The Daybook blog

I love this:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-...

When our firstborn was a week away from being one, she had her first Christmas. As is typical of children of that age, she had a blast opening gifts and playing with the box and the fun crinckle papaer inside. The toy- meh. We had the first grandchild on Dave's side, and the first grandchild locally on my side- the gifts were plenty. Many remarked that age old comment "look at that...she likes the box better than the gift!" with a mixture of humor and irritation.

My Uncle remarked "Well, when I was a boy, we were happy playing with a stick for hours". Bring a child in the depression in the back woods of TN, he wasn't exaggerating.

It started me down a road of thought that went against the grain a little.

Being that the birthday and holiday were so close together, I hadn't actually bought anything for the birthday yet. I looked around at the things that she enjoyed the most- bowls and spoons from the kitchen, baskets with handles to toddle around with, pillow to stack up and plow over or through.

We bought her a keepsake and I did break under the pressure and bought a baby xylophone. That's it.

Her second holiday season came with the addition of one brother and 2 more cousins, who were all born within 6 weeks of each other. That Christmas was crazy. The next one was the worst. We watched in a mixture of awe and disgust as toys were ripped open and literally tossed aside while demanding where the next one was. Families with children no older than 2 had entire rooms literally overflowing with toys.

Here's to keeping a little simplicity in our lives.

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Our family won three out of four of the categories with our wonderful heirloom tomatoes. Biggest tomato? Our 2 pounder!



Farmer's Market every week:



Always gardening and teaching:




Dave is always working hard. Here he is preparing to lay more pipe for more irrigation in the veggie fields:





Here is his latest "fun" project. A cedar octagon picnic table. It is fabulous! Made from scratch, starting with rough cut lumber straight from the mill:




We're gearing up for fall. This is the start of the fall crops. Yes, the land really is that parched. Perhaps you've heard of our poor drought land here in TX? You'll note lots of irrigation!




We put in a new garden- cacti/succulents. This on the side of a shed. Quite a bit of this garden didn't make it due to the heat and drought. It's still fun! Dave cut all of those little wood stumps.


And of course, you all know about Little Man. Doing the army crawl all over the house. Eating Cheerios, pulling up, and finding every bit of trouble he can

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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Instead of Sun-dried Tomatoes, I got Sun-burned Tomatoes.

Wow.

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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This little thief has been stealing my sunflower seeds.

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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The last two days have been BIG ones for my Little Man.

He's figured out how to scoot to anywhere he wants to go.

He's eating his favorite banana snack at every opportunity. (I'm very sorry I did not discover those mesh feeders 5 children ago!!)

He's cut his first tooth.

He's sits up and plays in his crib.

And he turned 8 months old.

He feels very big.

Oh, and he's survived his first two farmer's markets!

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Can anyone ID this? It's driving me crazy.

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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7:30- everyone is up and dressed. Lounging around. While we are not early starters, this doesn't bode well for the productivity of the day. It's raining, so even I am not quite up to the Drill Sargent routine.

7:45- The baby was grabbed out of my hands to be played with. I poured coffee and answered helpdesk messages. Instructed #1 to start some muffins and set up the juicer. She's thrilled to make muffins, #3 is thrilled to play with the baby. I'm happy to sip coffee for a few minutes.

7:50- #3 still playing with baby, so I went to feed and water the chickens alone (she's usually my helper). It's raining. #4 comes along to do his job of turning the compost tumbler. Passed Dave and #2 on their way to milk the cow.

7:55- Came all the way back to the house before I remembered I said juice for breakfast. Back out to garden.

8:00- 8:30 Juicing takes way to long. Normally we start school right now, but we just served breakfast. I eat in my office instead of read the morning story and give the manners reminders and daily line up report. Baby was unusually cranky, so I'm feeding him early too.
All children in kitchen with me while juicing. We discuss last nights dreams, the coming storm, and why we can not have gerbils.

8:45- Sent all children back upstairs to finish cleaning their rooms. Finished feeding baby, put him down for morning nap.

9:00- Get everyone started on school. Start first load of laundry. #1 does some of kitchen breakfast cleanup.

9:15- Personal correspondence, check Cubits.

9:20- Try to round up #4 and to get him started on his activity book. Check #3's math. Explain errors and watch while she does some manipulatives. Nasty storm, keep having brown outs.

9:30- Folding laundry from last night. #3 keeps popping in to chat. Delightful child, very clever. I could talk with her all day. I give her the "Mom Look", and tell her to get busy instead. Help #4 with writing his name and reading the color words.

9:40- Finish cleaning up the kitchen while chatting with #1 about the storm, nitrogen, and tornadoes. Tell her to get back to work. Check in with #2 to see if he needs anything. He's good, but grumbles a little about doing such long division with decimals.

----Side note here: #1 and #2 do their "do the next thing" work which includes Math, Grammar, Copywork, and/or reading first thing while I get the household started and work with the younger ones. They ask any questions when I pop in to check on them, or they wait until their turn. #4 does his work in my office, otherwise he wanders off. #3 has a little desk in the mudroom which is right outside my office and next to the laundry room so that I can be right there to watch over her.

9:50- Congratulate #4 on his activity book, do phonics with him.

10:00- Check corrections on #3, then Read book to #4.

10:15-business correspondence, switch laundry

10:17-10:40- School with #4. Also do the Week Plan with him. He's in a mostly review stage at the moment, so that didn't take very long.

10:45-11:15- School with #1. Guzzle coffee. Also went over the Week Plan. Much easier when I only have to say things once, but that's the way it is sometimes. Noticed that the "other half of my brain" (my Ipod) has dead batteries. ACK! That's where I keep up with everything! Went to go plug in.
Short conversation with Dave as he peeked in about the drainage in the landscaping after our 2 inches of downpour we just received this morning.

11:20- Told #s 3,4 to keep it down upstairs.
Went to switch laundry. Opened washer. Peas fall out.
Yes, peas.
Investigated more- #1 had more peas in her pocket.
Dumped peas on the floor.
Finished moving laundry, and started new load.
While loading new load, called #1 in to tell the story.
She's laughing so hard tears are rolling down her cheeks.
I'm half annoyed and half amused.
As a reward for the peas, she sweeps the laundry room.
She asked not to tell Daddy because he wouldn't think peas in the washer is as funny as we do.

11:30- Need more coffee. Uggggg- Mondays.
#3,4 are playing The Auctioneer Game. Loudly.
Tell them to keep it down again.
Baby is still asleep. Very unusual. He's eating and sleeping and cranking more than usual. Pretty sure it's the 6 month old growth spurt thing.
Need to get lunch.

11:32- 12:00: Lunch prep with #3. We chat and work. She unloads dishwasher, gets out tortillas and shreds my homemade cheese (her fave job). I clean out fridge, wash those dishes, put together ham/cheese trortillas and slice the apples. Also started dinner. Baby finally woke about 11:53. Cried for less than 2 minutes while I put down food and washed hands. Dave already was playing with him when I got there. Daddy never likes to hear babies cry.

12:05- Lunch/feed baby/update blog/helpdesk messages

12:15-12:30 Played with baby #2 lunch clean up duty.

12:30-1 Visited with Dave. Baby and I folded laundry. Started new load. Told #4 to do his trash job.

1-1:15 snuggled with baby, talked with #3,4. Encouraged #1,2 to finish up school.

1:15-1:45 Did official business business. Put baby down for nap. Tidied up, went to town.

1:45-2:45- shopped.

3:00- back home, assessed what was going on. Directed piano practice, extra chore, and sent the one who was goofing off to be by himself until he can finish his school work. Switched out laundry. Now feeding baby and updating blog.

3:15- laundry. Monday is my main laundry day, in case that's not obvious.
3:17-4:10- History time and read aloud (which today happens to be the same thing as we work through the Greek Myths). Read and discuss. Relate back to The Odyssey and the Iliad which we just finished.

4:15- Double check school work. Make copies of history writing assignment that I forgot yesterday. Snack and break for mom. Piano practice and extra chore for #1,2. Everyone else is off the hook.

4:20-5:00: Clean bathroom, scrub down kitchen, laundry, tidy den. #1,2 building tree house. #3 is stringing a beaded necklace, #4 is chopping wood. Baby awake at 5. Would love to say that I cleaned the much needed cleaning laundry room- but alas, I did not.

5-5:20 Meeting with Dave while feeding baby.

5:20-5:40- Float around with children.

5:40-6: Finish putting together dinner. Various helpers float in and out.

6-6:40: dinner

6:40-7- We decided to play one of our long games. Dave takes over kitchen duty while I take care of the baby. They set up the game.

7-7:40- game

7:40- break to milk. Other children put sheets back on their beds and put away laundry. I work with Mr Fuss-a-little.

8:40- game over. Dave and I clean up. Children brush teeth, scrub faces and go to bed.

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While Saturdays are generally filled with doing as much as we can, on Sundays I generally do less outside farm type things, and focus more on indoor things and getting ready for the new week.

First stop is to float around the house throughout the day and tie up loose ends from last week. Never did change out the fish water? Do it now. Pile of laundry didn't get folded? Do it now. This is also the time to decide whether an item gets dropped from my TODO, or just sits waiting to be accomplished. Missed the opportunity to start some seeds until fall, so drop those. Push the washing windows and screens to the next week (I've been pushing this one for a month already...)

Next stop is to check the calendar. Saturday is the plant sale, and the next Monday is a MG gathering that I volunteered to do the food for. Clearly, this will be a bigger than normal week. Based on these activities, I'll need to plan carefully to get extra things done. So, make this weeks priority TODO list.

Next stop is school. I plan out big chunks at a time. Along with that, I've begun to also make all of my copies and notes for books from the library and projects to do at the same time. This has been huge in helping me make the most of my time! However, sometimes I add in something extra, or I have a student who needs extra practice, or needs to repeat a lesson, or for whatever reason, I need to do some extra stuff. Such is the case this week. Spend 20 minutes or so making my copies, checking over this week's lessons for 4 children, pull books off the shelf, and reset my checklist on my Ipod.

Next up is food planning. I need 21 meals for 6 people. 1 will be picnic style, and one dinner will need to be crockpot or otherwise pop in the oven on Saturday. Such a crazy week demands lots of very simple meals. I even bought white tortillas at the store instead of taking time to make our own.

Sometimes all this and more gets done, sometimes some, and sometimes none. Whatever does get done just means that there is that much less to do during the week, and that much smoother everything goes.

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The daffidills in the orchard and all of the fruit trees are finished blooming. I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of that. Beautiful. Time goes by so quickly- I keep thinking "I'll get a picture of that tomorrow", or "I'll get to that tomorrow", and before you know it- it's too late. I'm excited for a good fruit crop this year.

2 weekends ago we planted 100 tomatoes. Last weekend we mulched said tomatoes. With the exception of the purple hull peas for market, the garden is all planted, mulched and irrigated with drip irrigation.

Speaking of irrigation, Dave has been putting my irrigation into the landscaping. Whooo-hooo! If the weather holds, he'll have it finished today or tomorrow- just in time! I'll be a busy bee putting it all together and working on my goal for the year- labeling every single plant. I'm so excited!

The remainder week and a half will be filled with last minute preparations for the plant sale- we still have some tagging to do. I have to put the last minute touches on my dried flower wreaths, and package up my milk soap.

After the plant sale, things slow back down to their normal busy pace. We'll be adding in the calves. Doing all of the prep work for the market, and of course, keeping on top of those weeds!

It was suggested to me that I write a "how I do it" series. Sort of a play by play on how we schedule our days and manage to get stuff done. I'm putting a pole on the side so you can vote on if you'd like to see such a series. Vote, and comment only if you want!

I'll try to add some pictures of the gardens this week!

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Time for another update! I always know it's time for an update when my friends bump up an older post!

Little Man is doing his baby thing. None of the other children are sick of him- everything he does still gets coos and squeals of delight. He's almost sitting up. He falls over after about 10 seconds, sometimes more. If he's in the Bobby, he can manage for quite some time. I took some really cute pictures of his chubby little hands and feet, but Dave never did upload them for me, so ya'll can pester him about them if you want to see them. Rest assured, though- he's plum cute!

Spring is in full swing here at the Whitinger Farm. That means we are a flurry of activity finishing up with the winter, and preparing for the new year. Also, something about spring just gives me a burst of creativity. It helps that last year was filled with morning sickness, so I have some catching up to do in the creative department! Here's a glimpse of what's going on:

~We're excited to have our rye field up which will produce next year's hay.
~Dave and the children are building the chicken coop this week. We were pleased as punch to build this one so cheaply thanks to Craigs List and a little bit (ok, a lot) of hard work. Dave has done a *beautiful* job! Best building yet!
~ meanwhile, there are 20 chickens in my laundry room chirping and growing
~ We're eating lettuce every day thanks to our abundant lettuce crop
~Daisy is still producing lots of milk. I'm cheesed out, and thinking it's time to get a calf. The pasture is greening up, so this year's calves are just around the corner
~We've worked really hard the last couple of months getting all of our seeds started and rotated for the coming growing season and the plant sale. Everything has been moved outside and I took a picture for you all to see all of our progress. This is all of ours, including the children's. Almost all of the tomatoes will be grown in our garden, but everything else is for the sale. This is by far our biggest showing yet, and we're super excited!
~We're also gearing up for the farmer's market this year. Our early crops are doing wonderful- onions and garlic. It's so exciting to see our fruit trees this year as well. They are in full bloom, so I can't wait to see how much we get this year (their 3rd year).

Don't ask about my chair. That's all we'll say about that.



I've been doing other little projects that's I'll try to share soon. There's so much going on, it's hard to keep up!

Spring is definitely here!

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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My laundry room has been taken over by seedlings. There's a bit of tension surrounding who is using whose potting soil or grow light space. Yes, it is looking like spring, at least in the house. (note to self to take pics for a garden update)

I was experimenting a bit with recycling bluejeans, and came up with this. Not too exciting, but functional.



About 20 wheels of cheese, plus several gallon bags of Mozzarella shredded and frozen.



Here's my chair. It's finally nekkid. I did it one staple at a time with pliers and a screwdriver. Very therapeutic. Every now and then I work on some of the piping, and I have the bottom cushion sewn.



I'm not the only one in the house with projects, though. Dave is planning the barn and expanding his Hugal beds. The children have made gingerbread houses, cut snowflakes, dissected owl pellets, worked on learning to sew, and crocheted some items, including working on rag rugs.

This month is promised to be even busier than the last (how is that possible?!?!). It helps me out so much to do projects and continue normal daily life as much as is possible. Keeps me grounded and focused.

Here's to a good and productive month!

New quote: You can't do the ordinary things and expect
extra-ordinary results.

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To the attention of the person who keeps smashing my mailbox:

Please stop.

Thank you.

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I had meant to make a "3 month old" post, but time just slips away. Then, someone mentioned that LM (Little Man) is almost 4 months old!

He's definately not a infant anymore. He Coos and Goos and Babbles, and no one can hardly get a word in edgewise.

He's discovered his hands, and enjoys touching his fingers.

He's drooling like crazy, and I wonder if he's going to be one of my earlier teethers.

Here in East TX, it's definately winter. With that, comes some cold weather (we've enjoyed our fireplace!), lots of rain, and starting seeds for the spring!

My laundry room has now been transformed to hold all of the seedlings and the growlights as 4 of us vie for position. With so many of us starting seeds, and so many seeds to start, we're really going to need some more space eventually!

It also means that I'm "spring cleaning". I tend to scrub the house from top to bottom, and purge out some clutter in order to have my house ready for the spring when things suddenly get very busy.

Winter also means settling in with good books on the couch with cups of tea for everyone and reading aloud. Ahhhhh- the quiet and slow pace of life that keeps us all sane and centered!

So, what is going on with you?

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When asked why we don't participate in our local homeschool co-op, I mention that their focus is on sports, and we tend toward academics. When asked why not 4H......

Well, I'll just see what you guys think of our local 4H chapter's latest and exciting offerings.

http://jacksonvilleprogress.com/local/x1758588538/Local-4-H-...

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I enjoy talking about my family.
I enjoy that you enjoy reading about my family.
However, there is more to me than Cubit work, baking bread, and burping babies I also love a good convertsation! To read about and discuss interesting and thoughtful bits of information.

I keep thinking that perhaps I could share in my blog, and discuss some things with my friends here. I don't know how well it will work out, but figured I could give it a try. Here we go.

I thought this post from the Washington Times was interesting:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/dec/15/20041215-085...

Somewhat telling, I think, is the fact that she misused commas multiple times herself.

(Please note that I am not perfect in my own writings! )

Has traditional grammar gone the way of the dinosaur? Should it?

How far should our "living language" grow and change, and how much should we hold onto the basic rules?

If this topic is of interest to you, you may also find this link to be fun:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors
Our family is just nerdy enough to need this in day calendar format!

I'm all ears- tell me your thoughts.

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I just can't believe how fast time goes sometimes!!

The Little Man is now 8 weeks old. He's definitely not a newborn anymore. He's been fairly needy, which of course just means that I get to hold him more without feeling guilty. I fussed at him that he never took a nap more than 10 minutes by himself, then suddenly he was taking an hour nap, and I fussed at him because I missed him too much! Poor boy can't win.

He's almost 13 pounds now. He holds his head up very nicely, except when he's tired. He's figured out that there are more sounds to make than just crying, so he coos and ooooohhhhhhs and ahhhhhhhs. It charms all of us. He's been practicing his smiles lately. Seems like our oldest daughter gets the best ones. Babies always seem to like her a lot.

While he is a needy baby, he's not really a fussy one. The only time he cries is when he wakes up to find himself alone in his crib. Hurts his feelings. He certainly does let you know when he is upset, though! He whines and whimpers. His little eyebrows furrow together and get a little red. Then. Then, he pulls out the big guns and frowns the biggest, saddest, most break your heart frown you've ever seen. It's very effective.

Life is getting back to normal around here for the most part. The little things are getting picked back up. I've mostly adjusted to the lack of sleep that a new baby brings. That part is always hard for me, as I *love* sleep. Also, without it, my brain turns to mush.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. For the first time in many many years, we didn't have any company. I asked Dave if we could skip out on the big meal thing. I just didn't feel up to cooking all day with a new baby. I did that one other time (with #3- Sept birthday), and it really was no fun at all. He was fine with it. I did make my pumpkin pie, though! Made from homegrown pumpkins, of course. So there- for all of you who seem to think that I can do it all- I tried to tell you that I can't. Not just that, but I don't even try.

The children did miss it, though. I heard them discussing that one of their favorite parts of the Big Meal is getting to eat off of the china. I think I'll do a nicer meal sometime soon and surprise everyone with eating off the china. Maybe even candles too- just because.

Dave has been gone all week, so that's been a new challenge. Doing his farm chores, and making sure that the Cubits work is done plus the normal things around here like school. It only takes me about 4 minutes to go to sleep at night!

Two days ago, I was lounging in the bed snuggling with the baby for his early morning feed. Usually Dave gets up and I snuggle with the baby for another half hour (read: I doze while feeding him for another half hour because I've only had 5 hours of sleep), and I wasn't really ready to get up yet. The children were hollering at me that the bull was loose. Hmmmmm- not good. If you saw my FB post about keeping calm and carrying on- now you know why. I did manage to get him back in his pasture. Then, this morning, my oldest son's trap had a nice surprise in it- a skunk!!! I was not happy to hear this news.
The oldest child wondered what adventure we'll have tomorrow. I'm hoping none. We'll be happy to have Dave back tomorrow night!

I just learned the definition of self control: the ability to appear calm even when you aren't. Brilliant!

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I posted some of my nesting adventures over in Sharran's sewing cubit!

I apologize for those who were hoping for a Little Man update- I'll try to get to that next!

Click the image for an enlarged view.

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How is it that the last month of pregnancy seems to go on forever, but the first month of a newborn's life zips away???? It seems so unfair! I always tell new moms, or especially moms pregnant with #2: "The first 6 weeks are really hard, just hang on and try to just enjoy your baby. After that, it's cake".

Little Man is growing so quick! He weighs 10 pounds now. I know the time is fleeting, and he won't be a newborn for very much longer. Knowing this, I find myself lingering a little longer in the middle of the night. Taking my own advice. Just enjoying the quiet at 3 am. The little nose that wrinkles up when he yawns. The tiny ears that still have a little bit of fuzz on them. The toes that he likes to curl up. The hands that are clutching my shirt or my finger. Yes, part of me would rather be sleeping...but the night is when it's just the two of us. No interruptions. Nothing else that needs to be done.

We're moving into the new normal around here. Little Man fits just perfectly into our family (and we're all well trained to fit into his schedule! LOL!) , and we can't imagine life without him. Isn't that amazing? A new little person, growing up. A new life to have.

We're enjoying his awake time. He enjoys watching everyone play games. It's so fun to see him make connections, and intently study things. He's a bit of a serious chap. Not as serious as the first boy, but much more serious than the second boy. It's been interesting for Dave and I to watch our children grow and see how we really were able to see glimpses into their personalities when they were just infants.

Unfortunately, he hasn't taken very well to his wrap that I purchased. I'm hoping that he grows accustomed to it soon. It makes things a bit easier as he will be staying awake more and more as the months go on. Perhaps the fact that I've only tried it a coupe of times has something to do with it....

In farm news, Daisy is milking away. Charleen, you'll be glad to know that we made butter using the Dazy the other day!!! Dave churned while I was with the baby. He tried to do the pressing, but he'd never done that before, so I finished the job while he held the baby. 3 pounds of butter in about 20 mintues start to finish!! That's sooooooo awesome! It worked perfectly to save up the cream in the freezer and do it in big batches. Thank you again sooo much!!!!!!!

I've tried to make cheese in the last 2 weeks. However, 2 out of 4 wheels had to be trashed (we really need some pigs). The problem is either working around Little Man, or after-baby-mush-brain - I really don't know which! Frustrating since all I'm really getting done now a-days is school, a small chore or two, and dinner is hit or miss, plus the cheese. Humph.

Opppps- my partner just woke up, and Duke is whining (he HATES it when the baby cries!)

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Time sure does fly!

We had our 2 week check up at the midwives yesterday. Both of us are doing perfectly. Little Man now weighs in at 8lbs 14 oz.

I got busted by Dave, then he ratted on my to the midwives who fussed at me, for vacuuming on Tuesday. It was just a quick pickup! I was also advised there was no excersising for 6 weeks, including walks.

Most days are very smooth. Occasionally Little Man cries or nurses all day, but usually he's content to hang around watching everyone, or sleep in his crib.

We all enjoy it most when he's looking around. Watching the wonderment of a newborn is amazing. Seeing those lightbulb moments, and recognition.

Yes, he's sleeping in his crib during the day. Nights are a different story. Since he's not sleeping through the night yet, I get more rest if I just keep him with me. I learned with Baby #2 that I just couldn't stay up all night with him and function the next day with the toddler. Everyone gets more sleep this way. When he's a bit older, we'll work on sleeping through the night, and that will be in his own crib. The time is so short, and I don't mind the extra snuggles.

Of course, just because he's sleeping in our bed doesn't always mean that the night go perfectly smoothly either. Last night was one such night. Someone was bringing me breakfast this morning, but I was still asleep (or finally asleep). It was 10:00 before I had managed to brush my hair and get dressed! The rest of the day has been fine, though. He's now taking his afternoon nap and I'm resting.

Since Monday school has resumed. We're still leaving off non essential subjects (Latin, Logic, etc), but all of the basics are getting done. They didn't quite have a 2 week break, and I think they were hoping for longer *snicker*. It's nice to be back into a good routine.
Just as amazing is how a new baby just fits right into the rest of the family. He just belongs.

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I took some cute hands and feet pictures today, but they haven't been transfered off the camera yet. I'll edit this post and let you know when I add them in!

Little Man has changed a lot in his first week. As we knew he would They don't stay bruised and puffy nosed for very long! His complexion is just perfect- no hint of newborn acne or jaundice. No cradle cap, or peel-y skin. He looks just perfect. His new skin is so soft!!! He eyes are still that certain blue that babies have. Very dark. Between that and his head of dark hair, and darker complexion, the oldest and I are wondering if indeed we could have another brown haired, brown eyed child. Mind you, out of 4 children, only one of them look anything at all like me- the rest are all little Dave clones. Those Whitinger genes are very strong! So, we're excited to see if #5 has slightly changed the ratio.

I'm not sure where the week went. It took until Monday for me to feel more like myself again. The first 3-4 days sleep was a precious and rare commodity. Now, he's sleeping fairly regulary, even at night. While he still wakes 3-4 times between 11-6, the waking time seems to be very regular, and he's happy to go right back to sleep. I'm blissfully walking without pain again, for which I am beyond thankful for.

Whoever suggested that I spoil my babies is absolutely right. I pretty much don't put them down! Never fear...no one will ever say that any of my children are spoiled. However, currently everyone in the house knows when I've dared to put the lad down in bed by himself, as that's pretty much the only time he cries. That, and when I'm being too slow in getting him fed.

Speaking of feeding, he is a very good eater! I'm not too sure how much weight he lost (Babies loose weight after they are born, for those who don't know), but as of yesterday, he was almost back up to his birth weight. That's really good, and very ahead of the "recommended".

Now that we've gotten to know each other and I've sat and kissed that very soft head for a week and he's comfortably slept on my chest all day and night, we're ready to start getting into a good routine in preparation of returning to a more normal routine around here. Not that the snuggles will be ending, mind you...

Dave continues to do an excellent job running the house. I'm so thankful that he's around to take over while I rest. I think we're both excited to get back to what we do best, though! The other children have been doing their part to help out. The oldest has taken over the kitchen clean up. The #3 has evidently taken over laundry. The youngest is the "go-fer". He happily runs around doing things. I'm sure #2 is doing extra stuff too...although I have no clue what since I'm not actually out there much. Also, in all of his spare time, Dave has been working on my landscaping, adding in compost and regrading so that next year we might actually have some gardens. What a guy!

The week also brought in a package from 1AnjL who made Little Man 2 beautiful crocheted blankets! One is round, and just gorgeous. The other is a guardian angel pattern in the center, with hearts on the site. We were all super impressed with the skill and time put into them! Also, the attorney's office sent over flowers- LOL!


This is me, signing off, and Little Man gives a contented sigh and a coo.

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Let's see if I can tear myself away from snuggling long enough to make a new post!
Being the mother of 5 makes me appreciate this time even more than I did with each of the others. The time goes by so quickly!! I hate to miss a second of the newborn stage.

The midwife came by yesterday to check on us. We're both doing perfect. She mentioned that indications point to Little Man as being early! By a couple of weeks! Can you imagine how big he would have been then?!?!?! I'm perfectly happy that he chose to come now.

He's having quite a bit of time awake now during he day. Looking around with his bright eyes. He's also found his voice. He just sort of squeaked, but he has now perfected the newborn wail. Being well-trained, we obey every time.

While my duties revolve solely on taking care of myself and the smallest one, Dave is now in charge of everything else. I think he's really enjoyed having the rest of the children be so much older now. All of our practice and training really pay off in times like this. The girls fix breakfast and tidy up the kitchen first thing in the morning, while Dave and the boys go milk. Sine they can all do the basic chores, and the olders can do some f the more challenging ones as well as cook simple breakfasts and lunches, things are moving right along without too many bumps.

I don't know exactly how long I'll be "off", but I planned on 2 full weeks as far as school work. I prepared beefy packets for them to complete in math and grammar. For History, lit, and science, they have reading and outlining/summary assignments. They will either do projects alone or with Dave, as he chooses. Their assignments are light for these 2 weeks, really serving the purpose of keeping skills fresh, but more importantly, keeping our routine. Dave looks over their work in my stead. I'll probably be putting back on my teacher hat sooner than 2 weeks, and we'll just pick back up then where we left off. I'll be looking at our first 6 weeks next week to see if any reevaluating needs to be done.

The children are all totally smitten by the baby. Every time they see him I hear things like "oh, he's so cute!" "he's a doll" "look! his eyes are open!" "oh, I hope I get to hold him this time!" " Awwwwww! He sneezed!"

We let the youngest hold him first. Babies have a way of wrapping your heart around theirs, and children aren't immune to it either! You can just watch them melt as they gaze down at the tiny thing in their arms.

I'm certainly living the rough life around here. Someone brings me 3 meals plus snacks and drink refills in bed. i have flowers and chocolate supplied by Dave. Laying around resting is difficult work !!

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Well, it looks like it anyway. Labor has started and is going well! Maybe my next post will announce the birth.

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I wonder how many countdown threads there will be?!?

Everything is still going well. I'm 38 weeks today.

Dave seems to be giving me a hard time about being in the kitchen all day for a couple of days this week, but I can really tell that I'm slowing way down. Happily, the swelling went down this week, making it much easier to stand than sit anyway!

One day I baked 12 loaves of bread, and 6 doz muffins. I'm thinking they will thank me when they have all this food to eat while I'm on "leave"! Yesterday we had a fridge full of milk (well, we do today too, but that's beside the point), so I made a 3 gallon batch of farmhouse cheddar.
I am making yogurt and buttermilk today. 1/2 gallon of each.

The crib came and we put it together last weekend. It's fun to see it sitting in the corner of our room waiting for it's occupant. I have everything washed and stacked. Those tiny tiny diapers!!!! It's hard to believe anyone could be so small!

All of the curtains are made. Dave is on the final run of repairing the damage from our "oppps" experience, but as soon as he's done, we can hang the final valance and that will be done. I'm very pleased with how they came out.

I have begun the slow process of re-upholstering a chair. We found this chair at a church garage sale for $10. Ugly little thing. For the price, I figured it couldn't hurt to have it be my first project, especially when I could get good fabric for less than $4/yd. Can you believe that I found a $5 bill in the chair??? Hehehehehehe.

Well, that's all the exciting things I can think of. I'm trying to just maintain the house, and not sit around waiting. But doing a lot of sitting never-the-less.

Oh, and a package came from Vic (the second one, actually- she also sent me a HUGE box of plants which Dave planted for me). This is a baby box, complete with prizes for the other children, which I (being the big meanie) told them that they can't open until Baby arrives. Isn't she sweet????

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Ok- 37 weeks and counting!

My midwife appointment went very well. She commented that I looked really healthy and had the pregnant glow going. I told her that she was just being sweet, but she insisted that I looked great. Seeing as how I feel like I look huge, hot and bloated- I still think she was being nice.

Because I can't get around very much, the swelling has increased, and I'm gaining a bit more than the 1 pound per week here at the end. Dave still weighs more than I do, so that's good news! Baby is where he's supposed to be, and is really low. Now it's just the waiting game.

The plant sale went great, as did #3's birthday. I did end up going home early- it was about 90 or so, but I did last until about 1:30.

This week was pretty dull. We have to go to Tyler once per week now- I call these the "watched pot appointments".

We stopped by Sams for our yearly trip while we were there. It's nice to have that out of the way.

Last week I lost my cell phone. That wasn't good, but at least I realized it right away so Dave could deactivate the phone.

My 11 year old van has decided that it's service to our family has come to an end.

I think I'm pretty much done with my nesting. I feel pretty tired. We stopped by Hobby Lobby and I picked up some yarn to knit an afghan for our room- I think that will keep me busy along with just maintaining what has already been done- doing a load of laundry every day, instead of doing it all once per week and that sort of thing.

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As of Wednesday, I will be 36 weeks. Whew!!

Here's my updates so far:

Lots of canning done: So far,
7 qts and 34 pts tomato sauce
16 qts burrito beans
6 qts chicken soup
19 qts beef veggie soup
5 qts chicken stock
6 pts pickled okra
5 pts + 2 half pts peach jam
Not a bad start! I'd like to see more soups....but we'll see.




I've finished all the baby knitting I intend to do (I think). These have been done for awhile now, I just forgot to post them.



This set was knit up using baby alpaca yarn that my dear friend Dea sent me for my birthday last year. Blanket, hat, and booties.



I've been working frantically on window treatments for our master bedroom lately. We have 3 windows in the bedroom, and 3 in the bath, and they've been nekkid. Here's one of the valences that I made for the bathroom. I have 2 done so far, and the third just needs trim added to the bottom, which I'll get Wednesday.



(sorry for the photo, I haven't figured out why I fix it in the photo editor, but it still uploads the wrong one- grrrrrrr)

I'm not thrilled with how they hang. This is an extremely easy treatment- just sew up your 4 sides, remembering to add a pocket for the top rod. However, I see that it works best with smaller windows. I'm not happy at all with how much lining shows no matter how much I mess with the floofing. -----technical word.

I think that I'll go back and add rings and do it proper at some point. For now, the room is enjoying it's new grown up look. The fabric is wonderful and has a lovely blue plus the soft green, ivory and chocolate brown. I pulled the brown out for towels and bath mats. As time allows, I'll probably do some making, spray painting, etc on accessories to match.

Then came the drapes for the larger window in our room. With Baby sleeping in here, I need to actually have functional light blocking drapes. I worked for about 2 weeks on the drapes. Big windows=lots of fabric...and that can be very difficult to deal with. Usually with such a big project, I run into some sort of problem that makes me want to pull my hair out. However, not this time! I couldn't believe it, but everything went so smoothly!!! Until....we go to hang them this weekend.

My goal for the weekend was to get the drapes hung, and the balloon valences made and hung. To say we ran into some difficulties is a little understated. Here's the mess in the floor.



Here's the hole in the wall. There's a matching one on the other side of the window.



So, I have no picture of the finished product because we now have holes in the walls to repair first. Note to selves- even heavy duty anchors are no match for lined 100"+ drapes. Because of the difficulties, the valences also didn't get made.

This is going to be a busy week. The Master Gardener Plant sale is Friday and Saturday, and I have a midwife appointment on Wed, and Dave has meetings today and Wednesday. I'll be working on finishing these projects as time allows this week...but I'm not counting on it being done!

I've also managed to do 9 breakfast freezer meals. Hopefully this week will see more, and I've got to get moving on the dinners!!! That involves a lot of standing, though....

Oh, and I was asked to see the Baby Cocoon/Sacks that I was commissioned to make. I didn't take pictures of most of them, but here is one. She had requested an organic yarn. It turned out quite nice, and she was very happy.



With the business of the week, I do have a couple of other things that must be done. #3's birthday is Friday. Another ice cream cake must be made, plus 2 other homemade surprises that I can't mention because sometimes they read my "Spot"!

Dave mentioned that it really is time for me to finish getting the baby things together. I suppose it is!! I bought the crib mattress and car seat about a month or so ago. The crib and changing table need to be put together. Crib sheets are probably a good idea.....
Time to rummage around the totes and see what I have and what I need. After 3 moves and 5 years, I bet I better start a list.

Stay tuned!

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But since you asked, I'll continue to post my obsessive nesting adventures.

Last week was very busy, although I have hardly anything to show for it. I continued trying to plug in my planning things. I made a hundred or so copies. I cleaned. I rearranged my office filing twice, and decided I'm still not happy with it.

On Wednesday we went to see the midwife. We met the newest member of the midwife team. Had an uneventful and completely unprofitable trip to town. BTW- "going to town" means I'm all the way in Tyler. Under normal conditions, we only drive the 25 or so miles every 4-5 months or less if we can help it. However, the midwife is in town. Not to mention all of the shopping, because there is absolutely nothing in J-ville unless you need the WM, which I'd rather not..but it is my only option.

Where was I? Oh, yes- the midwife. So, my appointment was normal. I measured right on schedule. I gained my good girl 4 pounds (I'm working hard at eating very good and trying to excercise so that the baby doesn't gain a bunch of unneccessary weight, but I do eat a LOT of food- trust me). Blood pressure is slowly rising as it should, and heartbeat is good. All is well. I'm now on appointments every 2 weeks, and need to start thinking about ordering the birth kit and getting serious about being prepared.

Somehow on Thursday my brain switched gears from school planning to house planning. I decided that I needed to decorate. Spent all day Thursday and Friday picking out the perfect thing, changing my mind, and picking out different things. Plus choosing a paint color to repaint the master and bath. More on that in a minute. Using my fabulous silk drapes that I bought on a steal, plus my lavender bedspread that I already own, I thought it was time to put some stuff together. Plus the garage sale frames that I scored last weekend, plus the chair that needs to be recovered. At least I'll have a start. On a budget, of course!

Starting with the paint on Saturday morning. We all pile into the van ready to go. I make sure that I've written down the color that I've chosen. Because, after all, my brain is mush. If it isn't written down, you can just forget about it. So we arrived at Sherwin Williams. I can't find my paper. Never fear, because I've looked at the color for two days straight, and I am SURE that I remember what it is. We order 3 gallons of it. After shoe shopping (that's a story for a different time), grabbing groceries (and forgetting that we have company coming this week, plus it is #2's birthday), we head back home to begin painting.

3 hours later, I confess that I don't like the color. We agree that we're going to wait it out. It will grow on us, or we'll just live with it for a year or so and repaint. I wake up on Sunday realizing that not only do I not like it, I really really don't like it. The color is almost a very pale yellow, and clashes really really bad with the tile in the bathroom. It's bad. I spend Sunday morning stressing about needing to change my entire color scheme that I had just picked out (fabric and such) for the big redecorating. Everything is going to clash, and I'm going to have a really big yucky mess on my hands.

Dave sees the delima and agrees that we can't just leave it. We'll have to repaint. There goes my budget. He's very patient, and says that it is absolutely no big deal that we wasted time and money, and we'll just fix it and move on. Keeping in mind, of course that we're also expecting company this week. OK- so we have a new plan. He'll pick up ONE gallon of paint on Monday, and we'll repaint only the bathroom, as that is where the clashing is really bad. We'll then make sure that the color that we originally picked out is going to be ok before we invest in all 3 gallons again (patient and smart, he is!). So he's picking up paint after the Master Gardener meeting, and I'll go back to the grocery store to finish buying for the #2's birthday, come home and make the cake and do eveything else.

Of course, the meeting ran 5 hours (!!!!!), but he did pick up the paint. I did get the cake made and managed not to forget anything else for the day.

We repainted the bathroom this afternoon. It looks wonderful. I'm very happy we did it. I'm even more happy that we've got this part behind us. I'll put back together the bathroom tomorrow, and we'll repaint the bedroom some other time. Dave's dad is expected Thursday evening. Meanwhile, I'll need to go to the grocery store again (have I mentioned that I really dislike grocery shopping??), after I figure out what lunches I'm going to serve.

Then, I can go back to obsessing over the fabrics and what not in order to complete this project sometime in the coming weeks!

Maybe I should just go back to school obsessing, or cleaning under the sinks??

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Boy.

Today I had my monthly midwife appointment. My blood pressure was back down to normal *grin*. Oddly, I was measuring 4 weeks ahead of schedule. I'm a pretty small gal, and I've never measured ahead before. Also oddly, the heartbeat could be heard all over the place. Thinking it was possible that we could have more than one in the oven, we all agreed to get a sonogram done to see what was going on.

We figured since we were having the sonogram anyway, we'd go ahead and find out the gender.

No twins, only one. He looks perfectly healthy in every way. He is measuring 1 week ahead. Evidently I just decided to do a marathon growth. Must be all the ice cream and watermelons!!

So, now we know!

The boys, of course, are thrilled, and the girls are getting used to it.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Forth of July!

The local fireworks here are set off on the lake. Friends of ours have a boat, and live on the lake, and invited our family to view with them. We did, and had a great time! The children had never been on a motorized boat, and had never seen big fireworks before, so this was a double whammy treat for them. Our Senator also has a home on the same lake, and set off his own display, which was also very impressive. We got home hungry and tired (mostly just me), and had a great time.

Last week I began my summer canning. I did the first 7 quarts of tomatoes. I had some left over, so I made about 6 pints of hot dog chili to freeze as well. It's so nice to have tomatoes again!!!

I declared my surrender to the squash bugs this morning. I fought the good fight, but they won. Funny, in all of our years of gardening, we've never had squash bugs before. This year, I lost my zucs before I even knew what hit me. They then moved into the pumpkins. I was on to them by this time, and started treatment. No chemicals, mind you...but every natural remedy in my arsenal. All to no avail.
They then went for my watermelons. For 2 weeks now, I've spend an hour of my mornings hand picking squash bugs. Pro tip: they stain your fingers...so wear gloves. We harvested, I think, 6 melons, sold a couple, froze half of one, and the rest have been, or will be consumed shortly. I would have continued the fight, but most of the fruit was also getting blossom end rot, so I just gave up.

The farmer's market is going pretty well. The first week, we had absolutely no produce to sell. We brought crepe myrtles that Dave propagates, along with some of my knitted items. I sold one dishcloth, for a grand total of $2.50! The next week (last week) was much better. We did have produce, and we totaled almost $50. Not bad considering that we insist on feeding our family first, then sell...and that we didn't even plan on entering a market this year!! We're having a good time getting to know the other producers, as well as the members of our community a little better. I never did have time to make our matching outfits, though. We'll grow into that as well, I think!

We've had very interesting weather the last 2 weeks. Thanks to the hurricane, it has rained every single day. Like any good farmer, I'll complain when there is too much rain, and complain when there is not enough! We've had more than enough, that's for sure!! However, it has given us the opportunity for a little down time. Too wet to garden, we've concentrated on getting started cleaning out and organizing Dave's shop and the garage. I have a "do over" project that I've been slowly getting around to, and much of that was done. We've played games each evening instead of working and walking. Dave has fenced in a part of the pasture during the non rainy times. Fencing in the middle of July isn't normally something that we can do, so I'm very thankful to have something else crossed off the list. Now that the sun is shining (at least for the time being), and the heat has set back in, we'll be turning our attention to the weeds that are taking off thanks to all the rain!

Have a great week!

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Well, the interesting things just don't stop....

It seems that our well was improperly drilled. This is a major problem, since a 700 foot deep well is not exactly cheap. One helpful person suggested to sue the well digger. Ummmmmm?????? yeah, we need more of that.

The lawn mower just croaked. Naturally weeks past the warranty date.

The grading around our house (which we had redone twice anyway), is still not close to being right. My (previously finished) side garden is going to have to be totally ripped up and redone. I've already lost a good number of plants, but the recent rains killed many more, and accentuated our problem. Moving plants in June is not a good idea.....

You know....because we have absolutely nothing else to worry with.

On a brighter note, the Whitinger Family took control of the local tomato competition this year- Go Team!! Dave won the heirloom category for the second year in a row, and the firstborn won the child category. Each came with a $100 prize. To say she was thrilled would be an understatement.

My aquarium has been taken over for the growing of tadpoles.

I did manage to finish my commissioned sale of 3 baby cocoons and 3 matching hats- Whooohooooo!

We are planning to enter the new farmers market starting next week. We've decided on wearing "uniforms". I'll be making matching skirts for us girls this week, with aprons to match before next Wed. Better get moving!

Finally, the dogs think I'm a hero because they were just treated to a bag of soup bones that I dug out of the freezer from 3 years ago. Let's just say that the dogs lead a really hard life around here, poor things. Thankfully, no more chickens have met their demise.

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Well, maybe not "interesting", as we like to keep things as non-drama as we can. Life in the TX countryside has a way of making that happen....

Friday we went out for our usual walk, and Dave just about stepped on a snake. A big one too! Now, I'm all for snakes living where I can't see them. Balance of nature, and all of that. I don't mess with them, and they don't mess with me. Works well like that.

Well, this one got in our way. Triangle head, markings. We didn't stop to ask it what kind of snake it was, Dave just chopped off it's head. Dave carries a small machete thing with him on the walks- helps clear bramble and such. We all marveled at the muscles, as we passed the headless snake around and felt it. Note that during all this time, Happy had nothing to say about the whole thing. I think she was just wondering why the holdup. Humph. We did later figure out that it was just a harmless rat snake. Pity...

More harvesting, and watering, and cleaning, and planning, and resting. Sunday found us grilling out, and the oldest made us a strawberry pie. She did a great job, and we all enjoyed it!

This morning I woke up to the sound of the dogs growling on the wrong side of the house. We keep them in a temporary fenced in area in the back (seen in the pictures) for their own protection. Knowing this didn't sound very good...that should have been my first clue. Evidently both of my FARM dogs decided that chickens would be good to kill and eat this morning. I don't have a head count, but I know that they ate at least 2. Now, I'm not sure why they would do such a thing...and I don't know what to do about it. Ken, Maggie? Any ideas?? I'm pretty bummed and irritated by this.

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It has been a very busy week.

Busy is good.

We are gathering our crop of Blackberries- whoo-hooo! We don't have enough to sell, but we have ample for our family's needs. For only our first year with the domestic ones, I'm thrilled!

We have our first plums and peaches coming in!! For all intents and purposes, these trees are only 2 years old, so we'll have less than 20 fruit off each one. Nevertheless- they are extremely yummy!!

The first tomatoes are beginning to make their appearance as well. Hopefully we'll have some pretty good ones to enter into the Tomato Fest next Saturday.

As an added bonus, Marylyn and her family were coming through the area, and we were able to hang out for a bit. She and her husband own the Linux cubit, so Dave and Charles chatted about that. Their girls and our children hung out and played- hopefully burning off some energy before a long car trip! Marylyn and I chatted about the usual mom stuff, including homeschooling. I haven't seen her in several years, so it was nice to see my friend again! She gifted me with some very pretty crocheted dishcloths, and pretty pink gloves to match! Much nicer than the ugly yellow gloves and so-faded-you-can't-tell-what-color-they-used-to-be knitted dishclothes that previously donned my sink! Thanks again! My daughter (who is a beginner crochetter), wanted to know the pattern, and Marylyn said she found the pattern on Cubits!

Baby cocoons, or pods, seem to be all the rage now. I mentioned that I made them on a mom board I'm on, and I immediately had 2 customers- whooo-hoooo! I've been to shy to set up an etsy store, so this is a real boost for me!

Daily walks with the dogs and Dave. Daily lessons with the children. Speaking of that, I got the "meanest mom" award twice this week!

The first...I am very firm with our math skills. In my opinion, you should not move forward in math lessons until you completely understand what you are working on. Mind you- the children are all 1-3 grade levels ahead in math, so this isn't exactly hindering any progress! Well, we began a new book this week with the oldest two. The first several chapters of any math textbook is all review, so they can skip every other one, and do as many per day as they wish, as long as they miss no more than 3 per lesson. They both got stuck on lesson 5. Addition- 4 or more numerals, 3 or more addends. They both had to repeat that lesson 3-4 times! And on the second or more try, you do all of them, not just every other. They both protested "not fair". I assured them it was perfectly fair. In the same way that I will "fail" a math test if you received less than a 90. If you can't do better than that you either don't know the material, or you are being lazy and not doing your best work. Either way, you have lessons that you need to learn.

mean mom #2: After months of sending all the children back to the laundry baskets to turn clothes, especially socks!!, right side out, I put my foot down. I stated that I would no longer be asking them to redo, nor would I be redoing myself. All clothing would be placed in the hamper as it is in the basket. Evidently, no one believed me. And no one has clean socks today because they all received back socks that were clean on the inside, but dirt and grassy on the outside. Hopefully they've learned another lesson.

*snicker*

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One of my weaknesses (and I have many) is that I care about what other people think of me. It's sad, I know...but that's just the way I am. So, when someone says something that I don't believe is true, it hurts my feelings, and I feel like I need to explain. For those 2 people who read my little spot here, please bear with me for a minute.

I will not ever apologize for being successful. We've worked hard. We took huge risks In our first business, it started with about 20 hour days for weeks. We had saved up enough money from the corporate world that we could live off of for 1 year if we had to, by saving almost half of our paycheck every month. Since we started our married life on a mere 18,000/year, we knew we could do it. We were compensated when we sold that business.

After a couple of little business ideas that didn't go anywhere, the next work was DG. We worked long hours, weekends and holidays. 3 years into DG, when our 3rd child was born, we were making a whopping $300/mo. That's not a typo. I remember this number well because I'm the one who wrote these massive checks out. I remember wondering how long we could go on like that. I made all of the baby's diapers out of flannel sheets and old tshirts. I have pictures if you don't believe me. Clearly we had more outgo than income, but we were very careful with our money, and it lasted until the next "pay check".

So, our paydays may be big, but they are few and far between. Like any seasonal worker knows, you must budget your money for the drought in order to make it through. And if you don't know if/ when your next paycheck is coming, you are even more careful.

I'm a very frugal person. All 3 of our vehicles are 10 years old or older. ( we had to buy a third to pull the used cow trailer, but that's all it is used for) I own 3 pairs of shoes, and they are all older than 6 years. I make rag rugs and dog toys out of recycled materials (old clothes) because I won't buy new ones. Someone said that our family dressed like we shopped at Goodwill (my apologies...I didn't know that we needed to dress up to meet gardening friends). I'm more frugal now then when we were first married. I know things can change on a dime. I could give more examples, but I think you see my point.

Yes, after all this time, we decided to build a house. Yes, this house may be bigger than yours. After the 6 of us being in a house that was less than 2000 Sqft twenty four hours per day, seven days per week, with Dave's office (and you all know how much time he spends in his office) literally a closet, we are thrilled with the opportunity to stretch out in a bigger house. It is not a million dollar castle. There are no vaulted ceilings, or dental molding. No Marble or cherry. No formal rooms at all. We tried to go with high quality things such as flooring (oak, but we got the lower grade so that it will wear well) and cabinets (beach) that are expensive to change out, but will see a lot of abuse with small children. I shopped around tirelessly for the best prices on the smaller things that add up like light fixtures, faucets, and appliances (no subzeros). We put a lot of sweat equity into our house...as much as we could. Dave installed the wiring, the central vacuum, and we did all of the cleanup (construction and detail). We built the driveway and installed the culvert. We saved money everywhere we could. We even chose not to pay to have sod or a sprinkler system put in...saving thousands. There are no curtains up, because I refuse to spend money on such things, and I haven't found fabric on sale that I like, nor have I had the time to sew some up myself. My furniture is all a little shabby looking. I don't even know how old it is...but it's been moved a lot. It sees a lot of love every day, and we haven't bought a single piece of new furniture for this house. No, I won't be posting pictures of our house. I haven't asked to see yours either *tongue in cheek* I think I would crawl into a hole if I thought for one minute that people only looked at my house, and not our heart when they came to visit. We teach our children that it is not money, it is character that makes a person, and that is important.

Also, consider this. If you had 2 members of your household who each made 50,000/yr- that is 6 figures every year. Times 10 years is 7 figures. Your paychecks just come much closer together than ours do.
In the corporate world, Dave would get paid very big. He isn't just a programmer, he is a very specialized one.
Taxes are much much higher for selling a business than it is for a regular salary, and you have no benefits- you pay for all of it yourself.

Also, DG was not entirely owned by Dave. A couple of years into DG, it was clear that I was not going to be able to help Dave as much as was needed. I had a toddler and a baby. Terry was offered 1/4 of the business if she would stay on and work. She accepted on a handshake agreement. She was also compensated for her years without pay. So, this "substantial sum" was 75% Dave's...minus taxes, and divided by the number of years worked without any pay, and will now be used to feed and clothe us for the next foreseeable future. I never know when or if or how much I'll be paid next, and being the frugal sort...I always assume the worst. As in "this could be all for the rest of our lives, so here's my budget".

I'm only saying all of this to get it off my chest. I'm certainly not asking for sympathy, or anything else.

Just another "lets get some facts straight".

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I kept meaning to post about the incredibly productive weekend that we had...and it is already next weekend! Well, almost. Close enough.

Last week, Charleen took me plant shopping in Tyler. She has a nursery license, and let me buy off it it. What a nice gift! And prices!! So, I dutifully loaded up my truck. The next day, Dave went on a shopping spree for the Master Gardeners. The MGs are having a plant sale in a few weeks, and the association bought some trees to sell at the plant sell. Naturally, we needed some as well. I mean, who can resist 50 cents for gallon Crepe Myrtles, and $2 for 5 gal trees??

The weekend was therefore spent landscaping! We've planted 5 large Dynamite Crepes along the driveway. My previously nude landscaping now includes: un-named red daylilies that have been growing in the veggie garden for 2 years, 2 hydrangea bushes, 1 variegated hydrangea, 3 butterfly bushes, 2 evergreen shrubs, 25 lilies, Hot Lips and Teresa Salvias, one blue and one white plumbago. Dave also got started on his tropical bed. Since those are his plants, I have no clue what they are....(yes, we have "his" and "her" plants. ) All 6 of us were busy bees getting plants potted up for the plant sale. Also, we managed to squeeze in time to finally plant the cucumber, cantaloupes, and zucchini seeds.
We now have chickens (meat, and layers), and turkeys. They are growing in my laundry room at the moment.

Vera the cow is now back to normal. I did hate to give her anti-biotics...but you have to do what you have to do. She wasn't getting worse, but she wasn't improving either. Enough was enough, and we are now happily drinking milk. I haven't made time to start making cheese yet...but that's coming real soon.

I spent the morning finishing up the school week. Since we had our math test yesterday, today was an easy day of finishing up paper work, essays, maps, and readings. Then, I helped Dave out on the new Zone project. This afternoon I hope to have a baking party. All my breakfasts have been gobbled up, and it is more than time to replenish. Baking day has been on the back burner for several weeks.

This weekend we are hoping to take a trip to one of the arboretums around the area, and go to Lowes (and anywhere else that strikes our fancy) for some plants.

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I'm going to try to be better about posting, really!

Not that I have all that much to post about, mind you. I mean, how exciting is it to read about a stay at home mom and the laundry that she does??

Sort of speaking of that, my printer decided it was going to work last night- it must be a good sign!! The printer says it's going to be a good week.

All of my little plant seedlings are doing great.

Out my window I can see the woodpeckers and the blue jays. I grumble at the blue jays, but I do enjoy their color! And those woodpeckers are just gorgeous!

I'm dreaming of my landscaping again. I'm so excited to dig in!! Yet, they are saying 50% chance of snow this week??? Crazy!

My new fabric came in so I can refinish my chairs. Not that I've ever done something like that, mind you...and not that I have an abundance of time on my hands...but I like a good challenge! I need to nudge Dave into buying me a good staple gun so I can get started!

I'm a little behind duties from these past 3 or so crazy weeks- time to get caught back up!

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It seems as though Wednesday came and went, and Thursday is mostly over, and I haven't blogged a think. You know what that means, of course. It means that I haven't done anything for 2 days except sit around and eat Bon-Bons.

Everything is trucking along at a rapid pace.
Bumps in the road.
Unexpected twists and turns.
More than one case of whiplash.
The road of life is riddled with all of them.

"So Buckle up, and let's go!"

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On a roll...

-Seeds started yesterday. Of course, this is going to be an ongoing project for the next month or so. Good to see it started! Start more. Start Dave's pepper seeds too.
-Fight the dust bunnies
-make ahead breakfasts- probably not a whole baking day, just get some done
-Clean the kitchen day

-Fix printer/or buy new printer.
- take all of the pictures I've promised people :)

Sunshine, birds chirping, laundry whirling. We're off to a good start.

Hey- I never said my life was all that exciting

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Seeing as how not much of my TODO list was accomplished yesterday, I've got my work cut out for me today. The office wasn't organized, copies weren't made, books weren't pulled. Schedules were done, so at least I know where my week is headed. Things won't be smooth sailing, but they won't be pull-out-my-hair-hectic either.

Seeds were not started. We have a Master Gardener plant sale in the spring. Most of the seeds that I'll be starting are for that. Plant money for next year is a good thing! Really need to get on with that today.

We did cow plop patrol on the north east pasture yesterday. The garden will thank us. I want the left-over hay for my new landscaping. Starting all over with flower gardens is a daunting task, but I am really looking forward to it. I can't wait to go plant shopping! I drool over the catalogs and know that I need one of each!!

Putting breakfast in the oven reminded me that the last of my previous baking day goodies are all gone. Need to have another kitchen/baking day for sure!

Great news- for the first time since we brought Duke home- he slept through the whole night last night! Ahhhhhh- rest! Having a new puppy is a big like having a newborn for a week. I'm super happy that phase is over!

No list today. I'll just play it by ear. Sometimes a list is just too overwhelming!

Looks like it is going to be another sunny, warmish day! Yeah!

Trish

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Quick trip to the store this morning.

Blue skies out the window, but chill in the air.

Need to:
-start seeds
-organize my office for the coming week (!!)
-finish sewing projects
-possibly organize the craft room. Yeah, right.

Are the signs of spring a tease?

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