In my defense, I was not standing in her driveway. Her driveway is in Colorado.

My oldest daughter is a rock star. I mean to tell you…she is as solid as they come. How she came to be this way with an anxious wreck for a mother is beyond me. At least, I was when I was raising her. The only thing I can think of was her dad’s influence. Or maybe she’s channeling my grandma. Either way, the woman is S T R O N G. When I sent her “off to college”, she didn’t go too far. She elected to go to the nearby community college so her baby sister wouldn’t forget her.

While I was thrilled to have her nearby, I did insist she live in the dorm for at least a couple of years to get a more realistic college experience. Setting her up in her dorm was fun and exciting and pretty darned easy considering I could see her anytime I wanted to. We lived in the same town. Not so much for Daughter #1 and Big.

My granddaughter has just spent her first full week away from her parents and she’s doing great. So is her mom, I’m happy to report. I FaceTimed with my daughter this weekend and caught her and her husband doing laundry. I asked how it was being so far away from her first born and she said it really wasn’t much different. Big has been on a swim team since she was a little little kid. Once she could drive and get herself to and from practice, they didn’t see much of her anyway. The biggest difference is not seeing her in school. Big went to the same high school where her mom teaches so they saw each other all the time.

My stepson and his family came over this afternoon for a cookout. Their youngest is also a freshman in college and elected to go to the community college nearby, as well. She happily shared all her classes and her schedule and seems to be loving it. It does my heart good to see young people go out into the world and chase their dreams and have fun doing it.

I ended up storing two quarts of shredded pork in the fridge for meals later on in the week. I turned the third quart into a pot of Pork Green Chili. My West Virginia family had never heard of this Colorado delicacy. They aren’t big on spicy foods, but they were good sports and at least tasted it. So now I have three quarts of green chili in the fridge. That ought to feed us well for a while. I made the sugar biscuits with strawberries for dessert. They were a big hit. No one had eaten their strawberries with biscuits either so it was a big culinary adventure at Marshmallow Ranch yesterday.

I am half finished making the reconstructed blocks for my bonus granddaughter’s wedding. She and her fiancé were here for the cookout so I showed her what I’ve done so far. I wanted her to understand what kind of work went into the quilt. I’ve heard too many horror stories of women working for months to make a quilt for someone only to find the husband uses it to get down on the ground under the truck when he changes the oil. That’s not happening with one of mine. I make sure they understand the work that goes into a quilt. This young couple will take super good care of it.

We got exactly an inch of rain from Friday to Saturday and we are expecting more. And I’m extra happy to report there isn’t a single drip from the ceiling in the little bathroom. My repair work on the roof worked out! My stepson got up on the roof yesterday and measured it so we can price the shingles. Just to reassure you, we are not going to be putting that roof on. Our boys will take care of that for us. They’re young and handy.

We may go out to the farm today to prime the pump. I’m sure it will be too wet to mow. It’s been a really nice weekend with a taste of fall in the air, a cozy family gathering, and good food. You can’t ask for anything better.

Here’s a link to the recipe for the Colorado-Style Green Chili. I generally followed the recipe but didn’t measure. I just used what I had. 

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“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV