Friday, October 29, 2010

Oh No! Not 11 Years!


Today is a day that changed my life...

Eleven, I can't believe I am saying it, eleven years ago today I started one of my greatest roles in life...

It was 4:01 am on this day eleven years ago that the most wonderful joy came into mine and my husband's life....

My first born took his first breath and started screaming....

He hasn't stop screaming since!

I just can't believe that eleven years have pasted by since that day!  It seems like it was just yesterday...

Everyone told me that the years would fly by.

I knew this was true but I never thought it would fly by that fast!



Happy Birthday...

 to my first "Baby", Knox!


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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Never Take Your Hubby Bra Shopping....

Wordless Wednesday...

This is what happened when I took my Hubby bra shopping the other day!


This is just too funny or is it too scary....


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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pumpkin Day...

The other weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch...


We headed to Dawsonville to Bradley's Pumpkin Patch.  This is a small pumpkin patch is run by a young man who won the National Winner of the 2009 National FFA Agricultural Sales in Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award--Bradley Weaver.  Being a former Ag Teacher myself who had a National Proficiency winner, I know how just how hard the competition is for these awards!  I wanted to see and show my son what hard work does.

There were plenty of pumpkins at all different price points.  There was an awesome little gift shop with all kinds of neat stuff.  There was even a neat hay ride--that we didn't go on because someone was a little fussy!  Check out the web site for all the different things they do throughout the year!

Now, when you go to a pumpkin patch, you have to get pictures with pumpkins. 

You are always looking for the perfect pumpkin picture...






For us, this was as good as it got...

It was impossible to get Hamp to smile or even look at the camera!  Don't ask about the outfit!  NOBODY, I mean NOBODY had pumpkin outfits for boys!!  (These is a whole nother issue.)  So no cute pumpkin shirt!  That's the reason I think he didn't want to smile!


So these were as good as we could get!


Bradley's had all types of riding toys for the kids to play with and wagons that you could carry your pumpkins to the car with.

Knox found this dozer for Hamp to ride in...


Hamp was having a blast being pulled around!

The problem came when we needed to return the dozer ride toy...



Hamp was NOT a happy camper!

But Big Brother was having a blast...


Now we have two awesome pumpkins that are decorating our home!  We also had a great day out, eventhough somebody was a little fussy about having to leave!

These are the fun family days that become great memories later!




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Monday, October 25, 2010

It's a Special Day...

300

I just can't believe it!!

This is my 300th post!

It's not even been a year and I have 300 posts!

I just can't believe it!

So to celebrate, I thought I would say a very special Thank You to all the "Groupies" that have read all these posts!  It's because of y'all and your friendship that has allowed me the opportuinty to express myself and share the adventures of this International Harvester family.  You have all been wonderful and so supportive.  I look forward to checking all your comments!  They always put a smile on my face!

We have a special birthday that we will be celebrating this week...

Knox will be 11 years old!

This is just a month of celebrations for us and I'm glad y'all are getting to celebrate them with us!

I hope you keep coming back to share even more momeries and ideas with us as we deive for 300 more posts!

Thanks for being the BEST "GROUPIES"!!



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Friday, October 22, 2010

My Rainy Day...

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Sixteen years ago today, I woke and was upset to see that it was raining.


 "Why did it have to rain today," I thought.

But there it was...rain coming down.

I got dressed any way and headed to breakfast all depressed.  Then I looked out the big picture windows and the rain had all but stopped!

Praise the Lord...

People were showing up, coming and going, and my mother reminded me that Jodi and I had to get going if we were going to get our hair done in time.

So we drove down town to Phyllis' shop. 

I had never had so much hairspray in my hair!!  Phyllis said she was not going to have all the humidity in the air let my hair fall.  Not this day!  She literally used a whole can in my hair!!

I was shocked!  My hair had NEVER looked this good!

Jodi and I made it home and I started getting ready.  Michelle came in and did my makeup.  I wasn't much on wearing makeup and she and Jodi knew it.  They made sure my makeup was the best it had ever been.  I looked in the mirror and didn't really know who was looking back at me!

We headed outside for pictures.

That's when we saw each other for the first time.  He was so handsome in his suit coat and hat!  He took my breath away!

I think I took his breath away too, because it took him a minute to say anything!

I remember taking all kinds of family and individual pictures. And it seemed to go so fast!!

Then it was time....

I remember my daddy looking so handsome!  Better than I ever remember him looking.  He seemed so proud but lost for words.  He couldn't look at me and I couldn't look at him!  He held my arm so tight.  And we almost ran into the room.

There wasn't a large crowd but an important crowd. 

I stood next to him and he stood next to me...

We held hands and repeated words...

He gave me a ring...

I gave him a ring...


And then it happened...


The man before us in the black robe pronounced us....



Husband and Wife



For 16 years I have created a wonderful life with a man who is my best friend.  I can't even image what my life would be without him in it!

Thank goodness I had the guts to ask him out all those years ago, especially since he was too scared too!

I love you Petey!!!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Chapel Bell

As I have mencined before, I am a HUGE college football fan!  I am a season ticket holder for my aluma mater...University of Georiga.

My son Knox is old enough now to go to the games with me.  My husband is not as big a fan as I am, so he stays at home with Hamp most of the games.

The best thing about college football is the traditions!

One at the University of Georgia that not many people except UGA fans know about is the ringing of the chapel bell.


This tells the story of the chapel bell.

My freshman year at UGA, I lived in a dorm just behind the stadium.  The chapel bell is in the old part of the campus and is up the hill about 3 blocks from the stadium.  But I remember the chapel bell ringing all night after a football victory!

So after the Dawgs won Saturday, Knox wanted to go ring the chapel bell.

We headed up the hill and he waited in line for his turn.  I should have took a picture of him in line!  He was surrounded by cute girls and didn't seem to mind waiting!  That's a whole nother story....



Knox got his turn to ring the bell!



And he rang the bell....

Afterwards, we headed to our favorite place to eat ...The Grill!!


I can't write this post without saying a big shout out to some great friends!  While I was waiting on Knox to ring the bell, I ran into some old Redcoats--Joel Caughran and David Jones!  It was great to see them and to spend some time catching up...we need to do that more often!!


Go Dawgs...sic 'em!

Woof, Woof, Woof...


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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday....Passed Out

This is what I saw the other night when I realized that it had gotten awlful quiet in the house....


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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Harvest Time, School Time

If you have a child or had children in school, you remember the Fall Festivals!  I think every elementary school in the country, well at least here in the South, has one!
The kids are there for the candy, hot dogs, and prizes!
The adults are not always there by choice.

Some are there to appease children or a spouse. Others are there to work a booth. Yet others are there to gossip--come on, you know it happens.
Last week we made our yearly pilgrimage to Big A Elementary for their annual Fall Festival!


The PTO puts up this huge revival, circus tent with all the games in the tent!

But the first thing we had to do was the Choo-Choo Train!


Knox rode with his little brother....


And off they went!!!
I have to brag a little....
Some of the classes decorated pumpkins as famous Americans.

Knox's class choose Abraham Lincoln.



Knox's art teacher came by to tell me that Knox had done the penny all by himself!  I thought he did a really good job!


Knox got really good at the games....



Hamp wasn't too sure about his first taste of cotton candy!


It was another great day at Big A and a sure sign that fall is here!!



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Monday, October 18, 2010

Dang Hen!

Friday, I posted about the Dang Rooster getting into Hubby's truck.

Now it's one of the crazy hens....


to top of the roof!!


We have no idea why she got on top of the roof.  My guess she is trying to get away from the roosters trying to "roost" her!


As long as she doesn't start playing the fiddle up there, it'll be ok for her to stay there!


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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Another Moma's Pride Moment

6Wednesday at church, Knox was ending his hand chime rehearsal.  They end rehearsal with prayer.  One of the other kids asked to say the prayer but my Knox asked to add a special prayer.

He wanted to say a special prayer for the Chilean miners.

His concern for people half a world away really amazed his hand chime leader.  She was so touched she made a point to tell me!  She said that most of the kids just pray for those they know.

We had been explaining to him what that big rocket thing was that had people in it on TV.  Knox asked how they got down there, what had happened to trap them, and why it took so long to get them up.  He was really concerned about how and if all those miners were going to come out of alive.

He is starting to realize that his life is influenced by the world outside of our little town.  He's starting to see that it's important to know what happens in other places in the world because they may affect our home some day.

It makes me proud to know that my son is starting to see beyond the city limits!  I want him and his brother to be open minded to others that live differently than us!  I want him to see that we all depend on each other to live on this planet and that we must begin to care for one another as God cares for us!

I just wanted to share a little pride I have in my son...

He's growing up faster than I can keep up with....


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Friday, October 15, 2010

Dang Rooster!

If you follow my blog you know we've got an usual rooster, Big Red.  He is a chicken that thinks he's human!

The other day, Knox came running in the house saying that Big Red was in Hubby's truck!  Now, knowing my son and that rooster I just knew that Knox had put the rooster in the truck.  So, as any good doubting mother would do, I told Knox to get the rooster out of the truck and quit putting him in his Daddy's truck!

Well, a few minutes pass when I hear Knox saying that Big Red was back in the truck!  I told Knox that I was getting upset that he kept putting the rooster in the truck and that his Daddy was going to be ticked!!

Knox says he's not putting him in there.

What??

Yep....


That dang rooster was in the truck!

He got there all by himself!


If this rooster thinks he's going to learn how to drive from me, he's got another thing coming....

Just to let you know, he got in the truck two more times until Knox rolled up the truck windows.

Dang rooster!!


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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Hubby is Still Older Than Me!!

As I told y'all Friday, this weekend was a dusey for us around here!  I worked on a wedding and we celebrated Hubby's birthday! 

I thought I would share a few pictures from Hubby's birthday bash!


I had been so busy with Brittany and Jason's wedding that I forgot to make Hubby a birthday cake!  So I did what any other good wife would do and drove to Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cake!  The only choices they had was one with a cornucopia or one with peace signs on it...I went with the cornucopia--it matched my Halloween decorations!


John, Hubby's really good childhood friend, came over and helped get the party going!  Not only did he clean my carport--which I did give him grief for because I thought he had lost the back out of my car seat--but he cooked all the meat for everybody! 

His girlfriend Anita, was a great big help by watching the kids so Hubby and I could work on the wedding before the party!


Hubby's other buddy, Allen also helped get everything ready for the party.  He helped John with cooking the meat and moving all of Hubby's tractors and trucks in the front yard.

This year was a little tamer than in year's past!  But there was a moment that I thought we were going to have a visit from the sheriff!

Hubby, John, and Allen decided that they needed to blow up something.  Now I have to blame the blowing up on my son Knox.  He had made a homemade, hand held cannon-sort-of thing.  He was taking firecrackers and shooting acorns out of it!  (Please don't tell me how dangerous this is--I know-I'll have to do a whole post on the dangerous things my son gets into on a daily basis!)

The "big" boys decided that they needed to REALLY show Knox and Andrew (Allen's son and Knox's friend) what a big bang was!  The next thing we know those three--Hubby, John, Allen--had a 5 gallon bucket and were getting ready to shoot it off!

Now I'm not going to tell you what they did to do this, because I'm really not sure what they did!  All I can tell you is that the neighbors, who live about a fourth of a mile down, said their windows shook!!  The bucket went higher than the 50 year old Water Oaks in my front yard and the ground shook!

All I have to say it that we are lucky we have really good neighbors that don't call the law on us...

And never dare a bunch of guys, who think they are all still in their 20s and know how to use torches and gasoline, that they can't make a louder noise than you can!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Hubby!!

You're still older than me...Ha, Ha, Ha....



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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Skateboarding Toddler

Hubby found his old, and I mean old, skateboard a few months ago and brought it home for the kids to play with.  (Secretly, I know he brought it home so that he could play with it!)

Well, Hubby and my oldest have rode it around the driveway a time or two but most the old, and I mean old, skateboard is just sitting around the carport.  It's just waiting for the day when I come by and step on it and break a few bones!

So I am outside "watching" the little one and working on my laptop when I look up and see...


 my little one trying out the old, and I when old, skateboard!

As I kept watching he kept trying to get the hang of it.


Then finally...


He started getting the hang of it!

I might have the next Tony Hawks, who knows!



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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Brittany and Jason's Wedding

As I told you "groupies" Friday, I had a really busy weekend this weekend.  I'm actually still recovering!  Saturday was our really busy day with a wedding and Hubby's birthday. 

And since I told everyone that I was doing the wedding flowers, I had a ton of comments wanting to see the pictures.

So by popular demand, here are some of the pictures....


This was the guest table in the front of the church.  The largest arrangement was in the church at the front of the church.  Notice the cute picture of the happy couple on the table!

I didn't get any pictures of the inside of the church before it was taken down.  Hubby and I helped out where ever we could.  So some pictures got missed--sorry!  But I'm going to show y'all what I got...



This is the memorial table to all the grandparents.



Here's the Father of the Bride, Steven.  He modeled the boutonniere and is still smiling!  He held up quite well and didn't even have to bring out his shotgun!!


I got Amy, the Mother of the Bride, to slow down long enough for me to get her corsage on her and snap a quick picture.  She held up quite well and did a fabulous job putting this wedding together!  I don't know how she did it, put it was a wonderful day for her little girl!!


Wasn't she a beautiful bride?  This is our bride, Brittany.  One of my former students helped me with the brides bouquet and bridesmaids, Megan.  Didn't she do a fantastic job?


The roses were beautiful and went perfectly with Brittany's dress.  I didn't get any good pictures of the bridesmaid flowers.  They were like the brides but were smaller, had more white roses, and the stems were wrapped in purple ribbon.


The groom, Jason, looked just as handsome! He wanted purple flowers like his bride, so I had to make his boutonniere just before the wedding!  I didn't think he would want purple flowers--but what did I know!!


The wedding cake was done by Amy's sister, Kim.  After Kim finished decorating it, I put the flowers on the top to finish it off.  It not only looked great but it tasted wonderfully!!  Kim did such a great job!



I think Jason was glad when it was all over! 

Congratulations to the happy couple and Best Wishes for many years to come!!

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Friday, October 8, 2010

Busy, Busy Weekend

To the best "groupies" in the world, I am going to be away from the computer for a while.  This weekend is going to be a real busy one for us at the old Homestead! 

Wedding...
I very dear friend of mine's daughter is getting married Saturday.  As a wedding present to her and her family, I am doing her flowers for her wedding.  So I'll be tying all kinds of knots and bows...

Birthday...
Hubby's birthday is Saturday!  We're having a house full of folks for bar-a-que and adult beverages!  Don't know when this will end...

Train Ride...
Knox won train tickets to Atlanta.  So we are going to surprise the boys with a ride this weekend.  I'll take lots of pictures and post later...

Pictures...
It's time to visit Tony!!  Our favorite photographer will be taking the boys pictures Monday!  I have their pictures made once a year professionally.  I love pictures...you should see my house...and I want pictures that my boys can pass down to thier grandchildren.  So many pictures today are on digtal that we don't "hold" pictures and pass them around like we use to!  This is my way of "saving" a little of my boys for their future generations...

Recovery...
I still have not posted what happened in Toccoa last weekend because it has taken me all week to recover!  But when I do, many of you will be totally amazed....

Remember...
I have not left y'all, just having to live my life for a while!!
Love to you all...

**Don't forget that y'all can still vote for me everyday at Top Mommy Blogs!  Let's see if we can get in the top 25 overall!!**

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

We're Number 5!!

Y'all ROCK!!!

We're at #5!  It's all because of you...my awesome GROUPIES!!  Y'all voted for my blog on Top Mommy Blogs and we made it to number 5 in the Working Mom Blogs! 

Don't forget that you can vote everyday, once a day!  I want to see if y'all can get us to the top 25 in the overall Top Mommy Blogs!! 

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

For my great "groupie" bloggers, I know you have noticed.... For those of you stumbling onto my little corner of the world for the first time, I hope you're enjoying the new "eye candy"!

I decided to try doing a new header and just got carried away!  When I put the new header in, the old back ground just didn't look right.  So, I needed up redoing my whole color scheme to match.

Well, while we're on new things let me take the time to point out some other new things that I have added to my blog...

Top Mommy Blogs...
I've put my blog up for voting on Top Mommy Blogs!!  I hope you have already been voting!  You can vote my clicking on the badge on the right everyday, once a day.  According to my stats, I have gotten up to 32 thanks to my great "groupies".  But my mother needs more help!  So when you finish reading this post, just take a second an vote for me, please!!

Blog Frog Community...
I thought I would try something to get a little more dialog with my "groupies".  Blog Frog is a place where you can talk about any type of topic.  I have started three, but I can add more if there is interest in different topics.  I thought this might be a good way to help each other with different things and respond more quickly to answering questions we might have about different things.

I'm new at this too, so let's see what we can discover with this new social medium together!

Facebook...
Frugal Tractor Mom has her own Facebook page!  If you have not already done so, come over and "like" my page!  I am having technical issues with getting my blog posts to show up on my page, but we are working on this.  Come on over to Facebook and we'll get a conversation started!

Popular Post...
I found this really groovy new gadget by Blogger...it shows your top 10 most popular posts!  I have noticed that it changes as the popularity of posts changes which I think is really cool.  It shows me what you "groupie" are interested in at this moment in time!  It's also a great way for my more seasoned "groupies" to see any posts you might have missed while letting the new "groupie" check out the more popular posts to see what they're in store for!!

More To Come...
I'm participating in a couple of blog workshops, so you may see even more new stuff added or changed!  Come back often, and don't forget to comment!!


I want to give a special thank you to all those great bloggy "groupies" I have meet over the past nine months!  You guys are just too awesome!!!  I really do enjoy blogging and I feel like your all part of the family!  Thanks for all the support and comment love--it really brightens my every day!!
XOXOXOX

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fresh Ground Cornbread

Last week I put up a post about The Grist Mill at our Fall Farm Show.  Well I told you I was going to make some cornbread from it and share the recipe.  So be warned...you're fixin' to make cornbread!!


I started with fresh ground corn meal.  This corn was not yellow corn, but red corn, so you are going to notice it being a little darker and dirtier looking than yellow corn meal. 

Remember to keep your fresh corn meal in the refrigerator or it will go bad quicker!

Preheat your oven at 425 degrees and put your skillet in there with 2 tsp of Crisco.


Next sift a heaping cup of cornmeal.  You'll see why in a second...


Fresh corn meal will still have some large hulls in it that you will need to get out.  It will also get out any other debris that may have gotten in the corn meal like silks or corn husks.


(This is already done for you when you buy corn meal!!)



Mix in the corn meal 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour


Beat two eggs...these were fresh from the hen that morning!!



Add the eggs and 1 1/3 cups of buttermilk.

**Hint, Hint, Hint**

If you are like me and don't keep buttermilk handy in your frig, well like me share a secret....you can make buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of vinegar(white, apple will make it taste funky) to a cup of sweet (regular) milk.  For this recipe, I added a tablespoon and 1/3 tsp to 1 1/3 cups of milk.  It works great for any time you are cooking and don't have buttermilk!


Take your heated skillet out of the oven.  Make sure that the Crisco has completely melted and moving the grease around to be sure there is some on all the skillet.


Pour your batter into the hot skillet.  The batter should be sizzling when you pour it into the skillet.

Put the skillet back in the hot oven and cook it for 20 minutes.


The corn bread should be dark on top when it is done.



Take a dinner plate and place on top of the skillet.  Then flip the skillet over holding the plate in place.  Your cornbread should come out beautifully if your skillet is seasoned right!


Don't that look yummy!!  The red corn makes the cornbread look a little funny, but the taste is spot on!!

If you noticed, I don't cut my cornbread.  In my family, cornbread was never cut always broken.  It goes back to Jesus breaking the bread at the last supper.

Another thing of note for all my bloggy friends from "up North", we don't add sugar to our cornbread!  Sugar makes it sweet bread and gives cornbread a whole different taste.  Plus, when you add sweet cornbread to your vegetables it makes them sweet and, to me, you hide the veggies flavors!

This is my Southern Cooking 101 and how I used my fresh ground corn meal!!

Y'all come back now.....

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