Spring Things

Yesterday was Diane's birthday so this is the card I made for her using all Stampin' Up! products. (this card was a design by Connie Babbert) These flowers are done with a die cut with the Big Shot Machine and would be great accents on spring & summer scrapbook pages too.






When I was in Indiana last month, a stamping friend told me about a very unique gift boutique in Indianapolis called Twisted Sisters so mom and I checked it out. I got Diane's birthday gift there (a funky red watch) and was surprised that they wrap all purchases which worked out great! Click HERE for pictures and a review. It's located in an old Taco Bell building.












Yesterday was our April P.E.O. meeting. Our lunch plate with fruit pizza and star fruit was beautiful. I LOVE these real, painted eggs Sandy had which she got at the Amana Colonies here in Iowa. I just Googled Amana Colonies to provide a link HERE for you and see that they're going to be showing how to make maybe these same eggs today, tomorrow & Fri.! Hmmmm, maybe a road trip!




























Sandy's program for us yesterday was on May Day. She had all the supplies ready for us to make these May Day baskets and just asked that we all deliver it to someone on May Day (May 1)! The tradition is that you hang it on someone's door, ring the doorbell and leave quickly maybe shouting "Happy May Day"! A friend and I are thinking that maybe we need to make a few more. It's hard to decide on just one person to give to! These are made with school lunch milk cartons wrapped with tissue paper that we had accordion folded and cut. Sandy had made the tissue paper roses that were attached to the pipe cleaner handle. We filled them with various candies.

Do any of you remember doing a May Pole Dance in elementary school? I do. It was really fun! If you Google May Pole Dance you'll find several videos to watch.

Tornado Damage

We had several tornadoes come through the area last night after dark causing lots of damage west and south of us in Varina and Fonda and around Pocahontas where Diane lives. These pictures are all from the Pocahontas area. Lots and lots of debris in the fields. Some places that had several buildings are totally gone. At one house, people were in the basement while their house was blown away and their pickup ended up in the basement with them. We heard a fire truck was blown on its side. Most of them were EF3 tornadoes.

Glad that Diane & Todd were ok as this was about a mile from them. They were in the basement with the girls. I was in our basement for quite a while until about midnight. The firemen weren't officially called out but they were all watching from their homes until they thought a funnel might be north of our town. Then they went out. After we all got to bed, another round of bad rain & lightening came through.

Just heard on the news that 7 hog confinement buildings were destroyed. One home had a completely concrete storm shelter like we have but the top even came off of it! The guy said without it though they probably wouldn't be alive.

Half of the town of Mapleton of about 1200 people is gone. It's a miracle that no one was hurt in any of these areas.

These pictures show a very small part of the damage. Lots of cleanup to be done.

Garden Extravaganza & Recipe

Got a call from Diane this morning that now Todd has the flu so he would be staying home with the girls today. So many people around here have had the flu lately. I'm glad my flu shot has worked so far and keeping my fingers crossed!

So I was now able to go to the Garden Extravaganza in Pocahontas that I've never been to. It was nice with seven nurseries and other vendors there.


It was a foggy morning and gloomy day but now the sun has come out.

Glenn is driving a flatbed wrecker at the Texas NASCAR race tonight. He's going to be parked at the pit exit. The company he works for sells wreckers, Coker Equipment. Click HERE for info.
















This morning I put a new recipe in the crock pot that we liked. If you like chicken & dumplings, this is a quick and easy version!

CROCK POT CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

2-3 chicken breasts
marjoram, thyme, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary
1/2 c. chopped onion or some dried chopped onion
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1 15 oz. can chicken broth
1 10 oz. can refrigerated biscuits

Put onion in the crock pot, lay chicken over (can be partially frozen - mine was). Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice from above. I used just a little of all of them. Cover with soup and broth. Cook on High for 3 1/2 hours. Pull chicken apart into chunks with 2 forks. Tear up biscuits and drop in. Cook another 1 1/2 hours. I used a spoon and kind of turned the biscuit chunks a couple of times.

We had this with a salad and fresh fruit salad. Would be good with mashed potatoes. This recipe was enough for 2 of us for 2 meals. You could easily double everything if you need more.

Fast Week

This week has flown by seems like. I was miserable with a cold/sinuses on Mon. but felt so much better on Tues.! It was strange. Good thing since I got an early morning call Wed. from Diane needing me to babysit Camry and pick Lacey up from the bus stop. I had a nice day with Camry.

Diane had to be off Thurs. too (babysitter was still sick with the flu) so she and Camry went with me to Ft. Dodge. I had an appointment there and was going to go to Walmart. She needed to go to Target and the cell phone store in the mall. We had lunch at Applebee's.

This is the season for fish frys in this part of the country so tonight we went to the annual one in Pocahontas. This one serves the fish with baked potato, sliced bread, your choice of homemade salads (they serve them) and bars.

I'm babysitting both girls tomorrow. Diane hopes to have a sub for her Sat. days off soon!

Watch for Glenn in a flatbed wrecker at the Texas Motor Speedway at the NASCAR race tomorrow!

Women's Conference Sat.

These are all pictures from the Spring Women's Conf. at our church last Sat. When we arrived that morning. there were mini cinnamon rolls and nut breads. Lunch was lunch meat on a croissant, potato chips, fresh fruit cup and a mint. Then when the program was over, there was an amazing dessert bar with chocolate fountain!

The speaker was Debbie Taylor Williams from Texas. She is a very good speaker. She is wanting to do her P.R.A.Y. with Passion program in all 50 states. If any of you are interested in having her do this program in your state, click HERE to read more about her and for contact info. She just requires that 200 women attend.

CRP Burn - day after

These "day after the burn" pictures are especially for the farmers, the hunters that come to hunt pheasant on this ground and Bill's brother and sister who live out of state.

The first 2 pictures are looking north toward Bill's mom's house. The third one is looking south down the road.

Bill is really happy how this burn went.



Planting can begin on April 11th so we're getting close. Bill & Tim and other area farmers are getting all the equipment ready and other things done. We do need some warmer weather. Looks like we'll be getting it after tonight's dip below freezing.

GO BUTLER!!!!! (an Indiana team)