This morning

This morning I only have 4 kids at home. Two left at 4:30am for a hunting trip with their dad and two stayed the night with friends. That leaves four. Naturally it would be the four youngest.

I had some coupons I needed to use up so I decided to go to a few local farms to spend them. When we were walking through a little room full of big boxes of produce I heard 5 year old son say "Mom, Look!" I looked and there they were. The hugest, most gigantic apples in the world.



The variety is Honey ___________--something, I can't remember. Gold, maybe. The apples are enormous. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the smallest one is bigger than a regular sized apple. So I let each little one (except the baby) pick one out. The big one is the 5 year old's. He only ate half of it for lunch and is saving the rest for a snack later today.


I also picked up a box of pears and two boxes of peaches for canning. As if I have time to can. Ah well, anything to fill my lonely days to keep from pining away for my husband...

If you hear a very long, very loud, shrill scream...

...it is just me. Pay no attention. You may understand when I tell you I have a son with his driver's permit.

He goes to school at Willamette Leadership Academy so he must be dropped off and picked up at the bus stop every day. This affords him plenty of opportunities to drive with me in the car. Oh, goody.

I am not a good person to teach someone to drive. I could be what you might call--uptight. Slightly. I told my husband: "YOU are going to have to teach him to drive. I CAN NOT do it." Well, he does get to drive with his dad. They leave home for a 20 minute drive and they are gone for an hour. I call because I think they have been in a wreck.

Me: Where are you?

Husband: Driving around.

Me: You said you were going to be gone 20 minutes. What are you doing?

Husband: We missed a few turns. He is looking for a place to turn around.

That is always what happens. They are always looking for a place to turn around when I call. Our driving instruction methods differ, I think.

His: Tell kid where they are going. Show him where he was supposed to turn as they pass it. Kid gets flustered. Tries to find a place to turn around. Picks the wrong place. Finally gets turned around. Tries to change lanes but doesn't look first so he almost hits someone. His dad says he missed the turn again.

Is it any wonder the driving lesson takes an hour?

Mine: Tell kid where we are going. Say: "Stop here. Pull forward enough so you can see. Go, there aren't any cars coming. Take your foot off the gas when you shift. We are turning right up here in a mile so be prepared. Slow down. Slow down. :::scream::: SLOW DOWN! Turn. You could accelerate a little faster, you know. Stay in your own lane when you go around a corner (even if he is, it doesn't hurt to remind him). Watch the stop light. Slow down. Stop. Stop. :::scream::: STOP! Don't stop so far back from the line." You get the idea. I never shut up.

Is it any wonder that the poor kid has been declining to drive with me lately?

Hot dog! It worked!

Soccer

Was it my idea to sign my kids up for soccer? If so, WHY??? I don't like soccer. I don't like to watch it, I don't like to hear about it, and I don't like spending any time whatsoever on it. Negativity abounds when it comes to soccer.

Four days a week we have soccer practice. Tuesday and Thursday for 7 year old son, and Wednesday and Friday for 9 year old son. As if the torture of 4-5 hours of soccer isn't enough, they have games to attend. Between the two of them sometimes we have 4 games in one weekend. I. Am. Going. To. Die. Of boredom.

I have a daughter in gymnastics. I love gymnastics. I could watch gymnastics all day and not be bored. In fact, last Saturday I did watch gymnastics all day. And I wasn't bored. At all. A little tired maybe, but not bored. I don't even have to be watching my own kid do gymnastics. Anyone will do.



I have a daughter taking horseback riding lessons. I love horses. I could watch horseback riding for a little while without being bored. Not all day, but for a while. I even enjoy hearing every last detail of her lesson when she gets home. She can follow me around the house recounting her experience to the minute and I really don't mind.



I don't think it is the boy/girl thing either. Last year I had a daughter in soccer, and I didn't like it then either. So it is just soccer that I can't stand.

Later this week, I am on my own. Three family members are going hunting and I am going to be left here with 6 kids and afternoons full of gymnastics practice, soccer practice (ugh), and soccer games (double ugh). Normally, I can at least go to the practices alone and get a little time to myself to read my book. Even better, I can send my husband. But not for the next week. No, I get to take all the kids with me. My joy is complete. It will be even more complete if it rains.

The thing is, in the midst of all my complaining about soccer, that my kids do love to play soccer. It is good for them. It gets them outside, running around getting lots of exercise. It gives them something to be enthusiastic about. It gives them people to look forward to seeing. It gives them something to talk about (on, and on, and on...). So I guess I am willing to buck up and pretend to be enthusiastic about the subject too. I make sure to look up from my book a few times during practice so I can comment later. I can keep all of my complaining about soccer confined to times and places that they won't see or hear. I am willing to take snacks for the team and show up at practices and games on time. I will wash those stinky, sweaty, nasty soccer socks. I will even try not to get too crabby about having to wake a sleeping baby in order to go to a soccer game. I will not, however, stand at the side lines yelling and screaming at my kid to "HUSTLE!!" or "PUSH THE BALL UP THE FIELD!!" or (love this one) "KICK THE BALL!!" Isn't that the point of the soccer game?

GO CRUSHERS! GO STRIKERS!!

More On Garage Building

We have been busy this weekend building on the garage. The stairs have been temporarily abandoned since the support beam is up. I pray to God it is in the right place. Now to move on to bigger and better things--Trusses!

We had to buy engineered trusses--another one of those city planning department things that make you roll your eyes and mutter "whatever"--and they were delivered Wednesday. They actually come with directions on how to put them up, though they were pretty vague and assume we know more than we do.



Notice the large Warning at the top. It goes on to warn that "the consequences of improper handling, installing, and bracing may be a collapse of the structure, or worse, serious personal injury or death." Great. I'm wishing I hadn't read the directions since all it did for me was make me fear for my life.

I took a stealth photo of my husband consulting with the neighbor(who is not named Mr. Wilson) on how to erect the trusses.



My husband, oldest son, and myself put the trusses up all by ourselves. It was a little hairy doing the first 2 before we had good bracing, but there were only a few screams (me) and "it's going to fall over and we're all gonna DIE!" (me again) was said just once. Just kidding, I didn't really say that. I only thought it.

First the truss is put into position then lifted into place with a very complex tool. A 2x4 with a little piece of wood nailed to it. The people on each end hold the truss while it is being lifted by a third person. Person three has to be careful not to fall through the hole left for the stairs. Then person one climbs up on the ladder and nails the bracing board to the truss at the proper distance from the one next to it. Next, that person nails the truss at the walls and readies the next truss while the second person grabs some brackets to nail up while she is waiting. The third person stands there holding the lifting board, waving it around and being annoying until person one snaps at him. Once 5 trusses are up then the waferboard sheeting goes on to make them sturdy.







The sun was going down so we only got one more piece of waferboard on before it was too dark to work. It was a very satisfying day.

Turkeys

I have two varieties of turkeys. Broad Breasted Bronze and Broad Breasted White. They are supposed to be good Thanksgiving turkeys because they grow very large, very fast.

I bought them last spring from a local farm supply store because I didn't have a big enough order to get them through the mail. I thought April would be a good time to get them, that way they would be sure to be big enough by November. Turns out it was more than enough time. These babies are ready NOW. They are huge. They can hardly walk. They are begging to be eaten. Not really.

I brought home 11 turklings--which look very much like baby chicks, just bigger--and 9 of them survived babyhood. Apparently turkeys are a little more fragile as babies than chickens. In my experience, broiler chicks are way harder to keep alive than turkeys.

Anyway, I have decided I like turkeys. I don't want to see them go. All of them are spoken for--7 to customers, 1 for my mother in law, and 1 for my family. At $2.00 a pound they should cost between $40-$60 PER TURKEY. I was thinking --Good grief, I would never pay that much for a turkey-- But then I looked at my records and figured out that I have already spent about $38/turkey so far. So much for cheaper, home grown food. Turkey feed is more expensive than chicken food, and they eat a lot of it.

Next year I am going to do some things differently:

1. Buy the turkeys in June or July. They may not get to 30# but not many people want a turkey that big anyway.


2. Don't fall into the expensive food trap. They can have the $13/bag food when they are little then we will move to the $9/bag food. That, combined with a shorter time raising them, should cut my cost to where I can keep the price the same and maybe make a little money.


3. Order some heritage types of turkeys. Then I can keep some and hatch turkeys from eggs. They don't get near as big but not everyone wants a humongous turkey.

Turkeys are so great. Everyone should have one.

Mom's Victorious Elephant Mashed Joe's Silly Underwear--Not!

The middle boys are also studying astronomy in science this year. Our task this week was to come up with a mnemonic phrase to help remember the order of the planets. My boys were not at all dismayed to learn that we would be short a letter since Pluto got demoted.

I, on the other hand, am devastated. Crushed. Verclempt. Pluto was my favorite planet. I did a report on Pluto when I was in 4th grade.

The title above was the girls' idea. Here is the nine year old's attempt (misspellings intact):

My Vase Eats Mean Jurkey Sometimes Under Noses.

Who says it has to make sense? Here is the 7 year old's sentence:

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Noodles.

Good job! Now that is a sentence I might remember. I only helped him with the U.

Like the history lessons we read a section in the text and then they narrate and write a paragraph about what we read. The seven year old just has to tell me what to write:

Astronomy is the study of space. God made the universe for telling time, the calendar, migration of birds, and signs of Jesus's birth. God placed the planets in a perfect place to hold the earth in place so Satan can't destroy it.

Gravity keeps the planets in place. A satellite is an object that orbits another object. There are satellites that are manmade. They go around the earth taking pictures and make more channels on the tv.

Here is what the 9 year old did (misspellings and extreme punctuation intact):


Way back befor time was made. they used the moon to tell when a month went by. they used the stars to tell seasons. and befor cumposes were made. they used the stars.



Gravity keeps the plantes in place. Nicolas Copernicas found out that the sun was in the senter of the galixy. If the planets wernt in place then the earth would go off track.


You may or may not notice that there is no lack of missiles and rockets in both drawings. Strange, but we really didn't read much about rockets, and certainly not about missiles. Boys.

History is Cool

The middle boys learned about 1800's Great Britain last week in history. We read a chapter in the Story of the World book, then the 9 year old completed an outline worksheet and map while the 7 year old dictated a paragraph to me about what we read.

The British built the Crystal Palace. They held a big world fair in it. They wanted to show people how powerful they were.

Sounds good to me. They did some more reading about the Crystal Palace and we looked online for pictures. Here it is: Crystal Palace.


For fun, they built a paper model of the Crystal Palace. They were pretty happy with the result. I think it is a little silly, but it was fun anyway.



They also read about the Sepoy Mutiny in India. Here is the 7 year old's description:

The sepoys were Indian soldiers. They were unhappy because the British were making them do things that were against their religion. They started fighting but the British won.

Alrighty then. I am starting out slow with him because he is very resistant to telling me about what we have read. So right now he has to tell me three things (in sentence form)that we read about and we will go from there. My goal is at least five sentences on the topic that relate to each other. In other words, a complete paragraph. I am having to steer him pretty good to get him to tell me 3 things that are all related in the story. He has a tendency to focus on the minute details and not on the big picture, so we are working on that too.

This week they are learning about the 1800s in Japan. At this time the Japanese were very resistant to any outside influences so they were closed to all trade from foreign countries. My boys loved the mention of steamships mounted with cannons and guns coming from the US to "convince" Japan to trade coal and other things.

Japan didn't want to spread around the world. They just wanted to keep other people away. Japanese people didn't know what a steamship was. The President of the United States sent steamships to ask to trade. They wanted to trade coal and silk. The Japanese said yes because they were afraid they would get destroyed if they said no.

History is so cool.

A Few Pictures

Aren't wood remnants fun?


Would someone please find this child's mother and tell her to teach him how to hang up his clothes?


And while she is at it she should teach him how to make his bed. Thank you.

Stairs are not easy to build, no not at all.

When making the decision to build an addition to our house (less than 1200 square feet, 10 people--we NEED more room)I only looked at the big picture. Small house, lots of people, easy. Let's build on. The making of the plans was very confusing since we had no idea what the city building department would want, so another easy decision. Hire someone to make the plans for us.

Now we are building what the drafter drew and some of it isn't making sense at all. Take the stairs for instance. There they are on the plan, looking just like stairs. But when I measure it out, I come up with the need for 17 steps and the plans have 14. Huh? I think he just took his little computer program, clicked on stairs and merrily went on his way with little thought as to how the heck they were supposed to really go.

Start from scratch then. I can do math, so I come up with 17 steps approximately 7-3/16" high, using the measurements we have taken. Fine. But what about the landing, and the beam that supports the stairs, and the walls, and the fact that the beam comes out in the MIDDLE of the doorway (oops)? Nope, building stairs is not an easy thing, in my opinion. My husband keeps saying "Okay. Here's what we are going to do." Then proceeds to tell me--except in the middle he says "Oh, now wait a minute." "Okay, here's what we are going to do." Is anyone fearing for those of us that are going to be using this garage he is building?

I think he has it figured out. I don't know, because I left in the middle and started taking pictures of the clouds.




It is a beautiful day. It rained yesterday and looks like it is going to try again today.


He is working. Like I should be.





Some people. I'm just laying here trying to take pictures of the clouds and he keeps walking in front of me.

I spy a butterfly

Well, that was fun. Break time is over. And for the record, my husband does know how to build. No worries.

Inspired

When packing for my recent trip to the coast, I decided to take along my current cross stitch project. I hadn't worked on it in some time--at least a year, probably more. I had put it in the closet when we moved to this house a little over a year ago and hadn't pulled it out since.

I have made 9 of these stockings now and honestly it is getting a little boring. Especially the ones like the current one that have a large section of "wallpaper". There is so much repetition it is mind numbing. So I didn't really want to take it, and didn't really intend on working on it when I was there.

But my sister wanted to see it. "It looks the same as it did the last time you saw it," I said. She wanted to see it anyway. I think it was a plot, because as soon as I pulled it out, I had to start working on it. "You're almost done!" she said. Okay, okay, I'll work on the stupid thing.

I almost finished the stocking in those 3 days we were visiting my mom, and last night I did the last few lines of pink. Now I have until Christmas to turn it into a stocking like all the rest.

Nine down, ONE to go!


I am now dreaming of what I will do when I am done with the last stocking. I haven't even started it yet, and I can't wait to be done. What should I do? Another cross stitch project? I already make quilts but that isn't really a sit down on the couch and watch tv type of craft. Maybe I will take up knitting....Nah.

Geography Question

Get out your atlas! Or us this one: Atlas. This is one of the questions that 13 year old daughter had to answer this week:

"List the seven continents (with area) from largest to smallest. What is the total land area of the earth?"

Kid Jokes

Where did the snowman keep his money?

In the snow bank.


What kind of phone does a turtle have?

A shellular phone.


What did the bee use to cut wood?

A buzz saw.


Why did the pig want to be an actor?

Because he was a big ham.


What do you call a funny snake?

HISSterical.


What has a bed but doesn't sleep?

A river.

The lessons we learn.

What is this, you may ask? A pile of glass, I reply. For the second time in my life I have seen that safety glass is rather fragile. The first time is an event that will be forever etched in my memory. Don't worry, it is a funny memory, one that brings out a big laugh whenever I think of it. The current pile of glass is actually not my fault, in fact I wasn't even there when it broke (boys were scooting it across the bed of the truck and hit a bolt) but it has yet again brought to mind the time when one second I was standing there holding up a large piece of glass and the next moment it was gone. Vanished. In it's place, a pile of tiny glass cubes.

It happened a long time ago. We had been working on the bathroom all day in hopes of being able to take a shower in the new bathroom that night. The last thing to do was to install the shower door. This particular shower door had been hanging around for several years, just waiting for the time we would need it. Out of the box it came, gleaming and beautiful and perfect. Truly the perfect shower door. No glazed bumpy ugly shower door for us, no sir, ours was a smooth, glass door. Except one problem. It was too big. Somehow, we had got the sizes wrong and the door didn't fit.

We were crushed. All this time spent dreaming of the perfect shower door and we couldn't even use it. But wait!

(Please, at this point in the story remember that 1. it was after 11:30pm, and 2. we were young and a bit thoughtless at times)

We have a tile saw! Why not take the metal off the edges of the glass and cut it down to size. Brilliant!

Out came the trusty tile saw. Off came the metal.

Turn on the saw...

With my husband holding the front steady and me supporting the other end we carefully touched the glass to the saw.

Then, it was gone. Vanished. In it's place a pile of tiny glass cubes.

At that point we saw the problem. Of course, a shower door would be made out of safety glass. Who wouldn't know that? So we laughed. And laughed. And got out the old shower curtain, hung it up in front of the new shower, showered, and went to bed.

In the morning I called a glass place and explained the situation. They probably laughed too, after getting off the phone. They very nicely made us a piece of glass the right size and we installed the perfect shower door. The perfect sized perfect shower door.

Then we laughed some more. It has been a nice memory over the years to pull out when I need a laugh, or just when something reminds me of it. Like that pile of glass in the back of the truck tonight that brought a smile to my face.

What I saw in the field...

This morning when I was walking back to the house after feeding the turkeys, this(one like it, that is) is what I saw in the field. It was perched on the side of the moveable chicken pen about 20 feet from me. I continued walking toward it and it flew a little way off and perched on the top of the shelf (the infamous rooster hangout). I got about 10 feet away and it flew to the top of the barn. At this point I decided a picture may be in order (good blogger that I am) and I ran in the house for the camera. Alas, the hawk was gone when I got back, so I have to make do with the picture on someone else's website.

I think it may have been a Red-Tailed Hawk, also sometimes known as a...chicken hawk. Uh-oh. I think it was fairly young as it was pretty small and the noises it made were young sounding. Hey, I have birds, I know the difference between a young chicken sound and an old chicken sound, hawks can't be that different, right? My hawk didn't have a white breast but was speckled sort of all over.

It was so pretty I couldn't help wanting to get as close as I could. It didn't seem scared of me at all. In turn, it didn't phase the chickens one bit. I guess if they felt there was a threat to their safety they would be hurrying to get under cover.


Unbothered chickens milling about, lazily ignoring Chicken Hawk

The Great Nail-Pulling Fiasco

It is so nice to have helpful kids. They don't just help because they are forced to (and bring the bad attitude with them), they help because they think it is fun to can, bake, or whatever. Sure there are things that are no fun--like folding laundry or cleaning the bathroom--but there still isn't the attitude of "I'm doing you a favor here, so give me something in return."

Although, if I am going to be completely honest, I would have to mention what will forever be known as The Great Nail-Pulling Fiasco. We had some big piles of wood with nails that needed to be pulled.



We also have a bunch of kids who LOVE to go out to dinner.

In June right after we were done with school work for the summer, we thought of a plan to get all the nails pulled. Pull nails and fill the bucket (about a quart sized container)= $5.00 toward going out to dinner. It would take at least 10-12 containers to have enough to go out. They thought this was super and set to work. When we saw the small pile of nailess wood and the full container of nails we got nervous.

"How many times this summer are we going to have to take these kids out?" we wondered.

Well, the novelty wore off quick and soon only the 2 oldest boys were pulling the nails.

"Whoever does the most work gets to pick the restaurant," we said.

Energy renewed and a few more buckets were filled. Then all work stopped. I really don't know what happened except that I wasn't constantly nagging for the job to be done.

"If you don't get the job done this summer for pay, it will be done this winter with Dad, for no pay, IN THE RAIN." we threatened.

Work began again and finally we got to go out to lunch after church one Sunday in mid-August. Since then I haven't seen any nail buckets (I have to check them and keep count) and when I recently returned from my trip to the coast I was informed that "Dad said" no tv until the nails are all pulled. He has since admitted that was a bad move but the 10 year old had been on his every last nerve. She is not a lot of help when she doesn't like the job. I have also been informed that the oldest boy has claimed that all the nails in a particular box are HIS to go toward HIM going out to dinner BY HIMSELF. I don't think so.

So, I am supposed to let the kids know that the tv ban was a mistake and no longer in effect, but they have actually been pulling nails again the last few days so it is mighty tempting not to tell them. Hmm, shrinking pile of naily wood, no tv on in the afternoons. This is totally win-win for me. But I guess I will be nice. Or will I?

One berry, two berry...

Pick me a blueberry... Well, we didn't pick blueberries, but last night we went to the ranch and picked blackberries. This is a yearly tradition with my older sister and me. Usually, we load up the whole family and go pick, but this year we got a bit of a late start and left the kids (most of them) home with the husbands and took the oldest girls to pick.

Today, the order of the day was to make blackberry jam and can green beans. I recruited some help to make the job go quickly so while I finished snapping the green beans(started last night), my 9 year old washed jars. With that done, I sent him to fold laundry with his brother and sister while I filled the green bean jars and started the canner. Then I washed blackberries and the 3 year old and 10 year old smooshed them.


We made the jam and 13 year old daughter and I filled the jars and put on the lids. We whizzed through the job and the canning and jam making was done by 11:00am.

Homemade Bread

Since I have a large family, we go through a lot of bread. In order to save a bit of money, I usually bake all our bread. It is much healthier too, especially since when I buy bread I buy the cheap 67 cents a loaf kind at the grocery store. I think it only costs about 30 cents a loaf to bake it at home and, according to my family, my bread tastes much better. I will refrain from commenting since I was scarred for life against home baked bread by my evil mother who insisted on putting sunflower seeds in the bread when she baked it. What is up with that? Love you, Mom, don't love your bread. Okay, I probably wouldn't have liked it anyway, but I just have to complain.

My kids love the bread I make (or so they tell me) so that makes it nice for me. I usually bake once a week, sometimes twice. After 18 years of making bread I have it down pretty good and can get it done and out of the way quickly.

First put 6 cups warm water, 3T yeast, and 1/2 cup molasses or honey in a bowl. Let it sit awhile until the yeast is nice and bubbley.


Add 1/3-1/2 cup of gluten flour and 1/2 cup oil. For me, the amount of gluten always depends on the wheat that I am using. Mix a little and start adding the wheat flour.



I grind my wheat fresh--usually around 11 cups of berries=16-17 cups of flour. Add 10 cups or so of flour at first then add 2T salt. Turn the mixer on and continue adding flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.


Knead in the mixer for 8-10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer that can handle bread dough, you need one. Haha, get it...NEED (knead)? Heeheeheehee. When the time is up, dump it out on the counter and divide it up into 5 loaves. I don't let it rise in the bowl--at least not intentionally. Sometimes time gets away from me and it will sit a while. That's okay though.





Next you shape the dough into loaves and put them in the pans. I don't grease the cast iron pans, but I do grease the stainless steel ones. In the picture below, my little 3 year old cutie pie is "giving the loaves a pat like you pat a baby's bottom."



Put them in the oven to rise. I set the oven on "Warm" and check the bread every 15 minutes. When the dough has risen to about 1" above the edge of the pan then turn on the oven to 350 degrees for 28 minutes.


Let cool and remove from pans. Let the bread finish cooling before putting in plastic bags and putting them in the freezer. Better yet, have some fresh, warm bread with butter and honey.



Today I had a few helpers so the job didn't go quite as quickly. But it was fun and it kept the 3 year old occupied. She didn't get into any mischief until I went outside and mowed the yard. I took her out to play on the cement pad while I mowed and she promptly pooped her drawers. Oh well. If I didn't laugh I would cry.

Work has been done here

Someone, who shall remain nameless, actually worked on the garage while I was not home. I left for a very relaxing weekend on the coast with my sisters and mother (and her husband--who cooked some yummy meals for us), thinking that the garage would look much the same when I got home. In fact, I specifically asked my husband if he had any plans to work on the garage while I was gone.

"No," he replied.

Maybe I was confused about the meaning of his answer, but I thought that meant he wasn't going to work on the garage.

Silly me. Here is what I came home to:




This was significant progress from the last time I had seen it so I was pretty surprised. When I left, one wall and part of another were up. Now, all of the walls for the main room, plus the walls for the mud room and the floor of the mud room are done. After a few minor touch up things we will be ready to start on the second floor. We ordered the roof trusses last Friday, so we may be getting those sooner than I had thought as well.

As for the confusion about whether my husband was going to work on the garage or not, well, he apparently thought I was leaving the baby home. A tempting thought, I must admit, but I really had no plans to leave the baby so I don't know where he got that.

On another note, for anyone who may be interested, I do make fart jokes with my children sometimes. My daughter was just so shocked at her aunt's lack of decorum she didn't know how to respond. Hmpf! And furthermore, I made fun of my oldest daughter just the other day when she mentioned that she was going to cut the cheese. AND, I danced in the kitchen with my 9 year old this morning. For the second time in the space of a week. It was fun.