Slaters' Funny Farm

 Last day of February and since I really don't have a book bag post for the day, I will simply give some updates for what I have read in the month. I am currently still reading Fired Up  by Mary Connealy. It is the second book in the Trouble In Texas series that she has. I will finish it today as I only have about 20 pages left to read. I wanted to finish it last night, but just could not find the time.  My next read will be Stuck Together by the same author and will finish the series. I am happy to say that I love this series and will look for more from the same author.  I also read The Chocolate Falcon Fraud  by JoAnna Carl. It is also in a series of books that I have read several of in the past and I always enjoy them. I will get another from the library when I return these as well. Yes, I have many books at home that need read but I always enjoy getting books from the library as well.  What have you read this month? I know many people read more than I d...

 Can you believe that we are at the end of February? It seems impossible to me that February gone and we will soon be into March. I know we are having winds like spring is blowing in. Gusts up to 50mph today are expected and it seems as though they are happening now.  Hop over to  Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  to learn more about Happy Homemaker Monday and to catch up with several of the bloggers that write these posts on a regular basis. Homemaking can be a skill, but it can be a deeper love for your family that you want your home clean and inviting for your family and your guests.  *** THE WEATHER*** Windy, warm, rainy, sunny, and windy! That seems to be what most of our winter has been. By Wednesday, we will see temperatures in the 70's and yet, we may have snow on Friday. UGH!! I enjoy spring, but the temperature swings this year have been awful and we are not really out of winter yet.  *** As I Look Out My Window*** I see things blowing across the yard....

  SMILE! It is one of the best ways to begin your day and one of the best things you can do with your lips. We all have so many things to smile about if we just think in a positive way.  It seems as though many people see the negative in all things, but I like to remind them that they have reasons to be happy. They have reasons to smile. You are alive to make memories, you woke up to another day, the sun is shining, your child or grandchild loves you, spring is right around the corner, you have a roof over your head, you have had a meal today, you are loved by Christ. Many things to smile about.  JUST SMILE

  Do children see kindness as a weakness? I sure hope not. I have taught my grand doll to always be kind. A cashier at a small store today spoke of how well mannered she was because she said "Thank you, Mam" I said that we felt it was important to teach kindness and manners and she said that she wished all parents would do the same.  She commented how she sees so many kids disrespectful to their parents and other adults around them. After seeing this meme, I wonder if kids see kindness as a weakness. We are all very aware that it is not. 

 Yes, another Friday lunch post is due. I am sad to say that most of you will not be thrilled with lunch today. It has been a busy Friday and I have been on the phone a lot so I actually ate peanut butter with strawberry rhubarb jam sandwich for lunch today. I know my Friday lunch is a little more interesting usually, but it was all I could come up with today that would work with the schedule. As you will see by this post, all things today are short, sweet and to the point.  I hope you all enjoyed your lunch and I hope that it was better than mine. 

 Daily I hear of sad news in our world. Rumors of war, one country invading another, and all the talk of recession, interest rates rising, and all of the other things that happen across the world. The most disturbing to me though is the murder rates that are happening with our youth and young adults across the United States.  A 4 year old was shot at an Airbnb a day or two ago in a town north of us. A 9 year old girl lost her life in Florida yesterday shot by a 19 year old suspect. A 24 year old news reporter and a woman in her 20's also was shot by the same suspect, according to police reports. Over the weekend, 9 children between the age of 5 and 17 were shot outside of a gas station in Georgia. Thankfully, none of those injuries were life threatening, but just the sheer number at one shooting site is appalling. There are so many more stories like this and I hate to hear of these types of stories daily.  Why do we as a society think that picking up a gun is the answer t...

 Do you know today is Ash Wednesday? I was not aware of it until I heard someone say it earlier today. I actually realized that I was not sure of what Ash Wednesday even was so I looked it up and here is what I found.  Ash Wednesday Holy Day Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent. It is observed by Catholics in the Roman Rite, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, Methodists, Nazarenes, as well as by some churches in the Reformed tradition. It is a period of time to prepare for Easter Sunday and it is 46 days before Easter Sunday. As a Christian, I have observed Good Friday and Easter, but never Lent or Ash Wednesday. I am thankful to be aware of what it is, but I don't feel as though I need to prepare for Easter. I pray daily and I know that the day that Christ rose is on it's way. I am sure for many it is a huge day, but not so much for myself.  Do you cele...

 Good Tuesday Morning! How are you all today? I need a way to hold myself accountable for my reading and I find that it is easier if I do it here, so I will set this in motion. I know I won't update every Tuesday, but I intend to do every couple of weeks.  Joining  Sandra  for Blog 365 has really encouraged me to keep up with my blog better and I am seeing more improvements in holding myself accountable for the things that I want to make happen this year. I am enjoying knowing that I need to plan to write daily and I am enjoying the challenge of finding things that I want to do and talk about.  With all of that said, let's get to todays Book Bag.  **** WHAT I AM READING**** I started a new series a couple of weeks ago and I am enjoying it thoroughly. It is the Trouble in Texas series by Mary Connealy and I am now on book 2 in the series. The book is titled Fired Up. BLURB: Glynna Greer came west as a mail-order bride and ended up in a bad situation. Now her...

 

 Hello! When the first of the year rolled around, I made some commitments that I sure hoped I could keep for my blog. One was that I decided to join Sandra at  Diary of a Stay at Home Mom  on her Blog 365. Blogging each day of the year is a task, but I am happy to say that I have not missed a day yet. I also decided to start a kindness campaign and my Sunday Smiles posts go along with that as I want to have a post that makes each of us smile a little more.  Life seems hard these days for many of us and a smile can be just what we need to make troubles in life seem a little less hard. A bit of joy in a day that might otherwise be full of heartaches. A kind word can do the same thing and we need people to be kinder to one another.  I found this photo today on Google Free Images and I thought it was the perfect photo for the day. 

 Oh I just learned of a new link up party and I need to take advantage of it. I also was wondering what my Blog 365 post was going to be today so I am choosing to handle two things at once, look at me multitasking.  Pink Saturday is hosted  here  and Blog 365 is hosted  here . Pink Saturday is anything pink and I certainly have plenty of pink around with my Pink Zebra business. Blog 365 is a group of bloggers that have decided to post each day of the year.  A monthly subscription that gets you exclusive Pink Zebra products.  Pink Zebra Air Care line eliminates odors in your home. Look at those gorgeous pink bags!

 Good Afternoon! I am back with my Friday Lunch and I am thinking that if I keep these posts up, I may have to design a cool photo to go along with it. Each Friday, I am going to try my best to write a post saying what I had for lunch and sharing a recipe, if it is necessary. Today I was on the go most of the day and so lunch was simple. I went through the drive thru at Burger King and had a Whopper Jr.  It was quite tasty and since I rarely eat fast food for lunch, I will say that I enjoyed the experience. I left the tomato off as it is too difficult to keep it on the sandwich if you are trying to eat and drive as I was.  When did you have fast food last? What did you eat? What was your lunch today? 

 The Masked Singer premiered last night and I must say that I was shocked at the two celebrities that went home. It was one of the best episodes of the show that I have seen in the last few seasons and one of the losers was a true icon to the music world.  As usual, the show began with three contestants, each performing their own unique song and what performances each gave us.  Contestant Number One The Gnome As soon as this contestant began to sing, I knew who it was. The clues were helpful, but the voice was a true legendary voice that I knew immediately.  No one on the panel guessed this person correct. When the mask was off, Nicole was moved to tears to learn of who was behind this mask.  Contestant Number Two The Mustang This contest was certainly a singer. A couple of her clues gave her away, but I just did not catch on. This lady is talented and knows her way around a stage. It is sad that she was eliminated shortly after the Gnome as both of them were hu...

 Yes, it is going to be a beautiful day here on the farm with temperatures nearing 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but again we are dealing with wind. Wind advisory is in effect and we could see wind gusts up to 60mph. I am not sure what is going on in the atmosphere that we seem to have such strong winds, but it seems to be a common occurrence these days.  Waking up to 55 degrees in mid February is amazing and makes me excited for spring, but I am not a fan of windy days. It makes the work outside a little harder, especially today when I will be moving things to make room for more chickens and rearranging two sheds as well. My office shed is coming together finally and I am excited to get it going. I am moving stuff into it now that I can easily move if we decide to switch it for a bit smaller building.  Growing my team is my goal this year and earning more money to help with bills is a huge goal as well. I done fine last year, but I want to do better this year. I would like to e...

 Hello!  I am a small hobby farm owner and am interested in doing more homesteading in the future. We like to raise our own food and we are looking to live off grid a little more this year than in the past. I have been a fan of farm magazines and homesteading magazines for several years and I would like to share my favorites with you.  1. Hobby Farms       This magazine is great for beginners. I read this for several years before we started our hobby farm and I continue to read it today due to the amount of helpful information in it. Animals, gardening, and poultry information can all be found here. A subscription that includes bimonthly magazines can be purchased for $19.95  here . 2. Backwoods Home       This is another one that is very helpful as a beginner. There are many resources in this magazine to help one learn to invest their money wisely in certain resources and how to avoid certain traps that are certain to come into your pat...

  How bout them Chiefs!!!!! Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Kansas City team played an amazing game of football in the second half to lead their team to a 3 point victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, Philadelphia deserves to know that they played a fabulous game too and we are tough team to beat.  The National Anthem sung by Chris Stapleton seemed to be well liked by many. I was unable to see it and have not had time to look it up today. The half time show with Rhianna was boring in my opinion. Many people may feel different, but I just kept expecting more to it. I will say that she was dressed modestly as were her dancers, but I was not impressed with her outfit or the dancers.  Her music was typical Rhianna, but I felt that she could have left out the crotch grabs, especially if she was announcing her pregnancy to the world. With millions of young children possibly watching, I feel that the celebrities need to clean up the actions and music of this amazing cha...

 Here we are on another beautiful Sunday afternoon and today for our Sunday Smiles post we are going to celebrate! This girl right here with a beautiful smile! My mini me, my daughter, the mom to my third grandchild. Today this amazing woman celebrates another trip around the sun!  This photo was taken Christmas Day as she could not wait to wear these pants that I had bought for her. She was born in the wrong era, she would have made a great flower child. She loves all things late 60's, early 70's. Volkswagen Beetles are her favorite cars and she has owned two older ones in her life time. Her first home was decorated with early 70's furniture and these pants scream 70's Marcia Brady if you ask me.  She is smart, hard working, beautiful inside and out, fun loving and always ready for an adventure. My partner in crime and in work. I love her more than I could ever tell her!!

 There seems to be a national day for everything any more and today is no different. As I was thinking about what I would write today, I decided to look up national days and look at what I found today is. National Grandmother Achievement Day. A day to celebrate our grandmothers! How exciting for me as a grandmother.  As many of you are aware, I am mammaw (grandma) of two sweet little girls and we are adding another child in July. The first two came as huge shocks and i struggled a lot with the birth of the second one. The oldest is my mini me! Her and I love to travel, have tea parties, play, etc. We are two peas in a pod as my grandma would say. I love both of them dearly and they could never understand the love I have for them.  I also thought of my own grandmothers. My maternal grandma was Edna and she was a huge role in my life growing up. She loved to crochet, knit, and craft. She was a good cook and she enjoyed her time with us. She also loved to camp and took me of...

 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611817-the-chocolate-falcon-fraud" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Chocolate Falcon Fraud (A Chocoholic Mystery, #15)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440597391l/24611817._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611817-the-chocolate-falcon-fraud">The Chocolate Falcon Fraud</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/169992.JoAnna_Carl">JoAnna Carl</a><br/> <br /><br /> Mysteries in Warner Pier seem to get better and better. As with each of her chocoholic mysteries, this one did not disappoint. Fast action led to having me on the edge of my seat to see how the mystery would end. <br /><br />When Lee Woodyards' former step son comes to town and invites her and her family to dinner, she i...

 Hello! It's Friday morning, but I know what I am having for lunch so I am writing this early as I have several things to do today and may not have time to write at lunch. I started this last week and I want to try to make this a weekly post.  Many bloggers talk about food and I know many struggle with what to make for a meal and I am hoping that maybe this will spark someone to try something new for lunch or even dinner, as today's lunch is leftovers from last nights' dinner. I tried a new recipe that my husband had sent me on messenger and was surprised that I actually liked it quite a bit.  It was sweet and sour baked chicken. Prep time was about 30 minutes for me and it cooks for an hour. Not bad for the schedule. Most of our dinners usually require a good hour in the kitchen not including clean up. Clean up is fairly easy for this one as you cook on parchment paper, which means the pan you bake it in is not too dirty or hard to clean. I even used a disposable pan tha...

  The trees are swaying in the breeze clouds and rain fill the sky Spring storms winter storms only the forecaster knows.

 Well, once again Mother Nature is mad about something. She is planning to blow us away, I guess. We are under a wind advisory for tomorrow and they are estimating wind speeds will be over 25 mph with gusts as much as 50+ mph. That is a lot of wind and will certainly cause issues with power lines and trees. Living in a rural area, trees can be the biggest threat with wind like that.  Plus, our temperatures are supposed to drop about 30 degrees in just a few hours on Thursday morning. It is crazy that it will be in the 60's tomorrow morning and by mid afternoon in the middle thirties. It is no wonder that we all have sinus issues around here. Between allergies and the crazy temperature swings that we are having. UGH!! I personally have a huge sinus issue at the moment and do not feel the greatest today. I would like to take a nap, but no time for that.  WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO 7 PM EST THURSDAY What Southwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph ...

  These days seem to be very challenging in the world and as I was doing my Bible study today, I came across this verse and I immediately prayed that God would be my armour today and allow me to face the devil and his wiles without hesitation.  Many of my readers are aware that I have had a real struggle in my life in the past year or so with marital issues and I am still struggling. The devil is working again to make me doubt that I am going to win this battle. I have got to put on my armor and fight for what I feel is right.  My husband is not really the problem, but his thinking and my thinking are so far apart on an issue that I just can't seem to get my ideas as to what is right and wrong to align with his and that is making a huge mess of things. I truly don't want to go into too much detail, but there is a third party involved that is the main issue.  There is no extramarital affair happening, I don't believe. However, there are several trust issues and emotio...

 Can you believe it is the first Monday of February all ready? Where does time go these days? I am so busy today that I am going to be up late just to finish the basics of the day. I've already been to the grocery for my father in law, made lunch for husband and co worker, called about a prescription, called a dentist office, and several chores for my Pink Zebra business. I have got dinner on the stove cooking and I will head to pick my granddaughter up soon.  I am taking her to an American Heritage Girls meeting tonight to see if it is something she is interested in. Has anyone participated in that group? She attends a private Christian school so I felt that it might be something she would enjoy. She needs to be with other kids as there really is not any girls near us or even kids that are her age.  Happy Homemaker Monday is a party that many bloggers take part in and you can read more about it at Sandra's  blog . She also has a group of us that are attempting to bl...

Would you want to be a superhero? What would you do with your super powers? Do you have one power that you would prefer over a different one?  A smile can be powerful! A smile can make you a super hero in the eyes of a child. I wish I could design a super hero that could be put into a cartoon or comic book that randomly done acts of kindness for a child and that smiled at everyone he/she met and spoke kindly all the time. Kids need that kind of a super hero.  Blog 365 sponsored by Sandra at  Diary of A Stay At Home Mom  is a community of bloggers that have decided to post every day this year. Will you join her?

  Kids need us to smile! A smile relays love, kindness, and caring to them. Many kids need a smile from someone outside the home because home life may not be good. Kids need to see kindness to treat others kindly.  A sad or abused child might not be kind to others at school simply because they have never been shown kindness. A child that doesn't run and play, talk a lot, or smile might be the child that needs kindness the most. Parents, we MUST teach our children kindness!

 It is the first Friday in February and I am going to attempt to start another regular weekly post. It is going to be titled Friday Lunch or Foodie Friday, which do you like better.  It is going to be a short post and it will simply say what I am having for lunch. If you would like to hop aboard and tell us in your own post that is fine as well.  Today is a nice quick cheese quesadilla. It is tortilla shells, shredded taco cheese and a slice of provolone cheese. It should be quite tasty! Since it is in the skillet, I will see if I can find a Google Image that I can share.    So what are you having for lunch today? I bet it is delicious!! Have a great Friday!!

It's Groundhog's Day and that darn groundhog seen his shadow which legend says means 6 more weeks of bad weather. UGH! I am ready for the cold to leave us and some sunshine and warmer temperatures to be here. I will say that I am thankful not to be in Texas and the other states that are having so much ice. I guess the cold is not so bad. Looking at things from a different perspective makes the cold a little more bearable.  Many of you know that I am an independent executive consultant with Pink Zebra. Pink Zebra is a home fragrance and décor company that specializes in non toxic wax that is blendable in order to allow the customer to create their own scent. We have introduced our spring and summer catalog and I am excited to announce that I think the scents are some of our best in the 8 years that I have been with the company.  Florals are always a hit in summer as well as beach scents and we have managed to capture some of the best in this catalog. Pink Peony, Beach Walk, Tik...