What I Did...

...while Sam was gone...

Once I got back from Mt. View with Mama...

The house was soooo quiet! But I got quite a bit of sewing done. I cleaned floors which consists mainly of tile - ran the dust mop, swept up the accumulated sand (about a cupful it seemed), mopped. Then I vacuumed the two bedrooms and my sewing room...and master bath closet...that's the only carpet in the house and IF I had my way it would be gone. Of course if I had my way, the tile would be hardwood. Tile is hard, cold, loud. I do not like it! But the house was only 1 1/2 years old when we bought it...and it's just 5 years later...so it'll be like this for a while longer.

I worked on a quilt top...that pinky/peach thing in previous posts. I need one more border...it'll be the dark blue that's in the quilt. I had to pick up more of that...

Girlfriends came over and we swam until after dark then came in and ate Artisan bread (see previous post) with butter, or watermelon, or Israel melon. We followed that with more visiting, gossiping, and looking at high school annuals. Earlene was sitting in the floor and I was sooo proud that my floor was clean. I even offered to let them eat off it. ;o)

Melanie and I went to Longview so that I could purchase that piece of fabric for the above mentioned quilt. We picked up Kathy and went shopping too. Well, Kathy purchased...Melanie and I looked.

I've worked at the high school two days this week and will also work tomorrow. I've worked volleyball and junior varsity football concessions two evenings this week with more on Saturday...volunteer with the Friends of the Library group - portion of the profits go to the Friends at the end of the season.

I mowed the yard with the New Holland tractor! First time for me. We have ten acres. Sam mows about seven or eight acres of it with a finish mower behind the tractor. I do the minor trimming with a little walk behind self-propelled Honda mower. We talked one night on the phone, and he told me where the grease fittings were located and about how many 'pumps' of grease each fitting needed...and I mowed the next day. Not everything that Sam mows, but a couple of passes down by the road and a couple of passes down the side of the driveway and the immediate yard around the house.

I lost about seven pounds! And intend to lose more which means when Sam wants to go eat out he'll be going by himself for a while...except he wants fried catfish and I'm definitely going for that!

When Sam drove up yesterday, I rushed out and hugged and kissed him and told him how much I missed him and said, "We don't have water." ;o) When I showered yesterday morning I noticed that the water pressure was low. I had just flushed the commode before climbing in the shower but normally that doesn't affect it. I did a little sleuthing (read a book last week that had that word in it...love it!) and decided I better turn the breaker off to the pump.

Sam fiddled with the pump a little bit before deciding the he'd tackle it this morning. We had water in the camper so he went out and turned the hot water heater on and showered there. ...brought in a bucket of water from the swimming pool to flush with and I set out some reserved jugs of water for drinking, brushing teeth, washing hands, etc. Being a country girl most of my life...I know what to do.

Elton came over this afternoon, and he and Sam pulled the pump out of the well and replaced a fitting. I had water when I got home after the football game.

We've had rain today and it is absolutely lovely outside. Temperature is 68 degrees. A nice wind is blowing from the north. I tried raising the windows...that lasted about 15 minutes. They are closed. A/C is on. ;o( I mentioned to Sam last spring that I wanted an old iron bed with a foam mattress covered in all-weather fabric in the screen room so that when I wanted to raise windows and enjoy the cool breezes and mild weather that I could sleep out there...I want to do it again. I'll be on the lookout for the bed. It could be a sofa during the day and a nice place to catch a breeze at night...

Oh, he didn't ask me about my hair cut until just before bed last night. I was beginning to wonder...

Artisan Bread

Isn't this pretty?

Martha over at Lines from Linderhof posted a delicious recipe of Artisan Bread. http://www.linesfromlinderhof.com/2009/08/homebaked-bread.html

I had to give it a try...

If you are expecting the taste of fresh made white yeast bread, this will be a bit of a disappointment. My BFF, Earlene, said that it tasted a bit like sourdough. I thought it tasted flat...so I worked a bit more salt in the second loaf and liked it better.

Okay. Just WHAT is artisan bread? HA! I've been making it all along! Artisan bread is bread that is not mass produced! So...okay...my single loaves of white bread (sometimes mixed with whole wheat flour) are actually artisan bread. I'm feeling oh so smug right now.

I've made mention a time or two about Sam being gone. He's home now! I don't generally advertise when we are (or he is) going to be gone. He and his youngest brother Terry rode their Harley's around the Grand Canyon. They trailered the bikes to near Flagstaff, rode around the Canyon, Terry loaded his bike up and headed back home 'cause he is still a poor working man. Sam continued the trip by going up into Colorado and visiting friends in Cedaredge and Delta. Sam was gone two full weeks!

He's HOME! I wasn't expecting him until mid-morning tomorrow but he got here about 4 or 4:30 p.m. It was so good to see him pull up in the driveway.

...We've had such mild weather that I've had the a/c turned off the last four or five days and have been sleeping with the windows open. I mean, when you get up in the morning at it's 63 degrees outside...why oh why is the a/c on?! I have soooo enjoyed it.

Sam's home! Did I mention that? And the windows are down and the a/c is on...and it'll be mid-60's again tonight. I do love him! But what oh what am I going to do with him?! ;o)

Early Fall

A couple of weeks ago I made the statement to Sam that we were in for an early fall. He asked me what criteria did I use to base my observation on. Well. Let us not forget that my grandmother told me on numerous occasions that her grandmother was full-blood Cherokee from Paul's Valley Oklahoma. But with Sam needing more 'scientific' reasoning behind my statement I merely replied...'Cause we had our August in June. June was the hottest I can ever remember. Combined with the lack of rain...well...I still ascertain that we will have an early fall.

Now. I modestly (ha!) present these three photos as proof.

Yellowing leaves from two different trees...

Look at the brown pine needles!

I rest my case! (Thank you great-great grandmother!)

Sam's going to be shocked when he sees me. I got my hair cut. Long overdue as far as he's concerned...he will be pleased.

I hate self-photos. If I'd wear more makeup it might help. Then...maybe not. ;o) Droopy eyelids...genetics!

My beautician (yet another Sherry) knows that I work my hair to death and initially prefer to have every hair in place. She told me that after I wash it to just comb it back and let it dry...scrunching it up a bit. So...I've been trying that. Takes me about that ***snap*** long to 'style' my hair now. I'm enjoying it!