Little Miss Eliz

On Tuesday and Thursday morning I have the privilege of watching Eliz while Gina is trying to finish getting her nursing degree.  She is always a ray of sunshine to my week and has been very easy to take care of.  Yesterday she was 12 weeks old and is growing like a weed.  Just wanted to share an updated picture of her so everyone else can see how cute she is.

I sat her on the table while I was getting her bottle ready and she was so patient while it was warming up.

  

Northern Indiana Amish

Visiting the Northern Indiana Amish has been very fun and exciting.  The Amish in this area are very talkative and outgoing.  Way different from the Amish in Arthur, Illinois where we visit a couple times a year.
The second hand store we went to today was wonderful.  A young lady waited on us.  Her mother came out and explained that she was cooking for the crew of workers who were helping out at an Amish house and business that burnt to the ground last Friday.  The Amish are a wonderful group of people who are there to help out their family and neighbors in any type of emergency.  The work crew has already started to rebuild the home and business and will not stop until they are completed. 
I picked up a huge amount of ladies dresses and a few children's items. 
We also stopped at a couple cheese shops and I think I had one of every sample they had out at both stores and LOVED them all.  We have purchased a little over $100 on cheese and beef sticks so far.  Tomorrow we are going to the bulk food store, a general store and fabric store and of course tomorrow night is supper with an Amish couple and a ride in their buggy.

Out working in the field.

The hay wagon is full and ready to be moved out of the field.

If I Had a Bucket List..............

I am on cloud nine, I feel like a child on Christmas, I feel like I won the lottery.  We left home today for our 4 day Northern Indiana Amish community trip.  We had one Amish thrift store we were stopping at today and we went there right away.  Pa-Ma Treasure Trove in Milford Indiana is now my favorite store.  This is an Amish run second hand store that had a little bit of everything.  The people who own the store are probably in their 50's and are the friendliest Amish people we've ever met.  Right away when we walked into the store Mr. Gingerich offered us coffee and fresh baked pumpkin whoppie pies to eat while we shopped.  Ron had one right away and I had one after I finished shopping, it was delicious. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Gingerich talked about anything and everything in the Amish life.  They had 5 children and 4 chose not to remain Amish.  They see all the kids all the time and they are not shunned.  Mrs. Gingerich even took me into her house to show it to me.  Very simple, very spacious.  It was open concept, one huge room with the living room dining room and kitchen all in one huge room.  The bedrooms and bath were off the main area.  They heat their home by a wood burning stove that is in their shop that is attached to the house and also have a wood burner in the living room side that they only use if it gets below zero out.
Their only child (son) who remained Amish lives next door and every Saturday night they have a Threshers Dinner at their house for a $15 donation.  It has to be a donation as they don't have a license to do it.   You can arrive at 5 pm and they will take you for a ride in their horse and buggy and then the family style dinner is served at 6 pm.  The dinner consists of 2 meats, potatoes, vegetable, rolls and pie.  Might serve more than that but I was so excited about getting to go Saturday that I'm sure I missed out on what was being served.  I would pay just for the ride and a chance to sit and talk to them.  They will answer any question you ask and are just as friendly or friendlier than their parents. 
So go ahead and envy me about 5 pm Eastern time as I ride in the buggy and then at 6 pm when we sit down to eat.  I will see what I can take pictures of and share them on the blog.  Sure hope I can sleep tonight as I am so excited for this chance of a lifetime and it is 2 days away. 

Taking a Break

Thought I would sit and rest from working on taking pictures of stuff for Etsy and catch up my neglected Blog.  I had about 130 items to get photographed today, then I will tweak the pictures and then get them posted.  I have about 40 more items to photograph yet today so I can work on the tweaking part tonight.  Etsy and eBay are 7 days a week and all day jobs. 
My son Ron came over on Wednesday and transferred the stuff from my old laptop to the new one, cleaned up the screen of un used items and gave me some pointers.  The only thing about this laptop is that it has a very touchy control pad (mouse).  I don't have the space on my lap to use an external mouse and I will just have to get used to this one.  I now like this one a whole lot more than I did Monday.
Watched Eliz on Thursday while Gina was in school and she slept most of the time.  She was dressed in a Winnie The Pooh outfit for Halloween.  She was 11 weeks old on Friday, time sure flies.

 

Ian went to a wedding a couple of weeks ago and here are some pictures of him and him holding Eliz.  Ian is not a baby person at all and you sure can tell by the way he holds her.

 

 

Well this isn't getting the rest of my pictures done so I need to get busy and get them done.  I still have 3 totes of stuff that I need to get hung and then do all the pictures of them.  Busy, busy old lady but it keeps me out of trouble. 



 

 

New Laptop Has Finally Arrived

I had a super high at 11:30 when FedEx delivered my new laptop.  By 12:30 I was at a super low.  My desktop and old laptop had Vista operating system and this laptop has Windows 8 operating system.  To me it's like speaking English to speaking a foreign language.  The only thing I was able to do on my own was set it up, connect to wireless and install MS Office Software.  Ian helped me the best he could and he has it functional right now and my son Ron will be over Wednesday afternoon to help me and to transfer the needed things from my old hard drive to this one.  It sure is a learning curve and feel better tonight about things. 
I need to play around and explore more on it and find all the those hidden gems. 
The laptop itself is beautiful, have a 17' screen, number keypad, nice shinny black and of course it is a HP the only brand I will purchase.  In a couple of weeks I will be sailing very smooth but right now the seas are a little rough.   

Catching up

It's been a while since I had time or made time to sit down and write.  Two weeks ago I finished up dehydrating shredded potatoes and have 3 half gallon jars full.  That is a lot of potatoes and should last until next year.  Went to a nice auction the first of the month and picked up a lot of nice linens that I need to get listed on Etsy and eBay.
My corner of the living room: reclining chair, end table with light and a wooden tray where I keep my laptop next to my chair. Last Monday night I was getting out of my chair in the living room and picked up my tea glass that has a handle on it and tapped it on the edge of the wooden tray and the bottom of the glass just sheared off and tea went into my laptop.  I dried it, took the air hose and blew it out, and put the fan on it and my laptop is fried.  It is about 5 years old but was in excellent condition because I took good care of it.  I was devastated, we were leaving the next morning for Indiana and Ohio and I always travel with it and also the thought of buying a new one was pretty upsetting.  I have a desktop but it is in the back of the house and not convenient to use.
The trip went real well until Friday morning when Ron was turning around in a parking lot and a loud bang and out went the power steering.  We drive a super crew F 150 and no power steering is a bad thing.  He looked under the hood, power steering fluid OK, belt OK and could not see anything wrong.  Across the street from where we were in this small town was a little mechanics shop and we went over and asked if someone could look at it.  They came over and made the same observations as we did.  He said it needed to be looked at by a Ford dealer and told us where 2 were.  Now we had a big decision to make, go to the dealer to see if they could look at it and if so if a part was needed would they have it in these 2 small towns or just try and drive it home or as close to home as we could get.  We decided to cut the vacation short by 1 1/2 days and start home.  We had a truck with 7 totes and over a dozen garbage bags full of Amish and Mennonite clothing and if we got stuck who would be able to come and get us; no one.  We drove until dark Friday night and then got up early Saturday and we made it home.  On the way home Friday I called the Ford dealer where we get service and made an appointment to drop it off Sunday night so they could look at it today.
In August we had it in for new tie rods and other front end things.  The problem was when they put in new tie rods they also put in a new power steering gear box and it was defective so it did cost us anything as it was covered under warranty.  Good for the no cost but still a little upset that we didn't get to all the places I had planned.
Our son Ronnie hunted for the best bargain he could find for a new laptop and placed the order for it Thursday night.  Now it's just a waiting game.  We should be able to get the hard drive info transferred from the old one to the new one.  Ron had Blossem pick up what ever it is so he can do it.
So for now I am stuck in the back room in the corner all by myself if I need to use the computer and with well over 1000 items to get listed so I can sell them I can see I will be spending a lot of time here.  :(

Sign's of God's Promise