The Most Wonderful, Awesome, Greatest Thing

This morning a little 3 year girl visited with me and let me tell you - if you could bundle up pure happiness and joy and pour it into a little tiny human being - Ms. Ellie is all that and more. As we were walking this morning EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING brought Ellie happiness. "OH LOOKIE!  GRASS!  HELLO GRASS!  I LOVE YOU GRASS!"  "OH A FLOWER!!!!!!  Do you see the flower?!  The flower is so pretty!  Don't you love the flower?! HI FLOWER!!! I love you flower!!"  This went on for every single thing she saw. We RAN everywhere.  There was simply no time to walk.  We might miss something wonderful. Ellie LOVES doggies.  "Hi DOGGIESSSSSS!  Can I pet you?  I LOVE YOU DOGGIES!"  The minute the doggie would let her pet it, Ellie would be completely enveloped in laughter and joy.  When Ellie saw the horses she put her hands up to her face and gasped as if she never saw anything so wonderful in all her life.  "HORSIES! HI HORSIES!  Moooooooooooooooo!"  I tried to tell her that horsies say, "Neigh" but Ellie would have none of that. "Mooo, Moooo, Mooooo, Mooooooo!....Hi HORSIES! I LOVE YOU HORSIES!"  As I watched Ellie run from thing to thing and squeal with delight, I could only think, that is just about the most wonderful, awesome, greatest thing.  Pure unabandoned joy. I got to spend my morning with absolute joy.  I got to spend my morning with absolute happiness.  I got to spend my morning with pure wonderment and enthusiasm.  I doubt if I can ever be as excited about seeing a ladder as Ms. Ellie was this morning, but I could aspire to perhaps smile every time I see a ladder from now on.  "WOW!  LOOK AT THAT LADDER!  That's a big ladder!  What's that ladder doing there?"  I don't think I will ever look at a ladder the same way now.  I aspire to greet my days with the same enthusiasm, joy and happiness.  "Hello Wednesday!!!! I LOVE YOU WEDNESDAY!"

Hey......Didn't I just do this?

So my younger daughter has been trying to adjust to her new very small, very tiny dorm room surrounded by a mountain of crates and boxes.  When I moved her in, we didn't have a dresser or closet organizer or any shelving. We made big piles of like items and shoved everything into the boxes and crates and stacked them up towards the ceiling.  It has proven to not only be inconvenient but extremely frustrating as well. Any time my daughter needs something, she has to unstack all the boxes and search through them to find what she is looking for.  Yesterday she spent 20 minutes trying to find her stapler.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres decided he would be her hero and bought a lovely dresser with lots of shelving space for her.  It was exactly what she needed.  So this morning I loaded up the car with food and all the things she forgot at home and her new dresser and made the trip back to her school. Once we got the car unloaded, it was clear, that I am NOT made for assembling furniture.  It is simply beyond my expertise. Thankfully, we were able to round up some help and soon had several college kids working to put together the dresser and shelves.  YAY!  It took several hours but we got all the boxes emptied and now everything has a place in her room and it looks great.  EVEN though I thought, "Hey....Didn't I just do this?!" ....I am so glad I did.  AND even better than that......my daughter is really glad too.  Mission Accomplished.

Cuter Every Day

The puppies are just starting the solid food stage so now they are even cuter than ever.  Once the puppies start eating real food, they really start to grow and fill out.  From this point forward they just get cuter every day!
Here are this week's adorable pictures:

Eloise's Double Doodle Apricot Girls

They love to snuggle

Belle's Puppies are now starting to go outside for some "recess" play

Time to start exploring

  

They haven't ventured too far quite yet

They love to stay right by our side

And look at us with adorable teddy bear faces

They are the best snuggle puppies

Ahhh, the perfect place to nap!

Happy Monday!

Official Last Day of Summer

Tomorrow is the first day of school so today is officially the last day of summer for us here at Yesteryear Acres.  It is time for my son to get out his school clothes.  You know clothes without holes, tractor grease stains, oil stains, hydraulic fuel etc.  I believe they are WAY WAY WAY back in his closet.  He has to find his school backpack which probably is in the exact same place WAY WAY WAY back in his closet where he threw it on the last day of school. Alarms have to be set.  Lunches have to be packed and dinner has to be on time.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son LOVE to work outside FOREVER and dinner here in the summer is often served after 8:00pm.  Sometimes we have dinner as late as 10:00 at night.  Everyone has to learn to put away their tools, wash up, and come inside at a reasonable hour.  I will break them in slowly and have dinner ready at 7:00pm tonight.  Tomorrow I can start to sneak that back to 6:30pm. School is starting.....summer is over.  Time to get things in order!

Project for me!

Mr. Yesteryear Acres is actually IN the house this morning.....working on a project for me!  YAY! Mr. Yesteryear Acres would rather work outside any day, no matter what the weather, than work inside.  He loves living on a farm.  He finds things to work on outside every minute.  He usually is outside working by 7:00am and doesn't come in until WAY past dark.  If we didn't have a winter season here with the sun setting early....he might never come in!  The doodle doggies, the garden, the tractors, the horses, the land - they all make Mr. Yesteryear Acres a very happy man.  Today, however, he is dedicating his morning to a project just for me.  I am super excited too!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres is installing a TV/DVD in the parlor so now I will have something to watch when I walk on my treadmill.  YAY!  It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boring to walk on the treadmill. I mean I do it - but it doesn't mean I love it.  Now I can have something to occupy my mind while I work out.  YAY! AND I can see the TV from my desk area so on Mondays, when I sit at the computer for 3 straight hours updating the website, maybe just maybe, I might have the TV on to help pass the time.  This is awesome.  First step......Mr.  Yesteryear Acres has to install an electric outlet and wiring to the wall.  I bet he is so happy.  Who doesn't love drilling through brick walls to run electric wiring?  Maybe I should go make him a huge MAN lunch to thank him.  Based on the amount of tools needed for this project, I may have to make some tapioca pudding as well.  Looks like he will need the added incentive!  Can't wait for the finished product! Exciting!

Well It Needed Washed Anyway

I am a little behind on my weekly "Clean The House Thursday" routine.  Yesterday I ended up running errands and doing regular doodle doggie and doodle puppy chores so that "Clean The House Thursday" became "Gather The Trash and Postpone Cleaning Thursday." Well it seems as if one of my little doggies decided that I shouldn't procrastinate.  Not at all.  In fact, one of my little doggies ensured that my Friday morning started with a cleaning routine as soon as I woke up. As I opened my eyes this morning all comfy in my big comfy heavenly bed, there was a little dog standing on my chest looking at me. His little eyes were pleading for me to take him outside.  So I picked him up and carried him downstairs all the while wondering why he felt a little damp.  After I had a few sips of coffee and made my way back upstairs to get dressed, I noticed my bed.  It did not look at all comfy.  In fact, it looked disgusting.  Evidently ONE of my doggies decided to vomit all over my comforter. It seems as if Mr. Yesteryear Acres (who of course ALWAYS denies doing this) fed our doggies some "treats" last night.  How do I know?  Ummmmm I am guessing the pieces of undigested sweet corn kernels all over my bed would be clue number one.  Clue number two might be the pieces of steak mixed in with the corn.  AND after one of the doggies got sick, the other doggies walked all through the pile and now my bed was full of dried corn/steak/doggie vomit footprints.  Lovely.  What did Mr. Yesteryear Acres say when I told him?  "Well the bedding needed stripped and washed anyway.  Now you are back on schedule!"  He is so proud of himself for "helping" me keep on schedule.  What a thoughtful guy.  Tonight we are having homemade banana and blueberry pancakes.  I will be SURE to keep a watchful eye so that the doggies don't get another evening of Mr. Yesteryear Acres "treats".  I don't want to wake up to blueberries tomorrow morning!

26 Year Anniversary....awwwww

Today marks 26 beautiful happy years of wedded bliss to my sweet Mr. Yesteryear Acres. I can hardly believe we have been married for 26 years. 26 years seems like a long time when I say it out loud, but when I think of the past 26 years, it has all gone by so quickly and most importantly - so happily. So what did we do to celebrate our big 26?! Well let's see....this morning we took a doodle doggie in for a health check-up at the vet.  Then for more excitement, I took my son to the oral surgeon for a post-op check up.  THEN for even MORE excitement, I drove Mr. Yesteryear Acres to the car mechanic (which is one hour away) so he could pick up his car.  I bet at this point, you are green with envy at our over-the-top celebrations!  This afternoon I am putting together Yesteryear Acres Puppy Care Packages and Mr. Yesteryear Acres is outside trimming hedges.  MAN!  Can we celebrate or what?!!!  The truth is, we have no special plans.  That might seem sad to some people but to us 26 years to the exact day feels just as special as 26 years plus one day or 26 years plus 5 days.  We are grateful for every single day we spend together. We treasure every moment we have whether it is running to the vet's office, doing doodle doggie errands or what have you.  It is all part of our wonderful life and we both feel very blessed to wake up every day surrounded by love.
Here we are way way way way back in the day.........

And 26+ years later.......

The only difference?

We just love each other more!!!!

Happy 26th Anniversary Mr. Yesteryear Acres!!!!!!

I love you more than ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Four year Heart Attack Day

Monday was my 4 year Survival day after suffering a Stress-Induced Heart Attack at the age of 43. I think my daughter summed up the day best when she texted me Monday morning and said, "Happy Heart Day".  That is exactly how I felt. I didn't feel fearful or anxious or sad or worried....I just felt happy. I remember the day of my heart attack as if it were yesterday. I think it will always be one of the scariest moments of my entire life. I literally almost died. The year following the heart attack was really difficult. The heart attack was brought on by a step family member and I had to learn how to break away from what can only be described as extreme dysfunction and toxicity. I am a big people pleaser. I love to make people happy. I chose a career where I bring happiness to people every day.  What brings more instant happiness than an adorable fluffy puppy?!  Puppies are the embodiment of complete love and happiness.  I love that. For my entire life, I always and I mean always put everyone else's happiness above my own. I rarely said no to anyone. "You want to come on Easter morning to visit the puppies? SURE!"  "You want me to drop everything and make your needs more important? SURE" "You want the last piece of my birthday cake that I was saving? SURE!" I thought that taking care of my own needs was selfish. After my heart attack, it took me a while to learn how to say no.  It took me a while to learn how to remove myself from toxic people. It took me a while to learn how to not feel guilty. It took me a while to learn that yes, taking care of myself IS important.  In fact if you take care of yourself.....you can be even BETTER at taking care of others. This past year I finally put the final piece in my puzzle. I started exercising regularly.  I began strength training for the first time in my entire life.  I added whole foods to my diet and stopped missing meals.  I even added breakfast to my daily routine which is a meal I had not eaten for over 30 years. At first, taking 45 minutes to an hour of EVERY day JUST for me seemed ridiculous.  How could I spend that much time on me?  I have SO much to do!  I never sit down as it is, how can I spare that much time?!  It was hard for me to say, "I am going to go bike ride or walk or lift weights" when my list of things to do was never ending.  BUT I did it.  I made a commitment to myself and when I make a commitment - it is a done deal.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres was SO awesome about the change.  He always pitches in on my chores so that I can go take my walk or ride my bike. Slowly something magical happened. I became healthier.  I was able to do more work easier and faster and better than I ever had before.  The more I was able to help my family with some of the hard farm work, the more I was appreciated by my family.  The happier they were with all that I could do.....the more I appreciated myself. My daughter recently told me that she always worried about me and my health. She wondered if I would die from another heart attack. I told her, I wondered the same thing. She told me that this past year, she finally stopped worrying. Me too.  When I got the most excellent doctor report confirming that I am in optimal health, I felt every last nagging worry vanish. My four year Anniversary of my Heart Attack was "Happy Heart Day". I am grateful and happy and strong.  The best part - I know my heart is too!

24 Hour Watch

Yesterday was a super busy day and I wasn't able to post all the adorable puppy pictures.  The surgeon gave strict orders that my son wasn't allowed to be alone for 24 hours.  As in never.  As in he wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom alone, or be left in a room alone or be without constant supervision. His surgery was a bit more extensive than they anticipated. This made accomplishing my Yesteryear Acres work a bit of a challenge!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres and I took turns watching our recuperating patient and we tried to squeeze in work where we could. The hardest part was trying to use my computer.  It takes me between 2-3 hours every Monday to update my website and publish the new puppy pictures.  I just couldn't make that happen and make sure my son was taken care of.  So today is the slightly delayed Monday Puppy Picture update!  All the puppies are doing well and of course.....are so cute!

Eloise's little apricot Double Doodle Boy

 

Double Doodle Dreaming

Belle's Labradoodle Puppies are getting bigger!

They will start solid foods this week

Aren't they adorable?

This Puppy and I feel the same way! I have had too many late nights and no sleep. I need a nap!  Looks like I might have company!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Milkshake Duty

Last night I got home a little after midnight. To say I was completely exhausted would be an understatement. My daughter and I worked all day to get her moved into her dorm room. When I drove away last night, I just kept reminding myself that she isn't THAT far away.  It is a mere three hour drive.  If I need to see her I can and if she gets a weekend off of work, she can come home.  It will all be okay. When I got home, I was so surprised to see she wrote my blog. It was the sweetest blog ever and made my heart smile. I love that girl!  I crawled into bed at 1:00am and the alarm went off this morning a little before 6:00am.  I got my son to the surgeon on time and stayed with him in the operating room until the anesthesia took effect.  He fell asleep talking about his truck. I love that kid!  I hope the surgery goes smoothly and I can get him home without too much trouble.  He is WAY too big to carry! Once I get back home it will be milkshakes and crushed ice and homemade chicken noodle soup and round the clock care.  He will be sore and bruised for several days. Along with my expert milkshake duties, I hope to get the puppy pictures done today as well. They are SO cute! Another busy day at Yesteryear Acres!

Hello From College!!

Hi everyone! This is Amelia stepping in tonight for my wonderful Mom! Today was move-in day for all the Residential Advisors (RA's) for my University. And let's just say we did not have smooth sailing. Let's just say that we wanted to leave the house by 10am at the latest, getting me to school around 1pm. Sounds perfect! I would have plenty of time to unpack and organize before my meeting at 5pm. Did we leave the house at 10am? Nope. I definitely take a lot of that responsibility. But I also did not expect for my family members to come up with so many good 'last minute things' to grab.  SO I had to run around the house like an insane woman and pack all this other stuff I didn't even know I needed. We finally hit the road at 11am. Sure. Not too bad. I can work with that. But then we needed gas in both our cars. SO that was 20 minutes I forgot to plan for. Okay now I am a little worried. But everything should be okay. We drive and drive and drive and finally get to my school. However we can NOT physically drive to my dorm building due to construction. Since I have never lived on this side of campus I literally have no clue how to get to my room. 30 minutes of driving all around I finally found a way to my building. Okay now I am frazzled and just ready to get this done. I walk to my room and I have double furniture. Since I am a Resident Assistant (RA) this year I get to live by myself. SO having 2 of everything is a shock. I talk to someone and they said just use it as extra storage space. I am just like SWEEEEEET two dressers!! Who doesn't need two dressers!?!?! So my mom and I spent probably an hour just rearranging my room to find the perfect feel and configuration. We moved every piece of furniture. And I mean we did that multiple multiple times. But it looked PERFECT! I was so excited to how my room was set up this year. So happily my mom and I start moving all my stuff into my room. Grab box. walk walk walk. Up 4 stairs. Open heavy door (not too long or LOUD alarm goes off). shuffle shuffle shuffle through door with heavy box. walk walk walk. up 3 steps. Open heavy fire door. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. walk down hallway. Beep open room. Shuffle through. Drop box. Go back for more. So as you can see the actual moving process took longer then anticipated. Many bruises and scratches later we get all my things into my room. Time to start unpacking. Unpack unpack unpack... Knock Knock Knock. "Hi, I am so sorry to bother you, but we accidentally put 2 sets of furniture in your room and we are here to take them out. We need them for the other room. We are so sorry for the mistake." Ummm okay. Let me just move ALL MY STUFF OUT OF MY ROOM SO YOU CAN TAKE AWAY MY EXTRA DRESSER! Pack pack pack pack. Shove shove squish shove slam. Okay here you go. Thanks for stopping by! So you see we had to start all over!! We had to reorganize the whole aesthetics of the room. Move all the furniture again, but this time trying not to step on or brake any of my things we brought in from the car. That took probably another good hour. So what did we do next? We took a lunch break! We were so starving that we just totally consumed our sandwiches we packed in seconds. Then back to work. And seriously it felt like nothing was working, it was never going to fit, and I clearly was NOT going to finish before my meeting with the other RAs. So what did the best mom in the whole wide world do?! She STAYED BEHIND AND UNPACKED AND ORGANIZED MY WHOLE ROOM FOR ME WHEN I WAS GONE!!!!!! Yes that is right!!! Best mom in the whole wide world status goes to my mom! Annnnnd she got EVERYTHING to fit! And my room is beautiful!!!! And guess what... She JUST left. And I mean JUSTTTTT left. I came back around 8:30 and helped her finish up the rest of my room. And she just started driving back home. So I called her and said "dearest sweetest mom in the whole wide world. Since you are not getting home before midnight tonight I am going to write your blog so you don't have to! And then you can read it tomorrow when you sit in the waiting room while my brother gets his wisdom teeth jackhammered out of his head OH SO EARLY in the morning. Because do you know why? I will tell you why...Because you are the bestest mom in the whole wide world!"

Thank you so much Mom!!!!! I love you soooo much!! And my stuffed duckie loves you too!! We will miss you, but never forget I am not that far away!! DEFINITELY not as far away as across an ocean!!! See duckie and I are really quite close to home! Drive safely!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

I will miss her little stuffed duckie

Today is the last day my younger daughter will be home as she leaves for college in the morning. We are spending the day together packing all her clothes and shoes and books and supplies in boxes ready to load into the car for tomorrow's road trip.  I have never been the kind of mom who is excited when school starts in the fall.  I have always wished summer could just go on and on and on and my kids would be home with me every day.  When the kids would cry, "Oh no! NOT SCHOOL!"  I always felt the same way.  Today is no different.  Inside I definitely am crying, "Oh no!  NOT SCHOOL!"  I am not ready for my daughter to pack up for the school year.  I am not ready to say goodbye.  I am not ready to miss her beautiful shining face in the morning. I am not ready to miss the last hug goodnight each evening. I am not ready to miss her.  The truth is - that if given another week, or month, or year together.......it still would never be enough time.  I would never feel ready to say goodbye so with a smile on my face, I help her pack up her things.  I will miss her little stuffed duckie on her bed.  I will miss seeing my daughter in her room.  I will miss seeing her smiling face each morning. I know I will just hold onto the way she smiles with her whole heart and the way she brightens a room right in my heart until she comes home again. Goodbye little duckie. Time for school. Sniff. Sniff.

Ice Cream Maker at the Ready!

This morning I took my son to an oral surgeon to have his wisdom teeth checked. At my son's dental check up 2 weeks ago, the dentist was concerned that his bone-impacted wisdom teeth needed to come out sooner rather than later and set up an appointment with the surgeon. This morning the surgeon took one look at the x-rays and said that yes, my son's wisdom teeth needed to be removed and they needed to be removed now.  Just 6 months ago, my son's wisdom teeth were fine - but since my son continues to have such large growth spurts, the small innocent wisdom teeth from 6 months ago were now encroaching on nerves that were in danger of permanent irreversible damage. The surgeon was completely booked for months but considered my son's teeth to be of such serious concern that he is coming in early on Monday morning just for my son. His surgeries normally start at 8:00am but this Monday, at 7:00am sharp, my son's wisdom teeth will be removed. The bad news is that all four of my son's teeth are deeply recessed in his jaw bone.  The good news is that my son's wisdom teeth are so bad, removal is considered a medical necessity so my medical insurance will cover the surgery. I kind of have the feeling that my son doesn't share my "good news" opinion. I have promised my son tons of icees and smoothies and milkshakes and hand picked awesome movies. The surgeon was quite adamant that my son follow a strict NO activity for 4 days followed by 3 days of light activity which in my book looks a lot like a solid week of me taking care of my son. I suppose I better start now! I need to stock the freezer with my son's favorite ice cream flavors. I will need to make vanilla and maraschino cherry and banana and coffee ice creams.  I think for the vanilla, I just might have to break out Mr. Yesteryear Acres special homemade vanilla extract. It has been "brewing" for years and is his prize masterpiece of vanilla heaven. I think wisdom teeth removal qualifies as a special occasion worthy of the vanilla heaven.......especially if I make a double batch. One for Mr. Yesteryear Acres and one for my son.  I think it will be that kind of week!

Imagine the Joy

While I was away at my medical health spa week, Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son were like two little kids as far as their eating habits go.  When I am home - we NEVER and I mean NEVER go out for fast food.  If we were to eat ONE fast food meal in an entire year - that would be a lot!  My son really loves fast food and thinks it is the ultimate treat because he never gets to eat out. I make a nice family dinner just about every single night and if I don't have time, then Mr. Yesteryear will make something fabulous.  We have a huge garden and a pantry stocked with healthy food and both Mr. Yesteryear Acres and I are fantastic chefs.  There is no need to go out and eat junk........that is......evidently.......unless I am gone. It seems that they both did a bit of indulging in foods we do not eat.  Like Hot Dog night.  And Pizza night.  And FAST FOOD hamburger night. What the heck? It seems they threw all nutritional sensibility out the window and just went for the junk.  I was wondering why my son texted my daughter to let her know his stomach hurt.  Well of course it hurts! Fast Food Hamburgers? With fried onions?  Ummmm Hello.  Stomach ache! So last night as I was preparing dinner, my hamburger loving son came in with eager anticipation.  "What's for dinner?"  "Steak?" "Pork Chops?" "Spaghetti and Meatballs?"  Nope. Nope. Nope and Nope.  Just imagine the joy on my son's face when I said, "Tonight we are having wheatberries smothered in fresh roasted garden vegetables topped with a poached egg."  Yes, dear son........I am back!  Don't you feel better?!

Tick Tock!

Today was almost a complete contrast to yesterday as I barely had time to sit down. I had a ton of errands to run and have been on the go all day.  My younger daughter leaves on Sunday morning to go back to college. WAH! Sniff. Sniff. I can't believe she is already leaving again.  I feel like she just got back from Europe.  I feel like we just are at the beginning of our summer together - not the end!  I am trying to hurry and catch up on all my work so I can help her pack up her room and get ready to move.  This morning I did all the things that were long overdue - like getting groceries!  Going to the bank!  Going to the post office! Ooooh!  Doesn't that sound exciting?  We ran out of milk yesterday which in our house is a CRIME!  We drink right around 10 gallons of milk a week and having ZERO milk is complete and utter deprivation. Yesterday, I was so busy trying to get all my computer work done, I just didn't make it to the store.  I had to rectify that situation immediately this morning and then once I was out - I just kept adding to all the errands that needed to be finished.  My daughter and I spent a few hours shopping for her dorm room and I think we might just be down to one more shopping trip.  She needs some healthy food to take with her and we have a fairly long list. I mean she can't live without some quinoa and wheat berries and veggies!  We have to get her "pantry" stocked. We have hopes of getting the food shopping done this evening but since it is already after 9pm, I am thinking it might have to happen tomorrow morning. Then the REAL fun begins.  We get to pack everything up and load the car and then......OH BOY..........unload and move her in.  Didn't I just do this? Hmmmmm. Tick Tock!  Time to get after it!

So much work...so far behind

This morning my plan went something like this.... wake up early and then within 30 minutes of waking, go exercise.  I just got back from the medical health spa and of course I am more motivated than ever to keep up the good work.  I was just about ready to go workout when I realized I forgot to email some puppy pictures yesterday and then immediately rushed to the computer to get that done. Then Mr. Yesteryear Acres reminded me that I hadn't made August's calendar schedule yet.  So I had to do that.  New plan.....exercise before lunch!  No matter what!  Then I started going through all the bills and mail and bills and more mail that has accumulated while I was gone.  Before I knew it - it was 1:30pm and I was super hungry for lunch and still had not exercised.  New plan.......RIGHT after lunch I would catch up on some more email work AND then start checking off the list of "must do" things that my son needs finished and THEN exercise.  3:30pm at the latest....I WILL exercise. Did you know that registering for the ACT test takes FOREVER!?  My son had to sit there and answer a million questions just to register for the test.  "Would you like to build a birdhouse?"  "Would you like to make a monthly budget?"  "Would you like to hire and fire people?" and on and on and on.  After that was done we started on the SAT registration and then I had to complete medical paperwork and consents for cross-country and just at the point that I THOUGHT I would get outside to go workout......my daughter needed help ordering her textbooks for college.  Okay. So now it is 5:30.  I have not exercised.  I have not started dinner.  To be honest...I have not even had time to GET DRESSED!  I am still in my pajamas as I have been sitting at my computer since 8:00am this morning. ARGH!  New plan.  Go get dressed and GET OUT THERE before midnight!  I hope I can get outside soon or else......my new plan will have to include walking with a flashlight!!!!

BACK!

Oh my gosh!!!  I am so excited to be back home!  I think that is the longest I have been away!  I missed everything.  I missed Mr. Yesteryear Acres. I missed my son. I missed my doodle doggies. I missed my bed.  I missed my garden.  I got home last night a little after 1:00am and smiled with happiness when I walked in the door.  It is so good to be home!  AND look what was waiting for me.........

Eloise's Double Doodle Babies are just so adorable

We have both Caramels and Apricots in her litter

They love to sleep all snuggled together

Belle's Puppies now have their eyes open!

They are just beginning to see our big beautiful world

Happy Monday!

Southwest Creatures

During my awesome stay at the medical health spa in the Southwest, I tried to take in the beauty of the desert. I appreciated the mountains, the cacti, the desert flowers, the bunnies, and the desert birds. However, that being said, there were definitely aspects of the Southwest wildlife that I, quite frankly, did not appreciate. I am terrified of snakes and I do not particularly enjoy any species of cold blooded creatures. So when my daughter would be like "Oh mom look at this lizard! This one is so cool!" I did not find them cute or cool. I actually find them repulsive. So one day while we were walking, I accidentally  stepped on a lizard and my reaction might have went a little something like this, "Ohhhh ewwwwwwwww. I don't think that was a french fry." (There are tons of  mesquite beans on the walkways and in our state of hunger, we just call them french fries because they look JUST like french fries...mmmmmm). So anyway, after I say something to the effect of whatever I stepped on might have NOT been a french fry, my daughter turned around and in horror starts yelling "You stepped on a lizard!?!?!? WHO STEPS ON A LIZARD!? THAT'S LIKE STEPPING ON A BUNNY!!!! IT'S LIKE STEPPING ON A BIRD! WHO DOES THAT!?!?!" She continued the walk with her hands covering her face in total trepidation and kept repeating "how can you step on a lizard?!!!!!!!". Was she concerned about me? No. Did she care that I HATE reptiles and I just got up close and personal with a lizard? No. She cared about the poor little lizard I ACCIDENTALLY stepped on and may have harmed just a little bit. As if that wasn't enough nature for the day we then saw tarantulas that night.  Was my daughter concerned about the tarantula on the pathway? NO! She ran away screaming like the world was ending. She didn't stay to see if the spider made it across the path. In fact I've never seen her run away so fast in my entire life. Oh dear sweet daughter of mine... how would you feel if you stepped on a tarantula? See not a very warm and fuzzy feeling is it? I think we could agree that after that day, there was just too much nature! 

Pictures? Ummmmmmm

I had very good intentions of taking pictures the entire time I have been at the Medical Health Spa. The surrounding area is so beautiful.  There are mountains surrounding me.  There are cactus and birds and lizards and flowers and rocks and canyons.  It is really breathtakingly beautiful.  I have taken a total of ZERO pictures.  None.  Nada. Zilch.  My schedule has been that busy! I literally have something scheduled every single hour of the day.  5:30am: Power walk for one hour. 7am: Breakfast. 8am Exercise class. 9am: Health Lecture and so on and so on.  I have one hour for breakfast, one hour for lunch and one hour for dinner and that is the only time I am not doing something.  We even have lectures and classes at night.  By the time I crawl into bed, I am completely tired and have realized that yes, once again, I forgot to take pictures. Tomorrow morning I am leaving and heading back home.  I think I better find a way to at least take a few pictures before I leave! Mr. Yesteryear Acres is wondering if he will ever see pictures of where I have been staying. I better bring home some good shots of all the beauty here!

Not THAT kind of hiking

Today I went on a really hard hike up in the mountains of the Southwest. I love hiking.  This summer, I went hiking with my son in the Shenandoah National Park.  It was GREAT!  I went hiking with my sister in the mountains of Vermont. It was GREAT! Today......not so great!  I mean I am ALIVE so that is GREAT but let's face it.  I am only BARELY alive.  First, I went hiking with a bunch of hiking enthusiasts.  Meaning they hike all the time.  Second, those hiking enthusiasts were evidently a bunch of billy goats. Meaning they clamored up steep gravel mountainous inclines with little effort.  Third, I went on a hike unbeknownst to me on a trail that was called "Rattlesnake Canyon".  Anyone want to take a guess at what was LYING ACROSS THE TRAIL WE HAD TO WALK ON?  Yes.  A GIGANTIC RATTLESNAKE!  ACKKKKKK!  I HATE SNAKES! So now, I am in total fear as I am hiking. I am breathing like a freight train, straining to climb up the mountain, desperate to keep up with everyone because I don't want to be left behind in RATTLESNAKE CANYON!  I fell behind with every vertical climb and then had to RUN to catch up with everyone every time I reached a plateau.  Did I mention that I was hiking in the Southwestern United States?  In the blazing sun?  My face was literally purple.  All I could think was "Don't leave me here in Rattlesnake Canyon!!!"  I saw snakes and GIGANTIC wasps and GIGANTIC beetles and there was NO shade anywhere.  So I love hiking......just not THAT kind of hiking.  Thank goodness I survived!