2008: Wasn't it great?

Welcome to any new visitors via the Christmas Card email -

Leave me a comment and let me know what you've been up to!

As I look back on the year’s highlights it seems like there was my routine pre-third child, and my lack of routine since the baby arrived. I make excuses to myself like “I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff,” or “ I’m just enjoying the baby while he’s little.” With all this said, I didn't get my Christmas cards out this year! I should have known I would regret my lack of organization. With each card I receive in the mail, the guilt sets in. I hope you haven't felt forgotten. I did complete this little blurb for a family newsletter and wanted to share our year in review for any of you that are interested.

please note - because this blog is public and available to anyone's eyes, I try to stay very vague on names and locations :)

Currently the "man of the house" finds himself very happy as the assistant coach for our school's varsity boys basketball team. He's still employed full time in the dairy industry, but squeezes coaching into his free time because he has always wanted to give it a try. The team loves his enthusiasm and is getting more used to his contact style of coaching (most coaches don’t knock the wind out of their players with an enthusiastic pat on the back). Our school is in the 2A division (about 350 kids in the school) and it's fun to see the support the community gives the team. Before basketball started, Mr. K spent his free time tying up loose ends on the house construction and attacking the yard. Most Saturdays were spent on some sort of project outdoors. Our house now looks like a home, well worth all his work. As a dad and husband, Mr> K keeps us on our toes. At the end of dinner he often tosses things (butter, salt, milk jug, etc) from the table to the fridge (where I stand as receiver). Where’s the fun in clearing the table the conventional way? We’ve had just a few messes to clean up and only after the kids tried mimicking dad’s “toss-a-roosky” game. Mr. K also enjoyed adding animals to our place – especially his horse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as happy as the weekend this fall when he went horseback riding in Yellowstone.

With a few months under my belt as a mother of three, I’m experiencing a rearrangement of priorities – need to be done vs. not so important anymore. Kids grow too fast and I want to try to enjoy the moments more. I love being home with the kids and feel like I’m learning more from them than they are from me. I’ve found tremendous enjoyment in my year’s creative outlets outside of motherhood – the garden, the animals, working on house projects with "the man", and wasting hours online writing on this blog. It’s also been rewarding to be outside - collecting eggs, throwing hay bales around, or moving sprinkler pipe (a few of the many farm chores). Pulling weeds isn’t so bad either. It’s great therapy when I’m feeling ornery. I’m not sure if it’s the work I like or the fact that our little farm is my dream coming true. I owe Mr. K thanks for all his support as I pursue these hair brained dreams of mine, like the goats and exotic birds, for example. We now have three goats that I hope to start milking in the spring and one guinea fowl that the kids refer to as “the weird bird.” (see older blog posts for photos) A sweet highlight for the year was a trip to Mexico - my first glimpse at life south of the border. I fell in love with the people, the language, and the culture (outside the tourist areas). I even got to practice some Spanish when I got home - we gave tours (English and Spanish) for the openhouse of a new LDS temple. Oh, one other change this year - the birth of our third child meant the retirement of our sedan car. Yes, I drive a mini-van now, and all the emotions associated with this sent me into a mini-mid-life crisis. Thirty is around the corner, and I swore I’d never get to this point so soon.

Our kids’ strong personalities make for violent sibling fights, but thankfully it also produces fierce loyalty for each other. Our 2 year old son's personality has really blossomed this past year – he has quite a sense of humor, seems to have a knack for finding mischief, and knows just what buttons to push to get his sister's reaction. His blanket has been cut into four pieces in hopes that the friendship will eventually dissolve, but with no luck so far. He pulls on his boots and follows us outside to do chores, toting travel-sized blankey with him. Our 4 year old, independent daughter surprised us when baby boy was born. We didn’t expect that she would be too interested in a baby, but has showed mothering instincts and really stepped up to take on extra responsibilities. She feels proud to look after her brothers and is the rule enforcer/cop of the bunch. She is perceptive, curious, and likes to learn, taking it upon herself to inform the rest of us when we are wrong. Baby boy joined us in September and has brought a lot of happiness with his smiley face. If we were to ask the kids what they liked best about this past year they would probably say: a new baby brother, Ramen Noodles, the van, PBS kids, Tiger, Cutie, and Beautiful Lips (their very patient cats), Family Home Evenings (we often chant our lessons), bonus features on dvds (they are pros at navigating with the remote control), and dates with dad.

So there you have our year in review. Feel free to visit older blog posts to see photos or read about other things we've done this past year. Come back and visit again soon.

Don't try this at home

If you know me well, you won't be surprised by the following revelation from my past...

On one occasion (I was about 9 years old) my stubborn little brain decided it was going to test out something I had seen on TV. Remember that scene in The Christmas Story, when some kid sticks his tongue to a frozen flagpole? I didn't believe that could really happen. To make a long story short, one day I was eager to experiment and climbed up into the freezer. I stuck my tongue to the frosted back wall...YES, it did stick. My mom saw the back end of my body dangling out the door and hollered to get out of the freezer. I yelled something back like, "HEP MMM THUCK!!"
Trying to speak had been a bad idea because as soon as my lips moved, they stuck to the freezer's wall too! In a panic, and fearful of the punishment that was sure to be coming, I didn't think of a rational solution (as in pouring warm water on my lips). I freaked out and RIPPED my face off the icy wall, leaving some of my tongue and lips there on the freezer. Yuck, huh? Needless to say, the following weeks were a little painful, and I remember my ribs starting to protrude a bit because it was hard to eat anything. Hope you can get at least a laugh from my misery.

Now each Christmas when you see the re-run on tv, you can think of me as the stupid kid stuck to the flagpole. They really should have a message flash across the bottom of the screen: "KIDS - DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!"

Trapped

This morning I headed outside to feed the animals. It was windy and snowing and I was hoping to hurry before I turned into a popsicle. LUCKILY I threw on some warm chore clothes and a hat.

I was in the chicken coop collecting eggs, and suddenly heard the wind slam the door shut- the door's latch on the outside and me still on the inside. Oh crap! I was trapped in the chicken coop with a very territorial rooster and sub-zero temperatures. I began yelling in hopes that someone inside the house would hear me. After that didn't produce results, I resorted to screaming and screeching until I was hoarse and my head was throbbing. Certainly someone would notice I was missing when a bum needed wiping? I began hoping for a Lassie moment with my dog ("run and tell someone to let me out!") but I'm now convinced that stuff only happens in the movies. Again, no results.

Around the 30 minute mark I found the camera in my jacket pocket and took a snapshot of myself (I hadn't started crying yet). That way my family would be able to understand what happened to me in case all they found was a frozen corpse...ha ha! Last resort: disassemble chicken coop from the inside out. My frozen hands barely had the dexterity to rip apart the chicken wire, but my desperation gave me strength. Incredibly I escaped without frostbite or pecked out eyes.

What do I want for Christmas? an emergency exit in the chicken coop!

mini me

Gmas and Gpops - this post is for you :)

Usually I get comments like "he looks so much like his dad"
but for once when he put on this silly hat, I saw myself!!...minus the nappy red hair, of course.

88 Bikes

This is a neat charity. They donate bikes to kids in underprivileged countries.

This year the organization will be visiting Huancayo, Peru where my husband spent a portion of his mission.

Check out their website for cool videos, or to make a donation http://www.88bikes.org/.

Each donation is $88 dollars, the approximate cost of a bike in most developing countries. Each sponsor also provides a photo of their self. Each child is given their bike with a photo of their sponsor. Each sponsor receives a thank-you letter with a photo of the child who received their bike.

Say cheese

We had a neat Enrichment activity. ..Did you know you can wax the cheese you buy at the store and keep it un-refrigerated for up to 2 years?

I bought a 1 pound block of regular ol' mild cheddar and coated it several times by dipping it in a special cheese wax* that had been melted down in a crock pot. According to our teacher, I can stack the waxed blocks of cheese in small rubbermaid container and store them about two years in a cool location (like my basement). The rubbermaids keep the mice out. My brain was programmed to think this was somehow impossible, but I guess they have been making cheese this way for centuries. Now I can have my own little cheese cellar downstairs -how picturesque. FYI, if you start out with mild cheddar for example, after 2 years it's supposed to taste something like medium to sharp cheddar.

*p.s. You have to use a special wax made for dipping cheese. The wax can be purchased from Hoegger's goat supply at: http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=3573&cat=0&page=1 Happy Cheesing!

Trick or treat, smell my feet!

Happy Halloween all -

Here are my goblins for the goo-gooing grandparents to gawk at.

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A little blurry, but hopefully you get it. I would usually call him a leopard, but in lieu of Craig's playoff game today, I'm gonna go with BOBCAT! Go BOBCATS!!

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...and here we have Rapunzel and the pirate who refused to wear the eye patch after he threw a tantrum about buying it when we were in Walmart
(there is a reason some call it the terrible twos)

I forgot about his temper-tantrum after he said Aaarrrgghh Matey a dozen times

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...and last but not least, we have the Scottish pirate. He had a hard time keeping his accent consistent the entire evening, and I'm pretty sure the Scots never told any mateys to walk the plank! I should have had him wear the unwanted eye patch and would have made better sense.

You're fired!

With all the talk of a souring economy, I've found that I am not beyond it's reach. The other day I was enforcing some rules around the house (as mommies sometimes have to do), and suddenly I hear one of the kids yell...

YOU'RE FIRED!!

The funny thing is it was the 2 year old that said it. I have no idea where he picked it up, but it caught on like wildfire and now I'm unemployed on a regular basis.

Shucks.

Smells like money

Yep, that is what you think it is. I thought you might get a kick out of this - whenever I download photos off my camera, oodles of these POOdles show up on my screen. Why you ask? This is one of my husband's many job talents as a "dairy nutritionist." He gets to analyze manure. The really gross piles of ..... get their picture taken for our hall of fame. Just kidding, we don't really pin crap on our wall, but he does keep them on file. So while most of the world would say this just stinks, it pays the bills and smells like money to me!

Here's the proof

Dear Family,
When we cancelled the baby's blessing this past weekend, we had a hunch you thought we were wimps...until church got cancelled too! We took a few snapshots to show what you avoided traveling through (you're welcome). It seemed like the storm got stuck right over our house and dumped snow that would regularly have been spread over a couple of states.

Sincerely, the party poopers

Bald is beautiful?










Shoveling was done by these macho man's "guns"

Free babysitter - just plop the kid down in a snowbank - voila!

Two's a couple, three's a crowd

Our little guy finally arrived and all of us are happy and healthy. He weighed just under 9 pounds. You can tell that his "helpful" older siblings are thrilled to have him home.

I won't be posting personal info here on the blog, but if you want an official "announcement," you can send your email to me at curby22@aol.com

The Kamikazes are coming!

We have a lot of crop-dusting planes flying around where we live. Our super-protective dog goes nuts whenever she hears a plane, like it's attacking us or something. You know during WWII those suicide pilots that intentionally flew their planes into aircraft carriers?

Well, this plane flying/dog chasing fiasco has been tagged the "KAMIKAZE ATTACK" at our house. When we hear our dog barking like crazy, we all yell "Kamikazes" as she bolts to chase down the plane. Good thing we have our brave dog to protect us...ha ha!

The other day the field across the road was being sprayed and the plane got pretty close to our house. It was pretty amazing to watch in person, and I grabbed the camera so I could show all of you. Yes, you can see our dog chasing down the plane, and YES, I was upwind of the spray.

The 8+cow wife

One of the hottie qualities my husband had going for him when we were dating was that he owned a bunch of calves and a horse. I was major impressed with his little calf-raising hobby he had going on the side. We spent a lot of time during our engagement working together in the calf pens, and walking with his horse (no, not riding because one of us was always on crutches or injured...which is a long story for another time). When it came time to tie the knot, we had to say goodbye to the animals because it just wasn't practical for our apartment in town. If you only knew how I cried over this, you would really think I am nuts.

I like to embellish the story a bit and say that this makes me a 20-calf and 1-horse wife :)

Anyways, I totally owe him!! This summer we have worked like crazy to get the pasture ready, the fences up, and we bought a stock-trailer. Now that things are all in line, my hubby has had horse-fever like crazy! We are actually ready to get back into some serious animals (goats and chickens don't really rank as "serious"). Anyways, meet our new horse!!

He's registered with the name Ebony Pepper but neither have stuck quite yet. The kids are ecstatic, the hubby is thrilled, and I can't wait to get this baby out so I can start riding too.

Origami for your clothing

hmmmmm.... I tried this and it actually worked!

p.s....

I should have mentioned in the blog entry below - yes I got a refund on all the dead birds :) The last little keet is still alive and in the garage until his big kid feathers can keep him warm outside.
You know, raising little birds is really not as "cute" as it might seem - it's kind of a pain to keep a heat lamp on them all the time. We did find a home for the extra chicks that were sent in the shipment - I had my little girl hold a box on her lap labeled "FREE CHICKS" and I pushed her around the county fair in a stroller. It was really quite a funny site. The chicks had homes within ten minutes - which proves that you can get rid of almost anything if you put a sign on it that says FREE.

Not the prettiest birds

Here I go again... I mail ordered some new little pets - guinea fowl to be precise. I had never heard of them either, but they are supposed to do the job that I hoped my ducks would do - without the stink. When my friend told me that these birds eat all the bugs in your garden and leave your produce alone, the gears in my head started turning. No more pesticide sounded almost too good to be true and I had to give it a try.

I had to special order these birds and they were shipped to me in a little cardboard crate via the post office. It was fun to see all the wide-eyed customers when I picked up the little chirping package. Originally I ordered six keets (as the babies are called) hoping that at least half of them would live to graze in the garden (they are a little trickier to raise than chickens). Sadly, half were dead upon arrival! Interestingly, the company sent baby boy chicks along with the package to help keep the keets warm. As soon as I got home, I devoted myself to the three remaining keets and even took them with me on a overnight road trip to monitor their health -- go ahead and call me crazy, I won't deny it.




Long story short, I have ONE left! The other two became pretty weak and went to bird heaven within a day- I think it had something to do with my heat lamp and keeping them the right temperature. I am heartbroken about all the deaths and sure hope this last keet pulls through. If not, all I will have to show for my latest animal adventure are the remaining baby boy chicks - no thanks! I guess I'll give it another go with the guinea fowl this coming spring.

Summer

Summer goes way too fast. There isn't enough time to do everything, grow everything, and fix everything -- can we add a few more months please? All you Arizona people have it made (except for that 110+ degree thing). We've been having fun and staying plenty busy...

Before & After - yeah!

Slip & Sliding

Planting our lawn

These goggles can't be comfortable - Miss squishy cheeks

Parenting 101

This post goes out to my parenting heroes -- other than real life relatives, of course :) Whenever we face tough decisions as parents, we think "What would Ma and Pa do?" or "How would Andy have handled that?"



If you aren't on the same page then obviously it's been TOO long since you have seen an episode! These shows are so full of values that they are worthy of ownership! Perhaps they weren't entertaining enough to catch your attention as a kid, but TRUST me if you watch now that you are grown up, you'll be overwhelmed by warm fuzzies!



Make the world a better place and go watch some Little House and Andy Griffith.

Can you pass the latest citizenship test?

This is interesting...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25461301/from/ET/

"He" found his voice

Earlier this spring I bought a batch of chicks from the farm store. When you order chicks you can pay a little more for the chick-farm people to sort out the hens for you. That way, if you only want hens you only pay for hens. Well it seems that a rooster snuck his way into my batch. We have heard a few cock-a-doodle-dos over the last week, but wondered what was really trying to be said because it sounded something like a teenage boy with a screechy voice. Well this morning I can say I am pretty sure that "she" is a "he". He began crowing at 5:00 am and went non stop until sometime around 5:30 (I lost track). I had to lay in bed and smile because within that time he went from sounding like a boy chicken to a man chicken and seemed to be letting us all know.

What makes a rooster crow at daybreak? Well I googled it and it seems that there aren't really any "expert" opinions on it. Maybe to wake the hens, reestablish territory, or warn predators. They crow at other times during the day too, but its amazing to me how they will consistently crow just as the sun is starting to come up. It's a nice alarm clock.

Tagged

I'll try to make it interesting...
4 places I go over and over-
to my to-do list because I can't remember what I'm supposed to be doing without looking at it, to Craig's List and KSL.com classifieds, to the garden (water or weeding), D.I. (my friends got me addicted to bargain hunting here)

4 favorite places to eat-
Aguila con el taco (authentic Mexican that hasn't made me sick yet), Subway, Little Caesars (for the crazy bread) and my all time fav when visiting SLC is RUBIO'S for fish tacos.

4 places I'd rather be- visiting family, someplace where they speak Spanish, working in the garden with my man after the kids are in bed, or hanging out with some girls, yakking away

4 tv shows I watch all the time- tv life would be better with a DVR, but for now our top four are American Idol, Wheel of Fortune, The Office (we're all caught up thanks to netflix), and I'm becoming a fan of PBS's news hour with Jim somebody.

4 people I tag (but only if you want to)- Flutterbug, Meggan, Chandra, and Mel

Adios Duckies

I'm all for learning through trial and error. I will swallow my pride and admit that the ducks were an "error," on my part but a cute one at that. Last week I took the ducks out to the canal behind our pasture and turned them wild. I'm sure they will wander home from time to time, but I doubt they will want to leave their water oasis for a permanent trip back to the chicken coop.

Originally I hoped that the ducks would be a great alternative to pesticides in my garden because they are major bug hunters. I hadn't realized what stinkers they would be...literally! Bless their cute little hearts, they are just gross! Their instinct for water causes them to swim in the water dish, which isn't a real neighborly thing to do when they are sharing with the chickens. Anyhow, I feel happy as I lay in bed at night and hear them quacking in sync with the crickets and frogs. A happy ending after all.

p.s. if you're interested, I've heard that guinea fowl are great garden grazers - they eat the bugs and not the garden

So true

I had to laugh when I saw this - not so much for the picture, but the caption which read:
"This must be child number 2 or 3 because mom grabbed the camera instead of the kid"

Drumroll please...

After 3 working days and a flash-flood rainstorm that only impeded progress slightly, we have finished the rock on our house! I have to admit that this project robbed me of some of my equity-building addiction, but that's probably healthy. As usual, I wondered what caused us to undertake such a project - somewhere around lunchtime on the first day. However, like childbirth I forgot the pain after a few days and am ready to rock a hundred more houses (I really must be sick in the head, eh?) Here are some picts for those who have been as anxious as were to accomplish this project...

YES, that IS A SIDEWALK and DRIVEWAY! Our good friends surprised us with this while we were on vacation - it was a great treat to come home to.

Still here

So I guess I'm not what you would call a consistent blogger. It probably has a lot to do with the weather outside. Anyway, a quick update on our whirlwind days and weekends. Being the "do it yourself" freaks we are, we have about a gazillion projects going on - rocking the house, landscaping, sprinklers, grass, fencing the pasture, replanting the pasture, tilling a garden spot, building garden boxes, planting the garden, painting my kitchen, drywalling, caring for all the new farm creatures (just to name a handful).
Here's some picts of the temporary coop we built and one of my experimental square foot gardens (built with 100% girl power). Hopefully it will be a lush garden in a few weeks.

See my blog post "everything I need to know I learned from my garden" for more info

Yes, the animals are doing well. The ducks are sure stinkier than I expected, but very cute. It's quite a stress reliever to watch them waddle around. One of our baby chicks got pecked to death by a hen and another had a huge hole pecked in her back (but she's a champ and is pulling through). I quickly learned that you don't mix chicks and grown hens - I cried about it all night. Our goats are sure friendly and sweet and are more pleasant than we expected...man, can they jump! However, the poor things are ALWAYS getting their horns stuck in the fence so they're scheduled for a dehorning at the vet.

Anyways, I'll be in and out over the next little while. Check in from time to time to read up on our latest adventures.

Funny Forwards

Sometimes I get some funny forwards. I thought this one was pretty interesting...

Cna yuo raed tihs?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid. Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i'st hrad to blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghi t pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Duckies & Chicks

The duckies and chicks are here! I know I always blog too much info about all this stuff, but how else are all you city folk going to get a country education? Some bloggers oooh and aaah over their kids, but I choose to take a bit of a different route - education of the masses :) I'm proof that anyone can raise an animal thanks to the info provided via the internet.

So we've had the chicks for a week now and I'm amazed at how fast they are growing. They were all fuzz last week, and already they're growing their "big girl" feathers. We have Rhode Island Red hens which will lay a brown egg, and two Araucanas which are known as the "Easter Egg Chicken" because they lay blue/green tinted eggs. Chicks are cute, but I'm really looking forward to when they're hens and can run around my yard (so picturesque!).

The ducklings came today and are much cuter than I expected! One of my neighbors has the same type of duck (Indian Runner) and can't say enough good things about it. They are awesome at eating bugs and are loyal to humans when raised by them (according to her). These Indian Runner ducks are pretty amusing to watch too, they look a bit like a penguin on speed when they run around. I will have to post a video when they get bigger.

FYI: Dust Bowl

Where we live, there's a saying that goes something like "we have 2 seasons: summer and wind." To give you some idea - when we framed our house, we had to put hurricane straps on our roof. Also, it's not uncommon for my BIG 90 gallon trash can to be picked up by the wind, and carried 1/4 mile into the next field. No joke, the picture to the right is what it looks like outside my window as I'm typing this.

This fall, winter, and spring have been exceptionally gusty so I thought it might be fun to make an FYI blog out of it. See, here's the problem. Usually the winter snow holds down the dirt, but this year we didn't get much snow so the dirt from all the empty farm fields was redeposited elsewhere. Around my neighborhood we didn't have snow drifts, we had dirt drifts. My poor friends had their lawn buried by inches of dirt and had to rip it all up and replant grass. We planted pasture grass last fall and are pretty sure that most of it has blown away by the scarce spouting that is now taking place.

Anyway, enough with the sob stories. This got me thinking about the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Here's a link to read up on some interesting history and see some more crazy pictures:

wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us/.../the_dust_bowl.htm

They survived, and so will we. Just be grateful for the trees, grass, and all that other stuff that holds the dirt down. Have fun - I hope you learn something.

Goat Ropin'

"Goat Roper" is a nickname for a wannabee. Sometimes its used to describe someone who dresses like a cowboy, but is essentially a suburban person who wouldn't know one end of a horse from another (like Garth Brooks?). Well, how appropriate that I am the proud parent of two new goats! I have to apologize to my father-in-law for bringing shame upon our last name, and thank my husband for being such a good sport about the whole thing.

Now a little bit about the goats. Yes, like you I used to wonder what the ugly creatures were even good for. I too thought they ate tin cans and garbage. Goat milk?....eeeeww! How could people even drink that stuff?! Well, on a trip to Boulder, Colorado last spring my eyes were opened. Boulder is an organic, natural town and although a little eccentric, it's very interesting and health oriented. I tasted some goat's milk at a farmer's market and really liked the stuff. It's good for me too, so they said. The gears in my head started turning and within the hour I knew I had to get me some goats!

The poor creatures are SO misunderstood. In the year since my first taste of goat milk I have done a lot of research on goats, goat's milk, and I have even pestered the goat owners at all the county fairs we visited. Here are some facts for those who are interested: 1. Goat's milk is lactose free, so those with cow milk allergies can drink it just fine 2. Babies can drink goat's milk because the make up of goat's milk is so close to human milk 3. Goat's milk is very healthy and has slightly less cholesterol than other milk (although I'm still loyal to cow's milk because it's what we make our living on) 4. Goats are much smaller and cheaper to feed than cows which means that those of you who want to teach your kids responsibility by milking an animal morning and night can do it with less worry - our little girl can help with chores without me worrying about her getting trampled by a big cow 5. I agree that their eyes look a little demon-like, but they are so friendly and cute (especially the babies) that after awhile you forget about the creepy eyes 6. If you have a certain breed of goat, the milk tastes just like cow milk. If you have tasted nasty goat milk before, it was probably from a breed NOT made for milking.

I could go on and on, but I will leave it for later posts. Here are some picts of the girls...

We also got two chickens and they have laid a brown and blue egg each day so far. Here are our hens.

Stay tuned for adventures in building a chicken coop, and the baby chicks and ducks - they should be arriving soon.

American Idol Poll

So I'm a little surprised and sort of embarrassed that I am the only one that votes like crazy for my favorite American Idols! As of today, I am the only one of 19 voters that calls in regularly and one of 5 that even votes at all.

Does everyone DVR the show or something? Maybe I'm the only one without a real life so I spend 15 minutes after I put the kids to bed hitting redial over and over. Seriously, I hope all you blog stalkers don't demonstrate the same apathy in the presidential vote this November!

I should explain that where I live we only get 3 stations on our antennae, and Fox is the only channel that comes in without fuzzies. I am anti-cable in order to protect myself from becoming a tv-junkie, so we don't see a lot of interesting stuff on tv. Maybe the fact that there aren't too many other shows on is what prompts me to vote each week? I guess AI is kind of like my little indulgence. Here's my opinion since I have already revealed how pathetic I can be:



If I had only one vote, it would go to David Archuleta. I can't see him changing too much if he does win and I like how he seems gets uncomfortable with all the hype. I like his humility and I love his voice. His style reminds me a bit of Josh Groban and he gives hope that there are still good kids our there that want to make a difference and not just make a million. Overall he's got the talent AND is worthy to represent as an "idol".

Carly Smithson has the best female voice (or as my daughter calls her, the girl with ink on her arm that won't wash off). When the season started I didn't get what the hype was about her but now I'm won over and think she has the greatest "diva" voice. I think with some more experience she can give Celine a run for her money. With that said, I am a little sick of divas after watching for 6 seasons, which leads me to...


Brooke White. I think she should have been cast for the movie, Enchanted. Can't you picture her singing something sweet, then all the little birds and animals come out onto stage and land in her arms? People fault her for being too nice, but phooey to all of them. I like her because her style is different - she might not have the vocals (yo dawg) that Carly does, but what she lacks in range she makes up for in creative performance. She's more of a real artist than most of the contestants on the show, which is fun to see.

With all that said, WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE?
I invite ALL OF YOU blog stalkers to leave a comment and let us know who gets your vote.

Everything I need to know I learned from my garden

There is something magical about gardening. Maybe it's just that way for me, but there seems to be so many parallels between life and growing things. I think every person should grow SOMETHING, even if its a little pot of seeds in the windowsill. Hard work, determination, patience, appreciation, health, science...all fruits of a garden.

If you want to attempt a garden this year, check out this book. Some of Mel's methods may sound tedious now, but TRUST ME it will pay off in the long run. Even if you only adapt some of the ideas in this book, it will make your garden experience a happy one.


My interest in growing things started when I had a roommate in college that grew plants in our apartment. I thought "that's pretty nifty, I wonder how she does that?" At the time the whole concept of caring for a living organism seemed so overwhelming I thought I'd never be able figure it out and didn't make an attempt until after I was married. So I know what its like to think "I could never get something to grow!" The thing that's cool about gardening is that you learn what not to do each time you kill something off.

While we moved around so much I had to beg other people to let me do free labor in their gardens in return for experience (I usually didn't have to beg too hard). Last year we finally had our own place and I had my OWN garden. Being the big naive dreamer I am, I planted a spot 100 feet by 150 feet (15,000 square feet for those w/o a calculator). I didn't realize it at the time but that is larger than the city lot I grew up on! I knew I'd have to get creative when it came time to do weeding.

To sum up the summer, I had a great time and learned a bunch from the success AND failures that I had. I learned that when you can't keep up with 15,000 square feet of weeds, a lawnmower makes a creative weeding tool! Just MOW down those rows and you don't need to invest all that money in a roto-tiller. Seriously though, that is something that I won't be doing again! I also learned that 47 tomato plants should give you boat loads of tomatoes (see photo), but that's not exactly what happens when you spray weed killer on a windy day..oops! What I'm trying to say is don't let your fear of failing keep you from giving it a go. Plant something this year!

Man's work

Wahoo, we are getting the fence up - all 1500 feet of it. This is hard work, I had no idea. Good thing I mostly just supervise. We planted pasture seed last fall but had so much wind this winter we are afraid it may have blown away. Hopefully April showers will bring May pastures or we'll try planting yet again--maybe the third time's a charm?

Some kids get swingsets or bikes, we give ours tractors! Meet the blue-goose, our trusty and a little rusty friend.

...and last but not least, a rewarding moment as a parent. Sometimes they DO get along, although I think they began shreiking at each other just moments after this shot was taken. Gotta love the spitfire...and why does everyone assume it comes from me?