And until then we will escape, when we can, to the great outdoors and watch the kids ride their scooters up and down the driveway. Thanks Aunt Jessica for the scooters, they are a hit!
Monday, January 27, 2014
A Brief Reprieve
Yesterday was a beautiful, 60 degree day. No wind, all sun. Just splendid. The kids and I were outside soaking it up since today has been so very very cold. We all agree as long as the weather keeps fluctuating from warm to cold (and not just staying this horrid bitter cold) we'll be able to manage. I do believe we are all counting down the days until Spring.
And until then we will escape, when we can, to the great outdoors and watch the kids ride their scooters up and down the driveway. Thanks Aunt Jessica for the scooters, they are a hit!
And until then we will escape, when we can, to the great outdoors and watch the kids ride their scooters up and down the driveway. Thanks Aunt Jessica for the scooters, they are a hit!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
The Wednesday Write-Up
-I have pink eye. Again. That is all I'm going to say about that. *sob*
-I've been disappointing my pedometer lately with the sad little number of steps I'm getting in a day. It must be known how hard it can be to attain those 10,000 daily steps in winter. Some days it feels nearly impossible. But I've made it a priority again this month and I've been making great strides in my activity levels. At first I made a daily date with the dreadmill.....I mean treadmill. As long as I had a new magazine or game on the tablet I was good to go. I'd get on it for 30-45 minutes at the highest incline. That would ensure I'd get all my steps. Then even that became a complete bore. So my new goal is to just get moving more throughout the day. I turn on a little Luke Bryan on iTunes and Greta and I dance. Or while I make dinner I jog in place. Sometimes I race Wesley to the South fence and back (the kid beats me more often than not). Occasionally during the day I'll start jumping as high as I can fifty times. The kids think I've officially gone off the deep end I'm sure. Although now they've stopped asking what I'm doing and ask if I've gotten my steps for the day. All these crazy things I do in a day add up and at the end of the day I get my 10,000 steps (which is five miles by the way). It feels good and it's so much more fun than the treadmill.
-Wesley is doing great in school, I'm really proud of his progress this year. He's becoming a reading pro. We are reading a book a day in an effort to increase his confidence in reading. Keep it up dude!
-Greta's newest hobby is going outside and collecting odd shaped branches and twigs and transforming them into her "stick men". She glues googly eyes on them and "paints" them with glitter glue to make clothing. One even dons a hair bow. Naturally she prefers to play with them rather than the oodles of store bought dolls and toys. She's pretty creative for being four years old I think.
-Lately I've been getting a case of the munchies in the evening around 8 pm. I got in the habit of getting a big snack nearly every night and I knew I needed to quit it. So I decided to start having a nightly cup of decaf coffee. The warmth filled up my stomach and stopped the cravings. It worked like a charm. Then I was reading online different ways to flavor your coffee without all that store bought artificial stuff. There are a lot of interesting ideas out there, for instance adding a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the coffee grounds. That one is delicious. The key is to not add too much which makes it overpowering. But my favorite idea, which is a very simple idea, is to add cocoa powder to your mug then pour the hot coffee over it. I tried adding cocoa to the coffee grounds and it plugged up the filter making it very slow to drain through. But cocoa in the mug makes this lovely hot chocolate decaf coffee which is delish in the evening as sort of a guilt free dessert. I was just using plain old baking cocoa up until this morning when my shipment from Amazon arrived. I decided to order some organic cacao powder. Not familiar with cocao? It's got a great flavor and now I'm getting all sorts of health benefits from it as well.
*Cacao contains more antioxidant flavonoids than red wine, green tea and blueberries *Instantly transforms smoothies, desserts, pies, and other recipes into the healthiest chocolate *Great source of magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, copper and potassium
Here is the stuff I got on Amazon. All around good stuff to add to your diet. It's got a decent amount of protein per serving as well ( 6 grams). Anyways, thought I'd share.
-I've been disappointing my pedometer lately with the sad little number of steps I'm getting in a day. It must be known how hard it can be to attain those 10,000 daily steps in winter. Some days it feels nearly impossible. But I've made it a priority again this month and I've been making great strides in my activity levels. At first I made a daily date with the dreadmill.....I mean treadmill. As long as I had a new magazine or game on the tablet I was good to go. I'd get on it for 30-45 minutes at the highest incline. That would ensure I'd get all my steps. Then even that became a complete bore. So my new goal is to just get moving more throughout the day. I turn on a little Luke Bryan on iTunes and Greta and I dance. Or while I make dinner I jog in place. Sometimes I race Wesley to the South fence and back (the kid beats me more often than not). Occasionally during the day I'll start jumping as high as I can fifty times. The kids think I've officially gone off the deep end I'm sure. Although now they've stopped asking what I'm doing and ask if I've gotten my steps for the day. All these crazy things I do in a day add up and at the end of the day I get my 10,000 steps (which is five miles by the way). It feels good and it's so much more fun than the treadmill.
-Wesley is doing great in school, I'm really proud of his progress this year. He's becoming a reading pro. We are reading a book a day in an effort to increase his confidence in reading. Keep it up dude!
-Greta's newest hobby is going outside and collecting odd shaped branches and twigs and transforming them into her "stick men". She glues googly eyes on them and "paints" them with glitter glue to make clothing. One even dons a hair bow. Naturally she prefers to play with them rather than the oodles of store bought dolls and toys. She's pretty creative for being four years old I think.
-Lately I've been getting a case of the munchies in the evening around 8 pm. I got in the habit of getting a big snack nearly every night and I knew I needed to quit it. So I decided to start having a nightly cup of decaf coffee. The warmth filled up my stomach and stopped the cravings. It worked like a charm. Then I was reading online different ways to flavor your coffee without all that store bought artificial stuff. There are a lot of interesting ideas out there, for instance adding a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the coffee grounds. That one is delicious. The key is to not add too much which makes it overpowering. But my favorite idea, which is a very simple idea, is to add cocoa powder to your mug then pour the hot coffee over it. I tried adding cocoa to the coffee grounds and it plugged up the filter making it very slow to drain through. But cocoa in the mug makes this lovely hot chocolate decaf coffee which is delish in the evening as sort of a guilt free dessert. I was just using plain old baking cocoa up until this morning when my shipment from Amazon arrived. I decided to order some organic cacao powder. Not familiar with cocao? It's got a great flavor and now I'm getting all sorts of health benefits from it as well.
*Cacao contains more antioxidant flavonoids than red wine, green tea and blueberries *Instantly transforms smoothies, desserts, pies, and other recipes into the healthiest chocolate *Great source of magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, copper and potassium
Here is the stuff I got on Amazon. All around good stuff to add to your diet. It's got a decent amount of protein per serving as well ( 6 grams). Anyways, thought I'd share.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
WiiU Fit Time
I've got to admit that we've been thoroughly enjoying the new WiiU game console. It's winter outside so I don't feel too bad about sitting around playing games with the kids. But perhaps I've been sitting around too much this winter because I've gained a few pounds (six to be exact) and it's time to up my activity level and shed the winter weight. This is pretty typical for me, I gain a few pounds in the winter and lose them in the spring when I'm outside working my hiney off. But it's time to get exercising more. I've been bored with my workouts on the treadmill and Bowflex and need something new to get me moving. So, I saw that the WiiU has a Fit game that comes with a balance board and pedometer. It was just released on the 10th so last week I started shopping around so I could preorder it. I went to my "go to" store, Amazon and it was $89 with Prime 2 day shipping. I read the reviews and one of the them said don't preorder it here, it's $65 if you preorder it from Best Buy. Now, I can't stand Best Buy. I tend to avoid that store like the plague but to save $25 bucks I suppose I could give em my money. It's not like I had to actually drive to the store, it was delivered free.
So on Wednesday I received my WiiU Fit box. My parents have the balance board so I'm familiar with it and know how much fun it is.
The Fit Meter (a pedometer) comes with it and syncs with the console. You can choose a walking course and it uses the steps you acquired throughout the day to finish the course. They also have an altitude option where it measures how many steps up stairs and hills you go. It's pretty cool. I know of one gal who wears a pedometer as well as her husband and they compete to see who can finish the walking course first from the steps they acquire through the day. That would be fun.
My parents came over last night for dinner and we decided to do some quality family Wii time while they were here. My kids love the Wii and Greta, in particular, is fearless when it comes to trying new balance games on there. One balance game is the flying chicken where you use the balance board and flap your arms to fly from one platform to another. Needless to say it's pretty entertaining to watch. Here is my digital father the chicken.
And here is my real father the chicken. I took video but I'm sure he'd appreciate me not sharing it.
We rounded out the evening with dancing (in which my father kicked my hiney, I'm no dancer) and a few rounds of bowling in which Wesley stole the show. We'll have to take the kid bowling for real, he's a natural.
So, the WiiU Fit game is a hit in our house and the kids want to play it all the time. I figure since it's getting them moving it can't be all that bad.
So on Wednesday I received my WiiU Fit box. My parents have the balance board so I'm familiar with it and know how much fun it is.
The Fit Meter (a pedometer) comes with it and syncs with the console. You can choose a walking course and it uses the steps you acquired throughout the day to finish the course. They also have an altitude option where it measures how many steps up stairs and hills you go. It's pretty cool. I know of one gal who wears a pedometer as well as her husband and they compete to see who can finish the walking course first from the steps they acquire through the day. That would be fun.
My parents came over last night for dinner and we decided to do some quality family Wii time while they were here. My kids love the Wii and Greta, in particular, is fearless when it comes to trying new balance games on there. One balance game is the flying chicken where you use the balance board and flap your arms to fly from one platform to another. Needless to say it's pretty entertaining to watch. Here is my digital father the chicken.
And here is my real father the chicken. I took video but I'm sure he'd appreciate me not sharing it.
We rounded out the evening with dancing (in which my father kicked my hiney, I'm no dancer) and a few rounds of bowling in which Wesley stole the show. We'll have to take the kid bowling for real, he's a natural.
So, the WiiU Fit game is a hit in our house and the kids want to play it all the time. I figure since it's getting them moving it can't be all that bad.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Winter Moulting and Feather Picking
I question keeping chickens some days. Most of those days fall in the winter. Don't get me wrong, I like chickens. I like watching their crazy antics and I most definitely enjoy their tasty eggs. But this winter I am having some issues you could say. This winter my hens decided to start moulting. Winter is not usually the time of year that you encounter half feathered hens running around. But a few of mine have their internal clocks all screwed up and somehow they decided the best time of the year to loose their feathers would be when the temperatures are near 0 degrees. It's been frustrating to say the least.
You might remember I added five new pullets last Spring to replace the hens I've lost over the past few years bringing my little flock back up to eight hens. Two of the new ones and one of the senior hens have several bare spots on their backs and rear ends. Those three all somewhat resemble this.
Part of it is moulting and the other part is that when the new growth comes in it is quickly picked off by the other hens. Feather picking has always been an issue in my coop. They don't ever pick each other to death but once a hen is bare it's very difficult for her to regrow her feathers. My laydies are cooped up, not allowed to free range (due to far too many predators) so I believe they get a little bored. I doubt lack of protein is a factor, as it sometimes can be in feather picking. They get an 18% protein feed along with black oil sunflower seeds. But something has to be done to get feathers back on these poor hens since it is, after all, the middle of a very cold winter.
So I went to the local farm and ranch store to look for a solution. The gal there directed me to this stuff:
It's called Pick-No-More Cover-Up Lotion. It was around $7 and it smelled like tea tree oil (which I love) and was the consistency of chocolate pudding. The hens didn't mind me smearing this all over their rear ends.
I went inside and came out later to discover they had eaten it off of their backs. All three were as bare butted as before. They looked at me like "come on lady give us more of that tasty pudding!" Dang chickens. So I did a little research online this time before returning to the store. Google informed me that I should try either pine tar or Blue Kote to prevent feather picking. So this time I picked up the store's version of Blue Kote.
My theory was this product would stain their white skin dark so that it wasn't like a big white bulls-eye for the other chickens to pick at. Perhaps if their backs were a consistent dark color it would be like camouflage. Couldn't hurt right? So each hen was picked up and sprayed about every three days. Here is a before and after on my young Sex Link pullet.
It did help it not be so noticeable of a bare spot. It think anyways. This has been an ongoing project since around the middle of December (so nearly a month now). The results are in! The Blue Kote is working although slowly and only on one hen. The senior Silver Laced Wyandotte hen who has had a big bare spot from feather picking (and being low gal on the totem pole her whole life) is growing new pin feathers. I was delighted to see this. She has, literally, been barebacked for two years. Here is her before and after.
So for now, the project is still on going. I have faith that the two young hens will eventually grow their feathers back. Probably around the time that Spring hits and the weather warms up. For now those two get put in a dog kennel and stay in the warmish side of the shop (Hubby's side) on those bitterly cold nights. These animals will always be a learning experience for me. As soon as I feel like I have it figured out a new challenge arises. But I suppose that's the fun in it.
You might remember I added five new pullets last Spring to replace the hens I've lost over the past few years bringing my little flock back up to eight hens. Two of the new ones and one of the senior hens have several bare spots on their backs and rear ends. Those three all somewhat resemble this.
Part of it is moulting and the other part is that when the new growth comes in it is quickly picked off by the other hens. Feather picking has always been an issue in my coop. They don't ever pick each other to death but once a hen is bare it's very difficult for her to regrow her feathers. My laydies are cooped up, not allowed to free range (due to far too many predators) so I believe they get a little bored. I doubt lack of protein is a factor, as it sometimes can be in feather picking. They get an 18% protein feed along with black oil sunflower seeds. But something has to be done to get feathers back on these poor hens since it is, after all, the middle of a very cold winter.
So I went to the local farm and ranch store to look for a solution. The gal there directed me to this stuff:
It's called Pick-No-More Cover-Up Lotion. It was around $7 and it smelled like tea tree oil (which I love) and was the consistency of chocolate pudding. The hens didn't mind me smearing this all over their rear ends.
I went inside and came out later to discover they had eaten it off of their backs. All three were as bare butted as before. They looked at me like "come on lady give us more of that tasty pudding!" Dang chickens. So I did a little research online this time before returning to the store. Google informed me that I should try either pine tar or Blue Kote to prevent feather picking. So this time I picked up the store's version of Blue Kote.
My theory was this product would stain their white skin dark so that it wasn't like a big white bulls-eye for the other chickens to pick at. Perhaps if their backs were a consistent dark color it would be like camouflage. Couldn't hurt right? So each hen was picked up and sprayed about every three days. Here is a before and after on my young Sex Link pullet.
It did help it not be so noticeable of a bare spot. It think anyways. This has been an ongoing project since around the middle of December (so nearly a month now). The results are in! The Blue Kote is working although slowly and only on one hen. The senior Silver Laced Wyandotte hen who has had a big bare spot from feather picking (and being low gal on the totem pole her whole life) is growing new pin feathers. I was delighted to see this. She has, literally, been barebacked for two years. Here is her before and after.
So for now, the project is still on going. I have faith that the two young hens will eventually grow their feathers back. Probably around the time that Spring hits and the weather warms up. For now those two get put in a dog kennel and stay in the warmish side of the shop (Hubby's side) on those bitterly cold nights. These animals will always be a learning experience for me. As soon as I feel like I have it figured out a new challenge arises. But I suppose that's the fun in it.
Monday, January 13, 2014
It's Alive!
When we were all home over the Christmas break Sean was able to do some serious work on the Range Rover in the shop. It was a work in progress in which we weren't willing to invest a lot of money into until we knew there was nothing terminally wrong with the car. For instance, it needed a new battery and new tires among many other things but if the transmission was bad we didn't want to invest the money in it. So Sean has been tinkering around on it working on various systems to ensure that it was "healthy" enough for further investment.
The brakes were questionable. They had been sitting for at least six years and needed some help. I think I sat in that car for a total of 4 hours doing Sudoku puzzles while pushing on that brake pedal while Sean bled them. That car has a rather intricate braking system and all that bleeding never produced any results. I could push that pedal all the way to the ground with no resistance. So Sean diagnosed it and he ordered a new hydraulic brake unit and whoa-la it now has brakes! That opened the flood gates, it was time to get that car road worthy. I bought a battery on Saturday and tires were ordered this morning. We took it out for it's maiden voyage up and down the driveway yesterday several times (the tires were cracked and not in road worthy condition or we would have gone further). The kids piled in the back and had fun.
My mom kidded around that now that the Rover is up and running we'll not have another snowy/icy day this winter to try it out on. She's probably right! It's going to be a beautiful week of weather in the 50's.
The brakes were questionable. They had been sitting for at least six years and needed some help. I think I sat in that car for a total of 4 hours doing Sudoku puzzles while pushing on that brake pedal while Sean bled them. That car has a rather intricate braking system and all that bleeding never produced any results. I could push that pedal all the way to the ground with no resistance. So Sean diagnosed it and he ordered a new hydraulic brake unit and whoa-la it now has brakes! That opened the flood gates, it was time to get that car road worthy. I bought a battery on Saturday and tires were ordered this morning. We took it out for it's maiden voyage up and down the driveway yesterday several times (the tires were cracked and not in road worthy condition or we would have gone further). The kids piled in the back and had fun.
My mom kidded around that now that the Rover is up and running we'll not have another snowy/icy day this winter to try it out on. She's probably right! It's going to be a beautiful week of weather in the 50's.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Cabin fever
The cabin fever is starting to set in. I'm getting that twitch from having nothing to do. Well, nothing fun to do. I always have things to do. Chores and what not. With kids and dogs there is always something to clean or put away. Yesterday I woke up and decided it was a day to get out of the house. Greta is always on board when I want to go out. She's my little mini me in most respects. She loves to go out to eat and loves to go shopping. Nearby there aren't many good options for going out to eat but there is always Panera. We love Panera. She gets her buttered noodles and a cookie (hello carb fest!) and I can get my Mediterranean Veggie sandwich and vegatable soup (you'd think I was a vegetarian). Mmmm I wish I could have it again for lunch today.
We bummed around the library for an hour collecting new books, movies and WiiU games. Every week I get 20 new children's books that we read before bedtime. I've been doing this for years now and nearly every week I come home with a book or two that I've gotten before. They get a kick out of good ol' forgetful mom. How am I supposed to keep track of the hundreds if not thousands of books we've checked out. I assume we'll get to the point where we've read them all.
Then, of course, we stopped by the thrift store to see if there were any fun treasures to bring home. We found a brand new unique Disney puzzle that kept the kids entertained for over an hour last night. We've never attempted a round puzzle before. They did great, only needing a little help. It was a nice way to squash the winter cabin fever.
We bummed around the library for an hour collecting new books, movies and WiiU games. Every week I get 20 new children's books that we read before bedtime. I've been doing this for years now and nearly every week I come home with a book or two that I've gotten before. They get a kick out of good ol' forgetful mom. How am I supposed to keep track of the hundreds if not thousands of books we've checked out. I assume we'll get to the point where we've read them all.
Then, of course, we stopped by the thrift store to see if there were any fun treasures to bring home. We found a brand new unique Disney puzzle that kept the kids entertained for over an hour last night. We've never attempted a round puzzle before. They did great, only needing a little help. It was a nice way to squash the winter cabin fever.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Update
I'm happy to report that Dym, the goat, started eating again over the night and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I'm starting to wonder if she's smarter than I think she is. Perhaps when the weather takes a turn for the worse she knows she can get a one way ticket to the heated garage if she just stops eating and shivers a little. It worked for her but now she's back in her pen all snuggled up with her big beefy offspring. She'll be plenty warm tonight.
Mucking out the garage from their 24 hour stay was not much fun. How three creatures can create that much nastiness is beyond me. I appreciate that I have a very understanding husband that pulled his "precious" out of the garage and into the cold so that my old goat wouldn't die. The funny part of this is now, that the garage is goat free and cleaned out, we can't even get his corvette back into the garage because it got stuck in the snow just pulling it out. It is so not a winter vehicle.
School starts back up again today and I'm secretly happy about it. It was nice having everyone home for over two weeks but it's time to get back to reality. Little minds need to get back to socializing and learning. Mom needs her kid free break again too. I'm getting the urge to do a little spring cleaning (a tad bit early but when you get the urge you go with it). I need to clean out my closets and donate or sell the stuff I haven't worn in a season. Perhaps I can earn a little money for my trampoline fund. I've been saving gift cards and spare money in a envelope for a new trampoline in the spring. I don't know if the kids or I am more excited about a trampoline (probably me). We nearly have enough!
That's about all that's happening around here.
Mucking out the garage from their 24 hour stay was not much fun. How three creatures can create that much nastiness is beyond me. I appreciate that I have a very understanding husband that pulled his "precious" out of the garage and into the cold so that my old goat wouldn't die. The funny part of this is now, that the garage is goat free and cleaned out, we can't even get his corvette back into the garage because it got stuck in the snow just pulling it out. It is so not a winter vehicle.
School starts back up again today and I'm secretly happy about it. It was nice having everyone home for over two weeks but it's time to get back to reality. Little minds need to get back to socializing and learning. Mom needs her kid free break again too. I'm getting the urge to do a little spring cleaning (a tad bit early but when you get the urge you go with it). I need to clean out my closets and donate or sell the stuff I haven't worn in a season. Perhaps I can earn a little money for my trampoline fund. I've been saving gift cards and spare money in a envelope for a new trampoline in the spring. I don't know if the kids or I am more excited about a trampoline (probably me). We nearly have enough!
That's about all that's happening around here.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Baby, it's cold outside
This summer I had read how The Farmer's Almanac was predicting this winter to be one of the worst winters in 50 years. Then I ran across another article about how the conditions were perfect for an absolutely pitiful winter. I'm starting to think they were correct. What a nasty winter so far. The only silver lining I can find is that these bitter low temperatures are going to kill off all of those grasshopper eggs and I might have a decent garden this summer. Mild winters suck when it comes to pests. So I'm clinging on to that hope as I dress up in 12 layers and trudge out to feed the animals twice a day.
The weather dude is predicting tonight's low to be -2 degrees with wind chills into the -30's. Yikes. I've done a few preparations to ensure all the outside animals survive. First thing I've done is carry each yowling cat inside and up to Wesley's bathroom. So now we have three rather loud cats (who are clearly not appreciative of my efforts to keep them warm) crammed into his little bathroom.
The horses do great in this weather. Give em extra prairie hay and they are good to go. Naturally Dym, the nubian goat, decided to stop eating this morning. Ruminates do great in the cold. The way they digest their food works as a furnace like no other animal. But this all comes crashing down when they stop feeding the furnace. I put her coat on her, wormed her (which I did late November too so it might not be worm related) and gave her some molasses. She ate the molasses and picked at some alfalfa pellets but wouldn't eat hay or a flake of alfalfa (which is very unlike her). I had a talk with her and told her she'd better start eating or she'd probably die tonight. Oh how I wish I had a heated barn for nights like tonight. But I suppose I'd take a heated garage instead. So after watching her shiver for a few hours I moved the cars outside and moved her and her grown kids into the garage off the house. Right now two space heaters are going and they are slowly warming her up. It's up to a toasty 36 degrees in there now. Here's hoping she starts eating again.
So at this current moment we have all three dogs in the laundry room, barn cats in the bathroom, goats in the garage and two chickens in the insulated side of the shop (shhh... hubby doesn't know about this one). The chickens decided January was a perfect time to go through a hard molt. Two of the eight have lost most of their feathers. Stupid chickens. That's a whole nother post.
As for us we are all hunkered down inside today and tomorrow. Hubby has to go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off. We'll miss him. It's been an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable break. Santa got us a WiiU this year (thanks Santa you're the best ;-) and we've been having fun with it. I found an after Christmas deal on a fleece pajama set and I've literally been living in them for the past week. So warm and comfy. Stay warm everyone.
The weather dude is predicting tonight's low to be -2 degrees with wind chills into the -30's. Yikes. I've done a few preparations to ensure all the outside animals survive. First thing I've done is carry each yowling cat inside and up to Wesley's bathroom. So now we have three rather loud cats (who are clearly not appreciative of my efforts to keep them warm) crammed into his little bathroom.
The horses do great in this weather. Give em extra prairie hay and they are good to go. Naturally Dym, the nubian goat, decided to stop eating this morning. Ruminates do great in the cold. The way they digest their food works as a furnace like no other animal. But this all comes crashing down when they stop feeding the furnace. I put her coat on her, wormed her (which I did late November too so it might not be worm related) and gave her some molasses. She ate the molasses and picked at some alfalfa pellets but wouldn't eat hay or a flake of alfalfa (which is very unlike her). I had a talk with her and told her she'd better start eating or she'd probably die tonight. Oh how I wish I had a heated barn for nights like tonight. But I suppose I'd take a heated garage instead. So after watching her shiver for a few hours I moved the cars outside and moved her and her grown kids into the garage off the house. Right now two space heaters are going and they are slowly warming her up. It's up to a toasty 36 degrees in there now. Here's hoping she starts eating again.
So at this current moment we have all three dogs in the laundry room, barn cats in the bathroom, goats in the garage and two chickens in the insulated side of the shop (shhh... hubby doesn't know about this one). The chickens decided January was a perfect time to go through a hard molt. Two of the eight have lost most of their feathers. Stupid chickens. That's a whole nother post.
As for us we are all hunkered down inside today and tomorrow. Hubby has to go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off. We'll miss him. It's been an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable break. Santa got us a WiiU this year (thanks Santa you're the best ;-) and we've been having fun with it. I found an after Christmas deal on a fleece pajama set and I've literally been living in them for the past week. So warm and comfy. Stay warm everyone.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Christmas 2013
Oh Christmas 2013, you have come and gone and I haven't wrote about you yet. I've been too busy doing nothing. I'm a little sad to see it over. All the lights, festivities and overly excitable children. Santa was good to us all this year. The kids got what they wanted, and it is all still spread over the living room. I haven't cleaned it up yet and I'm ok with that. Our elf Christopher did make an appearance this year even though I was pondering "forgetting" him. He came in from the North Pole on the night of the 20th which meant I only had to reposition him 5 whole nights before he returned to the North Pole on Christmas eve. Guess what? Three of those five nights I sat bolt upright in bed at 5 am because I just remembered I didn't put him in a new hiding place. Over half of the nights I forgot. Parent of the year here. Ugh. Oh well, they never were disappointed in the hiding places and Christopher is safely back at the North Pole now....away from my absent mindedness.
All Wesley wanted this year was a remote controlled R2D2. This was something that the school offered as the top prize in this years fundraiser. He really wanted me to buy enough fundraiser items so he could win it but I didn't want to spend the thousands of dollars needed to do so (I'm not even kidding). Instead I told him to ask Santa and maybe he could get it for him. That at least gave me a few more months to locate such an item. A big thanks goes out to Amazon for carrying every bizarre item ever created. The result was one super excited kid.
R2D2 has already played a few card games and board games with us and even shared a meal. Right this moment he's upstairs sleeping next to Wesley too. Silly kid!
Greta kept it simple this year just wanting a Mermaid Ariel doll and a couple of other little things. She's easy! Randi went all out this year making awesome animal hats for us. They were a big hit and I'm sure they'll continue to bring joy to all that see them (they sure make me smile!).
I got a special gift this year from the kids. Pink eye. What a gross experience. I've never had it before and just had the pleasure of dealing with it from the kids. Now I get to see it first hand, all the goop and crusties. Eye drops every three hours and no contact lenses (boo). A full week of glasses now and I'm ready to be done with it all. But, of all weeks for it to happen, this is a great one. I haven't needed to step foot out of this house in a full week. Pure lazy bliss. Another full week of the same coming up.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year!
All Wesley wanted this year was a remote controlled R2D2. This was something that the school offered as the top prize in this years fundraiser. He really wanted me to buy enough fundraiser items so he could win it but I didn't want to spend the thousands of dollars needed to do so (I'm not even kidding). Instead I told him to ask Santa and maybe he could get it for him. That at least gave me a few more months to locate such an item. A big thanks goes out to Amazon for carrying every bizarre item ever created. The result was one super excited kid.
R2D2 has already played a few card games and board games with us and even shared a meal. Right this moment he's upstairs sleeping next to Wesley too. Silly kid!
Greta kept it simple this year just wanting a Mermaid Ariel doll and a couple of other little things. She's easy! Randi went all out this year making awesome animal hats for us. They were a big hit and I'm sure they'll continue to bring joy to all that see them (they sure make me smile!).
I got a special gift this year from the kids. Pink eye. What a gross experience. I've never had it before and just had the pleasure of dealing with it from the kids. Now I get to see it first hand, all the goop and crusties. Eye drops every three hours and no contact lenses (boo). A full week of glasses now and I'm ready to be done with it all. But, of all weeks for it to happen, this is a great one. I haven't needed to step foot out of this house in a full week. Pure lazy bliss. Another full week of the same coming up.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Burning Lungs
A few weeks ago the local evening news put together a piece about snow pictures and how nearly all the viewer submitted pictures of snow accumulation are taken of their deck, or patio furniture or grill covered with inches upon inches of snow. Then they started showing picture upon picture of viewer submitted photographs to prove their point. It was really quite hilarious. Apparently after a snow storm every human likes to take their camera and, from the warmth of their house, take a picture out the back window.
I have to admit I was always so jealous. People with snow piled up on their decks and patio furniture. I so wish I had a deck full of snow to take a picture of.
Oh wait! I do now. (insert giddy laughter)
I should submit it to my local news station.....just. because. I. can.
We got maybe an inch or more of snow, it wasn't much. A nice layer of ice under it. Not nearly what they had forecasted. Which is good I suppose. Hubby took the kids out to enjoy it yesterday. I think he got quite the workout. After seeing this video you'll understand why his lungs burned for hours afterward. This video is after he'd already pulled Greta once. He's superman, I would have collapsed after about 50 feet.
My folks came over last night to feast on a lovely ham and all the fixings and then we finished it up with some really tasty (if I do say so myself) triple berry cobbler. They are going to be visiting my sister for Christmas so we exchanged gifts last night after the kids went to bed. They were very generous and we can't wait to try out our new present.
I have to admit I was always so jealous. People with snow piled up on their decks and patio furniture. I so wish I had a deck full of snow to take a picture of.
Oh wait! I do now. (insert giddy laughter)
I should submit it to my local news station.....just. because. I. can.
We got maybe an inch or more of snow, it wasn't much. A nice layer of ice under it. Not nearly what they had forecasted. Which is good I suppose. Hubby took the kids out to enjoy it yesterday. I think he got quite the workout. After seeing this video you'll understand why his lungs burned for hours afterward. This video is after he'd already pulled Greta once. He's superman, I would have collapsed after about 50 feet.
My folks came over last night to feast on a lovely ham and all the fixings and then we finished it up with some really tasty (if I do say so myself) triple berry cobbler. They are going to be visiting my sister for Christmas so we exchanged gifts last night after the kids went to bed. They were very generous and we can't wait to try out our new present.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Done
I'm done. Finished. Completed everything. There is no more Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, no kids to take to school or pick up, no more sculptures to ship out, no parties to help out with, no more programs and no more errands. The animals all have hay and feed piled up, stock tanks topped off. It feels so good! Technically I don't have to look presentable for the next 18 days. What a gloriously lazy feeling that is.
I hit the library with Greta this morning and we stocked up on books, DVD's and games. It should be enough to keep two little kids entertained until Christmas arrives and the presents take over. We used to buy all the new release movie rentals off of Amazon but have found the library to be a wonderful way to keep up on all the newest movies. You just go put them on hold and when they are available they notify you and you get to watch all the newest movies for free. I love free stuff! It's been a nice way to keep our entertainment budget on track.
Oh and I thought I'd share this. I was at the grocery store this morning as well, getting enough food for the next week. As usual I stocked up on lettuce. All types of lettuce: red, romaine, endive, and baby greens. I get to the check out line and the cashier gave me a strange look while ringing up seven heads of lettuce and a giant tub of baby greens. She asked "You got a bunch of rabbits to feed or what?" I informed her that it wasn't rabbits but rather tortoises that all the greens were going to. In the summer those tortoises graze outside or I bring weeds inside and that makes up 100% of their diet. In the winter I have to buy them food. Even with buying seven heads of lettuce a week they are the cheapest animals I own.
I hit the library with Greta this morning and we stocked up on books, DVD's and games. It should be enough to keep two little kids entertained until Christmas arrives and the presents take over. We used to buy all the new release movie rentals off of Amazon but have found the library to be a wonderful way to keep up on all the newest movies. You just go put them on hold and when they are available they notify you and you get to watch all the newest movies for free. I love free stuff! It's been a nice way to keep our entertainment budget on track.
Oh and I thought I'd share this. I was at the grocery store this morning as well, getting enough food for the next week. As usual I stocked up on lettuce. All types of lettuce: red, romaine, endive, and baby greens. I get to the check out line and the cashier gave me a strange look while ringing up seven heads of lettuce and a giant tub of baby greens. She asked "You got a bunch of rabbits to feed or what?" I informed her that it wasn't rabbits but rather tortoises that all the greens were going to. In the summer those tortoises graze outside or I bring weeds inside and that makes up 100% of their diet. In the winter I have to buy them food. Even with buying seven heads of lettuce a week they are the cheapest animals I own.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Tiny singing humans
One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the holiday programs. Last night was Greta's program and it was too cute. Little tiny people up on stage belting out Jingle Bells at the top of their lungs, not much beats that. She's got a wonderful teacher that puts a lot of time and energy into these programs and I'm thankful we found her.
I know, I know....this is probably something only a parent or grandparent would enjoy so I'm posting this for her out of town grandparents. Plus the kids love watching videos of themselves.
Her teacher always asks the parents to bring some cookies for after the program. This year I wanted to do something like a whoopie pie but with chocolate chip cookies. So that's what I did. They were (and are) sinful and unfortunately I didn't send them all with her last night, I kept a few for, you know, the kids. Yeah right. I want them for me but I'm trying not to think of them in the kitchen right now. I'm probably going to have to throw them away to keep them from padding my hips (and then pour dish soap on them to keep myself from digging them out of the trash can).
This is the filling (talk about a heart attack waiting to happen):
Filling:
-1½ cups marshmallow crème
-1 cup vegetable shortening
-1 cup confectioners' sugar
-¼ tsp salt
-1 Tbsp water
-1½ tsp vanilla extract
I know, I know....this is probably something only a parent or grandparent would enjoy so I'm posting this for her out of town grandparents. Plus the kids love watching videos of themselves.
Her teacher always asks the parents to bring some cookies for after the program. This year I wanted to do something like a whoopie pie but with chocolate chip cookies. So that's what I did. They were (and are) sinful and unfortunately I didn't send them all with her last night, I kept a few for, you know, the kids. Yeah right. I want them for me but I'm trying not to think of them in the kitchen right now. I'm probably going to have to throw them away to keep them from padding my hips (and then pour dish soap on them to keep myself from digging them out of the trash can).
This is the filling (talk about a heart attack waiting to happen):
Filling:
-1½ cups marshmallow crème
-1 cup vegetable shortening
-1 cup confectioners' sugar
-¼ tsp salt
-1 Tbsp water
-1½ tsp vanilla extract
Monday, December 16, 2013
A birthday weekend
We had a lovely weekend. Got quite a few fun Christmas projects with the kids accomplished. They love making gingerbread houses so this year I got the gingerbread village kit instead of the house kit (four little houses vs one big house). This was a good decision, each person got a house to decorate as they wish. It was fun and then they got to eat them after I got a picture.
Luckily we were all healthy this weekend. It was the Hubby's birthday and we celebrated in style. We asked oh so nicely if Rich would be willing to watch the youngin's so that we could go have another relaxing weekend at the casino. If you remember we did that for my birthday and had a blast. Well this one was even more awesome. We waited until the last moment to reserve the hotel (since I wasn't sure we'd all be healthy, or if some freak snowstorm would appear and our babysitter wouldn't be able to make it), there were no more normal rooms available so all that was left was this massive king suite. It was at least the size of two normal rooms. We watched movies and soaked in their salt water hot tub. Very cool and very relaxing. It was much needed and much appreciated. We stuffed ourselves at the attached fancy restaurant and finished the meal off with the most gigantic chunk of carrot cake we'd ever seen in our lives (it was at least 18" tall, not even kidding). It was so nice to have some adult conversation and time alone. Happy birthday to my awesome husband, I'm one lucky gal.
We celebrated Thursday evening with my folks and a cake. I even added 35 candles this year, almost burnt the house down (kidding). A big thank you to Rich for watching the kids overnight and allowing us to do this, probably the best birthday present you can give parents.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Happy Friday
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Thursday's Thoughts
-Wesley was super excited about this morning. You see, this morning is Donuts with Dad at the school. It's pretty self explanatory, Sean takes Wesley to school and they have donuts together. Taking the kids to school is my job so this morning I'm lounging around in my pj's, drinking tea and thoroughly enjoying the morning off. Wesley is pumped to get to ride in the corvette for the very first time. I'm not a huge fan of him riding in the front seat but there really isn't an option with that car. Have fun boys!
-I have a new routine every morning that I'm loving. I take out my little blender and blend together a handful of baby spinach, blueberries, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, a scoop of almond butter and some coconut milk. It might not sound appetizing but it's quite good and it jump starts my day.....even if it looks like mud.
-Ok, I know this is the time of year when our creepy little elf is supposed to make an appearance, but I can't seem to muster up the energy to go down and retrieve him from his box. The kids really enjoyed Christopher last year. They loved waking up each morning and finding him and seeing what he was up to. That made me smile. BUT, I'm tired this year. I'm stressed. I do not need something else to do every single day. I don't feel creative enough to think up some new and exciting place for the elf to be each morning for the next 13 mornings. So I'm thinking Christopher is going to stay in his box up until the 20th (or so) and then I only have to think of five creative ways to display him. Lazy? Heck yea. But I know my limits. See you in about a week Christopher.
-I was at Cabela's doing the last of our Christmas shopping yesterday. I have a confession, I don't love that store. I know that every male on the planet adores that store. Heck, some women even like it. It's an outdoor lovers paradise. Perhaps if I was a hunter, or a fisher, or loved to kayak or ski or camp I would like the place. But there is seemingly nothing in that store that can hold my interest. Or so I thought! Here I am wandering around and ran into a whole display on conceal carry. It had nice leather purses (I'll admit the only reason I was drawn to the display) with hidden compartments built in to hold your gun. How cool! It made me realize I really want to get my conceal carry license. Not because I want to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment, but because I want to have my license so that if I wanted to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment (and a gun in it) I legally could. So that's now on the short list of items to do.
-I have a new routine every morning that I'm loving. I take out my little blender and blend together a handful of baby spinach, blueberries, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, a scoop of almond butter and some coconut milk. It might not sound appetizing but it's quite good and it jump starts my day.....even if it looks like mud.
-Ok, I know this is the time of year when our creepy little elf is supposed to make an appearance, but I can't seem to muster up the energy to go down and retrieve him from his box. The kids really enjoyed Christopher last year. They loved waking up each morning and finding him and seeing what he was up to. That made me smile. BUT, I'm tired this year. I'm stressed. I do not need something else to do every single day. I don't feel creative enough to think up some new and exciting place for the elf to be each morning for the next 13 mornings. So I'm thinking Christopher is going to stay in his box up until the 20th (or so) and then I only have to think of five creative ways to display him. Lazy? Heck yea. But I know my limits. See you in about a week Christopher.
-I was at Cabela's doing the last of our Christmas shopping yesterday. I have a confession, I don't love that store. I know that every male on the planet adores that store. Heck, some women even like it. It's an outdoor lovers paradise. Perhaps if I was a hunter, or a fisher, or loved to kayak or ski or camp I would like the place. But there is seemingly nothing in that store that can hold my interest. Or so I thought! Here I am wandering around and ran into a whole display on conceal carry. It had nice leather purses (I'll admit the only reason I was drawn to the display) with hidden compartments built in to hold your gun. How cool! It made me realize I really want to get my conceal carry license. Not because I want to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment, but because I want to have my license so that if I wanted to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment (and a gun in it) I legally could. So that's now on the short list of items to do.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Santa
We had a very low key weekend. No big plans, nothing big accomplished. It's very cold so nobody wants to do anything but stay warm inside. I did get out and get the grocery shopping done which is so nice to do without my little mini me in tow. She does pretty good most weeks but lately it's been a bit stressful so a nice alone trip is lovely. I got a little more Christmas shopping done while I was in town too. I thought I could get 100% of the shopping done on Amazon this year, I planned on that. Then I started comparing prices and found that for the most part Amazon is a better deal, but on a few selective presents I had to actually haul my rear end into a store. Greta is set on this Ariel doll that turns from a fish into a human (and sings songs too!) and it was $15 cheaper at Target than online. That's worth it to me. Plus with Amazon Prime (which we now can't seem to live without) we get all the presents in two days. Love that Prime! So I'm about 90% done with Christmas shopping with just a few people left to shop for.
Yesterday was exciting for the kids. Every year the library gets decorated up for Santa's big arrival. They have crafts for the kids to do, write letters to Santa and have a room full of toy trains. We went last year and the kids loved it so I knew we'd be going again this year. They have a professional photographer and this year they gave you a thumb drive full of pictures instead of emailing them (which took weeks to receive, but it's free so beggars can't be choosers right?). I thought they turned out super cute. This year they weren't shy around the big guy and chimed right in on what they want for Christmas. Wesley wants an R2D2 toy (it's some big remote controlled thing....good thing I found one!) and Greta wants a stuffed jelly fish she saw at Target a few months ago.
Yesterday was exciting for the kids. Every year the library gets decorated up for Santa's big arrival. They have crafts for the kids to do, write letters to Santa and have a room full of toy trains. We went last year and the kids loved it so I knew we'd be going again this year. They have a professional photographer and this year they gave you a thumb drive full of pictures instead of emailing them (which took weeks to receive, but it's free so beggars can't be choosers right?). I thought they turned out super cute. This year they weren't shy around the big guy and chimed right in on what they want for Christmas. Wesley wants an R2D2 toy (it's some big remote controlled thing....good thing I found one!) and Greta wants a stuffed jelly fish she saw at Target a few months ago.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Teaching
I think I've successfully taught compassion to my children. Every time they find a bug in the house they gently scoop it up and let it go outside. Well it's bitterly cold outside. Not the kind of temperatures to be releasing innocent little insects into. After all, they took refuge in our house to get away from the deadly cold. So when Wesley came up to me with a ladybug on his hand asking to let it go outside I told him we'll have to keep it inside until it warms up. So he placed it on the table and I covered it up with the measuring cup from a children's Tylenol container. We decided it needed water so every day we go over and lift the lid and deposit a little drop of water on the table. The ladybug goes over and drinks the water. So it's been this way for about a week now. Now our little ladybug gets a drop of honey water or a chunk of banana every day. Then today it gained some company. Three more ladybugs appeared inside. We might have to invest in a bug house to get them through the Winter, especially if they keep multiplying.
I'm starting to think I've also instilled a love of plants and planting in the kids. A few weeks ago they were outside playing on the raised strawberry bed when they came running in talking about the seed pods hanging off the trellis. Sure enough after all the pole beans died off there were some bean pods there that I failed to harvest. I showed them that if you break open the dried pod you can gather the seeds inside. The seeds were dried and at the perfect point to harvest. They were so excited! They each got a plastic bag and started collecting seeds. I explained that we can keep those seeds to plant in the spring. Greta was far too excited to wait until spring so I filled one little Dixie cup with soil and let her push one seed into the soil. A week later five sprouts emerged from that little Dixie cup. Greta must have returned later and planted more on her own. This weekend I planted the seedlings in a large pot by the south windows in the living room and added a tomato cage in the off chance they thrive in this environment and decide to twine their way up the cage. Greta loves to watch them grow and I told her perhaps we'll have some green beans to eat in January. Wouldn't that be a fun learning experience?
I'm starting to think I've also instilled a love of plants and planting in the kids. A few weeks ago they were outside playing on the raised strawberry bed when they came running in talking about the seed pods hanging off the trellis. Sure enough after all the pole beans died off there were some bean pods there that I failed to harvest. I showed them that if you break open the dried pod you can gather the seeds inside. The seeds were dried and at the perfect point to harvest. They were so excited! They each got a plastic bag and started collecting seeds. I explained that we can keep those seeds to plant in the spring. Greta was far too excited to wait until spring so I filled one little Dixie cup with soil and let her push one seed into the soil. A week later five sprouts emerged from that little Dixie cup. Greta must have returned later and planted more on her own. This weekend I planted the seedlings in a large pot by the south windows in the living room and added a tomato cage in the off chance they thrive in this environment and decide to twine their way up the cage. Greta loves to watch them grow and I told her perhaps we'll have some green beans to eat in January. Wouldn't that be a fun learning experience?
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Brrrr......
We are all finally feeling better around here. Which is good because it is back to being bitterly cold outside and our furnace decided it didn't want to work this morning. Actually it's not as bad as it could be. Sean pinpointed the problem to the blower motor so now he's on the phone looking for a new one. It's only down to 67 degree in the house but with it being 20 degrees outside it will keep decreasing rapidly. We have a couple of space heaters running which takes the edge off. Here's to hoping the hubby can successfully get it back up and running before tonight's low of 16 degrees and tomorrow nights low of 8 arrives. Brrrrr.
Yesterday Miss Greta and I needed to get out of the house so we hit the library and then went and got our hair cut. It was Greta's first professional hair cut. I say "professional" because she cut her own hair a few months ago and it was time to get all of that mess evened up. I walked in the kitchen that morning to find little golden curls all over the kitchen floor. I stood there racking my brains trying to figure out which dog had caused such a mess. It took me nearly a minute to decide we didn't own any golden haired dogs, but we did have a golden haired little girl. With her mass of curls it was hard to even notice she'd cut her hair. The hair stylist yesterday got it all cut and adorable and she was a champ in the chair. We got back to back chairs so we got to make funny faces at each other the whole time. I'm trying to grow my hair back out after chopping it all off back in 2011. Slow going but it's nice to have all the split ends taken off.
Yesterday Miss Greta and I needed to get out of the house so we hit the library and then went and got our hair cut. It was Greta's first professional hair cut. I say "professional" because she cut her own hair a few months ago and it was time to get all of that mess evened up. I walked in the kitchen that morning to find little golden curls all over the kitchen floor. I stood there racking my brains trying to figure out which dog had caused such a mess. It took me nearly a minute to decide we didn't own any golden haired dogs, but we did have a golden haired little girl. With her mass of curls it was hard to even notice she'd cut her hair. The hair stylist yesterday got it all cut and adorable and she was a champ in the chair. We got back to back chairs so we got to make funny faces at each other the whole time. I'm trying to grow my hair back out after chopping it all off back in 2011. Slow going but it's nice to have all the split ends taken off.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Nurse Mom
I do believe everyone, including the dog, is currently on some form of medication. I can hardly keep it all straight every day. It's exhausting. I caught Strep from Wesley on Thanksgiving and that wasn't too pleasant of an evening. I've never had a sore throat come on so quickly before. Since my doctor office was closed Thursday through Sunday I decided to visit the ER for a strep check. We hit our family deductible way back in July with the whole Wesley seizure incident, so I thought "Hey free trip to the ER!". Just what I wanted to be doing on black Friday. So this would mark our third ER visit this year (four if you count Rich and the ladder incident). Busy year!
The quick strep test came back negative but the ER doc thought my throat looked like strep especially since I'd been exposed. Apparently the quick test only tests for strep group B, doctor said I could have Group A which takes a three hour test. He treated me with antibiotics as a precaution. Looks like Sean now has it (imagine that).
Greta's pink eye is slowly clearing up. She gets drops every three hours. Wesley gets antibiotics twice a day. I get antibiotics three times a day. The dog gets Prednizone every other day. And Sean? I'm sure he'll be on antibiotics very soon. Will we ever be all healthy again?
On a positive note, the kids are happy and crazier than ever. The drugs are working. Today we had the most beautiful weather. 62 degrees, sunny and downright warm.....and the first day of December! We got outside and enjoyed it. The kids found boxes and turned them into space ships. They ran around outside in their boxes while whacking each other with the giant remains of the dried up sunflowers. Good times!
The quick strep test came back negative but the ER doc thought my throat looked like strep especially since I'd been exposed. Apparently the quick test only tests for strep group B, doctor said I could have Group A which takes a three hour test. He treated me with antibiotics as a precaution. Looks like Sean now has it (imagine that).
Greta's pink eye is slowly clearing up. She gets drops every three hours. Wesley gets antibiotics twice a day. I get antibiotics three times a day. The dog gets Prednizone every other day. And Sean? I'm sure he'll be on antibiotics very soon. Will we ever be all healthy again?
On a positive note, the kids are happy and crazier than ever. The drugs are working. Today we had the most beautiful weather. 62 degrees, sunny and downright warm.....and the first day of December! We got outside and enjoyed it. The kids found boxes and turned them into space ships. They ran around outside in their boxes while whacking each other with the giant remains of the dried up sunflowers. Good times!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thankful
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and this year we are celebrating it at home with my family. It will be quiet and low key, I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit. But today is pie making day. I've been making pie's since 8 this morning. Already got the pecan pie made, the pumpkin cheesecake is in the oven and the caramel apple is going in next. Yum! Pecan is my all time favorite though, hands down. I didn't want to make it with corn syrup this year so I searched for a recipe that excludes. Found one and we'll see how it turns out.
This year I'm thankful for so many things. The first thing that comes to mind is antibiotics. I'm so grateful for antibiotics this week. Wesley came home from school last week with Strep throat. So he's been on antibiotics since Thursday. Then Greta woke up yesterday with goop all over her eyes. The goop got bigger and red veins started streaking across her eyes. Yup, pinkeye. Oh goody! So the pediatrician called in some eye drops for me yesterday. Apparently they are the only antibiotic that can be called in directly to the pharmacist without a doctor visit. Good to know.
I figure anytime now I'll catch both the Strep and pinkeye. Please let my immune system keep up.
I was talking to my mom about all the nasties floating around our house and she mentioned reading an article about probiotics and kids. They did a study where kids were given a probiotic supplement for 6 months and they had 70% fewer colds and coughs than the control group. So I sat myself down at the computer and researched probiotics on Amazon. Boy howdy are there a lot of probiotic supplements on Amazon! I finally decided on Buddy Bear Probiotic for kids. It's $12 for 60 chewables (that's $12 a month for us with two kids). I figure it's worth a try. I'll keep them on this for a year and see it helps with the illnesses. Here's hoping! I got Sean and I on Pearls Probiotics as well. These were highly rated, can't hurt right?
Another thing I'm thankful for, that my father-in-law didn't get hurt worse than he did when he fell off the ladder. He's back to his normal active self. I firmly believe that's part of the reason he didn't hurt himself more, because he rides his bike, kayaks and walks a lot. When he fell he hit the back of his head on the deck boards, rather hard. It was bleeding and bruised pretty badly. He wanted to see what it looked like so Sean took a picture with his cell phone to show him. The odd part about this photo is the diagonal line across the wound. We couldn't figure out why there was a line of unhurt skin going across it until we discovered it was the spacing between the deck boards on the deck, a perfect 3/8" spacing. Yikes. I'm glad he's home in New Mexico relaxing and recuperating with Randi.
I am very thankful for my husband for many reasons. For one, without him we would be spending a whole lot of money at the car mechanic shop. He took the week off and has been out in the shop working on the Range Rover. You name it and he's replaced it, water pump, distributor cap, flushed the cooling system, new spark plugs and wires, belts, thermostat, and all the rodent chewed wires had to be fixed. He's been a busy little bee. Today he finished and decided to see if it would start and it did! It ran beautifully and idled smoothly. Woo hoo! He's sure handy to have around.
I will always be thankful for my sweet, little family. I hope you have a very nice Thanksgiving!
This year I'm thankful for so many things. The first thing that comes to mind is antibiotics. I'm so grateful for antibiotics this week. Wesley came home from school last week with Strep throat. So he's been on antibiotics since Thursday. Then Greta woke up yesterday with goop all over her eyes. The goop got bigger and red veins started streaking across her eyes. Yup, pinkeye. Oh goody! So the pediatrician called in some eye drops for me yesterday. Apparently they are the only antibiotic that can be called in directly to the pharmacist without a doctor visit. Good to know.
I figure anytime now I'll catch both the Strep and pinkeye. Please let my immune system keep up.
I was talking to my mom about all the nasties floating around our house and she mentioned reading an article about probiotics and kids. They did a study where kids were given a probiotic supplement for 6 months and they had 70% fewer colds and coughs than the control group. So I sat myself down at the computer and researched probiotics on Amazon. Boy howdy are there a lot of probiotic supplements on Amazon! I finally decided on Buddy Bear Probiotic for kids. It's $12 for 60 chewables (that's $12 a month for us with two kids). I figure it's worth a try. I'll keep them on this for a year and see it helps with the illnesses. Here's hoping! I got Sean and I on Pearls Probiotics as well. These were highly rated, can't hurt right?
Another thing I'm thankful for, that my father-in-law didn't get hurt worse than he did when he fell off the ladder. He's back to his normal active self. I firmly believe that's part of the reason he didn't hurt himself more, because he rides his bike, kayaks and walks a lot. When he fell he hit the back of his head on the deck boards, rather hard. It was bleeding and bruised pretty badly. He wanted to see what it looked like so Sean took a picture with his cell phone to show him. The odd part about this photo is the diagonal line across the wound. We couldn't figure out why there was a line of unhurt skin going across it until we discovered it was the spacing between the deck boards on the deck, a perfect 3/8" spacing. Yikes. I'm glad he's home in New Mexico relaxing and recuperating with Randi.
I am very thankful for my husband for many reasons. For one, without him we would be spending a whole lot of money at the car mechanic shop. He took the week off and has been out in the shop working on the Range Rover. You name it and he's replaced it, water pump, distributor cap, flushed the cooling system, new spark plugs and wires, belts, thermostat, and all the rodent chewed wires had to be fixed. He's been a busy little bee. Today he finished and decided to see if it would start and it did! It ran beautifully and idled smoothly. Woo hoo! He's sure handy to have around.
I will always be thankful for my sweet, little family. I hope you have a very nice Thanksgiving!
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