Slaters' Funny Farm

It is 12:28 a.m. and so I guess I could say Good Morning to each of you, but I feel like saying Good Night since I really should be in bed right now. However, I have been so busy lately that I really needed to catch up on some work and so I decided that tonight was the correct time to do it. I truly felt that I needed to write after everyone was in bed and now it is fairly quiet here except for the dog snoring. The grandbaby turns 9 months old on Wednesday and I can hardly believe how great she is. We took her for a checkup today and the doctor said that all looked great! She is doing well developmentally and her weight seems to be in line as well. He recommended that we start her on table food, which we have been doing. He also spoke to my daughter about the hidden dangers to watch for- small objects on the floor, her attempts to walk, etc. I am sure that we will see bumps and bruises in the next few months as she becomes more independent. She is getting taller each day it seems and...

I believe Mother Nature is really confused about what month it is. With temperatures in the upper 60's and lower 70's in February, I am finding that even I am confused about what month it is. Today,  the sun has been shining and a nice breeze but an absolutely beautiful spring day!  Key word, "spring" , it is not  spring! I don't know if it's global warming or something else. If it's a sign of early spring, that's wonderful!  If it's a teaser,  I am truly upset that we are going to be sitting in frozen temps again soon. We haven't had much snow,  hardly any ice,  and the cold has not been too bad. Normally our Feb. is cold and snowy and we can count on some ice, but this year has been a really strange one.  We may have snow in July but if we do,  I don't think I will be surprised. Farm wives are very aware of what time of the year it is because we seem to know when it is time to start planting.  I am considering buying a small green ...

I must say that I have been gone from writing way too long this time. I just realized that it has been over a week since my last post here and I promised myself that I was going to do much better this week about writing here. I even began a calendar at the first of the year to keep track of what I was doing here and with my other blogs. It is in my file cabinet and has not been touched in the month of Feb. I will work on it during the weekend and get myself back on track. Have things been busy? Yes. Is life always busy here? Yes, but I am attempting to slow things down and live a more normal and simpler lifestyle. This means that I need to only focus on what is important and this blog is important to me.  The stomach bug hit our farmhouse early Wednesday morning. It was nasty! My husband and I were both sick and then yesterday, my mom was sick. His parents who live next door were sick on Tuesday. Luckily, the baby and my daughter stayed well. 24 hours of pure torture would be t...

A few days ago, a friend of my daughter's brought us a couple of sacks of apples that came from a local orchard. He gets the ones that are left at the end of the season to feed his horses and other livestock. Some of them are still really good apples and so he thought that I would enjoy them. I ate several of them and they were so tender and such delicious apples! On Tuesday, I decided that I would make an apple pie. I decided that I would share my recipe and success here with each of you. Here is the results of that sharing: COUNTRY APPLE PIE RECIPE  2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg dash of salt 8 med. apples 2 tblsp. butter The first step is to prepare your crust. I am not great at making homemade crust so I go for a quick second place to that and use a Jiffy brand pie shell mix. It is simple to use as you add about 5 tblsp. of water to the mix and blend with a fork. Once I get it mixed, then I always get my floured surface ready to ...

This morning as I sit here looking out the window, I see gray skies that match the mood I am in. It seems as clouds of doubt, frustration, and heartache have billowed in today. As many of you are aware, I now care for my 8 month old granddaughter and sell Pink Zebra. However, many of you may not be aware that my daughter and granddaughter still live at home. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I love my family! I would do anything it took to protect them and I would not trade them for anything in the world as I can't imagine life without them. Here's come the big word - BUT!!! There are 4 generations living in a home with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and only about 975 sq. feet. We are busting at the seams! Last night my daughter was invited to an overnight event with some friends, so my husband thought it was a good idea for us to keep the grandbaby home with us. Now, my daughter does good with the baby and has taken her to this home before, but he wanted to keep her. I agr...

Sunshine is such a blessing today for me! I hate winter due to the long grey days that we have, but due to the weather being rather pleasant for the most part this year, it has not been such a struggle to stay positive. It is a little cooler today, but I am happy to say that the sun is shining nicely and for that I am blessed. My morning has been spent attempting to follow up on some of the blogs that I follow and commenting to let the owners know that their work is being read. I am also very aware that I need to write a couple of posts and I need to work on my Pink Zebra business. I also have swept and mopped my floors, dusted my living room, and cleaned glass in there as well. I would like to pack up the remaining snowmen that I have out today and put some other items in my curio cabinet now that I have had to move some items to keep them out of reach of my grandchild. The afternoon will consist of cooking lunch for my husband, running the vacuum, and hopefully listing a few item...