I Can Open My Oven Door

Without using a screwdriver!  Hannah already baked cupcakes in the new oven.  We're excited.

Today's Experiment

I don't bake biscuits very often and when I do, I usually use baking mix.  Since I try to be frugal, I sometimes make my own.  Today I was pondering whether I could make it with whole wheat flour.  It didn't take long to find a recipe so I mixed it up and baked an experimental batch of biscuits.  Phillip isn't here right now so I don't have the real expert's opinion, but I liked them.  Hannah said they were good, but I'm not sure she really meant it.  She's learned to be wary of my cooking experiments.  I hope Phillip likes them because it makes quite a bit of baking mix so we'll be using it for a while.

Poison

We were at Lowe's the other day and Phillip saw a flower he loved.  We bought it and he planted it in an old iron pot.  The plant is a foxglove, which is pretty but we found out it is poisonous.  We drug the iron pot to a far corner of the yard where it's surrounded by bushes and hard to get to, and warned the kids not to bother it.  Lilly took all of this very seriously. This week she brought over a sign she had made for me to put beside the plant. (Lilly is in kindergarten, by the way.)

The sign reads:  Poayzin flawwr
                           It will cill you
                           It cills you BI a tuch

Consider yourselves forwarned!

Changes

Hannah's birthday tulips are blooming.

We moved our tree faces over here.  These are some of my favorite things.  I missed them.

Mark and Bobby helped Phillip get this stone bench from his mom's house set up over here.  It looks nice in the shade of the oak trees.

Our garden is growing.  Phillip has build one more raised bed this size and 4 smaller ones but nothing is planted in those yet.  After we get past this cold snap he'll get those going.

Mama's irises are blooming.  She loved them.  They are so pretty and smell so sweet.

Lucy spent the afternoon with me.  This is a huge change because she normally doesn't let her mom out of her sight.  She played happily and we had a really good time together.  This is my favorite change of all!

Special Day with Lilly

Lilly has been feeling left out lately, telling her mom that she never gets any special alone time with me.  Today was an early dismissal day so I picked her up at school and we spent the afternoon together. 

She ate Jelly Bellies.

She put google eyes on everything. No matter where you are in our yard, eyes are watching you.

She painted a princess picture.

She helped me bake bread.

We walked around the lake at Crowders Mtn. State Park.

We saw two turtles on a log.

She and Hannah posed for a picture.

She checked for trolls under this bridge.  There were no trolls, thank goodness.

I hope she had a special day.  I did.

March 1

The peas and onions are peeping out.  We still need to make several more raised beds. 

My dad made this hanger for the bird feeders years and years ago.  We moved it to the back yard so I can see it from the kitchen window.

Mom's tulip tree is starting to bloom.  I still think it looks like sticks with flowers glued to the ends. My mother-in-law had one and I told her that once.  She gave me one as a joke and it's huge now.  It's one of the few things I've successfully grown. It's probably covered with blooms, too.

Her spring flowers are blooming, too.  They are all over the place.  Mom loved flowers and she had quite a green thumb.  I wonder how long they'll survive with me.

It was warm enough today to enjoy reading on the front porch.  (Ignore the dead flower.  That's an example of what happens to plants when I get ahold of them.)

Mom's cat Puddin is enjoying the warm weather, too. 

Feeling Loved

Yesterday, February 11, was Mama's birthday.  We had made a lot of birthday memories. I always cooked whatever she wanted, diabetes or not.  She would tell us she didn't need any gifts but, of course, we never listened to her.  She was so much fun to buy for because she loved quirky things, especially if they spun, blew in the wind, or lit up.  After we gave her a surprise party a few years ago, she always warned me that "I'd better not have anything up my sleeve" every year when it got close to her birthday.  Even when she was having trouble remembering simple things, we'd pass the restaurant where we had surprised her and she'd remember that party.  So yesterday was a hard day for me, one I'd been dreading all week.  Lately I've been focusing on some not so good memories, Mom begging me not to leave her at the nursing home, how frail and sick she was, all the things I could have done differently and maybe prevented how quickly she left us.  Yesterday was like a monster looming to swallow me.  My six wonderful girls surprised me with a lunch at Chantilly's Tea Room. There were some tears but lots of laughter.  They took me from being overwhelmed by grief and regret to being overwhelmed by love.  They sacrificed to help me through a hard day.  I don't deserve them but I thank God for blessing me with them.  Jennifer, Jaclyn, Rachel, Emily, Laura, Hannah.  Thank you. I love you.