Baby E is crawling! It started with him going from a 'crawling position' that we would torture him with to a sitting position. Then came the day he figured out how to get from a sitting position to a crawling position. Then I could sit him on the floor and he would move a little, but stayed about 2 feet from where I put him. He accomplished this with his clever sitting,crawling stance maneuver. Then. THEN. yesterday. He figured it out. Granted, he won't do long distances, and if you try and get him to come to you, he won't. But its so cute. He does the one knee one foot crawl. I'm so excited for him!
Yeah, but ask me in a month when I'm having to hide things and shut doors and pull him out from underneath the chairs in front of us at church how I feel.
But for now, I'm excited!!! I even took a video of it!
On the down side, this morning he woke up with a fever. Poor kid. The second one ever that I can remember. He has a cold. One of those snotty, sneezy ones. You look at his eyes and you can just see he doesn't feel well.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Another day
So, this was a crazy day. Baby E decided that night was day last night and was up for a while around 3-ish. so today we are both cranky.
Top that off with the kids being home from school and Albertsons Doublers and you have a potential recipe for disaster.
But we all made it through. The girls were great. They did their chores with very little protest, played with Edison, and were just generally helpful. They were a little crazy at the grocery store due to smuggling in money I had told them not to bring, and a little noisy during E's naptime. But I was grateful for their help today.
My challenge this year is to be more organized. I'm going to try by doing things such as planning menus (I'm not good at doing this all the time). Its more like every few months I think I need one. I know we eat better when I do. More healthily.
anyway, that is all that is coming to mind at this moment. I'll write more later when I have something more interesting to say :)
Top that off with the kids being home from school and Albertsons Doublers and you have a potential recipe for disaster.
But we all made it through. The girls were great. They did their chores with very little protest, played with Edison, and were just generally helpful. They were a little crazy at the grocery store due to smuggling in money I had told them not to bring, and a little noisy during E's naptime. But I was grateful for their help today.
My challenge this year is to be more organized. I'm going to try by doing things such as planning menus (I'm not good at doing this all the time). Its more like every few months I think I need one. I know we eat better when I do. More healthily.
anyway, that is all that is coming to mind at this moment. I'll write more later when I have something more interesting to say :)
Friday, January 6, 2012
The long drawn out story
Because I don't think I can tell any other kind!
So last night, it was around 11 or 11:30 I was ready to go to bed. Hubby was already asleep sawing logs and the kids were asleep in their beds.
I proceeded to get ready for bed. Contacts out, pajamas on, ready for bed. But. My feet were cold. I can't go to sleep with cold feet. I just can't. I find it really really hard.
So I grabbed a book and went out to read by the fire. I was doing great, getting warm and just about to get up and go to bed. When. I felt a sharp stinging sensation. You know the feeling when your clothing gets snagged on your skin? It doesn't happen very often but when it happens it hurts until you get it unsnagged. Well, when I moved the clothes around in that spot, the stinging didn't go away. Then I looked down and saw my worst nightmare.
Right next to my leg was a WASP. Moving around, looking a bit dazed.
Where did the wasp come from, you might ask.
Well, have you ever seen a stack of firewood in the summertime? Its a great place with little hidey holes and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Perfect place for a wasps nest, right?
Thats right. There was a wasps nest in our firewood this summer. Just found out about it.
When the weather goes cold, the wasps basically just stop moving. I don't know if its hibernating, but they certainly aren't dead. And you don't always notice them when you are grabbing firewood. This wasp had been on the log in the stack, got moved from the stack to the back porch stack, and then moved into the house. All on a log unnoticed. Needless to say I'll be checking logs more thoroughly before the enter the house.
Yes, this has happened before. But its been a few years. And I usually figure it out/hear the buzzing before anyone gets stung.
OUCH.
So anyway, after some baking soda and water paste, the stinging went away. But it took me about another hour and a half to stop trying to find the buzzing I swear I could hear, close all the kids doors (kids killed by wasp after being stung over and over! Yes I'm paranoid) and trying to come down from the adrenaline. I also managed to tear open a wound from where I sliced my finger open on a mandolin. Those babies are sharp! It happened Wednesday night and I was letting it air out for a few hours and it got scraped when I grabbed a wooden block to bludgeon the wasp to death. I felt like the walking wounded last night.
Anyway, just another adventure at our house!
So last night, it was around 11 or 11:30 I was ready to go to bed. Hubby was already asleep sawing logs and the kids were asleep in their beds.
I proceeded to get ready for bed. Contacts out, pajamas on, ready for bed. But. My feet were cold. I can't go to sleep with cold feet. I just can't. I find it really really hard.
So I grabbed a book and went out to read by the fire. I was doing great, getting warm and just about to get up and go to bed. When. I felt a sharp stinging sensation. You know the feeling when your clothing gets snagged on your skin? It doesn't happen very often but when it happens it hurts until you get it unsnagged. Well, when I moved the clothes around in that spot, the stinging didn't go away. Then I looked down and saw my worst nightmare.
Right next to my leg was a WASP. Moving around, looking a bit dazed.
Where did the wasp come from, you might ask.
Well, have you ever seen a stack of firewood in the summertime? Its a great place with little hidey holes and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Perfect place for a wasps nest, right?
Thats right. There was a wasps nest in our firewood this summer. Just found out about it.
When the weather goes cold, the wasps basically just stop moving. I don't know if its hibernating, but they certainly aren't dead. And you don't always notice them when you are grabbing firewood. This wasp had been on the log in the stack, got moved from the stack to the back porch stack, and then moved into the house. All on a log unnoticed. Needless to say I'll be checking logs more thoroughly before the enter the house.
Yes, this has happened before. But its been a few years. And I usually figure it out/hear the buzzing before anyone gets stung.
OUCH.
So anyway, after some baking soda and water paste, the stinging went away. But it took me about another hour and a half to stop trying to find the buzzing I swear I could hear, close all the kids doors (kids killed by wasp after being stung over and over! Yes I'm paranoid) and trying to come down from the adrenaline. I also managed to tear open a wound from where I sliced my finger open on a mandolin. Those babies are sharp! It happened Wednesday night and I was letting it air out for a few hours and it got scraped when I grabbed a wooden block to bludgeon the wasp to death. I felt like the walking wounded last night.
Anyway, just another adventure at our house!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Long time no post
Sorry about that. Life has been busy blah blah blah.
The baby is now 9 mos old. Wow. Lots of cute blond hair. No need for a haircut yet. Making all sorts of ba ba ba da da da ma ma ma noises. Will stay in the crawling position, but has no idea how to move. We are still working on that. Loves Mom way to much. There is love and then there is throw-a-fit-everytime-he-sees-mom-and-she-doesn't-pick-him-up. Oh my.
Today I took him out to feed the chickens with me. the girls were at Piano and my choices were to leave him inside to cry the whole time or take him with me. I grabbed his bumbo, a bucket of chicken food and off we went. I had let the chickens out earlier to do a little free ranging, so I hauled him around and the bucket of food and we got those chickens in their coops. There were a couple of stupid chickens, but eventually they all went home for the night. I then put the baby in his bumbo near the coop with smaller birds. He stared with wonder. It was really fun to watch his reactions.
I fed and watered the flock and then he had had it. He was cold and wanted his mama. So we went inside and I fed him near the fireplace.
My oldest is turning into quite the little mom. She loves her little brother and takes every opportunity to play with him or haul him around. He doesn't mind it if she gets him up in the morning. She just grabs him and puts him on the floor in her room while she gets ready. This usually happens because I'm in the bathroom or something like that.
The girls love piano and reading. They both love school, although C told me today she wants to be a 2nd grade teacher. Something about multiplication being so HARD. LOL. A wants to be a doctor today. I told them both that it sounded great.
Hubby and I have new callings. He in the Elders quorum pres. and me in the primary pres. so that along with 9am church has us running crazy at our house. Although, we now can take an afternoon nap on Sunday. Unfortunately it goes something along the lines of whomever gets to sleep first gets the nap. The other one is stuck with the baby. So far, I keep losing. He can fall asleep so fast! And usually when I haven't even thought about a nap yet.
I am going to try and write more in this blog. I need to write more so that I can record Baby E's important moments. Like how he can roll over, but doesn't do it much. Just not interested. To many people ready and willing to cart him around. How he loves to play with his feet. Today he has been playing with his tongue. He chews on his thumb instead of sucking on it. And he chews on binkies also. So no binky babies here. Dang it . His goodnight song is Twinkle Twinkle little star. Every sunday (it seems) there is a family that spends all of sacrament getting him to smile (usually behind or to the side of us). Last Sunday that resulted in him yelling in his high voice (think Pistol pete fireworks). I felt bad for the people in front of us. He was doing it every now and then so I didn't take him out. But I did turn him from the family that was causing it (Not on purpose. He was just getting excited). The Cheerios helped quiet him a little.
Anyway, more tomorrow.(or next week. Who knows? :)
The baby is now 9 mos old. Wow. Lots of cute blond hair. No need for a haircut yet. Making all sorts of ba ba ba da da da ma ma ma noises. Will stay in the crawling position, but has no idea how to move. We are still working on that. Loves Mom way to much. There is love and then there is throw-a-fit-everytime-he-sees-mom-and-she-doesn't-pick-him-up. Oh my.
Today I took him out to feed the chickens with me. the girls were at Piano and my choices were to leave him inside to cry the whole time or take him with me. I grabbed his bumbo, a bucket of chicken food and off we went. I had let the chickens out earlier to do a little free ranging, so I hauled him around and the bucket of food and we got those chickens in their coops. There were a couple of stupid chickens, but eventually they all went home for the night. I then put the baby in his bumbo near the coop with smaller birds. He stared with wonder. It was really fun to watch his reactions.
I fed and watered the flock and then he had had it. He was cold and wanted his mama. So we went inside and I fed him near the fireplace.
My oldest is turning into quite the little mom. She loves her little brother and takes every opportunity to play with him or haul him around. He doesn't mind it if she gets him up in the morning. She just grabs him and puts him on the floor in her room while she gets ready. This usually happens because I'm in the bathroom or something like that.
The girls love piano and reading. They both love school, although C told me today she wants to be a 2nd grade teacher. Something about multiplication being so HARD. LOL. A wants to be a doctor today. I told them both that it sounded great.
Hubby and I have new callings. He in the Elders quorum pres. and me in the primary pres. so that along with 9am church has us running crazy at our house. Although, we now can take an afternoon nap on Sunday. Unfortunately it goes something along the lines of whomever gets to sleep first gets the nap. The other one is stuck with the baby. So far, I keep losing. He can fall asleep so fast! And usually when I haven't even thought about a nap yet.
I am going to try and write more in this blog. I need to write more so that I can record Baby E's important moments. Like how he can roll over, but doesn't do it much. Just not interested. To many people ready and willing to cart him around. How he loves to play with his feet. Today he has been playing with his tongue. He chews on his thumb instead of sucking on it. And he chews on binkies also. So no binky babies here. Dang it . His goodnight song is Twinkle Twinkle little star. Every sunday (it seems) there is a family that spends all of sacrament getting him to smile (usually behind or to the side of us). Last Sunday that resulted in him yelling in his high voice (think Pistol pete fireworks). I felt bad for the people in front of us. He was doing it every now and then so I didn't take him out. But I did turn him from the family that was causing it (Not on purpose. He was just getting excited). The Cheerios helped quiet him a little.
Anyway, more tomorrow.(or next week. Who knows? :)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
A Charlie story.
So as I was leaving the church parking lot I was flagged down by another parent. He asked if we still had sheep. Anyway, he was looking for some sheep for his boys to practice on for the mutton busting down at the rodeo later in the week.
I thought about it and then said, well, we can try Charlie. At the very least they can pet him and see how he feels.
So they came over and had on their full 4 wheeler gear. Helmets and pads including a chest pad thing.
The first boy was easy. He came over to Charlie and pet him with me and his dad right there. I fed Charlie some leaves that he couldn't reach on his own and the Dad plopped his son on Charlies back over the front legs and hanging on at the neck.
Charlie took a few steps and then dropped down to his front knees. He proceeded to do this the next 2 times with this boys younger brothers. Well we decided to try for a 2nd ride for everyone.
This time Charlie wasn't as easy to get. But he couldn't resist those tasty leaves. The father put the son on Charlies middle and boy did he get a ride! He went about 20 feet before falling off. But 20 feet and a fairly quick speed! So it was fun. We were able to do that one more time for the next son. It was pretty funny to watch!
It didn't work so well with the 3rd son since Charlie was to skittish now. We gave up after Charlie ran out from under the boy.
All in all it was a lot of fun and I wish I had gotten pictures. A few days later Charlie was bothering the girls so I decided to make him skittish by putting a girl on his back. Strangely though, A wouldn't cooperate. :) So I climbed on. It didn't work so well and really there was no way I was going to pick my feet up off the ground and risk injury. Anyway though I kind a sat on his back and that made him skittish enough to the point he left me and the girls alone for the rest of the chicken feeding session. :)
I thought about it and then said, well, we can try Charlie. At the very least they can pet him and see how he feels.
So they came over and had on their full 4 wheeler gear. Helmets and pads including a chest pad thing.
The first boy was easy. He came over to Charlie and pet him with me and his dad right there. I fed Charlie some leaves that he couldn't reach on his own and the Dad plopped his son on Charlies back over the front legs and hanging on at the neck.
Charlie took a few steps and then dropped down to his front knees. He proceeded to do this the next 2 times with this boys younger brothers. Well we decided to try for a 2nd ride for everyone.
This time Charlie wasn't as easy to get. But he couldn't resist those tasty leaves. The father put the son on Charlies middle and boy did he get a ride! He went about 20 feet before falling off. But 20 feet and a fairly quick speed! So it was fun. We were able to do that one more time for the next son. It was pretty funny to watch!
It didn't work so well with the 3rd son since Charlie was to skittish now. We gave up after Charlie ran out from under the boy.
All in all it was a lot of fun and I wish I had gotten pictures. A few days later Charlie was bothering the girls so I decided to make him skittish by putting a girl on his back. Strangely though, A wouldn't cooperate. :) So I climbed on. It didn't work so well and really there was no way I was going to pick my feet up off the ground and risk injury. Anyway though I kind a sat on his back and that made him skittish enough to the point he left me and the girls alone for the rest of the chicken feeding session. :)
Big things happening over here!
So, we sold the sheep.
I've been thinking over this decision for the past month. Ever since my shearer said he had some great fleeces he'd sell me for $5. Well that sounded to good to be true. Probably meant $5/lb. I know most people sell fleece for about $7/lb.
So a few weeks after that I get a call from the shearer who has some colored fleece for me and will be in the area. I had told him my budget was $25 so thought I might be lucky and get 2 but at the very least 1.
He showed up with 3 nice fleeces. 2 were great and the 3rd was slightly less soft. more of an outerwear or bag fleece. I asked him the prices. Its a little vague now (this was a few weeks ago) but I gave him a $20 bill and got about $4 change and came away with 3 fleece.
Now, to raise 4 sheep for one year you have to pay for feed, shots, deworming, and shearing.
They go through about 1/2 ton of alfalfa per winter. So its around $40-$60 depending on the quality and market. Lets go with $40 for our calculations.
Shots are not that expensive. you pay about $20 for enough supplies for around 3 years. So lets say $5 for a nice easy number to work with.
Deworming cost is really really low. You pay about $7 for a tube of ivomectin (sp?). This is a horse dewormer. We've had the same tube for about 3 years. Lets say $2.50
Shearing costs $30-$35/year.
so it was costing about $$77.50/yr on the low end to raise 4 sheep for a year.
I can buy fleece as good as or better than those fleece for around $20.
But sheep are food storage on the hoof. They eat down the pasture. They are fun to have and easy keepers. Yes to all of those statements.
But I couldn't get over my actual costs.
So I put them on Craigslist for my dream price. $100 each. And said if you take all 4, I'll give you a deal. I was still reluctant to see them go so I wasn't all that bummed when I didn't have any responses.
That was a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I got a response. He said I'm interested in all 4, what kind of deal did you have in mind. I said all 4 for $350. I paid either $60 or $65 for them at a few months old, and now they were 4.5 or so years old. Sheep can live to 15 or so with a good shepherd, so their lives were 1/3 over.
At $350 it comes to $87.50 each.
Well this morning the guys came to look the sheep over and I said they had lovely fleece and they said they looked yummy. Yes, they intended to eat them. And then proceeded for the next 45 min to offer $300 over and over.
I stuck to my guns at $350. Which wasn't hard. It was hard to think of them being eaten. Such great fleece. I made sure to let them know that they weren't hair sheep (which ironically is what they call sheep with no fleece, intended for eating). I made sure they knew that the girls could be bred. I made sure they knew that they were sired by Buzz Lightyear, a registered Cormo.
By the time they left they told me (or lied. who knows) that they would keep the girls for breeding and eat Charlie.
I told them what a great pet Charlie was and how much fun he was. How he was nice and fun to pet.
Anyway, in the end after much dickering, And pointing out that they weren't for eating, I finally accepted the $350. I had to walk away from many many offers. The guy even showed the cash and tried to hand it to me. I just kept walking away.
Did I mention he was not American? I think he was just bartering with me like they do over in Turkey. But I think he may have been Czech.
Anyway, after rounding the sheep up for a teeth inspection ( I had to hear that one is looking a little old over and over) We helped them load the sheep into a trailer much like dads. We dragged Charlie into the trailer and the 3 girls jumped into the trailer on their own after much coaxing.
Its the end of an era.
I've been thinking over this decision for the past month. Ever since my shearer said he had some great fleeces he'd sell me for $5. Well that sounded to good to be true. Probably meant $5/lb. I know most people sell fleece for about $7/lb.
So a few weeks after that I get a call from the shearer who has some colored fleece for me and will be in the area. I had told him my budget was $25 so thought I might be lucky and get 2 but at the very least 1.
He showed up with 3 nice fleeces. 2 were great and the 3rd was slightly less soft. more of an outerwear or bag fleece. I asked him the prices. Its a little vague now (this was a few weeks ago) but I gave him a $20 bill and got about $4 change and came away with 3 fleece.
Now, to raise 4 sheep for one year you have to pay for feed, shots, deworming, and shearing.
They go through about 1/2 ton of alfalfa per winter. So its around $40-$60 depending on the quality and market. Lets go with $40 for our calculations.
Shots are not that expensive. you pay about $20 for enough supplies for around 3 years. So lets say $5 for a nice easy number to work with.
Deworming cost is really really low. You pay about $7 for a tube of ivomectin (sp?). This is a horse dewormer. We've had the same tube for about 3 years. Lets say $2.50
Shearing costs $30-$35/year.
so it was costing about $$77.50/yr on the low end to raise 4 sheep for a year.
I can buy fleece as good as or better than those fleece for around $20.
But sheep are food storage on the hoof. They eat down the pasture. They are fun to have and easy keepers. Yes to all of those statements.
But I couldn't get over my actual costs.
So I put them on Craigslist for my dream price. $100 each. And said if you take all 4, I'll give you a deal. I was still reluctant to see them go so I wasn't all that bummed when I didn't have any responses.
That was a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I got a response. He said I'm interested in all 4, what kind of deal did you have in mind. I said all 4 for $350. I paid either $60 or $65 for them at a few months old, and now they were 4.5 or so years old. Sheep can live to 15 or so with a good shepherd, so their lives were 1/3 over.
At $350 it comes to $87.50 each.
Well this morning the guys came to look the sheep over and I said they had lovely fleece and they said they looked yummy. Yes, they intended to eat them. And then proceeded for the next 45 min to offer $300 over and over.
I stuck to my guns at $350. Which wasn't hard. It was hard to think of them being eaten. Such great fleece. I made sure to let them know that they weren't hair sheep (which ironically is what they call sheep with no fleece, intended for eating). I made sure they knew that the girls could be bred. I made sure they knew that they were sired by Buzz Lightyear, a registered Cormo.
By the time they left they told me (or lied. who knows) that they would keep the girls for breeding and eat Charlie.
I told them what a great pet Charlie was and how much fun he was. How he was nice and fun to pet.
Anyway, in the end after much dickering, And pointing out that they weren't for eating, I finally accepted the $350. I had to walk away from many many offers. The guy even showed the cash and tried to hand it to me. I just kept walking away.
Did I mention he was not American? I think he was just bartering with me like they do over in Turkey. But I think he may have been Czech.
Anyway, after rounding the sheep up for a teeth inspection ( I had to hear that one is looking a little old over and over) We helped them load the sheep into a trailer much like dads. We dragged Charlie into the trailer and the 3 girls jumped into the trailer on their own after much coaxing.
Its the end of an era.
Friday, July 15, 2011
interesting
How I choose a cutting board (or bowl or whatever)
"Ho Hum, I need a cutting board to put this bread dough on. "
opens drawer
"What? Only the huge cutting board is clean? The one that won't fit in the dishwasher? That stinks."
How it feels like other members of my family choose a cutting board (or whatever)
"Hey cool! The big cutting board is here!"
"Ho Hum, I need a cutting board to put this bread dough on. "
opens drawer
"What? Only the huge cutting board is clean? The one that won't fit in the dishwasher? That stinks."
How it feels like other members of my family choose a cutting board (or whatever)
"Hey cool! The big cutting board is here!"
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