A Contradiction?

So I was looking up some words for a book Isaac is writing and I looked up hermitage.
This was the definition:

noun

1.
a. The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits.

b. A monastery or abbey.

2. A place where one can live in seclusion; a retreat.

3. The condition or way of life of a hermit.

What do they mean, a "group" of hermits!?!! lol It sounds like an oxymoron to me. =)

Apple Pie

Today I am going to bake an Apple pie!! Yay!
I love the Fall season!
...oh and btw the snow all melted. =)

Trenton

When I think of Trenton, I am reminded of...

-those two weeks in Aug. '08
-the hay shed ;)
-Third Day
-playing music together
-graham crackers and Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips
-Vault
-"Old Hag"
-the guacamole dance
-bare footin' down G with all the friends in the middle of the night.
-"The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (he never did like it, lol)
-braces.... hmmmm... lol
-A midnight walk to the top of Table Rock in the middle of Dec. with the full moon shining on the most sparkly snow (it was like millions of diamonds)!
-food fights w/ frosting, mashed potatoes, flour... and many other things. =)
-snow fights
-western belts with cool buckles
-hay wagon dances (the original one was the best)
-Lincoln Park
-tractor rides
-Red Robin
-Red Lobster
-his Corona hat
-most of the music he listened to... it was pretty sweet.
-Co. Rd. G... and summer rain
-Olive Garden and Walmart with Sandy and Matt
-"Chitty Oats"
-tag at the Meyer's
-cowboy boots & skater shoes/ flip flops and high heels
-swing dancing... sweet moves... showing off of course.
-his silver Mazda 6
-Perkins after dance practice with everyone
-his cool old Ford truck
-Viva La Vida (or anything by Cold Play)
-his "Light Up and Run" CD
-Akon
-hikes around the farm in the Fall and also the Spring
-his awesome song (it sounded like a movie score)... that he never played enough
-Steve... his best friend
-Dan the man... his partner in everything crazy (like running around in the cow yard on the day after X-mas with.. well, never mind)
-Math
-his sisters... oh yes.
-phone calls... long ones, short ones, ... in the middle of the night/early morning.
-hot chocolate or hot cocoa (what was the difference again?)
-raking leaves w/ snow on the ground and freezing to death.
-baseball
-milking cows... it was always more fun with him.
-chilling in E.C. with Trent, Ana, Nick, Jae.
-the cool tune we made up... which was kind of inspired by Canon in D.
-Jed and Kendra's cute kittens
-grandparents =)
-cornfields lol ;)
-Chinese fire drills... in the middle of nowhere.
-McD's, Jazz and wine way late at night
-Starfield, Revolution... yesss! ♥
-cooking dinner
-our trip to E.C. with my cousins and Isaac
-Hilltop Hoods, Nosebleed Section
-Casting Crowns
-The Gladiator, 007, The Night at the Museum 2, Transformers 2 ... and others.
-baking apple pies
-the apple pie analogy... I almost forgot.
-Dead and Gone, T.I. feat. Justine Timberlake
-sitting on the kitchen floor, talking and eating cereal
-Hogstad & Oak Grove road
-Wheaties and Cornflakes
-rolling down the hill in the rain on a Second Saturday and then messin around in the sand. Yuck! lol
-oats with peaches, milk and honey... the best ever
-the Black River Falls fair
-the camp fire in the cow pasture
-12/5/08 to 12-25-08
-8/9/08
-4/25/09 ..the night Kendra went into labor
-the Twix bar
-dark beer
-the tractor/truck pull
-the bathtub
-the sunflower row and rows of corn
-singing Psalms and Hymns all the time
-little trips into town for butter or powdered sugar
-talking Bible stuff
-always having something to talk about
-Unintended, Muse
-riding bikes with my brothers
-roasting a bull calf
-preparing veal
-milk testing, pizza and the park
-the country drive towards Fairchild, listening to crazy music and trying to learn to dive his car.
-jumping in the Meyer's swimming pool after Paddy's B-day party with Jordan, Isaac and Trent
-swell bonfires and good times at the Sieg's
-2006.... hehe
-when he came up every other weekend between Aug. and Oct. of '08
-sitting on a pew with Ella and Jax
-Jax, the bestest cat ever... who had 14 claws on each paw

well... the list goes on and on. I'd be here for days if I tried to dream everything up. Therefore I won't bore you any longer... that is if you made it all the way through without skipping to the bottom. ;) hehe
I'm sorry if this made no sense to you... some times I do crazy things like this though anyway.
Good times... all the way baby! Yeehaw! =)

* #+*"#*SNOW* +*#*+

It's snowing!!!
And it's going to keep snowing all day! ...it's a very wet snow, perfect for packing.
It feels a little too much like Christmas... scary. =P
lol... and it's only the 11th of October!!!!!
Hmmmm... we must be having a global cooling. Maybe we'll have another ice age. ???
*ponders the thought for a moment*
Yep... anyway... ;)
Let it snow, let it snow.

...I do hope we have some sort of Fall. *sigh*

Canning and Henry Drummond

Gee.... it's been a while.
But life is so busy that I haven't had much time for the computer. I guess that's a good thing, huh? :P
It snowed on Saturday morning. Of course it was gone as soon as the sun came up but that means, no more tomatoes. Which also means no more canning. YAY!
I think my mom and I have been canning things for the last two months straight! Luckily we had my Grammy, Jacqui (who made some of the best salsa ever that we also canned) and Emily help us now and then, which made things go much easier.
Our basement shelves look very pretty now with all the different jars of home grown canned goods, and it makes me feel very resourceful and prudent. Kind of like the Proverbs 31 woman. She is truly what every woman should aspire to be.
But... enough of that canning stuff. ;)
Now that the busy harvest season is over with, I have so many things I want to do. Some of them are just for fun and others are more of a necessity... so I am learning to prioritize and organize my time. *sigh* ...no I can't always do everything I want to. Shucks.
And life goes on. lol
If you don't want to be left behind in misery and self pity you have to keep busy I guess. That reminds me of a good quote by Henry Drummond;
"Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all he can do."
He has a number of interesting quotes... and these days you can have all the information at your fingers tips and the click of a mouse. So there are no excuses: you should check Henry Drummond's quotes out. And who knows? you may be inspired. =)
Well... I uploaded a 30 day trial of Finale Note Pad 2010 (which is SOOO awesome btw) and I have a number of things I want to do with it before the trial ends so I'd better get busy.
Until next time... (and as Richard Jordan always says) maranatha.

Random Thoughts

Hullo again.
Where have you been? I'm sure somewhere delightfully cool. Boy it's been hot here today. I think it's because of the thunderstorm we had last night (in which we got 4 1/2" of rain). Last week we had 5 1/2" of rain!!! I don't think we're lacking anymore.

Our garden is quite bountiful. There is nothing better then sitting down to a nice, hardy home cooked meal of chicken, green beans, potatoes, and an apple pie of course! That is my typical image of a home cooked dinner. =)

You know it is crazy growing up. Suddenly you can look at other peoples pasts and understand a little more of what they mean when they say, "that's how it was when I was a kid". For me it really hits when your parents suddenly become Grandpa & Grandma, and you suddenly become and Auntie. It makes me think back to when I was just a little squirt causing trouble and not having a care in the world. I remember my Aunts and Uncles... and hearing stories about my dad and mom when they were kids. It was so far out... lol. They made great stories but it was so hard to connect them to reality.

I attended the last day of a five day writing seminar with my Mom and Dad today. It was associated with the Institute for Excellence in Writing. It was so fascinating and I really learned a lot, but I had to wonder how a parent is ever to teach multiple subjects to their child. I mean there are so many aspects of life... which ones to you make the higher priorities? I guess it makes me pretty impressed when I think about my parents and some other adults that I know. Raising children is one of the most selfless things you could do. Maybe one day I will get a chance to give all that I can to a family of my own. =)

A Perfect Day

Yesterday was amazing. I guess I would call it perfect. The sun was shining all day with a nice breeze to balance out the 80 degree heat. Our lawn is nicely mowed... not over grown like it sometimes gets. Our garden looked beautiful, with it's very neat rows of vegetables and plants and such growing very nicely... and there were the cows out in the pasture calmly roaming about.
I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out our vans... which were very dirty (but you didn't need to know that), and I felt very productive. For dinner we invited Dan, Jacqui & Brad and Jed, Kendra & Meadow over for a little birthday party for Kendra a day late.
So we were all visiting, the boys were flying a kite and everyone was sitting on the deck enjoying the evening. The view from our deck is awesome... you can see the whole little valley to the East of us... and the beautiful hills, fields and trees to the North. Everything is so green and fresh.
For dinner Jacqui made the delicious marinated chicken... the best we'd all ever had. And we had Spanish rice, and cucumber salad as well.

Here is a rough recipe for Jacqui's Chicken:
1) small bottle of Worcestershire sauce
2) Lemon Juice (small bottle)
3) Orange Juice (small drink size bottle)
4) Red Pepper Flakes
5) 1 fresh garlic cloves
6) 2 onions (any kind)
7) Chicken parts of your choice
8) garlic powder

Doesn't it just make your mouth water? lol
My Grandpa Row is up to visit from Ohio and he's a professional chef so he was helping out in the kitchen. If he ever moves up I'm going to have him teach me to cook. =)
There is nothing more enjoyable then a fun and happy family gathering where everyone is just chilling and having a good time. =)
The Lord has been gracious.