Back in November, during firearm deer hunting season here in Michigan, I didn't get out into the tree stand much. But when I did, the first time, I found that the squirrels had pretty much destroyed the seat cushion for the tree stand I use (that DH had put up in October).
That hunt was fairly uncomfortable, sitting on a cushion that was one narrow strip (the cushiony part) and several large spots with no filling between my gluteus maximus and the metal frame of the tree stand.
By the third time I went out to hunt, DH had dug up a new 'cushion' (a not very squishy foam board--very likely ancient and petrified) to temporarily replace the one the squirrels excavated for nest insulation material. I used farmer ingenuity and secured it to the tree stand with baling twine. Because, baling twine. LOL. If you know, you know.
So I bought myself a (cheap) bouquet of flowers from the grocery store, ordered a yummy "salad" (lettuce, chicken, rice, roasted corn, black beans, guacamole) from the local Mexican restaurant to be ready for pickup when I was done bringing horses in for their evening feed, and made myself a small cake (chocolate with peanut butter frosting). I even put two candles in it, leftover from when K3 and Toad were very young and often were here on short notice for an indefinite amount of time (number 5 and number 3, my current age). I of course lit them so I could make a wish and blow them out. It's not a real birthday party without blowing out the candles.
Silly? Maybe. But it was better than pretending it wasn't actually my birthday just because no one else was around to celebrate with me.
I forgot to set aside a bit of frosting to add food coloring to and use for decorating the cake, so instead of writing Happy Birthday on it, I used colored sprinkles to carefully spell out HAPPY. The whole message being too big to write in sprinkles on an 8" x 8" cake. Actually, I think maybe HAPPY will be my mantra for this year of my life. There's been a whole lot of years of late that I was frustrated, overwhelmed, hurt (by and for others), and pretty much unhappy. I'm rather tired of all that. Happy is my desired goal from here on out.
We had a couple decent snows in December. After one late in the month, I found myself walking in the woods (helping DH track a doe he'd shot during the late antlerless season) and took a picture of the trees in the snow. I/We really need to get out there more and just walk around for the sake of wandering, not because we're working on finding a deer, or cutting/hauling firewood or tapping trees and collecting sap for syrup.
Since the first of the year, I've started working on a new baby quilt. Grandbaby #7 (who shall be dubbed with the name of Lucky here on the blog) is due on Valentine's Day. This is the first child for DS2 and Surprise, and they are keeping the gender a secret until Lucky arrives. Surprise suggested 'genderless' colors such as light blue, green, yellow, gray, for this quilt.
As usual, I've taken that concept and am running with my own adaptation. I'm not a pastel lover for baby quilts, especially as I make my grandkids quilts that will cover them until they are about 8 or 10 years old, not just as newborns. I don't want a theme they will outgrow quickly. And, since DS2 and Surprise originally met at Disney World 10 years ago, I just had to go with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto fabric too.
The weather has been rather cold lately, as it should be for January (but wasn't in Jan. 2024), and the Yarn Thief has been preferring to stay in the house rather than go outside to hunt birds and mice. She's getting a bit of cabin fever, though, and while I was changing the sheets on my bed she crawled underneath the fitted sheet where she made a lump I couldn't smooth out. This is a favorite game of hers that usually involves me getting one or more claws in my fingers as I'm trying to make the bed.
There have been other things happening around this little place here in recent months, and I'm hoping to turn a few of them into their own posts rather than including them here. But I can't resist adding a couple pictures of a Christmas present my kids got me. I'm willing to bet I'm the only Mom who actually put these on her Wish List:
Caution cones! Coming to a pseudo riding arena near me (okay, my temporary riding arena behind the barn) once the frigid weather breaks long enough for me to get back into the saddle. I'm so excited to be able to set them up in multiple configurations to use as training aids.
