Nice Sunday & Bars

The Ignite group (teens) had a potato bake fundraiser after church. Huge baked potatoes with lots of toppings (yum) and bars for dessert. Out here, * bars * are the thing. Whenever a meal is served for a fundraiser there are always * bars * with it (bar cookies). I remember Amy telling me that before I moved here. All of the local cookbooks have lots of recipes for bars. :) Our triplets & Glenn & Amy helped with the meal. I'm glad the boys are doing more activities with the group.

Bill and I went over to the house to look at the outlets, light switches & phone jacks while it was quiet. The electrician will probably be wanting to know the rest of what we want by tomorrow.

In this picture I'm measuring to the top of the light switches. They seem low to me at 48". Ours in this house are 52". Greg says this is the standard. Hmmmm.

Bill has been moving more snow this afternoon. Even though it hasn't snowed much more, it blows and drifts.

Combine is here!

The "new to us" combine was delivered to Tim's shed yesterday while we were gone. I'm sure Bill and Tim have had fun looking it over this afternoon. They need to put in the radio and do some things like that.

There was misc. work being done on the house today. Yesterday they put in lots of outlet & switch boxes (blue in picture) You can see the cover over the basement steps. It's down at night and a kerosene heater runs in the basement all the time. Bill will be glad when we have the sheetrock to keep the heat in and they can get the furnace running. Kerosene is not cheap and he's having to fill the heater sometimes twice a day with this weather.

We had a frustrating day yesterday looking for light fixtures. I need to find an actual lighting store around here but not sure there are any. Have a call in to the electrician to find out.

Had fun with Bev & Jerry - the couple Bill has farmed for for over 10 years. We took them to Outback against MY better judgment with the cold temps. and snow on the ground. (Bev uses a walker) They were thrilled to "get out" :) (they are in an assisted living place) and loved their steaks and the complimentary Bloomin' Onion the Manager gave us since it was their first time there.

This is the shower in the master bath. We went with a nice, large shower (5') rather than a garden tub since those seem to be something pretty to clean more than they get used. (I had one in my last house)

Decisions/Shopping

Yesterday we walked through the house with the electrician to mark where we want outlets, light switches and light fixtures. Still have to do the basement. Talked to the plumber. Both of them had guys working yesterday and will today! Bill worked in the basement some more last night.

Last night it was - 20 but it's up to - 1 this morning. We are headed to Des Moines to Lowes to look at light fixtures and faucets, etc. May stop at Sam's Club. I need some folding chairs for stamp classes. (I used to borrow/store/use the Randall chairs when in Ind.) Hope to eat at my favorite restaurant, Outback Steakhouse, and we need to see a couple that Bill farms for to give them a bill. They have moved into a nice assisted living place close to their son. Jerry calls us about once every 2 weeks to get an update on our weather and all and to see what's going on with their farm especially during planting or harvest.

Frigid Temps.

We started out at - 22 this morning - but the sun is shining and no wind!

This is a picture of the snow fence in the field across from our house that the plow made. Yesterday he plowed out there again rather than on the road! It runs north & south.


Bill & Tim are at a half day pesticide license update meeting in Humboldt this morning. I'm getting the new Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer catalogs ready to mail out to my customers.


Yesterday we went to Community Lumber to look at door handle samples, etc. Last night Bill worked in the basement of the new house. Greg is going to be going over things with us this afternoon. The electrician is here and will be working all day. Other contractors have problems to work on elsewhere due to this cold. The weather just isn't cooperating for us.

Things We Won't Miss

This all goes along with the "things to look forward to" post on 11/20.



This is something Bill rigged up for the washer to drain. It goes from the washer into this trash can which has a hole in the bottom and then into a hole in the basement floor. As you can see, the trash can still overflows most of the time now. The purpose was to slow down the flow into the main drainage hole.







Our water is not good along with the old plumbing, so we got a filter for the kitchen faucet. Thought we wouldn't have to go to the grocery to refill our drinking water jugs as much. Notice the 2 streams instead of one - and the lack of pressure when using the filter (and the rust stain). We're hoping our new well will be much better.

We were happy the other day talking to the plumber and Bill said he wanted to make sure our shower heads are tall enough. The plumber said he'd already sized Bill up and thought of that! My shower head is at about forehead level and Bill's rubs the top of his head if he doesn't stand right.




This is my electrical outlet in the main bathroom - next to a lovely old fashioned silver framed medicine cabinet.

It was - 8 at 8:00 this morning and is still - 3 with the sun shining at 11:15 - but no wind. The blizzard missed us for the most part - some wind and blowing snow but not bad.

Bill is out moving snow with the loader. We're meeting with the builder and window/interior doors guy soon. I'm going to West Bend this afternoon to do a stamp order delivery.

Great Magazine

I had the achey flu yesterday so stayed on the couch and tried not to move. Feel much better today. Bill helped with the grocery's inventory. He was there 4 1/2 hours and they're still not done.

We are supposed to have up to 50 mph winds starting at 6:00 tonight which may mean blizzard conditions if the snow blows. Schools were canceled today. The road grader/snow plow went by over in the field across from our house. He was making a snow fence with snow! Another new thing to me. It is 35 today - wow!

I did read a couple magazines while sick. Country Woman has been my favorite magazine for years. It was originally called Farm Wife News. Isn't it interesting that now I am a farm wife? I think so! Country Woman is a Reiman Publication and I like all of their magazines a lot. Roy Reiman was the owner/editor but recently retired along with his buddy, Jerry Weibel. They got bored after just a short time of retirement from the magazine business. Since they are both from Iowa, they decided to start a new magazine a year ago called Our Iowa. Peggy shares hers with me and I love it! Like all of the Reiman Publication magazines, there are great photos and articles. And these guys are funny! So if you need a new magazine to read, check it out!