4:30am ~ Farmer Neal’s alarm goes off.  I think “oh man it is already morning?” … but roll over and quickly fall back to sleep.

4:39am ~ Farmer Neal’s alarm goes off after the beloved snooze time.  We love our snooze times around here.  I roll over to give a friendly reminder to get up, only to discover the body to remind is in the shower already.   Crawling over the bed I finally hit the right button and crawl back to my warm side.

4:43am ~ Lose the fight to “not” use the bathroom.  Decided to not tell Farmer Neal that he forgot to turn off the alarm.

4:45am ~ Baby Evelyn is heard in the livingroom/nursery waking.

4:50am ~ I ignore the sounds of a “more awake” baby and pretend she will go back to sleep.   

4:53am ~ It is made clear that Evelyn is not just going to go back to sleep.  I make my way to her and am greeted with the most awake and happy “Good Morning Mama!” I have seen to date.

4:55am ~ Bottle is warming and diaper is being changed. 

4:56am ~ Farmer Neal apologizes for not turning off his alarm. 

5:00am ~ After a short visit with Daddy and smiles all around I am sitting on the couch feeding Evelyn her bottle and wondering how I missed the memo that I would be feeding her at 5am instead of 7am or even 8am like Tuesday. 

5:15am ~ Farmer Neal leaves for work.

5:20am ~ Baby Evelyn is back in bed with a dry butt and a full belly … such a sweet life.

5:21am ~ I am wondering if I should just stay up.   I have bars to make for church tonight, laundry in the dryer to fold, laundry in the washer to dry, and a growling stomach. 

5:22am ~ I am in bed.

5:25am ~ I think of this great idea for a blog post.

5:27am ~ Weigh the options of staying in bed for 2 more hours or not.

5:33am ~ Phone rings.  My heart beating faster but honestly thinking “he couldn’t be dead yet, he just left!”. 

5:34am ~ Find out that Farmer Neal ran out of gas on the way to work but a co-worker was close behind on the road so he will give him a ride in.   Loren will call back on his lunch break to come up with a “plan” to get gas in the truck before 4pm.

5:38am ~ I think long and hard about my next move.

5:46am ~ Phone rings again.  I discover the “official plan” to get gas in the truck which involves very little of my help (hopefully and thankfully).

6am ~ Breakfast is made, laundry from the washer tumbling in the dryer which hold a freshly folded load on top of it, and a post is being typed.

90 minutes later I think I will just call it a morning.

We had a little All Saints Day deal at church tonight.  We love the Saints.  Thier stories of faith and commitment and struggle are amazing.  So in honor of the Saints we all did a little research on one of our favorites and the kids (and some adults too) were asked to dress up like a Saint.  We chose Mary the mother of Jesus for Miss Evelyn since Mary is her middle name.  We had planned on also dressing up as St. Anne and St. Joachim (Mary’s parents) BUT well, I just didn’t get to those outfits.  As it was, I started putting Evelyn’s costume together at 3pm … we had to leave at 4:30pm plus I had food to prep.  But, I found some blue fabric and was on my way.  I sewed the vail and a quick skirt while Loren scrubbed potatoes and before I knew it we had a St. Mary costume.

We thought she was adorable (of course!).   Happy All Saints Day.

* Alternate post title could be … “Pretend She Is Wearing Orange!”

The cutest little pink pumkin I know has something to say …

“trick or treat smell my feet, give me something good to eat!” 

She would also like to add … “Thanks Grandma for the socks!, if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have even known it was Halloween around this place!”

Ok, if you remember last nights post, or should I say, if you made it through last nights post I told you about some cupcakes. 

You decide …

Hideous … which is a pretty stong word I know … goofy, silly, not exactly “pumpkin-ish”, etc. would all work as well.

Or … Whimsical.

I am stickin’ with hideous … partly because I like the word and mostly because really, those are not the most pumpkin looking faces that I was capable of creating.  I do have a favorite though … the center one on the chocolate tray with the mean eyes.  Pretty scary pumpkin cupcake don’t you think?  He makes me smile. 

The best part about the cupcake adventure was that the kids teenagers really did get a kick out of them and appreciated the effort we put in for them so all was good.  There are big turkey cupcake plans for November … expect to see more candy corn.

Today was busy. So busy in fact that it is almost tomorrow.  Technically it is Tuesday eve at 11:43pm as I type.  I am rarely up this late anymore.  This used to be my busiest time when Loren was working second shift and not arriving home until after 2am.  But since we went from  a second shift family to a first shift family this past spring we became early to bed and early to rise people.  But tonight I am still up because I have had a lot to do. 

To warn you, when there is plenty of time to turn back, only to have committed to one paragraph … this might be a bit of  a boring post.  There is absolutely nothing fun or witty in my mind as I type … this could very well be one of those un-eventful “this was my day posts” that I seldom type out but that I oddly enjoy reading on other blogs.  So you have been warned and if you are just oh so curious as to why a first shift girl is still up at nearly midnight then I still say, it is boring folks. 

I am waiting for bread to bake.  Exciting no?  Oh the life I lead, on the edge … never knowing what my next adventure will be.  To make it even more fun, I just mopped the floor.  Yes that is right, I mopped up the nasty goo left behind by those once-frozen then suddenly rotting potatoes.  The water was so gross I had to change it half way through.  But I gotta say, it looks nice.  Who doesn’t love a nice clean kitchen floor though?   It almost sparkles.  It would actually sparkle if Loren cleaned it.  Of course he would have been on his hands and knees and moving appliances too.  I am just happy with an “almost sparkles” floor this time of night. 

In addition to the bread, and the mopped floor I took care of 5 loads of laundry.  It might actually only be 4 but 5 sounds much better.  I lose count and loads that I did last time creep into my counts.  Anyway, I still have one to fold … those darn towels that I just don’t like to fold … and there are a couple rugs in the dryer waiting for the almost sparkling floor to finish drying.  I love clean rugs … I rarely wash them though, not sure why?  Anyway, that was a lot of laundry don’t you think?  It is my average almost twice a week which is sad considering there are only 3 bodies presently. 

After work today I made 48 cupcakes with a friend for the kids at church tomorrow night.  It took longer then I planned and they are horrible looking.  Really bad my friends.  I might just bring the camera to work in the morning so that there is proof.  My friend Julie loves them, she thinks they look “whimsical” when the truth is, they are hideous.  I didn’t want to deal with the true decorating … the pastry bags full of frosting and fancy tips and so we went with candy corn and m&m’s.  I am pretty sure that you can use your imagination and figure out why the supposed to be adorable pumpkin faced cupcakes turned out so very wrong.  Mostly they look like snowmen faces.  Fortuantely we know exactly what to do for December.

Before the cupcakes I worked, nothing too exciting there … just that I was there and that counts for something I suppose.  The plan us that I will be done with work sometime in January giving me a couple months before (God Willing) this baby arrives full term.  I am overjoyed with excitement to be able to stay home with Evelyn and the new one.  Working even part-time with a little one in tow has had its challenges.  She used to sleep all three hours … now, she rarely sleeps a half an hour.  That can be a problem. 

Well, the bread is out of the oven and I gotta say that it looks a bit “done-ish” which doesn’t make me happy on this already early Wed. morning.  Oh well, Loren will eat anything … thankfully.  That load of towels is still on the couch, wonder when they will be folded?  I am thinking in about 7 or 8 hours when I am awake enough to fold them mostly straight, and when I won’t be folding in the dark while Miss Evelyn sleeps in her so-called bedroom that we also consider the livingroom.  I might just take those rugs out of the dryer, if I remember in the next few minutes. 

Have a great day friends … if you made it this far then I am not sure if I should apologize or thank you.  Take your pick, they are both there for the taking.

Well you might assume that baby Evelyn is perfect in every way and really … she is, except when she is not. 

Last week Loren was home with Evelyn and I was at the church feeding a couple dozen kids.  When I got home I was told the most interesting story of how our little lady managed to make quite a mess with a dozen or so of her disposable diapers and other various items around the livingroom.  Apparenlty she knew that Daddy was asleep on the job and took full advantage.  I wanted a picture but Daddy said he didn’t think of that, though he would be willing to re-enact the scene if that would help.  Sigh.  No, I would have to wait to see for myself. 

So yesterday while I was knee-high in potato land Miss E. was “playing” in the livingroom and suddenly it was more quiet then I figured was normal.  Upon closer inspection, I found her … with diapers off the shelf.

Unfortunately, for photo’s sake … she only had 5 diapers to play with.  Is it just me or does she seem to know that this isn’t what she is supposed to do? … and yet that she seems ok with that?

How could you be upset with a face like that?  Of course had I decided to stack the new box of diapers I might have had a bit more of an issue … but mostly I think that she is just plain old cute. 

Today was Saturday … still is technically, if even for a little while longer.  While the boys (Farmer Neal & Veteran Haymaker) worked on the sewer system …

I worked on potatoes …

I canned 21 quarts.  These were the potatoes that lived under my dining room table for a week.  The partially frozen potatoes that Farmer Neal picked a few weeks back before any more frost hit the garden.  They needed to be taken care of, the once frozen spots were now not-frozen and slowly rotting.  They were gross and they were a lot of work … to say the least.  Lots of cutting away the bad parts and peeling and peeling and peeling.  I don’t know that it would be my first choice if I were looking for something to do.  But I am sure that in February when I am frantically looking for something “quick” to prepare in our “from the ground up” kitchen I will be thankful for the time I put in today. 

Miss Evelyn did her normal routine since it doesn’t matter to her what day it is.  She spent some time playing, sleeping, and eating, and messing diapers … you know “baby” things.  She also hung out with me while I cut potatoes.   Having this cute face across from me helped out with the lack of enthusiasm I had for the job at hand.

I tried to get a picture of her smiling but she just didn’t want to. 

That’s more then obvious right?  Still cute, but not quite the smile I was hoping for.  So I gave up on her face and went for this shot. 

I don’t know why exactly but while I was under the table earlier in the day getting those potatoes that I didn’t want to be on the floor to get, her cute little dangling legs made me smile.  So I ventured under the table … for the third time today … only this time I wasn’t telling her that “Daddy should really be getting these potatoes since he put them under here!” … I wasn’t saying anything at all, just trying to get  a picture that wasn’t blurry.  After I realized that the perfectly clear shot wasn’t going to happen and gave up, I popped my head back up and this is what I saw.

As soon as she would see my eyes she would start laughing … over and over again.    I don’t know what she found so funny but whatever it was, it made for the cute picture that I was looking for.  

So that was our day … productive on the sewer system and productive on those potatoes.  Now, the floor needs to be scrubbed but I am off duty for the night.  I spent 12 hours in that kitchen today and I am done … done, done.  So the floor will have to wait … which suits me just fine.   The kitchen is closed as I like to say.

Grandma Mary went shopping …

Cute right?  We normally have lots of apples this time of year so it was quite appropriate for our little growing farm girl.  This year we didn’t get apples which this Mama farm girl is extremely thankful for!  So anyway, back to Ev … I thought today that it would be nice to take a picture or two of her in her new duds … but if only I had some apples.

Oddly enough, when an egg customer came by this afternoon to pick up eggs (that’s not the odd part) … she brought a box of apples!  cool huh? 

So we set up a blanket and a basket of apples and a cute baby in her new outfit.   Since she knew the apples were food she would barely touch them, though she did play with the leaves … she is such a goofy little girl. 

Here she is looking at Daddy … of course she is, it’s the only way I can get great smiles.  The down side to that is that she rarely looks at the camera and smiles like that.  So I settle for side views.  If Loren stands behind me she just stretches to look up and those shots don’t turn out too well. 

This is her new “thing” with Daddy.  He taught her to stick out her lower lip … but she decided her tongue was a  better idea.  We have decided not to encourage it, though she does it every time she thinks of it when she is looking at him.  Lesson learned that you have to be pretty particular with what you teach a smart baby.

Cute to the core … we tend to agree!

Pretty sure this is the only house you would see this …

Yep, that is a bunch of potatoes under the table.  Why under the table do you ask?  Well, where else would be the best place to dry them after they were hosed off?  Apparently they used to go near the wood stove, but currently that space is occupied by the drying kidney beans. 

Kidney beans, you might ask?  Yep we grow them … and they were picked in the rain so had to spend a little time in the heat to dry off before they can be shelled. 

Well then why not dry the potatoes on the table … you know where at least you wouldn’t have to bend over to pick them up?  Ok, so I added that bending over part, but honestly that was the first thing that I thought of when I saw them in their new drying place.  Well … this just “might” have been why …

Even though it wasn’t that full last night that was the state of my table this afternoon.  Now some of you might be gasping and thinking “oh my goodness what a mess!, I can’t believe she showed that chaos! … can you believe that she showed that chaos?”   The only reason why I did show you is because a mere 10 minutes later it looked like this …

Amazing what a little photo of your chaos can do to motivate … for me anyway. 

Fortunately not all things around these farm house floors are a problem …

Not too sure how long those potatoes will stay under the table but if you happen to be here and they are at your feet while eating a delicious homemade farm meal and you drop your fork, my recommendation would be that you ask for a new one.