Outing to Bennington Vermont

 Hope you all are doing well and that you enjoyed a wonderful Valentines Day.  I've never really celebrated Valentine's very much.  I grew up in a family that didn't, and so I never have either.  When we first were dating/engaged/married, Dan would give me the obligatory bouquet of flowers or teddy bear and chocolates.  I convinced him a few years ago though to cease and desist.  haha.  

It's not that I'm a complete party pooper.  Really!

It's more that I've never really enjoyed getting flowers that die quickly, unless they are wildflowers picked alongside the road, or zinnias from our garden.  And I get annoyed when I think of the price gauging that happens around Valentine's for flowers and chocolates.  I'd much rather just get chocolates at random times of the year.  

So I have trained Dan well.  We said "Happy Valentine's Day" to each other and that was it.  

We took time after dinner that night to play some games with the girls.  Go fish, the raven game, and memory match.  They had a lovely time.  

A few days later, we had an outing day!  We drove to Bennington, Vermont which we have never visited in the almost 5 years we've lived here.  

We haven't had an outing like this since the fall.  

There was a battle fought at Bennington in the revolutionary War which was won and thus, helped the battle of Saratoga (a bit further south of us) to be won.  Saratoga is often referred to as the "turning point" of the Revolutionary war.  

There's a very large monument there in Bennington, dedicated to the battle that was fought there.  

There were also several covered bridges in that area which we enjoyed seeing.

We went out to eat at a diner there in Bennington.  As cute as the place was, I wasn't a huge fan of it because the waitresses were really super cranky, and made our experience there feel like we were cattle being herded in and out.  

Afterwards, we stopped at a roadside country store.  It was very cute.  Very overpriced, but cute. 

It was really a very lovely outing.  We look forward to these types of little trips.  Bennington is only about 40 minutes away, but the drive was beautiful and so scenic.  I loved seeing all of the old houses in the countryside. 

Hope you all are well and are enjoying February! I'm looking forward to Spring....and before that...FASTNACHT DAY!!! It's coming up!

Life as I live it.

Hello readers!
     I don't know about you all, but this time of year is absolutely flying by for me.  As hard as it is to believe, Spring will be here soon.  They say that in upstate New York, March is the worst month for blizzards and storms though, so I'm still prepared for the winter weather for a few more weeks.

     This post is going to be picture-less, for which I apologize.  Besides taking a lot of photos of Gwendolyn, I haven't been active with my camera lately.  Besides the fact that not much different has happened. 

     Life for me consists of taking care of Gwendolyn, keeping house, teaching 5 piano/violin students, attending community choir practices, attending and serving in the church, and visiting people as much as I can.  When the weather is too cold though, Gwen and I stay hunkered down in the house. 

     Dan has been working really hard at the house we bought.  His goal is to have it finished by June. 
I guess the biggest set-backs have been unexpected problems he found.  The kitchen floor, for instance...  We knew we'd be taking up the peel-and-stick tiles that were there because they needed replacing.  When Dan did that, he discovered that the whole floor was rotten, the plywood and sub-flooring, as well as some beams.  After replacing all of that and rebuilding the floor to be level, the man who we paid to put in our new furnace and ductwork didn't follow through and finish the job, so Dan did all of that.  While he was replacing heating ducts in the basement, he saw how old and rusty the sewer lines were, so he tore them out and just finished replacing them with all new plumbing throughout the whole house. 

     Now, the house is re-plumbed, has new ductwork and furnace, new floors in the mudroom and kitchen, and has two new showers, toilets, and sinks in the bathrooms.  Like I said, Dan's been busy.  As much as I would love to go there and help him, it's so hard to do with Gwendolyn.  She is crawling and walking and everything she finds goes in her mouth.  The only thing we can do is put her in a playpen while we work...and she hates the playpen.  It ends up being miserable hearing her scream, so it doesn't make sense to take her until she's through this stage. 

     I enjoy taking Gwendolyn on walks in the stroller when the temperatures get above freezing.  The other day, we went with Chula and our neighbor.  Unfortunately, a pit bull came running out and attacked Chula, our white German Shepherd.  Despite my efforts to get the dog's owners to come get their dog, they stood on their porch and just yelled.  To say the least, it was traumatizing.  I'm just so glad that my neighbor was with me, because she managed to get the stroller pushed away from the dogs.  Our dog, despite her size and breed, is NOT a fighter.  She yipped and cried, trying to get out of the pit bull's bite, but she wouldn't fight back. 

Thankfully, we managed to get away with a very frightened, shaking Chula, and a shaking and angry me.  I admit, I was so angry I could hardly think straight.  It doesn't seem fair that people leave their dogs unchained, unattended, and untrained to attack me, our dog, and could have very seriously harmed my baby...yet they get away with it. 
This is the third time something like this has happened in this area.  People just aren't thoughtful.  I can't dwell on it too much or I get upset.  You can be sure that from now on, I will travel armed with some method of defense.  😀😀😀😀

For Valentine's Day, I had a talk with Dan and reminded him that I didn't want for him to spend money on overpriced flowers or chocolate.  I've been telling him this for years, but this year he finally listened.  :)  I'm one of those people who doesn't want anything for Valentine's Day...I'd so much rather get a random bouquet of flowers sometime during the year, or a bag of chocolate spontaneously.  Is there anyone else like me in the world?  haha   😀😀😀😀

Gwendolyn is growing fast.  She loves to talk, and walk.  I got her a little walker, and she walks all over now.  She has two teeth and I think will soon have more.  Baby #2 is growing as well.  Sometimes it seems hard to believe that I'm still not at 30 weeks yet...
I've already purchased all of the birth supplies I'll need for a homebirth.  This time around, I've been ahead of the game.  I've organized the baby room to fit two, and organized all of the clothes for newborn up to Gwen's age. 

Right now, we are immersed in planning for our first Missions Conference.  It's going to be so exciting. 
Hope you all are well.  I'll be sure to take pictures of life, so that my next post will have a few photos. 
Until next time!

Fastnachts, Antiques and Quilting

 Well hello readers!! 

 

I had a great week last week, and so far, this week is going really well too! 

The other week, Dan and I dropped into an antique store in Whitehall.  We were looking for a small end table for our church lobby, which we are beginning to remodel.  We didn't find a end table that would work for that, but we DID see an old trunk that needed some work, but I really liked.  I think the reason I REALLY liked it was because it was full of old letters from the 1800's and those would come with the trunk!  That trunk was $45.  Then the owner told us that he had more trunks, but they were sitting out on the porch.  So after looking them all over, we found this one for $15.  We couldn't resist the price, even though it meant that I didn't get all of the letters.   

 

 

 

One handle is broken off, and the leather straps were mostly dry-rotted off.  We ended up just taking the straps off, polishing up the rusty hinges and brass buttons as best we could and sanding and varnishing the wood.  The canvas is actually still in decent condition, so we are keeping that on. 

I DID find a sheet of paper at the bottom of the trunk that listed all of the items that were shipped in it.  It is clearly very old...and I enjoyed reading about the "puffs" and "shirtwaists" that were stored in it.  The shipping label is on the side still, but the year cannot be read unfortunately.  Now the trunk is in our living room!  I love it...

 

 

Another thing that has me excited is that I am almost finished my first quilt!  My grandma bought me a quilting frame and I used it to hand-stitch the diagonal lines.  It isn't a large quilt, but I'm very excited that I actually made it!  I'm looking forward to the next one I can do, which will be a baby quilt. 

 

 

The other week, it snowed 12 inches.  Dan wanted to make a snowman, so we did our best attempt.  After beginning to make it though, we realized that the snow was not good packing snow at ALL.  So our snowman looks really interesting....

 

And finally, last Monday, Dan and I made apple fritters and Fastnachts to celebrate "fat Tuesday", the day before Ash Wednesday.  Actually, we don't really celebrate the day, but we did make the fastnachts!  I remember from my childhood, my grandmother would make fastnachts and deliver them to our house in bags.  We would eat them for breakfast and roll them in confectioners sugar...mmmm, SO delicious.    This was my first time ever making fastnachts myself; I was pretty happy with the outcome!

 

 

But before the fastnachts, I made apple fritters.  It was also a first to make those. 

 

 

 

Dan said to me after eating one "Wow...these are great, but not very good for you!"

 

And THIS picture was taken after he ate his fourth fritter.  :)  I said "I guess you can afford to eat four of them!"

 

These are the fastnachts.

 

After they were done frying, I decided I'd use the leftover glaze from the fritters and dip the fastnachts in them.  It actually helped really keep them soft and also made them a little bit more sweet (they are generally not a sweet doughnut at all).

 

 

Just on Wednesday (Valentines Day), Dan woke up early and made me breakfast!  I couldn't resist taking this picture of him. 

 

So you can see why last week was awesome!!! :D  So far this week, I've learned how to grind venison meat, and helped Dan to sand down the whole church lobby and re-paint.  It's been fun! 

I hope that all of you are having equally amazing weeks!