What a crazy, busy, beautiful day it has been!! It was sunny, and fairly warm. Warm enough to swing with the kids for a little while in just a t-shirt on the back porch!! We were out there, because I was helping Shane put the cover on the swimming pool. YES, it IS very late, and it has been "officially" closed for a few weeks, as far as the pipes blown out and plugged, and chemicals in and all, but I MAY have had to stay on Shane for a few days to get the cover on, so finally, after I agreed to help/do it, then he was ready to get it finished up!! Go figure!!!

The above picture is of Kristi Johnson and I eating lunch this past weekend. (It was the first day I broke out the Christmas sweater!!) She was in for her nephews birthday party, so we decided to try to hook up to eat and catch up. It was a GREAT time! We ate at Livingston's butcher and deli shop, and it was quite tasty, and it was a little hard to eat, with all of the talking we had to get accomplished in the short amount of time we had before her party!! We have been friends for a LONG time, as she is best of friends with a cousin of mine, but connected as of late, through the "blog world"!! If you don't read her blog, it is certainly worth the read. It makes me tired reading all that she does with her 4 children. They are #10 on the list to adopt a FIFTH child from Ethiopia, so she CERTAINLY is inspiring!! You can either click on at the left of my page, or you can click http://weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/ and get there too!! Thanks again Kristi!! When I dropped her off, I went by my friend Beverly's and got to hold baby Cooper for a little while, so that made all things wrong in the world, right!!

The picture to the right is to show you another project that I had this week. If you will remember from a previous post, this is the pit bull that adopted us. Well Sadie obviously was the princess at her old abode, and every time she came in, she found our princess Lilli's little bed, or even her kennel. This is a pillow for her that I made and it is more appropriate of a size!! I did something today that I have NEVER done before, but I have decided in this day and age, and with community happenings in the last month, was necessary. Last week, a glass company came to school and replaced my windshield... IN the parking lot!!! Is that a service or WHAT?!?! When my boys went to TX to visit Cary and Shanan, they brought me home a gift. It was a crack in my windshield. Well, what started out as 6 inches long, ended up completely across the windshield after it got cold the first time here. Well, it WAS great, except that after it was replaced, it must not have sealed properly or something, because the sound of wind was whistling in SO loudly, that you couldn't hear the radio good without turning it up a bit. So... short story long... they came BACK to RESEAL, but they came to the house instead of school. When the guy called this morning to tell me he was on his way, I told him to be sure and call me when he was in the driveway, because I had a dog that I needed to put up before he got out... Can you believe I did that? Whenever we get out of the car, she is barking her head off, and runs to the garden to let the weeds know we are home... I am going to do that from now on though. I found when Shane had the K-9 with HPD, bad guys and people in general were a LOT more afraid of his dog than his gun.

We've certainly had a busy week, and certainly a busy day, but it was a FANTASTIC busy day because I was OFF!!! Friday night our friend Tony celebrated his 40th birthday with surprise party that was a great time, and then I went to see a local production of Beauty and the Beast Saturday night. I know my friend, Ali H, reads this from time to time, so I want to make sure she knows and everyone else knows that it was GREAT!!! I LOVE to watch her dance, as it looks so effortless when she does it. I, on the other hand, look more like a frog in a blender, so GREAT job Al!! THEN... I got started on Sunday, with my HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOWS!! The whole fam LOVES them, and Shane has gotten somewhat spoiled to having them atop sweet potatoes. YES, they ARE a pain, and YES, you CAN get jet puffed at Wal-Mart for less than $1, but there is NO COMPARISON to the tastes!! I promise!! I am up so late tonight, waiting for the sweet potatoes to get done baking, so I can get them mashed and ready for tomorrow's casserole!!

Tonight I also went to my first night of YOGA!! I was really thinking, "How hard can this be?" But let me assure you... I KNOW now, and I am already SORE, and I haven't even gone to bed yet, so imagine tomorrow!! Belly dancing ended last week, and I am doing this with some of the same girls from the photo in my last post. It is not NEARLY as loud, but JUST as funny. The instructor seems nice, but is very serious. Everyone was supposed to be breathing and chanting, but I was looking around, seeing if everyone was "breathing and chanting" with their eyes closed... YES, some of them thought it was as odd as me!! One exercise, we were on our bellies, arched our backs reached behind us and grabbed our ankles, and then lifted our knees. (We were supposed to look sort of like "O's" I think... We were supposed to relax between counts, but I was afraid if I let go of my ankles, I wouldn't be able to capture them again, so I just held that position until it was over... not fun...

THEN, I got home, and while I was watching "What happens in Vegas" (I brought Shane and I and the kids home a movie from Yoga), I monogrammed our stockings. I am going to put our name on the tree skirt too, but didn't get to that yet. I did one for mom too, because I am planning on her spending the night Christmas Eve, she just doesn't know it yet!! (GOT IT MOM?) This skirt and stockings are from Pottery Barn and I LOVE how they look!! Last year AFTER Christmas, I got them on Ebay with other people's names on them. I carefully picked out the other names, and sewed ours on top. YES, it was a pain, but I saved SOOOO much $$, I couldn't resist!!!

Well all, I have to get in the bed... (AFTER I get the potatoes done)... I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, and remember all of the things that you have to be thankful for today, and every day of the year!! love to all, and thanks for sharing a WEEK in the life of the chicken farmer's wife!! Jerri

Random thoughts

I could try and tell you what has gone on in the past few weeks that I haven't posted, but I think that would take a BOOK's worth of space, so I'll just hit a couple of the high lights!! Before I go any further, I have to take a second to shout out to Bridget and Ladonna!! I want to thank both of you girls for taking a moment to sign in, so that I know that I am not writing to cyber space!! Come back anytime, and if you know of others, encourage them to sign in!! ALSO, if you will notice, my last post had ELEVEN comments!! That THRILLS my soul- so keep commenting!! This first picture is of a few of my favorite people, with whom I have spent the past several Thursdays. Yes, it is my belly dancing group, and for the 6 of you that voted, I'll give you more details in an email!! This class is over, and they are offering an "advanced" belly dancing in January. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure that I am "advanced", but I don't know if it is in the belly dancing way, if you know what I mean!! We felt VERY official, all the way down to our scarves, covered in coins, so that we could hear ourselves jingle...

Another event that has taken up a bit of our time is the chili festival for school. I have included a picture of this, so you can see what I spent some time doing that evening. If you know anything about me, you know that I am hot natured, so I can assure you, that by the end of the night, I thought I may spontaneously burst into flames. The good news is that I didn't!! I helped with several things for the festival, but I am adding the picture to the one I mainly did that night. The kids had an opportunity to tape the principal to the wall with duct tape. It was a HUGE hit, and she really did "hang" there until we cut her down!! I didn't really see the fam that night, but I feel like they had a good time. Shane, I'm sure, sat in a corner with his buddy Ted, solving the world's problems, and discussing very important hunting issues.

I also had a conversation with Shane last week, that went something like this: S- "Guess what!?!?!" I am hoping it is something like "I've finally played the lottery, and I got the million dollar powerball", but never fear, it was NOTHING like that!! So, Jerri says, "What?!?!" (again, not have a CLUE it is going to go the way it does) Shane- "Mr. Coker is giving us a COW!!!" (ok, here is excitement, that I can't seem to read, nor understand) J-"A COW? WHY does he want to give us a COW?!?" S-"Because she's PREGNANT!" J-"Again, WHY does he want to give us a PREGNANT cow?" S-"Oh, because she has mastitis, and won't be able to feed the calf" So I say, "And we WANT this cow?" S-"YES, Mr. Coker says she makes pretty babies, and we can have her AND the calf!!" I then say something like, "You mean, the mama cow, and the DEAD baby calf, because she can't feed him" and he says, "OH, we are taking her, so that we can BOTTLE feed the baby. The kids can feed the baby, and then when we sell her, they can get the money." (Now, this may be a good idea, if I thought that would HAPPEN. I am certainly not a prophet, but I know how this is going to play out. They will feed the baby about 1 week, get tired of it, and GUESS who gets to feed ONE MORE THING here... I think we both know!!!

The final picture I thought I'd throw in for fun. As you know, our newest family member, seems to have been used to being in the house at her previous home. If you remember, a few weeks ago, I posted a picture of her in a little ball, trying to sleep in Lilli's bed. She is obviously used to having a bed of her own, because of where she tried to sleep one day last week. Garrett grabbed the camera and snapped a picture of her in the kennel where we put Lilli when we leave, or when she sleeps at night. She looked like Houdini, trying to contort herself in way that was comfortable, but she stayed that way for HOURS!! She seems to have weaseled her way into our hearts and home, so enjoy the picture!!!

Well, I am spent, so I must get in the bed. I actually embroidered my FIRST Christmas present tonight!! I thought I was really ahead, but it wasn't for a gift *I* was giving, so it doesn't really help me, but it is at least something I won't have to do later!! I hope everyone has a GREAT night, and thanks for sharing a day in the life of the chicken farmer's wife! love to all!! Jerri

Part of our Halloween costumes

OK, I am going to take NO MORE than 3 minutes to blog. I am exhausted, and I can think of so many things in the last couple of weeks to talk about, but I have been too beat by the time I get a moment to type about it, and I am equally as tired tonight!! I thought I would show you what a few of my dear family members were for Halloween. First of all, I need to tell you that as I made the whole fam stand still for a picture, my camera DIED, so I had to get someone else to take a picture of them. I am HOPING that I find someone that got a picture of Garrett, and I will post it as soon as I get it! He was Joe Dirt, complete with a mullet, and looked very close to the real thing! Then you have Gra, who decided that she wanted to be a clown! Well, I had a friend's clown costume, and we had rigged a hoola hoop on the inside, so she looked very real! NOPE... that wouldn't DO, because it didn't "FEEL" right, don't you love OCD? So, I had to MAKE a clown costume. The one you see at the left is the result of me staying up until 2:30, and my mom adding the sleeves the next day while I was at school! Then, to right, you will see old Shaney boy, donning his hair and tatts. To show you the difference and Shane and our family's personalities, I have also added the picture of our family in TX, wearing the EXACT same tattoo sleeves... Same tatts, different Fowler boys... see the difference? A picture is worth a THOUSAND words!!
SOOOO, I am going to bed now!! I hope you all each have a GREAT night!! I've got LOTS of things to talk about, if I can ever find the time and energy to do it!! Sign into my guest book if you haven't or leave me a comment!! Have a great night!! Thanks for sharing a moment in the life of the chicken farmer's wife! love to all!! Jerri