I know Debbie has pictures of the kitchen on her blog. I wanted to put some of my own on. Debbie is in Atlanta and Detroit this week. The sheetrockers are coming tomorrow so she just goes and leaves us with the "fun". The kitchen has already been challenging for a couple of days. Out of habit I still reach up to get something out of a cupboard that is not there. I know it will get worse before it gets better. The hardwood floors will be next. Actually, I am excited about thinking about the new kitchen. I am so lucky that I can still get around as good as I do. I just love cleaning kitchens. I have always liked working in the kitchen the best. The picture at the top is the TV room where there big TV was. In case you were not aware, Kent and Debbie took the wall out between the kitchen and the TV room. They have put in a lot of new lighting and it makes the kitchen so bright. I like the wall out. It makes such a dramatic change. So open and roomy. The 28th of March, Donna, Laif, Diane and I are going on a Mexican Riveria Cruise. The ship actually leaves on the 29th, but we want to be in Los Angeles a day early. We will be be returning to Los Angeles on April 5th.

This looks like the pictures I took in December but it is actually February 26, 2009. I knew that there was snow in the forecast but it certainly was a surprise when I got up this morning to see so much. Hopefully most of it will be gone by afternoon.

Laif, Kyle and I had dinner at Red Robin last night. Michael is working there. It was his first night. Kyle insisted on treating Laif and me. Kyle is a wonderful young man. He is having trouble with his leg and the doctors are trying to figure out what is wrong. I hope they figure it out soon.

I should not complain about the snow. I am so spoiled. I have a warm house to stay in and I don't drive in the snow. I can remember winters when I had frozen pipes from the well to the house and had to chop ice in the water barrels to get water. We always had drinking water in containers in the house. A lot of times I had to struggle to get a fire going with wet wood.

So, life is good. I try to enjoy every day my Heavenly Father gives me.

This picture has nothing to do with my story. I just like putting pictures on.

My story for today:

On weekday mornings, I listen to the news on Kong TV (King 5 News on Kong) because I wake up so late now that I miss the news on the other channels. For years and years I always woke up everyday between 5 and 6AM. Now I usually don't wake up until about 8AM.

This morning on the news there was a blind person with a Guide dog. He explained some about the training and about the expense involved. The Guide dog that he had was a beautiful black Lab. Watching that beautiful dog, reminded me of the black Lab we had for awhile when we were in Bonney Lake.

We had a beautiful black Lab. We named her Princess. She was another dog that was dropped off at our place. She was a wonderful dog. She loved us all so much and we loved her. Princess was a great guard dog. Anyone she did not know would not get up our driveway. She would bark and growl (she had a deep growl) until one of us would say "It's OK, Princess".

Your Uncle Horace came out to spend a couple of weeks to help on the house. He had never been to our house before. We heard Princess barking and growling and I got to the door just in time to see your Uncle Horace run back and jump into his car. He must have had a bad experience with a dog because even when I got to the car, he was hesitant about getting out. I told him Princess would not bother him. Once we gave our approval, Princess always remembered the person.

Princess watched over you kids. Whenever Darrell and Dan were fighting, Princess would not put up with it. She would jump right between them and make them stop.

I'm sure you remember that one mean calf we had. It can't remember if that was "September" or another one. Anyway, I think that calf was born mean. He would come charging at you whenever he got out of the fence, which was pretty often, because the fence had a lot of places to get out of. He would run up and butt you as hard as he could. We were all scared of him. Babe was his mother and she was such a gentle cow.

One day that calf came charging after Darrell and Dan. They were both pretty small yet, maybe three and four. They both started screaming and Princess came running and got between the calf and the boys. She went right for the calf's throat and he took off. I had never seen anything like that. I can see why they use Labs for Guide dogs. Labs are very intelligent dogs.

Our property was all woods. One day Princess came out of the woods and she was covered with Porcupine Quills. Your dad wasn't home so I ran and got our neighbor, Mr. Todd, to help me get the quills out.. I'm sure we probably didn't get them out properly because a few days later she disappeared and never came back. Of course it could have been something else but we always figured she died in the woods from the quills. That was a very sad time.

I have a lot of nice memories of Princess. Even though I do not want the responsibility of a dog anymore, I do love dogs and cats too.

It was another really nice day Saturday. Debbie, Kent and Erik were still in Salt Lake. I got a nice surprise. Karl, Aimee and Tyler and Daryl and Rachel and Avery all came to visit. It is such a joy to be around to see my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their wives or husbands.

I took these pictures yesterday so that I could put them on my blog. What great looking families. Having children is so wonderful. Time flies so quickly. Enjoy your children while they are young.

Writing about children made me think of a story I am going to write about Karl and Daryl. Diane , Karl, Daryl and I were coming back from somewhere. We might have been coming back from Everett, I'm not sure. Karl and Daryl had been fighting off and on all the way. Punching each other and arguing about everything. Finally Diane told them to knock it off and both of them quieted down. They both looked like they were over being mad at each other. It must have been at least a half hour or more and they did not fight anymore. I was still living at the Harkey Apts. and Diane pulled up front and we all got out. Diane and I got out first and then Daryl and then Karl. Karl, not even looking mad, just walked up to Daryl and punched him in the stomach. So I guess, quietly, he must have still been mad. It was so unexpected because he didn't look like he was mad.

Brothers and sisters fight growing up. I used to fight with my sister over silly stuff. Only it never seems silly when you are young. Brothers and sisters all grow up and become the best of friends. Every generation is the same.

I can still remember when I had David, I was in a room with a lady from Buckley who had just had her sixth baby. I wondered how anyone could take care of that many children. She seemed really happy about it. I never dreamed at that time I would have seven. No matter how many you have, you love them all and you manage to take care of them. I am very happy I had so many children and have lived to see the blessing of grandchildren and great-granchildren.

This is a picture I took of Charlie today. Charlie and I are in charge of the house until Sunday evening. If the room looks strange it is because Debbie and Kent are remodeling the kitchen. You can look at their blog for the remodeling steps. Debbie, Kent and Erik flew to Salt Lake yesterday to visit Jennie, Mike and Sophie. They will be driving a car back for Erik to drive eventually.

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. It was nicer than yesterday. I guess we are supposed to have one more nice day. I went to Fred Meyer today to see if I could find a pair of pants I liked. I found some I liked but they do not have Women's Petites and all the pants are too long for me. I could not find any tops I liked either. So I guess I will go back to what I normally do; order them on-line from JC Penney. After I got back from Fred Meyer, I got my cart and walked to Safeway. I haven't walked that far for awhile and I could really feel it in my legs. I just love being out in the sunshine.

Another story--from when we lived in Bonney Lake. I am sure most of you kids will remember. We used to make our own Root Beer. You have to put it in bottles and cap it and let it ferment for about 5 days. After that you need to keep it in a cool place--but we didn't know that at the time--so we left the bottles on some shelves near our chimney. If you leave the Root Beer in a warm place after a couple of weeks or so , the pressure builds up and they explode.

OK, back to the chimney. Your dad had built a fireplace which was not really very good (he knew it wasn't) and he also built this big chimney which was not very good either. Your dad always worried that the chimney might fall down. Anyway, we had this big batch of Root Beer on the shelves by the chimney and they were probably there a good couple of weeks or more.

One night when we were all sound asleep, the bottles started exploding. You cannot imagine the sound they made. Your dad flew out of bed and said " the chimney is falling down". The chimney was fine but what a mess we had to clean up.

Charlie follows me around most of the day and I have to watch him all the time so he doesn't trip me. Now he has been sleeping on my bed for about 2 hours. I hate to make him get off but I'm not about to sleep with him.

Here is a picture of my mother in front of her house in Helena, Montana. The fat baby is me. My mother was born and raised in Modale, Iowa. When she graduated from High School, she left for Chicago. She had started to go into Nurse's training but she got ill and did not finish. My mother then went to work at as a housekeeper for a very wealthy man in Chicago, who had lost his wife. My mother married him but found that he was a very cruel person. She got a divorce. They did not have any children.

My mother went to work as a housekeeper for a family in Chicago.--She was just about to become a Mail Order Bride--My mother saw an ad that my dad had put in the Chicago Paper looking for a wife. My dad was living in Helena, Montana. In his ad he said he was a Disabled Veteran and that he owned his own home and business. My mother answered his ad and my dad sent her the money for a railroad ticket from Chicago to Montana. When my dad met her at the station he said"If you don't want to get married, I will pay your way back to Chicago" and my mother said, "As long as I'm here, we just as well get married." Their marriage lasted 35 years until 1960 when my dad died.

After they got married (must have not been any waiting periods) my mother said my dad took her to his house and he said he would be back for dinner. He went back to work. The business he owned was a Shoe Shop in Helena, Montana. All the shoes and boots were handmade. He made shoes and boots for the Governor and members of the Legislature. He knew Gary Cooper and his family. They had a big ranch. He made boots for the family. He made boots and shoes for a lot of the ranchers. My mother said he made my sister and I shoes too, but I don't really remember of the shoemaking.

Anyway, back to my mother's first day as a bride. My mother said she went ahead and started dinner. She wasn't used to stove, of course, and she burned the biscuits. She said she was really upset and started crying. When my dad came home, he told her not to worry about it. My dad was a very good man and very kind. My dad had been married once before too. He told my mother his first wife was a fiery red-head and he couldn't do anything to please her. They did not have any children either.

My dad loved Montana but his Asthma started getting worse. His doctor told him he had to get out of the cold climate. They sold their house and his business and had decided to go to California. I was 5 and my sister was 3. I barely remember a little of the trip.

It was the Summer of 1932 when we started out in a brand new Chevrolet. We stayed in cabins along the way. I remember one place we stayed overnight, my mother was happy because the water faucet was right by the door. There was no indoor plumbing in the cabins.

My mother could not tolerate the heat well. Going through Idaho and Eastern Washington it was so hot, she could hardly stand it. My dad told her that they would stop at the first cool place we came to. We got into Seattle July 4, 1932 and it was raining.

My parents found a house to rent in Clearview, WA (which is outside of Snohomish) until they could find a house with some property to buy.

I didn't go to Church today. I have a cough which seems to be developing into a cold. I hope it will not get as bad as the one I had in November. So, anyway, here I am on my blog again. In my previous blog, I told you about my experience in High School about having to cook Scrambled Eggs and Brains. This morning I looked on line and Lo and Behold, I found several recipes. I am going to post this recipe for you in case you want to try it out on your family and friends. (Maybe they will not be your friends afterward)

SCRAMBLED EGGS & CALF'S BRAINS (This is a tradional appetizer in Hungary)

1 lb. Calf's Brain
1 Medium onion, diced
2 TBS. Butter
1/2 teas. White Pepper
1/2 teas. Paprika
3 Eggs
1 teas. Salt: approximately

Soak Brains in cold water, and peel off the membrane. Drop brains into boiling water for 1 minute, then remove. Dry brains and scrape with a knife, reducing them to a rough pulp. Cook onion in butter over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add pepper, paprika, and brains to the onion and continue to cook, covered, over very low heat for about 10 minutes. Beat eggs as for scrambling, just before serving, mix with the brains, making a soft scrambled egg out of the mixture. Be sure to mix brains and eggs thoroughly. The texture should be almost like a creamy Risotto, not like HARD scrambled eggs. Add salt to taste. Serves four.

( A Risotto is a creamy rice dish) The recipe doesn't say how long to soak them in cold water.

It has been a long time since I was in High School, but some memories never leave you.

My mother cooked Liver and Onions, which I never ate either but my dad liked them.

I have cooked a lot of Liver and Onions because your dad loved them. Oddly enough, Richard said that last week he and Dan went out to eat when Richard had gone over to Graham to
visit him. Richard said he could not believe it when Dan ordered Liver and Onions.
Dan told Richard that Liver and Onions were one of his favorite dishes. Richard said he
used to watch your dad eat Liver and Onions and wondered how people could eat them.

Strange World! My youngest son, Dan, is so much like his dad in all kinds of ways.

Here is a picture of nice looking food.