Wow, has it really been so long since I've posted?  I doubt anyone checks this anymore, but for those who do, and for me I am going to try and re-cap the last couple of months, okay just Christmas for now! 

December with Christmas and the kids and grandkids came and went.  A great time was had by all.  All three of our grown adult kids were here and all seven of our grandchildren, over a two week period.  The grandkids had such a great time playing with each other.  We get a real kick out of watching their relationships develop.  I hope and pray they continue to become closer to each other as time goes on.

While my second son, Peter and his wife Heather and four children were gone to Denver, my husband, Doyle and sister Beth invaded their home and did a make-over.....mostly kitchen, but it creeped into every room. Over the past year Heather and I had talked about painting her kitchen cabinets...but then she got pregnant, then it was summer, and then Irene was born. So, it didn't get get done.....until the time came to take Edmund to the National Jewish Hospital in Denver for his skin problem. He has had severe eczema for the past year and it was miserable to watch him and doubly hard on the family as they tried to take care of him.. So the family left for two weeks and we painted cupboards, made shelves, painted those, painted walls and trim and baseboard. We dyed curtains and hung curtains, re-arranged cabinets, bought organizers for cupboards, cleaned the house from top to bottom so Edmund could have a clean start without two weeks of dust, washed all bedding (because again dust is so hard on him), found and painted a wood chest for their firewood, cleaned up the yard, and washed windows, hung blinds, hung lights and put in a shoe cabinet and hung hooks for coats and hats. We worked hard and had a lot of fun. We also had one day where several other people came and worked all day. How awesome to have good friends who gave of their time and energy to bless this family. Several of my friends were a bit nervous about us doing all of this. What would they think? Wouldn't they be mad at us for doing this while they were gone? All I could think of was that I truly felt in my heart of hearts that this is what God wanted us to do. I felt so strongly about it I decided even if they didn't like it, I would just beg their forgiveness at the end of it all! We saved everything we took down in case they wanted to put it back up (curtains, etc.). All in all though we didn't do much different, we didn't change their color palette, we stayed with what we knew they liked, black cupboards, bright walls, etc.
So, at the end, they came home and loved it all. The kids loved it too and they were the biggest surprise for me. Four year old Daniel kept running through the house when they got home saying..."it's sooooo beautiful!". And what fun they had finding the little treasures the "Teennie Weenies" had left everywhere.
The thing I learned through all of this is that if you think God wants you to do something.....DO IT!! Even if there are some naysayers (because there ALWAYS will be!)....Go...with what you think God is telling you to do. We don't always accept gifts from each other and from God with graciousness either. But how wonderful it is when we do! And I am so thankful that Pete and Heather accepted what we did with such a humble and gracious spirit. Being gracious is truly a lesson we all need to learn!

Oh man, I need a break. Coffee? Cookies? Nope, just a post. I'm listening to an old Patsy Cline record on my record player. Does anyone remember what those are?
Some random thoughts....
It is definitely Indian summer here, the windows are open, the front door is open and the fan in the greenhouse is humming. The chickens are running around FREE!!! They think they are "hot stuff" as I let them out yesterday for the first time. I've been very nervous about letting them roam free, although that is what I really want them to do. I am afraid the neighbor dogs (or mine) will think they are a tasty lunch. But, they have begged for weeks to be free, and I'm a sucker for begging. If you've had chickens, you know how they can BEG! Oh my goodness. So they are happy as clams and Sia (my dog) is tied up. My kitty, Pippen watches them from a distance and everyone is happy.
I've been posting for hours on my Etsy shop. Please check it out, if you haven't been there lately! Here is the link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Nalishouse I have a lot of fun with Etsy, but what a lot of work!
In other fun things, my grandkids come for lots of visits. I guess I should say, some of my grand kids. Here are a few pictures of them.....brand new Irene sleeping with Paca, and our adorable little Edmund. Edmund will be going into the National Jewish Hospital next week for allergy testing, and who knows what all, his parents and he will learn how to care for him and his Eczema. We hope for some answers for the little guy. He can be quite miserable, but mostly he is such a good natured litte boy. He is quite a testimony to me of living with pain all the time and hardly ever complaining. Yes, he does, but I think I would be so much worse...itcy, painful skin is so not fun! Please pray for him and his family as they will be gone 2 1/2 weeks. We hope and pray for God's provision for their finances during the time they are away. I know God will provide for them, and we are looking forward to seeing His faithful provision. God is so good, and we are so thankful to know Him.

It has come to my attention, that I did not post any pictures of grand baby #7 on Xanga.  So....hopefully the parents of sweet little Elaine Marie won't mind too much, and so I will post a few.  I'm sure she has changed a lot since we last saw her, almost two weeks ago...but here they are anyway!  In the hospital,  (with Daddy and Paca) and home at last.

• This past weekend we celebrated Heather's birthday with dinner and a yummy apple pie.  The kids carved pumpkins and we had friends, Bil, Jody and their daughter Rachel over in the evening.  Rachel is always a "hit" with the little boys, and this time was no exception, as she brought lighted sabers?, swords? flashlights? you name it....they loved them!  And for the next hour or so they ran around the house, went in and out of dark rooms squealing, shouting and roaring! 
• Today I joined them and they went up to the Pumpkin Patch at our local Sutherland's Farm with their home school group.  For two hours they ran through the farm....the corn maze, the pumpkin patch, the corn pit and got a ride on the "train" and a hayride.  So much fun....such tired little guys!  There is nothing quite like the Pumpkin Patch for good old fashioned fun!!!

On October 8, 2013 we welcomed a new grand daughter into our family.  Elaine Marie Cartmell, born around 7 p.m. at 7lbs 4 oz and 19 3/4" long is a cutie pie.  Her parents for the first time are Erin and Nathan, our daughter and son-in-law.  So, Doyle and I are visiting the little family and helping out with meals and hugs.

In other news, before we came here we helped Pete and Heather with their new little one....Irene,: we helped with meals and Doyle helped Pete with their project....making bunkbeds in the boys room.  I had to take some pictures of the boys one day while I was over there....Jonathan playing restaurant with me and Edmund having "coffee" with me.   He loves his coffee but we don't tell him that he gets 1 Tablespoon of coffee to about 3/4 cup of warm milk.  He loves to drink it out of his Dunkin Donut coffee cup!  Not bad for a little guy that isn't two years old yet!  I'm not sure where Daniel was when we were having food and coffee, but no pictures of him today! 

Another thing I've done while here in Fort Collins was to hike four miles (total) up to Horsetooth Resevoir, which is right behind where Erin and Nathan live.  What a gorgeous walk/hike it was on a glorious fall day, the view was spectacular and just what the doctor ordered!

On September 22, 2013 around 2:30 in the afternoon Pete and Heather had their fourth child and first baby girl! She is named Irene (after her great-grandmother) and Lynn (after Doyle's middle name....her grandpa Meyer, her Paca, as she will grow up calling him). She was 7 lbs. 5 oz, and 19 3/4 " long. She is beautiful and healthy and already her brothers think she is pretty awesome! Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Hmm....So, I will see how I like this.  Change is always hard and I imagine all of us here on Xanga will have some new things to learn.  I am thankful though that Xanga is back and hope everyone learns to navigate this new site.  Enough of that.  What have I been up to these last few weeks?  Maybe it would be easier if I asked, "what haven't I been up to this past month?"  Well, I will try and recap.

Preserving................tomatoes, roasted tomato sauce, corn, sauerkraut, drying onions, cooking beets (soon to put into the sawdust for safe keeping; zucchini, squash, cucumbers, etc. etc.....jalapenos, peaches....what else?

Yesterday we brought home two pigs, butchered and packaged.  We split them three ways and started rendering lard.  I finished that today.  It's one of my new favorite things....a powerhouse of goodness (if the pigs have been raised right, and ours were).  We also tried our hand at making sausage (and can I say awesome??!!) and started the bacon marinading.  It will be smoked next week sometime.  By the end of the evening we were exhausted but we were ALL quite proud of ourselves for learning new, lost skills that used to be normal household chores.  And...lucky to anyone who comes to visit and has some of our wonderful meat!  Or pies made from leaf lard....

Also the new chickens are settled in.  I have five, and yesterday was a "red letter day" for them, as every "girl" laid an egg....first time all five of them earned their keep!  They are hilarious and funny creatures and they put a smile on my face every day.  Depressed?  Get chickens! 

And for the month of August we worked on the rental and finally got it finished and the new renters are moved in.  We also had a huge barbecue/shower for Pete and Heather and their new baby coming....I say huge, because we had 63 people for the barbecue!  Yep, we did!  And we had a ton of fun (especially the million kiddos running around the acreage!).  And then, we had two of our favorite people, Jim and D'Ann come over Labor Day for a visit.  Such a wonderful refreshing visit!  It had been WAY too long since we'd last seen them!  So.............that about wraps it up.  I'm sure I missed something in there, but that sort of gets you caught up.....

And....we're drowning in rain.  The river is bank to bank after being a mere trickle most of the summer.  The land is water logged to say the least....there is no need for any more rain at the moment, but we are supposed to get several more days worth.  (Where is it ALL coming from?)

We are waiting, waiting, and waiting....for two new grand babies to join our family.  They are not really "due" yet....but girl babies ......who knows what will happen???!!!

  Over the last week we have had a lot on our plate............we've been working at our new rental next door, we've had various people over for meals, a potluck, a huge Barbecue and Shower (59 people for dinner!) for Pete and Heather's new baby (due the end of September),   and gotten five chickens.....that are laying!  At least three of them are.  And we are TIRED, so we are taking a much needed rest for a few days.

We celebrate our 37th (WHAT?!) wedding anniversary tomorrow on the 21st, and we are happy to say that we are still glad we got married so many years ago.  "We make a good team", Doyle told me this last week and those words were some of the sweetest  I've heard from him!    That's because I am a huge believer in  "teamwork" and when you can team up with a spouse to make something good and beautiful, then it's all the better!  Yes, I do believe over the  years we've been a good team.  We've been through hard times, good times, thick times, thin times (many ways to take that!) and we've raised our family, started several businesses, been involved in numerous ministries, had too many people live with us over the years to count (although my kids  have tried!) and mentored and loved, fed and cried with people, people, people.  Because when it's all said and done, the most important thing in life is that we've loved, uplifted, encouraged and worked with people.  Thank you Doyle for 37 years of never being bored!  Thirty-seven wonderful, years!  And thanks to my friends and family for "being" there, helping us be the people God intended for us to be!  Here's to many, many more years together!

Our summer took a quick turn in the road, when my husband told me a couple of weeks ago that the property next to us was up for sale.  It included three acres of irrigated pasture land and a doublewide on a permanent foundation.  Should we buy it?  We thought about it and prayed about it alot.  And then Doyle made an offer on it.  The offers were bids, in that we had no idea how much anyone else was bidding.  We did however, know how much it sold for a few years ago (a steal, not to be repeated) and how much we were willing to pay for it, knowing how much irrigated land goes for in New Mexico.  So, we made an offer and waited.  The investors counter offered and so did we, and a week or so later we were told we had the best bid and they would sell to us.  So, last week, we got the keys to the home and inspected it.  What a mess!  The place needs a lot of work, punched holes in the walls, broken trim and missing trim, burned carpet (how in the world did the home not burn down?!), cat pee stain, etc. etc.  The weeds outside the home were so high you could hardly see the house in places!  You can just imagine!  The stove was so filthy, it took Lucy six hours of solid cleaning, and she still isn't satisfied with it (I told her it would do!  .   But, Doyle and I have worked on places like this all our lives and we knew we could make it presentable and hopefully rent it out.  I told him to put an ad on Craigslist and see if we got any nibbles before we made an offer on the place, and we got a lot of nibbles!  So, we figured we could rent it without too much trouble.  So.....with Doyle and Elrond working last Thursday tearing out carpet and who knows what all, and then on Friday and Saturday, Pete, Doyle, Lucy, Junior and I working 8-10 hour days, we got a lot done.  Monday and Tuesday, Lucy, Junior and Doyle and I worked another 8-10 hour days and today, we started moving tools out, finishing up the painting, hanging mini-blinds, etc .  In between all of this, Heather fed us on Friday and Saturday and canned at my house, (the garden waits for no one, as we all say), and we interviewed a few prospective renters.  It looks like we have a young couple, to rent it, if they show up on Friday with some money, it's theirs.  Did, I say, I'm tired, and I've painted enough these last few days to have a very achy back?  Are we crazy?  Maybe!  Are we insane?  Probably!  Is it scary?  Absolutely!  But, in the Meyer family, I'm afraid "risk" and hard work are two things that go hand in hand!