I have been going through a lot of old pictures and scanning them.  This past Sunday I went through a bunch at my mother-in-law's house.  I wanted some of my husband when he was younger and of his family.  My husband Greg is a twin and I have been having a lot of fun on Facebook, posting pictures and having friends that know him try and guess which one is Greg and which is his brother.  I have never really been able to tell in the older pictures.  When we were first married they both worked at the same place, were about the same size and had their hair about the same.  When I would go to the shop to see Greg, I would look at their work boots to make sure I was going up to the right one.  Greg had bought new boots when we first got married.  I must say I do know them apart now.

This one I am not sure about, but I think Greg is on the left.

This one Greg is on the left.

Here they don't look much alike.  They are on the backrow, Greg is on the right.

Here they are now Greg is on the right.

Bits of my weekend

It is nice to have a long weekend, I was able to get some things done as well as play around and do nothing.

Saturday, I was coming home from Jasper and looked into a field as I was passing and there was an Eagle.  It was just sitting in the field with some blackbirds.  I turned around and took some pictures.  I knew we had some up around the lake, but I never expected to see one sunning in a pasture just outside of town.





After two hurricanes blowing junk weed into our yard, a drought, and Greg and me working full time, our yard is a mess.  Not to mention Greg doesn't just dislike yard work he HATES it.  We have this vine stuff that grows on the ground and when it is mowed it burns your nose, eyes, and lungs.  I call it pepper weed. 

Greg wants to get Round Up and spray it to kill it, but I don't want all that poison in my yard.  So, I decided to get rid of it I was going to have to dig up each one and get the roots.  I started yesterday evening and worked on it some this morning.  I may go back out in a little while and get some more.
As I was digging I kept coming upon different things in the ground.  These are my treasures.

Now why did that picture come up sideways?  Oh well, I found several nails, part of an old coffee can, some broken glass and plate.  The clear bottle is an old Karo syrup bottle (it is stamped on the bottom)  it is broken a little at the mouth.  The little amber colored bottle is in perfect shape.  I have found different things in our yard every since we first moved here.  Our dog is always digging up something.  It is usually broken glass, but I have found several bottles in good condition and he once dug up an old roller skate.  There is an old house next door to ours.  Our lot used to be a part of their yard.  I figure the back part of our yard was where they dumped their trash.  I may just have to start and excavation project.  There is no telling what I may find.
Well, I really need to clean off my kitchen table, but I might just go watch an episode of the Walton's.  I love that show, it always makes me cry.  I have this gigantic ham in the oven; I don't know how Greg and I will ever eat it all.  We may be oinking before the week is up.

I went to a workshop today on backyard beekeeping.  How to build a Top Bar Hive.
 It was based on this book http://www.biobees.com/ .  It is less expensive and easier than a standard hive.  It doesn't produce enough honey for commercial purposes, but plenty for a family.  The main purpose is for pollination.  Greg said he would build one for me and I found out where I can get some bees. 
Before I got my chickens I checked with City Hall, I think I will just get the bees and not tell anyone.

Favorite Friday on Saturday

I thought the idea of Favorite Friday was a good idea, only I was so tired last night I didn't get it posted.  Also, I was trying to figure out how to watermark a photo.  I figured that, but when it posted on the blog the picture was sideways and I couldn't figure out how to turn it.  It was right on Picnik and where I saved it, but it was just wrong here.  Maybe it had something to do with the size.

Anyway,  one of my favorite things is collecting dishes.  I have had to slow down because of space, but when I found this plate at the Goodwill I couldn't leave it behind.  Several years ago, I bought I dinner plate with this same pattern; this is the small salad or dessert plate.  That's what I enjoy most; choose a pattern and as I am out and about at thrift stores, Goodwill, or flea markets find matching pieces.  It isn't any fun finding the whole set at one place (though that would probably save money in the long run), but finding one or two pieces at a time.  I first started doing this when I found a plate that matched some I remember my grandparents having.  I found a bunch of those then it moved to other patterns.

In my life this week

• At my job this week:  We had Professional Development in the morning and classes with our students in the afternoon.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the time with my coworkers and the workshops have been fairly interesting.
• Places I went:  Greg and I took several evening motorcycle rides because the weather has been so nice.  Tonight, we took it to the car wash and washed and shined the ole girl.
• My favorite thing:  I won two door prizes during our teachers meetings.  One was a gift card to Subway, which I wasted no time in using, and the other was a bag with a jump drive, pens and a note pad.
• I'm reading:  Alexandra Stoddards "Living a Beautiful Life"
• Link: http://www.alexandrastoddard.com/
• I saw:  One of my chickens found a big fat grub worm.  The others came over and were trying to get it from her.  Just like a bunch of kids.
• I cooked:  A big pot of vegetable beef soup and Greg had at least three bowls.  When he finished he told me he was sloshing.
• Grateful for:  Jesus who loves me and is always looking out for me and knows what is best.

I hope you have had a wonderful week, too.

Various Business

Well, I have decided what I will picture at the first of each month. Actually, I have decided on three. They are as follows.

First, my kitchen table. Yes, I am a piler, a clutter bug, but I am organized in my unorganized way. When I walk in the door everything hits the table. I am working on getting better at putting things up when I use them, but this doesn't come naturally. My mother wonders what she did wrong. I hope by taking a picture of my table each month it will motivate me to clean it off and use my table linens more often. I decided to get the picture of how it really looks.

Next, is my desk at school. It looks very good right, but a couple of days ago it looked about as bad as my kitchen table. I have been working all week to get my classroom organized, get filing done and get rid of stuff I don't need. I teach six different classes and have so much stuff that it is difficult keeping it all in order. A student, that I don't normally teach, came in my room today and told me he thought my room was a storage room because of all the boxes and books. That is really sad. I am hoping just as with my kitchen table that taking a monthly picture will help me keep it straight. I am making a rule for myself. I won't take it off my desk just for the picture, unless I put it where it belongs.

The third picture will be of the front of our little house. I will have to take it tomorrow and add it.

I received a nice gift today from my farm friend, Candy at http://lazyjbarcfarm.blogspot.com/. Thank you, it is such a creative gift. It was a pasta themed package. The pasta is homemade. That is another thing on my "Bucket List", making pasta. I look forward to trying it all and would have tonight, but I already had supper cooking in the slow cooker.

Greg is watching the movie "Rambo" and Rambo just crawled through the rat infested cave and all the rats jumped on him and started biting him. It gives me the creeps.

My friend Candy at http://lazyjbarcfarm.blogspot.com/ posted the following and I thought it would be fun to do the same. I don't know how to link it the way she did; I think I need "Blogger for Dummies" or "The Idiots Guide to Blogging". Here it is, Candy said,

"I thought it would be fun to join Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of
the Month meme. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to
capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape,
a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be
a record of where you are each First of the Month."

I haven't decided yet what I will capture, but I will decide by tomorrow. If I hadn't already started cleaning my classroom and rearranging I would have chosen it. It was a disgraceful mess and I am trying to get it organized and clean.

Bucket List

I was listening to a sermon on the radio the other day and the guy was asking how often we say "I will do that when things in my life slow down." Yet, we live our lives thinking about one day and never accomplish the things we would like to do. After hearing that I told Greg we need to make a bucket list or set some goals so we can accomplish some of the things we have wanted to do. I started mine; two of the things on my list were a beehive and rain barrels. Yesterday, one of my co-workers told me of a backyard beekeeping workshop to be given in a couple of weeks. When I called to register I was told there will be a demonstration after lunch to show how to make rain barrels. Needless to say, I am very excited.