Just got home from meetin'...

...only this meetin' wasn't quite a church meetin', although pretty close. :) We attended the 2nd of 3 "Constitutional classes" being taught by our friend, Mr. S. tonight in Napoleon. There was just a small number of us in attendance again, but there were some good discussions going and we, once again, learned more than we knew before about our country and the people who are trying to run it now. It is sad to learn of all that's been going on while we are quietly minding our own businesses, trying to enjoy a peaceful life. It is good to learn of hope though too! Together, and with a lot of God's help, we CAN make a difference!!!

The ND field coordinator for the Ron Paul society was also there---a young man, probably not much older than my brother, Andrew. He and Andrew seemed to really enjoy each others' company, and perhaps they'll be working together more in the future..... This young man gave us some bumper-magnets and a couple of cookbooks that Mrs. Paul made, using their familys' own favorite recipes. She also wrote their family history and added that to the pages of the book, along with several pictures of their family over the years. I thought that was a very neat idea!

There is another meeting planned on January 3rd at the Bismarck Public Library (with Mr. Brown from Montana speaking), so it would be great if our ND friends could make it to that! Let me know if you'd like more info......

The rest of our day was pretty quite, until right now, that is, as Lady just started howling! We rested; sang hymns; listened to a DVD message by Mr. Ed Stevens; and played pool in the nice, warm shop. :)

Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep now, although it could be difficult with a hound dog howling loudly right outside the house!

The project I said I'd tell you about...

You may (or may not!) remember that I wrote in an earlier post about how I worked on a project while Mother was still in Canada, but that I didn't want to tell you about it until she saw it? Well, she found it (the next morning after she got home)---and was she surprised!

The project:
The room (pictured below) used to be another small bathroom, but when Mother was so ill, our guys took the sink, small tub and toilet out so as to be able to fit the nice, big Whirlpool tub in for Mom to soak in as needed. Well, at that time, we had also peeled off most of the old, falling off wallpaper in there. We never got around to painting it though (and my mom probably wouldn't have been able to handle the paint fumes back then anyway).

This little room has proven very useful to many of us in times of sickness or in cases of severely aching muscles! It was a complete eye-sore however.

Want to SEE? Look below:


At this point, Jacob and I'd already put some plastic up to protect the tub... Yuck! Just look at those walls.

The first step was to wash off the rest of the old wallpaper and spots of moldy, mildewy stuff. Then, that had to dry a while. I also put some spackling in the cracks and small holes in the wall. Eventually, I was able to paint on the "Morning Dew blue" and "Nutmeg pink". :)

I took this pictures while the paint was still wet that night:
As you can see, there is some old, water-proof paneling in the bathroom too which still needs some help. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I left it for the time being....

The room is so small that it was hard to get a decent picture!
The bathroom is by no means picture-perfect, but it is a lot better now, if I do say so myself. ;)

This has been a nice, quite day. Dad and Andrew were gone from 5:00Am 'til 8:00PM, driving to Aberdeen, South Dakota and then to St. Cloud, Minnesota for car parts. They were pretty tired tonight!

Jacob fed the cows both times today and helped Mom with cleaning the house.

I helped with cleaning some too, and cooking, and then this afternoon, I went over to our neighbors' house to babysit one of the twins while Kristi took her other son to the Dr. to have his broken arm examined. Poor little man! He's quite the trooper though and didn't seem to let his arm slow him down too much! I had fun with James (after he woke up from his nap, that is) and was surprised by how much he talks already, as I hadn't been over there in a while.... (We enjoyed reading your Holiday letter very much, Kristi! You are a very creative writer. :) )

And that, was our day. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

* PS. Just a friendly reminder to my friends AND family that the next JBS constitutional lesson/meeting is tomorrow evening at 7:00. *

Caring for little people--and bigger people...

I headed East early this morning to work at Helen's Daycare again (as Helen had a meeting to attend) and then a little before 2:00, I left there and headed for work at the nursing home again. It was a long day, but thankfully I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be. :)

Guess what I'll be doing in the morning? Yes, milking Sally. Andrew and Dad are leaving early (about 5:00AM) and heading for MN to get some parts for Andrews' Charger. They don't expect to be home until after evening chores tomorrow night, so Jacob will be doing the cow feeding and Mom and I are taking turns doing the milking; feeding grain to the calves/heifers/bulls; making sure everyone has water; and taking care of the goats. Oh yes, and feeding the cats and dogs too....

I'd better get some sleep!

Can't think of a title...

...Maybe it's because I'm tired? Maybe I should just get some sleep.... :)

I got home from work a bit ago; showered; and visited with Mother for a few minutes before she headed for bed. We have a new CNA on board now (as of yesterday) and I just met her today. She seems really nice and like a hard worker too. Hooray!

I need to get up early in the morning so as to be able to babysit at Helens again. Hopefully the roads will be good then. They were pretty slippery on my way into town this afternoon. " 'Tis the season.... Tra-la-la-la-laaaa La-la La-la."

Good night everyone.~

"Cora.....Cowa....Dora....Coooooowaa......Corrrra......"

Those are the many variations of my name that I responded to today while caring for 13 small children over the coarse of the day (4 of them were school-aged, so came later in the day on the bus.) :)

Several of those little ones sure know how to melt my heart! For instance, one of the little girls (who is just starting to talk now) kept coming up to me, looking up at me with big brown eyes; pacifier in mouth; hair in a pigtail, reaching her arms up towards me. Who could resist such cuteness? Not I!

Then, one of the little boys came and plopped himself in my lap while I was on the floor playing with them. What joy! There were some not-so joyous troubles to work through too, naturally, but we all made it through the day without anyone getting seriously injured. :)

I'm guessing the guys worked on Andrew's car and maybe the tractor today? I don't really know.

Mom got unpacked and settled in at home again. Then she had a client come out this afternoon.

Life here on earth is good, but I especially thank the Lord for His precious gift of eternal life, as that is even "Gooder". ;)

Mother is home...

...safe and sound. She arrived at about 9:30 this evening. We looked at pictures from her trip and then looked at all her pretty Canadian money. :) She had a wonderful time and is glad to be home too!

The rest of us worked on special projects today. I don't want to write about mine yet, as I haven't shown it to Mother yet. I'm waiting for her to find it on her own....

The guys were happy tonight because they were able to save about $500 by fixing something on the 9030 tractor themselves. They had asked the local machinery shop to get our tractor in to be fixed about 2 months ago, but they've been so busy that they've not been able to do it yet... In the meantime, we've gotten our shop heated, so the guys fixed the tractor on their own, thereby saving all the money they would have spent to have it repaired in the Kintyre shop.

It's been a good day! Be looking for project pictures in the near future----whenever Mom discovers what "It" is. :)

Busy evening....

After cleaning some and doing laundry this morning, and after making (and eating) tacos for lunch, I went to work in town at the nursing home. For the second half of the shift (which is the busiest, with getting everyone ready for bed), we worked short, so the 3 of us were very ready to head home tonight! Thankfully, that doesn't happen often!

I'm not sure what the guys all did today. I do know they were doing some maintenance on vehicles this morning. They're all in bed now though, so I don't know what else happened here today. Mother will be coming home tomorrow evening, so prayers again for a safe flight would be wonderful!!!

It will be nice to be all together as a family again.~

Guess what we did on this lovely day?

....You still have time to guess, as I'll post some older pictures first. :)

Did you know that goats love eating banana peelings? Well, they do---amongst other things...

Here are the promised pictures of our pretty-much-finished shop project:

We're really enjoying being able to use the small side-door the guys put in instead of having to open the big door for everything....

This afternoon, while playing a few games of pool, we put a tea-kettle on the wood burner and made ourselves some nice, steamy hot chocolate. :) The guys and I were saying that we've probably spent more time in the shop this last week than we have in the house! It's such a good feeling to have such a nice, bright and warm place for the guys to work in all Winter!!!

I didn't take a picture of the shop today, (after the guys worked in there all day yesterday) but it looks more organized than in the above picture, with things put back in their places.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, have you guessed yet what we did today for fun----and exercise?

Here's a pretty easy hint:

Yes-----we went ice skating/hockey playing, up in the North pasture!

First, we had to push a little snow around. It wasn't too bad really.

Dad joined us younger people on the ice....

We found out that we're a bit on the rusty side of things!

We also found out that the little black puck can really sail far on a smooth surface!

"Get it, brother!"

We all landed on the ice at least once (and some of us a bit more than that), although in the picture below, Andrew was just resting his ankles....

That's me:

The boys..... Our "Goal" was the small opening between the snow piles (where Jacob is standing.)

We have plans for getting an ice rink set up here at home, but have been too busy with the shop project to work on that project. Plus, it hasn't really been all that cold.....thankfully!

We talked to Mom again a little bit this evening and it sounds like she's having a really great time there. Hopefully she'll be ready to come home when the time comes to leave. :)

At Calgary...

Mother is now in Calgary, Alberta Canada. She said her flights went very well, the one plane being very crowded and the next very empty. She's trying to adjust to using Canadian money currently and said the coins were a little confusing... I hope her Canadian bed is soft and comfortable tonight. :) Tomorrow the class starts, so Mom is very excited---now that the plane ride is over with, for the time being.....

Here at home, Dad went "Up North" this morning and loaded a load of hay that he sold down South again. He and the boys worked in the shop the rest of the day, except for when Jacob came in and helped cut up some apples and set the table.....

Andrew's very happy because he was able to get his Sheriff car indoors and he's started tearing it apart already. Dad and Jacob moved the pool-table over to its permanent location and got it leveled out (and played a few games too, so I hear...).

Meanwhile in the house, I was very busy cleaning and cooking. I worked quite a while on cleaning the laundry room and pantry, as they were very out of sorts! For supper, I made chicken enchiladas (with freshly made tortilla shells), apple raisin salad, and fruit pizza. Yummy! Want to drop in and have a bite? I made a big pan full.... ;)

It's all done--mostly!

This morning, we all worked together to finish painting the inside of the shop. Mom took several pictures, but I think her camera may still be out in the shop? At any rate, I don't have it here, so don't have pictures to share yet...

The guys installed the small door this afternoon. Now they just need to insulate the big door and then they should be toasty warm in there all Winter! :) The dogs really enjoy being in the shop now also and cozy up by the wood burner pretty easily. What a dream come true this is for the guys---to be able to work out in the shop during the cold months (and not to freeze while out there) while they have spare time on their hands. All the warmer months are so full of farming activities that they don't really have time for special shop projects. It will be fun to see what they all do out there this Winter!

Mother and Jacob went to town this afternoon (Jacob drove :) ), as Mom needed some cash for her journey and also wanted to put up fliers all over town about the 2nd "Constitutional" meeting that will be held in Napoleon on December 17th (at 7:00PM, FYI at Ray's Cabinet shop---using the side door, because if you come in the front door, you'll run into his entertainment center!) Everyone is most welcome to come join us there!!! Please come! Our friend, Mr. Stevens will be presenting the important and interesting information....... There will also be a meeting in Bismarck that my Mom has helped set up sometime in the beginning of January, so let us know if you'd be interested in coming to that one and one of us will get you more specific details.

While the Mom and Jacob were gone, I spent quite a bit of time cutting up old, stained clothes for shop rags. The guys are constantly going through rags out there, using them to clean up oily and greasy parts and pieces----and hands....... I cut up 3 bags full, so that should last them a while!

The rest of the afternoon/evening was mainly spent in getting Mother packed up and ready to leave early in the morning. She will be flying to Canada to take a BT health class that she's wanted to take for 4 years already. She's pretty excited (about the class) AND nervous about flying by herself out of the country to a place where she knows nobody but the teacher, so prayers for safe travels and pleasant company would be greatly appreciated I'm sure!!! She'll be gone until late Monday night.

And that, dear friends, was how this day was spent.

Wishing you all a great Friday,
~Cora