Another First

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Happy Birthday to Dustin.   We hosted our first official gathering of friends at our house last night to celebrate Dustin's Birthday.  It was a fun event.  Potluck dinner with 4 families.  Lots of boys with lots of energy having lots of fun!  Ice cream cake.  Presents.  Yummy food.  Good fun visiting.  Some "old man" jokes.  A fun first hosting party!

Total Blindside

I have always known that smells and scents are powerful memory triggers, but this was brought home to me this last Friday.  My son is in 4-H and we were doing a community event.  As a group we were to meet at the local Assisted living facility and we were going to decorate a St. Patrick's Day cake.  Sounds fun!  Innocent! No big deal!  My son had been there before and knew where we were going which was good.  We walked in the front door to the reception desk and I was fine.  She pointed us off in the right direction and we headed that way.  As soon as we turned the corner, the smells of a care facility hit me.  They were not bad smells as it is a very well run facility, but just smells that exist in a place where people need care.  I had a hard time breathing, but from an emotional response to the hit of the odors.  I kept following my son and practiced my breathing as we went forward to the creativity activity room.  I had so not been prepared for the reality and memories the moments and the emotions that came with walking into an assisted living center that I almost couldn't cope.  I was shocked by my own reaction.  My good friend - a nurse - was not.  And we talked about it.  Once we were out of the hallway and in the activity room, I was fine.  We  had a fun time decorating cakes and visiting with the residents.  I did however  go out a different door!  

Chapters

Yesterday felt like a conclusion of a chapter.  And the opening of a new one.  Dustin began farming our land for the first time.  Getting things ready to plant and preparing the soil of our farm to be seeded to alfalfa soon.  That is an exciting and a little scary of a new chapter.  Venturing out and doing something on our own.  We have been so blessed by so many good neighbors who are willing to help, give advice and instruction.

putting up loft floor joist hangers

O how I love ladders.  And power tools. 

The conclusion - not really totally - but the feeling of - was on the house.  Due to a schedule change at work, I got my two elves yesterday and we worked hard all day to finish the BIG items on the never ending list of house projects.  This week we put our front and back steps on the deck, so we can get to our front door!  I even put out the Welcome mat.  Then we framed, sheeted, sided and trimmed the carport out so that it is now enclosed on 3 sides.  Lastly we put a loft in one of the 8 foot wide truss bays to make a storage spot in the garage.   My cousin - a landscaper - came over and we talked about the yard, fences, and ideas.  We strung our phone system cord up through the attic - finally! So now I don't have the Coaxial cable decoration thru my dining room!  Our house really looks like a home, and a completed project.  We are hosting our first official function this Saturday evening and having a few friends over for Dustin's Birthday - which is Sunday.  It was kind of a bittersweet day though.  This house project has consumed a lot of time and energy, but it has also been a lot of fun.  We have enjoyed the process and it was a little odd to realize that my list now consisted of mostly stuff that I am capable of doing on my own. 

Cute

So . . . this picture takes me back a few years.  I was not quite two.  At my Great Grandparents home for a funeral.  I don't remember the details.  I do remember catching turtles and it has been a family joke as to how big those turtles were.  I remember carrying them up the VERY long drive way from the small stream on the ranch and just how my fingers could barely touch and thumbs barely loop over the edges of the shell.  But my hands were small.  Now when I show how big the turtles were in my memory, they have grown along with my hands.  But still, my earliest memories is these turtles and carrying them up the driveway to the house.  My Mom sent this picture and thinking I was so cute sitting there with my big brother and my big turtles I thought it was too cute to pass up.