got ready to go out to the barn at the same time and were walking along, talking. I was carrying an empty pail that we were going to save milk in and another pail that was half full of soapy water that we use to wash the cows and goats off with before we milk them. Andrew & I were talking about something or other when, I was mid-sentence and, you guessed it! All of a sudden, my feet slipped out from under me and down I went--the pail with water in it landing uphill from me--on its side. Result: I'm still in tact, and my gloves are even cleaner on the inside tonight than they were last night!!! :)

Moral of the story: Be careful if you're walking on snow that's been packed down by many pairs of boots over the last few weeks. There are much easier ways to wash your gloves than the way I did it!


Now, onto the softer surfaces...

This afternoon, my mom went to Linton to deliver an Azure order to friends of ours and also to pick up the teddy bears that were finished! Oh, maybe I should explain about the bears--for the sake of my newer friends. :)

Many years ago, a lady (Martha) from the church we attended at the time gave me a very lovely bear that she had made just for me... I promptly named the bear Emeline Harris and sat her on top of my mirrored-dresser where every one could see her. (A place of honor that she's kept for many years now!)

~Emeline Harris~

After my grandmother passed away in April, Grandpa had us take all her clothes home, to do with as we wished. Amongst those things were two, very fuzzy, nice fur coats. We donated a lot of the clothes, but weren't sure what to do with the coats. Then, Mother had the great idea to call Martha and see if she still made bears and if she'd be willing to make 4 bears (1 for Dad & Mom and 1 for each of us children) out of the coats. *I should note here that she has had a business making and selling bears for years.* Martha was more than willing to do it, so Mom and I delivered the coats to her about a month ago and have waited for her call saying they were done ever since.

Mom wanted the bears made so that we could all have something to remember Grandma by.........


Well........

When Mother got the bears home this afternoon, we were all more than pleased with how they'd turned out!!!
This is my darling girl bear with her shawl... I haven't decided what to name her yet. Do you have any suggestions?

This is Jacob's cute little guy... Isn't that vest adorable?

And this, of course, is Andrew's bear...

After seeing how technical Andrew's bear was, Jacob decided to catch his bear up to the modern times too. :)

We like our little bears! Thanks so much Martha for the fine job you did on them!!! They're oh so nice and soft. :)

Now, I just need to clean off a little more space on my dresser.......