Slaters' Funny Farm

  It's Tuesday! Practice kindness! Each day we need to start with a kind act and follow through our day with that mindset. You are wonderful and blessed. Bless someone else today!

 It is a cold nasty Monday morning here and we are under a winter weather advisory due to light snow, ice, freezing drizzle, etc.  *** The Weather *** As I said before it is cold, icy and a mess outside right now. I am thankful that I have a couple of hours before I need to leave and head out. I am hoping the roads are a bit better by then. It is supposed to be cold with temperatures in the teens at night. How many days till spring? *** As I Look Out My Window *** Ice and windy. Very gloomy out and there will be no sun today. The worst part of winter is that the sun rarely shines in January and that makes for a dreary month.  *** Right Now I Am *** Listening to the news and praying that my daughter and grand are safe driving. She is in a mini van and the roads are slick. She is not confident in her driving in the winter conditions. The news casters are saying it is quite slick out.  *** Thinking *** I am thinking of what plans I have for the week and attempting to th...

 Good Morning! I pray that you have a blessed day! It is a cloudy, rainy day here but we are still blessed to be alive.  Every Sunday morning, I like to post a positive reminder of how life can be good and full of smiles. I like to make every one smile in daily life and I am on a kindness trend this year. We need more kindness in the world. Peace can't come without kindness and understanding.  How could you not smile at this cute little duck with the huge flowers on it's head?  This little giraffe is just as cute as the duck. He is right as well with his thoughts. 

 Hello! Grab a cup of coffee, hot tea, or any drink that you like and sit with me for a bit this morning. I am happy to say it is Saturday, you are alive, and you are able to read this. You already have a lot to be grateful for.  Do you realize how often we are so busy that we don't realize just how much we have to be thankful for or grateful for? Do you have a home? Be thankful. Are you alive this morning? Even if you aren't feeling well or you have problems, you are still alive and should be thankful. Do you have a job? Be thankful. Do you have children, a spouse, family? Be thankful, someone has lost one of those today. We get too caught up in our lives to thank God for the blessings He has bestowed upon us.  I am grateful that God gave me another day, grateful that I will see my grandbabies today, grateful that I have spent a week with my daughter, grateful for a job, grateful that I still have my mom and she is healthy. Grateful for my husband, although we have truly...

  Welcome to my 28th post for the year! I have joined Sandra at  Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  to blog every day this year. Hop over to her website and see what all the fuss is about.  It is Friday and I will be heading to the home show again this week to help my daughter out with her booth. I have been here all week, but it has been a slow week for sales. I am hoping today is better and that her weekend is fabulous. I won't be here for all of that. I am heading home tomorrow.  I always hate leaving her, but I do like to be home with the grands.  I hope you all do as little work as possible today. Enjoy your Friday!

 This is going to be a short post, but I did not want to skip my Blog 365 post. I simply want to say Good Night.

 Good Wednesday Morning. It is certainly winter time this morning as I write this. We are in the middle of a snowstorm. We have been expecting this as the news has predicted a winter storm warning for several days now. We are expected to get around 8-9 inches of the white stuff and it looks as though it will be a very wet snow.  A wet snow is more dangerous as it can be very heavy and take down trees, power lines, etc. It can also compact and freeze much more than a dry snow will. It can make the roads more of a hazard as well. I believe that it's going to start a line of snow coming into the area as there is more snow predicted for next week. Our temperatures are supposed to hover around freezing today. By Saturday, which is the day that I am supposed to make the 2 hour drive home, we are to be at about 41 degrees with rain. Our weather has been crazy this year and continues to be the same way. Many schools made the decision to close today. My grand doll knew later yesterday ...

It is cold outside and we are possibly on the brink of a winter storm hitting, so why would I be talking of gardens? Winter is a great time to start planning your summer garden and it is a great time to learn about some new varieties of plants that you could have in the garden this year. You could spend hours on the internet or in the library reading of these things, plus ordering online seems to be the only way to do things these days, but there is a joy about thumbing through the pages of a seed catalog,   Maybe it is the sight of the brightly colored flowers and other plants that make this enjoyable, especially as the cold and snowy weather is blowing outside. Maybe the photo with the description that is the heart of the catalog is exactly what will make you decide to plant that in your garden this summer. Seed catalogs can be as exciting for a gardener as the old department store catalog was to a kid at Christmas time.   Yes, you can view them online, but I still...

  Good Monday Morning! I have a busy week ahead and so I am attempting to get this on here early today to join Sandra at  Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  and read the many Happy Homemaker Posts that you will find under her post. It is just a simple way to look into our weeks. THE WEATHER    CRAZY!!! It snowed yesterday, but most of it melted before the day was over. We are predicted to get a winter storm this week, but I hope we do not. MY WEEK   My morning has been rushed because it seems nothing has gone right. I am in a hurry before we leave to go to our Pink Zebra show that we are selling at for the week. Things will be fine once I get moving along. I am looking forward to the week with my daughter. ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE   Coffee so far. I will be eating something as we travel this morning so that I can take my medicine for the day. ON MY READING PILE   A Colebridge Quilted Christmas, which I have been reading for several weeks. I am ready to fi...

 Good Sunday Morning! It's Sunday a great day to bring a smile to someone. It is a great act of kindness and an honor to God for us to love thy neighbor. We are to love our enemies, which is hard to do. Jesus gave His life to save us of our sins and yet, we find it hard to love someone that has angered us, hurt us, or done something to make us not like them.  I have struggled with this quite a bit recently and I am finally healing myself and working to make the world a bit kinder place by spreading kindness when I can and in a way that I feel is what I want to do. One of my goals this year in my kindness campaign is to share a smile with my blog friends each Sunday. I attempt to find quotes, photos, and memes that will make you smile.  How cute is this? Even though this little man is quite mad and frowning, he is so cute and the meme just makes me smile. Hope it does you too!

 Good morning! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday so far. I have had my shower, completed packing to go to my daughter's house for a week, made my oatmeal that I am eating now and am finally able to sit a minute to write my post for the day.  On Monday night, I went to our local library with my friend Libby and we participated in a class that they were having. It was titled, Crafting for a Cause. The cause was  Upstream Prevention , which is a local group that seeks to support those that are struggling with drug addiction, mental health issues and thoughts of  suicide. They seek to support system level changes within the public health sector. The craft was painting inspirational rocks that would be put throughout the community for people to find.  I must say I was a little concerned as I am not a painter or an artist. When we arrived we were the only two people that were there and the sweet lady in charge said she was not sure that many were coming. S...

 A few days ago, I shared that the grands and I were having a winter themed tea party. I would now like to share a bit more about our day and share some photos with you.  Welcome to our winter tea party sign that I made to invite them to the table. Our table with our sign.                            More table décor. This is a snowflake cut from the same template as the sign. Thought that blue and white fit our theme fairly well.  Here is the table once the tea pot and cups were on it. The little cups are for the grands and their mom and I opted for larger Longaberger cups that have a holly branch on them. I felt that these fit nicely with the winter theme as well, don't you? The guests of honor. For some reason this photo is blurry, but this is my daughter and I.  Here are the grands being silly. The little one likes to imitate her sister.  Mini ham and cheese quiches. The grands loved these ...

 Winter time on the farm is a time that many think that you simply stay inside, stay warm, and rest. That is totally not the case. Winter time is work time on the farm the same as spring and summer. Chores never stop and work never is not there.  Farmers, even hobby farmers like ourselves, have plenty of chores to do in the winter.  Feeding and caring for the animals never stops. As with us, our rabbits need more hay to make them warmer in the winter and taking care of their water is a task as well. The chickens require more care as well. Other animals also need more grain, hay, etc in the winter in order to make them warmer in the cold. Equipment care is another area that you have the time to do in the winter. Making sure tractors and other farm equipment is in good mechanical order is important. You certainly do not want planting time to arrive and equipment be broke down. Many farmers have very limited time in getting crops in the fields due to weather and the time nee...

 Winter can be harsh on the farm if temperatures and snow are issues where you live. Water buckets and troughs can freeze, more bedding is needed for outdoor animals, and many things just can't grow in the winter time. Much like humans, plants need warmth, sunshine, and water.  There are a few plants that do well in winter and many can be planted in the late winter season. Root vegetables do well as long as the ground temperatures stay above freezing. Green leafy vegetables can do well in colder temperatures also. Vegetables like leeks, swiss chard, collard greens, even Brussel sprouts can be hearty winter vegetables. Turnips and radishes are other ones that have a high tolerance for the winter cold as well.  Kale prefers winter cold and will actually taste better as the temperatures get colder. I recommend planting it in late August or early September so that it has time to start to grow before the cold hits, but I also recommend that you allow some cold time for it to g...

  Joining Sandra at  Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  to blog 365 days this year. Plus, I am working on a campaign to spread more kindness throughout the world. 

  Welcome! If you have no idea as to what Happy Homemaker Monday is or Blog 365, you can hop over to   family corner  and read Sandra's posts about both of these amazing link ups.  It's Monday and day 16 of the year, this post will basically tell you all about what I am up to this week at the funny farm.  The Weather...     It is cold here this morning, but our temperatures this week are supposed to be more like early spring than winter. Although there is rain forecasted for most of the week, I will gladly take it and warmer temperatures over the extreme cold and snow or ice.  Right Now I Am...     Trying to write this while waiting for water to boil for a tea party with the grands and my daughter. I am listening to cartoons and my oldest grand and her mom playing with the Barbie Dream House that she got for Christmas. It has been a hectic morning already and it is only 10 a.m. Thinking...     I am thinking about all of th...

 Good Morning on this cold morning in my little corner of the world. It is 29 degrees F with a wind chill making it feel like 20 degrees. It certainly feels like winter this morning, but it is supposed to warm up quite a bit and by midweek it will feel more like spring.  As I set a goal to make a Sunday Smiles post each morning, I am here to do just that and I have joined Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom to  Blog 365 . Blog 365 is a group of bloggers that are posting each day to make blogger a more active place and allow us to meet new friends along the way.  Google Image I found this image today on Google Free Images and had to share this. Who can resist smiling when a baby is smiling? Happy Sunday!! Smile at a stranger today and share a moment of kindness.

  Nice, friendly, sweet, amazing, beautiful, cool, hello, awesome, have a nice day. These words can mean so much to someone.  A smile as someone walks by can say as much as a thousand words to someone having a bad day.  A kind word could be just what the tired cashier needs. A kind word could be what the stranger you pass on the street needs.  A kind word could be just what the stressed mom with a crying baby at the store needs to help her feel that she is not the only person in the world that day dealing with the cries. A kind word to a teacher could be the reason she returns to the classroom tomorrow.  A kind word to a teenager could be what saves their life that day. It is true that you never know how someone else is feeling or what they are going through. Words can be easily spoken and a smile to go with a kind word could be the exact thing that they need at the moment you pass them.  A simple hello to the person behind you in line at the grocery could ...