Work Day

 I left the house at 7:30 am and drove straight to Sam's Club arriving about 2 minutes before they opened. I needed to buy fruit, cream, eggs, and bread for our trip to Florida tomorrow and paper towel, toilet paper, aluminum foil, and decaf coffee for the barn. From Sam's club I drove to Walmart to check out the marked down Christmas items and bought 10 Christmas table cloths and 5 boxes of lights all at half price. The last shop visited was Aldi where sandwich meat (honey ham, roast beef and chicken) 5 kinds of cheese and some snacks for the trip. That took exactly 3 hours as I made it home by 10:30 am and an hour of that was travel time. Mark helped unload all these groceries. The refrigerated stuff along with the decaf coffee and aluminum foil were taken to the new barn where it will stay for the night. Tomorrow the fruit and cream will be loaded into the motorhome. The Christmas stuff put up in the upstairs closet for next year. The guests at the barn left around 11:00 am and as soon as they were gone I started work there. There is a wedding scheduled for Friday and Saturday and the bride wanted all of the Christmas decorations gone. Mark came to help take down the tree and also helped with folding up the bouncy house and putting that against the wall. 

It was much easier to fold up with the 2 of us. He left then for his therapy appointment for his knee and hip. I just kept working at the barn but by 2:30 pm was working on the game room when I realized 4 of the lights were out. I was pretty sure it was just a loose cord but that cord is 11 feet up. I sent Diane a text to see if we could borrow her 8 foot ladder. When Mark got home he was willing to come help.

It really was only a loose wire. As soon as Mark pushed it in where it belonged all 4 lights lit up. We took the ladder right back. The next job was to move a bale in for Evan. He still had a 3rd of a bale left but that would not last more than 3 days and I'm leaving tomorrow. Mark brought the bale out while I got the hog panel off the other bale and dragged it up to the barn.

Below the bale is wrapped securely with the hog panel. This really helps with less hay waste.

Without the wrap on the bale the horse spreads the bale out and tramples on it and worse if you know what I mean and that makes it uneatable.

Evan had been locked out of his paddock while that was being done. He saw it coming and was excited, so excited that he started jumping around. You can see him in the video below.

The only thing left to do at the barn was to have the volleyball net taken down. I sent Phil a text and he came right over and brought Kensley with him to help.

She got to run the drill. That was taken down quickly. I left to go back to the house but they stayed to shoot some baskets. Below Philip is moving the basket back up where it belongs while Kensley is shooting.

I've been organizing and packing this evening but will need to quit to get some dishes done. Maybe the new dishwasher will be installed by the time I get home from Florida so this might be the last time to hand wash dishes. Ha ha Judy dream on.

Christmas Day

 We were in no hurry to get out of bed this morning. No little kids around waiting excitedly for their gifts. My guests coming in to the foaling apartment asked if they could come in early. Since it wasn't rented last night I took the golf cart up to turn the lights on and realized the heat had been turned down. Mark used his phone to turn that up. I think it made it to the set point by the time they arrived. We left for church a little later as there was no Sunday school. It was nice to see church so full. Tim Roecker had the Christmas message. Click HERE to listen to that message. We left pretty quickly as I needed to flip the barn. The family that came yesterday were thrilled with the place and left a nice 5 star review. The next family was coming in today and I was pushed to get everything done by 1:00 pm. when I got to Joan's Mark and Jacob were out grilling the steak when Ruth brought in her twice baked loaded potatoes. 

Nancy was admiring the manger scene. This is the very same manger scene we had when we were little. Dad cut out the figures and mom painted them. They have held up well and are probably around 70 years old.

Ruth, Joan and I had all brought sparkling grape juice, below mom, Nancy, Karin and Ruth are giving a Merry Christmas toast.

We had a full table set with good china and delicate fluted glasses.

The youngest was Chelise, Hannah and Jacob's daughter.

After that amazing Christmas dinner we were sitting in front of the fireplace and Nancy wanted to sing for us. She started laughing and her laugh was so contagious we all started laughing. 

We have never seen her laugh at herself like this and of course we couldn't stop either. By the time she finished the last song our sides hurt from laughing so hard. Then Joan brought out the games. I don't know the name of the game we played but it was a lot of fun.

Around 5:30 pm Nancy was ready to go home. I took her first to mom's to get her bags then to her house in Morton. We had a fun trip home looking at Christmas lights. The new barn guests arrived around 1:45 pm and right away sent a message, "This is wonderful -Thank you SO much!  I'm always thrilled when I hear that. This is a family from Princeville and I think Rhonda is a cousin. Rhonda has something like 200 first cousins so I wasn't surprised when I heard that. Today really was a great day!

Christmas Eve

 We both overslept. I didn't get up until 6:00 am but was thankful for a good night's sleep. Our guests at the barn not only left the barn really nice. They fixed a hinge on one of the kitchen cupboards. I didn't realize that until after the walk. Mark went over to measure the hinge only to find it fixed. I called Rhonda and sure enough Spark did the repair. I was grateful. Ruth showed up for the walk with this on her forehead. 

She wanted to pay for some of the chicken for the Meister Christmas and kept forgetting to bring it so this morning she taped it to her forehead. She said, "it WORKED, I even went outside and the sticky tape held."  I just wonder what her neighbors thought? I know we laughed. Today the barn floors were all scrubbed. That is a lot of floor space. The guests coming in planned on arriving by 1:00 pm and thought they would have 45 family members for their family Christmas.  When I got back to the house I wrote up a quick welcome letter as so many of the airbnb guests expect to have a lot of rules. My number one rule was ENJOY yourselves, this barn was built for our family and we hope it will be a blessing for yours!  After typing it up and printing it off a copy was taken over to the barn and taped to the side of the fridge. Then it was time to work in our house on those dreaded dishes. They accumulate so quickly. Mark was out working with Mackenson for over 2 hours and by the time he got back the kitchen was done. I did a stove job on it, meaning taking my time and even cleaning the stove. The laundry was also finished. Sarah and Nolan made it to Savannah, Georgia and posted a few professional looking pictures of her girls.

I decided that Tessa and Valerie needed to have a couple foal pictures on their pages of the website. I'm thankful I still have access to the older pictures. Below is Tessa at just over 2 weeks of age.

Check out that neck on this filly. Is it any wonder why we kept her. She is just spectacular. 

Valerie's pictures were taken right after birth. She had not yet stood up in the picture below.

Once she did stand up she found the milk bar quickly, she was hungry.

Below she is getting a haltering lesson, I think she was about a month old.

This evening we saw a car with flashers going at the end of our drive. I went out on the porch to see if they needed help but right after walking out the car started moving. It was one of the guests coming to the barn. They were waiting to show others the way.

I hope they have a wonderful time for their family Christmas. Tomorrow (Christmas Day) a family from Princeville will be moving in so right after church I'll have to flip the barn. Ruth and Joan will be making all the food for that dinner so I ran all the ingredients needed to Joan's right after the walk. It seems funny that we are home and not doing anything for Christmas Eve. Growing up Christmas Eve was the day we opened our presents as Christmas day was for church. 

 

Presents Today

 My phone went off at 3:00 am with a text from Mike that they would be here in 15 minutes. I got up, dressed went out and turned the barn lights on,  had Madiera's colt haltered and led over to the horse trailer before they arrived with the truck. He was so well behaved, walked in nicely. We left him untied. Mike and Diane were taking him to Birmingham, Alabama to his new home. If you look close in the picture below you can see him staring out the back window.  Oliver called as the truck pulled away.

That took just 15 minutes and by 3:30 am they were on the road.

I went back to bed but didn't fall asleep so got up and worked on the website, adding Star and removing the colt both from the horse page and the for sale page. Click HERE if you would like to check out the new mare. 

On the walk this morning Joan was telling us a little about the Reinhard Christmas. I guess a flu was going around and poor Bill started feeling bad as they were loading up to leave. At one point, he pulled the car over to the side of the road and started vomiting violently and very loudly.  His children were shocked and asked Bethany, "what's the matter with dad?" She told them he is sick and is vomiting. Little Anni replies, "Awww, he was my favorite dad." Bethany told her, it's ok he will be fine later and she asked, "Are we just going to leave him here?"  I think Anni might be 4 years old and we are all wondering just how many dads does she have? We stopped in at mom's and Joan told mom and Karin how it all went down and they both couldn't stop laughing. One never knows what is going to come out of a child's mouth. I needed to leave then. I had to go to the DMV in Pekin, IL to get the truck and motorhome license stickers renewed as the motorhome's expire the end of this month and we are taking it to Florida and won't be home until Jan 5th. I had to wait about a half an hour but got that job done and put the stickers on as soon as I got back. From there I went to the barn to start cleaning after yesterday's wedding and the family dinner. I noticed there was no water in the toilet in the boys bathroom. I worked on it for a while after the rest of the bathrooms were cleaned and did finally get it to hold water but that was probably a bad thing which I found out later. More on that later. While I was cleaning Mark sent a text that the tables that were supposed to have been delivered December 12th would be here in 15 minutes. I stopped working to open the big door just as the truck backed in.

They used the hydraulic tail gate to get it off.  Those 10 tables weighed 590 pounds.

Mark brought the truck over, we hauled all the cardboard and the pallet that the tables came on into the truck and took them to our burn pile.

We were VERY pleased with the tables. They stack nicely and the carts Mark bought for moving the bouncy house worked perfectly. The tables were moved easily with the carts.

I finished the barn and when I got back to the house our new dishwasher had been delivered.

A good day for presents!

Mike and Diane reached the farm in Birmingham. The owner showed them the stallion he owns that Sangria produced when bred to Valiant. 

No WONDER he wanted Madiera's colt. That stallion turned out beautiful, a little hot but WOW what presence! He messaged me that he wants to stay in touch. He is thrilled with the colt and wants to buy more from us in the future.  It is always nice to see how gorgeous our foals turn out.

Mark wanted to hook the wood wagon back up to the tractor and take it back to the wood pile for another load. It takes 2 to do that so I went out to help.

When he got back we put the wood splitter back on the tractor.

Now for the gross part of the day. The group that came in this afternoon used the toilet I thought was fixed and it overflowed. I took a plunger over and worked on plunging it until I developed a blister. Finally gave up and called Tim Meister then went home to get some work done there while waiting for him. After waiting a while I finally sent him a text asking him to let me know when he arrived and I would pay him in cash. Just a few minutes late the reply came from Tim, "I'm sorry I came right away and it was an easy fix, you don't have to pay me anything."  Well he DROVE here, then fixed the problem of course I want to pay him. I really am so very thankful for family. 

An Amazing Sunday

 Since yesterday was a day of rest for me, there was a lot to do this morning, mainly dishes. Today I decided I would have a good attitude about doing them and went right to work with a song. Singing really does make the work fly. I just wish I could still sing but God doesn't care, the Bible just says make a joyful noise. We were a few minutes late getting to Rhonda's, Mark couldn't find the fob for the car, that turned out to be in his coat pocket, the one he was wearing. Isaac Funk was visiting from Peach Tree and had the morning message. To watch that message click HERE. We have the example of Zachariah and Elizabeth praying for a child, year after year then giving up when they were both well stricken in years only to have Gabriel arrive and tell him, "Zachariah, Your prayers have been heard and answered, you and Elizabeth will have a child." Knowing God IS listening to my prayer and knowing His timing is perfect gives me hope and peace. Craig Stickling had the afternoon message and that too was another perfect message for me. Craig talked of a miracle and when he was telling the story I agreed, it really was a miracle. This story begins with a student at the school Craig works at. The verse Isaiah 1 vs 18 was quoted to him by a student:  Come now, and let us settle the matter saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Craig asked him the next day, "what does that verse mean and the response was, "I think it means no matter how bad you've been God will forgive you when you acknowledge Him." How thankful I am our God is the God of mercy, His mercy is new every morning. I highly recommend listening to this message and you can by clicking HERE.  I really felt that both of today's messages were just for me, so sorry all you other people who had to listen to my messages. Once home the oven was turned on to 400 degrees and the potatoes were put in to bake. As I only had 7 large potatoes I also wrapped 5 sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and added those to the oven. While the oven was preheating the carrots were set to boil then I hauled the ham over to the barn and put that in the oven there. We also had the left over ribs and teriyaki chicken for the meal. David and Stephanie brought the salad as they had that left over from their last Christmas party. Below are a few pictures of after the supper and a little of the volleyball. 

Sarah and Nolan made it to Gatlinburg yesterday and sent back the pictures below.

That is a black bear below them.

Karin sent the picture below of mom playing with the cat.

John and Beth arrived with gifts for Nancy, her favorite is the pillow.

She could hardly wait to put it on her bed. Rhoda and Lee took her home tonight. She had 5 bags to take in with all her loot from today. She is loving this Christmas. 

Mike and Diane are leaving early in the morning. They are taking the 2 horse trailer on this trip and will drop Madiera's colt off at the new owner's farm a little north of Birmingham, AL then drive another hour and load that horse trailer up with 30 pool lounge chairs. When I left the barn I drove up to the paddocks, shut the back gate locking Oliver and Madiera's colt out of the field so in the morning they will be in the paddock then found a new halter and lead rope. I think they hope to load him around 4:00 am but will call me when they are ready to hook up the trailer. That is backed into the indoor so we will have lights for loading. All the paper work is on the kitchen table and I must remember to take that out with me. Praying their trip goes well. 

Christmas Lights

 My eyes opened, I checked my watch and thought it said 5:20 am, walked into the kitchen, turned on the lights and went straight to the coffee pot only to see there was NO COFFEE. Our water softener died 2 days ago, the dishwasher died yesterday and my first thought was, "oh no, not the coffee maker!" Then my eyes drifted to the clock on the stove and that was reading 4:20 am. I was so relieved that I didn't even mind getting up early and needing to wait for that first cup. I had to be at the barn early this morning to finish cleaning as we have a wedding scheduled today and they wanted to come in by 9:00 am.  I finished just before 9:00 came home, cooked breakfast and made it over to mom's by 9:30 am. Karin left early today. Mom was watching a Christian movie I think was called War Room. It really did show the power of prayer. I worked on the puzzle Karin, Joan and Faith had started a few days ago while listening to the movie.

Aunt Jinnie called so that was turned off so we could visit. While mom was speaking to her I prepared lunch and noticed her beautiful blooming flowers. I think most of these plants were given to her for Christmas.

Later while doing the dishes I looked out the kitchen window and saw a hat.

I was trying to figure out why a hat would be out on the deck on that chair so decided to go out and bring it inside only to find there was a head attached to that hat and a body attached to the head. Rhonda was all bundled up sitting on the chair trying to enjoy the sunshine in the 20 degree weather on the deck. We visited a bit but since I didn't have a coat on I had to go inside pretty quickly. I was home before 2:30 and Mark had some good news. Our new dishwasher is going to be delivered on Monday. The new water softener won't arrive until the first week of January. He did some on-line shopping then went out and repaired a downed wire on the north fence. Steven and Ryan came over today to remove a tree that fell and while they were working on that tree another huge one came crashing down. They had plenty of wood to take home. We left at 4:40 pm for Gils and the parking lot was already full by the time we arrived at 4:45 pm. We did not have to wait though they were having a big Christmas party at Gils. That empty table in the picture below was the only empty table on this floor and that filled up right after I took the picture. 

Gils is such a popular spot on a Saturday evening. We ordered one cob salad with 2 bowls then divided it up. 

The cob salad comes with grilled or crispy chicken and tonight we had the crispy which was 2 big fried chicken tenders. Each of us got one for our salad. We had already cut them up into the salad before I thought to take the picture. This also comes with 2 big corn fritters covered in powdered sugar.

The bill comes to just over $17.00 and of course we add a tip. A reasonable cost for the 2 of us and it really is delicious. We needed to go to Aldi on the way home so decided to do a scenic tour of Christmas lights on the way. Mark enjoyed going through the Alfa park display and reading the signs. He knew a lot of the people. There were over a hundred trees.

Kind of a fun thing to do. Aldi is very close to that park making it really convenient to shop there. We just needed a few items. Mark got the wood burner going strong as soon as we got home and the house is comfortable. Thankful for a warm house on a cold day, thankful for beautiful Christmas lights reminding us of the the special Bethlehem star and so very thankful for Jesus being willing to leave the glory of heaven coming as a baby into a poor family all the while knowing what He was going to do for us. 

More Christmas

 What a day, during the night I noticed that the dishwasher had an error code. Before going to bed I had filled it with dishes, lots of dishes. Some of them were from Wednesday and then all of Thursday's dishes. At midnight I was taking apart the dishwasher to see if I could get it going but after about a half an hour I quit and went back to bed. The first thing in the morning the dishwasher was checked and yep, all those dishes were still dirty. I closed my eyes and left for the walk. We stopped at mom's after and saw the new puzzle they are working on. This one is a 1000 pieces. Joan and Faith were helping Karin with it last night. 

Karin was working on another drawing and this one is of Riley, one of Ruth's grand daughters.

Right after the walk a table was moved into the kitchen and I started pulling dishes out and started washing and washing. Mark had to eat cereal for breakfast. He decided to work on it but even after taking it apart and cleaning it out it still wouldn't work. I explained to Mark that if he wants to eat we will need to order a new one soon as I'm not willing to do a lot of cooking without having a dishwasher to help with the clean up. His idea was to just haul them over to the barn each day.  Nope not going to happen. When the dishes were done I took the golf cart over to the barn to load up all the food we needed for tonight's Sceggel Christmas party. The meat balls were put in the crockpot with a jar of grape jelly, a cup of ketchup and a cup of bbq sauce and put on low. The ribs were put in another crock pot and the teriyaki chicken was put in a 3rd. At 11:00 am Sister Shuster's dinner rolls were put in the oven and when they were done baking put in a container and taken over to Rhonda's house for the Christmas luncheon she had prepared for all the ladies in the neighborhood. Below mom is coming to the table sporting her brand new throw the quilters made for her yesterday.

Rhonda has her house decorated beautifully for Christmas.

The centerpiece is a glass bowl filled with antique Christmas ornaments from her mother. The manger scene on her sideboard and carolers are also from her mom as is the wall hangings. 

Faith brought out a special towel before we started the meal.

The first course of this meal was creamy chicken and wild rice soup, salad, rolls and crackers with cheese.

The second course was tortellini soup with spinach, no pictures of that but that soup was also delicious.

Spark wasn't invited to this meal but he snuck down to grab some food.

We had 2 plates full of  home baked Christmas cookies and candies for dessert of course served with coffee or tea. We really enjoyed the lunch and the company. After that meal I sure didn't want to go to work but work waited. Mark came over to the barn with me to use his sweeper on the gym floor.

I worked on the 3 bathrooms while he worked on the gym. We had to quit by 4:00 pm as I needed to heat up the eggrolls and corndogs for tonight's party. That started at 5:00 pm and thankfully was held at Phil and Anna's house. The grandchildren were really excited but all ran downstairs to play in the huge playroom while the adults visited until everyone arrived. Stephanie won the prize for the fancy Christmas sweater. That sweater had so much bling we were blinded when it hit the light. 

All the little girls LOVED that shirt. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures click HERE. Mark and I were the first to leave as we have to be up early tomorrow. I need to have the barn ready for company by 9:00 am and there are still floors to mop and the upstairs to sweep.