Tag Archives: Pets

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Summer Turns to High

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Good song, good song.  Double points if you can name that artist.

It’s not really been too hot around here.  Not the kind of sweltering, energy sapping, kill-me-now heat that I am used to us having at the height of summer, but then summer really did just start, didn’t it?  Which is why it feels so not right that in 4 more weeks the older girls are headed back to school.  August 10 is the first day – just when summer is at it’s dog days best.  The pressure is on to soak up every bit of summer relaxation and enjoyment that we can before homework and early morning alarms rear their ugly heads again.  In that vein, this week we spent a few days camping at the almost local KOA.  My in laws pop-up camper has been conveniently parked in our driveway for a few months so we thought maybe the kids could use some fun time away from home, and the KOA has clean bathrooms and a nice pool.  Ordinarily I am not much for camping – at least not with little kids, since they tend to get every bit as dirty and sticky as possible and stay that way. We had pretty decent accommodations, however, so it was rather fun, even with Neve’s embarrassing outburst upon stepping into the pool the firs time.  Jesus that’s cold!!! she yelled for all to hear.  Ah, Neve.  My inappropriate child. Sigh.

I brought my knitting and a David Sedaris book, but neither got touched.  It’s rough wrangling an almost 2 year old when camping.  Every 11 seconds she was yelling BUG!!!! and had to be convinced that it was OK.

07.09.09c

Our temporary home.  Next time I am purchasing an outdoor rug for Oona to walk around on.  She kept skinning her knees on the gravel.  And yes!  We brought Pippa!  She of the very loud mouth and too much barking!

07.09.09g

Our not-so-roughing-it quarters.

07.09.09d

Poor cute little skinned knees.  She kept making Paul walk her all around the campground, which was funny because her shoes squeak, so all you heard while we were there was that squeak squeak squeak squeak……

07.09.09f

When we were not in the pool we were playing cards.  Uno was the favorite of everyone but Neve, who cried when we didn’t let her look at all of our cards and then demanded we play Old Maid instead.  Despite the outbursts she won several rounds.

07.09.09e

Paul and Oona napped.  Notice his not-really-camping clothes?  This is how he is dressed at all times.  No matter how hot it gets.  Button – up shirt, pants, shoes.  Even at the beach.  It’s one if his quirks.

07.09.09j

Maddie got plenty of boy attention.  She even got “asked out” by one fellow.  She politely declined.  The only love she was after on this trip was some Oona love.

07.09.09l

I think we’re all after a bit of Oona love.

07.09.09k

They had maps there listing all of the KOA’s across North America.  It was a lot of fun to look at.  Maddie was especially excited by the one in Port Angeles, Washington, not very far from the town of Forks (that would be where Twilight is set, for those who dont’ know).

07.09.09i

And then there’s Pippa.  Pippa who got to ride in the truck with her man (and tried to jump out the window at the first stop light), got to go camping with her family, got to sniff at all kinds of new smells and meet all kinds of new people.  Pippa who got to sleep in style in a very comfortable, clean, dry dog house (the ginormous back of the box truck – all for her, complete with her food bowls, a cot and a carpet for her).  Pippa who got treated with bacon the last morning we were there.  Pippa the dog.  Who peed a stinky 2 gallon pee all over my living room carpet our first day home, 10 minutes before our neighbors stopped by, so that I couldn’t invite them in for a nice visit.  Pippa who just woke up the baby with her loud mouth barking.

Ah well.  Can’t win ’em all.  At least the kids had fun!

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A Day In The Life

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12:30 am – off to bed finally.

1:30 am – Wake up to pititful cries of Juice!  Juice! from little Oona.  Administer sippy cup (full of water, not juice), briefly fall back to sleep before waking to DONE!!! and having said sippy cup smacked rudely into face.  Put sippy cup back on nightstand.

2:00 am -Wake up to whining and cries of Cuddle!! from a very restless Oona.  Attempts to cuddle are met with cries of Stop it!  Stop it!  Hey!! Wrestle for 20 minutes trying to get her into a happy and sleepy place.

2:30 am.  PACI!!!! Fumble around in the dark looking for paci in the sheets.  Check under pillows.  Roll over and squint through the darkness on the floor.  Give up and turn on light, ignoring increasingly louder screams for paci.  Pull apart bedsheets and blankets lookng for GD paci.  Concede defeat, grab Oona, go downstairs in search of paci.

2:45 am – back to bed.

7:00 am.  Aware that Oona is wide awake and crawling over to side of bed to get down.  Stop her.  Get rewarded with crying.

10:00 am – Unhappily roll out of bed after enduring 3 hours of restless baby crawling all over and pulling at hair and trying to go downstairs by herself.

10:05 – make coffee while holding Oona, who has begun to scream Oh-gook!!! Grab yogurt out of fridge, sit Oona on bar stool in kitchen with her yogurt, sit down and attempt to drink coffee.

10:10 – finished with her yogurt, Oona throws herself face first off of stool onto floor and cries.

10:15 – cuddling on couch with Oona.

10:20 – Oona throws her weight around and spills now cold cup of coffee all over lap and couch.  Grumble loudly and get up to clean self off and make new cup of coffee.  Neve begins whining campaign in attempt to get her oatmeal made for her.

11:00 am – pull small tick off of belly while getting into shower.  Shampoo while Oona chants Shake your Butt and destroys a roll of toilet paper.

12:00 pm – Oona is total mess 15 minutes after being cleaned and dressed.  Neve wants lunch.  Oona is screaming for apples.  Remind Neve she still has half full bowl of oatmeal to finish.  Watch her stomp and cry.  Manage to elude Oona long enough to get dog on leash and out the back door to relieve herself.  Dog stands still and woeful, unwilling to answer her clearly pressing need due to the rain.  Sigh, return to house, give Oona juice, turn on Spongebob, go to garage with Oona screaming and hot on heels.  Listen to Oona scream on other side of door while getting chicken feed ready.

12:20.  Fall face first into chicken coop while attempting to feed.  Feebly swat away flies with poop – covered hands.  Close up coop after finishing chicken duties.

2:00pm – Cleaned of poop, lunch made and eaten, dishes done, Oona cleaned up from her 4th or 5th meal of the day, relaxing on couch trying to knit.  Oona believes this is “jungle gym” time.  Become increasingly frustrated over arms and feet in face, elbows digging into belly, rancid poopie smell coming from her diaper.  Oona grabs at knitting needles and rips sock in progress away and throws it across room.

2:30 pm – after much wrestling finally manage to convince Oona her diaper needs to be changed.  She continues kicking while being cleanup up, and the dog is frantically asking to go back out.  Throw out diaper, wash hands and grab leash with Oona hanging off of left leg.  Take dog and Oona out in rain.  Dog refuses to budge again.  Walk out into wet and muddy yard with dog, wait full 10 minutes before dog finally does her business.  Go back inside.  EMily and Neve are screaming at each other.  Break up fight.  Emily stomps away in a fury.  Neve wants to know if it is lunch time yet.

3:00 pm.  Oona a total cranky mess,  clearly in need of a nap.  Oona pulls Neve’s hair and tries to rip keys off of laptop.  Stop her and she yells HEY!! and begins throwing tantrum, still holding firmly to Neve’s hair.  Emily yelling at Oona to stop and at Neve to stop.  Yell at Emily to mind her own business.  Emily stomps away in a fury.  Oona lets go of Neve’s hair and demands a marshmallow.

3:30 pm.  Oona still crying for marshmallow.  Opt instead to put her in car and drive around the block to put her to sleep.

3:45 pm  -Oona is asleep after a brief trip to the end of our road.  Put her in bed.  Neve asks for a snack.  Emily wants help with making her bracelet.  Neve can’t find her crayons.  Clean up mess from lunch.  Feed dog, finally.  Emily begs to have coffee.  Refuse.  Emily begs louder and Neve joins.  Give emphatic NO!  EMily stomps off in a fury.  Remark under breath that she will really get it if she wakes up the baby.  Neve begins rough housing with dog.  Give menacing look at both.

4:00 pm – Tidy up downstairs and water hanging flower baskets out front that are too sheltered to benefit from the rain.  Send Emily out with umbrella to check the mail.  Receive incorrect bill of $2,000.00 from insurance company.  Spend half an hour on phone with them while Neve hops around singing and dancing, making too much noise and begging for a marshmallow.  Emily still wants coffee.

5:00 pm Dog barks loudly at Fed-ex truck delivering our monthly coffee shipment.  Neve screams Someone’s here!! and runs for the door, despite being told 800 billion times to NEVER do that.  Emily comes down the stairs with a wide awake Oona in her arms, claiming the dog woke her up.  Neve wants to know what is for dinner.  Resist urge to throw box of coffee at her.

6:00 pm Finish cooking spaghetti while holding Oona.  Find that her diaper has leaked.  Change shirt and put new diaper and dress on Oona.  Serve dinner to kids.  Dog needs to go out again.

6:30 grab plate of food to eat.  Oona screams Cuddle and demands to be held in lap – this makes eating difficult and pretty much guarantees she will be sharing.  Find her juice cup and refill it for her.  Allow kids to play on the Wii while attempting to gain some nourishment.

6:45 pm – Emily and Neve are screaming at each other over game.  Refuse to listen to any instructions.  Turn off Wii.  Emily stomps off in a fury.  Neve wants dessert.  Dog still needs to go out.

7:15 – Clean pile of dog poop off of living room floor.

7:30 pm – clean up dinner mess while holding Oona.

8:00 pm – Sit down on couch, feet aching.  Oona screams for crackers.  Ask Emily to get Oona one graham cracker.  Emily gives her the whole box.

8:10 pm – Oona feeds entire box of graham crackers to the dog.

8:30 pm – fight Oona to change another poopie diaper.

9:00 pm – Yell at older kids to clean up their various messes all over the living and dining rooms.  Neve whines and claims it’s all Emily’s fault.  Put Oona in jammies.  Grab Liquid antibitoics and dropper and begin hunt for Jasper cat.  Put Oona on bed and ask her to stay put while Jasper gets his medicine.  Lock self and cat in bathroom while Oona pounds on door and screams.  Wrap cat in towel, jab dropper in his mouth, squirt meds.  Cat becomes angry but swallows anyway.  Feel bad for the best behaved member of the household and let him go.

9:10 pm.  Open door for Oona who is now naked and wants to sit on her potty.

9:15 pm – re – diaper and dress Oona while Emily and Neve fight over something downstairs.  Ignore it.  Sit on couch with Oona and knitting and try to relax and wait for Oona to go to sleep.

10:00 pm – Neve running around like a wild hooligan and screeching with Oona.  Every attempt to calm them down fails.  Finally scream at Neve to sit quietly and watch tv or go to her room.  Neve stomps away muttering under her breath but goes no further than the kitchen.  Resumes wild behavior 5 minutes later.

10:05 pm – Yell at Neve and repeat warning.  Neve argues she doesn’t want to go upstairs and wants to play with Oona.  Begin counting to three.  Neve stomps toward the stairs crying and screaming.  Oona laughs and demands more “oh-gook”.

10:30 pm – Neve sneaks back down and begins roughing around with the dog and Oona again.  Yell at her yet again and send her back upstairs.  Hear crash from up there.  Ignore it.  Oona continues to careen around wildly and jump on couch, tearing away yarn and making knitting impossible.  Dog begins barking wildly at thumping noises Neve is making upstairs.  Give up on knitting and pour glass of soda.  Bemoan inability to drink alcohol due to being sole adult in the house.  Neve returns and begins crying about wanting to open dvd cabinet to pick out a movie.  Oona immediately tries to get in the cabinet as well.  Yell at Neve to go back upstairs while she throws massive tantrum.  Oona demands soda while Emily tries to cuddle her, making her mad.  Yell at Emily to let her go.  Emily stomps off in a fury.

11:15 pm.  Laying in bed with Oona trying to convince her to go to sleep.  Dog is chasing the cat downstairs and Neve keeps wandering around, slamming doors as she goes.  Emily joins cat chase and makes plentiful noise doing so.  Both girls eventually settle into their bedroom and slam door.  Presumably they have the cat.  They begin lots of giggling and thumping around.

11:45 pm – Oona is finally asleep.  Carefully make way downstairs to let dog out one last time.  It’s pouring.  Come in, lock doors, clean up and go upstairs.  Tell girls to be quiet and go to sleep.  Go into bathroom and change into pajamas.  Wash face, brush teeth, give cats water and food.  Attempt to sneak into bed with a book.

12:15 am – peer over edge of book at spider gliding down from ceiling toward the bed.  Smoosh him between two books, waking up baby.

12:20 am – turn off lights, snuggle up next to baby, closes eyes, pray she falls back to sleep soon.

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The Taj Ma-Cluck (Or is it Cluck Mahal?)

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Our overdone coop is complete and in place, waiting for the fencing to be put around it so the chicks will have a nice area to roam around when they’re not helping de-bug my garden.  We’ve situated it at the back side of the house where there clearly was supposed to have been a deck built (there is a door in our living room that opens onto a good 8 or 10 foot drop).   It’s a fairly sheltered spot weather – wise and I think as close to the house as it is it will help deter some of the predators a bit.

06.05.09d

There are advantages to having a big Bobcat.  Even though it hardly ever functions properly.  I’m just sayin’.  Paul built the coop in the garage and then hauled it into place via heavy machinery.  The red was my idea – I like it.

06.05.09e

Getting it into place was a tad tricky considering the slope of the land in the back.  We also scared away a bunch of blue – tailed skinks during this operation.  Having them around is a good thing – they’ll feast on any termites that might decide to set up residence in your home.

06.05.09c

Ta da!!!  Chicken palace!  (See the “door to nowhere up there between the two big windows and to the right of the hanging birdfeeder?)

06.05.09f

Why Yes!  Room service and maid are included in this luxury suite!  And look!  Snacks!  Those little ants that unwisely decided to converge on the food dish were dee-lish!

Finishing touches aside, this project is done! And speaking of dee-lish, check this out:

06.05.09g

I have been on a bit of a cooking and baking jag of late, and this was one of the successes.  The crust is from Smitten Kitchen, the pastry cream is from the Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and then I just sliced up some strawberries to top it.  We polished it off in no time!  I can’t wait to make more, but I am sure my waistline doesn’t really need it, considering I’ll end up eating more than my fair share of it.

The last gfew days have been slow in the kitchen though, due to it being abnormally busy around these parts for a rainy week.

Sunday we went to the ice park in town for a birthday party and the girls spent a good 2 hours skating and goofing around with their buddies who live just across the road from us.

6.05.09h

Let me tell you, I adore these girls (and their parents!).  They are so well behaved, and it really rubs off on my girls so that we can have easy play dates with no one fighting or whining or crying.  What a relief!  You know.  Until we get home and their evil streaks reappear.

Wednesday we went for a walk and picnic with them and Oona insisted on walking all the way down the trail rather than ride in her stroller, and since she has squeaky shoes (“Wee Squeaks”) all we heard was squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. She had so much fun, and really wore herself out.

6.05.09i

She fell right to sleep as soon as I put her in the car to go home.  As it turns out, we left just in time weather – wise.  Just after we got back to the house we had a nice bit of hail.  Fun fun!  It’s been chilly and raining ever since.  I’ve been working on getting all of my leftover fabric scraps in the green range together for a quilt that I hope to get to one day before I am old and senile (Senile may come first at this point, between the kids and the animals).

06.05.09a

Jasper’s not making it easy.  Mostly because he decided to have bloody diarrhea and need to be taken to the vet.  I had to leave him overnight (all night without my boy!!!!!) for tests and observation and he came home very happily today – all medicated and waiting for some lab results.  It’s always something in this house!!!!

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Rainy Tuesday

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It feels like a Monday, though, thanks to the long weekend.  It’s raining, it’s dark, it’s gray, and I’m achey all over.  Feels like a good day for sweatpants and a book.  Thank goodness it was such a long and productive weekend!

It started (and actually pretty much ended) with the back garden.  If you’ll recall, I had asked for a large patch out back to be tilled up so I could plant all of the large squashes in a place where they’d have room to spread.  Then I thought maybe some humble chicken wire could be placed around it a bit to delineate it and keep it free from four wheelin’ kids (hey, we live in teh country….it happens now and again).  You know, nothing fancy.  Most of you will know better than that, though – my husband cannot ever do anything simply and easily.  Not that I am complaining this time.

The problems with my simple garden patch started when we began clearing out the land and getting ready to till the earth.  Paul had assured me it would be a “piece of cake” getting it all turned up and he could haul down the remains of the giant dirt/compost pile from out front all with the Bobcat.   Then the Bobcat broke.  We looked into buying a tiller outright to hook onto the non – operational gravely we have (and then we’d have to buy another gravely for parts…..starting to get the picture of how things work around here? ).  That turned all of one weekend into a total bust.  Then we rented a tiller from the local hardware store and spent the weekend trying to make it work like it was supposed to.  No such luck.  The earth still needed a serious amount of work before any planting could be done, and as it was nearing the end of May, I was beginning to panic, especially when Paul informed me that the leftover dirt and compost mix pile was not going to be enough for this project.  So on Saturday I placed a call and ordered 6 yards of compost to be delivered.  In the midst of that phone call Paul up and left for his friend’s place – to borrow his tractor.

Now I know what y’all are thinkin’.  (Notice the “southern” I threw in there?).  Most men’ll lend out their wives sooner than they’ll lend out their tractors (at least, that is what my husband tells me.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I best not let him buy his own tractor……..).  But anyway, Mike is a really good friend.  We’ve known him and his family since we moved to Virginia in ’97.  So Paul borrowed his tractor, and voila!  Tilling done!

05.26.09b

Now that my simple garden project had run into weeks and weeks of “how do we get this all tilled up?”, all that remained was for the compost to be delivered and a makeshift boundary to be put around it.

BUT WAIT!

Makeshift is forbidden in these parts.  I would’ve gone totally rustic (bordering on ghetto, I’d say) if left to my own devices.  Paul had other ideas.

05.26.09c

Heavy duty wire, heavy duty posts, majorly heavy duty dog – pen gate (I won out on one piece – I secured them all together with nylon wire ties rather than bailing wire.  It was easier).

The resulting garden spot is much more “high – tech” than I originally envisioned, and Paul claims I seriously owe him one for all of the work he put in.  But, you have to admit it came out really great.  An added bonus is we’re able to let the chickens roam freely in there and they’re relatively safe.  Call it a chicken playpen if you will.  Once the veggies have come in the chickens will be my natural pesticide.  They are quite efficient bug vacuums.

05.26.09d

The compost came yesterday and I spent the later part of the afternoon raking it and getting my seeds planted.  Back – breaking, but rewarding, work.  There’s sugar snap peas, green beans, sugar baby watermelons, butternut squash, cucumbers, petit pickling cucumbers, sugar pie pumpkins, lumina pumpkins,  regular pumpkins, and birdhouse gourds.  The chickens followed me the whole time.  Maybe they like me after all.

05.26.09e

Check out that black dirt!  Decomposed plant matter never looked so good.

Amazingly I still made time to turn out several loaves of sandwich bread, dinner, and a lemon tart.

05.26.09f

I know it’s an awful picture, but I had to share.  I am in love with this burger and I may have to run away with it.  It’s smothered in barbeque sauce and cole slaw and topped with chopped dill pickles.  Mmmmmmmm.

For dessert:

05.26.09h

A lovely lemon tart.  Actually it was very bitter.  I couldn’t find any Meyer lemons locally, and clearly the ones at Food Lion are inferior (as is just about everything one gets from Food Lion).  Otherwise it was a complete success texture – wise and crust – wise.

Now I am sore and lazy and tired and I am going to spend the rest of this dreary day with some coffee, a book, and, if he’ll let me, this guy:

05.26.09a

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I Said I Would, So I Did

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05.19.09c

I bought it.  It came today.  I have yet to crack it open, due to the absolute insanity that is my life the last few days, but I am looking forward to learning how to make my camera would like it is supposed to.  Maybe when Oona’s 30.

Yesterday was spent returning the craptacular tiller we rented from the local hardware store (I had to drive the box truck.  It was not a picnic.  Paul’s lucky I used to be a bus driver or there’s just no way I could have managed it. It was like driving a giant rattling metal lunch box that’s loose at all joints.  But I digress).  The tiller barely scratched the surface of what I really need done, even with the wet and soggy ground.  We pulled up some massive roots, though.

After the tiller return I spent a  good chunk of the afternoon at the doctor’s office having a biopsy done (don’t worry, it should be fine.  Oh, and Oona stayed here with my mother, who did my dishes for me!!!  Thank you!!!).   Then I had to fly back home for Neve’s Brownie ceremony.  She bridged from being a Daisy Scout and is now officially a Brownie Scout.

05.19.09b

Look at that wild hair.  She won’t let me near it.  She also insists on wearing the most outlandish creations to school.  I fought her all year, determined to make sure she dressed in an appropriate manner, both for the weather and the day’s activities.  Last week I gave up, since their last day is Friday.  Plus I talked to her teacher, and she knows I am not dressing Neve in the pink Hawaiian print cargo capris with green striped top, purple socks, fuschia crocs and cheetah print fur coat.  Apparently she’s seen much worse.

Today I eeked out a finished object – a handbag from the Oh Fransson! blog.

05.19.09d

This, my friends, is my one small victory for today.  Oona has been particularly out of sorts lately, and today was no exception.  She was so testy I put her in her car seat and drove around aimlessly for 45 minutes so she’d take a nap.  Even now she is wrapped around my ankles screaming.  I don’t know why – nothing I’ve tried makes her happy.  I think it’s just a case of the “WAY over – tireds” and she refuses to concede.  Mighty frustrating to watch.  Especially in light of the newest drama unfolding here in the house of woe.

05.19.09e

I took this picture an hour ago in my closet.  Looks like hamster poop – except both our hamsters are serving their time in their luxury condos in Emily and Neve’s room.  So why is there all this rodent poop all around the empty suitcases in my closet?  I tore through all the suitcases, shoes, and other miscellaneous junk all over the closet and found exactly zilch.  The cats have not seemed particularly interested in the closet, which is a good sign.  Last year for about 2 weeks before we discovered we had mice upstairs Sushi sat guard in the hallway, all day and all night.  And just this weekend Jasper alerted me to Sherbert the hamster’s escape by standing guard outside the girls’ bedroom closet all day.  Sure enough, there was a hamster roaming around the shoes in there.  It does then both comfort and confuse me that despite the presence of a fairly large quantity of droppings in my closet none of the cats has been poking around in there.  It does serve to remind me how incredibly badly I need to clean out the dark corners of this house.   Every free corner  has been stacked with stuff that needs to be put into storage and  I simply have not had a free hand to put any of it away.  Good thing I had my moment of baking Zen this weekend while making a strawberry – rhubarb pie.  It was yummy and gone (sorry Rachel!)!!

05.19.09a

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Cheep Chicks At My Place

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Today’s Thursday, so it’s time for the chicken update!

It’s been one week since we brought the chickies home.  Already they have grown considerably and their feathers are beginning to fill out.  We have yet to identify which one is the male (if any) but they girls are enjoying watching their funny little antics as they run about and try to establish their pecking order.  They have also taken quite well to eating those huge mosquito – hawk things that have been hanging around in massive numbers the past few weeks.

05.14.09b

Clementine here is the only one left that’s mostly fuzzy instead of feathers.  She’s also a different breed, though.

05.14.09a

Ruby (in front), Clementine, and HenRietta.

05.14.09c

Homer (the one who may be the boy…we’re not sure), Penelope, Prudence and HenRietta.

Other than keeping the chickens fed, watered and clean I have accomplished pretty much zero since Monday.  This is due to the granddaddy of all colds that has settled into my sinuses and staked out the territory seemingly for keeps.  I’ve been pretty miserable and the more days that go by the more frustrated I am with my lack of ability to do anything other than the bare minimum to keep my kids and pets alive.  Today has been slightly better, so I am hoping for that break in the clouds  (rather than that break in sanity that may be coming if I don’t get well soon!).

See you then.

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It’s the Little (or BIG) Things

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So I had this idea that this post would be about appreciating the little things, like the funny little chickens in our garage at the moment, or the pretty little primroses that just bloomed in the front garden.  But I realized that someone around these parts (who may or may not have fallen asleep on the window bed with Jasper and then fell victim to a drive – by picture taking) would not agree with me that these are little things. Not because I have in some way underestimated their size or importance in the scheme of day to day life, but because how much work and money it cost to get to these little things. Of course, my take on this is that if you look at things that way all the time then pretty much nothing is a little thing.

I had to stop working, birth a baby, wait for her to be old enough to reasonably manage and do a bunch of research before I could get my little chickens.

We had to save up a bunch of money, buy a Bobcat, wood, a bunch of dirt, stone garden edging, pea gravel and lava rocks (and other various and sundry supplies)  to get those little primroses.

Still, I like to think I am all about the little things. Maybe it is more appropriate to call them simpler things. I don’t know, but  I can’t even tell you how excited I am to have basil and tomatoes growing right now, because it means PESTO!  Those 6 little chicks?  Four of them are going to grow up to  reliable egg-layers!  And that makes me happier than any new shoes or cars, let me tell you (don’t tell Paul that last bit about cars…..I’m still waiting for my poor deer – smashed sedan to be up and running so I can be at least occasionally rid of the van).

You know what else?  I am smitten with Smitten Kitchen. If you haven’t checked out her blog, it’s rather stellar, as far as I am concerned, and I am happily in the midst of trying out her chocolate babka recipe.  I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  I’ll let you know…..but I love babka, so I can’t promise I’ll be saving any to share!

Adding to my list of simple pleasures:  I finished the Yard Sale Skirt from Weekend Sewing.  I am really liking the Heather Ross fabric I used (which is sadly out of production now) and though in the picture I look a bit Oompa-loopa-ish (blame the photographer) it is very comfy.

05.10.09a copy

Okay so I cropped most of myself out of it.  Call it blogger prerogative.  Maybe when I order my copy of Digital Photography for Dummies I’ll pick Paul up a copy of Photographing Your Wife And Not Making Her Look Huge and Lumpy in the Process for Dummies. I’m sure they stock at least one copy of it at Amazon.

Anyhoo…..the spot in which I am standing in this photo (not like you can really tell, actually) is where we have staked out the veggie garden.  We have all the chicken wire, a new spigot post and hose,  and stakes, all ready to go.  We would’ve had it all complete and planted this weekend except that with all of the rain we got the darn ignition got shorted out on the Bobcat, and well…….you can’t till up huge square footage of earth like that without equipment.  Well, you can, technically speaking, but we’re not gonna. Instead we’ll be renting a nice big tiller Saturday and getting it done.  Finally.  Before it gets too darn late in the season to get my squash, peas, beans and watermelons into the earth.

And as for that person who thinks that my little, simple  things are actually large, complicated things ?

05.12.09a

He’ll be needing a nap first.

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What I’m Like

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With all of the changes and new developments around here I was feeling like I need to take some time to “shore up” my inner reserves, to reaffirm “me” as a person.  I”m not usually inclined to ask for help even when I am sorely in need, and I was feeling pretty down about things the last few weeks (and lonely, to be honest) when help found me in a few different forms.  New friends, new pets, new tasks and I am feeling more like myself again.  And it’s a great time for it – SPRING!  I couldn’t be more pleased with where I am right now, which is this:

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I am a gardener!

This is a new one for me, actually.  I’ve never had much of a green thumb, and over the years I am sure I’ve killed WAY more plants than I’ve grown.  The older I get the more I realize I should’ve been a farmer.  I’ve heard a lot of negative talk from people when I’ve said this before, along the lines of “That’s really hard work – it’d be way too much to handle!” or my favorite, “YOU?  Are you kidding??” Well, heck.  Do I really come off that lazy and incapable?  Just because I am no good at handling a typical office type 9 – 5 doesn’t mean I couldn’t hack farm life.  It has to do with what you find rewarding in life and what makes you happy.  Of course, I am not a farmer, and we have no plans to buy a farm anytime soon (I kind of married the wrong guy for that, I think – I doubt Paul would be too interested in owning a farm!) for now I am a gardener.

These front beds have been planted with several types of tomato and pepper, and basil.  I’m absolutely dying to get out back and get the squashes and beans planted.

The other front garden has plenty of flowers and herbs, including 2 types of thyme, rosemary, pineapple sage, cilantro, oregano, tarragon and lavender.  There’s going to be an abundance of fresh salsas and pestos this year!  Hooray!

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I forgot to mention the massive amounts of lemon balm, too.  It’s taking over.  Anyone want any?  Please?

Somewhere down the road a bit we’ll be putting in a small-ish greenhouse and I’d like to put one of those neat strawberry pyramids next to it.  That, however, will have to wait until the greenhouse goes in (for landscape planning purposes), and the greenhouse, well, that ain’t cheap, and as it happens, we’ll need a chicken tractor first, because guess what?  We have these:

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Need a closer look?

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There are 6 of them, 5 girls and one boy, and we are smitten.

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I am a chicken lady!

I got these babies from a local chicken farmer who helped me pick out the friendliest, most docile breeds.  In chicken speak, we have 3 Gold – Laced Wyandottes (1 of these is the roo), 1 blue Cochin, 1 gold Cochin, and 1 black Cochin.  I can’t even tell you how happy I am with them!  Which reminds me, I am also

A Bad Influence!

My friend and neighbor got some as well.  I think she couldn’t take listening to me go on and on about the impending chicken arrival any longer!  All of our kids are just over the moon with their new pets, and Emily has plans to keep a “chicken journal” to document their growth and development.  Insert wide smile here.

Really, for me, this is the life.  I love being domestic.  I love growing things and caring for creatures and my kids (even though certain days I might not say that – like when Oona decides she cannot be any more than 2 milimeters away from me).  I love old fashioned and vintage farm things – if I had the money and the space I’d collect antique tractors.  I love wearing dresses and skirts with giant rubber wellies to work in the garden, and I don’t care if it all gets dirty.  I love cooking and baking, especially giant fruit pies that are way too fattening but it doesn’t matter because they are yummy and good for your soul. (you know, until your soul starts gaining too much weight…..then it’s time to cut down on the pie)

I love sheep and their wool and knitting it.  I will knit just about anything given the time to do so, but my favorite thing to knit is socks, because let’s face it, sock yarn is way cool.

I love to sew clothes for my kids on my 2 vintage Singer sewing machines.

I love to paint with oils.  I also love taking pictures but I am still learning how to do that.  I need to get a copy of Digital Photography for Dummies. I was pretty good with my trusty old Canon A-1, but film cameras seems to have gone the way of the dodo, and it is so much easier to unload your instantly viewable digital photos.

I am all of these things and far more, and I am always adding and subtracting as I grow and change and age.  I think we should all strive to be like a good wine – getting better and more nuanced as we age.  Don’t you?

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Easter Weekend and A Love Letter to the IRS

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Was everyone’s weekend as full and satisfying as ours?

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We kicked off the weekend -long festivities with our friends’ annual easter party and egg hunt on Saturday.  This was Oona’s first year participating and she loved seeing all of the little colorful plastic eggs glistening all over the grass, waiting to be scooped into her basket (and she LOVED the “cAHndy” inside!).

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When they first began hosting these parties Maddie was still fairly small, and now she has grown up enough that she and some of the other older kids are the ones setting out the eggs instead of collecting them.  Time flies.

It’s been a great time every year, and I think it just keeps getting better and better.  This year there was even more food to be had and a moon bounce was rented for the kids (and the “kids”, if you catch my drift) and great use was made of the beautiful new deck they put on the back of their house, complete with the much needed fire pit, since it was colder than we’d have liked all day.  The party kept going until well into the night, but we left before dinner since we still had to color our eggs so that the giant bunny could come and hide them.  I got the Paas Marbling kit this year, and though it didn’t work quite as well as we hoped, the eggs still looked pretty.  I don’t have a picture to share because my crappy camera can’t take a decent picture at night and I didn’t feel like searching for the photo lamps.  Either way the bunny still came (and the girls couldn’t believe they never heard the dog bark at him during the night) and hid the eggs.

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Lots of delicious teeth-  rotting candy for all.  (I’m partial to stale Peeps myself).  Oona was occupied for a good while sorting through her little basket and picking out her favorite items.  Tops on her list are (you guessed it!) Reese’s peanut butter cups.  Can’t say I blame her.  She had them stuffed into her cheeks like a hamster, chocolate drool spilling down over her chin.

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(She got a good tooth brushing afterwards.)

It was a nice lazy morning spent drinking coffee and listening to the girls sort their loot and do taste tests before we headed to my parents’ for dinner.  The girls wore the dresses I had originally wanted them to wear to the dance (the girls declared them unfit for a dressy dance and picked different ones).

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We picked flowers and ate cheese and crackers waiting for my brother to get in.

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The girls had some photo – worthy cute moments (right before Oona knocked Neve off the chair).

Then Caleb got in and we ate a lovely and intimate (small group this year – usually we have more relatives in for easter) ham dinner while making fun of his bed – hair.

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The girls then were let loose on the outside world to work off their sugar and ham – fueled energy before the coming of school on Monday morning. Why the school system here does break the week before easter I’ll never know – it prevents being able to travel anywhere for the holiday.

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Emily discovered that real tennis is considerably more difficult than Wii tennis.

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Oona caused much anxiety with her full speed, face – first running style.

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Mostly though it was nice just to watch the kids playing outside without a care in the world, as it should be.

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Eventually the sun set and we had to head home to get bathed for school.  Oona’s been on a later sleep schedule with the break so it’s been hard adjusting for her and I.

Last night Paul took her to bed with him while I stayed up to trace out patterns and clean up a bit.  He closed the door to our room, claiming the girls were too noisy, and inadvertently shut the cats out.  Poor little Jasper was stuck away from his food and litter until I noticed the problem somewhere after midnight and let him in.  So when Paul went to do the taxes this morning and grabbed the cardboard box he was keeping the tax papers in it should not have surprised him that there was a gift of cat poop in it.  All over the W-2s.

Consider it Jasper’s contribution.

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Smitten

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This week has been very typically March – rainy, a little windy, a little chilly, but full of blooming trees and flowers.   For me it’s been perfect for being in the craft room and working on some spring and summer outfits for the girls.  Oona does keep my pace at little better than turtle speed, but I’ve made some progress nonetheless.  I’ve gotten 3 new books that I am absolutely obsessed with and they are keeping me busy.  I bought Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross and I can’t stop drooling over the different projects she’s got.  Her fabrics have always been some of my favorite – the mermaid quilt and curtains for Emily are from Heather’s Mendocino line and I have a pink VW Bus fabric of hers currently on my quilting frame (been working on that on and off for the better part of a year now).  If I can locate some more of her fabric from that line (I am not sure it’s still in production) I will be scooping it up for some of the designs in the book.

I am also going crazy over 2 Japanese sewing books I bought on ebay.  I’ve been noticing a lot of crafters in the blogosphere raving about them for months now, so I looked around and decided to give them a try.  They are fantastic!  The designs are way cute – for kids and adults – and even though the books and patterns are 100% in Japanese (and I don’t read or speak Japanese) they are so well put together that I am still able to understand them.  That’s really saying something, I think.  I made a little blouse for Oona out of some cute little bird fabric I had.

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It’s the first pattern I have ever made where I couldn’t read the instructions and yet it still has turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever made.  I’ll be working on plenty more from these books,  I can already tell.  What’s better is that I made them using a $20 sewing machine I picked up used a few weeks ago.  It’s an older model Singer that’s pretty much no – frills compared to my model 401-A that I adore, but it sews very nicely and practically makes buttonholes for you, so I am over the moon to have picked it up for such a great price.  Plus my other machine really needs a servicing so now I have something to use while that is being cared for.

In non – sewing news I have found a lady who runs a small farm with lots of chickens and plenty of hatching eggs in the breeds I was looking for.  Sometime after we return from Mexico I’ll be picking up some eggs from her and we’ll be hatching some baby chicks!  For now I need to get to work getting everything ready for them.   I hope my mother doesn’t mind chicken sitting when we visit family later this summer!

Speaking of animals……. looks like little Jasper cat has ringworm.  Let’s hear it for fun fungal infections!  After the last ridiculously expensive go round at the vets I am hoping to cure it without a trip in.  I searched around the web and some shelters suggest using Lamisil cream to clear it up, which would really be preferable at $5 a tube.  But let me ask this:  who the heck is in charge of marketing this stuff?  And what the heck are they thinking?  Are they trying to embarrass people into NOT buying it?  Because the generic CVS version of Lamisil is a bright green box with equally bright white HUGE lettering that simply says JOCK ITCH CREAM. I mean, really.  How cruel do you have to be?  I wonder if the teen cashier who rang me out believed me when I feebly mentioned “It’s for my cat” ?