Happy Mothers Day Everyone!!

My new fridge was delivered this morning...which neccessitated missing church. We felt bad for missing because we know we'll miss next week because of Sam's tournament...but...we've been living out of a cooler for over 24 hours, so we wanted the new fridge delivered ASAP! I went with black this time ~ after I decorated my kitchen, the white appliances were an eyesore! I had originally thought I wanted the stainless look ~ but decided in the end that it may clash with my copper look backsplash...so black was what worked best with my kitchen IMHO. Now, next year we have to set money aside out of our income tax return to replace the oven and dishwasher when they go out. We would like to be better prepared next time and both of them are past prime ( and white, lol). I didn't realize how poorly laid out the inside of our old one was until I started putting stuff in this one. They have the same outside dimensions, but I'm able to get much more in the new one. I guess I didn't like the LG all the way around and I just never knew it!

I would highly recommend the guys who install appliances for Lowe's out of Mt Vernon - very knowledgeable and after speaking with them I think part of the problem with the last fridge was the installation. For instance, did you know you are not supposed to level a fridge from front to back?? Only from side to side ~ because you want the doors higher so the weight of the stuff in the door helps to close it. The installer said that prolongs the life of your seal ~ which was one of our problems before! But, the yahoos from HH Gregg had the whole thing level. There were some other things as well, but I will settle for saying they were great and I was very pleased with their work and their knowledge. Also, we got a rebate which covered the cost of delivery and installation and $50 off the fridge because it was an energy seal appliance.

The kids brought me breakfast in bed this morn ~ which of course my awesom husband made ~ Eggs Benedict! YUM!!! it was wonderful! That is my traditional breakfast request on mothers day. Maggie and Liam had both made me lovely, sweet cards at school ~ Sam informed me tha my gift from him is...HIM. Nice, huh? He's a turd!

So, while I've been nesting and arranging in the kitchen, Jon went out to till the garden again.

Sam and Liam decided to throw for awhile and Maggie has been following me all over the place, just generally bugging!

Well ~ I love you all!! and to Mom and Anne and Tracy and Katie and Angie and eny other Mom who may ready this:

A Very Happy Mothers Day To You!!

RIP...Refrigerator In Pieces

Ya know...when it rains it pours. I've had a really thoughtful 24 hours. I started them out extremely disgruntled, in the throes of a serious pity party, let me tell you. I'm sure you can hear me railing at God..."first our car, then our jobs, now our fridge...aagghhh! Why is it always us????" After much prayer and some reference work (Bible) I'm doing ok now. I do know there are much worse things that could happen. My family is fine, healthy...my house is still standing...we are generally speaking a very happy family. So what if the fridge broke ~ it was a problem from day 1 anyway! A little more prayer at the start and we would probably have been steered clear of that one, but the fridge pre-dated my salvation, so...
Mind you...this new fridge we purchased this morning will be the 3rd we've owned since we moved into this house a scant 7 years ago!! This model was only about 5 1/2 yrs old ~ JUST outside the extended warranty we purchased for the daggum thing 5 yrs ago. Not that said warranty did us ANY good whatsoever. Two years after we bought the stupid thing HH Gregg sold their extended warranty division to GE...our fridge was a LG model. No one they dealt with could maintenance LG appliances, so to get it fixed we would have had to pay for a service call ourselves and request re-imbursement, which would be totally up to their discretion. They were only willing to re-imburse what they considered reasonable. So by the time we gave up and replaced the cursed thing here's a list of what was broken: ice maker (serviced 3 times and still broken!!), ice drawer, freezer handle, magnetic seal around the fridge and the condenser. Wow, huh? I guess the moral to this story is don't buy a LG refrigerator! Anyway, when the condenser went last night we threw our hands up in the air and Jon got online to start reviewing prices and consumer ratings, etc. Please pray with us that this appliance lasts quite awhile, as a general rule I do not believe a family should average a new fridge every 3 1/2 years!! Even if you do have kids getting into it all day!
Our biggest concern now is that the money we used for the fridge was part of the money we ad in savings allocated to our propane pre-buy in September. That moolah was already spoken for...so now, God will just have to make sure we have that taken care this winter! I'm sure He has it under control. And believe it or not, I DO understand that it's TRUE : What doesn't kill me makes me stronger! Every trial refines me...He has a point and it's a whole lot more important than a refrigerator...So "HERE I AM LORD, HAPPY IN MY TRIALS!" For your eternal glory ~ Amen!

I love you all!

A New Beginning...

Today, Jon and I went to Glass Garden Greenhouse and bought our produce for the summer. Well, a portion of it anyway! Right behnd the basement steps/entrance I have a little patch where I planted mint (apple and chocolate) and strawberries. honestly, the strawberries I just sort of threw in there...not knowing what ese to do with them at the time...strawberries appear to be very hardy and low maintenance! So, after we got home, I did some cleaning up in that bed and added my new herbs. I got oregano, chives and cilantro ~ and cleared enough space to add my lettuce (bibb & romaine) and spinach. The kids love when I grow salad greens. They just go out back and cut it and bring it in and eat it! Well, they always add dressing and cheese, but hey! It's vegetables at least! So, I use the mint primarily to flavor my iced tea ~ I'm excited about the new additions though. I have plans to make salsa and guacamole! MMMmmmm! For the garden, we purchased tomatoes (grape, roma, and beefsteak)...ahh...the best of intentions! The Roma are purely for canning, so hopefully, I'll actually DO IT this year! We also bought cucumbers, peppers (california wonder, mild banana and golden bell), broccolli and musk melon. The long range forecast looks real good as far as low temps go...so I think we may try to get it in this week!

Which will be a major undertaking for Jon!! Because this is what it looks like right now!!

All those little green "plants" are thistles :( ~ he sprayed it with weed killer this afternoon...it will probably have to be tilled at LEAST three times!! Oh well, as of this week...he has nothing but time! I will post pics when we have it all in! I love you all!!

Wish you could smell them!

Hello down there in NC! My Lilac is in it's full glory right now and I just had to share!
I wish you could smell them...you cannot walk out our door today without the scent of lilacs washing over you. One of the ...well, ok, the only thing I can currently think of that I love about Ohio in the spring. When I planted the lilac I carefully placed it behind my bedroom window, so I can smell it when I'm lying in bed. It's wonderful!!

This weekend Sam spent the night with Austin Saturday night and Mag's had her friend Darcie over. They giggled in bed until after midnight. This morning we took Darcie with us to church and got Sam from the LaFever's there. It was actually a fairly nice day, mostly cloudy, but no rain and 72. It's an inprovement, so I'll not complain. The weather has been so up and down lately that I seem to constantly have a headache though.

Jon and I are going to Glass Garden tomorrow to get our veggies. the plan is: grape tomatoes, several types of peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, broccolli and maybe brussell sprouts again for Liam. I want to but them before the nursery is cleaned out, but probably won't plant them until after next weekend. It's not quite safe here yet. My apple trees are dropping petals, so I plan to have Jon treat them this week too. This year is the first time we'll have ever treated them, so it's kind of an experiment...my red delicious has tons of blooms on it, so I'm hopeful to get a good crop at least from that tree. The Gala looks about like it always does, which isn't bad, but isn't bumper either. The 5-in-1 isn't flowering at all this year. It's only 3 years old and had a decent harvest last year, so I'm afraid I may have let it do too much too soon. Next year I'll have to feed them.We love and miss you all. Make sure you stop to smell the flowers!!

A Little Less Faith...

...and I'd be building a boat! Seriously, I know y'all are tired of hearing me bit*@ and moan about the rain (Jon sure is!). I just wanted to show you I'm not exagerrating! This pic is of the "pasture" next door. The neighbor has his cows fenced into this wooded area and I'm not real sure where the cows are right now...but they are NOT in the woods! I guess the silver lining would be that between the heat wave we had last weekend and the ridiculous amount of rain we've gotten this week the leaves have really burst out and some of my wildflowers are blooming. My favorite flower overall I have to say is the daylily...but

The wildflowers I've "pocketed" on our hiking trips in Wayne Natl Forest are definitely at the top of my list! I love this trillium...which is Ohio's State Wildflower.

The Jack in the Pulpit holds a special place in my heart as well. Both of them are so fleeting. Here and gone very quickly, but so showy and spectacular and special while they are with me!

This pic turned out great! I didn't even realize the bug was on there until I saw the picture!

We are unable to use our turn around in the driveway. Well, I guess we could use it, but we'd need a rowboat to get to the doors! LOL ~ it is currently STILL raining...I'll just hold out until tomorrow. According to Chris Bradley, there is only a 30% chance of rain then. I'm thinking he must be right...after all...God PROMISED ;)

I love you all!!