A bunch of randomness!

*Benjamin and Jacob have discovered the warmth and durability of Carhartt and I love it!

*There was a career day recently at the high school.  Jacob found a local hardware/lumber store that hires at 15 and seems to be very flexible working around sports, etc.  He has decided that is where he will get a job in March.

*At career day, Benjamin talked with a few businesses.  Three things he mentioned, was being a lineman, welder or connecting with a local flight/fire place.  I guess they will train you to be airplane mechanic but then they also offer fire services and train you to fly their planes to put out forest fires!  Those all sound like amazing opportunities.  Just love that he is thinking about it and exploring!

*Somehow, overnight, Joseph has just about passed me up in height.  Wow!

*I have put up the puzzle table, as I do every Christmas, and amazing how happy it makes me!

*I continue to go through all blog posts, reformatting to one day print all of it.  I sometimes feel like my boys have had a boring life, but not so.  As they have gotten older, we might not 'do' as much because of sports, etc, but we were very active as they were growing up.  So many of the posts bring a smile to my face and many, many memories.  I never intended my blog to become a written history, but that is exactly what it is.  Will be fun to put a timeline together of big events, trips, happenings!

*I used the chemotherapy cream on my face and have yet to have a reaction.  Very unusual, so not sure if I will redo the treatment or go back to just the one cream that I used a year and half ago.

*With Benjamin taking Welding 3, it has allowed him to sign up as a dual enrollment student in the local community collage.  He is earning a few credits!

*I think winter has finally hit and here to stay!

*Jacob has started basketball and high school is pretty intense.  He has practice every Saturday at 12 noon, so there goes a lot of his ski season!  Looks like he will be able to get in 10-15 days on the slopes.

*Joseph's basketball season is mainly practices, with a few games versus other schools.

*JR has been adding to the fort and actually headed out there this evening for the night.  So glad he has a place that is his and best we can tell, no one has discovered it yet.

*My Turo rentals are looking to be pretty quiet this winter.  He has three cars and right now only 1 reservation.  I think all of the rental companies have finally met the demand and relocated hundreds of cars here.  It is nuts the amount of people traveling here!  The airport just recently added more parking lots and there are still days that the lots are full.

 Hunting season is over!  I think we had 4 or 5 deer hanging in the garage.  We have finally surpassed the chest freezer and decided to buy a small up right freezer too!!  JR has been experimenting with recipes for meat sticks, jerky and sausage.  I think we have finally found a few family favorites, hoping that boy will be more likely to eat the game (nobody seems to care for the way I cook it...)  Jacob has totally embraced hunting and spent the last weekend out with a friend, all day looking for animals!  Few pictures from some of their jaunts.

Joseph has gotten into baking.  He made an old family recipe pound cake.  I must admit, it looked perfect!!!!  

He has made the same batch of chocolate chip cookies about 5 times and finally got it right today!  He has learned the importance of reading the recipe and learning how to accurately measure.  When he gets bored, he just grabs my recipe binder and finds something to make!! Love it!

 It was a very low key Thanksgiving weekend.

On Thursday, JR, Jacob, Joseph and I went to a local hot springs, new to us.  

It was a nice time.  The boys and JR wrestled.  JR was still able to take Jacob, but that won't happen much longer (JR has the weight advantage).  One of the pools was 60 degrees, so the boys decided to see who could stay in longer.  Joseph won by staying 15:44!!

Benjamin really wanted to stay at home and cook.  However, when we got back, he admitted he was too lazy to have everything ready at the same time.  So, it was a casual food day, eating homemade mac-n-cheese at 2pm, pecan pie at 3:30 and steak at 5:30.  I love how non traditional we seem to be these days!!

A fairly quiet week, actually the next two weeks are pretty quiet.  Just basketball for the younger two!

 Thanksgiving 2021!!

Thankful for the 'adult' conversations Benjamin and I have started having!

Thankful for long time friends that I have stay connected with over the years!

Thankful for my clean scent candles that smell amazing!

Thankful for another year of steady work!

Thankful for early morning gym workouts with Jacob!

Thankful for continued good health all the way around!

Thankful for new supplements I have found and really enjoy!

Thankful for the rare moments when I shut my mouth and end up having a great conversation with one of the boys, instead of one filled with my critical thoughts!

Thankful for my budget envelopes that help to keep me on track!

Thankful for a warm football season!

Thankful for a new treat I have found, sweet and spicy rice cakes!  Yum!

Thankful for lots of opportunities in the news and world around us to talk with the boys about beliefs, politics, doing the right thing, taking responsibility, etc!

Thankful for the online school platform that helps me easily follow their school progress!

Thankful for amazing auto mechanics that keep 'our fleet' running!

Thankful for the moments of laughter/banter between the boys!

Thankful for Bree (dog) who keeps me company during the school days!  

Thankful for margin in my days, both working hours and spending money!

Thankful for my pinochle group, 15 years of playing and still going!

Thankful for our warm house that often feels way too small but is 100% ours.

And the best for last, thankful for an amazing God that continues to show up, despite my inconsistencies, One who is in control when everything else feels out of control, One who cares enough for me to number the hairs on my head, One whose grace and mercy extends far beyond what I can comprehend, One who left the glory of Heaven to come live on this earth, One who knew no sin and become sin.  And He would have done it if I were the only one!  

Just some SENIOR photos!!!!

 

The only picture I have of him in his saute jacket for work.

 Yesterday we received some snow!!  It will warm back up a little bit, but not much.  Guessing winter has arrived!

On Monday Jacob had his football award ceremony.  The coaches gave out 6 specific awards and Jacob got "Dedication to Improve".  He got a nice plaque with his name on it!  So fun for him.  Basketball tryouts have not begun yet but pretty sure that Jacob will be on the team.  The coach alluded to him that he wanted to have Jacob on the rooster.  I asked Jacob about his playing time and his answer surprised me.  He said he really didn't care if he played much or not.  He was doing this to stay in shape and just to be a part of a team.  He knows there are a handful of players with more experience, so he falls probably somewhere just outside of the top 5 starters.  He is by far the social, gotta get involved kid!

Benjamin plods along.  He still pulling 4-6 shifts a week between the two jobs.  He recently went with his welding class/school to see two different college campuses, an hour/hour and half away. Not sure that he is interested in either one of them, but gave him the exposure. He did say one of the schools was $13k a year for in state students.

Joseph is doing 6th grade basketball.  It is mostly just practices and drills, but they are hoping to get in an official game or two.

I saw the dermatologist today for the yearly skin check.  He decided he wanted me to go through another round of the, for lack of better word, the topical chemotherapy cream.  I did it a few years ago and at that time it was a 21 day regimen, twice a day.  This time around, the lotion is paired with another lotion and its only 4 days long.  This new doctor, unlike the last doctor, was more than willing to answer my questions and be very straight forward with me.  (He said I don't have anything super concerning but he wants to head of some potential issues that look like they could be brewing.)  He said it will not be pleasant and I probably would not like him going forward.  He had recently used it too.  I will start it on Monday, finish Thurs and hopefully be totally clear by the following Thursday.  I just plan on hunkering down, it will probably look pretty bad.  He is having me do my ears and neck too, which last time was just my face.

Not much else going on.  Waiting to get Benjamin's work schedule for Thanksgiving week, to see if we can plan a day/overnight outing!

 I have become so intentional about pictures and selfies.  As I have been going through all the old blog posts, I am missing from so many pictures and as the boys have gotten older, I don't have as many pictures of them.  Ben and I recently got together with his friend Kaden and Kaden's mom.  They want to do a joint graduation party.  As Kaden's mom was talking about putting up pictures, etc, she pulled out the picture board she did for her daughter who graduated a few years ago, as well as Kaden's football picture board.  I think Benjamin was amazed at how many photos they had.  I kind of looked at him and said, we don't have a lot of pictures because you never wanted me to take any.  He agreed!  One of the many things I use to talk about but you can never go back and redo.  So, making a point for more pictures.....even with eyes closed!

This picture just warmed my heart.  Seems like there is so much fighting and disagreeing in our house.  One day I heard these two smack talking, laughing and cutting up and I just loved it.  They were playing each other in Madden Football on Benjamin's computer.  They had a good time and if I recall, Jacob won!

We are starting to have conversations about when Benjamin moves out.  I have told the boys that they better not get their hopes up.  They are thinking he will move out the day after graduation, but I am not so sure.  I know he would love to, but given that rent is close to 1000 for a one bedroom, not sure what will happen.  Plans are in the works though!

I walked into Benjamin's room the other day and saw this on his desk.  It brought such a smile to my face!  It is hard to read his handwriting, but he was running some numbers on real estate.  He has shown interest in wanting to buy a place to live and then rent out the rooms to pay for the mortgage.  I love the way he thinks!   We had a great discussion about fixed rate mortgages and ARMs.  He was asking about leveraging to buy things...unfortunately this comes from some tik tok people, so we talked about red flags of leverage and doing zero down!  We talked about how he should set a goal, something like putting money away and buying something when he is 20/21.  Sure hope he will see the value of patience and not move to quickly after graduation and end up house poor!  Fortunately the market is crazy enough that he would not be approved for a while.

Speaking of the market, average home price is now $700K!!!  Just crazy.  Over the summer there are a few streets in town that have become places for people to park campers because they have no other place to live.  There are probably about 3-4 dozen of them.  These are people that have jobs, just can't afford housing.  I was in the area the other day and drove through after dark.  Broke my heart to see a car pull up, loaded down with stuff and you could see an interior light on and they were trying to situate themselves to sleep for the night.  Not sure what will happen when the temperatures drop below freezing every day and winter sets in.  Our city commissioners have done a very poor job over the years to address our growth and now affordable housing!

Our weekly dinner group recently had a costume party.  I don't often do it, but I actually dressed up.  

(This was actually something I bought last year for a70s birthday party but was sick and couldn't go, so finally got to wear it a year later!  What you can't see are my really cool, comfortable suede boots)  This dinner group normally has an ugly Christmas sweater contest but due to schedules, we moved it to Halloween this year.  We have a traveling trophy for the winner.  I won this year!!!  Check out my trophy for the next year!

Either you get this movie reference or not!  The gal that started the contest is a huge A Christmas Story fan.  This is a small replica of a lamp in this movie.  (She actually has the life size lamp that she loves to put in her front window during the holidays.  I haven't found the best place for it to live year round, but thinking I will put in our bedroom window, that faces the street!  It is just a little wobbly, so hope it survives a year at our house!!!

 This past weekend we headed out to a local corn maze!  We climbed hay bales, played cornhole and mini golf and tried the homemade slide.  We decided for a friendly family competition inside the maze to see who could find the most pictures of animals (12), pumpkins (10) and numbers (1-20).  We were all surprised how hard it was.  The maze was huge.

 Hunting season is here.  Jacob and JR hunted on private land this weekend.

Jacob got a buck within 30 minutes and they were home by 9:30 am.  On Saturday JR got a buck within 30 minutes and were home by 9:30.  The freezer will be full, actually not sure that we currently have enough room.  We have a very small chest freezer and it has always been adequate.  However, they are hoping to do more hunting so not sure if we will upgrade or somehow make it work.

Football season is a wrap!  Froshmore won 2 games I believe.  The varsity won 1 game and their total season score was 350-60!  A lot of huge losses.  I hear there might be some coaching changes next season!

 A quick post today!  Three oldies but goodies!!!

 JR has made several more trips to his fort.  

This was taken a few weeks ago, before the recent snowfall.

He says it does not appear that anyone has found the fort yet.  I sure hope if someone does come across it, they leave it alone and don't take anything out of it.  It would be cool though if someone got lost or injured and needed a place and stumbled upon it and it provided some shelter for them.

It was a beautiful fall day.  JR, Joseph, Ben and I hit the driving range again today.  I wish I had gotten a picture of JR.  I am not a golfer by any means, but his swing was so bad and unorthodox, but yet he managed to get some really good drives off.  I can only imagine how athletic he would have been if he had grown up playing sports.  (In Honduras there was a little soccer and then probably kick the can)

After golfing, we stopped at Crumbl.  If you aren't familiar with Crumbl, you need to be.  There cookie menu changes every week.  I found it interesting that the cookie on the left is called Aggie Blue Mint, then there was Double Chocolate Brownie, Pumpkin Spice and then their traditional sugar cookie.  Very good.

Jacob has one more football game left and then things get quite for a bit.  This past week we got him skis and ski boots (outgrew the others).  He is set for another winter on the slopes!  Hopefully this one will be injury free!

Found some pictures that JR had taken and wanted to post them here.

 

Not sure when this was taken, probably a few years ago but I don't know that I had ever seen it.

This is amazing.....wall worthy!!!

Bree sure loves to hike

And play in the water