HAS SPRING SPRUNG IN JANUARY?

This is usually what my garden looks like in the spring.
THIS is what my garden looks like NOW!!!
Fresh sage, still growing.
Tho, I must admit, I can usually depend on a few leaves all thru the winter.

Thyme

Can that be FEVERFEW!!!???

And for heaven sakes!!!
A DANDELION!

Ladyhawk, one of my Aracauna hens, looking for bugs.
In December... with only hours till January.
Winter in the midwest...gotta love it!!!

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS I HAVE KEPT

Three years ago this New Years, I was fussing at Farmboy that even tho I brushed my teeth (and my tongue!!!) two, and sometimes three times a day, I still felt like I had stinky breath!
He wisely advised me to start flossing every evening before my final brushing... a habit he had begun many years earlier.
VOILA!!!
Fresh breath!
It is a habit I have been faithful to, and I can honestly say I have never missed an evening of flossing.
No matter how late I have been up!
What about you???
Any resolutions you have been faithful to?

PRETTY IN GREEN!

VODKA GIMLET

Now, for the most part, anyone who really knows Cyn knows she enjoys a glass of wine/champagne with dinner. Chardonnay, icy cold, or a new favorite, La Linda Extra Brut, a sparkling wine from Argentina.
BUT...
on occasion, nothing sits quite as well as a Vodka Gimlet!

2 parts vodka ( I use Svedka)
nearly 2 parts sweetened lime juice
Shake till your hands freeze, with lots of ice.
Into icy cold martini glass squeeze 1/4 fresh lime.
With lime remains, rub around rim of glass.
Pour vodka mix into glass.
Sit back and enjoy.
YUM

Side note: I first read about Vodka Gimlets this summer while reading "Julie and Julia", the diary of a gal named Julie Powell, who spent a year cooking her way thru Julia Child's tome, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" , and blogged about it.

DID YA GET WHAT YA WANTED???

I DID!!!!


I got all my 5 children here on Christmas Day. My grandson Austin was here. My son in law, Joey , a pilot, flew in late Christmas eve, in time for his and Gina's quiet celebration. My oldest, Giselle, and her boyfriend, John, were here.

It was perfect.
And it was all I asked for, and more.
Austin

On Christmas eve, we were at my mother-in-laws home.
Here she is with my hubby, Pete, and myself.

Joey and Sam

Krystal, Gina, and Avery

Krystal, John, Avery, Kelly and Gina

SANTA PHOTOS CIRCA 1950'S

Here I am with Santa. I must be all of 3 years old at this time.
Geez, they don't make Santas like they used to!!
He sure looks "real" to me!

Here is Farmboy, probably when he was 5 or 6, so sometime in the mid 50's.

It is always so fun to set these out during Christmas.
Brings back lots of fond memories.
O.K....not LOTS of them, cause to tell you the truth, I don't remember much before I was about 12 or so. I think it's the Lord's way of healing past hurts.
Or maybe I just have a really bad memory!!!

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

A paper mache boot with original bow and ornaments. Filled with greens and berries.
Found at a tag sale a few years ago for $1.00!!!

Ho Ho Ho...an old plastic Santa, also found at a tag sale a few years ago. He is supposed to have a light bulb in his innerds to light him up, but I haven't done it. Kind of makes me nervous to have a bulb up his you know what.

A tiny elf holding packages and a candy cane. Found amongst my mom's stuff after she passed away.

The photo is fuzzy, but it is an old ornament found in a box of goodies at an estate sale for a couple of dollars. (the whole box, not just the ornament!) Looks like it was handmade by someones kindergartener!

A pair of wool baby mittens found 2 years ago at an estate sale. Not pictured is the matching scarf, hanging near by. (I like to have, shall we say, "unusual" ornaments on my tree!!!)

A snowman head made by one of my kids a few years ago. A craft project a friend thought of to keep the kids busy one Saturday evening after Thanksgiving.

A sleigh and Santa, handmade by a local man and his father back in the 50's. I bought it at his tag sale. He had a very hard time giving it up.
I had to wrestle him to the ground to get it in my van.
(the man, not the Santa!!)

Lastly...a nativity set, made by my grandmother back in the 80's, when those "ceramic' classes were so popular. She had given it to my mom for Christmas one year, and after my mom passed away I "inherited" it.
(actually, since I knew my stepdad would never set it out again, I "whisked" it away from the abyss of the basement.)
He never missed it, but it is really the most important of all the things I set out for Christmas.
What would CHRISTmas be without CHRIST?

HE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM SHOULD NEVER PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
JOHN 3:16

CYN FROM A THRU Z

CYN FROM A----Z

A--Available/single/married-----married, 35 years!!!

B--Best friend---I have many, many friends, but few "best"...would have to say Joy

C--Cake or pie?...Cake, chocolate mayo

D--Drink of choice?...Champagne, any Brut, any year, cheap or pricey

E--essential item used daily...Wustof knife, lipstick, corkscrew

F--Fav. color...pink

G--Gummy bears or worms...yuck to both

H--Home or homesick...home

I--Indulgence---perfume

J--Jan or Feb---Feb...closer to spring

K--Kids names...Giselle 33, Gina 30, Krys 25, Sam 17, Avery 14

L--Life incomplete w/o...JESUS CHRIST

M--Marriage date...Sept.18, 1971

N--Number of siblings...1, sis Elena passed away 4 years ago

O--Oranges or apples...oranges...apples give me a tummy ache

P--Phobia/fear...kids driving

Q--Favorite quote...John 3:16...says it all, doesn't it???

R--Reason to smile...my kids, grandson, pets, chickens

S--Season...spring

T--Truth or dare....truth

U--Unknown fact about me...I'd tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya

V--Veg. I don't like...none, I think I like em all

W--Worst habit..procrastinating

X--X-rays I've had...does a mammogram count???

Y--Your fav food...shrimp/crab/lobster...actually any of the "bottom feeders"!!! (HOLD THE BUTTER)

Z--Zodiac...Leo, ..however, it means NOTHING to me

AFTERNOON PICK-ME-UP!

If you had ANY idea what Cyn has been dealing with in the last month, you would not begrudge me a touch of Argentinian "champagne"! (at 4pm)
Accompanying the sparkling wine is a Wasa Multi Grain cracker, covered in one teeny triangle of Laughing Cow LIGHT cheese, with a thin veil of Kalamata olive pesto spread atop.
I'd say it was the PERFECT afternoon snack!
(who needs Christmas cookies and milk, when you have "champagne"????)

OUT WITH THE OLD/IN WITH THE NEW

OLD ME....
BORING!!!!

NEW ME!!!
Not so much!!
Still the same Cyn with a new "Do"!

On a side note:
My 2nd oldest daughter, Gina, is a cosmetologist.
We put her thru school 8 years ago.
She has MORE than paid us back with haircuts, highlights, lowlights, color,up-do's... etc.
(for 6 of us!!!)
SSSSHHHH
She thinks she still owes us!!!!
JUST KIDDING!!!
She knows how much we love her and appreciate her!!
(as do our friends savvycityfarmer and her hubby Don!!!)

3 FRENCH HENS

For the most part, I have vintage ornaments and kids creations hanging from my tree.
However...
This little number caught my eye last year at Macy's and I couldn't resist!
I had to have it.
Well, I AM French!

BOYS AND TREES

We all went "hunting" for the perfect tree last week.
This was it.
7 1/2 feet of Blue Spruce.

Sam and his cousin, Adam, took turns sawing, I mean "felling" the tree.
Since building our "little farmhouse on the prairie" 5 years ago, we have had a traditional, cut your own, real, live, Christmas tree.
And every year, by the day after Christmas, said tree has shed countless, pokey, prickly, sticky needles. And I am itching to take it down by Dec. 26.
Well, maybe we can wait till the 27th!!!

SNOW BIRDS! (and I don't mean Florida's!)

I am sick (and tired) of standing on my front porch, waiting for birds to land on my feeders so I can get a decent photo of them!
I have Red headed Peckers, Juncos, Goldfinch, House Finch, Common Sparrows, and my Black Capped Chickadees are back! Also I have spotted a Tufted Titmouse, which I have NEVER seen here! Do you think I can get a picture of them??? So far, the only ones to sit at the feeder long enough to get their pictures taken are the sparrows, and an occasional Goldfinch! Those dang chickadees are so fast...makes my head spin!!

Now these gals pretty much POSE for their photos!!

Here I am today with Pete's hunting hat on. It was so bitter outside, (wind chills below zero) I had to bundle up just to get the hens fresh food and water.

Albie Darn, I'm a Rooster, posing pretty atop the wheelbarrow.
Oh baby, it is cold outside!

SNOWBOYS!!!!

Our grandson Austin spent the night here on Friday after having a "Snow Day" declared at over 370 local schools. His uncle Sam took him outside to build the 1st snowman of the season.

Here they are, trying to get coal to stick to the snowmans face.

Snowman on the left: $5 at a tag sale a couple years ago
Snowman on the right: created with love by our 17 year old son Sam, with his nephew.
PRICELESS!!

Memories made that the two of them will never forget.

SNOWBOARD CHICKEN!!

With freezing rain since early A.M., the chooks refused to see the light of day.
UNTIL...
Around 4:45 P.M. when I went out to do my perfunctory locking of the henhouse door.
There he was,
Albie Darn, I'm a Rooster
Perched on the coop door.
I left him there for another 15 minutes and went back to try to lock him in.
Still perched.
This time, I physically lifted him off the door, hoping against hope he wasn't frozen to it.
Squawking, he resisted ever so slightly, and disappeared into the hen house.
Stay tuned.
I'm certain there's more.