Monday afternoon... Hi everyone! We have been so busy this weekend I barely know where to begin. Saturday we got up early and started working on the raised beds. the kids all helped to clean block, a horrid job that was very hard. That old mortar just did not want to come off those block. I had just come to the house to fix lunch when Brady came running to the house and said Kadia had fallen. I went running back to the field where they were, but Cale was bringing all the kids on the 4-wheeler back to the house. Here She had asked Brady for a chisel, and when he went to hand it to her,she had turned at the same time and it hit her really hard on the elbow. She stood up and then she passed out!! Hit her face on a pile of broken block, and scraped both arms. It scared Cale half to death, and made Brady feel really bad. We put her on the couch with an ice pack for a little while and she was fine after that...

So then we spent the rest of the day building and now we have 4 very nice raised beds. It was a lot of work,but they will work very well I think... While we had the machine here, we also tore out a fence, leveled off a place for a basketball court, dug out some stumps, filled insome low places in the yard. Cale mowed the grass and I ran the weed-eater. Last night the kids went to my Mom's for the night to be spoiled a bit... She took them out to eat, plus to the ice cream shop and then ordered in pizza later!!! They actually had leftover pizza and Oreo cookies for breakfast this morning!!! While they were gone, Cale and I took a drive, stopped at some friends and then we came home, built a fence across the bed and planted the tomatoes and peppers. We mulched them and they look very nice!!!

Today we moved a bunch of boards from under the barn and stacked them in the barn. This is so we can move the log splitter out of the wood shed and keep it from getting wet. I jsut came down and cooked dinner. We had steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and a pineapple drink. We also uncovered the pool and now the kids want to get in. It is a little cloudy but I shocked it so it should be OK.

Gotta go, they are waiting for me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That should say I "shocked" the pool! They did get in and had a bit of fun. the water is still very cold. I just made them fried bread with powdered sugar (kind of tastes like an elephant ear) and some lemon-ade, and the kids are all showered and ready for bed. I am too! I am so tired, we have not worked this hard for several months! I burnt my leg on the 4-wheeler, have big scratches on the other leg from dropping a concrete block, and I cut my finger on a metal fence post... right where I hold a paring knife, which is a pain. Tomorrow I have to do about 12 loads of laundry, but the wringer will make quick work of it. I hope you all are doing well, and I continue to keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), May 28, 2002

Answers

hello all, monday my family and I went to metamora IN. it was really fun. We watched corn being made into cornmeal and wheat being made into wheat flour all from the old mill. It is very hot and humid today. I also did laundry. I think the cold spell is over down here. Melissa did you ever try the bread recipes that you asked for a while back? I was just wondering cause I didn't see if you did and which one you liked.

-- sweet_mae (sweet_mae86@hotmail.com), May 28, 2002.

I did try a few different recipes. I liked an oatmeal bread recipe a lot. but to tell the truth we have been so busy that I have been using just the whole wheat recipe in my bread machine... I really have to find time to make more by hand. Everyone really likes it when I do, but I do not seem to be able to make it routine...

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), May 28, 2002.

Melissa--how is Kadia doing?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), May 31, 2002.

She is fine... She felt much better the next day.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), June 01, 2002.