Disappointment Averted
I have been looking forward to an upcoming event in Pittsburgh like you can't believe.
This event has me at the level of anticipation I haven't felt since I was a tween and my parents got my sister and me tickets to see "Tiffany" at the Clearfield County Fair.
What event has me in a tweenish-twitter?
THE PIONEER WOMAN!
That's right! She's coming to Pittsburgh!
Given the level of anticipation and excitement I have regarding this event, you can imagine how my heart dropped when I went to the Barnes and Noble website today and saw that the event had been CANCELLED! I seriously thought I was going to be a little sick.
I called the store to confirm the disappointing news and all she could tell me was that the event was cancelled at her store but it was still happening SOMEWHERE IN PITTSBURGH!
What? Granted, Pittsburgh is a small city, but you can imagine how many bookstores are in the greater Pittsburgh area!
Thankfully, the PW website has a book tour schedule and I was able to find the new venue information relatively easy.
I've still got The Pioneer Woman on my schedule for Monday, March 19.
I'm so excited. It's ridiculous how excited I am to see her. Like, so excited that my imagination is running away with the thought that if I don't share the fact that the venue has been changed for the event, people won't find out about it and I will be the only person to show up for the book signing.
Seriously? What is wrong with me. And how scary is that thought!? Don't be scared, Ree. I promise, I'm pretty normal.
Disappointment Averted. I can continue with enjoying this beautiful, warm, sunny day.
This event has me at the level of anticipation I haven't felt since I was a tween and my parents got my sister and me tickets to see "Tiffany" at the Clearfield County Fair.
What event has me in a tweenish-twitter?
THE PIONEER WOMAN!
Given the level of anticipation and excitement I have regarding this event, you can imagine how my heart dropped when I went to the Barnes and Noble website today and saw that the event had been CANCELLED! I seriously thought I was going to be a little sick.
I called the store to confirm the disappointing news and all she could tell me was that the event was cancelled at her store but it was still happening SOMEWHERE IN PITTSBURGH!
What? Granted, Pittsburgh is a small city, but you can imagine how many bookstores are in the greater Pittsburgh area!
Thankfully, the PW website has a book tour schedule and I was able to find the new venue information relatively easy.
I've still got The Pioneer Woman on my schedule for Monday, March 19.
I'm so excited. It's ridiculous how excited I am to see her. Like, so excited that my imagination is running away with the thought that if I don't share the fact that the venue has been changed for the event, people won't find out about it and I will be the only person to show up for the book signing.
Seriously? What is wrong with me. And how scary is that thought!? Don't be scared, Ree. I promise, I'm pretty normal.
Disappointment Averted. I can continue with enjoying this beautiful, warm, sunny day.
If You Tell Your Wife You've Planned A Date Night
If you tell your wife you've planned a date night . . .
She will be very excited but will immediately think of a million little chores that need to be done before she can leave.
First, she will bundle up her children in clothes suitable for sunny, yet cold and windy March weather and she will ship them outside with the threat of "Don't come back to this house until I call you for lunch!"
Then, she will sweep the floor (even though she just did it yesterday).
She will do laundry (even though she just did it yesterday).
She will clean out the refrigerator to see what ingredients she has to make dinner for the children and her in-laws (who are graciously babysitting). She decides she will make a chicken parmesan pasta.
She will note in the clean out process that the refrigerator is basically full of condiments and juice, so she will go to her desk to write down a list of some things to buy at the store on date night.
Once at the desk, she will remember to look at her carefully plotted out menu planner and see that she had written down "Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping" on the space for today and will re-think her plan to make Chicken Parmesan Pasta.
She will then go to the kitchen and search for the recipe she wrote down for the Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping and will decide to go ahead and cook the chicken quarters now. After all, they are what must be cooked for the recipe - everything else can be decided later.
She will season the chicken and puts it in the oven.
She will find the recipe for the Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping, review it and realize she does not have buttermilk for the biscuits and debate whether she should just make buttermilk with vinegar and milk or look for the other cheesy biscuit recipe that she has.
She will then look for the other Cheesy Biscuit recipe, find it and return to her desk.
Then she will look at her meal planner again and realize that she has planned a complicated meal for Thursday night - the busiest night of the week. She then erases the original meal and grabs a pencil to write in a new, less complicated one (like Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches).
When she grabs the pencil, she finds out that the pencil is not sharpened. She grabs another and another, and none of them are sharpened.
She grabs an entire handful and takes them to the craft cabinet where she gets out the electric sharpener, plugs it in and inserts the first pencil to be sharpened.
She will not hear the whirring of the sharpener.
She will hear the oven timer go off and realize that it is time to flip the chicken, so she goes to the oven, flips and seasons the other side of the chicken and returns it to the oven to cook.
She will look into the pencil opening and realize that her four year old son had inserted a pencil ERASER first into the sharpener and got the eraser stuck in the sharpening mechanism.
She will unplug the sharpener and look for a pair of needle nose pliers to try to pull the eraser out.
After minutes of desperate searching, she will not find the needle nose pliers.
She will search for the miniature screw driver set she received at Christmas from one of her children.
She will not find it.
She will locate a screwdriver that she thinks will be appropriate and it will not work.
She will then gather ALL of the screwdrivers she can find which takes her to several different drawers in the kitchen, a few bedrooms, the linen closet and the laundry room.
She will finally find ONE screwdriver that will work.
She will then dismantle the pencil sharpener, and find the metal eraser cap is stuck inside the mechanism and cannot be maneuvered out with a screwdriver.
After some thinking, she will realize the only tool she has that will potentially work is a pair of manicure scissors.
She will go back upstairs and locate the manicure scissors.
She will use them to somehow manage to get that blasted metal top with the eraser OUT of the sharpening mechanism, get it all screwed back together on her first attempt and will then sharpen five pencils.
She will walk back to her desk and on the way see that someone had eaten Saltine crackers for breakfast and smashed several of them into the carpet.
She will ignore it.
She will sit down at the desk to finish what she started.
She will forget what she had started.
Just as she feels like she is on the brink of remembering why she sat down at the desk in the first place, she will hear the oven timer will go off again, indicating that another 15 minutes have passed.
She will go check the chicken.
She will then hear the buzzer on the dryer indicate the clothes are dry.
She will remove the clothes from the dryer, insert the clothes from the washer, and start a new load of clothes in the washer.
She will realize it is almost lunch time and she has no idea what she is going to feed the kids.
She will open up the refrigerator, realize that the refrigerator is basically full of condiments and juice, and will remember that she had gone to her desk originally to write down a list of some things to buy at the store on date night.
She will then sit down and write a blog post about how she basically wasted the last hour and a half.
And that's what happens if you tell your wife you've planned a date night!
She will be very excited but will immediately think of a million little chores that need to be done before she can leave.
First, she will bundle up her children in clothes suitable for sunny, yet cold and windy March weather and she will ship them outside with the threat of "Don't come back to this house until I call you for lunch!"
Then, she will sweep the floor (even though she just did it yesterday).
She will do laundry (even though she just did it yesterday).
She will clean out the refrigerator to see what ingredients she has to make dinner for the children and her in-laws (who are graciously babysitting). She decides she will make a chicken parmesan pasta.
She will note in the clean out process that the refrigerator is basically full of condiments and juice, so she will go to her desk to write down a list of some things to buy at the store on date night.
Once at the desk, she will remember to look at her carefully plotted out menu planner and see that she had written down "Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping" on the space for today and will re-think her plan to make Chicken Parmesan Pasta.
She will then go to the kitchen and search for the recipe she wrote down for the Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping and will decide to go ahead and cook the chicken quarters now. After all, they are what must be cooked for the recipe - everything else can be decided later.
She will season the chicken and puts it in the oven.
She will find the recipe for the Chicken Pot Pie with Cheesy Biscuit Topping, review it and realize she does not have buttermilk for the biscuits and debate whether she should just make buttermilk with vinegar and milk or look for the other cheesy biscuit recipe that she has.
She will then look for the other Cheesy Biscuit recipe, find it and return to her desk.
Then she will look at her meal planner again and realize that she has planned a complicated meal for Thursday night - the busiest night of the week. She then erases the original meal and grabs a pencil to write in a new, less complicated one (like Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches).
When she grabs the pencil, she finds out that the pencil is not sharpened. She grabs another and another, and none of them are sharpened.
She grabs an entire handful and takes them to the craft cabinet where she gets out the electric sharpener, plugs it in and inserts the first pencil to be sharpened.
She will not hear the whirring of the sharpener.
She will hear the oven timer go off and realize that it is time to flip the chicken, so she goes to the oven, flips and seasons the other side of the chicken and returns it to the oven to cook.
She will look into the pencil opening and realize that her four year old son had inserted a pencil ERASER first into the sharpener and got the eraser stuck in the sharpening mechanism.
She will unplug the sharpener and look for a pair of needle nose pliers to try to pull the eraser out.
After minutes of desperate searching, she will not find the needle nose pliers.
She will search for the miniature screw driver set she received at Christmas from one of her children.
She will not find it.
She will locate a screwdriver that she thinks will be appropriate and it will not work.
She will then gather ALL of the screwdrivers she can find which takes her to several different drawers in the kitchen, a few bedrooms, the linen closet and the laundry room.
She will finally find ONE screwdriver that will work.
She will then dismantle the pencil sharpener, and find the metal eraser cap is stuck inside the mechanism and cannot be maneuvered out with a screwdriver.
After some thinking, she will realize the only tool she has that will potentially work is a pair of manicure scissors.
She will go back upstairs and locate the manicure scissors.
She will use them to somehow manage to get that blasted metal top with the eraser OUT of the sharpening mechanism, get it all screwed back together on her first attempt and will then sharpen five pencils.
She will walk back to her desk and on the way see that someone had eaten Saltine crackers for breakfast and smashed several of them into the carpet.
She will ignore it.
She will sit down at the desk to finish what she started.
She will forget what she had started.
Just as she feels like she is on the brink of remembering why she sat down at the desk in the first place, she will hear the oven timer will go off again, indicating that another 15 minutes have passed.
She will go check the chicken.
She will then hear the buzzer on the dryer indicate the clothes are dry.
She will remove the clothes from the dryer, insert the clothes from the washer, and start a new load of clothes in the washer.
She will realize it is almost lunch time and she has no idea what she is going to feed the kids.
She will open up the refrigerator, realize that the refrigerator is basically full of condiments and juice, and will remember that she had gone to her desk originally to write down a list of some things to buy at the store on date night.
She will then sit down and write a blog post about how she basically wasted the last hour and a half.
And that's what happens if you tell your wife you've planned a date night!
Trying Not To Get Excited
I'm a big fan of winter. I like that it gets very cold and snows. From December 1 to March 1 I would love for it to be about 20 degrees with at least an inch or two of snow covering the ground constantly.
Most people do not appreciate my view on Winter, which I can understand, but I still enjoy waking up to a blanket of white. I know I am kind of prejudiced towards a typical winter, given Erik's winter profession providing snow removal, but it really doesn't have as much to do with our income as it does my hatred of mud.
I HATE MUD!
Hate it!
There's not a square inch of ground on our 40 acres that is without mud. Most days, that includes my house. It makes me nuts! The amount of work mud creates for me is unbelievable. Everyone in the house requires at least two changes of clothes per day. Willie J, of course, requires at least three or four. No one respects my boundaries of TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF AT THE DOOR and I frequently find someone traipsing through the house with muddy boots on. Apparently, having mud caked boots is the only time my family remembers the rule: If you need to talk to me, come find me. Don't stand there and just shout "MOMMA!" If you are perfectly clean and want me, by all means, stand in your bedroom and yell for me when I'm down in the laundry room up to my elbows shouting out all of our mud stained clothes. But if you are covered in mud and most likely manure and want me, please, by all meanswalk STOMP all through the house as you search for me. Especially if I am in the upstairs bathroom. There's nothing I love more than being disturbed during my bathroom break. Unless of course, it's coming out of the bathroom to find a trail of mud down the stairs, through all the downstairs rooms and back to the laundry room where you are now taking off all of your muddy gear.
However, as we approach spring, I am looking forward to the warmer days and I'm getting used to the mud. Although our cellar has a lot to be desired, we set it up over the weekend for the kids to be able to enter through the basement door, disrobe of their muddy attire, and come upstairs through the basement. It has cut down on the mud considerably this weekend, which was especially important as I had spent the entire week thoroughly cleaning the house. Like, moving furniture and washing baseboards kind of cleaning. Three days in and we're holding pretty well. I only had to sweep four times today and I didn't have to run the vacuum at all.
I'm also getting kind of excited over the fact that we may actually have a real Easter break. Our school is scheduled to have the Wednesday before Easter through the Tuesday after off as part of their building in snow days into the schedule just in case. We haven't even had a delay this year, which has been kind of sad, but I had looking forward to this potentially long break.
That was until I was reminded of the Ides of March. This particular phrase has always stuck with me from High School - I want to say it was 10th grade - when we read Julius Caesar in English class. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The group included 60 other co-conspirators according to Plutarch.[2]
According to Plutarch, a seer had foreseen that Caesar would be harmed not later than the Ides of March and on his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar met that seer and joked, "The ides of March have come", meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Ay, Caesar; but not gone."[3] This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."[4][5]
This sticks with me because during my late high school years, the Ides of March (March 15) is the day before my mom's (and now Maggie's) birthday and we had two years of very bad blizzards around the Ides of March. So I always associate the Ides of March with blizzards. Last year was not too different as I discovered as I went through some pictures from last year. I found these, taken March 11, 2011.
Most people do not appreciate my view on Winter, which I can understand, but I still enjoy waking up to a blanket of white. I know I am kind of prejudiced towards a typical winter, given Erik's winter profession providing snow removal, but it really doesn't have as much to do with our income as it does my hatred of mud.
I HATE MUD!
Hate it!
There's not a square inch of ground on our 40 acres that is without mud. Most days, that includes my house. It makes me nuts! The amount of work mud creates for me is unbelievable. Everyone in the house requires at least two changes of clothes per day. Willie J, of course, requires at least three or four. No one respects my boundaries of TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF AT THE DOOR and I frequently find someone traipsing through the house with muddy boots on. Apparently, having mud caked boots is the only time my family remembers the rule: If you need to talk to me, come find me. Don't stand there and just shout "MOMMA!" If you are perfectly clean and want me, by all means, stand in your bedroom and yell for me when I'm down in the laundry room up to my elbows shouting out all of our mud stained clothes. But if you are covered in mud and most likely manure and want me, please, by all means
However, as we approach spring, I am looking forward to the warmer days and I'm getting used to the mud. Although our cellar has a lot to be desired, we set it up over the weekend for the kids to be able to enter through the basement door, disrobe of their muddy attire, and come upstairs through the basement. It has cut down on the mud considerably this weekend, which was especially important as I had spent the entire week thoroughly cleaning the house. Like, moving furniture and washing baseboards kind of cleaning. Three days in and we're holding pretty well. I only had to sweep four times today and I didn't have to run the vacuum at all.
I'm also getting kind of excited over the fact that we may actually have a real Easter break. Our school is scheduled to have the Wednesday before Easter through the Tuesday after off as part of their building in snow days into the schedule just in case. We haven't even had a delay this year, which has been kind of sad, but I had looking forward to this potentially long break.
That was until I was reminded of the Ides of March. This particular phrase has always stuck with me from High School - I want to say it was 10th grade - when we read Julius Caesar in English class. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The group included 60 other co-conspirators according to Plutarch.[2]
According to Plutarch, a seer had foreseen that Caesar would be harmed not later than the Ides of March and on his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar met that seer and joked, "The ides of March have come", meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Ay, Caesar; but not gone."[3] This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."[4][5]
This sticks with me because during my late high school years, the Ides of March (March 15) is the day before my mom's (and now Maggie's) birthday and we had two years of very bad blizzards around the Ides of March. So I always associate the Ides of March with blizzards. Last year was not too different as I discovered as I went through some pictures from last year. I found these, taken March 11, 2011.
What a difference the snow makes.
I'll curb my enthusiasm for a while in anticipation of what could happen with the Ides of March, but I'll be enjoying these amazing, warm February days as we head into Leap Day. And if March 2012 COMES IN and GOES OUT like a lamb, I won't complain!
Old Yeller
I'm a yeller.
I hate to admit it, but it's the truth. I am embarrassed by it and you would think with the amount of education I have I would know better than to yell. I do know better and I still resort to it. Every time I do it, I feel guilty. I promise myself and my children and God that I won't do it again and within minutes (often times seconds) I am yelling again. It is ugly and it's not the mother I want to be.
Yesterday, after reading an email devotional and a lovely morning with my Book League girls commiserating about our "failures" as parents, I was left with guilt on my heart for my behavior. I try to ignore it by blaming the behavior of my children, but it isn't their fault. Although, I would wager that ANYONE left with Willie J long enough will concur that it might be a little bit his fault. It left me with a fear that someday the children will look back on our time together and not know that I cherished everything they brought to me, good and bad. I am not ignorant to the fact that this is all my perspective of the situation. An outsider may look in at our house and think that my children are behaving completely appropriately and think (rightly so) that I'm over-reacting a little. Most days, the "little" things are easy to ignore and I am not the crazy lady yelling at her kids ALL of the time. But there are days when I feel like the bad is outweighing the good, when I have four half naked heathens running around with uncombed hair, dirty faces, toys strewn EVERYWHERE, eating their food with their hands and screaming just to hear themselves scream. Days when I swear I could have put the following phrases on a loop and left the house because my presence was never felt. Time honored phrases such as:
STOP TOUCHING HER.
STOP TOUCHING HIM.
I SAID STOP TOUCHING HER.
IF HE'S NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH YOU, WHY DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALLOWED TO TOUCH HIM?
EVERYONE KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!
STOP TOUCHING ME!
I JUST WASHED THAT!
DON'T EAT THAT!
DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH!
NO!
I SAID NO!
IF I HAVE TO SAY NO AGAIN, I SWEAR . . .
and I wonder if anything I am doing as a parent is doing anything to help these children grow into respectable, independent, productive adults.
It's so easy for me to resort to yelling and in doing so I'm not only harming my children in terms of hurting their feelings, I'm harming them because my yelling is empty parenting. Yelling is me not wanting to take time to deal with the situation hands on and that's bad parenting. So I'm resolving to do better by myself and my children. Each morning, I will try to turn to God and ask Him for guidance to parent with wise words and a kind heart. To take the time to parent with love and attention - the key factor being the attention. So frequently, I am distracted by the things I need to be doing that don't involve my kids that I put off their requests until I am a broken record of maybe, later, not now, and tomorrow. I want to turn to God to help me control my yelling and help me to convey to my kids my appreciation so they know how much I adored every single second I was blessed to spend with them.
Because even though there are moments that I think I'm going to lose it, I have the privilege of being Momma to these precious ones and I am so very thankful. So here are some photos of the very precious moments I find with my children.
Whitaker raids the Valentine candy!
Lollipop, candy hearts and a book. What more do you need? Except two incisors? This boy has his two year molars, but no incisors. I'm starting to wonder if he might be a vampire since he only grew in fangs.
A beautiful day in February and the boys go for a ride on Willie's motorcycle. This was such a precious day for me. Willie struggles a lot with sibling rivalry in terms of over doing it with Whitaker. He doesn't come out and hit him or be overtly mean to him. Instead he loves on him too much. He gives that extra long squeeze during a hug or pulls Whit along instead of holding his hand. I've tried giving Willie lots of Momma time in the afternoon when Whit is asleep, but it hasn't been working. On this day, I allowed Willie to take his new motorcycle outside to ride and he generously offered to take Whit with him and they enjoyed a great day together. Will also took Whit to the swing set and he pushed Whit on the swings which was so sweet to watch.
Willie is afraid to sleep by himself sometimes so he crawls up into the loft with Walker. Walker never ever complains and he always makes room for him. Even though Willie insists on sleeping like this!
Walker on his actual 8th birthday. We went to Dairy Queen to get whatever he wanted . . . a banana split. Of which, he ate only the vanilla ice cream and the hot fudge. Next time maybe he'll trust me when I say, "Why don't you just get a hot fudge sundae?" He got the birthday crown at school that day and then I was surprised he wore the crown to the YMCA that night for his rock climbing club. I have been anticipating the age of embarrassment coming upon him, but so far, he is still young enough to want people to know it is his birthday and do little boy things. Even though he is growing into quite a little man.
Whitaker joined me in bed one morning with two chocolate chip pancakes and some cheerios.
He didn't share.
Willie and I baked cookies together for Valentine's Day. He cracks me up with the towel on his shoulder just like me. After we took this picture together, he spent about five minutes petting my face. Willie is a petter and must always pet me. I sometimes get annoyed by it - especially when I am not sure where his hands have been, but it's also one of the most uniquely "Willie" qualities he has. We baked the cookies and decorated them with Maggie and Walker and then the kids gave them to their classmates on Valentine's day.
For dessert on Valentine's Day, I made ice cream cookie sandwiches and we had heart shaped strawberries.
I don't know how they sleep like this!
My sweet angels!
Walker and his buddies on the way to Pittsburgh to see a movie at the Science Center.
Walker and his buddies after about 20 trips to the chocolate fountain bar!
Willie and Maggie get to have a slumber party in Maggie's room. Willie is ALWAYS hot and takes his PJs and covers off. Maggie is a bed hog and a crazy sleeper.
When I go in to check on Whit before bed, I never know what I'm going to find.
This night he looks like he's holding his crib up.
This night, he had to hide under his donkey.
Walker was surprised with a DS from his Nana for his birthday. For some reason, he decided to sit in the doorway and play with it. I think it was because I had suggested he might want to go outside to play. I guess he misinterpreted what I meant by that.
Another day to thank God for the blessings those little critters are to my life.
We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Program
Hi!
How've you been?
It's been busy around here but that's not why I haven't been writing.
I went through a period that (from what I read on other blogs) is kind of common with bloggers like me (people who are blogging as a means of documenting family memories). A period where I was internally debating whether what I was documenting was ethical to my family. I mean, I don't really imagine my little anecdotes are going much beyond my family and friends, which is more than enough, but on the chance that they were, I was struggling on whether I was going to do irreparable damage to my children's' psyche by publishing the stories and pictures that I post with my entries. I tried to imagine them at an adult age, reading some of the stories and wondered if they would find the stories an adorable set of memoirs where I documented their lives, or will they be angry about every little thing I documented and hate me?
Factor in all of the worries about weird perverts checking out my blog (and stealing innocent pictures) and I had a bit of a breakdown of my system for a while.
After some time in thought and prayer, I decided I would resume blogging as normal. I know there are risks to what I post but there are risks every day of what I am doing, so I try to be as cautious as possible for my children, but I'm not going to stop recording our memories based on fear. I've also chosen to believe that my musings will be considered a great memento of childhood for my babes and they will cherish me for documenting all of these silly stories and be glad for them.
Children, if you are reading this and you HATE ME for this blog, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would cause any harm. And I promise, I will only blog about you as teenagers if you do stupid things that I want to embarrass you about as a punishment and reminder to never do something that stupid again. Or if you do something super exceptional (like win an award, get an A, or just wake up on time for school) and I will try not to embarrass you at all.
So you might wonder what's new at Goodness Grows Farm?
Not much except a lot of GROWING!
I celebrated a birthday which pushed me into the next age bracket on surveys and questionnaires. I'm now closer to the next decade than I was to the previous one. That sounds weird when I think of it, but for the most part, I still think the 1990's were 10 years ago so my "age" doesn't affect me.
Christmas Eve was a bit different for us this year. I ended up taking the children to my hometown for a quick visit with my family before Christmas. We had a lovely meal on the 23rd with my Papa, Mom, Dad and a visit from my Aunt B. who was in town from Florida. We drove home the morning of December 24 and then had a gathering at our house for Christmas Eve. For some reason, our kids just started melting down one by one in the hour before we were to leave for Christmas Eve services, so we made a BOLD decision to stay home. We got the kids in their jammies, settled in on the couch and read scripture and some Christmas books we have about the birth of Jesus. It was something totally different from what I have done all of my life. I think it was the first time EVER (well, aside from the day I was born) that I didn't attend a Christmas Eve service. In it's own way, the night was peaceful and reverent. I missed the tradition of the Christmas Eve service, but I am glad I have the memory we made instead of the one that could have been - you know, that one where we sat in church shushing our kids, wrangling Whitaker, not being able to pay attention to the music or the message because I am searching my purse for gum, pens, paper and other paraphernalia to distract my hoodlums so I can get something from the service.
Whitaker had already gone to bed, but I got one picture with my older three on my birthday.
Best of all, my dearly beloved bestowed me with some beautiful bling.
The kids exchanged presents to each other. Will got Walker a watch
and Maggie a pair of Christmas socks.
Willie got a Lego kit from Maggie . . .
and was so excited that he gave his sister an unprompted bear hug as thanks!
I have to say, that over the Christmas Holiday and into the last few months, we have seen such a generous side to Willie. He was the first to raid his piggy bank to buy presents for his siblings. He took a great pleasure in picking out the perfect gifts for them too. I am so proud of his generous spirit and greatly look forward to fostering this gift.
On their way to bed to wait for Santa!
Christmas morning was a blast! Santa visited us and left some really great prizes and we had a nice leisurely morning opening presents, playing with them and having fun.
A few gifts didn't fit under the tree. Like Maggie's Barbie Doll house - the ONLY gift she asked Santa for. Santa found this gem at a yard sale last summer for $10! It only needed a little elevator repair and some new furniture to complete it. I have to brag a bit about Maggie on Christmas day. She opened up all of her gifts under the Christmas tree and there was no doll house. She looked under the tree, at me and then said, "Is that it?" I told her "Yes" and she got a very sad and dejected look on her face, but picked up one of her new toys and sat on the couch to watch the rest of the kids open their gifts. Her face obviously said, "I can't believe I didn't get the dollhouse I asked for!" But she never once complained or made fuss. She just sat there until I suggested that there might be other gifts to search for that might not have fit under the tree.
Once the boys finished opening their gifts from under the tree, I sent them on a scavenger hunt. She eventually found her doll house (after I prompted her with clues like, "What looks different in here from last night?" and "LOOK UNDER THE BLANKET!")
Walker got a basketball hoop that Santa didn't finish building in time. But that meant that Dad and Walker got to finish putting it up together.
When Erik and I went Black Friday shopping, we happened across this mo-ped at a really good price. We forwarded the info onto Santa knowing Willie would love any type of battery operated vehicle. A few weeks later, Willie told me he wanted a motorcycle for Christmas. Kismet! Willie has been zooming around the house on his flashy new Mickey Mouse Moped ever since!
Whitaker's big present was this giant plush Donkey. He absolutely loves it and sleeps with it every night. To get him to go to bed, I sing,
Some more pictures of Christmas Morning.
We've been playing in the barn.
Getting Dirty.
Hunting Big Buck with our new Wii from Nana.
Visited the PA State Farm Show.
Played outside in the snow (when we have it).
Tried on and fit into size 18 month pants. (This boy is 8 years old)
Got our braces off too.
Made (and devoured) this Buckeye Cake recipe courtesy of Pinterest. If you haven't seen pinterest, don't even get me started. It's probably another reason this blog has been suffering for three months. Don't even look into pinterest unless you want to waste VAST amounts of time looking at what other people are looking at online! It's worse than facebook! I'm totally addicted but it's also inspired me to do all kinds of interesting things. Ok, well, I dream about doing interesting things!
Just after New Years, we got a surprise visit from friends who had moved out to the Chicago area a few years ago. It was an absolutely fantastic visit and we got to catch up on each others lives. I'm now in cahoots to plan a trip to visit them in April since we have a long Easter break! Hopefully they're cool with that!
And the boys put up a shelter for my van. Now there's a big grey blob outside my back door. I like that I don't have to scrape snow off my vehicle, but don't like that I can't easily see the back anymore.
How've you been?
It's been busy around here but that's not why I haven't been writing.
I went through a period that (from what I read on other blogs) is kind of common with bloggers like me (people who are blogging as a means of documenting family memories). A period where I was internally debating whether what I was documenting was ethical to my family. I mean, I don't really imagine my little anecdotes are going much beyond my family and friends, which is more than enough, but on the chance that they were, I was struggling on whether I was going to do irreparable damage to my children's' psyche by publishing the stories and pictures that I post with my entries. I tried to imagine them at an adult age, reading some of the stories and wondered if they would find the stories an adorable set of memoirs where I documented their lives, or will they be angry about every little thing I documented and hate me?
Factor in all of the worries about weird perverts checking out my blog (and stealing innocent pictures) and I had a bit of a breakdown of my system for a while.
After some time in thought and prayer, I decided I would resume blogging as normal. I know there are risks to what I post but there are risks every day of what I am doing, so I try to be as cautious as possible for my children, but I'm not going to stop recording our memories based on fear. I've also chosen to believe that my musings will be considered a great memento of childhood for my babes and they will cherish me for documenting all of these silly stories and be glad for them.
Children, if you are reading this and you HATE ME for this blog, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would cause any harm. And I promise, I will only blog about you as teenagers if you do stupid things that I want to embarrass you about as a punishment and reminder to never do something that stupid again. Or if you do something super exceptional (like win an award, get an A, or just wake up on time for school) and I will try not to embarrass you at all.
So you might wonder what's new at Goodness Grows Farm?
Not much except a lot of GROWING!
I celebrated a birthday which pushed me into the next age bracket on surveys and questionnaires. I'm now closer to the next decade than I was to the previous one. That sounds weird when I think of it, but for the most part, I still think the 1990's were 10 years ago so my "age" doesn't affect me.
Christmas Eve was a bit different for us this year. I ended up taking the children to my hometown for a quick visit with my family before Christmas. We had a lovely meal on the 23rd with my Papa, Mom, Dad and a visit from my Aunt B. who was in town from Florida. We drove home the morning of December 24 and then had a gathering at our house for Christmas Eve. For some reason, our kids just started melting down one by one in the hour before we were to leave for Christmas Eve services, so we made a BOLD decision to stay home. We got the kids in their jammies, settled in on the couch and read scripture and some Christmas books we have about the birth of Jesus. It was something totally different from what I have done all of my life. I think it was the first time EVER (well, aside from the day I was born) that I didn't attend a Christmas Eve service. In it's own way, the night was peaceful and reverent. I missed the tradition of the Christmas Eve service, but I am glad I have the memory we made instead of the one that could have been - you know, that one where we sat in church shushing our kids, wrangling Whitaker, not being able to pay attention to the music or the message because I am searching my purse for gum, pens, paper and other paraphernalia to distract my hoodlums so I can get something from the service.
Whitaker had already gone to bed, but I got one picture with my older three on my birthday.
Best of all, my dearly beloved bestowed me with some beautiful bling.
The kids exchanged presents to each other. Will got Walker a watch
and Maggie a pair of Christmas socks.
Willie got a Lego kit from Maggie . . .
and was so excited that he gave his sister an unprompted bear hug as thanks!
I have to say, that over the Christmas Holiday and into the last few months, we have seen such a generous side to Willie. He was the first to raid his piggy bank to buy presents for his siblings. He took a great pleasure in picking out the perfect gifts for them too. I am so proud of his generous spirit and greatly look forward to fostering this gift.
On their way to bed to wait for Santa!
Christmas morning was a blast! Santa visited us and left some really great prizes and we had a nice leisurely morning opening presents, playing with them and having fun.
A few gifts didn't fit under the tree. Like Maggie's Barbie Doll house - the ONLY gift she asked Santa for. Santa found this gem at a yard sale last summer for $10! It only needed a little elevator repair and some new furniture to complete it. I have to brag a bit about Maggie on Christmas day. She opened up all of her gifts under the Christmas tree and there was no doll house. She looked under the tree, at me and then said, "Is that it?" I told her "Yes" and she got a very sad and dejected look on her face, but picked up one of her new toys and sat on the couch to watch the rest of the kids open their gifts. Her face obviously said, "I can't believe I didn't get the dollhouse I asked for!" But she never once complained or made fuss. She just sat there until I suggested that there might be other gifts to search for that might not have fit under the tree.
Once the boys finished opening their gifts from under the tree, I sent them on a scavenger hunt. She eventually found her doll house (after I prompted her with clues like, "What looks different in here from last night?" and "LOOK UNDER THE BLANKET!")
Walker got a basketball hoop that Santa didn't finish building in time. But that meant that Dad and Walker got to finish putting it up together.
When Erik and I went Black Friday shopping, we happened across this mo-ped at a really good price. We forwarded the info onto Santa knowing Willie would love any type of battery operated vehicle. A few weeks later, Willie told me he wanted a motorcycle for Christmas. Kismet! Willie has been zooming around the house on his flashy new Mickey Mouse Moped ever since!
Whitaker's big present was this giant plush Donkey. He absolutely loves it and sleeps with it every night. To get him to go to bed, I sing,
Where is Donkey,
Where Is Donkey,
In your crib
In your crib
Let's go find your Donkey
And go to sleepy
go to sleep
go to sleep
Some more pictures of Christmas Morning.
Four days later, Erik and I were blessed to celebrate our 10th Anniversary.
We hadn't planned anything very special and then at the last minute, thanks to Erik's mom, we were able to head to Pittsburgh for the night and enjoy an extravagant dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. We pricelined a hotel room, made a reservation for dinner and had a lovely night away from home. Our server at the restaurant made our dessert an event.
Erik chose a Creme Brule, I had a triple chocolate mouse (which was to die for) and the little chocolate round in the top center was a chocolate cheese cake. This dessert and the potatoes gratin absolutely made the dinner. It was a great one time experience, but I can't say it was the best steak I ever had.
Since then, we've been raising puppies,
and getting them sent off to new homes.
Except this one. This is Lucy and she's Goodness Grows Farm's newest addition.
We've been playing in the barn.
Getting Dirty.
Hunting Big Buck with our new Wii from Nana.
Visited the PA State Farm Show.
Played outside in the snow (when we have it).
Tried on and fit into size 18 month pants. (This boy is 8 years old)
Got our braces off too.
Just after New Years, we got a surprise visit from friends who had moved out to the Chicago area a few years ago. It was an absolutely fantastic visit and we got to catch up on each others lives. I'm now in cahoots to plan a trip to visit them in April since we have a long Easter break! Hopefully they're cool with that!
And the boys put up a shelter for my van. Now there's a big grey blob outside my back door. I like that I don't have to scrape snow off my vehicle, but don't like that I can't easily see the back anymore.
We took Walker and three buddies to the Science Center to watch an Omnimax movie and then out to a buffet restaurant for dinner for Walker's 8th birthday. It was a great day and we got a chance to hang out with some of the boys that Walker has been developing friendships with at school. It was a great lesson for Erik and I that all eight year old boys are the same! Crazy, inconsistent, and all movement!
We're now in mid-February and have our first true "arctic blast" snowstorm of the season. We got about three inches over night and once we finish making Valentine boxes and signing our Valentine cards we'll head out for some sled riding!
Thanks for coming back to see us. I promise, I'll keep you posted.
Is It Really November Already?
Previously on Goodness Grows Farm:
Labor Day weekend we spent camping (in luxury in our dear friends travel trailer) at Seneca Hills Conference Center - a beautiful Christian camp in Franklin, PA. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends, despite the rain for the last few days and using the amazing facilities!
I am so in love with this little guy! In September, he had just started walking and he kept us on our toes as he toddled around the campsite, making sure he stayed away from the fire!
Not sure why Maggie looks so desolate and sad, but what a funny picture! Someone must have told her that it was her last smore for the night. I look that way too when people tell me that.
Once at the rec center, Whitaker had a ball. Literally!
He had such a good time that he ended up in a mini bath in the outdoor sink!
Willie had his fourth birthday this month. He was the line leader at his preschool on his birthday and we brought mini cupcakes for the class. This guy kills me. He's lovey dovey one minute and then Mr. "Get away" the next. Mostly though, he's a lovey dovey!
Scarecrow Down
Pennsylvania Scarecrow Massacre
I can't decide which caption best fits this scene.
It was a bumpy ride but lots of fun!
We did a count and figured we had 37 kids at our event! Everyone stopped for a few seconds on the way into the pumpkin patch for me to capture this picture.
Whitaker waits patiently for everyone else to finish.
And that's what you missed !
Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning
DISCLAIMER: I'm sure in the last 10 years, thousands of people have written about their experience with September 11 with more eloquence, have written a more thoughtful story and one that is more articulate and less choppy, but this is not one of them. This is extreme stream of consciousness writing here
One of the country radio stations we listen to is playing a remake of Bryan Adam's song, "Heaven" with voice overs of a little girl talking to her daddy in Heaven over the last 10 years - all the milestones she's gone through the last 10 years. According to my vast (insert sarcasm) research on Google, I've come up with this link and believe it to be the most accurate version of the song we've heard on the Radio.
Maggie is so intrigued by this song. On the way to my Bible study this morning at our church, this song came on the radio and Maggie and Will were asking me why that girl in the song is talking to her daddy in Heaven (which I couldn't believe they gleaned that from the song since there is only the implication that the daddy is dead). So I told them today about 9/11 - it was strange having to explain it to them - that we hadn't explained it to them before now. But then, it's not something that is easy to explain to children their age. I mean, let's face it, until it actually happened, I don't think that even the potential of such an event even crossed anyone's mind. At least, it never had for me. I know I was aware the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and then the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, but I guess I myself was too young to attribute to those events the weight they were due. I was only 17 and 19 at the times of those bombings and in that self-centeredness of youth, those events did not register with me significantly.
Now, here we are living in a Post 9/11 world and I am driving through our little city of Butler trying to explain to my children, whose biggest fear is foxes and coyotes and who have no idea what terrorists are, what 9/11 is all about. My rather inadequate explanation went something like this:
In New York City there are very tall buildings called skyscrapers. Those buildings are so tall you would have to stack four or five of these tall buildings in Butler on top of each other to even get close to how tall they are. Back before you were born and before Momma & Daddy were even married, some very evil men got into airplanes and crashed those airplanes into some of those tall buildings and caused those buildings to fall down. It is very sad because there were people inside of those buildings and not all of them were not able to get out of the buildings before they fell down and those people died.
After having told them this much, I started to get a little worried. You know how as a parent, as you're trying to explain to your child in an age appropriate way something that you think they might find scary, you have this other internal voice in your head talking out the conversation simultaneously? For instance:
What I think I want to tell the children: 10 years ago, very evil men stole airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center.
Simultaneous thought: Oh no! I can't tell them that! They are going to be afraid that evil people could hijack airplanes again and then they'll never want to fly - not that we can afford to ever fly anywhere - nor do I want to have to put them through all that TSA stuff if we did want to fly somewhere - but if we ever need to fly somewhere, they're going to be scared because of what I'm telling them. I'm not even going to mention Flight 93 and the Pentagon!
Maggie then asked, "Was that girl in that song's Daddy in that building?" I explained to her that the the song represented what might be the life of a little girl who lost her Daddy on 9/11. We talked about the fact that many people lost Mommies and Daddies, Aunts and Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas and on and on. I really thought the conversation was going to blossom into a much bigger conversation than it did - I anticipated questions about what might happen if something happened to me and Erik, questions about how God could allow all those people to be hurt, why did those men even want to fly airplanes into buildings, etc. Instead, Maggie says, "Will, aren't you just so sad that had to happen?" Will responded with a very melancholy yet emphatic, "Yes!" and the conversation was over. They had no more questions, no more comments, we were just silent the rest of our drive.
I've tried for an hour to come up with an appropriate closing to this story of mine and it's just not coming to me. I thought about just saving the draft and coming back to it, but then I decided that leaving it unfinished kind of sums up the whole September 11 experience - it is a story that we will never be able to "finish".
The title of this post references a song written and performed by Alan Jackson shortly after September 11. I've included this link to a You Tube video of it. May we never forget where we were the day the world stopped turning . . .
One of the country radio stations we listen to is playing a remake of Bryan Adam's song, "Heaven" with voice overs of a little girl talking to her daddy in Heaven over the last 10 years - all the milestones she's gone through the last 10 years. According to my vast (insert sarcasm) research on Google, I've come up with this link and believe it to be the most accurate version of the song we've heard on the Radio.
Maggie is so intrigued by this song. On the way to my Bible study this morning at our church, this song came on the radio and Maggie and Will were asking me why that girl in the song is talking to her daddy in Heaven (which I couldn't believe they gleaned that from the song since there is only the implication that the daddy is dead). So I told them today about 9/11 - it was strange having to explain it to them - that we hadn't explained it to them before now. But then, it's not something that is easy to explain to children their age. I mean, let's face it, until it actually happened, I don't think that even the potential of such an event even crossed anyone's mind. At least, it never had for me. I know I was aware the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and then the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, but I guess I myself was too young to attribute to those events the weight they were due. I was only 17 and 19 at the times of those bombings and in that self-centeredness of youth, those events did not register with me significantly.
Now, here we are living in a Post 9/11 world and I am driving through our little city of Butler trying to explain to my children, whose biggest fear is foxes and coyotes and who have no idea what terrorists are, what 9/11 is all about. My rather inadequate explanation went something like this:
In New York City there are very tall buildings called skyscrapers. Those buildings are so tall you would have to stack four or five of these tall buildings in Butler on top of each other to even get close to how tall they are. Back before you were born and before Momma & Daddy were even married, some very evil men got into airplanes and crashed those airplanes into some of those tall buildings and caused those buildings to fall down. It is very sad because there were people inside of those buildings and not all of them were not able to get out of the buildings before they fell down and those people died.
After having told them this much, I started to get a little worried. You know how as a parent, as you're trying to explain to your child in an age appropriate way something that you think they might find scary, you have this other internal voice in your head talking out the conversation simultaneously? For instance:
What I think I want to tell the children: 10 years ago, very evil men stole airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center.
Simultaneous thought: Oh no! I can't tell them that! They are going to be afraid that evil people could hijack airplanes again and then they'll never want to fly - not that we can afford to ever fly anywhere - nor do I want to have to put them through all that TSA stuff if we did want to fly somewhere - but if we ever need to fly somewhere, they're going to be scared because of what I'm telling them. I'm not even going to mention Flight 93 and the Pentagon!
Maggie then asked, "Was that girl in that song's Daddy in that building?" I explained to her that the the song represented what might be the life of a little girl who lost her Daddy on 9/11. We talked about the fact that many people lost Mommies and Daddies, Aunts and Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas and on and on. I really thought the conversation was going to blossom into a much bigger conversation than it did - I anticipated questions about what might happen if something happened to me and Erik, questions about how God could allow all those people to be hurt, why did those men even want to fly airplanes into buildings, etc. Instead, Maggie says, "Will, aren't you just so sad that had to happen?" Will responded with a very melancholy yet emphatic, "Yes!" and the conversation was over. They had no more questions, no more comments, we were just silent the rest of our drive.
I've tried for an hour to come up with an appropriate closing to this story of mine and it's just not coming to me. I thought about just saving the draft and coming back to it, but then I decided that leaving it unfinished kind of sums up the whole September 11 experience - it is a story that we will never be able to "finish".
The title of this post references a song written and performed by Alan Jackson shortly after September 11. I've included this link to a You Tube video of it. May we never forget where we were the day the world stopped turning . . .
First Day of Preschool/First Day of School Eve
I wish I could update you on all kinds of exciting and fun things we did in August, but there's nothing to report. We did the usual, mundane, everyday things to round out the summer and had a great time doing it. All of a sudden I woke up this morning to The First Day Of Preschool and First Day of School Eve. My little Willie J was up bright and early at 7:30 this morning after having spent the night in our bed coughing. ALL . . .NIGHT . . . LONG!
I thought it would be awesome to take a picture on the new outdoor sofa I got at Rogers Auction for only $1. It desperately needs repainted and new cushions, but it is very sturdy and my attempt at a slip cover and pillows brightens it up and hides its flaws. But, it was in full sun and Willie was not cooperative.
So we moved to the side steps where the impatiens look so beautiful. And of course, everyone had to get in.
I have a picture of Walker sitting similarly to this on his first day of Preschool. I love those little guys.
I also wonder if they will ever look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" Strike that. I HOPE they look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" because I hope by then we will have finally finished the exterior!
Willie at school.
I'm not sure if this coughing is illness related or allergy/season related. Maggie went through a bout of it after the Farm Show earlier this month, and still has coughing spells. Now Willie has it pretty bad and he decided it would be best for him to keep his dad and me up all night because of it. Apparently that made him feel better because he slept like a log where as his dad and I were not so chipper this morning. The fact that Willie went to preschool this morning is beyond belief. I don't feel like any of my children are old enough to even be in school, let alone three of them.
Yesterday, to celebrate, Mimi came over and took the kids on a quad ride picnic lunch. She always comes up with fun things for them to do and I really appreciate her doing that for them. I allowed them to take the little camera with them and they had a great time and some of the pictures are so funny.
This day has been creeping up on me all summer, yet I am still surprised it is here. I've been doing all the required paperwork, completing forms, making appointments and still, the fact that Maggie and Walker start school tomorrow is completely shocking to me!
As is required, we did the back to school pictures with Willie today. He had a great time except for the 15 minutes at 8:45 this morning that he stubbornly refused to go to school.
I also wonder if they will ever look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" Strike that. I HOPE they look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" because I hope by then we will have finally finished the exterior!
Willie and his classmates coming out of his classroom to meet us.
Willie and his friend, Ellie, after their first day of school together.
We've known Ellie just over a year, and a while back, I made a comment (because all of our kids are the same ages) that we should just go ahead and betroth the first three because we like each other and the opposites match up. Willie and Ellie have taken the joke to a whole new level acting like an old married couple all ready. They seriously act like those old couples you see out at the mall, bickering at each other, but holding hands and supporting each other. It's so funny. And kind of strange. Because the "love" seemed be reaching a kind of inappropriate level in terms of seriousness with them, we have had discussion about being good buddies, not boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., but they refuse to cooperate. Both Willie and Ellie (from hence on to be referred to as "Wellie" have relatives planning weddings and so marriage and weddings are in the forefront of both of their lives and randomly, they will announce to us (the mothers) "When I marry Ellie, I will . . ." and they will proceed to tell us the plans of their wedding, where they will live, etc. So now they get to experience preschool together and if they ever do make it down the aisle as they are predicting, we sure will have LOTS of cute pictures of them together for their wedding slide show.
Now I'm off to prepare for our supper and get the kids ready for their first day tomorrow. Walker has to be up at 7 am to catch the bus at 8 and Maggie has to wait until 12:30 to leave for Kindergarten. It's going to be an interesting day.
Goodbye, Summer. It's time for a new season to begin. I can't say I'm looking forward to it yet, but I know there are lots of good things to come. So I'm officially declaring this to be the FALL O' FUN here at Goodness Grows Farm. Let the FUN continue!
Winding Down
I was looking at my calendar yesterday and realized there are only three weeks left of non-school filled summer for us.
This is breaking my heart.
I am not ready for summer to be over. I know, I should focus on the three weeks we have left, but when you factor in the week we will be spending at the Butler Farm Show, the preschool orientation, the Kindergarden orientation, and the last few appointments we have of the summer, there aren't many days left! Even though there have been days where my kids are picking and fighting, screeching and screaming, whining and begging, I am not ready to pack them back up and send them on the bus/drive to preschool.
I was cleaning out some old folders yesterday and came across this "letter" from a newsletter of a MOPS group I used to attend. It was kind of my unofficial motto for summer without me even knowing it. I gave up on any heavy duty chores for the summer, which is why my house now looks like I am prepping for an episode of hoarders . The cobwebs are killing me! I literally have them everywhere. In fact, I left my Kitchen Aid mixer on my counter last night and this morning there was a cobweb from the mixer to the cabinet!
I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me she had spent an unreasonable amount of time at a local shoe store trying to get her four children fit into sneakers for the coming school year. As she told the story, I vowed that I will not take my kids back to school shopping. They don't need anything and I am going to try to avoid the realization that school is going to start as long as possible. As I finish out these fleeting summer days, I am going to keep this letter on my refrigerator to remind me that these days are going by way too fast and my job is to create memories and have fun with my kids.
Just for this day.
Just for this morning, I am going to smile whenever I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.
Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your flannel and I will hold you until you are ready for the day.
Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you outside to play.
Just for this morning, I am going to eat a huge breakfast , with bacon eggs, toast and waffles, and you don't have to eat any.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to 'fix' things.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you put all kinds of barettes in my
hair, and put lipstick on my face, and I will tell you how pretty you have made me look.
Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much we love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the bathtub and not get angry when you throw water over your sister's head.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the
porch swing and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours and miss my favorite show on t.v.
Just for this evening, When I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. I will think about the mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer, and when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then that I will thank God for you, for all that I have and not ask for anything, except . . . just one more day.
When everyone is in school, I will have time to tediously clean my house, clean out the kitchen cabinets and wipe down all the contents, and do all the mundane cleaning I feel that I should do now. And someday, no one will be here except me and Erik, and I will be like our neighbor and invite the neighbor kids down to play because even though I haven't vacuumed in a month, there are no foot prints in the carpet.
So, today, when I thought I was going to "crack down" in an attempt to get our lives back on track, I looked at this letter again and decided the kids didn't have to match their clothes, comb their hair, or clean up the playroom like I had originally intended. I will do the chores that must be done (if I don't fold and put away clothes today, no one is going to have any underwear) but after that, we will see where the day takes us. Because all too soon, I am going to be telling them, "In just one more day we go back to school."
This is breaking my heart.
I am not ready for summer to be over. I know, I should focus on the three weeks we have left, but when you factor in the week we will be spending at the Butler Farm Show, the preschool orientation, the Kindergarden orientation, and the last few appointments we have of the summer, there aren't many days left! Even though there have been days where my kids are picking and fighting, screeching and screaming, whining and begging, I am not ready to pack them back up and send them on the bus/drive to preschool.
I was cleaning out some old folders yesterday and came across this "letter" from a newsletter of a MOPS group I used to attend. It was kind of my unofficial motto for summer without me even knowing it. I gave up on any heavy duty chores for the summer, which is why my house now looks like I am prepping for an episode of hoarders . The cobwebs are killing me! I literally have them everywhere. In fact, I left my Kitchen Aid mixer on my counter last night and this morning there was a cobweb from the mixer to the cabinet!
I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me she had spent an unreasonable amount of time at a local shoe store trying to get her four children fit into sneakers for the coming school year. As she told the story, I vowed that I will not take my kids back to school shopping. They don't need anything and I am going to try to avoid the realization that school is going to start as long as possible. As I finish out these fleeting summer days, I am going to keep this letter on my refrigerator to remind me that these days are going by way too fast and my job is to create memories and have fun with my kids.
Just for this day.
Just for this morning, I am going to smile whenever I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.
Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your flannel and I will hold you until you are ready for the day.
Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you outside to play.
Just for this morning, I am going to eat a huge breakfast , with bacon eggs, toast and waffles, and you don't have to eat any.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to 'fix' things.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you put all kinds of barettes in my
hair, and put lipstick on my face, and I will tell you how pretty you have made me look.
Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much we love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the bathtub and not get angry when you throw water over your sister's head.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the
porch swing and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours and miss my favorite show on t.v.
Just for this evening, When I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. I will think about the mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer, and when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then that I will thank God for you, for all that I have and not ask for anything, except . . . just one more day.
When everyone is in school, I will have time to tediously clean my house, clean out the kitchen cabinets and wipe down all the contents, and do all the mundane cleaning I feel that I should do now. And someday, no one will be here except me and Erik, and I will be like our neighbor and invite the neighbor kids down to play because even though I haven't vacuumed in a month, there are no foot prints in the carpet.
So, today, when I thought I was going to "crack down" in an attempt to get our lives back on track, I looked at this letter again and decided the kids didn't have to match their clothes, comb their hair, or clean up the playroom like I had originally intended. I will do the chores that must be done (if I don't fold and put away clothes today, no one is going to have any underwear) but after that, we will see where the day takes us. Because all too soon, I am going to be telling them, "In just one more day we go back to school."
Water, Second Edition
We were blessed last week with some rainfall. Unfortunately, we got short, hard deluges of rain, which dropped anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch in a few short minutes instead of a long, misting shower over the course of a day. While this meant there was TONS of water, it was not able to do much because the ground is so hard that the rain was quickly running off the ground and away from the areas that needed it most.
Thursday afternoon was one such storm day here. The storm clouds rolled in just as we finished a mid-afternoon swim. I had hustled the kids in the house in anticipation and was just getting all of the towels off the deck railing as the rain began. I was quickly soaked in just a few seconds, glad to still have on my bathing suit. As I came in the house, I realized we had moved the buckets we were keeping under the downspouts and they needed put back, so I ran back outside to do that. Well, we don't actually have downspouts everywhere yet. We re-roofed a few years ago and while we partially put up the gutters, we haven't finished the project, so most of our gutters are open ended, which causes water to gush out the ends and alongside the house, which in turn, despite our french drains, causes some leaking in the basement. You would think that since the problem could be easily solved, we'd actually do something to fix it, but we haven't yet. We are good project starters, but not so good at the finishing details.
I knew the water coming out of the downspout would be a problem, so I rushed to gather the five gallon buckets we were using to catch the run off. I knew there was a problem when I put the bucket under this gutter and it literally filled in less than 20 seconds.
On a side note, I want to give a huge SHOUT OUT to the Tyvek people. Our sunroom has been wrapped in Tyvek for years and other than some fading and dirt on it, the Tyvek is still in place, protecting the interior of the house from the elements. If Tyvek was offered in colors, I would buy it and just put it around my whole house and say "DONE." Yes, of course, I want siding and proper mill work around my windows, but until the day comes when we can finally do it right, yellow Tyvek would really do the trick!
I filled every other bucket and container I could find
I even put our giant cooler under a gutter and we still had water gushing out of the gutter and pooling around the house.
I quickly called Erik because every available container I had was filled with water and I needed something else. Something bigger. Earlier in the week, Erik had picked up his huge, I-don't-know-how-many-gallon-water tank from a friend who had borrowed it. Since it requires the skid steer to load and unload it, he just automatically took it to the barnyard and unloaded it there. I suppose this was partly because we were not anticipating any rainfall, but also we didn't really think twice about it. That is until we had rain on Thursday and he wasn't here to load the tank with his skid steer and move it under the above mentioned downspout.
The final words of the call were, "You can drive it, honey. You've done it before." Mind you, the only times I've used the skid steer before is when we have been working on a project and Erik has been right beside me shouting explicit instructions on what I was supposed to do every single step. The one time I did use it by myself it was just to move some dirt that was already in the bucket up to where I wanted it and even then, I just shoveled the dirt out of the bucket. This was big. HUGE. So, I slipped on my Mary Jane crocs, (you know, typical footwear for the seasoned farmer) yelled to Walker, "Come on buddy, you're going to have to help me!" and headed out to the barn to get the skid steer.
We get out there and the bucket is attached to the front of the skid steer, so we have to unlock it and get it off. The process for starting the skid steer is pretty simple, you climb in, sit down, pull the safety bar down (it has an automatic safety that if this bar is not down, you cannot drive it) and push an overdrive button, then use the handles to move the machine forward or backward. I put Walker in the drivers seat and he did all of that and it would not move. He shut it down, and started it back up to try again and just as he was going to back up, I noticed our Banty hen had her three tiny baby chicks under the skid steer. Luckily one of the kids had left his or her butterfly net out in the barn, so I was able to reach under and scoop up the baby chicks one at a time and put them on top of the lawn mower and safety. This, however, put the mama in a tailspin, and she was NOT coming out from under the skid steer until she found her babies. I finally got her caught in the butterfly net, scooped her and her babies up and put them inside one of the feeding troughs so they would be safe. Walker tried to back up again and it didn't work so I told him we had to switch places. I don't know what we ended up doing, but finally we got it to go in reverse. Walker climbed in with me and we backed out of the barn and headed toward the hoop house shed where Erik typically keeps the fork attachment for the skid steer. We meandered through the obstacle course that is typical for this time of year to the back shed and it wasn't there. So, thinking that after all that, we have to give up, we start back towards the barn to put the skid steer away when we see the forks on the other side of the barn. We spent a good 10 minutes in pouring rain trying to get the forks on the skid steer.
Just so you know, driving a skid steer is easy. Operating the bucket/fork attachments is very difficult. Our particular skid steer has pedals on the floor boards that operate the arm function. The toe and heel area of each foot controls a certain operation of that arm. The right toe and heel raises and lowers the bucket/forks and the left toe and heel lifts the arms up and down. If you do not have firm grasp of this, you look like I did trying to get the forks set on the arms, jerking up and down, raising the arm up above the top of the skid steer. It is a really delicate process, and if you ever have the opportunity to see an operator in action and see how smoothly they are able to do their job, it is a thing of wonder. Walker understood that each toe and heel movement performed a specific function of the skid steer, but due to the loudness of the machine itself, plus the pounding of the rain on the steel roof of the skid steer, it was hard to hear him giving me directions as he helped me line up the arms to put the attachment on. Finally, he climbed back into the skid steer with me, would lean down and push the toe or heel that was to do the work. He was like my Annie Sullivan for the skid steer world. Once we got the forks on, he jumped back out, locked them, and we were able to easily put the tank on the forks, drive it up to the house and put it under the gutter.
Thankfully, it was still raining by the time we got it under the downspout and while we didn't manage to catch as much water as we could have, you can see we have about five inches at the bottom of the tank. A good start for sure and an adventure with my oldest boy that he will hopefully remember and laugh about and cherish when he is older.
Water
When we first bought our house, taped onto and inside almost half of the cabinet doors of the kitchen were notes on what to do if there was no water. Since we completely renovated the house and replaced the holding tank for the well, we never were particularly concerned. Our only apprehension was that the well itself was drilled adjacent to the house and incorporated into the basement structure of our house. Along the driveway, there is a large concrete surface about 18 inches above the ground and in the basement (which is actually a cellar) you skirt through the parts that would be behind the house and in the back is where all the gear for our well is. It's a damp, dark, desolate room that I try to avoid as much as possible. In fact, I think I've managed to only visit that area two or three times in the eight years we've lived here.
Most places we've been or looked at tend to have the well drilled away from the house. In the "old" days, people used to put those sweet little rounded stone walls with a roof on their wells so that they could draw water from it with a bucket. In fact, there's a farm near us that has a beautiful field stone well wall in their yard from days of yore.
We were not so lucky. All we got was a white and green, aluminum clad, falling down, double seater, faux outhouse.
Yes, that's right, I referred to an outhouse as faux. Why might I do this? Because although the outhouse was equipped with everything from the half moon door to the double seats inside,
there was no ditch for the "function" portion of the outhouse. We attempted to move the outhouse several years ago to use it as a shed near our now non-existent garden, but as soon as Erik lifted it with the skid loader bucket, it fell apart.
Anyway, the well is located basically beneath our house. In the almost eight years we've lived here, it's never given us a lick of trouble other than our holding tank at times not being able to keep up with our demand and that is usually only when an animal has knocked the automatic waterer off the base and caused the trough to overflow or if the kids have decided to crack open one of the frost free's
and make mud puddles, mud pies, or cover each other in mud.
That is, until now.
The last few months have been abnormally dry around here. About three weeks ago, we started having problems with water. Our first fear was that our well was running dry. We'd have periodic spells where we'd be running water and then all of a sudden, the water would stop. Not good. We immediately implemented our best conservation practices; doing a few loads of laundry at the laundry mat, restricting showers (the kids take a nightly bath in the pool except Saturday when we wash them in the shower and wash their hair), unplugging our commercial icemaker (I'm sure this seems frivolous to many people, but having a limitless supply of ice for Erik to take to work daily, especially during this recent heat, is almost essential), not running the dishwasher, etc. When you think about what is required of our well daily, just on the human population alone, you can see the well is really put to the test. I am so grateful we have a well and don't have to pay for water! Add in our barnyard critters, which the goats, alpacas, and donkey alone drink at least a gallon a day draining about 75 gallons of water daily!
Erik would hustle down to the well-room and wiggle the pressure gauge on the tank and he would hear water start trickling in the holding tank again. After about a week of this stop and go water, Erik finally had the time to run to the plumbing supply company that we frequent and was able to buy the replacement parts and fix the gauge. So far, the water has not run out like it was doing before, but there are times, on days when I really push the well to its limits, that we have very low pressure for a few minutes.
All of this background story is to tell you about the adventure Walker and I had on Thursday afternoon during a BIG storm!
But that story is for another day.
For now, please whether you have city water or a well, please conserve your water. When you are running your water while brushing your teeth, or waiting for the hot water to come through the pipe, think about the portion of the USA that is in a severe heat and drought crisis and pray for them. I've read in farming publications that portions of the Southwest haven't seen a drop of rain since September 2010! Many farmers/ranchers are selling their cattle at a HUGE loss because they no longer can feed or water them. The heat is especially bad for our crops too. Many of you know sweet corn was behind schedule (and supplies are limited as evidenced by Ambrose's selling out of corn by 11 am most days) because the heat and lack of rain is horribly detrimental to our crops. While you may think this only affects the farmers and ranchers, it does not. If corn harvests are bad, prices will rise yet again. If you think the oil industry caused trouble because of the prices rising, imagine what the impact will be if food AND fuel cannot meet demand! If you're not really a praying person, now would be the time to pray not just for rain, but for those folks depending on the rain, not just for relief, but for their lives.
Most places we've been or looked at tend to have the well drilled away from the house. In the "old" days, people used to put those sweet little rounded stone walls with a roof on their wells so that they could draw water from it with a bucket. In fact, there's a farm near us that has a beautiful field stone well wall in their yard from days of yore.
We were not so lucky. All we got was a white and green, aluminum clad, falling down, double seater, faux outhouse.
(this is not a picture of our faux outhouse but is quite close except our roof was dark green)
Yes, that's right, I referred to an outhouse as faux. Why might I do this? Because although the outhouse was equipped with everything from the half moon door to the double seats inside,
there was no ditch for the "function" portion of the outhouse. We attempted to move the outhouse several years ago to use it as a shed near our now non-existent garden, but as soon as Erik lifted it with the skid loader bucket, it fell apart.
Anyway, the well is located basically beneath our house. In the almost eight years we've lived here, it's never given us a lick of trouble other than our holding tank at times not being able to keep up with our demand and that is usually only when an animal has knocked the automatic waterer off the base and caused the trough to overflow or if the kids have decided to crack open one of the frost free's
and make mud puddles, mud pies, or cover each other in mud.
That is, until now.
The last few months have been abnormally dry around here. About three weeks ago, we started having problems with water. Our first fear was that our well was running dry. We'd have periodic spells where we'd be running water and then all of a sudden, the water would stop. Not good. We immediately implemented our best conservation practices; doing a few loads of laundry at the laundry mat, restricting showers (the kids take a nightly bath in the pool except Saturday when we wash them in the shower and wash their hair), unplugging our commercial icemaker (I'm sure this seems frivolous to many people, but having a limitless supply of ice for Erik to take to work daily, especially during this recent heat, is almost essential), not running the dishwasher, etc. When you think about what is required of our well daily, just on the human population alone, you can see the well is really put to the test. I am so grateful we have a well and don't have to pay for water! Add in our barnyard critters, which the goats, alpacas, and donkey alone drink at least a gallon a day draining about 75 gallons of water daily!
Erik would hustle down to the well-room and wiggle the pressure gauge on the tank and he would hear water start trickling in the holding tank again. After about a week of this stop and go water, Erik finally had the time to run to the plumbing supply company that we frequent and was able to buy the replacement parts and fix the gauge. So far, the water has not run out like it was doing before, but there are times, on days when I really push the well to its limits, that we have very low pressure for a few minutes.
All of this background story is to tell you about the adventure Walker and I had on Thursday afternoon during a BIG storm!
But that story is for another day.
For now, please whether you have city water or a well, please conserve your water. When you are running your water while brushing your teeth, or waiting for the hot water to come through the pipe, think about the portion of the USA that is in a severe heat and drought crisis and pray for them. I've read in farming publications that portions of the Southwest haven't seen a drop of rain since September 2010! Many farmers/ranchers are selling their cattle at a HUGE loss because they no longer can feed or water them. The heat is especially bad for our crops too. Many of you know sweet corn was behind schedule (and supplies are limited as evidenced by Ambrose's selling out of corn by 11 am most days) because the heat and lack of rain is horribly detrimental to our crops. While you may think this only affects the farmers and ranchers, it does not. If corn harvests are bad, prices will rise yet again. If you think the oil industry caused trouble because of the prices rising, imagine what the impact will be if food AND fuel cannot meet demand! If you're not really a praying person, now would be the time to pray not just for rain, but for those folks depending on the rain, not just for relief, but for their lives.
You Might Be a Farmer's Wife . . .
I found this and am reposting. So funny! I highlighted the ones most applicable to my current life, although, several others apply to me as well. Kudos to all you farm wives out there - especially the ones that work WAY harder than I have to.
You Might be a Farmer's Wife . . .
You Might be a Farmer's Wife . . .
- If your name is taped to the side of a cakepan:
- If you call the implement dealer and he recognizes your voice:
- If the vet’s number is on the speed dial of your phone:
- If you know how to change the flat on your car, but can’t because the spare is on a flatbed:
- If your second vehicle is still a pickup:
- If the folks in the Emergency Room have a pool going for your kids and it involves the type of injury and when it will occur:
- If your husband has ever used field equipment to maintain your yard:
- If you’re in the habit of buying foodstuffs in bulk:
- If a "night out" involves the local 4-H club:
- If the word "auction" makes you tingle:
- If you’ve ever washed your kids or the dishes with a pressure washer:
- If "picking rock" is considered a chance to get out of the house:
- If "wild game" reminds you of dinner and not the bedroom:
- If "a little bit of lunch" involves 6 courses and a dessert made from scratch:
- If the "fresh ingredients" your recipe calls for reminds you to do the chores:
- If taking lunch to the field is as close as you get to a picnic:
- If that pail with a hole in it is a flowerpot in the making:
- If your rock garden was hand-picked:
- If you can mend a pair of pants and the fence that ripped them:
- If you’re on the lookout for new uses for "Jell-O":
- If the shopping list in your purse includes the sizes of filters, tires, overalls, chains, belts, lights, cables, spark plugs or shotgun shells:
- If "Farm", "Ranch", "Country", "Cowboy" or "Antique" is in the name of your favorite magazine:
- If your tan lines are somewhere below your shoulder and above your elbow:
- If "Lacey" or "Frilly" refers to a farm animal but not your nightgown:
- If you ever went on a date to the rodeo:
- If you’ve ever been grateful for fingernail polish, because it hides the dirt under your nails:
- If you’ve ever called your husband to supper, using a radio: (cell phone)
- If you buy antiques because they match the rest of your furniture:
- If being taken out to dinner has ever included a talk by a seed corn dealer:
- If your driveway is longer than a stone’s throw:
- If your mailbox looks like a piece of farm machinery:
- If your kids’ wading pool has ever doubled as a stock tank, or vice versa:
- If the daily paper is always a day late:
- If you have a yard, but not a lawn:
- If you have lots of machinery and each piece is worth more than your house:
- If the leaky barn roof gets fixed, before the leaky house roof:
- If duct tape is always on your shopping list:
- If the neighbor’s house is best viewed with binoculars:
- If the directions to your house include the words, "miles," "silos," "last," or "gravel road":
- If the tractor and the combine have air conditioning and an FM radio but your car doesn’t:
- If your storage shed is a barn:
- If you measure travel in miles not minutes:
- If your farm equipment has the latest global positioning technology and you still can’t find your husband:
- If you consider "hot dish" a food group:
- If your husband says, "Can you help me for a few minutes?" and you know that might be anywhere from a few minutes to six hours:
- If you plan your vacations around farm shows:
- If Zaa Zaa Gabor is on your list of "Most Admired Persons":
- If grass stains are the least of your laundry problems:
- If your refrigerator contains medicine, livestock medicine:
- If your car’s color is two-toned and one color is gravel road brown:
- If you knew everyone in your high school:
- If you’ve ever grown your own wall decorations:
- If you’ve entertained the romantic notion of living in an old, country farmhouse with a fireplace, but gave it up because firsthand experience tells you that it’s cold, drafty, smoky and sooty:
- If you use newspapers to help keep the kitchen floor clean:
- If you’ve ever said, "Oh, it’s only a little mud.":
- If you need a pair of vice grips to run a household appliance:
- If your husband gave you flowers, but you had to plant the seeds yourself:
- If you've used the loader to reach the windows when they needed washing:
- If you’ve ever used a broom to shoo a critter:
- If you’ve ever discovered a batch of kittens in your laundry basket:
- If dinner is at noon and lunch is before and after dinner:
- If you don't need the recipe to make Rice Krispies bars:
- If you shovel the sidewalk, with a skidsteer loader:
- If you can find a use for that old tractor seat:
- If you've ever found mice in the underwear drawer:
- If quality time with your hubby means you'll have a flashlight in one hand and a wrench in the other:
- If you know the difference between field corn and sweet corn:
- If you buy your husband's "dress" socks at Campbell's Supply:
- If family "pets" include deer, coons, squirrels, foxes or birds:
- If you can make a meal that can be ready in six minutes and will still be ready in two hours:
- If your basement is really a cellar:
- If "sharing a cab" has nothing to do with a taxi and everything to do with getting across the field:
- If your job in town is considered a farm subsidy:
Heatwave: July 21st Edition.
All you folks out there that complain of 6 below temperatures this winter, I have one questions?
"Are you happy now?"
Personally, I'd take 20 below over 95 with a heat index of 105 and humidity ANY day.
Seriously!
I'm not exactly going to say I long for days that look like this, but I could handle some cooler temperatures:
Sure, a lot more clothing is involved, but has anyone noticed it is far easier to HEAT a home than it is to cool it? Well, at least at our house where our fuel is not only free, but abundant. It would take us a long time to burn all the trees on our property - if we had to. We don't have to - don't yell at me about the environment. We only burn already fallen trees or trees that are starting to die or will not grow because of the over growth in the vicinity.
Not that I'm complaining though. We are very fortunate that the pool is FINALLY set and we've been swimming constantly all week. We actually got the liner correctly last Monday, scheduled water for Tuesday and got all three tanker loads in with NO incident. We even managed to work together to cut the liner for the skimmer and patch a few small holes that we got in the liner due to the overworking of it the previous two weeks.
It is heavenly.
Everyone in the family LOVES it and we're happy to have our friends over to swim with us!
The kids are exploring all the new pool toys I've been able to buy on clearance since summer is half over : ) I'm thinking pool toys/rafts/beach towels will be GREAT things to stock up on for stocking stuffers and Easter baskets. Someone please remind me to do that as I do not ever want to leave the house again since I can stay immersed in the pool all day!
The people we bought our pool from used had a box of pool things they threw in with the pool. In the box were some plastic sharks, dolphins and an alligator. Willie loves that alligator.
Hello, Walker. These giant green goggles are the only ones that fit him. I cannot find any goggles to fit my kids faces. Even the Youth 4+ goggles I found at Walmart, where the eye pieces are the size of quarters don't fit them.
We had my niece and nephew stay with us for a few days.
Our schedule went something like this:
Wake up.
Eat
Swim
Eat
Swim
Eat
Swim
Make kids get out of pool and rest even though they don't really want to but bribe them with a movie and a sweet snack.
Swim
Eat
Swim
Eat
Brush teeth
Bed
The times of these events really don't matter - in fact, I'm relearning that when you have a pool, the time doesn't matter. You just rely on your carnal instincts to tell you what your body needs.
Today some of the girls from my book league managed to drag their sweaty bodies to my house for a swim party. We were supposed to also discuss the book we recently read,
And everyone hung out in the pool.
The kids jumped and played and swam.
and noodled
and splashed
and smiled.
And I smiled. Because we were fortunate enough to be able to put in this pool and we have wonderful friends to share it with us. These memories are what will keep me warm when the days once again look like this:
"Are you happy now?"
Personally, I'd take 20 below over 95 with a heat index of 105 and humidity ANY day.
Seriously!
I'm not exactly going to say I long for days that look like this, but I could handle some cooler temperatures:
Sure, a lot more clothing is involved, but has anyone noticed it is far easier to HEAT a home than it is to cool it? Well, at least at our house where our fuel is not only free, but abundant. It would take us a long time to burn all the trees on our property - if we had to. We don't have to - don't yell at me about the environment. We only burn already fallen trees or trees that are starting to die or will not grow because of the over growth in the vicinity.
Not that I'm complaining though. We are very fortunate that the pool is FINALLY set and we've been swimming constantly all week. We actually got the liner correctly last Monday, scheduled water for Tuesday and got all three tanker loads in with NO incident. We even managed to work together to cut the liner for the skimmer and patch a few small holes that we got in the liner due to the overworking of it the previous two weeks.
It is heavenly.
Everyone in the family LOVES it and we're happy to have our friends over to swim with us!
The people we bought our pool from used had a box of pool things they threw in with the pool. In the box were some plastic sharks, dolphins and an alligator. Willie loves that alligator.
We had my niece and nephew stay with us for a few days.
Wake up.
Eat
Swim
Eat
Swim
Eat
Swim
Make kids get out of pool and rest even though they don't really want to but bribe them with a movie and a sweet snack.
Swim
Eat
Swim
Eat
Brush teeth
Bed
The times of these events really don't matter - in fact, I'm relearning that when you have a pool, the time doesn't matter. You just rely on your carnal instincts to tell you what your body needs.
Today some of the girls from my book league managed to drag their sweaty bodies to my house for a swim party. We were supposed to also discuss the book we recently read,
but apparently only me and one other girl (who was unable to make our meeting today) enjoyed the book, so our discussion was pretty much just a poll of who actually read the book, who liked it, and then silence.
But we got to visit with this little fella.
And everyone hung out in the pool.
The kids jumped and played and swam.
And I smiled. Because we were fortunate enough to be able to put in this pool and we have wonderful friends to share it with us. These memories are what will keep me warm when the days once again look like this:
Update: End of Spring, Beginning of Summer 2011 Edition
The last two months have FLOWN by.
Don't I say that every post?
Since I last posted:
This guy had a first birthday.
Willie James, our little daredevil, flies down the slide with no fear!
Guests sit on the deck and enjoy the beautiful afternoon.
Will on a tummy slide.
Maggie gets in on the slide action too.
Crashing at the bottom.
We had a froggy theme birthday complete with a froggy cake. The little cupcakes to the side of the frog are supposed to be decorated with flies. I ran out of black food coloring, so I had to make them red.
Whit was a little hesitant to eat his cake at first,
but once he saw his big brother, Will, scarfing down the cake,
he dug in pretty quickly with his hands.
At the end of the day we had lots of sleepy
It was a huge success even though we didn't get our pool in by the time of the party. The day was beautiful, and as always, we have wonderful family and friends who make every event so special!
This girl had her last day of preschool and is now officially a Kindergartener!
Maggie May on her last day of school with her super sweet teacher, Mrs. Yam.
This guy finished first grade with all A's and B's and despite having all A's and B's, he was worried he wasn't getting into second grade. I reassured him he passed and he's now happily working the summer away waiting to start second grade while I pray that time slows down so I can have him as my little boy forever.
Don't I say that every post?
Since I last posted:
This guy had a first birthday.
And a first birthday party complete with a blow up slip n slide. He didn't get to partake in the slip n slide portion of the party, but other kids did and they had a blast.
Willie James, our little daredevil, flies down the slide with no fear!
he dug in pretty quickly with his hands.
It was a huge success even though we didn't get our pool in by the time of the party. The day was beautiful, and as always, we have wonderful family and friends who make every event so special!
This girl had her last day of preschool and is now officially a Kindergartener!
This guy finished first grade with all A's and B's and despite having all A's and B's, he was worried he wasn't getting into second grade. I reassured him he passed and he's now happily working the summer away waiting to start second grade while I pray that time slows down so I can have him as my little boy forever.
First day 2010:
Last day 2011:
He's actually wearing the same outfit, you just couldn't see it on the first day because he wore a sweatshirt. You can't tell, but in the first picture he is missing teeth and his teeth are crooked, and the last day, his teeth have all come in, they are straight and he's wearing braces and expanders. He's getting all grown up looking and I can't even stand it. So far since school has been out, he's chosen to go to work with Erik more days than he stays home, he talks and acts like an older boy, and I can tell that as the summer wears on, he'll lose the remaining "little boyishness" he has left. It makes me extremely sad.
This guy:
hasn't changed a whole lot except his vocabulary is becoming more four year old than three year old. He can swim without a bubble for a limited amount of time, dives into the pool, swims underwater and can dive for things on the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. He may be my Michael Phelps. He only has had swimming lessons since September of 2010 and we quit all lessons for all of the kids for the summer so we don't have to adhere to a schedule so we could enjoy our new pool.
Which brings me to THE POOL!
We found a used above ground pool for an amazing price. It is an old aluminum one and when Erik went to look at it back in MARCH, he said it was in great shape, the people took really good care of it and it was perfect.
We didn't even begin to tear it down until the beginning of June. If you can remember, prior to this drought, we had a month of rain. Even if it had been dry enough for Erik to go get the pool, he was busy catching up on work from all the days of rain we had. So, the pool party I was planning for Whitaker's first birthday became a slip n slide party.
Enter mid June, we finally get the pool to our house and set up. Our awesome friend, Fred, spent the entire afternoon with Erik along with another friend that sometimes works for Erik, we got the pool set up and the liner installed. It was the hottest day of the year by far, and they were working with brown aluminum. I should have known it all went too easily.
The three men got the 27 foot pool up with what I would consider little difficulty. It was hard, physical work, and they made it look very easy.
By the time evening came, the liner was in, all the pieces were in place and by amazing fortune, a local Volunteer Fire Department happened to return my call saying that they would be able to deliver water to fill the pool so we were able to cancel the more expensive delivery of water from a water service. Once the liner was in, Erik commented as they were putting the caps on, "Wonder if we should have tried flipping the J-channel to see if the liner was supposed to fit the other way?" Those words would turn out to be might fortuitous . . . but in the meantime I was dancing a jig that in just a measly 24 hours, we would have a pool to swim in!
They were going to deliver the water the day after we got the pool put together. PERFECT!
Enter the 5,000 gallon tank delivery truck.
The volunteer fireman begins filling the pool up with water. I'm watching, contentedly knowing by afternoon we'll be swimming in our very own pool!
Just like that, tragedy strikes. I look away for two seconds and the liner has fallen out of the track and the day is over. Turns out Erik's prophecy was correct and we did indeed have the J-channel upside down. I politely ask the volunteer if he can please stop, almost have a heart attack as I check the liner thinking that it has torn, not just fallen out, and then I go inside and cry my eyes out. Not really. I called my husband in a panic, we mayday/sos message all of our friends and set up another work night to get the liner pulled back into the track and get the pool fixed.
We are blessed with an amazing group of friends who rolled up their sleeves and helped us out so much. God has truly blessed us with such amazing people in our lives and I can't praise them enough for their sacrifice and love. They all know who they are and know that they now have a lifelong pass to the Schwalm pool!
I finally arranged today for delivery of the final 16,000 gallons of water to our pool! Hopefully by Sunday afternoon, we'll be sitting in our pool rafts sipping an icy beverage while the kids splash around us.
Of course, that's the plan and you all know about the best laid plans.
Blue Jeans
Maggie got a copy of Tangled for Easter. As a result we've been watching the movie on a regular basis on these rainy afternoons when the kids have been restless and normal activities are not occupying their time.
Today, after swimming lessons, while Maggie is eating peanut butter crackers, we have this conversation:
Maggie: Can I play Barbies in my room after Whitaker wakes up from his nap?
Me: Sure you can.
Maggie: Momma. I need to get thin wire.
Me: Um, Ok. Why?
Maggie (in a haughty, you ought to already know tone): You know! For blue jeans.
Me: Wait? Who's blue jeans. Why do you need thin wire for blue jeans?
Maggie: For Rapunzel
Me: Oh, you mean your horse? Did you name her Blue Jeans ? (here I was thinking I was cleverly catching on to her train of thought by remembering that in the Hannah Montana movie, she has a horse named Blue Jeans so I thought Maggie had named her Barbie horse Blue Jeans). What are you going to do with thin wire and Blue Jeans?
Maggie: I need Blue Jeans so he can marry Rapunzel
Me: I still don't understand why you need thin wire!?
Maggie, thoroughly exasperated with me: Mooooommmmmaaaaa! Thin Wire is Blue Jeans. That's hims real name in the movie. When he's a stealer, he's Thin Wire, when he's gonna marry Rapunzel, he's Blue Jeans.
Let me introduce to you Flynn Rider also known around our house as Thin Wire. His real name is Eugene or around our house he's Blue Jeans.
I'm so thankful I can count on my kids to provide some comic relief to my day. I wish I could capture in printed word the frustration, irritation and exasperation in Maggie's tone as we were having this discussion.
I'm trying not to think about the fact that in just a few short years, she may be speaking to me in that tone all the time.
In case you were in need of some more clarification about the characters of Tangled and all things Disney:
the horse in Tangled is named Mass-i-mus.
Cinderella has a fairy godmudder because fairy godmudders are good.
It turns out that Mother Gothel, the woman who steals Rapunzel from her Royal parents, is a Fodder-god-mudder. Fodder-god-mudders are bad.
I'm glad we don't have any Fodder-god-mudders around here.
Today, after swimming lessons, while Maggie is eating peanut butter crackers, we have this conversation:
Maggie: Can I play Barbies in my room after Whitaker wakes up from his nap?
Me: Sure you can.
Maggie: Momma. I need to get thin wire.
Me: Um, Ok. Why?
Maggie (in a haughty, you ought to already know tone): You know! For blue jeans.
Me: Wait? Who's blue jeans. Why do you need thin wire for blue jeans?
Maggie: For Rapunzel
Me: Oh, you mean your horse? Did you name her Blue Jeans ? (here I was thinking I was cleverly catching on to her train of thought by remembering that in the Hannah Montana movie, she has a horse named Blue Jeans so I thought Maggie had named her Barbie horse Blue Jeans). What are you going to do with thin wire and Blue Jeans?
Maggie: I need Blue Jeans so he can marry Rapunzel
Me: I still don't understand why you need thin wire!?
Maggie, thoroughly exasperated with me: Mooooommmmmaaaaa! Thin Wire is Blue Jeans. That's hims real name in the movie. When he's a stealer, he's Thin Wire, when he's gonna marry Rapunzel, he's Blue Jeans.
Let me introduce to you Flynn Rider also known around our house as Thin Wire. His real name is Eugene or around our house he's Blue Jeans.
I'm so thankful I can count on my kids to provide some comic relief to my day. I wish I could capture in printed word the frustration, irritation and exasperation in Maggie's tone as we were having this discussion.
I'm trying not to think about the fact that in just a few short years, she may be speaking to me in that tone all the time.
In case you were in need of some more clarification about the characters of Tangled and all things Disney:
the horse in Tangled is named Mass-i-mus.
Cinderella has a fairy godmudder because fairy godmudders are good.
It turns out that Mother Gothel, the woman who steals Rapunzel from her Royal parents, is a Fodder-god-mudder. Fodder-god-mudders are bad.
I'm glad we don't have any Fodder-god-mudders around here.
Schwalmish
Our family is a little enamored with the Amish. We are lucky to live in an area where there are still a few Amish communities relatively close and we take advantage of their proximity by visiting many of the communities and purchasing goods from them. Walker's loft bed was made by a friendly Amishman, Christ Miller.
We got our play house at an Amish fundraising auction. These types of auctions can be found almost every Saturday of the summer. Most often, the auctions are used to raise money for Amish communities to use toward community needs - to raise a barn that had been destroyed by fire, to build a new schoolhouse, and most often, to raise funds to pay for medical bills for a family. My mother in law first introduced me to these auctions and she was the one put in charge of finding the playhouse. I frequently give her a list of items I'm looking for and most Saturdays I keep my cell phone handy waiting for a text asking how high I'm willing to go on a certain item. The play house was an amazing steal - we got it for thousands less than we would have paid to buy one in a kit at a box store or to even buy the materials and build it ourselves. Thankfully, Erik had the tools to get it home (a truck and large flatbed trailer) and we moved it right in pretty easily. It's been a dominant feature in the children's play just about every day and it serves as a great dog house for our pack of farm dogs!
From applebutter to rag rugs, we turn to the Amish for a lot of things at our house. One thing that I've become envious of as we drive around Amish country and visit the businesses in search of some goodies is their clotheslines. Many of the women have extraordinary clothes lines that start at the back door and are strung up to a tall tree a hundred feet or so away. The lines are on a pulley system so all the launderer has to do is step outside the door with the dirty clothes, pin them on the line and pull the opposite line to get the clothes to climb up the pulley and hang in the breeze.
Erik actually bought me the tools we would need to create such a line for Christmas. The bag of stuff has sat on a shelf in the decorative Christmas bag for months until this past week when we had to take the old clothesline down in order for Erik to dig a large hole in our back yard to prepare for the installation of a fun summertime toy.
Erik had borrowed an extension ladder from our neighbor, a general contractor, in order to plug a hole in our house pecked out by a woodpecker. As he was filling the hole with expandable foam insulation, I said, "Hey! While we have this ladder, why don't we put up the new clothes line?" So he did! He attached one pulley to a sturdy cherry tree out in the woods (after clearing some poison ivy off the left side of the tree - you can see in the picture that the trunk V's about feet up).
Thankfully, we had some beautiful days last week and I was able to hang some clothes outside. The first day I hung clothes out, I didn't have enough clothespins, so I had to make do with what I had, but I have to admit I was very disappointed that I didn't have enough clothespins.
I got more clothespins now and I think I'll have enough space to hang almost all of our bedsheets at once!
I can't wait for the sunshine to finally arrive so I can test my new Schwalmish clothesline to the fullest!
Farm Fresh is ALWAYS Best!
I haven't had to buy meat from a grocery store in years (going on 5 years) now. We get all of our beef, pork, poultry, etc., by raising our own or by purchasing it from a local farmer and having it processed at a local butcher.
I am low on beef and pork now and I saw in a local grocery store ad that they had pork tenderloins for $3.99 a pound which I thought was a good deal. Given the rising cost of groceries in general, I was psyched to find such a good deal. Add to the good deal the fact that I needed to have some pork on hand for some upcoming meals I was planning, it seemed like a win-win situation. Normally, I am strict about buying locally, but I figured since we don't have enough cash on hand yet to buy and process the entire hog, I would get by with purchasing some grocery store meat. Since I haven't done it in five years, it seemed like an OK plan.
I purchased the pork tenderloin on Monday. The "sell by" date was 5-11-11. I opened the vacuumed sealed pork the morning of 5-12-11 to find a slimy rancid piece of pork.
After sticking my nose into it a few times, hoping each time that I would come up with a different result, I had to finally admit that the meat was spoiled. I grabbed a baggie from the drawer to put the meat back in so I could return the meat to the store and as I was grabbing the packaging to show the manager, I realized that there were actually TWO stickers on the package. One was overtop of the other. I held the package up to the light and was able to see through the label that the first "sell by" date was actually 5-5-11.
Infuriated that the store did that, I went online to research whether that practice was illegal and it turns out it IS NOT! According to the USDA website:
What is Dating?
"Open Dating" (use of a calendar date as opposed to a code) on a food product is a date stamped on a product's package to help the store determine how long to display the product for sale. It can also help the purchaser to know the time limit to purchase or use the product at its best quality. It is not a safety date. After the date passes, while not of best quality, the product should still be safe if handled properly and kept at 40 °F or below for the recommended storage times listed on the chart (see below). If product has a "use-by" date, follow that date. If product has a "sell-by" date or no date, cook or freeze the product by the times on the chart below.
[Top of Page]
Is Dating Required by Federal Law?
Except for infant formula and some baby food (see below), product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. However, if a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and day of the month (and the year, in the case of shelf-stable and frozen products). If a calendar date is shown, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as "sell-by" or "use before."
There is no uniform or universally accepted system used for food dating in the United States. Although dating of some foods is required by more than 20 states, there are areas of the country where much of the food supply has some type of open date and other areas where almost no food is dated.
According to these guidelines, I should have had three to five more days to cook the meat based on the date that was clearly visible on the package!
Obviously, I'm going to return the meat to the store and demand a refund and strongly suggest that they stop re-labeling meat and selling it to the public. When I think of the ways things could have gone wrong - what if I was an inexperienced cook who did not know that slimy, smelly meat meant it was spoiled? It's scary! What if I had still had a head cold and hadn't been able to smell the putrid odor coming from the pork? it is irresponsible for that grocery store to sell items that could be a health hazard.
One of the issues that modern day farmers have great debate over are situations like this. It is only common sense that small farmers must practice ethical, safe and healthy ways of farming in order to build a reputable business. Unfortunately, there are TONS of rules and regulations that small farmers must follow, hoops to be jumped through, and red tape to cut in order for a small farmer to have a successful and profitable business. However, the government has less strict standards for larger industries. If you boil it all down, what most farmers feel is that they are paying (literally) to be allowed to farm and larger farming institutions (and those related to those larger institutions such as grocery stores) are able to do whatever they want without the same standards. Larger farming institutions are not hurt if one of their product is substandard, but if one of our products is substandard, it hurts our reputation and our business for a very long time.
Additionally, paying the fees required for certain classifications within the USDA guidelines are more than most small farmers can pay when they are starting up a business. Most of the farmers I know practice many components of farming that would be considered "organic." However, having a farm certified organic is often such cost to a farm that any profit that would come from obtaining the certified label would be more than they could spare.
Now, I'm not saying that buying organic is not a good option. As I've said in other posts, these words are just my opinion, and should be recognized as such. I am not an expert, I'm just telling you the experiences I've had as someone (relatively new) in the agriculture industry. In terms of the purchases for my family, it is more important for me, right now, to buy products that are grown locally. Especially beef, pork, and chicken. Right now we are in the process of raising our own chickens again. We have also purchased Berkshire pigs but the sows are being raised to be breeding stock, so it will be a while before we have Goodness Grows Pork available for our own consumption and sale, but in the mean time, we have a friend that raises beef and pork so we will be purchasing beef and pork SOON!
If you are looking for a local farmer to purchase product from, talk to your friends and neighbors and see what they are doing. Stop at a local feed store like an Agway or something like that and ask if they know of anyone who is raising animals for sale. Produce farmers are a little easier to find because of the recent rise to popularity of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Farmer's Markets. Lots of times, if the farmer you contact doesn't have something you are looking for, he or she will know someone that they can refer you to. And you can be happy because you are buying a product that is healthier for you and you are supporting your local community.
My main motivation in purchasing the pork loin was that it was CHEAP. I have officially learned my lesson. I'll be taking my refund from the chain store grocery, running to my local butcher who only sells LOCALLY RAISED beef, pork and chicken, and buying a new piece of meat. Sure, it will be a little pricier, but I will be getting the quality that I'm paying for. And that is worth more than anything.
I am low on beef and pork now and I saw in a local grocery store ad that they had pork tenderloins for $3.99 a pound which I thought was a good deal. Given the rising cost of groceries in general, I was psyched to find such a good deal. Add to the good deal the fact that I needed to have some pork on hand for some upcoming meals I was planning, it seemed like a win-win situation. Normally, I am strict about buying locally, but I figured since we don't have enough cash on hand yet to buy and process the entire hog, I would get by with purchasing some grocery store meat. Since I haven't done it in five years, it seemed like an OK plan.
I purchased the pork tenderloin on Monday. The "sell by" date was 5-11-11. I opened the vacuumed sealed pork the morning of 5-12-11 to find a slimy rancid piece of pork.
After sticking my nose into it a few times, hoping each time that I would come up with a different result, I had to finally admit that the meat was spoiled. I grabbed a baggie from the drawer to put the meat back in so I could return the meat to the store and as I was grabbing the packaging to show the manager, I realized that there were actually TWO stickers on the package. One was overtop of the other. I held the package up to the light and was able to see through the label that the first "sell by" date was actually 5-5-11.
Infuriated that the store did that, I went online to research whether that practice was illegal and it turns out it IS NOT! According to the USDA website:
What is Dating?
"Open Dating" (use of a calendar date as opposed to a code) on a food product is a date stamped on a product's package to help the store determine how long to display the product for sale. It can also help the purchaser to know the time limit to purchase or use the product at its best quality. It is not a safety date. After the date passes, while not of best quality, the product should still be safe if handled properly and kept at 40 °F or below for the recommended storage times listed on the chart (see below). If product has a "use-by" date, follow that date. If product has a "sell-by" date or no date, cook or freeze the product by the times on the chart below.
[Top of Page]
Is Dating Required by Federal Law?
Except for infant formula and some baby food (see below), product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. However, if a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and day of the month (and the year, in the case of shelf-stable and frozen products). If a calendar date is shown, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as "sell-by" or "use before."
There is no uniform or universally accepted system used for food dating in the United States. Although dating of some foods is required by more than 20 states, there are areas of the country where much of the food supply has some type of open date and other areas where almost no food is dated.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
According to these guidelines, I should have had three to five more days to cook the meat based on the date that was clearly visible on the package!
Obviously, I'm going to return the meat to the store and demand a refund and strongly suggest that they stop re-labeling meat and selling it to the public. When I think of the ways things could have gone wrong - what if I was an inexperienced cook who did not know that slimy, smelly meat meant it was spoiled? It's scary! What if I had still had a head cold and hadn't been able to smell the putrid odor coming from the pork? it is irresponsible for that grocery store to sell items that could be a health hazard.
One of the issues that modern day farmers have great debate over are situations like this. It is only common sense that small farmers must practice ethical, safe and healthy ways of farming in order to build a reputable business. Unfortunately, there are TONS of rules and regulations that small farmers must follow, hoops to be jumped through, and red tape to cut in order for a small farmer to have a successful and profitable business. However, the government has less strict standards for larger industries. If you boil it all down, what most farmers feel is that they are paying (literally) to be allowed to farm and larger farming institutions (and those related to those larger institutions such as grocery stores) are able to do whatever they want without the same standards. Larger farming institutions are not hurt if one of their product is substandard, but if one of our products is substandard, it hurts our reputation and our business for a very long time.
Additionally, paying the fees required for certain classifications within the USDA guidelines are more than most small farmers can pay when they are starting up a business. Most of the farmers I know practice many components of farming that would be considered "organic." However, having a farm certified organic is often such cost to a farm that any profit that would come from obtaining the certified label would be more than they could spare.
Now, I'm not saying that buying organic is not a good option. As I've said in other posts, these words are just my opinion, and should be recognized as such. I am not an expert, I'm just telling you the experiences I've had as someone (relatively new) in the agriculture industry. In terms of the purchases for my family, it is more important for me, right now, to buy products that are grown locally. Especially beef, pork, and chicken. Right now we are in the process of raising our own chickens again. We have also purchased Berkshire pigs but the sows are being raised to be breeding stock, so it will be a while before we have Goodness Grows Pork available for our own consumption and sale, but in the mean time, we have a friend that raises beef and pork so we will be purchasing beef and pork SOON!
If you are looking for a local farmer to purchase product from, talk to your friends and neighbors and see what they are doing. Stop at a local feed store like an Agway or something like that and ask if they know of anyone who is raising animals for sale. Produce farmers are a little easier to find because of the recent rise to popularity of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Farmer's Markets. Lots of times, if the farmer you contact doesn't have something you are looking for, he or she will know someone that they can refer you to. And you can be happy because you are buying a product that is healthier for you and you are supporting your local community.
My main motivation in purchasing the pork loin was that it was CHEAP. I have officially learned my lesson. I'll be taking my refund from the chain store grocery, running to my local butcher who only sells LOCALLY RAISED beef, pork and chicken, and buying a new piece of meat. Sure, it will be a little pricier, but I will be getting the quality that I'm paying for. And that is worth more than anything.
Al Fresco
We did something tonight that we haven't done in a long time.
It was a little bit risky. It was something we used to do all the time. It didn't involve much clothing.
We even let the kids join us.
It was a little bit risky. It was something we used to do all the time. It didn't involve much clothing.
We even let the kids join us.
We finally got to eat our dinner outside on the deck!
No long sleeves, not coats, not hats, mittens or snow pants. Boots were still involved, but boots are a staple of our clothing at the farm.
It was amazing!
It was one of those glorious days where the temperature was perfect, the sunshine was so very welcome, and being outside was truly a joy. The kids played outside all day, which made me VERY happy because I had forgotten how clean my house can stay when NO ONE IS INSIDE ALL DAY! Woo-hoo! I did a few chores with limited interruption, was able to start a few projects as well as enjoy a little time outside. Hooray!
I could really get used to this.
The only drawback of the day? An annoying woodpecker pecking the side of our house waking us up early! As Maggie said, "Yeah, that woodpecker kept me up ALL morning!" He sure did make sleeping difficult, and I am afraid he may have done some damage to our lovely exterior. Obviously, he couldn't damage the look of the house, but I do think he managed to put a good hole in the insulbrick. Of course, it had to be on the side of the house where reaching the 2nd floor is all but impossible without some sort of bucket truck. I have a feeling he'll be visiting us again tomorrow morning and then my day will include a trip to Agway to see if I can buy one of those silly plastic owls to hang out of Maggie's window in the hopes of scaring the woodpecker away. The frustrating part is that it's not like we aren't surrounded with 20 acres of woods, some of which we specifically avoided timbering so that we could provide an ecosystem for the variety of animals already in residence on our property. We have on tree in particular that we've seen many redheaded woodpeckers utilize but not this guy.
It looks like tomorrow will shape up to be very similar to today. I can't wait. I'm hoping Erik will have time to finish this big hole he started to dig in the back yard. Details regarding the hole to come soon!
Lyrics and Lessons
I listen to Country music. That's probably fairly obvious given my lifestyle. But I mostly like it because the lyrics usually tell some pretty in depth stories in just a few short verses and I LOVE a good story. Also because it is a "mainstream" genre where artists/writers are able to inject their stories with their beliefs without being rejected as "wacko" and without them being overly religious. I'm sure there is more to the process than what comes out on the radio, but as a general listener, I'm pretty impressed at how many songs with beliefs make it to radio.
Having said that, one of the songs that has been getting a lot of air play lately is Keith Urban's "Without You." Although not one of the aforementioned types of songs, it is a sweet love song. One of the lyrics of this song is "And people that I barely knew, they love me 'cause I'm part of you, Man it's tough to figure". This lyric has been resonating with me a lot in the last few weeks, thinking about how I've been so embraced into our new church home because the people there that I barely knew, knew or knew of my husband and just accepted me because of him. It's happened within my book club with girls, some I knew very well, some not so much, who have just clicked and bonded in a way I could have never dreamed. In a matter of a few months, we've become an additional support system for each other - one that feels like it's been there for a lifetime, not just a few months.
Tonight, it was personified for me - people who love me just because were there for me, so I could in turn be there for a friend.
It shouldn't be surprising that this lyric resonates, because at it's core, it is part of the gift Christ has given us with His sacrifice dying on the cross and His resurrection. I'm part of a larger family because of my belief in Christ. I shouldn't be surprised when someone I barely know does something out of love for me, because it is a reflection of Christ and his love for us. It seems very strange for me, as a girl who grew up in the church, to finally be "getting" this, but it has been resonating so deeply for me of late. I don't know if it because of my age, my life experiences, or just becoming more educated in the Word, but I'm so thankful for this insight. The understanding is allowing me to be more generous with my time and energy and also to be more accepting and thankful of other's gifts of time and energy.
The thing I needed to do tonight would have never happened if people I loved hadn't been there for me to take care of the things I needed cared for while I helped a friend, that they barely knew. My belief is that it all fell into place because God had his hand on the situation opening the doors that needed opened and filling us all with His love so that we could show His love.
Having said that, one of the songs that has been getting a lot of air play lately is Keith Urban's "Without You." Although not one of the aforementioned types of songs, it is a sweet love song. One of the lyrics of this song is "And people that I barely knew, they love me 'cause I'm part of you, Man it's tough to figure". This lyric has been resonating with me a lot in the last few weeks, thinking about how I've been so embraced into our new church home because the people there that I barely knew, knew or knew of my husband and just accepted me because of him. It's happened within my book club with girls, some I knew very well, some not so much, who have just clicked and bonded in a way I could have never dreamed. In a matter of a few months, we've become an additional support system for each other - one that feels like it's been there for a lifetime, not just a few months.
Tonight, it was personified for me - people who love me just because were there for me, so I could in turn be there for a friend.
It shouldn't be surprising that this lyric resonates, because at it's core, it is part of the gift Christ has given us with His sacrifice dying on the cross and His resurrection. I'm part of a larger family because of my belief in Christ. I shouldn't be surprised when someone I barely know does something out of love for me, because it is a reflection of Christ and his love for us. It seems very strange for me, as a girl who grew up in the church, to finally be "getting" this, but it has been resonating so deeply for me of late. I don't know if it because of my age, my life experiences, or just becoming more educated in the Word, but I'm so thankful for this insight. The understanding is allowing me to be more generous with my time and energy and also to be more accepting and thankful of other's gifts of time and energy.
The thing I needed to do tonight would have never happened if people I loved hadn't been there for me to take care of the things I needed cared for while I helped a friend, that they barely knew. My belief is that it all fell into place because God had his hand on the situation opening the doors that needed opened and filling us all with His love so that we could show His love.