That darn steer...

Between our house and my in-laws is a large pasture area. Every year they raise one or two steers for beef.

Last summer this black and white steer would find a out of the pasture and take himself to "greener" pastures. One time he was all the out the other side of town!

It was August, hot... in the 90's in the heat of the sun when I was coming home from the grocery to find that cow taking himself on down the road.... In minutes the troops were assembled to retrieve him. I had gate duty.

Being a city girl this was my first time participating in a cow round up. Heck, I thought you could put a rope around his neck and lead him back, you know... like a dog or something. Well, the guys got the cow near the open fence and he started coming toward me.... Yikes! That was a big animal with horns.

All summer long that darn steer would get out. His days became numbered....

The boys are back to school!

It's a good day here in cowboy town! Both of my boys are all better and off to school!!!
How was your weekend?

The sun is shining, the snow is melting...
It's been a bit overcast here the past few days, so it is really nice to see the sun.

Did you see the new addition to my blog page? I was inspired by Woody's weather pixie and decided to add my own.

Speaking of Woody's site... just popped by there. He just added these cools links to the left sidebar.

Matthew better, now it's Aaron's turn...

Thanks for your well wishes!
Matthew's temp got all the way up to 104 last night. Now he seems to be fine. I'm hoping to be able to send him to school tomorrow.

Aaron's running a slight temp now.... sigh...

Little Red Hen, sure hope you get over your cold soon!

Well, been to church. Time for an afternoon nap.

Coach Steve, we're having burgers for supper (from that black & white cow that kept getting loose this summer... that's another story! Anyway, it's nice organic beef.) Come on by! Be warned though... this is the flu zone!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

This and that on Saturday...

Been relaxing today. Finshed reading my book. Sigh... the next one doesn't come out until this summer.

Matthew has that flu thing that's going around.... He's sleeping now.

Aaron's outside creating trails in the mud to make water move around. And jumping on melting ice. He'll most likely need a bath tonight.

Hmmm.. What to make for supper?

Oh, Aaron just came in to inform us that each of out kittens are up in trees... each in a different tree! Rich just went out to try to coax them down.

Hope that you had a nice day!

I'm heading out to see Meet the Fockers tonight. I need to get out!

Happy Friday!

I'm printing out tax documents. Got to get together all my business tax stuff. Sigh....

Goal for 2005... begin using that Quicken 2005 package that I bought last year... but haven't spent the time to understand....

What's your favorite veggie?

We had a nice family meal tonight. Steak, baked potatoes, fresh raw broccoli, stir fried onions, mushrooms, and red peppers...

By the end of the meal, we were congoling Matthew to please eat his one sprig of broccoli while his brother happily ate several big pieces.

I asked the boys about their favorite vegetable. Matthew piped up quickly, after having just held his nose to chew down his broccoli... FRENCH FRIES!

Ah, the happy moments of family life!

From Boston to Wyoming....

Coach Steve was wondering how I came to be living here in Wyoming.... so far from my roots in the subburbs of Boston, Massachusetts.

Well, I married a cowboy. Rich grew up in this little town here in Northern Wyoming. We came to visit every couple years. But it wasn't until I had my oldest son... and saw him playing so freely here in the country.... that I began to have thoughts of relocating.

With each successive visit after that... secretly I would ponder if it was time for a change. I would say to myself... "could I live there?" It seemed that with each trip west, I would leave a piece of me there.

Then our second son was born. And watching my boys play there in the country with their cousins... And I began to fall in love with the fresh air... the quiet... the peacefulness... the mountains.... the charm of that little town.

Our little guy turned 4 years old. In one year he would be going into Kindergarten. That summer, I packed up my boys and traveled across country... we camped and had a wonderful adventure... arriving at grandma & grandpa's some 2500 miles away.

The purpose of this trip....
Could I live there in that tiny, country town? Could I live in Wyoming? It would be such a drastic change!

Maybe our family could live in the next biggest town. I drove endless hours around that town. The houses were so close together. I kept wondering why they would be so close when there was so much open country all around them.

No, the charm of the little town that my husband grew up in was what I really wanted.... a little country town complete with pastures, horses, cows, and chickens running around... and space to breathe.... and a town pool... and a park...

That trip was a turning point for me. I headed back home to Massachusetts but left my heart in northern Wyoming. I was sold. This was the life that I wanted for my family.

Now we head East in the summer. We visit all our friends, go to our favorite beaches, museums, and restaraunts. We get our fill of city life, then return home to the country.

Hello! It's going to be a busy day for me here in cowboy town.

It's the end of the month. Where did my month go? All of a sudden it's the last week of the month! Shoot!

I was in touch a good customer in Massachusetts yesterday. They are burried in snow. She told me that the kids haven't been back to school yet and as if the 2 1/2 feet of snow wasn't enough... there's snow drifts. And more snow coming their way today!

Does anyone remember the blizzard of 1978?

I've spent one whole year here in Wyoming now... after living my whole life in Massachusetts... in a subburb of Boston on the north side... The winters are not bad here! A little cold and a little snow... then the warmth of spring followed by beautiful dry long summer days.

Stocks?

I finally feel like I'm back into the swing of things... post sickies... post holidays...

My friend and I were out for a nice walk. It was a bright, sunny, springy day here. The warmth on my face from the sun felt so good! We took our favorite route out toward the country.

Is anyone interested in stocks? I've been reading the Big Risk, Big Reward blog. I've always been fascinated with this stuff, but really don't understand all the ins/outs or inbetweens (for that matter!). Check it out. Tell Jim that Toni sent you.

When I'm here in my study, getting my sewing done (I make breastfeeding pillows mostly sold here), I love to listen to the archived commentary of Jim Cramer at TheStreet.com.
I love all that finance stuff.

How can it be?...

A big welcome to Dreaming Again from Pearls and Dreams who found her way here from one of my favorite blogs, The Cheesebee Chronicles.

Check out this awesome sunset on Woody's site.

My house is quiet again.... with the kiddos off to school.

As my husband was reading a library book to our little guy (Aaron, age 7), I had the fleeting thought of how special this time is. I know that the time will come when I will miss the flurry of activity in the morning and books being read with one of the kids snuggled up next to me.

I don't know how it is that my oldest son (Matthew) will be turning 11 years old in March. 11.... He's getting so big! Almost as tall as me (I'm only 5'1").

Well, better go have some breakfast! And to begin my day. Got some Eastern US calls to make today and it's already 10am their time!

Hey, thanks you guys for your comments! Have a nice day.

Just hung my clothes on the line (mostly jeans). It is gorgeous outside!
60 in the sun!

a Salsa Garden?

A Salsa Garden. Got an email from Gurney's today...
Doesn't a salsa garden sound good?

My back entry way faces south. It is the perfect greenhouse in the Spring. Last year, I planted some 40 Roma tomato plants and a few cherrys.

It was my first Spring (and winter... for that matter) in northern Wyoming. I was so missing the color green. (In the Boston area, everything turns such a beautiful lush green in the early spring.) So, as the weather started getting warmer in late-February... my seed planting began.

Forty some pots with baggies on them to help keep the warmth and moisture in... grew into seedlings, then small plants until they were getting too big for my little south side porch.

Planting my many tomato plants was interesting. The ground was so hard! It was like cement! With the help of my husband... who dug 40 holes while I stuck the plants in the ground... After all was done, my father-in-law came by to tell us that we put the plants too close together.... Well....

We just left them that way. Yes, they were definitely too close!!!!!
Those tomatoes made yummy sauce! Many, many quarts of yummy sauce!

This year the garden will be tilled to loosen up the soil. And I won't be so stingy in plant spacing. Gosh, you would think that I was still living in the city!

Snow Fort and peanut butter cookies

It's a beautiful warm springish day here in northern Wyoming with temperatures in the mid-50s. (Sorry to all my Northeast friends who are getting a huge snow storm. I'll be sending along a few warm degrees to you.)

The kids are out in the pasture making a snow fort. Soon our snow will be all gone for now.

I'm going to take the kids some cookies and get some pictures.

Taco Bell.... Please!!!

It's a bright sunny day here. It seems like spring is on its way. It will be in the 40s & 50s all week.

My little indians are hovering around my computer room wondering what they can have for breakfast... AND... Mom, can we go to Taco Bell for lunch... PLEASE???

Have a fun Saturday with your family. I'll check in later.

I told my husband that I was at 799 visitors in my blog. His reply... "for today?"

796 visitors...

Will you be #800?

My husband put my #5 back on for me. But... it's not quite 100%, but better than a popcycle sick that Jay used to fix her space bar (see comments from last post).

It's Friday. Where does the time go?

Last night we had the most beautiful sunset. The sky was filled with pink clouds creating a wonderful pink hue as the sun set. It was just magical! This is what it looked like.

My number 5 came off the keyboard...

Oh no! I had the spiral bound telephone book draped across my laptop.... and when I picked it up... it pulled off my #5 key. :(.....

Sad... oh so sad... I'm thinking about all the tax stuff that still has to be input... sigh....

Dell... help!!!

Get Away Day...

Good morning!

I spent most of the day yesterday in Billings, MT. My trip to the "BIG" city.
As a northern Wyoming resident, that's our place to go for Costco... and all the major stores and restaraunts.

It's 90 miles away, but really only takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there. I was musing about the speed limit yesterday as I traveled 75mph (legally) on the route 90 interstate. Being from Massachusetts (northern, near Boston), you can't travel faster than 55mph... but mostly you're stuck in traffic so...

Around here when you're out of the little towns, you can travel 65mph in Wyoming, in Southern Montana (I've only been as far as Bozeman... so far!) the speed limit is 75mph on the 90 and 70 on the other roads.

I finally stopped into Coldwater Creek. I've been meaning to stop in for over a year now! I found a versatile black short sleeve dress and coordinated it with about 4 different jackets. What fun! Now I need some new black shoes!!!

It's going to be a home day today... Hope your day is warm, peaceful, and productive!

Spring Fever...

It's a balmy 34 degrees here in Cowboy town. We're going to have a heat wave as it's supposed to get up to 51! ... Now keep in mind that it was either below zero or in the single digits last week!

I might get a bit of spring fever.... get back into my walking routine... pull out my ever growing collection of seed catalogs and dream... and plan...

I'm off to the big city for the day. It's a 90 mile trip one way...
Have a great day!

The kids are back to school...

Ahhh.... Do you hear the quiet... the stillness... My kiddos are back to school.

I'm in the midst of sewing many breastfeeding pillows for a large order due the end of February. Got a bunch done yesterday... And finishing up quilt tops...

I've got a big roll of quilt batting somewhere in the garage. I need to find it today. I say somewhere because our stuff has been moved around a couple times since we settled here in Wyoming.

What's on your agenda today?

Kids home sick today...

Two sick kids home today... Think that I'll go back to bed too.

On the upside... we'll be having a heat wave here. It's going to get up to the mid 40s this week!

Thanks to all of you who wished for warmer weather for us while we were in the deep freeze!

We're all under the weather...

Good Sunday morning,
We're all under the weather here. I'm putting on some chicken soup, not homemade.. the kind from the can....

Today... rest... chicken soup.... and echinacea...

-20 degrees!

Oh my goodness! It's * -20 * degrees here in Northern Wyoming. Burrr....
I let my kittens out last night. When the long haired kitty came in, he had icicles hanging on him. Poor thing!

Would someone please send us some warmth!

2005 Quilts in the year 2005...

Got another baby quilt top done last night.

Project Quilt...
The project is... 2005 Quilts in the year 2005...
There are 8 or 9 church congregations around here that have accepted the challenge to create over 200 quilts each. All quilts will be donated to the LDS Humanitarian Aid effort. They will be distributed where ever in the world that they are needed!


Rich has been cutting 6 1/2 inch squares out of my scrap fabric. So I have lots of squares to work with! I'm trying to decide what to back the quilts with....

Quilt top done.

Got the top of the baby quilt done. Got to iron it and decide what to do for the bottom. (I'll post a photo soon.)

Beef stew is simmering on the stove. I'm thinking about making some bread to go with it.

It's a chilly, blustery, snowy day here in northern Wyoming. It's been snowing all day, but there's not enough moisture in the air to let it accumulate to much. I'm from Boston and I'm used to getting lots of snow when I see fine flakes....

It's warmed up to -1...

It's getting really warm here! When I first started working on my blog this morning it was -17... Now it's warmed up to -1.

Anyone care to send some warm air this way?

Quilting... quilting... quilting...

Good morning! The kids are off to school and my house is oh so quiet yet again!

My sweet husband has been cutting 6 inch squares out of my scrap fabric (from my breastfeeding pillow biz)for the past couple days. Last night I pinned a bunch of squares together for a baby quilt. Going to zip that up this morning.

Our church is doing a humanitarian aid project. Our goal is to make 2005 quilts in 2005! Whew...

Pizza's cooking...

Homemade! It smells so good.

Bubbling hot, crispy... Hmm.. The pizza came out pretty good tonight.

It's been cold here. But today the sun was shining nice and warm. Tomorrow is supposed to be below zero. Burrr...

I found the top of my desk today. Been doing some cleaning up and decluttering. I'm a terrible piler! Got to get ready for taxes....

Good morning Blog readers of the world...

The fog has rolled into our little town nestled in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. It reminds me of the East coast, that thick fog. It looks very mysterious and a bit magical out there.

It's day 10 of the new year. How's your resolutions holding up? It's amazing how life over-takes us!

Away goes my hat and my car door!

Went to Cody yesterday to get supplies for Aaron's birthday party. It was so windy!
I opened my door at Walmart and my hat flew off (it was really cold too!) and my car door swung open.

Now, it won't shut properly. Bummer!!!! I'm really upset... It's going to have to go to the shop to be fixed.

We're just back from Aaron's party with all 8 of his male classmates. Boy, do those kids like to run! Luckily we had the party at the church in the cultural hall (LDS church).

We're changing gears here from house building (it's too cold!) to pillow making.

KIds back to school.

Do you see the big smile on my face? It was time!!!

I'm getting ready to do some scrapbooking. I have a bunch of digital photos to get printed. Yes, it's just like that commercial... something's missing... my photos.