Saturday Fun--Pumpkins and Sleigh Bells. What?!?

Saturday was a fun day.  Hubby and I spent the day together, which is my favorite way to spend the day.  We started out our adventures by heading to the local pumpkin farm.  I purchased four pie pumpkins, which I will puree and freeze for later, then I purchased an arrangement of broom corn, some mini pumpkins, a medium-sized white pumpkin, and something called an apple gourd.  We'd never seen the apple gourds before, so I was intrigued.  It's green, and shaped like a giant apple, hence the name.  We walked around the pumpkin yard, visited a tom turkey in a cage (for a funny turkey song by comedian Heywood Banks, click here--no worries, perfectly family-friendly), and petted a girl's pet kitten.  It was a good time.  We plan on going back for a Christmas tree in a few months, when they go from selling fall items to Christmas items.  On a side note, I always thought it would be fun to have a Christmas tree farm!  In my head, it would be awesome.  There would be snow, of course, because people like snow and picturesque Norman Rockwell-type memories.  There would be horses and sleigh rides, and hot cocoa, and nice customers, and just all-around fun.  I have a friend whose parents have a tree farm in southern Indiana, and I enjoy reading about their fun times during the Christmas season.  Anyway, we enjoy having a live Christmas tree and the fragrance of fresh pine.  I'm looking forward to it already!

I love the simple elegance of a white pumpkin.

Apple gourd--isn't it neat?

Small pumpkins drying before being placed about the house.

Two of my four pie pumpkins.  They are good sized--hopefully I'll get a lot of seeds to roast and pumpkin to freeze!

Speaking of sleighs and horses, our next destination was the local antiques store just north of town.  (I know, weird transition.  Just stay with me here.)  I was on a mission for two things: a one cent coin from 1847 and a set of antique sleigh bells.  Earlier this week, while perusing Etsy and Ebay for other reasons, I came across both and decided that my life would not be complete without either item.  The sleigh bells, I wanted for Christmas decorating (more on that below), and the coin, for the living history programs that I volunteer for at the McKinnis House.  I thought the coin would be a neat conversation piece, as in "my husband gave me an allowance this week".  I plan to investigate just how much that coin would buy a hundred and sixty-five years ago (I just looked it up; it is the equivalent of a quarter today.  Still wouldn't buy much--maybe just a newspaper).  After walking around the antiques store for a few hours, I finally found both!  This is a large antique store, the kind where dealers can rent booth space, so there are well over two hundred booths/vendors that comprise the store.  In the whole place, I found a total of three sleigh bell straps, and two were in terrible condition.  The third was priced a bit higher than I wanted to pay, but was exactly what I had in mind, so we were able to haggle the price down to something more affordable.  The coin, while not exactly common, is also not exactly rare, but I was able to find a coin in good condition for a decent price.  I left there feeling like I had struck gold, so happy was I with my purchases!  It was already Christmas for me.

For the sleigh bells, I plan on hopefully being able to preserve and restore the leather strap on which the bells are mounted.  I will contact the local tack stores to see what they might recommend.  However, if anyone has any suggestions about restoring old leather, please feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post.  I will be sure to post what I find out as well.  I considered trying to shine up the old bells too, but after considering it more, I have come to the conclusion that I like the patina on them too much to do anything.  Once I get the leather back to good condition, I plan on mounting the whole strap onto some greenery and adding a bow or some type of festive decoration, and possibly hanging it on the side of the front door that faces into the living room.  I am also considering hanging it on the wall next to where the tree will be, but that would require having something to hang it on, like a nail, and I don't want to put holes into the wall.  Removable 3M hangers might be an option, though.  Oh, I'm so excited!!

If you have an interest in sleigh bells, and don't know much about them, I suggest checking out this website: Classic Bells.  With the information on that site, you'll know what you're looking at in no time! 


After that, we had pizza, and it was gooooood.  We made a few more stops, then headed home.  As I said before, I love having Saturdays with my bestest bud, where we have no place to be, nothing to do, and can just go at our leisure.  Plus, the weather was gorgeous--seventy degrees and bright blue skies.  What a great day! 

What are some of your favorite things to do with your husband?  Keep it PG-rated!!  :-)

One thing I like to think about regularly is the Garden of Eden.  The Bible says that God created the heavens and earth, land and seas, plants and trees, the sun and moon, fish and birds, cattle and beasts of the earth, and finally man and woman (Genesis 1-2).  All this in the span of a week!  My weeks are never that productive, no matter how hard I try to get things done.  Anyway, for man and woman to live in, God created the Garden of Eden, and from Biblical accounts, it was a spectacular place to dwell.  Not only was it perfect, but it was beautiful, lush, and probably unlike anything we see now (or will ever see) on earth.  I wonder what it might have looked like.  I wonder if there were plants and animals there that were never seen again once Adam and Eve were cast out.  I wonder if there were colors in there that we know nothing of today.  In short, I wonder if it was a literal heaven on earth.  Even on perfect, beautiful days like Saturday, I know that it's nothing compared to what we have to look forward to in eternity with our Heavenly Father one day.  Something to always look forward to!  

Spring Is On the Way!

Looking for Crocuses

I am thoroughly excited about the prospect of spring!  When I leave for work in the mornings, I hear birds singing that don't sing in the winter.  I see fuzzy buds on the pussy willow trees.  The rain, as copious as it's been here, has a fresh scent to it.  The garden has been planned out as of last night, with green beans, my asparagus patch, onions, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes and green peppers.  I think I might even have a small patch left for trying my hand at a cut-flower garden!  Hard to believe that it's finally time to start working on that.  Winter seems to not want to let go quite yet, with a rain/snow mix forecasted for today and tonight.  But spring is surely just around the corner!  I might have to take back what I said in an earlier post about the reliability of the groundhog.  We'll see...

Busy, Busy...

We have our annual Maple Sugarin' program out at the McKinnis house farm this weekend, but I won't be able to attend.  My husband's parents are coming to visit, and it sounds like we will be spending a day shopping and exploring Toledo while they are here, which should be fun.  We have plans every weekend, I think!  If we are not out and about, we are trying to do some cosmetic work on our house that we had been putting off until we decided whether to refinance or move.  We refinanced, so now we need to get to work!  Seems like there is a lot to do and not much time to do it.  Hubby and I are also starting to exercise and eat right again, so that we can hopefully lose some of the weight we've packed on over the holidays (and after :) ), and I'll try to keep you posted on our success.  I'm doing a combination of treadmill and exercise with my Wii fitness board, and I am very sore this morning!  But sore is good, and hopefully I can keep getting exercise in before work in the mornings.  That's the goal!

It's important when we are busy to always keep God in everything we do.  Evangelizing is more in our actions than in our words!  Proverbs 3:5-6 states "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  I always try to remember to acknowledge God in my words and actions, but I will be the first to admit that as a human, I do fail.  But this passage is a good reminder that we are to have God in our minds and hearts in all that we do, regardless of how busy and preoccupied we might become in our own lives.

Christmas Events

Lights Before Christmas

We took our annual trip to Toledo last Friday to the Toledo Zoo's "Lights Before Christmas" display.  It's always a neat trip.  The animals are all in bed by the time the zoo opens at night, but walking through a zoo completely covered in all sorts of Christmas lights is so fun that you don't notice that the animals are not on display.  There were a few animals out (we saw a polar bear--gasp--you mean they didn't all die from global warming??), and the reptile house and aquarium were open to view the animals there too, but that was it.  It was okay though.  The zoo was quite busy, due to it being a Friday night, but it didn't take away from the awesome light displays.  Last year when we went, we saw these dripping icicle lights (for a YouTube video of what I mean, click here) and they looked so neat!  When we were able to locate them at a store, it was no wonder why we'd never seen them around before--besides being new, they were extremely expensive.  We first found them at Bronner's, a Christmas store located in the tourist town of Frankenmuth, MI, and they wanted around $140 for a string of 5, and add-on strings were about $120.  Needless to say, they won't be hanging from our eaves anytime soon!  Oddly enough, our downtown sidewalk trees are decorated with them this year...even though the city couldn't afford to have the leaf pick-up program again this year.  Ah, politics.

Christmas Program

Well, the McKinnis house had our annual Christmas program again this year.  It was a good time, and it is always a special treat to see the house lit entirely by candlelight.  There is a coziness about it that cannot be described, but has to be experienced.  We had live dulcimer music, baked goodies, Christmas carols, and a little Christmas tree, cut from the surrounding wilderness.  It was a great time, and everyone who volunteered had fun.  Please come out to see one of our programs if you are ever in the northwest Ohio area!

Christmas Party

The day after our Christmas program, we had our second annual McKinnis volunteer Christmas party.  Yes, it was a busy weekend, because all three of these events took place last Friday-Sunday!  It was held at the McKinnis house this year, and probably for the years to come.  We had fires going in the fireplace and woodstove, and it was quite cozy again, as a winter storm was dropping snow outside.  We had a gift exchange and carry-in lunch, with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, lasagna, ham, cranberry relish, fruits, and a full table of desserts.  Yum!  The gift exchange, which was a white elephant exchange, had all sorts of neat gifts.  I left with a gift basket of homemade goodies--caramels, applesauce, and cranberry-orange bread.  Very festive!  It was a good time, and I look forward to starting the new year of programs in early March. 

With Christmas always come New Year's Eve/Day.  I always wonder what the new year will bring--will it be good, bad, sad, exciting?  These past few years have been trying, but I feel confident in saying that it will be better this year!  But really, it all comes down to our perspective and the faith we have in our God.  We don't know what the new year, or future will hold, but God does.  Jeremiah 29:11 urges us to trust in God regarding our futures: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  No matter what happens, we should count it all  joy, because the Lord is in control of every situation.  What a comfort that will always be to me!

It's Alive!

History Comes Alive!
Well, I've just completed a veeeery long week.  I participated in the Parks department's annual program, History Comes Alive.  We host several fourth grade classes from various area elementary schools, and have six hands-on learning stations for them each day.  The university here in town participates as well, by sending teaching students to help us man our stations and do some of the teaching along with us.  I don't think I've been this tired in a really long time!  It is exhausting to have to teach 6 sessions every day--and the classes were only a half hour long!  My station consisted of teaching the kids how wool would be turned into clothing, as well as how dyeing was done, and what kids their age would wear in the 1840s.  I am now entirely confident that I did not miss my calling as a teacher!!  I do enjoy sharing my knowledge of cultural history with others.  However, there is a huge difference between the attention span of children and the attention span of adults/families that visit the house for our programs.  Parents usually, well, parent their children.  I was surprised, and rather disappointed, at the lack of discipline and control that the teachers and chaperones showed during the class time.  There were some good teachers/chaperones who did pay attention to their class's behavior, but most teachers apparently thought that we were entirely in charge of their classes and they had a day off.  I even had a teacher who talked on her cell phone just outside of the barn building where we were having our class.  As if I needed any more reasons for supporting home schooling!

Finally, Some Good News!

Well, it's official...my hubby has a new position at work!  He found out this week.  He will finally have a normal hours, five day a week job!  Home at night and on the weekends, and it works out great now since I'll be starting my new job as well.  We both begin on Oct. 4.  It'll be wonderful to see him again!  And thank you to everyone who has kept him in your prayers.  It has been a trying month, to put it lightly, and we have both appreciated the prayers.  They have made a difference!

This Bud's For You
We had a unique opportunity to see something that you don't get to see everyday: the Budweiser Clydesdales!  They were at the local Oktoberfest here in town, which we had to chuckle at: it was at the local senior center, and it was just a large beer tent with the Clydesdales as the other main attraction.  I've never been to an Oktoberfest, so is there usually more to them than just a beer tent?  Anyway, the team was so impressive to see, and beautiful, too--they are huge but gentle.  A gentle giant, you might say.  They were all harnessed together, in their show attire, and impeccably groomed, as were the drivers and the dalmatian that sat with the drivers.  I was so glad that hubby and I were able to see them before they left town.  Check out the photos and video clip at the end of the entry!

There is always a reason for the trials in our lives.  God allows us to endure tests--some small, some large--to strengthen our faith in Him.  James 1:2-3 &12 says it best: "2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance...12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him."