Goodbye Colfax Grange Supply

After ten years @ the Colfax Grange, Dec 18th is my last day. My MS has pretty much made the decisions for me. I thank Artis and everyone for accommodating me in every way! I will miss you all and this video is for you guys!!!!

Fat Pantry

Watch out Martha Stewart! MaryJane Butters got nothin on me! I could be "The Almota EarthMuffin!!" (as Popo would call it). I set a goal this summer to actually preserve some of the bounty that surrounds us. Ok... and to be cheap and not have to buy food. I have most of the stuff done. Some is waiting in the freezer for me to finish. Ive got a good start. But if you are a family member or friend... Don't read this!! This MAY BE your Christmas presents!!!!

I have Snitcher Applesauce (Stole from roadside trees across Whitman County),

Pears, Peaches, Grapes (from my vines), Apricot jam, Plum Crazy Jam, Spiced Pear Jam, Pear Chutney, Dried apples and bananas, Apple Pie filling,Pear Butter, Nectarines, Apple Slices, Almond Pear Butter, Huckleberry Jam, Dill and Sweet Pickles, Zickles ( Pickled Zucchini Chunks), Pickled Beans, Four kinds of tomato sauce, and I am still workin on some more pear stuff.

I curse you Carol, my mother in law, for inflicting me with this canning virus!! It all started harmlessly a few years ago with 8 jars of pears!! Be careful...It is highly contagious!!! I am living proof!!! And this is where it starts!! I have the chickens and gather eggs, I bake all my own bread, make my own laundry soap, and I have been scanning the sale ads for a milk cow!!!! For some reason....Little House on the Prairie comes to mind. And the worst thing...I LOVE IT!!!!

Life at the Big Red Barn: Insanity at its Finest

Life at the Big Red Barn: Insanity at its Finest

Intervention!!

First I whispered.... then I spoke..... now I am screaming and no one hears me!! Where are all my friends? Don't you people see I need an intervention?! Please....help me!

It is time, and I will be strong.

I can do the 12 steps.

It is time for a FaceBook Intervention!!!

If I was doing illegal drugs, you all would be there for me!

Hauling my butt away to rehab!

I don't think you all get the severity of my addiction! When I am on the computer, and am kicked back reading quizzes and profiles, I have developed a terrible OCD of hair twirling. So... you say!

I tried to get the cat out from behind my desk chair. It wouldn't move! That's when I remembered -We don't HAVE a cat! It was piles of my hair!! My sisters recently teased me about buying 'bump its'. I guess they are things to make your hair puff up in the back.

I had to confess my OCD! That is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I know it is heredity because my mom used to be a hair ratter while she was watching TV. But some how she has been rehabilitated and is all better, so maybe there is hope!!

The other thing that is suffering is my house. A couple months ago I was so disgusted with the cleanliness of my home I decided to get in and do a really deep clean. I wanted to chart my progress so I took a whole bunch of before pictures to compare with the after pictures when I completed my task. It is amazing what you don't see when it is right in front of you every day, but in a photo-OMG it was sooo gross. Cant believe I lived like that!! Now, after FaceBook, my before pictures are really not too bad! I miss it being that clean. The Discovery Channel was here and filmed the documentary 'Hoarders' but I never did see em. See..piles DO come in handy!

I was in my bedroom yesterday and got a whiff of something not quite right. Thinking that the dog might of had an accident, I bent down to peek under the bed to see if I could see a landmine and I found the culprit of the terrible smell....my arm pit!!! I have not bathed in FOUR DAYS!!! I have gone a couple days before but FOUR!? Do you all SEE the power of this addiction and the hold it has over me? And its not only me. My husband Jim is just as bad, maybe worse!! Don't let it get around but he is involved with the Mafia and Mobsters. He is always telling me about someone he just whacked! And his cover is a farmer! People give him trees, cows, and all kinds of stuff. Must be payment from the Godfather or the Don! I think he is in trouble!

So my friends... I am asking you for help. Help me see the light. If you want to get a hold of me, leave a note in my facebook inbox, or post to my profile, or facebook chat me. I am sure I will get the message! :)

Nanner Bananner

Betcha didn't know I have a twin!

No, not Trudi & Karen, my identical twin sisters

.......but MY twin.

Diana and I are identical......If I was blond hair, blue eyes, skinny, well educated, and six years younger....But other than that we ARE identical. Dontcha think?

Growing up, Diana was my baby.

I was the oldest, she the youngest. I'd like to think that I paved the way for her. By the time she got in trouble for the same thing I did, mom and dad had been already through it with me! I felt I had to be a role model.

But what she doesn't know....is that she is mine.

She was able to accomplish most of all my dreams, when I was unable to. Honor roll, showing steers and winning the Ernie Dippel Award, Miss Colfax Queen, and Palouse Empire Fair Royalty, going to college and getting a degree and a career, and a marriage to a great guy(OK, I got that right but it took me two trys) and an absolutely wonderful mother to a little boy who is definitely NOT being ornery enough!! But maybe Auntie Carol can help with that!!

Nanner, I am proud of you and honored to be your sister. You know... there is nothing you can't do and I will support you, even if its quietly, by the hand.

Facebook | Carol Harvey Larsen

Facebook Carol Harvey Larsen: Carol's Random Thoughts

I like fishin'

I like fishing. I know this seems like an obvious statement from a woman who's husband has aspirations of becoming a professional fisherman, but my love started long before that. I believe it all started with my Granny Getz. When we stayed with her in the summer time there was nothing better than her saying " better go get us some worms from the tub". Under neath the big maple tree was an old galvanized wash tub full of dirt. On the surface of the rich black soil was an old burlap bag that was always kept moist. Under the burlap Granny would put vegetable scraps, grass clippings and coffee grounds. She was a composter before it was 'in'. Peel back the burlap and the musty, earthy smell was better than an expensive perfume! In the dirt was the fattest, plumpest, wriggling night crawlers in Whitman county. We would gingerly pull out the worms and put them in a coffee can that she had fastened with a wire handle. "I think its time to go fishin!" she would say. The hook on the back porch held 'the hat'. Granny's gardening and fishing hat was a big, faded green, straw floppy hat with a polyester ties. She would plop on that hat and cinch up the ties and fasten it into a bow underneath her chin.

Gathering up her rusty teal green tackle box, our poles, worms, and a tin bucket we would head to the Penewawa Slough. Fishing with Granny was great but if you catch a catfish, watch out. Granny was scared to death of catfish. She kept a hammer in the tackle box. I think I learned my first cuss words watching Granny trying to whack catfish with that hammer! Just when you think it was dead, it would twitch and Granny would go again, "watch out, don't let it sting you, ugly big mouth bastards...." WHACK, WHACK, WHACK!

      I still have my pole from Granny. It is one of my prized possessions.

I also have her love of fishing.

 I remember her so intently tying on hooks, baiting with worms, fixing the bobber, and the most important part of fishing....listen. Listen to the birds, the wind, the rippling waves splash on the pebbles and lap the dock posts below our dangling legs. Listen to the mourning doves sing their song that sounds like a woman calling for someone. To this day when I hear a mourning dove, I think of Granny. Oh to feel the warm sun on our tanned arms, and marvel at what a perfect day this has been. If I had only known that at that moment I was creating memories that I would carry with me for the rest of my life, would I have done anything different? Said something I didn't say? Nope, I think Granny knew there was no way to make those days more perfect than that.

I miss you fishin buddy!

Blessed?

I know if you read my bio you are thinking

'blessed with Multiple Sclerosis'? The answer is "YES". Because of this disease I am able to view my life in a way most people only get to when they are at the end of theirs. Let me explain. Because of this disease, I was faced with the query, so what are you going to do? Are you going to sit back and wait for the wheelchair or are you going to do the things you only dreamt about? What is important in life? Money, fame, world peace? The answer that I found was "FAMILY". You don't even have to be related, but your family is the support that only wants the best for you. I am blessed with THE best family for the simple reason they are there for me no matter what!! How many men do you know would step up and do dishes, laundry, and all housework-- FOR A YEAR--and never complain!? After I was diagnosed I asked Jim "Why didn't you yell at me to get off my lazy butt and get to work?" He said "Would it have worked?"My answer was "NO". "Why yell then? I knew you were not yourself. And what good would it do you to complain?" Can you believe the love of this man? And that's AFTER having to help me take a shower each morning because to hold my arms up long enough to wash my hair would completely wipe me out! Now wait a minute-- naked woman in the shower, maybe he's not so pure and angelic as I am thinking!! Just kidding! He truly is my knight in shining armor and thank god that for almost 15 years I am still his princess!!