Finding The Good.......

What a awful news day it was in Waseca yesterday.  In case you have not heard about it here is a link to one of the many stories about the teen that planned a school shooting in Waseca It was shocking and so very sad to hear about it yesterday. Thank God the women who saw the teen go into the storage locker that he was storing his bombs in called the police when she thought he was acting suspicious. It was because of her an unimaginable tragedy did not happen.

When you hear about the school shootings you always think to yourself that it will never happen in my town. It is easy to detach yourself from it because it did not affect the people you know. Well reality hit very close to home yesterday. When I think about all the people that I know that have kids in the Waseca schools and how tragic it could have been it just makes me sick.

So I decided that after the bad news of yesterday I would share some happy things.....

Yesterday was May Day and several of the neighborhood kids came around with May Baskets.

   It is so sweet! I love that they, along with there parents take the time to make them up and then come around and leave them at our doors.  It made me smile when I opened the door and found them. Dexter loved it too since he also found them before me and was feasting on one of them before I got to it.


Today while at work I went into the business office and they also had little May Baskets for the taking. They were so cute that I had to take one when I was told to. I now have a couple treats and some flower seeds to take home.

Morgan likes to chase squirrels. She pretty much spends her day looking out the windows for them and then running out the door and chasing them up trees. She can just barely reach to look out the living room window. She is so cute. It made me smile last night watching her.

Today is Amy's 30th birthday. She was telling me yesterday that she was feeling really old turning 30 and was feeling a little down about it. Then she remember that I would now have two daughters that were in there 30's so that made me "really" old. She said that thought made her cheer up about turning 30. It made me laugh when she told me and was glad my oldness could make her feel better.

Rick had some people over to pick up strings so by the time he got upstairs it was 6:45. Neither of us had eaten supper yet and since it was already so late I figured we would just eat left overs again. But Rick decided that he was going to grill and made up some chicken for us. I was grateful to have him take care of supper for us after a long day at work for both of us. It is nice to be taken care of sometimes.

So  even if the news out there is awful and you are feeling down try to find the good in the little things. The neighbor that waves and smiles as you go by, seeing the neighborhood kids playing and laughing every afternoon, the smile of your love ones or even watching to dog get all excited by the chase of a squirrel.  It is not hard to find the good if you just look.....


Later Sharon

Good Book....

I was excited to see that another one of my classmates wrote a book. As soon as I found out I had to order it up.

The book A Country Doctor Goes To War is a must if you are a history buff or World War II buff. It is about my classmates Grandfather who was a doctor in Truman MN when he got called up to serve in World War II. It was very interesting to read about his experiences during his service in his own words through his journal. Tammy did a wonderful job telling about her family history and how and why her Grandfather became the compassionate man that he was.

Click on the link above to order the book and learn more about it.

Later Sharon

Upcycled Metal Locker

When we took our camper to my Dad's house for storage last fall he showed me a locker he had in his shed. He said it was from the country school he went to. I loved it and told him if he ever wanted to  get rid of it I would take it.
Well this spring when we went to pick up the camper he had the locker sitting out and said I should take it. I was excited to have it.

Dad said it came from the only school he ever went to. A Country School on Twin Lakes Road in  Faribault. For those of you that don't remember, country schools use to be for students that lived in the country and did not go into town to the big schools. They usually had all the grades together in one room. My Dad went there for 8 years. He then went to work on the farm. Once he joined the Army he got his GED. He took his country school education and went on to build his own very successful construction business. He was well known in the community for his exceptional brick work. When he retired he had people calling him for years trying to get him to just do one more job for them.

The locker is around 70 years old. He said the school house sat empty for a long time and then they auctioned everything off in it. He remembered using the locker so he bought it up. The school house was bought and remodeled into a house.

I loved the look of the locker with all its rust and peeling paint. Of course I could not have all that paint and rust falling off in my house so I had to do something to it. I did a little research and discovered that you can seal rust in with a product called Penetrol. 

So I took a wire brush and brushed off all the loose rust and paint. I got the Penetrol at Menards and then went to work. It was very easy to apply. I just used a small paint roller and applied it. Once it dried I was done. I love the way it looks! 

 

I now have a little piece of my Dad's history in my house. Over the weekend Dad was at my house so I got to show it to him. He got a big smile on his face and was very pleased with it. He said it had sat in his shed for years and was glad to see it being used again. He said it looked perfect sitting on my porch. 

Later Sharon

Easter Fun.....

Since  we were hosting Easter for both the Rugroden  and the Becker side this year Christa and Jese come up on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday night. Oliver got to color Easter Eggs on Saturday night after everyone left from the Rugroden side of the family. He had lots of fun doing it.

                                 Jese helping Oliver shoot a bow on Sunday morning

                                    Eli was having lots of fun finding the eggs.

 Liam was the master at finding the eggs, but like a good big brother and cousin he showed Oliver and Eli where to find them too.

                      Oliver did pretty good to with some help from Christa

 Josie ran fast and got just about as many eggs as Liam. I was so happy that Mother Nature let us have a perfect day for a egg hunt.

                 Eli and Oliver decided the yard needed some more raking.

We all spent most of the afternoon outside. It was nice to be able to enjoy the weather.

Lastly here is my centerpiece for the table. It was a big hit with everyone. Of course now I have a lot of jelly beans to eat......

Later Sharon

Sweet fun fact.....

Did you know that sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart.....

I just thought I would share this fun, sweet fact for your Friday to make you smile.

Have a Great weekend!
Sharon

"Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!" -Sitting Bull

 Poor Dexter has not been very happy with me for leaving him at Amy's house when we went to KY and when we went to SD this past weekend. He misses me and when we got home he pretty much attaches himself to my leg. Poor poor puppy. 


This is the dress that I made for myself. We have two wedding to go to this spring so I had to make myself something new to wear. I am taking a week break from sewing because I have to get ready for Easter. Hopefully I will get back to some of my projects next week.

 Since it is finally nice out I have been taking the dogs for walks. They are super excited to get out walking again.

 Since I made myself a new dress I HAD to get myself a new pair of shoes. After consulting with Cassie these are the shoes I got. I love them!


My new addiction is ice coffee. I had to go to Caribou on my birthday because I got a free drink, so I got a ice coffee. Since then I have been making regular trips to Caribou. They are so good. It is a good thing we do not have a Caribou in Waseca! 

 Last Thursday I babysat Josie and Eli. It was fun to have them over since I don't babysit them very often anymore. It was a nice day out so we got to play outside. Once Rick got home he played a little baseball with Josie. She could really hit the ball good. Eli was good and tired by the end of the day.

 On Friday Cassie, Amy and I went to the Junk Bonanza at Canterbury. I have never been there before. We all managed get a couple things and still come home with money. They had so much to look at. Some of it was way over priced but there was a lot of good deals, you just had to find them.

 I told Rick I was going to do this to my deer since he hates the mount of it. He said it looks creepy. I figure I will make it pretty :)

That's right it is Peep season!! It is my favorite time of the year. Mmmmmmmmmm Peeps.


Sorry for the long time between post. I have been busy busy busy. I have lots of stuff coming up so I will try and keep up on my post.

Later Sharon 

Firewood.....

 We finally had these two trees removed today. This is the view out the window before the trees were taken down.

 As you can see they were right below the steps and pretty much in the way. They hung over the house and caused a huge mess with branches, leafs and acorns falling on the roof all the time. 

 So we hired someone to come take them down. We let them take most of the wood leaving just the big logs for us for firewood.

 It was interesting to watch them take it down without dropping any of it on the roof.

 Now we have a view out the window with out trees in the way. I am sure the squirrels will not like it that they will no longer be able to get on the roof of the house. 

 No we need to decide what we are going to do for landscaping. It really opens up the back of the house. 

 The most exciting thing we did today is get the camper out of storage! We had it at my Dad's house in his big shed. We had to get it out when the snow was gone but the ground was still frozen. Mom called me last night and said that today was the day. So we were there at 8:30 this morning.

               I am so excited to go camping again! I love our camper!

Later
Sharon