The Bees Get A Late Night Visitor

     It was about this time last year that I awoke to hearing noises at night.  It sounded like someone was walking on our kitchen floor. Then later on, our bathroom floor.  I wouldn't have thought twice about it but it happened more than once in the same week.  It was so real that one time I called out, "Bumble, is that you." No answer.  I even woke up Honey, who by the way is very hard to wake. He could sleep through a freight train coming through our house. Well, of course he said he didn't hear anything. Stinger was about two months old at this time and I knew I wasn't getting much sleep so I thought maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.  But then it happened.
     One night just to prove to my unbelieving husband that I wasn't crazy, we stayed up late into the night.  At about 11:00 PM (Yes, this is late!) I heard something.  Honey heard it too!  I wasn't crazy!  You see I store my plastic Weis grocery bags on a shelf under the kitchen sink.  They rustled!  And rustled again!  Honey went to investigate.  I went to investigate the hallway, which is far away from the kitchen sink as to not let out a blood curdling shriek when he opens the cupboard door. I was glad in that moment I married a 6'4", 260 lb. man!  He will protect me and kill whatever is under that kitchen sink, I thought to myself! In that moment what does my Honey grab to defend himself and to possibly kill the intruder?  My white Libman plastic dust pan!

The dust pan?!?!  Ok don't question him, I thought.  Honey will protect me. He must have a good plan.
     Honey slowly opens the cupboard door.  He lets out an awwwww! The kind of awwwww you say when you see a cute cuddly kitten.  That is what I thought he saw under our kitchen sink.  I come out of hiding and walk into the kitchen.  I let out a blood curdling scream!  What do I see?  A possum.  A beady eyed ugly baby possum.  Apparently my Honey thinks possums are cute.  In all our nine years of marriage you would have thought I would have picked up on that!  What does Honey do next?  He gets the possum on the dust pan and throws it out the back door!  You would think that the story would end there, right?  Wrong. 
     At around 2:00 that morning, I hear a noise. I wake up Honey.  The possum has returned. It is now in my silverware drawer!!!!!!!!!!!! So gross!!!!!! What does Honey do?  He goes right for my Libman plastic dust pan.  Ok, now I have to say something!! It didn't work the first time Honey. You need a better plan!! He reassures me that he will take care of the beast this time.  He again coaxes the hissing possum on the dust pan and takes him outside, farther away then the last time.  We go back to bed.
     The next morning my Honey found out how the possum was getting in.  It climbed up through a hole that was along side our kitchen pipes.  Honey filled the hole with foam insulation.  The possum never got in again.  I spent the day cleaning every last pot, pan, dish, utensil, cup, and plate in our kitchen.  I scrubbed the counters and floors.  Do I think it was the possum I heard on our kitchen floor? Absolutely! Do I think he got into our bathroom!  Yes.  Do I think my husband will ever kill an animal?  NO!

     

The Bees Buy Toothpaste

Do you use toothpaste?  Here is a deal you do not want to pass up at Weis this week.

Crest toothpaste is on sale for $1.99 this week.  When you buy 4, a $5.00 coupon will print at the register for you to use on your next shopping trip.  The best part is that there was a Crest toothpaste coupon in Sundays newspaper. In my area it was for $1.00 off of 2 Crest toothpastes.

  4 Crest x $1.99= $7.96

If you don't have any coupons to use, the total spent will be $2.96 if you include the $5.00 coupon printed at the register.  That is $0.74 a piece!

 

If you have coupons to use, like I did, here is how it will break down.

4 Crest x $1.99= $7.96

                                            -$2.00 in coupons

                                                                  -$5.00 off on next shopping trip

              =$0.96 cents for 4 Crest toothpastes or $0.24 cents a piece!!!

Now that makes Queen Bee smile!!!!


(Warning: you can only do this deal one time per transaction!)

 

 

 

 

In Remembrance

Sadly a dear friend from our church lost her third bout with cancer.  She leaves behind her husband and two daughters of which Bumble adores.  Last month she had the chance to share her testimony.  This was the song she shared with the congregation. 

 

 

Jeannie, you will be missed.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. 

 

The Bees Go To A Fall Fest, Part 4

Our final hours at Fall Fest were well spent.  Pine Grove Furnace State Park is beautiful this time of year.  While I enjoyed looking at colorful trees, Bumble enjoyed looking for critters. 

 

Of course she is drawn to caterpillars. Or is it the other way around?

 

In this picture Bumble and Stinger are trying to devise a plan...

 to get me to say yes to this activity...

 

I gave in.

 

They had fun rolling around in the straw.  It got in their hair and shoes and pants and coats and pockets.  But the last straw was when...

 

Just kidding.  I had to use that phrase somewhere in this post. I was fine with all of it.  I enjoyed watching them. 


Next we went on a hayride.  These were the lovely people that went with us.   Apparently they are not afraid of a couple of Bees!

 

Here is Bumble...

 

                                                         

and Honey and Stinger on the hayride.    

 

That was the last activity we did at Fall Fest.  After that, we bought Mama Bairs Hoagies (this was indeed the real name of the hoagie stand) to eat on the car ride home.  They were delicious.   I got onions on mine and the smell of them was so strong that Honey was convinced he had onions on his hoagie to.  He said the "smell was strong enough to taste!"  Honey only likes cooked onions.  He is not a big fan of raw onions, although I have seen him eat them on hot dogs.  He drowns them in ketchup so he probably doesn't taste them.  Anyway, thank you Mama Bair for feeding the hungry Bees! 

 

I encourage you to find free events like this in your community.  This event was very child friendly.  It was nice to enjoy a beautiful day outdoors with my family.  There may not be many warm days left this year.  Then, us bees will have to stay huddled close together in our hive! 

 



The Perrys "Praise God, It's Settled, I'm Saved"

Here is one of my favorite songs from The Perry's entitled,"Praise God, It's Settled, I'm Saved."

 

 

 

Praise God! What a wonderful peace I have found.

It's settled! I know that my name is written down.

I'm saved! I'm free! I'm no longer a slave.

Praise God it's settled I'm saved!

The Bees Go To A Fall Fest, Part 3

Are you ready for part 3 of our Fall Fest trip?  I will admit when I saw this next display I smiled inside and out.  A beehive!  It was a very busy beehive.  Kind of like ours!  It was fascinating peeking in their hive!

 

 

Here Bumble is checking out all the things Bees make and do.  (As if she didn't already know!!!)

 

Ok enough about the bees. I will move on...

This is the only activity Bumble did that I paid money for.  I paid $3.00 for her to paint a pumpkin.  I have to say it was well worth it.  If I would have done this at home I would have had to clean up the mess! Bumble had fun doing this.  We let it in the sun to dry when she was finished.

 

 I love this next picture!  

 

You will always be my pumpkin, Bumble!

 

Ok, hang in there with me.  Only one more Fall Fest post left, I promise! 





The Bees Go To A Fall Fest, Part 2

In "The Bees Go To A Fall Fest, Part 1" you learned about making cider and dipping candles.  Now how about broom making.  This is the broom man.

 

 

He demonstrated how a broom is made. You could also buy brooms at his stand.  If you are a regular reader of this blog you already know that my big blue laundry basket is the number one toy in the Bee household. Well, my broom is easily number two.  I had been looking for a child sized broom and finally found one.  Here Bumble is trying it out.

 

Stinger likes it too.

 



Stinger, you sweep mommy off her feet!

Another craft Bumble did at the Fall Fest was making a bird feeder out of a pine cone, peanut butter, and bird seed.

Here she is slathering on the peanut butter.

 

Then she rolled it in the bird seed.

 

Good job Bumble.  This craft was really for the birds! 

What's that?! You still want more Fall Fest. Well I think I have two more posts for you! Stay tuned!

Queen Bee Buys Yogurt

 If you like yogurt here is a deal you can do at Weis this week.  Here is what I bought: 

 

4 boxes Gogurt and 2 boxes of Fruplait
 

The shelf price of the Gogurt is $2.79 a box but is on sale this week for $2.00 a box.  There is a $0.85 off of 2 coupon available at www.bettycrocker.com. This makes one box $1.15 since the coupon fully doubles.

 

The Fruplait shelf price is $2.99 for a box but is also on sale this week for $2.00 a box.  There is a $0.60 off of 1 coupon available at www.bettycrocker.com. This makes one box $0.80 cents since the coupon fully doubles.

 

 

So how much did I save on this deal?

Shelf price for all items is $17.14

What did I pay for the above yogurt: $6.20

I saved $10.49!

 

Weis also has a deal that if you spend $75.00 on certain items in the next three weeks you receive a $20.00 coupon at checkout.  The above items are included in this deal. Since I bought these items I have $17.14 towards that reward.

I don't know about you but I am beginning to love Mrs. Crocker.  She sure does have some great coupons!  Now please excuse me while I go gurt some yogurt for Bumble and Stinger!

 

The Bees Go To A Fall Fest, Part 1

The Bees attended the Fall Fest at Pine Grove Furnace this past weekend. A fellow teacher told Honey about this event and it sounded like lots of fun... plus it was free!

 

Here we are watching apples being pressed for cider. The man in the ball cap is the fellow teacher that invited us.  This is his cider press. I believe he told Honey it is from the 1800's.  Bumble's stuffed dog enjoyed watching too!

 

 

Here is Bumble, trying her hand at the press, with Honeys help of course.  Turning the wheel grinded up the apples.

 

See the yummy cider in the jug?  It was delicious.  Honey had to take some home with us!

 

The festival also offered lots of crafts for kids to do. One of these was candle making.  Here is Bumble with a wick she is about to dip in wax. 

 

She had to dip the wick in wax about five times.  Each time she pulled it out of the wax they had her count to ten. Then she dipped it again.

 

 

  No one can hold a candle to you, Bumble!

Want to see more fun from our trip to the Fall Fest.  Stay Tuned!

Queen Bee Makes Apple Pie

In an earlier post I had said that the Bee family was blessed with apples.  Also in an earlier post I made pie crust. It wasn't hard at all to decide what kind of pie to attempt to make first.  Here is the recipe for the apple pie I made the other day. Let's start with the filling ingredients.

Ingredients:

8 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup Sugar

3 cups Water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick butter

2 tablespoons cornstarch

 

First peel, core, and slice the apples.

 

Then mix all the above ingredients in a large saucepan on medium high heat until thickened and apples are soft. It will look like this..

 

While this is cooking, make the crumb topping for the pie. Here are the ingredients...

 

 

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/4 stick of butter

 

Mix the brown sugar together with flour. Cut in the butter until crumbs form.

Stinger got a hold of the butter before I could. He thought it looked yummy...

 

 

Can you see the teeth marks? Anyway, this is what the "crumbs" will look like when finished.

Also while the apple filling is cooking roll out your pie crust and fit it to your pie pan.  Do you like my sad attempt at trying to make it look pretty?

When the filling is done cooking, pour it in the pie crust. I had some left over.   Here is what fit in the crust.

Put the Stinger germ infested crumb topping on top.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  So how did it turn out?  Did the crust have taste? Well, I think the answer to how good a recipe is lies in the amount of time one consumes it.  This apple pie was gone in 24 hours!   The pie crust had taste. Honey was happy. I pronounce this a success- germs and all!   Now it looks like I need to make another one of my heathly salads!

Bumble the Photographer

Every now and then Bumble will take my digital camera and try her hand at photography.  When I download the pictures off of the camera to the computer, I am always amazed at what she takes pictures of.  I like these surprises though. They make me laugh. It's nice to see life from her perspective.

 

These photos were taken by Bumble on the way home from a recent wedding...

She calls these her "princess shoes"

 

 

I wish I could see Stinger's eyes on this one.

 

 

Here is her view of us from her booster seat.

These pictures were taken by Bumble at our home.  This is through the bottom of our front screen door...

 

Here is a closeup of her blue princess dress- and I do mean close up!

 

 

and lets not forget about her self portraits...

Good job Bumble! You are an excellent photographer!

Karen Peck and New River, "Four Days Late"

Here is one of my favorites from Karen Peck and New River, "Four Days Late."

 

My God is great! When He's four days late, He's still on time! 

Honey the Busy Bee

The last time I posted about our land, Honey had a bad case of poison.  Let me rephrase that. He had a HORRIBLE case of poison.  So much so that the doctor recommend he not work for a couple days.  He had it everywhere. It blistered and then started oozing! I took some pictures of the blisters but can't even bring myself to post them.  Your welcome! But, poor Honey.  He slept on the couch under the ceiling fan covered in calamine lotion and ice packs for a couple of weeks.  What did Honey do as soon as he got better? He went right back to our lot and started clearing again.  I asked him to please be more careful. He assured me he would. So far I am glad to say he has been poison free!  This may be due to the fact that Bumble still prays for his "poisoning" even though he is better.  She got so used to praying for him, she justs incorporates that into her prayer.   Here are some recent pictures of Honey's progress.

Thank you Honey for all your hard work!