Taxes

I have spent a good part of the afternoon working on my taxes.  I think I have everything ready for the accountant (except my son's W-2).  I  should receive that this week and I'm ready.....who knows what will happen but I'm hoping for a refund.  We need a WOODEN shed come Spring! (see below).

Wow!

The Farmer's Daughter has given me a blogger award.  So I have to tell you all seven things that you may not know about me.....

1.  We make bread every day.  We haven't bought bread in a few months now!

2.  My family has a family dinner every Wednesday night.  Most of my immediate family of 27 are usually there.  It is crazy, but it is wonderful.

3.  I have the greatest friends and family in the world.  I was blessed with people who love me and who have helped me through the toughest days.  I love them all and they know who they are!

4.  My all time favorite television show is The Waltons.

5.  My son was just (today!) accepted to the Wallingford Police Dept. on a conditional offer to be a police officer - He has to pass four more tests (he has already passed about six).  He will be graduating in May from Uconn.

6.  We lost our shed this week.  (see blog below)

7.  I make my own laundry detergent and just this week I made my own dishwasher detergent.  They work and are very inexpensive.

So, there you have it.  Thank you Abbi for nominating me and now I have to nominate others.  And these are some of my favorites:

Four Bushel Farm Gal

Living in my shoes

You and me and the lamp post

Proverbs 31 Living

And thar she blows!!!

We had a wind and rain storm yesterday.  It was quite bad....a lot of people lost power locally and unfortunately, we lost our shed.  We actually didn't lose it, it is right there, but with one door gone (we have no idea where that is) and about 8 feet off the ground and just sitting upright...We have no idea what it is balanced on?  But we called our insurance company (who I have to say has been great this year!) and we are having someone take the shed down and then we can go through everything.  Unfortunately, all our summer stuff was in there: chairs, table, lawnmover, grill, etc.  I think we lost the grill and the lawnmower and the table, we may be able to save the chairs.  Always something!!!!

My favorite day of the week

I have to say that Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  Today, we took Nonni to church and then came home to get dinner ready.  Nonni folded laundry and then we ate a wonderful dinner.  My sister came over with the triplets, too, so we had fun and my son came home for the weekend (although, I think I only saw him for an hour!).

Shopping...Zumba

I hate shopping....but I have no choice. Our kitchen chairs have just fallen apart, one by one. They are dangerous to sit in. My husband's chair has no back and three of the others are held together with duck tape....kind of scary! So it is time. I have saved up some money and we are going to look for six new kitchen chairs....To be fair, this was a hand-me-down set. The table is still good, but the chairs.....not so good!

This afternoon, I am going to Lauren's for Zumba. We have our two playlists and we will do them both (tough afternoon) and we need to practice, practice, practice....

Tonight

Tomorrow morning (4:45 am), my daughter has to cheer for ND and the Cool School program. So....I'm up at 4:00 and am taking four bubbly cheerleaders to the school to cheer! I'll come back home and sleep...I'm tired just thinking about it.....

I think it is on our local channel 3.

Winter time.....

Usually, during this time of the year, I am relatively bored. I seem to have all the time in the world and I actually look for things to do, just to get out of the house....This year, things are different. My daughter is very involved with cheerleading, I feel like I am running her somewhere every day. Zumba now keeps me quite busy at least two nights a week, sometimes three....Hubby likes to visit with friends at least once a week. We have dinner with my entire family every Wednesday night and I also have my library board meeting on Wednesdays once a month. Sundays are busy with CCD teaching and Nonni....

I am not bored. I am uber-busy. I guess it is all good but you know what I could use....a nice BIG snowstorm to keep me home for two or three days....Now that would be NICE!!!!!!

Haiti

My prayers are all going to Haiti and it's people this week. They need them more than anyone right now.

This is where I am donating; Catholic Relief Services...

https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1

If you have your own favorite charity, please give.

Deer Stew and lots of food prep.

My dad had given me a ton of deer meat last year. Some I had given to the boys for college and this week, I took out 1/2 a package (it was huge) and made a deer stew. Even though I am a vegetarian, I will eat meat, that I know has no hormones and was killed properly.

The last time I made deer stew (same deer) it was gamey. This time it came out simply awesome. I am not sure why it was so good this time around (well, I sort of know why), but I only had one bowl and then gave the rest to the boys for school......I wish I kept some!

Today, I came home from work and threw on a pot of Turkey Soup, we had the carcass from last week. It just finished cooking so I'll debone the carcass and take out all the veggies tomorrow night. Last night I had fried up a ton of eggplant and made Marinara sauce, so just now, I put everything together and made a tray of eggplant parmagiana for dinner tomorrow (my daughter is psyched).

Zumba

I did another Zumba class today. I am helping my friend Sue, with her new class. She is an excellent instructor and everyone is having a lot of fun and sweating (which are two important factors in Zumba fitness).

I did three classes this week, I'm tired, but I feel great.

Looking forward to starting my own class in March.

Another Busy Couple of Weeks

Within the last two weeks, I have gone to two wakes, sent out a card for a third wake, that I could not attend in MA. Took down the Christmas Tree (I left up the decorated mantle and the Nativity set because those came out really nice this year). I took my CPR test and passed, Did Zumba fitness four times, Got stuck in the house for two days because of snow. Had a very nice New Year's Eve split between two different house parties, had a card night with the girls at my sister-in-law Barbara's house and worked every day but the two holidays! Oh and two basketball games, a trip to NYC and this was all AFTER Christmas

Let's hope 2010 slows down just a little bit.....but not too much, I wouldn't know what to do with myself........

Home Made...

I made another batch of detergent last night, using a slightly different recipe. I am going to keep trying recipes, until I love the recipe (sounds like the Walton's, but I mean a totally different recipe :) )

This one was with Ivory Soap and the last batch was with Fels Naptha. This batch had a little less Borax. We will see how it works. The last batch worked great, but I think I like the smell of the Ivory better......It gelled (sp?) up beautifully. I'll add a picture later!


It was a snowy, cold day. I took Nonni to church and then home for dinner. My mother-in-law came over too. We had a nice Sunday afternoon, but they left early, because the weather was just iffy all day.

I started another afghan yesterday. I am going to make this one for Bruno (one of the trips) for next year's Christmas gift. I figure if I start now, I'll finish by then...........