An Uneventful Black Friday

I love weekends. I adore weekends associated with a holiday.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far. It is simple. Very little unnecessary spending. It focuses on good food and family. Why don't we eat stuffing, candied yams and cranberry sauce the rest of the year?

I love the family time. Everyone gathers in the kitchen surrounded by wonderful aromas and spoons to lick, while the cook sweats over a hot stove.

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I stood in the kitchen all day long with the radio on and baked. I made about 10 cups of fresh butter from a gallon of heavy whipping cream. Click on this good site to see how I make my own butter. I also used the 2 quarts of buttermilk that was left over, to make a double batch of 6-Week Bran Muffins. Then I made mashed candied yams and rice stuffing. I made 2 jello salads and by the time the day was over, I fell into bed in a heap.

This is a holiday jello salad made with orange jello: 2 cups boiling water, to dissolve the jello, then 2 cans mandarin oranges and then 2 more cups of 7-up (or the cheapy brand) instead of water. I put marshmallows on top. I love the tang the 7-up or Sprite gives jello!

I woke up Thanksgiving morning at 8 a.m. I went into the kitchen and found Victor cooking. He had 2 pecan pies baking, 2 pumpkin pies ready to go into the oven, dinner rolls were rising, and he was stuffing the bird. He is marvelous. We had a beautiful, intimate, Thanksgiving dinner with our children.

Friday morning, Victor got me up at 4 a.m., we left the house at 4:30, drove over the mountain pass to the next town and arrived at WalMart at 5 a.m. I experienced Black Friday for the first time in my life! Our small-town WalMart had a very controlled, polite crowd and no one trampled anyone else.

It was pretty comical. Victor was equipped with a map of where all the wild sales were scattered around the store and we gathered up what we had carefully put on our list. I can't tell what we purchased because our kids are the sneakiest on the planet and would read this and it would ruin the surprise.

My sister called me later that day and told me she knew what I was doing at 5 a.m.! The local news caught Victor and I entering WalMart. Brother!

Thankful Thursday 13

I guess in the blogosphere it is cute to make lists of 13 things on Thursdays. In keeping with this very special day, Thanksgiving, I want to list the 13 things I am thankful for. Our local radio station did that yesterday. They had callers tell one thing they were grateful for.... but it couldn't be friends or family or our health, because everyone says that. It should be more of the "little" things in life. If you read my daughter, Rachel's blog (see A Little Bit of Crazy) from last week, she did one like that. Very cute. Rachel counted in Russian, I think I will count in Finnish. My father, whom I am very thankful for, was 1/2 Finn.

Yksi (1): The first random thing I am grateful for is the Internet. It is truly a miracle, no thanks to Al Gore, and boggles my mind. Because of the Internet my children can do school homework, I can check up on their progress in each class, I keep in touch with family & friends, I found my gorgeous husband on a social network(!!), I can find the most succulent recipes, can get quilt block paterns and last but really first, I can do my genealogical research.

Kaksi (2): My ancestors. This one really doesn't count in the 'being thankful for family' department because it just doesn't! For the most part, all of my mother's ancestors landed in Jamestown, Virginia as early as 1608 (Dr. John Woodson) and were contributors to the beginning of our great Republic. One even signed the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee, my 11th great grandfather. The great General Robert E. Lee was my 4C 6xR and Thomas Jefferson was my 2C 8xR. Patrick Henry married my 7th great grand aunt, Sallie Shelton. There were thousands more who just lead quiet lives of hard work and great faith (i.e., William Barkesdale, Samuel Ferguson, John Bernard & Mary Anne Abney, Moses Steagald, Thomas Morton & Elizabeth Woodson, William Shelton & Hannah Armistead, Abraham Micheaux & Susanna Rochet, Peter Rucker & Elizabeth Fielding, William Barnett & Anne Rolfe, Alexander Sutherland and Jean Campbell, Robert DePriest & Elizabeth Randolph, Thomas Tinsley & Sarah Jackson, John Alexander & Anne Axtell, just to name a few).

My father's grandparents came from Pudasjarvi, Oulu, Finland and Madesjo, Kalmar, Sweden.

Kolme(3): I love my jacuzzi! I have fibromyalgia and sometimes am in great pain. It is warm and soothing and relaxing to muscles screaming in agony.
Neljä(4): I love horses. They are graceful, swift, sleek, grand, regal, silently proud. I am grateful for their contribution to my ancestor's lives in travel, work and pleasure. I get to watch herds of horses out my windows everyday as they are pastured all around our property.
Viisi (5): The washing machine! Oh, what a superb invention. Not having to beat the clothes on a rock while I try to scrub the filth out of my children's underpants, is such a royal blessing. Just throw the clothes in a box, add detergent and voila! The dryer is not in the same arena of inventions, just because of the 65 mph winds here, typically. Actually, I could just stand in the yard for 4.5 minutes with a pair of jeans and they would be dry.
Kuusi (6): Ah, the bed! The place where we spend a 1/3 of our day. Comfy, cozy and warm. The places where dreams are lived and muscles are rested.
Seitsemän (7): The cow! Not the stately animals that horses are but more cute and comical. They also give us steak and hamburger. I am not a big milk drinker but love, love, love ice cream and sour cream. I have also taken up making my own butter from cream. Fun and cost efficient.

Kahdeksan (8): The cell phone. Living in a society where most people have one attached to their body, 24/7, and acknowledging the arguements of the invasion to our lives, they are extremely handy. Rather than driving all over town trying to catch up with a teenager, I can just call them and save time, gas and frustration.

Yhdeksän(9): I am grateful for music. It sets the mood and changes a mood. I enjoy classical, especially piano. I love choral music, especially if I am in the choir. I love classic rock, country, folk ballads, old girl scout campfire tunes and religious music. Of course, rap is not music, so thus not listed.
Kymmenen(10): The origin of this favorite is #7, the cow, and Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry. I am thankful for Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream. Mmmm..... what a confectionary genius. Truly wonderful and can be shared with #3, the jacuzzi. Yksitoista (11): Quilting! I have blogged about this before. I love sewing the pieces together and quilting by hand. I love the history behind quilts.
Kaksitoista (12): I'm grateful for rocking chairs. I rocked babies in a rocking chair for about 23 years solid. Sometimes I would nurse the infant while a toddler sat next to me. I wonder how many hours I have logged on a rocker? I wonder how many miles I have rocked? Around the world, how many times? Generally, mine were blue, the color of the era. Kolmetoista (13): The camera, what a fantastic invention. It makes blogging easier, but really, it's use in recording history is amazing. I just wish it had been around about 2,000 years before. I would love to have seen real pictures of life in the dark ages, the renaissance era and the lives of my ancestors.

Well, that wraps it up. I have more, but there isn't enough Internet out there to list all my loves.

6-Week Bran Muffins

I have loved these Bran Muffins for years and mourn the fact that I can't eat them. I found out, about 14 years ago, that the kids and I have Celiac Disease (see links on sidebar) so I can't eat them. However, I still make them for Victor and his children and it thrills me to see someone enjoy them.

They are called 6-Week because the batter will last up to six weeks in your fridge. It's nice to scoop them out and plop them in muffin tins in the morning and have warm, fresh muffins for breakfast each day. Mmmmmm.... So, here is the recipe! My guide to my recipes is thus: C=cup, T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon

6-Week Bran Muffins

Bake for 20 min. at 375 in greased muffin tins

2 C boiling water

1 C shortening

2 C sugar

4 eggs

1 t salt

1 qt. buttermilk

5 t baking soda

5 C flour

4 C All-Bran cereal

2 C 40% Bran Flake cereal

Boil water in a small sauce pan, add the soda. It will foam. Boil for 1 min. Let rest for 2 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients (except the cereals). Cream. Fold in cereal. Don't over mix. Place in bowl with cover and store in fridge. Enjoy!

I have a Bone to Pick with that Dog!

Alli is our beautiful Golden Retriever. If you know anything about this breed, you will know that they are very smart, love the water (they actually have webbed feet), and love to retrieve... EVERYTHING. In Alli's case, she loves to chase and catch small pebbles. She does this for hours. Until she has worn out all the human throwing-machines around her. She will drag her favorite rock into the house and drop her treasure anywhere and since I am always barefoot I will step on it, bruise my heel and grit my teeth in pain, muttering sweet nothings under my breath. Ohhh, it hurts so much!

She is also amazing in her ability to run the 4 miles into town and play in the park by the Yellowstone River. She's smart enough to know when the river is too deep and swift to safely swim in it, but after the Spring run-off she thoroughly enjoys herself.On her way to the river, she passes the irrigation ditch, which she romps in, then next, passes junk-food-alley (McDonalds, Taco John's, Arby's and the Exxon station) and they will feed her their wares. If they are quick enough they catch her and call us... everyone in town knows Alli and knows us, because of her. The Exxon station, once, fed her three hot dogs, the ones that were tough as a tire from rolling around in the glass box all day, and then tied her up next to the newspaper stands with a garden hose until we got there to get her. Because of her roaming nature, I call her "Alli-Cat".

We have a million stories of her "running away". Once someone actually found her, kept her (even with her collar on, telling them our phone number) bought her a fancy new leash and then had the audacity to call the Animal Shelter, looking for her, when she ran away from them... the thieves!

The most recent experience was last weekend. She went on one of her pilgrimages to town and on her way, encountered a dead and rotting carcass. She rolled in it, gleefully, I am sure. Now, bloody, slimy and smelling of putrid, decaying flesh, she chewed on it and ended up bringing home a bone. Early the next morning she barfed up a pile of animal hair on the boy's bedroom carpet, which they graciously left for me to clean up.

She does this often. She has drug home so many bones that we could assemble them all together and create a new animal.

I have grounded her to the kennel. It has 7 foot sides and has to have a roof because she can climb/jump over it. She has to 'do her business' only in the kennel for the next week. I hope I have her trained soon. Here is a picture of Alli in jail and our other dog, Bo, visiting the inmate. He never runs away. Too chicken!

This is Bo's favorite pasttime! Sneaking up on our bed and taking a long snooze. He knows when Victor is coming down the hall, however, and scampers off and innocently lays on the floor when Victor gets into the room. Victor forbids dogs on the bed! And I forbid running away. Does anyone listen to us? Nooooooooo!

The Big Cheese

The chaos begins as soon as we get out bed. We have to get our two dogs pottied and fed and then the 8 kids showered, dressed, fed, lunches made, and into the Suburban with their backpacks, band instruments and sports gear.

Sometimes when we've woken late we have accomplished this all in 20 minutes. Then I drive like a bat out of h*ll, down a 1.5 mile long gravel road going 120 mph (just an exageration, Officer) (with some of the kids still

dressing and snarfing breakfast in the vehicle) and get them to the bus stop in the nick of time.

The kids call the bus, "The Big Cheese", I guess because it looks like a large 2 pound block of cheddar. It's comical when the Suburban doors fly open. We look like one of those circus cars with all the clowns coming out.

This is Matthew and Megan after school.

The bus stop is down where the chaparel is at the beginning of the road. On this particular day, they are my only children who got off the bus as everyone else had football/soccer/volleyball practice. Also, I am late, as usual, picking them up at 3:50 p.m. at the stop so they have walked up the road hoping to meet me. It was nice weather that day. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow. And really, it's about time! I mean it's the middle of November! For tomorrow, just picture these two kids in long pants, winter coats, hat & gloves and scowls on their little faces.

Our Dorky Family

Victor, Rachael and Megan, all trying to catch flies! No one will ever give me a decent pose unless I catch them off-guard. I love this picture of Megan. She just got out of the jacuzzi in our bathroom. She just loves to bathe and started taking showers by herself just a couple of months ago.

Here is Nathan this past summer, at work making sandwiches and salads at Subway while wearing his 3-D glasses from a movie he went to.

Here is a video I took with my cell phone. It is pretty rough. I took it this summer when Rachael and Matthew filled up a very large rock with water and played in it for hours. They are both eleven years old and as step brother and sister, they really get along. Their birthdays are only a month apart. They are inseparable most of the time.

You may be wondering where pictures are of the other kids; Brooke, Heather, Clint, Stacey and Kayleigh. Oh, just give me time! I fully intend on catching them "in the act" and posting it. They better beware because I'm lurking around every corner.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

Being somewhat new to blogging, I'm not quite sure how much I can say about where I work/who I know/who my tremendous friends are etc... Just in case travelers from the outer galaxies of wwwland come to visit, I just want you to know that I have a pretty terrific life! It's mostly all about variety. Never a dull moment. A new surprise around every corner. I have learned that nothing in life ever stays the same and the one thing you can count on is CHANGE. I have never quite understood people who commit suicide. My husband tells me that "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem". That being said, I choose to be happy and I love my family and my life.

I work for a local printing company as an 'on-call temp'. I also work for the local school system as a substitute teacher and a friend asked me today if I would help her out in her Hallmark store. Each morning I get up wondering who will call me first and where I will work today? Will I collate slip sheets into gangs of cardstock to prevent offsetting? Will I help 22 6th graders act out a play about William Tell's adventure with an apple and the beginning of the the Swiss Revolution? Or will I sell Christmas tree ornaments, with Baby's First Christmas on them, to new mother's?



Today was wonderful. It's Monday and I got a call from the schools and was asked to be Playground Monitor at the elementary school. Having no desire to stand in our cold, 45 mph breeze watching children fight over the slide, I decided to reject today's "opportunity" and stayed home so I could recover our home from a typical weekend. I really wanted to bake bread and make a delicious dinner. Instead, I washed bed sheets and bath mats, vacuumed, mopped, scrubbed dirty hand prints off the door jams and did 8 loads of laundry (none of which are folded yet). Truthfully, I would much rather be a housewife and quilt when the housework was finished.... ha ha

Aw quilting, my sanity in life. I love every facet of quilting. The planning, which constitutes pouring over patterns to find just the right project. The shopping, which engages all the senses, sight, sound, touch and lunch out with the gals. Cutting the fabric into shapes, then sewing them into blocks, then assembling the blocks. Aren't YOU just drooling now?! The last and best step is the months of hand quilting with needle, thimble and thread on a lap hoop while watching a plethera of sappy chic flics.


This is not a very good picture of a lap quilt I made for my new daughter-in-law, Amberly, for her wedding to my son, Michael. They were married Dec 07. I am presently making my daughter, Nicole, a very asian looking fan quilt as she spent a year in Ningbo, China.


I prefer more traditional quilts. Civil War reproduction fabrics in the double wedding ring pattern or dresden plate comes to mind. But first I need to finish the other 15 quilts I have begun. No time for three part time jobs. I NEED TO QUILT!!

A Man with a Flower

Nathan was asked by Inga to go to the high school's Winter Formal. In this day and age of equality of the sexes, there must be a girl-ask-guy dance if there is a guy-ask-girl dance. Nate and Inga looked great as they posed for mother-obsessed picture taking in our kitchen. He also has white dress shoes... he looks a bit like Al Capone.

Inga ordered the flowers, though I don't wish to diss her taste, because they were beautiful, I just have never seen a boutonniere like this for a man. Such bling!

Our high school goes all out with our formal dances. Before the dance begins, all 152 couples participate in the grand march where they are announced by the Principal and each walks hand in hand to arrive under the arch before half the town who are seated on the bleachers waiting to snap pictures documenting the evening (and tremendous expenses). I couldn't even begin to get close enough to catch Nathan and Inga on their grand march. Our daughter, Kayleigh (nominated as dance queen), also attended with a date and was quite lovely. We got to see her go through the grand march, as well. After the dance, Nathan went with many other friends over to Kayleigh's Mom's house (Victor's ex-wife's house) for an after-dance party. They had a great time. Incidentally, after the evening's festivities, Nathan's date, broke up with him and said she was going to date another. ---sigh---

My Life, My Dreams

I found the following list on Amberly & Michael's blog and thought I would add this to my page. Everything in red are events I have done. Everything in blue are events I wish I could do and everything else are things I don't care to do.

1. Started your own blog (ta da)

2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (5th grade, clarinet)
4. Visited Hawaii (oh, I wish! )
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (3 times, Disneyworld once)
8. Climbed a mountain (1978, Bridgers, climbed to top, signed my name)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (never will)
12. Visited Paris (1976, alto in American Youth Symphony & Chorus tour to Europe)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (quilting)

15. Adopted a child (um, no one would give m

e any more!) 16. Had food poisoning (7-11 chicken sandwich)

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (Very cool! Smaller than expected!)
20. Slept on an overnight train (about 1963)
21. Had a pillow fight (I lost)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (Pioneer Village)
26. Gone skinny dipping (1977, West Yellowstone hot pots)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (see #12)
29. Seen a total eclipse (1978, I think)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (1992)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Brownwood, Texas)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (sign language)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I am always truly satisfied)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (see #12)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’

s David (see #12)

41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (too many times to count!!!)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Cancun, 2008)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (see #12)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (see #12)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (1989)
58. Taken a martial arts class (judo)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (see #12)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (Eagles Store, 1977)
76. Seen the Changing of t

he Guards in London

77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican (see #12)
82. Bought a brand new car (Honda Civic 1981)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (does birthin' babies count?)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (or just ran into: Michael Keaton, James Arness, Hal Linden, Margot Kidder. Arness bought me a banana split when I was 11 in Woolworths)

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (had 11)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (see #57)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Bo's Potential Flight

We are very lucky to live "in the country". We see lots of wild life around us. We have Golden Eagles circling overhead frequently. They can have a 95" wingspan and be up to 20 lbs. As North America's largest bird of prey, they have been known to swoop down and fly off with marmots, hares, mice, birds, martens, foxes, young deer and livestock including lambs and young goats.


The reason for this ornathology lesson is because the neighbor's cat, Louis, is missing. Our cat, Angel (a very deceiving name for this grouchy feline), has also been missing since last May. Could they have fallen prey to this great bird? Yesterday, the family watched as one of these small airliners dove repeated at a fawn across the road. The fawn won the battle by running downhill to it's mother. The show was quite impressive.

We have a small, 13 year old cockapoo, named Bo, who has no idea what a risk he runs every time he goes outside to pee. Our daugter, Rachael, age 11, is holding him in our kitchen, in this picture. I have a mental image of Bo, flying through the air, tightly held by the talons of a mighty golden eagle. I imagine Bo enjoying the view for a brief moment, as he flew over the house...right before his demise.

I wonder if our children are safe?

Good Morning Beautiful

Most of my posts won't be this mushy. The song you are hearing (if my playlist works for you) is Good Morning Beautiful by Steve Holy. My sweet husband, Victor, gave me this song as a ringtone. Ever since our wedding, he wakes me up by kissing me and saying "good morning beautiful". He's absolutely romantic and charming and I love him very much. I'm truly blessed to have found this man.


How, you ask me, did I find this man? Yahoo!Personals, that's how. The online phenomonen that is rocking the nation helped me find this wonderful man. Take heed, it may not work for everyone, but it sure helps you weed out the undesirable people before you have to tell them to 'get lost'.

You will notice the height difference between us and by the way, in the photo above, I was wearing heals! I am 5'4" and Victor is 6'4". The calves of my legs are very strong from having to be on tippy-toes to get close to his chin. My daughter, Jessica (5'2"), has the same problem with her husband, Robert (6'3").


I love Victor, even with his insatiable desire for BACON.
I imagine that his dream would be that when he wakes up in the morning he would love to see me there next to him all wrapped up in bacon. Then he could really say "good morning beautiful" to two of the things he really loves!

Jimmy V

I married James Victor Robbins on April 5, 2008 and when that happened we joined together 14 children and two dogs to make our happy family! L-R in the photo starting in the front (sitting) is Clint -16, Brittany - 19, Megan - 7, Michael - 24, Nicole - 21 and Jessica - 26. In the backrow is Stacey - 13, Nathan - 17, Heather - 13, Matthew - 11, Victor & I, Rachel - 27, Rachael - 11, Brooke - 15 and Kayleigh - 17.


I call my wonderful husband, Jimmy V. He is a terrific man with a wonderful sense of humor and is very much like me. We have never had a fight in the 1.5 years we've known each other, though, we pretend to argue. :) We live in the beautiful home he built on a mountainside outside of a small town of 6,500 people. I really don't think there are that many people in town; I think that is really the population of the county as a whole. Our town has 2 grocery stores, no mall, no WalMart, 5 hunt-til-you-drop & fishing-lure shops, 10 farming & ranching outlets, 151 churches (ok, an exageration) and 151 bars.

Dear Reader, I want you to know that we worked feverishly to grow a lawn this year. We planted seed and it actually took hold. Victor was excited that he got to mow it 3 times during the summer! The rocks that line the yard were gathered by the children. They rode in the back of our 1979 Chevy Pickup, we looked like hillbillies gathering roadkill for our next meal, as we drove around the mountain choosing just the 'right rock'. Nathan even mowed once but mowed down all my new spirea bushes. You can't see them in this photo... cuz THEY'RE GONE!

This is the typical view out our front door about 3 months of the year. Usually we can see herds of 5-20 deer or 10-30 horses or rackrabbits. We can hear coyotes howl at night, which just sends our dogs into a lather.

Tonight we had 15 mares and about 10 colts grazing about 100 yards from the house. Our dogs, Ali (5 year old golden retriever) and Bo (13 year old Cockapoo) tried to chase the colts. Two large mares, I guess the protectors of the herd, put themselves between the rest of the horses and our 2 dorky dogs. Bo must have been feeling tough because he wouldn't back down. One of the mares stood on her hind legs and tried to kick Bo, the dumb-yappy mutt! He managed to come back home, head held high and tail wagging wildly. He has no idea that he came within inches of a very quick death.

The other nine months of the year we see this view out our front door. Snow, Snow, SNOW! What you can't see is the 40-150 (no exageration) mph WINDS! We can only get up and down our 100 yard, built on a hill, driveway with 4 wheel drive and that's after we have made it up the 1.25 mile gravel road from the highway. It's treacherous, but oh, so lovely.

We cleaned and organized the garage so that we pull the cars right into it and unload everyone in warmth and out of the snow, ice and freezing wind. Real luxury to me is NOT having to scrape ice off the windshield in 20 below temperatures with a 50 mph wind on your face every morning.

You may find this hard to believe, but I LOVE THIS PLACE. It is beautiful, remote, peaceful even though there is never a dull moment, and fun. We love NOT living in a city and would much rather fend off animals (see rattlesnake on Wikipedia) and weather the elements than live in our car on I-5. Most of all, I love living here with my Jimmy V and our 9 children still-at-home. It is truly heaven on earth here and I am happy!

Signed, Lori, the dorky dog's mom