Listing

In keeping with the nautical theme of late, I am listing.  I have caught myself a few times leaning off to one side. I think the listing is due to the goop living between my ears. Sadly, it's not my brain that is turned to goop, (although this was my first thought)  it's mucus or a mucus-like substance, I'm not sure which.  I do know, that my ears have been plugged (think, flying in a airplane plugged, head under water etc.) for more than 2 weeks now.  I feel like I am living in a can. I am always yelling but can hear little.  I have been tossing back Sudafed and any other cold/sinus meds I had on hand that aren't expired (who's idea was it to put expiration dates on stuff anyway?).  Nothing is bringing relief, not even the listing....

Speaking of the listing, I made a random list of funny stuff that has popped out at me over the last several days. It might not be that funny in reality. I am sure its just  the cold/sinus meds talking, but you can judge for yourself. I have been sick for so long I have to take the joy where I can find it.


     ::  Silkie chickens' fuzzy little bottoms are the funniest thing to watch. If you don't have Silkie's, get thee some. 'Nuff said.
  
     :: Strange things you don't want to hear out of your 8yr old girl-child "Hey Mom! LOOK! I built a b*mb."
  
     :: The Pioneer Woman's  Sour Cream Noodle Bake is fabulous, amazingly simple, infinitely adaptable and a sure crowd pleaser.
    
     :: One of my Best Girlfriends told me that I reminded her of the Pioneer Woman. (P-dub, call me. I think we were separated at birth.)
  
     :: Chickens are like crack to me. SERIOUSLY, people!  I need a 12 Step Program for Chicken Lovers.   I luff,  love, lurve my multi colored flock of  chicks and chickens. The puffy cheeks...The fluffy bottoms...All the different color/pattern combinations send me right into a tail spin. I can't resist. I must buy more chickies. The soft fluffy cuteness of chicks is too much for my farm-girl self to bear.  Don't even get me started on the eggs.  The multi-colored eggs make me so happy I could sing.  Everyday is like Easter around here. Easter everyday, how great is that?!
  
     :: Chicken Crack. Buwhahaha! Seriously I need help.
  
     :: Wondering what to make of my soon to be 7yr old son sliding across the kitchen floor ala Tom Cruise in Risky Business (underwear, and air guitar included) singing "I'm on'a hiiiiiiwaaaaay ta helllllll!" followed with a fairy dance and the vocals "La-la-la-la-laaaah".  Boggles the mind doesn't it?


     :: When you have guests over the last thing you want to find in the Loo is poo in the pot with no paper.  Sorry about that one. Blame the cold meds. But wasn't that some great alliteration?


     :: Have you ever been "schooled" in what is "lame vs.cool"  from your 15 yr old man-child? If not you are missing out! I learned things I never wanted to know about Mario Bros., Star Wars,  and about being a Dweeb/Geek/Nerd in general. It made my brain hurt.

     ::We are studying Countries of the child's choosing for a Co-op project due this week.  When I told the kids to get on it one morning, my youngest child informed me that he "doesn't wanna be a Japanese boy"  any more, he wants to be a farmer boy.  I told him that Japan was a country and farmers were people and that we are studying Countries. He replied with his hands on his hips, " Farmers are from the country".   Alrighty then.


    ::I was singing in church this last Sunday and everyone around me kept turning to look. I didn't comprehend at the time why they might be looking at me. This perplexed me most of the afternoon. I checked my crazy hair when I got home. Checked my teeth.  Did the sniff.... but couldn't sniff.  Then  I remembered that my ears are plugged. Yep, I was singing my heart out and couldn't hear a thing. I can only imagine the joyful noises I was making.  I think though, I experienced true worship for the first time in my life.  Thanks be to my mucus filled head.
 

A Bug

Sometimes you're the windshield.  Sometimes you're the bug. Sometimes the bug comes to live at your house and inflicts pain and suffering. And copious quantities of mucus.

Don't get me started with the mucus.

For the past 4 weeks (holy cow its been 4 weeks) my family has suffered through the worst, and I do mean worst, flu/cold virus thingie we have ever had.  It has been graciously shared around too. It seems that everyone we know has also suffered.

Long suffering doesn't bode well.  It makes it hard to get anything done.  Like say, laundry. Or dishes. Thankfully we homeschool because can you imagine if we had to catch up on all that missed school? Lawsy mercy!

Makes my mucus hurt just thinking about it. 

As it sits now, I have empty glasses, tea cups and plastic cups scattered, well, everywhere; under the couch, beside the bed and even on the washing machine.  I will, in all likelihood, still be discovering the now undisclosed location of many more drinking glasses over the course of the next year.

Don't even get me started on the used tissues!

That also makes my mucus hurt. Also, it makes that pesky mucus afraid. Very afraid.

If you have been lucky enough to have thus far escaped the clutches of that very bad bug, Saints preserve ya. Take your vitamins people.

If you have are among the long suffering crowd.  I will say a little prayer that a healthy friend will come do your dishes. 

And laundry.

And bring you tissues.

Well, well...

Just a little photo love from the land of non-stop calamity fun.

Spring means: Outdoor Theatre a la' HeadLong. Notice the enraptured crowd of Suite girls? That boy has Jedi skillz in the story tellin' department.

Spring means: Leafing out.

Spring means: Gloriously golden sunsets, when the clouds part long enough for us to catch a peek.

Spring means: Keeping those white uniforms white is the biggest challenge I face on Tae Kwon Do class days. Can someone tell me who thought dressing kids in head-to-toe white was a good idea?

Spring means: Puppy love. Who could resist a mug like that?

What goes on, eh?

Just a random ramble, shedding light on my lack of blogging.

What can I say?I have been busy!

Busy schooling kids. Keeping the home fires burning, literally. Daydreaming of this years garden and sustainability. Making new friends, nurturing old ones. Tending the farm critters. Working on my ninja skillz-actually testing for Camo Belt tomorrow, very nervous. Waiting, not so patiently, for Mrs. G to open the Women's Colony. House training the new puppy; its not going so well. Green with envy over Sue getting an agent. And to top it all off I am still sewing away on pillow case dresses for Craft Hope.


All while trying to maintain some semblance of sanity. And eek out a blog post when I can.

What goes on with you, eh?

IF I only had a brain....

As I stumbled into the computer room this morning, I had an inkling that there was something that I was committed to be blogging this Monday...what was it??

(Well, I do have a good excuse for the lack of brain cells this Monday. I was off gallivanting all weekend in Portland OR, on an estrogen filled power trip. Whoot! Whoot!)


OH! Yes! I remember..... A day in the life with Mrs. G. Hmm, who could turn down a day of sheer voyeuristic fun?

Well, not I. But I did forget this little adventure while I sleeping off my estrogen/french fry stupor.

So...I will snap a few pic's and post 'em up later this evening.

Have a great Monday everyone!

"For the love of Pete....

BLOG ALREADY!!??!! "

The words echoed through the receiver. During the last hour I had heard this question maybe a hundred times. It was Miriam, assaulting me with this, her current lament. I stared at the phone. "Ugh, I can't," came my pathetic whine, "nobody's reading anyway, why bother?"

Miriam isn't one to beat around the bush, "You have to actually write something in order for people to read it."

I sighed loudly into my phone, "I don't have anything to write about." To which Miriam regaled me with a plethora of bloggy good ideas.

"Ugh!" I sighed again.

The day before had found me staring at the computer screen for 3 hours. Not a single sentence came to me. The words evaded my grasp. They swirled and swirled, jumbled and blurry, about my head.

"Why don't you write about getting your orange belt for Tae Kwon Do?" she asked. Innocent enough, I could do that. Right?

"But, I don't have my picture program on the computer yet. I want to add pictures. Don't you think it would be better with pictures?" I whined hopefully into the cell.

"Hmm," she said, not willing to give up so easily. "Hey!.....Did your dog die?"

"Whaaaatt!!" pitching my voice high, "Seriously. What are you talking about?"

Speaking slowly, she replies "Is. Your. Dog. Alive?"

"Weeeell, I think so. Lemme check. Umm, yeah, I think I see him. Why??" I asked almost not wanting an answer.

"Oh, no reason. Will you.. JUST! BLOG!!" she hollered at me.

OK, so it was becoming painfully obvious that my lack of blogging was causing undue stress in my faithful friends' life. I still had no clue what to write.

Out of ideas and probably just bored with me, Miriam bid me farewell and told me again to blog, "something, anything". I sighed an agreement that yes, I would blog. I snapped the phone shut and flopped down in front of the computer.


Heaving a sigh, I closed my eyes.


My thoughts started jumping; words fighting for freedom. Who would go first? What story would garner the right to adorn the pages of Katie's Calamities?


And still nothing.


What do you think, dear reader, should I wax poetic? Wane pathetic? Bemoan incessantly? Spew haphazardly? Flit capriciously? Or, pontificate eloquently?

Too pooped.

Sorry for the lack of a post, I am just too exhausted from my day of cooking and stirring I can hardly type. My arms feel like they weight about a thousand pounds apiece. I am plain, too pooped to do much of anything. I didn't get as far as I had hoped, due to crap (story for another day) that happened during the day, but I did get some meals frozen.

******

So here's a photo for today. I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday.

((OK I had to throw in two pic's, I couldn't help myself))

Oh and go check out the Sanity Saver's site for a trailer backing how-to. Farm girls rule!

Distractination: this is the real me, post

Herein you will find a totally random ramble, that has no inter-related ties whatsoever.... alright maybe just a teeny bit. *grin*


My new friend Jolene, made up a new word and it fits me to a T. I am the distractinator. I suffer from being easily distracted and ...oh look the sun is out....umm, oh yeah procrastination...I am sure there is something else I should be doing but blogging is so much more fun.



This has been on my mind a lot lately:




I would have titled this book "How to tell your kids about the birds and bee's without making yourself sound retarded" or making a complete ASS out of yourself. I gave my nine year old 'the talk' about periods and she just stared at me. I was trying so hard not to sound like a dork but that must not have worked to my favor. It was awful. I never want to do that again.....oh wait....crap! I HAVE to do it again, I have another daughter. SHOOT! Well at least I don't have to talk to the boys about all of their junk. Hubby has that one for me.



Ahhh! Saints preserve me! This teen/pre-teen stuff has me going completely nuts. Give me tea parties and dress-up any day.


My friend Misty talked about an American Girl book on "the changes" girls go through. I just got a glimpse of said book the other day and HOLY CRAP! I about died right there in Miriam's Sub. Truly, there might have been fainting IF the AC weren't on. I. Am. So. Not. READY!



In other news:

Saturday, I went shopping and got all of the goodies I need to do a 30 day cook. For anyone who doesn't know what this is, I will enlighten. Sheer HELL, for one day; pure BLISS for a month or more. OK so, really a 30 day cook is just making and putting up, 30+ meals all at once. It seems to cost a fortune in groceries because you are buying everything you need to make at least 30 dinners ( I do 90, plus lunches ) so I wait till we have a 3 paycheck month and then go for it. Go for it, I did.

Just a glimpse of the floor in the kitchen. I have 2 fridges full to the brim and the counters and pantry are spilling over with food.

I made my menu, inventory of all the meals that will eventually reside in the freezer (so I don't loose track) and I also made a master grocery list. Whew! I had an organization moment. They are fleeting, don't laugh.

So on my plate for today:

Cooking like a crazy person, in 100 degree weather, with no AC. (Wanna come help?)

Trying not to have mental breakdown over the 'birds and bee's' thing or the fact that my oldest child is now taller than I. (read: HOLY CRAP!!!!)

Rejoicing my semi-small organizational moment!

OH and I almost forgot. I am participating in this. I am still in denial. Stay tuned for more.

Happy Monday!!

Pure Randomness

Doesn't this look YUM'O! This was breakfast. It is a dump cobbler. (Read: I know, you are saying "Cobbler for breakfast!!" Hey, I am just weird like that.) I got the recipe from two of my favorite people: Mom and Lexie. Mom calls it a "super easy cobbler" Lexie calls it "dump cake". Either way ya scoop it (HAha) it is delishioso! This mornings concoction was made with peaches and raspberries I pulled from the freezer, and a yellow cake mix. I have made it with all sorts of different fruits but my two fav's are: Canned Cherries & Pineapple (recipe from Lexie) and Apricots *drooling*.

My Silkie hen, Fluffy is broody. She is so broody in fact she jumps from nest to nest whenever some other chick lays an egg. Yesterday the girls went out to gather eggs and came back empty handed. ???? Well, Fluffy was sitting on all 18+ of them. After a while, Fidget came in freaking out. Fluffy was off the nest! Both girls threw on coats and boots, grabbed the egg bucket and ran. They returned with armloads of eggs. The just grabbed every, single one in sight. This would be fine except, I had candled (see above: that is me candling eggs at the dining table) some eggs that I thought might be fertile, marked them with an X, and left them for Fluffy.

Dilemma number 2: I have an egg picker. One day while Inspector General (I was chewed out for not including the "general" part ) was cleaning up outside, he found a couple of eggs on the ground. He reasoned with self: These are who knows how old, I'll feed them to the chickens. *WHHHAAAATTTT!!* Well the hens went bazurk, and now someone is eating eggs. Arrrggg! Poor Inspector, he didn't know that this would happen. Well needless to say, I have got to root out the culprit.

Back to the armloads of eggs.......... All of the eggs the girls brought in were sticky as all get out and covered in a odoriferous mix of egg shell, egg, and straw. Nasty! I had to carefully inspect all of the eggs to see which ones had the X and candle them and see if they were still alive. Well I am no good at this new Farm Chicky stuff, I guess. They were all rotten. Even more NASTY! SOOO.....not only do I have a broody hen with no fertile eggs to sit on, I have 17 hens that like to use the same nest, I have an egg eater AND a passel of messy eggs, I have an Inspector who loves me enough to put up with it all. Who could ask for more?

More chicken news:
All of the first batch of chicks have fully feathered out now. The Welsomer chicks I got almost 2 weeks after the first bunch have not started feathering yet. I need to either make a bigger brooder or section off some of the hen house; these chicks are getting huge. It is pretty cute to see the Welsomers hiding under the bellies of the bigger chicks. The chicks seem to be getting along just fine, no pecking so far. The Barred Rocks are the calmest of the group, with the Rhodie's being the most rowdy. I am hoping that since I got these chicks earlier in the year, (as opposed to last years chicks in May) I will get some eggs in the fall. None of the chicks I got last year laid until this spring. If this years chicks start laying in the fall I will hopefully, have eggs to sell. The going price of a dozen, organic free range eggs, is $3. This would add up quick if I had several dozen to sell.

I am also going to try and put out some garden items at the Farmer's Market this year. I have wanted to do this for the last few years but it never comes to anything. So, goal for this year: Sell something at the Farmer's Market. I would like to offer some thing out side of the ordinary, slim pickin's. I have been thinking on what that might be and am looking at some interesting old heirloom veggies. I could even set out cut flowers and herbs. Last year I made the most amazing herb wreath with Miriam. I would love to make more this year and possibly sell some of them too.

I currently have a few aprons in the works and desperately need to make the time to finish them up. I cleaned up my sewing area yesterday with the hopes of pulling the Singer out. I have a watercolor quilt for my sis-in-law Mary, (promised as a Christmas gift in '06) that needs to be STARTED! Martha where are ya when I need ya?? *sigh* I have lots of other household things I would like to start work on. I bought all of that great home dec. fabric a couple of weeks ago and it's begging to be worked into new slip covers. I guess that if I wasn't a blogaholic, I could go deal with my fabricaholic problem~:(

Giveaway Alert

I have been catching up on reading (blogs that is ) and found a cool new place. Thought I would share it.

Simply a Musing. What a snappy title. I wish I'd thought of it. Any who, this gal is having a giveaway that is simply perfect for us SHE's out there. She is giving away some books on organization. (Warning: this giveaway may contribute to an already mounting heap of clutter.) As I am the President of Clutter International, I am not so sure this is a good giveaway for me, but I can use all the help I can get. ( Right??!! ) So I am encouraging my sisters in crime to join me in entering this giveaway. Simply go to this site to get the details.

(Read: Even if you aren't into the giveaway this is a super cute blog.)

I hope to squeeze in some more reading before the tutor comes so, tah tah!