Project: Fight Fatigue!

Something has got to change. I am so tired all the time. This isn't something that has come on quickly, I've been exhausted ever since Greta was born. I'm going to attribute it to having two young children, but I suppose it could be due to anything (you know like milking a goat, having a part time job, being a stay at home mom, being a zoo keeper....you know anything). I'm not talking about the occasional fatigue in the afternoon, but to the "drag your butt through the day" kind of tiredness. Sometimes I'll lay down on the floor in the living room while the kids are playing and I'll fall asleep, then wake up about twenty minutes later to Greta smacking my head with her hand. I get a solid eight hours of sleep a day, watch my sugar intake (I'm a tad bit hypoglycemic), take my vitamins and try to stay active. So far it's not enough. So this weekend I bought a treadmill off of craigslist. It's a nice big behemoth of a treadmill with all the bells and whistles. My hope is to use it three times a week and magically gain more energy.  I wasn't sure if the kids were going to let me use it three times a week so I'm coinciding my workouts with Curious George on PBS. That's a solid half a hour when both kids are glued to the tube. So far so good, worked beautifully today. Wish me luck!

Giggles and fresh sand

I've got nothing to blog about, so I shall leave you with a video. I know, a cop out....but there really is nothing going on around here. The kids are thoroughly enjoying this spring like weather we are having. I'm loving it as well. Outside is so much better than inside. Fresh sand in the sandbox doesn't hurt either.

Funday Sunday: Apple Fritters

My husband loves apple fritters. When we were young and childless I'd run into the store and buy donuts on special occasions (or any occasion) and he'd always get apple fritters. Yesterday I decided I needed to make them, and make them I did...this morning. Oh how very yummy they were. You should try them, they were sinful little nuggets of future cellulite.

Apple Fritters

-1 1/2 C. Flour
-1 T. Sugar (I used 2)
-2 t. baking powder
-1 t. pumpkin pie spice (substitute cinnamon if you don't have this)
-1/2 t. salt
-2/3 C. milk
-2 eggs - beaten
-1 T. oil
-3 C. apples- peeled, and chopped
-vegetable oil for frying
-glaze (I used powdered sugar and orange juice)

Heat  and inch of vegetable oil in small sauce pan over medium heat. While it's heating mix flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie seasoning and salt in a bowl. Pour in milk, eggs and oil. Stir until combined. Add apples and stir until evenly distributed. Drop by spoonfuls into oil. Cook about 4 minutes a side. Make sure they are nice and brown before turning them.....the insides need time to cook. Glaze and devour. Yum!

 

The Light Bulb Moment

I have to take a moment and brag about my little boy. Wesley has always been a pretty bright little kid (doesn't every Mom say that about their kid?) but he's really taken off since starting preschool last fall. He's super excited about learning. They are working hard on the alphabet and he's got that down. During dinner (and throughout the day for that matter) we ask him "What does alligator start with?" He then thinks about and goes "Ah ah alligator.....A!!" He's pretty animated throughout this process and usually wants to do more.

Then the other night, about a week ago, he had a light bulb moment. Sean was reading to him before bed and the book had a story line along with little descriptive words next to some of the pictures. For instance there was a picture of a tree and then had a little "tree" next to it. Sean is reading along and Wesley points to the word and goes "T-R-E-E" and then Sean said what does that spell? He said "TREE!" Then proceeded to point to other words and do the same. It was awesome to see. It's just fascinating watching that little brain work. I can't wait for the day when he can read books to us. Maybe that day will be sooner than I had thought.

Dead Tree Fun

With the absolutely beautiful weather we've been having this week we decided to get a jump on the spring "to do" list. We had a big old pine tree die last year of the dreaded pine beetle epidemic and it had to go so Hubby used the chainsaw and brought it down. That will be the easy part. Now we have this giant dead tree on the ground. Until it gets further cut up it has become a playground for the kids. Both sets.

I Love....

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I'd keep up the tradition of listing things that I particularly love right now in my life.

I love.....Miss Greta's curls.......baby goats in my lap......Valentine presents to the kids from Granny and Noni......Wesley's hugs.....green tea every afternoon......the kids playing and laughing together......watching Netflix movies in the evening with my hubby......girls night out.......the warm sun on my face after a too long winter......watching these little people grow and learn.......Greta's chubby kissable belly......FarmVille (level 90 baby).......grocery shopping without the kids.......that spring is just around the corner.....freshly laid chicken eggs......a box of chocolates......my ever helpful, handsome husband.......kids in footed sleepers........swinging with Wesley on my lap.......PlayStation 3 rentals in the mail..........being a Mom to these two wonderful little people.

So done.

I am done with winter. I am through with the sub zero temperatures. I am through with hauling buckets of water outside to the animals. I am SO through with the 15 minute ordeal of dressing two young, squirmy kids in hats, gloves, sweaters, coats and snow boots. I'm just done. This morning I crawled out of my warm bed and curled up on the couch to watch the weather man announce that we hit an all time low last night. It hit -16 degrees. I was hoping to hear that our school district canceled classes since that would mean Wesley wouldn't have preschool. Unfortunately most school districts around here have hit their quota of snow days so they are being quite stingy with their cancellations. So, alas, school was happening today. 

The other unfortunate issue I've been experiencing this winter (and most winters) is snow packed hooves on the horses. When I go out to feed them in the morning they hobble up with this 6-8 inch cone of packed snow and ice under their front hooves. I go out there while they are eating and chip it off with a screw driver. I have to hack it off like the screw driver is an ice pick. After a little bit of research I found that spray cooking oil and Vaseline and both great at keeping that from happening again. So this afternoon I went out and smear the bottom of Desi's hooves with Vaseline. We'll see if tomorrow morning he's packed or not. Poor things.

I'm really hoping this is the last snow storm of the winter. It's doubtful but I'm really wishing. Hope you all are staying warm wherever you are.

So Big!

We're just snowed in again so I thought I'd share a little video of Greta. When you ask her how big she is she'll throw her hands in the air and say "So big". She seems to be learning new words by the day, it's a precious age.

Weekly Winners

Such a little doll face.

Wesley posing with his "mud man".

Snow dogs

The Little Tikes slide has moved indoors for the remainder of the winter. The kids love it!

Can't even tell there is a driveway there.

Smiling kids.

Posing with Mom

Storm of the decade? Nah!

What fun the past few days have been! We got hit with the massive winter storm that hit most of the country and are just digging ourselves out. I'm happy to report we all survived and didn't even loose electricity once. That's amazing in it's self. We all just hunkered down and stayed home. Sean was able to work from home, it was nice not having to worry about him out on the roads. He's got an hour long commute each day so that's one less thing to worry about. Wesley's preschool was canceled so I didn't even have to truck him in either. It all worked out well. Sean actually did try and go to work yesterday and got the car stuck not ten feet away from the garage. He spent the next two hours getting the snow blower attachment put on the front of the Cub Cadet garden tractor. He then proceeded to use the tractor to clear the driveway. It worked great!

 

We actually only got about 6-7 inches of snow but the drifts were amazing.  The snow was never the issue it was the temperatures. Talk about miserable! It got to -6 degrees last night. I left the water on slightly to prevent any pipes freezing over night. It's dangerous weather for anyone to be out in, including animals. Everyone seemed to fair ok, although the horses had so much packed snow under their hooves this morning it looked like they were walking around on softballs. Poor things could hardly walk. They got all cozy in their horse shed and I gave them extra brome hay to keep warm. Stock tank heater is plugged in and working great. I'm sure we'll see how well it's working on our next electric bill. This morning I went out there to find them all laying down sleeping in the sun. 

 

The goat family (Dym and her kids) stayed cozy in the shop. The thermometer said 34 in there this morning. That's practically a heat wave compared to the -6.  I did let them out to get some sun. They wanted nothing to do with that idea. 

God forbid their tiny hooves touch the snow.

 

I hope everyone else is fairing well with this storm. Stay warm!

Garden Fever

Who knew you could get sweaty working in the garden.....in January. Can you believe it hit 75 degrees on Saturday? That's crazy talk! It was like a little slice of spring dangled in your face, and today it got yanked away. It's snowing like crazy today. But we sure enjoyed that rare day of spring weather. I have to admit it made me have garden fever. I've been planning for this years garden in my head for a few weeks now. It's like this mini obsession for me. It only got worse yesterday when the Burpee catalog came in the mail. I spent last night ogling all the new varieties of vegetables, circling all the things I want to order and try this year in the garden. There is something circled on each page almost. Oh decisions decisions. My favorite thing I found in that catalog? This:

It's called the Sunforest Mix and it's in the Burpee Catalog. I am so excited to try this! I could see Wesley really enjoying this.Can't you just imagine a big block of these with a path leading to a play area in the middle. Super cool.

Every Saturday, like clock work, I clean out the goat pen. It consists of a bale of straw and a package of pine shavings. It all gets put on the wheel barrow and then dumped back on the garden. I've been doing this since the beginning of December so you can imagine how much mulch is accumulating on the garden. My gardening bible, Ruth Stout's No-Work Garden Book, talks about the glories of mulching in the fall and having beautiful rich soil that is ready to plant seeds within in the spring. No rototilling needed. So I'm trying it. So far there's at least 12 inches of straw all over the garden. I've been dumping it on the grass as well, as I'm extending the garden this year (gotta be bigger!). So yesterday I looked underneath some old hay that had been there since November and the grass is gone leaving this rich, black, crumbing soil. This mulching stuff works! I'm pumped to plant in the spring (and not have to use the rototiller). According to Ruth you just make rows with string and push away the mulch. Sow your seeds, let them grow a bit then push that mulch back around the plants. Super easy.

Well, back to obsessing over the seed catalog.

Funday Sunday: Crockpot Yogurt!

Yes you read that correctly. I just made yogurt in the crockpot. Isn't that awesome?! I really feel all Suzy Homemaker like right now. It's a good feeling. I ran across this idea on another blog and felt the need to try it myself. You see I've been have a mini battle with the yogurt producers of America. I stand in the yogurt isle for at least five minutes just searching. What do I search for? The perfect yogurt. I look for a yogurt that is low fat, low sugar, no artificial sweeteners and no artificial colors (and possibly organic). It doesn't exist. Really it doesn't. Trust me. So I'm making my own. You know what? It's super easy and I'm mad at myself for not doing this earlier. Especially after buying all those Yo Baby Organic yogurts for the kids when they were babies. Oh how much money I could have saved had I made my own whole milk organic yogurt.....in my crockpot. Oh well. On to the recipe!

Crockpot Yogurt

Use a 4 quart crockpot. Plug in your crockpot and place it on low. Add half a gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2.5 hours.

Unplug the crockpot and leave covered for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, scoop out two cups of milk and place in a bowl. Add half a cup of plain yogurt (purchased from the grocery store....this is your starter). Whisk the milk and yogurt and pour back into crockpot. Whisk it all together.

Put the lid back on, keep it unplugged and wrap the crockpot in a heavy towel or two for insulation. Let it sit overnight or for 8 hours.

After 8 hours you have yogurt! Just mix in frozen fruit, fresh fruit, jam, honey, whatever you want.

Notes: I used 2% Organic milk and it came out fairly thin. I like thicker yogurt so next time I'll use whole milk just to experiment with. Also you can add a packet of unflavored gelatin when you whisk in the yogurt starter to help thicken it up. Some people also experiment with fat free powdered milk to thicken. I'm going to try this next as well. Enjoy!

A little bit of crazy

I had to update the animal bar at the top of the page to include the goat babies. And of course I had to draw at least one of them flying through the air. This is something I've learned since having goat kids for the first time. Their little tiny hooves hardly ever touch the ground. They run, they leap, they twist in the air making little tiny farting sounds. They've got a bit of crazy in them.

Wesley and I went outside today since it was a balmy 55 degrees with no wind and lots of sun (it was a beautiful day). I let the goat family out of the shop and they followed Wesley and I out into the yard. I sat down in the grass watching the baby goats do their afternoon gymnatics. Wesley came over and sat in my lap. Then a few minutes later I see a goat baby flying at me at turbo speed out of my periferal vision. They like to launch themselves at my head for some wierd reason. I think, if they could, they would both perch on top of my head. I stopped the first attack. The second goat baby threw itself at my back trying to spring board off of me. It caught me off guard leaving an opening for the first kid to turn around and come at us with a head on attack. He jumped right over us using Wesley's head to spring off of.

There were many tears shed. I'm pretty sure Wesley thinks they are trying to eat us. I try to explain they are baby animals and have a ton of energy.....much like Wesley. He's not going for it.

They are fun little animals. Part Nubian, part Boer, part crazy.

My favorite "air" picture

Gearing up for the attack.

Rear end has a mind of its own.

Dym is such a good Momma.

Cute but crazy

My three year old informant.

I try to avoid it but occasionally I have to take the kids with me to the little grocery store a few miles away. It's just a Mom and Pops store where you pay high prices for the convenience of not driving all the way into town. I had Wesley in the cart with Greta in the seat of the cart. I'm rolling through the store trying to avoid "him". The older male store worker that always seems to find me and my children.  It's like he has radar for little kids and seeks them out to fill them with candy. It is really nice, he's a jovial older man but lately it's been a hassle. Around isle five (of a ten isle store) he sees us and immediately disappears into the back of the store. He returns with a handful of different colored Tootsie Pops (you know, the lollipops with the tootsie roll center). Wesley sees him coming and gets all excited. He lives for candy. The older gentleman strolls up and offers Wesley a lollipop. Wes picks a green one and proceeds to unwrap and become totally engrossed with his prize.  The gentleman then focuses his attention on Greta, offering her a lollipop. I tell him she's not old enough. He doesn't understand. He tells me "she'll just get a little messy Mom, no big deal". I tell him she's too young for candy, doesn't have enough teeth and so on. He still doesn't understand. Finally, Wesley looks up from his prize, leans over in front of the guy and says "It's a choking hazard".

I just about died laughing on the inside.

The guy finally got the clue. Then disappeared into the back of the store and returned with gummy bears. *sigh*
I had to explain to him again (this time without the help of Wesley) that they too are choking hazards. He looked defeated but once again went to the back of the store. I did my shopping at warp speed trying to get out of there before he returned with jelly beans. I got to the checkout stand before he found me the third time. This time he looked victorious while holding a string cheese. I had to give him credit, he really tried. It was sweet. Greta enjoyed the string cheese. I might forget to bring the kids with me next time I shop at that store.

She may not walk......

......much at all, but BOY CAN SHE CLIMB!

The Milk Maid

I would have laughed had you told me a year ago that I'd be milking a goat twice a day. Yep, I am officially a goat milker. I get up before it's even light out and go out to milk Dym. Then when Greta takes her nap at 2 I go out again. I'm hoping I can get down to just one milking a day but for now I need to do it twice. I've learned so much in a week in a half. I've learned to take certain information gained from books with a grain of salt. For instance, every ounce of information I read said to leave the baby goats with their mom for two weeks before milking her. They will keep her milked. So that's what I planned on doing. I hadn't built the milking stand because I thought I'd have time before I needed to start milking her on a daily basis. Turns out the two week rule is good for some goats, but my goat needed to be milked from day 1. By the third day each side of her udder was the size of a bowling ball. The babies had a hard time latching on because it was so engorged. I couldn't get her to stand still to even let me milk out a little bit because it hurt her. It was a bad situation. It took many people, some brute force and some tired hands but poor Dym finally got milked out. She had blood in one side of her udder. There was fear of mastitis (a painful inflammation of the udder) so I ramped up my daily milking, ordered a mastitis test and watched it like a hawk.  After two days of milking her twice daily the blood went away. The mastitis test (California Mastitis Test) was negative. Looks like all is well. I hope.

I might add that Dym is challenged in the udder department.  She has very pendulous teats. Her teats are only about 3 inches off the ground (one actually dragged the ground in the beginning). She's extremely hard to hand milk, it was taking me an hour and twenty minutes to milk her. It was exhausting to say the least. But I knew how uncomfortable she was so I religiously went out there twice a day. It was after a week of this I was offered the use of a milking machine. It's a Surge Bucket Milker and it works wonderfully.  They first started making them in the 1920's, it's pretty neat using an antique to milk the goat. The contraption here on the left is attached to an electric motor and vacuum tank and that's it. It's fairly quiet and takes less than ten minutes twice a day and I'm done.  Thank you Jessica's Mom for letting me use it! I really don't know how I'd manage without it.

Now when you let the goat out of her pen she rushes over and jumps up on the milking stand. Even when it's not time to be milked. I just love that goat, she's such a sweetie. Especially because she's letting me learn all of this on her. I'm only milking the one side that had the problems, the kids are keeping the other side drained. They won't even touch the side I milk, just sniff it and turn their noses up.

So here I am with the weird dilemma of what to do with a gallon of goat milk every day. A gallon out of just one side, isn't that insane? I just can't seem to wrap my mind around actually drinking it. Maybe it's because there was blood in it, maybe it's because I see that teat being drug through all sorts of nasty, but I just can't do it. I've never been a raw milk kind of person. But I really want to be that kind of person. The self sufficient person that gathers eggs, milks the goat and eats produce out of the garden. Maybe pasteurizing it is the key. Maybe then I'll want to drink it? Or maybe I'll keep dumping it down the sink. Oh who knows.

Sled Slider

Our snow is nearly melted and we'd only been out to play in it twice so this past weekend out we went for some sled time. It started as just a ride up to get the mail and then it was discovered that it was the perfect mixture of ice and packed snow. Perfect for sliding. You'll see what I mean after you see the video. The kid had a blast.

Weekly Winners January 9-15

Her newest love is a dinosaur hat. She "roars" now.

Wesley trying to feed the kids some leaves. He enjoys them more while they are in the dog kennel ever since they knocked him over.

Exhibit two, more with the dino hat.

Boundless energy, springs in the legs, eat everything.....baby goats are fun!

Roar!

Sled time with Mom.

First leak of the year. Let's keep track shall we? We used to pay $12 every time we got a leak. Now Hubby fixes them.

Conversations with a three year old.

Wesley was just asking about what a hospital was and I was explaining to him that a hospital is where sick people go.

Wesley: "When I get sick I'll go to the hospital."


Me: "Yep, and when Mom and Daddy get sick we can go to the hospital too."


Wesley: "And when Greta gets sick she'll go in the trash can."

Explanation: FAIL

Blasted Mobility

You might recall back in August that my husband got a vasectomy. Actually it was done on August 13th,  Friday the 13th (should have been our first clue). If you didn't get to read that delightful post, HERE it is. It was a day we all won't soon forget. So here we sit exactly five months later and I think we can officially consider it a "botched" vasectomy. No, I'm not pregnant thank the good Lord. You might need a brief history of "after vasectomy care" to understand why I might refer to it as botched.

1. Bubba goes and gets a vasectomy.
2. Two months later Bubba provides a "sample".
3. Lab uses microscopes to search for mobile swimmers.
4. Bubba gets an all clear from the doctor.
5. Bubba no longer has the ability to procreate.
6. Yippie! No more Bubba Jrs.

This is what we all thought would happen. A fairy tale ending to our reproductive life.

So Hubby provides the "sample" to the lab two months after the procedure. The nurse calls back with the news that there are 0-2 mobility. That means that in the sample provided there are still live swimmers. Ok. Bummer. She said come back in a month to provide another sample and in the mean time ejac evacuate as many swimmers as possible. November 13th rolls around, time for another sample. The nurse calls with the exact same news. 0-2 mobility. Said to try again next month.....and be sure to get out as many swimmers as possible. Hubby makes it his part time job to follow nurses rules on a daily basis (I'm a cool wife, but I'm not that cool). December came and went with the same results. This time nurse said that he'll have to talk to the doctor if another month has the same results. We're thinking exploratory scrotum surgery. Fun times!

So today was yet another sample day. The fourth sample. We were both a little anxious for the test results to say the least. The nurse called and said it was down to 0-1 mobility. She talked with the doctor and he said in rare cases it has taken up to a year to get a clean, non-mobility sample. *sigh* So he goes back with yet another sample in two months. This has been a frustrating experience and we will be oh so happy if and when it's over.

So far I'm not really an advocate for vasectomies.