Miscellany Monday - March 17, 2014: Trip, a Baby, a Pot, and Stitches

Jas has been out of town for the past four days.  We sure have missed our daddy!  Jas flew to Oregon to surprise his dad for his 66th birthday.  Jason's two brothers (who live in Colorado) also flew in to surprise Phil.  He was very surprised indeed!

While I am so glad that Jas got to go on this trip...we are so, so glad for him to be home!


**********************************

Remember Abby who just did a guest post a week and a half ago?  And how she mentioned in that post that her baby boy was due to arrive any day?

Well...he's here!

In what has to almost be a record for a first delivery...baby boy arrived in just five hours.  In fact, they didn't have time to fill the birthing pool for their wonderful home birth.

Congratulations Michael and Abby!  We can't wait to meet that precious boy of yours!  (E has already been asking me when we can come up there to see y'all!)


************************************


While E and LK and I were working together in the kitchen a few days ago, E remarked that with our daddy gone, I sure was going to have my "hands full".

LK - totally seriously - added:  "And your elbows!"

???????

You just never know what this girl is going to come out with.

***********************************

With our anniversary quickly coming up, and knowing what a practical girl I am - Jas ordered me an anniversary gift.  The day before he left for Oregon, he checked on the shipping status. He was not particularly pleased with what he found out.

He told me:  "Your gift is coming tomorrow.  BUT...it's coming in a big box that has a picture of it right on the outside...so go ahead and open it up.  Happy Anniversary!"

This is what he got me:

We texted this picture to daddy, to show him that my present arrived, and that we all love it!
My kiddos are crazy: E has a big wooden spoon, and D has salt...to season G!

It is a 36 qt stockpot.  THIRTY-SIX QUARTS!   That is over three times as big as my (previously) biggest pot.  

When Jas and I were working in the kitchen together a few weeks ago, as I was tripling our favorite Hamburger Soup recipe, he saw that I had to divide it between two pots, because my biggest one wasn't big enough to hold all of it.  No biggie.  But...that gave Jas an idea for an anniversary present.  This guy sure knows how to speak my love language.  

So...now I am the proud owner of a pot that is big enough to cook my 2-year old.  And that is something I never imagined myself saying.

************************************

While Jas was gone we did something to surprise him.  We spread pinestraw in all the beds around the house.  It was something that the children and I could do, that would free him up to work on stuff around here that only he can do.

We drove to our friends' house to rake up the straw.  They have planted pines on both ends of their property, and they've offered for us to come get as much as we care to rake up.  So the children and I made three trips on Saturday morning.

Now every time we pull out of the driveway, one of the children comments, "It looks so nice!"  And it does.  And I'm so thankful for them to learn the satisfaction that comes from doing a good job on a worthwhile task.







And daddy was so pleasantly surprised and happy with our surprise for him!



************************************

But we didn't spend all our time working while daddy was gone.

Friday night we all (save G) piled up in the family room for a slumber party.  We ate waffles with a homemade strawberry syrup and bacon for supper.  We had a Little House on the Prairie marathon - watching three in a row (wild and crazy party animals we are), and went to bed too late (10:30?).  I slept on the sofa.

And a grand time was had by all!


***********************************

(If you don't like blood and stitches, skip this last segment and close the blog now)













Because things were so dull around here with our daddy gone for four days, I decided to liven things up by having a freak kitchen accident and slicing my left pinkie with some broken glass.  I would really love to watch a slowmo replay to see precisely what happened...I really couldn't tell you exactly.  

BUT, I immediately knew the cut was good enough that I would need stitches.  I quick called my dad and (praise Jesus) he was just pulling out of his farm right down the road...so he got here within two minutes.

And then I called my mom at her house.  She got here as quick as she could and she drove me to the ER, while dad stayed with the children at the house.


This is the picture I texted to Jas and his brothers, because they kept bugging me about wanting to see it:

Jas agreed with the children's assessment:  My cut beats his cut.

Three hours and 8 stitches later, I arrived back home with a finger that looks very Frankenstein-ish, in my humble opinion.

So very thankful that the only reason I was in the ER was a cut finger.  So, SO very thankful that my parents were right here, willing and able to help, especially since I waited until Jas was out-of-state to pull this stunt.