Just Me

My Sister and Her Horse (A Story)

2009-10-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

My Sister and Her Horse

My sister has a horse.

It has one white foot and a white streak down her forehead.

She is Brown and very very soft.

We can't ride her because it rains all off the time.

When we just got her we rode her all of the time, because it was sunny then but not now.

It rains and rains and her name is skeeter.

She is very pretty.

I would like it to sun so I can ride her.

I can't ride her because It rains and rains.

By Cristy, age 7 or 8

I am guessing 8 because of the neat handwriting, but would like to claim age 7 because of the bad drawing. Although doesn't Skeeter look like she feels pretty on page 7? Personally, I like the variety--I drew the same horse 10 times and none look alike. That's talent.

Anyway, two things. One, I don't remember liking the horse all that much. She was my sister's horse and I remember being just fine with keeping it that way. Two, it really did rain a lot where we lived (approx. 70in. per year). I am not making that up.

Thanks, Mom, for tucking this story into my baby book.

Lost Boy

2009-09-28T19:19:00.001-07:00

Daren lost Will at Disneyland. Let it be said that forevermore he will not be able to tease me about "losing" Walter on our last trip to Disneyland, because not only did he lose Will, but Will was missing for a good 30 minutes before we got him back. All I did was walk off and leave a then 10 year old boy looking at his Space Mountain picture. I walked back and there he was, still looking at his picture. Big whoop.

Here's what happened. It was nearing dark on our second day at Disneyland. I took the kids and went to the Indiana Jones ride. Daren decided to take Helen and Will to the Tarzan Treehouse--just a walkthrough thing with some hands on activities at the end. They stopped to play and Daren noticed Helen was talking to a lady so he went to investigate. Looked back a few seconds later and no Will. He looked everywhere, sent Helen through the treehouse again, looked outside. No Will. He talked to several park employees before finding someone to help him (strange that no one knew what to do since I am sure this kind of thing happens many times a day).

In the meantime, we got done with Indiana Jones and saw the stroller still parked in the same spot so we decided to look around in the Indiana Jones store and then sit outside until Daren got back. It was dark by this time, and the park was near closing time. Pretty soon, Allison says "Oh, I see Dad, he's talking to a policeman (security guy). He has Helen, but not Will."

Oh. My.

I went over as Daren is giving a description of Will to the security guard. The guy really didn't seem to know what to do. It was so strange. I went looking around for a while then came back. The guard asked if Will would "freak out" or be calm. I said he would probably just search for his Dad, maybe cry a little. He would definitely leave the area looking. Daren sent the kids through the treehouse again. I paced. A few minutes later the guard came back and said that Will was at Lost Children. Phew.

Daren had to wait for kids to come back so I went with the guard up to the area where Will was. There he was, playing with the other little boy that was lost. The lady he was with said "There's your mommy in the pink tank top!" He gave me a big grin and said, "Mommy! I was looking for Daddy! He was not there!"

I had a long walk back to Daren since I didn't have my phone on me. On the way, I asked Will a few questions to see what he was able to tell people. As it turns out, he knows his parents names: "Mommy is Cristy and Daddy is Daren". He knows he is Will Keeney. He was able to understand that if he loses Daddy or Mommy again he is to SIT DOWN. Why I didn't go over that with him before, I don't know, except I really didn't think he would understand. We told all the other kids if they lose us, stay where they are, we will be back to get them. Don't leave the area. But I guess we missed Will.

He told me that he told the two ladies that helped him, "I am lost. I need to find my parents." Of course, he also told Helen Mae that they were both dressed like Minnie Mouse. I don't care what they were dressed like, I am just glad they saw a little boy wandering around and helped him out.

The next day, we were able to pay it forward. We were walking along, and there went a little boy looking worried. I watched for a minute in case he was headed for someone, but he wasn't so Daren hurried ahead and stopped him. We sat down with him and got a little info so Daren could go look around for his mom. He was about Will's age so I had Will show him his new airplane and the little boy showed him his hot wheels. Pretty soon they were playing. Daren didn't have any luck finding parents, so a maintenance worker took him to the Buzz Lightyear guys who called it in. A lady sitting there mentioned that she had been watching him but we got there first. She then marveled at how many kids we have and how on earth do we keep track of all of them!

Oh, lady, if only you knew.

Shoes and Coats

2009-07-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

This house did not have a back porch (covered) or a coat closet when we moved in. We now have a back porch of sorts, but still no coat closet. What a pain!

Last weekend we finally got some shoe shelves and coat racks up in the garage. Finally! The last few years all of the outdoor coats had to be stored in the bedroom closets--most of which were already full to bursting because of the number of people sharing them--and the shoes were put in the mud room. Any idea how many pairs of shoes 10 people can generate? The two teenage girls alone were taking over all of the space.

Now...ahhhhh, shelves.

In case you are counting, there are currently 34 pairs of shoes on the shelves. That comes to almost 4 pairs per person since Nathan hasn't been home to put up his shoes. I only have 2 pairs on the shelf, so someone (probably the person that has 3 pairs of flip flops alone, not to mention the rest of her shoes) is hogging space.

And coat hooks. Oh yes, and painted stairs. All the way up to the bedroom!

Bliss.

My goodness, look at all of those shoes. And they are all important. Boots for mud, sandals for hot weather (or if you are Robyn, for all weather), play shoes for playing. Barn boots for riding. All of the church and going out shoes are NOT on these shelves, thank you very much.

Take a closer look at the top coat rack. The right side in particular. The rack is not, I repeat, NOT, in the shape of a wooden spoon. Or an African spear.

What is it? Can you tell? Fine. It is an EGG. AN EGG. And if you visit me, would you be so kind as to mention said EGG in my husband's hearing so he can be happy that it is recognizable as an EGG? There are speckles and everything.

Revisiting the falls

2009-06-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last year about this time, we took an afternoon and went to visit Beaver Creek Falls and Sweet Creek Falls up out of Mapleton. We had a picnic and took a bunch of pictures and hiked around.

So this year since we were in the area again we decided to drive up to Beaver Creek Falls for lunch. It was our favorite out of the two falls and has a very quick and easy walk (not even a hike) to the waterfall.

Well. I guess it was our favorite last year. Because this year...

Oh my, what pretty falls. Ummm,what's that I see? No, not the girl in the orange shirt(or the boy in camo--see him?). Let's take a closer look, shall we?

There on the rocks. Are those...can it be...

CENTIPEDES???

(Some people call them millipedes but I call the centipedes because they really aren't even big enough to have a hundred legs so the certainly can't have a thousand. I am so practical. Unlike some people.)

Yep, the place was overrun with worms with legs. They. were. everywhere. Ew, they were stinky too. Goodbye, Centipede Cr...er...Beaver Creek Falls. Maybe we will try again some other time.

I love strawberries

2009-06-01T15:17:00.001-07:00

Just sayin'...

2009-05-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

If you have a little boy that likes riding bikes, he needs to be extra careful when following close behind someone else. Otherwise said little boy could crash into that person, causing injury to a certain part of his anatomy. You know, down there. He may even need to go to the doctor and get the laceration glued.

P.S. He was wearing his helmet, not that it helped any.
P.P.S. The doctor did say, in a perplexed voice, "This is a very unusual injury."

Art Lesson

2009-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

I am not an artist. (Note: I am not a writer either so excuse me for that as well) I have a son that loves to draw and as he gets older his drawings become more sophisticated. He has been working on perspective for the last year or so and is coming along nicely. The problem is that he is far beyond what I can help when he needs it.

Last weekend, he got an art lesson from Aunt Judy. She hasn't picked up a paintbrush in quite a long time, but she still has the talent and know-how to give my son a quick lesson on shading and proportion.

Aunt Judy was so gracious and patient with him. She drew with him for a couple of hours.

It is so nice when a kid can get some feedback from someone other than a parent about their drawings. I think they are all great! Lessons from a real artist, though, will go a little farther than a pat on the back from Mom, or even than a blue ribbon at the fair.

I wish I could have gotten some pictures of them drawing together, measuring with pencils, heads together, but by the time I thought of it they had moved on to something a little harder than guitars, lampshades, and teapots. Namely me. A project that was abandoned after about 10 minutes. I was laying (dozing) in an odd position so they gave up. Oh well.

When he went back to drawing his own thing, I could tell a difference.

My Sixth Picture

2009-02-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

It appears I have been tagged by Cathy to post the sixth picture in my sixth picture folder. My sixth picture folder is named "Family Pictures 1998-2006". Oh goody.

Now if the picture isn't of me, this will be good. But no such luck.

Here it is:

I think this photo was taken by my now 15 year old daughter. Judging from the other pictures with it, it was taken around May, 2003. Not much else to say about it.

How about I do what Cathy did and go from the bottom?

Much better. From the "scenery" folder:

Taken on an outing with my nature photography class. Brice Creek, up out of Cottage Grove. Very pretty day.

I don't know 6 people that blog, so I am not going to list 6 other people to carry on. I am such a rebel. Or (more likely, heh) a social outcast.

5k Race

2009-02-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to enter a 5k race for a while now--just to see what time I can get. Racing a stand alone 5k is very different from a triathlon 5k, and different than just going for a run, at least for me, so I can't just go out and run 5k (3.1 miles) and record the time. That Wouldn't Work.

Well, a few weeks back we were leaving the pool after family swim time and I saw a flyer for the "Couples Classic 5k" to be held there at the park on (very appropriately) Saturday, February 14. Oh, I wished I could sign up! But it is a couples race, and even though they accept individual entries, I really didn't want to race a couples race without being part of a couple. Not to mention the t-shirt would say "couples classic". No thank you. So I lamented and sighed and whined to Daren a little bit about why can't he just run with me any way because I really don't care about his time, just mine, and I also really don't care how we would place as a couple. Really.

Nope. Not interested.

Until last Wednesday he called me up and asked if I still wanted to enter the race, and if so I had better do it that day because it was the last day to preregister (to guarantee yourself a t-shirt). Shock. Apparently, he had been running a little at work to prepare for the race--to see if he can run. Add the fact that we have been doing Crossfit together for the last 6 weeks and he felt confident enough to enter the race with me!

So we ran the race. It was fun. He was afraid of embarrassing me. ??? My time: 23:40. I was hoping for under 25 minutes, so this was good. His time: 29:42. No training, no hours on end of working out, just a few 1 mile runs and 6 weeks of weight lifting. I am so jealous. Our total time was 53:22, good for 16th place out of 31 couples in our age division. I got 98th place out of 374 entrants, men included. I think I was about 35/207 women.

Next year, we are going to try to get some of the kids involved.

Oh yeah, he is already talking about the next race we will enter. I think he may be hooked. smirk

Yo-yoing

2009-02-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yoyoing? Yoing? Yo-yos yo-yoing? Lots of that going on at my house.

I have been saying "Whoa, you almost whacked me in the head!" far too often lately. Why do my boys feel the need to play with yo-yos RIGHT NEXT TO ME??? Oh well, they are having fun. What's a little bump on the head, right?

Time to Paint

2009-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

The last inspection has been passed so now we can finally move on to painting the upstairs room.

The boys picked out the colors so I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Conversations

2009-01-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

At the pool while sitting in the hot tub:

Walter: What is that building over there?

Me: A sauna.

Walter: What's it like in there?

Me: I don't know. I have never been in a sauna.

Walter: Is it big? Is it hot? Do you sit down?

Did I miss something? Didn't I just say I don't know? Okay, so I do know somewhat what it might be like in a sauna. I mean, I know it is hot. I think. But the rest--really I don't know.

Me: I don't know. I have never been in there.
-----------------

Still in the hot tub:

Me: Where's Allison? I don't see her.

Helen: Allison? Where is Allison?

Me: Yeah Allison. I don't see her.

Helen: She's right there. Oh wait, that's you.

What is it about a hot tub? Does it adle people's brains? Is it the chemicals? We do enjoy sitting in the hot tub when we go to the family swim nights at the pool, but if my kids continue in this way we may have to stop.

Busy

2008-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

This summer has been so crazy. We have been running the whole time.

1. Swimming lessons. Four kids have been taking swimming lessons. They are all doing great, probably because of #2.

2. Swimming. We got a family pass to the pool so we have been going swimming a lot. Family swim Monday and Friday, plus I usually take the older kids on Wednesday afternoon. Add in the 3 times a week I do lap swims and I think I am in the pool more than I am out. I fear for my hair.

3. Fair. Of course we did the 4H fair again this year. Besides the home ec type exhibits, we had 3 pigs, a rabbit, and 9? 10? 11? chickens this year. Two kids sold their market pigs, and one wasn't big enough to sell so we brought it home. Another kid sold her market chickens and, AND brought home an extremely large trophy for being the Intermediate Poultry Showmanship Champion. This means she got to participate in the Round Robin, a contest where all the showmanship champions get together and show ALL the different kinds of animals. She got to show a pig, beef cattle, sheep, horse, etc.

I know it seems weird, but it is a HUGE big deal to be able to participate in the Round Robin. Allison is headed to the state fair next month to try her hand at showmanship there.

4. Triathlon. I did another one over a month ago but haven't gotten around to reporting about it. I guess I have told a few people but I think participating in this sport is one of those things that you have to be there to even enjoy talking or hearing about it so I won't bore anyone with the gory details this time. I placed first in my age group, though, out of 5 or 6 people, and 5th overall woman. It was fun. The kids all (mostly) got to come and cheer me on and that warmed my heart.

5. Taking pictures. Not me, well, me, but I was actually talking about 2nd son. He took some trampoline pictures for the 4H fair. It is amazing how many trampoline pictures have to be taken before the champion action shot in the junior division comes along (last picture).

6. Driving. Home--gym--home--gym--home--pool--home--gym-- and on and on. At least 3 times a week Daren takes kid to gym in the morning so all I have to do is go pick her up.

7. Swim-Bike-Run. Enough said about that.

8. Feeding animals. Do not say "Oh, poor Cristy, look how busy she is, she needs a break." Yes, Mom, I heard you. Until now. Please feel sorry for me. It's hot. Do you know how much water 9 billion chickens (or 190)go through when it is hot? DO YOU? Cuz if you don't, ask me, I can tell you. And somehow, even though I am splitting the broiler chicken duty with oldest daughter, somehow they only need water when it is MY TURN TO FEED THEM!!! Does this seem suspicious to anyone else? Because I am on to that kid and she is not getting away with those kind of shenanigans any more, let me tell you.

Waterfalls and Hiking

2008-06-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend we made two separate trips to Mapleton and while there we decided to take the kids hiking and visit a couple waterfalls.

Beaver Creek Falls:

This waterfall was only a short walk down a path, so that was nice.

Sweet Creek Falls:

A little longer walk, but not far at all. The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Kentucky Falls. The trailhead is 16 miles off Hwy 126--mostly paved, but some gravel. Mostly one lane road, windy and steep. The last intersection is not marked so we had to take a guess. Once to the trailhead, it is a 3/4 mile hike to the upper falls, which includes some switchbacks to get down to the falls.

Upper Kentucky Falls:

Then to continue to the lower falls it is another 1.25 mile of downhill. Which turns into uphill on the way back. Second youngest son informed me that he doesn't like uphills. I said, "Yeah, well, try doing a triathlon and then hiking 4 miles, kid." Not really. I just patted him on the head and said "We're almost there."

Lower Kentucky Falls (there are 2 separate ones next to each other):

The walk was worth every step, even though I was tired. Littlest guy did not walk much since he just wanted to stand in the path poking things with sticks, but everyone else did very well. We lost Helen Mae for a while--Daren sat down to rest and she kept going. She was running on the path for maybe 20 minutes by herself, trying to catch up to the boys in front. There were no turnoffs, but it was very steep on one side of the path so I got nervous. We sent Robyn on up ahead and she came upon her in about 5 minutes or so.

There were many pretty wildflowers:

And cute kids:

Graduate

2008-06-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

26 hours, 34 minutes of labor*

17 years, 287 days, 16 hours of caring, loving, shaping, molding.

Time to see what he does with it all...

*Ok, you KNOW I had to throw that in there even though it doesn't have anything to do with anything. It's just that it really hurt and no one around here seems to appreciate that. They all just roll their eyes at me. At least I didn't mention the 50+ stitches.

Lebanon Sprint Triathlon

2008-05-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

I got up Saturday morning at 5:45am and drove up to Lebanon. I was by myself since my husband was out of town, and that was a little intimidating. I knew I wanted to do the race, but part of the fun is sharing it with someone else. Besides, who was going to take pictures?

No one. I didn't even bring my camera to take pictures afterward or anything. I totally forgot it.

Swim: Slowest swimmers started first, and we were even numbered according to our 500 yard swim times (slowest was #1, etc). I was #15. There it was, marked on my leg for the world to see that I was the 15th slowest swimmer entered. Oh well. I had entered a time of 14 minutes for 500y, not knowing what my time really was. It was just a guess (which turned out to be fairly accurate at my first race), and now I was thinking my time was really more like 12:30 or so. Then I went into the pool area and looked at the pool it looked shorter than usual. I guess I swim in a 25 meter pool, because this pool was definately smaller.

Out of 4 ladies in my lane I was 3rd to start and after we started it was apparent that I was quite a bit faster than they were. Once I got them all passed things went very well and I ended up being the third person out of the pool out of 24 people in my heat. So out of all the people that suck at swimming, I didn't suck quite as bad as the rest. Heh.

Time: 11:20 (2:16/100 yards)

T1: I ran out of the pool, took off cap and goggles, dried off a bit, found my glasses, put on my socks and bike shoes and took off for the bike start line. Zoom!

Time: 1:38

Bike: Friday night I went out in my driveway and practiced putting one foot on the pedal and swinging my leg over the bike to mount. Definate wreck potential there. But I did it. I clipped in and took off. The course was a very fast and slightly hilly out and back. I passed one person and another went by me going the other direction before I turned around. I wanted to push hard, but not too hard so my legs would be able to run.

Time: 41:37 (18.02mph average)

T2: Hopped off the bike (remembered to unclip, which is always a plus) and trotted to put my bike away. Someone's transition setup had exploded into my area so I had a little trouble getting around it to put my bike away and get the rest of my things. The polite person in me wouldn't let me just step all over it and throw it out of my way. Changed shoes, put on race belt, grabbed hat, took a swig of gatorade, and took off.

Time: 1:48 (which actually surprises me, it didn't seem that long)

Run: This is the hard part. Legs feel like jelly, and they don't want to move. I had been practicing going from bike to run though, and I didn't feel too bad. The course was flat, but sort of confusing. It was kind of out and back with a double loop in the middle. I passed one lady that had beaten me out of transition (part of a relay so no changing to do) and one other lady who was on her first loop when I was on the second. It was getting hot but I kept on pushing. The whole run felt good--like I was doing was I could but I wasn't going to die. Maybe I need to push to the I'm going to die stage if I want to get better times.

Time: 27:04 (8:44/mile pace)

Total time: 1:23:27

Here are the stats. Feel free to skip this part.

4th out of 5 in my age group. There was some tough competition in my age group. Given that, I am actually happy with 4th place. Really.

1st woman across the finish line (that's what the blue ribbon is for). So out of all the people that started in the first heat (24) I finished first. Yay! I have no idea why I got a ribbon for that, but oh well.

14th out of 39 women in the road bike division. Top 36%. (Compare this to Albany--29/42, 69%.) See why I don't feel bad about 4th in my AG?

51st out of 88 in the road bike division. This includes the men. Scums. They skew my results.

58th out of 103 total participants. Better than last time.

31st out of 45 total women swimming. Wow, 14 women slower than me this time instead of 8 (and some of those were men)! Moving up.

19th out of 45 total women biking.

13th out of 45 total women running.

My transition times seem slow to me so I need to work on that. It is hard to remember this is a RACE--not just the swim, bike, run part, but in between as well.

Next race: Siuslaw Sprint Triathlon, June 22,2008.

Race this weekend

2008-05-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

So here are this week's workouts.

Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: 45 min. swim, 45/8 brick
Wednesday: 45 min run
Thursday: 70 min bike, 8 min run
Friday: 45 min swim
Saturday: Lebanon Sprint Triathlon
Sunday: Lay in bed and moan

I am not really cutting down much for this race--I don't have a very large volume so it doesn't matter much, I guess. I will not have many pictures because I will be going by myself...sniff, sniff...since my pit crew (a.k.a. Daren) will be out of town. So I could just not go and say I did and no one would be the wiser. Pre-race jitters rearing its ugly head, can you tell?

Flowers

2008-05-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

Blue Flowers

Chives

Daisy

This Week

2008-04-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Swim 40 min, Bike 30 min
Wednesday: Run 35 min
Thursday: Bike 1 hour
Friday: Swim 40 min, Run 30 min
Saturday: Run 30 min (strides)
Sunday: Bike 1 hour +

After my disasterous swim at the triathlon I decided it was time to get serious about swimming. I have the Total Immersion book but after doing some looking I found that it was somewhat out of date and the TI guy has changed a lot of the drills and techniques so I purchased a dvd--Freestyle Made Easy, and a book--Triathlon Swimming Made Easy.

Yeah, I know, ha ha --"What ya gonna do, take a tv to the pool?" ha ha ha.
Ha.
No, I am going to watch the dvd at home and read the book at home, and then go to the pool and try to remember what to do. Then I am going to go home and rewatch and read to see if I did it and if not, fix it the next time. Wiseacre.

So anyway, I am doubling up on the swim days because the drills are very slow and easy and I would like a little more of a cardio workout--hence the extra bike or run.

Things went pretty well this morning. I was able to get balanced, which was the point of the first lesson. Hopefully, I will be swimming like a fish in no time at all.

Race Day

2008-04-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 6:15 Sunday morning to this:

I went back to bed. The End.

Just kidding.

We got to Albany at about 7:30am. Still snowing pretty hard. Got my race bag (tshirt and a few fliers) and then went out and put up my bike. Because of the weather the transition area was inside so I set up my bag with all my bike clothes and shoes, etc.

My heat started at 9am so I had a little while to hang around. I was a little too nervous to do anything but stand and watch the other swimmers. A few minutes before 9 I got into the pool and met the other ladies in my lane. I learned that I would be starting first (they had 3-4 people per lane with each person starting about 5 seconds apart). The buzzer sounded and off I went.

I am a pretty slow swimmer, and I have never been so aware of that fact until faced with so many other faster swimmers. The lady behind me passed me right away, but the other lady in my lane was even slower than me so I ended up passing her a few times. Swim time for 750 meters: 19:38. Pathetically slow--out of 120 or so racers total it was the 8th slowest time.

At the end of the 30 lengths I heaved myself out of the pool (literally, since the middle bulkhead was higher than my head and it made a lovely scene, I am sure, when I tried to get out of the pool--my husband snapped a picture of me that will NEVER see the light of day) and trotted to my transition area to put on my bike clothes. Originally I had planned to slip on my bike shorts, light shirt, and socks and shoes, but even though the snow stopped, it was cold out! So I put on my long pants, shirt, jacket, gloves, hat, socks and shoes before I hurried out to my bike. I threw on my helmet and took off.

I was so excited at this point--I was having so much fun! I never thought it would be so fun. I thought I would be cursing the day I decided to do a triathlon.

The bike route was 12.5 miles of country roads. Only a few minor hills and lots of long, lonely flat roads. I was passed by 2 men and that is all. Bike time: 57:09 (this included transition from swim to bike); not bad, not good.

Once I made it back to the race area on my bike, all I had to do was ditch the bike and helmet and take off running. In theory, anyway. In reality, I couldn't feel my legs (numb from riding) or my feet (numb from cold). So I kind of shuffled/stumbled/trotted my way down the road.

I think I "ran" at pretty much the same pace the entire 3.1 miles. I tried SO HARD to go faster but my legs completely ignored me. I was passed by one man and passed a lady that was running even slower than me. Couldn't get much slower without walking, but she was doing it. The route went out through a residential area and back to finish with a half lap or so on the high school track. Final run time: 33:55 (this includes the transition from bike to run).

Total time: 1:50:42. Out of 6 ladies in the 35-39 age group this was good for 5th place--4th place was only 5 seconds away. Not a stellar performance but this was my first time and I finished the race still glad I had started! Lots of room for improvement in all areas but especially SWIMMING.

I have come to the conclusion that wanting to be a triathlete was not some crazy notion but something that I am really, really glad I chose to do. I can't wait to do it again...

Final Countdown

2008-04-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well, not final, maybe, but the final countdown to this weekend anyway.
This week:
Monday: Ran
Tuesday: Biked
Wednesday: Ran
Thursday: Bike
Friday: Swim
Saturday: Rest? Short run?
Sunday: Race

I have been sick so, honestly, if I am still not feeling better by Saturday or so I may not go. It just isn't any fun at all getting out when my stomach is feeling so awful. No I am not pregnant. But it kind of feels like that--a constant queasiness and icky feeling. Constant. But 3 of my little boys are feeling the same way. So there.

As promised, here is my new toy:

I wasn't exactly planning on buying a road bike yet but I came across a deal that I could not pass up. So here it is. Now I get to learn how to use the clipless pedals without breaking every bone in my body. If I ride this bike in the race this weekend I will be using my regular shoes since I am so smart and purchased dual sided pedals--one side with the clips (cliplesses?) and the other side regular.

For those of you who missed it...

2008-04-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Here is my daughter's awesome beam routine that won her first place.

The lady in blue all the way to the right of the screen is her coach, Linda. Midway through the routine, she stood up...I assume because my daughter was getting to the part where she sometimes falls off and it was making Linda nervous. Heh heh.

Roads I Have Traveled: Final Edition

2008-04-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Until next year, that is.

Last weekend we traveled to a town 3 hours south to the Oregon Gymnastics Optionals State Meet. My daughter had an ok season; it was hard to tell how she would stack up against other Oregon teams since so many of her meets were out of state this year, so we were just hoping for a good meet with no big mistakes.

Here she is:

That little smile isn't giving anything away, is it. What is that around her neck? Take a closer look:

Looks like a medal to me. Ahh, beam. She does pretty well on beam if she can stay on it.

First place. She is the Oregon State Level 7 Age 12b Beam Champion. Not only is she the beam CHAMPION (had to say it again) BEAM CHAMPION CHAMPION CHAMPION
ahem
Not only is she the age 12b CHAMPION(they divided the 12 year olds into 2 age groups) but since she scored a 9.725 she had the highest score in the entire session (50 some girls) and the entire previous session (another 50 some girls). There was only one other score higher (9.875 OMG) in the last session (50 some girls). There are no special awards for that, but there should be. Hmpf.

Her bars score was 8.95--tied her season best. Floor: 9.35 (5th place), Vault 9.05. All Around: 37.075, an all time personal best. It was good for 4th place out of about 18 girls in her age group. No place on bars or vault since they only went out to 6th place, but she got 7th or so on vault and maybe 8th on bars. All around a very good meet.

This Week

2008-04-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Monday: ran 30 min
Tuesday: swam 1400 yd; 40 or so minutes
Wednesday: Bike 1 hr
Thursday: Run 30 min
Friday: Swim however long it takes me to go 1400 yd
Saturday: Bike 1 hr
Sunday: Rest or run, I can't decide.

I signed up for the Albany Sprint Triathlon on April 20. So it really is going to happen. I am trying not to get nervous. What if I get a flat tire? What if somebody kicks me in the face in the pool? What if I look like a total dummy and make people mad at me because I don't know the unspoken rules? What if I knock over my bike in the transition line and it starts a domino effect? What if...I. Can't. Finish.

I got something new today and I can't wait to show it off...nope, not going to tell. Wait and see.

Week whatever, traveling roads, and other boring stuff

2008-04-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Gymnastics meets:

First of all, we did make it back from Idaho. Then we had another meet here, then we traveled to Sacramento, CA. I just felt stupid taking pictures of the road. I was riding with another mom from the gym and I just felt dumb. This weekend we have the state meet, and then possibly one more in Spokane at the end of the month. The last one is optional and more for fun than anything else. I am thinking of going just because it will give me an excuse to stop on the way and see a friend that I haven't seen in a long time.

Workouts:

Well. Here's the story. We had a huge meet here that is put on by our gym. It is a very long, exhausting weekend, especially for those of us that are in charge of one thing or another. So I didn't work out at all during the days of the meet, and then during the clean up I hurt my toe. I stubbed my poor toe very hard and it hurt so bad I cried. If it had been any toe but my big toe, I am sure it would have been broken. I am really not so sure something isn't injured in there as it is, because I keep re-hurting it.

Disregard the ugly polish and that unsightly bump on the side of my foot. The bump is something that I inherited from my mother, not from injuring my toe. Anyway, I can run, etc. but I keep hurting it again doing other things so working out has been pretty sporadic.

Which brings me to another thing. I am sorry, but 4:30 in the morning is just way too early in the morning to be getting up and going swimming, even for an early riser like me. So I am going to change my swimming time here soon. If I could get to bed at a decent hour it would be one thing, but that doesn't happen very often.

Triathlon:

I am signing up for my first triathlon today. It is 3 weeks or so away, so I am going to be working hard to get ready. I may be running a 5k at the beginning of May, and doing another triathlon at the end of May. Yay!

Week 15

2008-02-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 35 min
Wednesday: Bike 1 hr
Thursday: Run 30 min
Friday: Swim 40 min
Saturday and Sunday: Gone to Idaho for a gymnastics meet.

Doors

2008-02-18T10:48:00.001-08:00

The last picture isn't really a door--it is more of a wall. But we intend to make it look like a door. The other doors actually have doorknobs with locks on them!

Week 14

2008-02-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 35 min
Wednesday: Bike 55 min
Thursday: Run 30 min
Friday: Swim 40 min
Saturday: Bike 55 min
Sunday: Run 35 min

Woe

2008-02-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

What is it about this beautiful snow and ice that inspires woe in my children?

Not all of them, of course, as you can see here:

But just look at this face:

Woe is me....

Oh woe, WOE, WOE!!!

But my hands are cold. Sob...

What? Walter is bringing me some gloves?

Where IS he? What is taking so long? WOE!

But I can't smile. Can't you see I am trying?

Week 13, again

2008-02-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am repeating week 13. I am so bad, I know. I was complaining about the weather and how TIRED I was and my husband said, "You don't have to work out tomorrow, you know." So I didn't. Not tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, etc. I was SO tired and the weather was SO bad (can't go jogging in the snow, can't go bike riding in the snow, can't drive to the pool at 4:30 in the morning in the snow) so I just didn't do anything.

BUT!! I am now feeling refreshed and ready to go, and although I already completed half of week 13 I am going to start it over at the beginning anyway. Because I can. Not because I am obsessive and overthink everything. Nope, not me.

Week 13:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min
Wednesday: Bike 55 min
Thursday: Run 25 min
Friday: Swim 35 min
Saturday: Bike 55 min (not happening unless Cathy has room for my bike in her van)
Sunday: Run 30 min

We will see how this goes since it is supposed to rain all week. Also I am going to the coast this weekend! No bike riding on Saturday, but possibly an extra jog.

Roads I Have Traveled: Seattle

2008-01-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend:

This was a pretty uneventful drive since we got on I-5 in Eugene and didn't get off until our exit in Seattle. I-5 is about the most boring road in the UNIVERSE.

It started to snow as we came through the Tacoma area, but it turned to rain as we reached Seattle. We saw the Space Needle from a distance. My daughter and I rode with a gym friend and her mother so at least I didn't have to drive.

Week 13

2008-01-21T09:16:00.000-08:00

This week:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min
Wednesday: Bike 55 min
Thursday: Run 25 min (assuming it isn't 18 degrees that morning)
Friday: Swim 35 min
Saturday: Bike 55 min
Sunday: Run 35 min

Yesterday I ran on the treadmill in the hotel exercise room so I did get my Sunday run in. I hate treadmills.

It seems like my exercise times are staying fairly short, but bear in mind that I am only training for a sprint triathlon so the short times are okay. If I want to do a longer triathlon I will have to up the amount of exercise. I just want to make it through the first one before I think about any others.

Roads I Have Traveled

2008-01-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

I don't get out much, so small things amuse me. This year, I am going to be traveling more than usual since middle daughter has quite a few out of state gymnastics meets. So I thought: what fun it would be to show some of the more interesting (or uninteresting) roads we travel. I don't know, maybe I am just a silly.

Here is what the top of the Willamette Pass looked like at about 7am Saturday morning:

And further on toward Chiloquin at around 8am:

I wish I could have taken a picture of the foggy road where I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting 5 deer that were crossing. Or the turkeys that were running down the road earlier that day. But my husband was sleeping and it really wasn't possible to drive and take pictures.

As for the meet, my daughter did very well and placed in every event. She did her giants on the bars for the first time in a meet and she didn't fall off the beam, getting first place in that event.

This picture was taken during bar warmups. The guy standing below is my daughter's wonderful coach, Yuri. She really likes him and works very hard for him.

Week 12

2008-01-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 35 min.
Wednesday: Bike 1 hour
Thursday: Run 30 min.
Friday: Swim 40 min.
Saturday: Bike 1 hour
Sunday: Gone to Seattle so I am going to either be sitting at a gymnastics meet or sitting in a car.

Week 11

2008-01-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

When will this stormy, rainy weather end?????

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 30 min swim (actually ended up more like 40 min)
Wednesday: Bike 1 hr (HA!)
Thursday: Run 30 min
Friday: Swim 40 min
Saturday: Reno
Sunday: Reno

There is pretty much no chance of any working out this weekend because we are headed to Reno for a gymnastics meet. Hopefully it won't snow too much so we can get the van over the mountains.

Week 10

2008-01-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

I realize that I skipped a week, but I also sort of skipped a week when it comes to workouts as well. Too many other things going on, including rotten weather. So, I repeated week 9 last week, and now I am on to week 10.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Supposed to swim, but the pool was closed so I did last Sunday's 35 min run.
Wednesday: Supposed to ride bike for 1 hour, but come on, it's raining and windy. No thanks.
Thursday: 30 min run
Friday: 40 min swim
Saturday: Brick--1 hour bike, 20 min run
Sunday: 40 min run

For my swim workouts, although I swim for 30-40 min, the workouts I use usually give short distances and lots of drills. I have been wondering how I would hold up in a distance longer than 100m. Last Friday, one part of my swim workout called for 2x400m with a one minute rest in between. I did both 400s in under 10 minutes (can't see the time clock very well without my glasses; I need to get a watch with a timer, BAD), which makes the time per 100m about 2:30. That isn't too far off my personal best 100m time of 2:15, and not too bad, considering I was taking it easy as I was afraid of tiring out quickly. I was very proud of myself for being able to keep up a steady pace for that amount of time! It is still pretty slow, but good for me.

Camera Tips

2007-12-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hi, just your friendly neighborhood camera person, here to give you a few tips on using your camera for the Christmas season.

1. Unless you want transparent children, turn on as many lights as possible.

2. Remember that the fancy camera that you paid an arm and a leg for has settings for low light situations.

He can move fast, but not THAT fast.

3. Remember that fancy camera? And that fancy 50mm f1.7 lens you have? Use it.

Getting better.

4. Don't use the on camera flash. Whatever you do. Do. Not. Use. The. On. Camera. Flash. Oh, and don't forget that you actually do have a nice flash that hooks onto the camera and blinds everyone in the room when you use it. I did.

See what happens when you use the on camera flash? Don't make the same mistakes as me.

5. Don't take pictures like this of your 14 year old daughter. She will not thank you later.

She doesn't really look like that. Really. It was the camera's fault.

6. Do take pictures of the lights on the tree. They are so pretty.

7. If you are still having trouble with low light (because you forgot all the other things except you have now changed the lens to the 50mm f1.7), don't worry about underexposing a little. Dark is better than blurry.

8. Or, you could try changing the ISO setting (this should not take clear until the end of decorating the Christmas tree to figure out, especially if you have taken a photography class, by the way).

That didn't work very well.

9. Lastly, maybe you should check your white balance at the beginning of taking the pictures, and not at the end. When you are done. That way, all the pictures will not turn out with a yellowish tint. That isn't very easily fixable in Photoshop. Obviously, I have a lot to learn.

Week 9

2007-12-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 30 min.
Friday: Swim 40 min.
Saturday: Brick--bike 55min./run 20min.
Sunday: Run 35 min.

I may have to find something else to occupy my time on Saturday (like Christmas shopping) because I don't like the brick. It is HARD! The first, and only, time I did it I forgot to take off my bike helmet so I went running down the road wearing the stupid thing. Dork.

Finished

2007-12-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Shelves

2007-12-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

A while back we started on some shelves for the girls' room. We got as far as cutting everything out and painting it, but we never could seem to get a good time to put them up. So the girls waited. And waited and waited and waited. And dreamed about what they would put on their shelves. And waited some more.

The other week we woke up late and missed church, so, since the two oldest girls were at the grandparent's house for the weekend, we thought it would be fun to surprise them with new shelves. Besides, it was cold outside.

Drilling holes makes it easier to screw everything together without breaking it.

Up on the wall...

Of course the shelves are not quite so empty now. Oldest daughter has one little corner, youngest daughter has her piggy bank up there (which disturbs her to no end, but I feel it is safer now), and middle daughter has dominated one entire shelf and part of the other with her Breyer horses and some gymnastics trophies.

Week 8

2007-12-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 40 min.
Thursday: Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Brick-bike 45 min. run 15 min. (not gonna happen, middle daughter has a gymnastics meet)
Sunday:Run 30 min.

Week 7

2007-12-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

This week:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min. (unless it is STORMY!!)
Thursday: Run 25 min.
Friday: Swim 40 min.
Saturday: Brick (45 min. bike, 15 min. run)
Sunday: Run 20 min.

Last weekend was another busy one so I didn't get to go for the bike ride Saturday. Instead I worked concessions at the OSU/UO football game and stood on my feet for five hours in the freezing cold. That has to count for something. On top of that, I was halfway to my pick up spot when I realized that I had forgotten my bag with my drivers license in it so I ran ALL the way back from the Willamette River bridge to Autzen Stadium, up the looooong flight of stairs, to the concession booth, and all the way back to my ride. In my boots. With my 5 layers of shirts and 2 layers of pants. I was hot.

Sunday it was TOO STORMY to even venture outside so we stayed in and put up shelves in the girls room. I have my limits as to what kind of weather I will go out and exercise in, and high winds and torrential rain is definitely over my limit.

Project Progress

2007-11-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

Finally.

Last weekend when I went to the coast I took my quilts and my cross stitch project with me. My mom has a nice wood floor in her dining room that is the perfect size for laying out quilts. We moved the dining room table and chairs and I sewed up the quilt backs and laid everything out: back, batting, quilt top. Then I basted the layers together.

Here is what they looked like before.

This is what they look like now:

Yep. They look the same. They do take up a bit more room, unfortunately.

I also worked quite a bit on the cross stitch:

Before:

Now:

There has been NO progress on the horse quilt project--I am completely stumped. Stymied. Kerflumuxed. Baffled. How does one go about drawing a picture of a horse suitable for paper piecing when one can't even draw a horse UNsuitable for paper piecing? And furthermore, I can't seem to find a good picture to copy. There is something wrong with every one I look at.

Even with all of the work going on I still had a fabulous, relaxing time with my mom. We got our toes done and walked on the beach and ate caramel corn and watched movies and talked and laughed and ate and watched the crashing waves.

Week 6

2007-11-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

Urg, I keep forgetting. This is just a little record for me so it doesn't matter too much, but I still keep forgetting.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 25 min.
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Bike 1 hr.
Sunday: Run 25 min.

Last week there was no swimming the day after Thanksgiving--I guess I should have checked that the pool was going to be open before getting up at 4:40am and driving there. I couldn't bike Saturday since I was at the coast so I ran instead. UP UP UP those enormous hills and down to the beach for a while. I had to walk a little on the way there but I made it up the big hill on the way back. Yay me!

Week 5

2007-11-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Whoops, I forgot yesterday. No workout Sunday because I did the turkeys so I was going to go running on Monday instead. Uh, yeah. I was a little tired and decided that butchering turkeys was enough of a workout. I took a rest Monday. So there.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 25 min. (Before the Thanksgiving feast!!)
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Bike 1 hour
Sunday: Run 20 min.

Turkey Day...again, or, Cathy is the nicest person in the world

2007-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we butchered the turkeys. I don't think we could have picked a more miserable, cold, rainy day. Cathy came to help in spite of the cold weather. Thank you, thank you!

I was hoping that this years turkeys were not going to be quite so large as the ones last year--remember this one?

Well, it was delicious, but entirely to big.

Last year the smallest turkey was 26lb 14oz, this year the largest one was 26lb 13oz. The smallest was 6lb 4oz, but she was a tiny Royal Palm of the not Thanksgiving variety, so that one doesn't count. The smallest white was 17lb 6oz, and most of the others fell within 20-24 pounds.

Our Family Thanksgiving table will be graced with the presence of one of my turkeys this year, so I hope everyone that eats turkey will love it, and everyone who doesn't eat turkey will wish they did. Ha!

Week 4

2007-11-12T08:19:00.000-08:00

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min.
Wednesday: Bike 30 min.
Thursday: Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 20 min.
Saturday: Bike 30 min.
Sunday: Walk/Run 25 min.

This week is an easy week. Basically, I build for 3 weeks then back off a bit on the 4th. So this is week 4. Next week I will start pushing forward again.

The $120 Tooth

2007-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Here it is, in all its glory.

A few months ago we decided it was time for some of the kids to visit the dentist. Since then I have spent more time in the dentist office than I care to think about. Dental exams/cleaning on five kids (no cavities, by the way, so I guess we can be thankful for that) have led to appointments for sealants on 3 of the kids, and tooth removal on one. When the 2 oldest girls went in for their cleanings, the dentist pointed out that they both had adult teeth coming in when the baby tooth wasn't out yet. Oldest daughter's baby tooth was loose, but the adult tooth was coming in high out of her gum and the tooth needed to come out soon. Same with my younger daughter, but her tooth wasn't loose and her adult tooth isn't coming in quite so high. The dentist gave them both 2 months to get the baby tooth out on their own.

Well. Oldest daughter wiggled and wiggled and had the tooth out in about 2 weeks (typical overachiever). Since then she has been applying pressure to the tooth that was already in and it seems to be moving just a bit into the right position. Younger daughter, on the other hand, couldn't seem to even get her tooth loose. I couldn't either. That stupid thing would not budge.

So I made her an appointment to have it taken out. In retrospect, I guess we could have waited another few months--the tooth next to it was getting loose so I think it would have come out eventually.

Boy am I glad we got that tooth out. Gee, it surely wasn't ready to come out on its own. Good grief. Look at it. It is just a little shell of a tooth. No root to speak of, just a sharp jag, which may explain why it bled every time she tried to wiggle it.

The hole in the tooth had to have happened when they pulled it because it wasn't there before.

Ah, all is well. It couldn't have happened to a better kid, as far as pain goes. This is the same kid that can get slivers and ticks pulled out and never blink an eye. She claims she didn't even feel the numbing shot and nothing hurt at all. Beforehand, I tried to convince her that it probably wouldn't hurt much to just have the dentist yank the tooth out with no numbing, but she wouldn't go for it. Baby.

Picture Time

2007-11-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

This Week

2007-11-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

Only one day off this week.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 25 min.
Wednesday: Bike 35 min.
Thursday: Walk/Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 25 min.
Saturday: Bike 40 min.
Sunday: Walk/Run 30 min.

My husband claims that he almost hit me on the road a few weeks back. At that time I was walking at about 6am, right about the time he would leave for work. Since it is dark, I wear a reflective vest. I also carry a flashlight and I cross the road when a car is coming--if there isn't one coming the other way. We live on a narrow country road with no shoulder and deep ditches on either side, so I have to be careful. Also, most of the traffic at 6 am is large semi-type trucks from the various businesses along the road.

So...no, he most certainly did not almost hit me, silly man. I am very careful. He just didn't see me until the last minute. Not good.

I finally decided that the little reflective vest has served its purpose and have retired it in favor of this:

Oh ho! Bet people will be able to see me now. Although I am still not going to chance riding my bike before daylight, even with my little blinky lights.

Total Immersion Swimming

2007-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

The first day I went to the swimming pool a few weeks ago, the plan was to swim 10-50 yard lengths. In the pool that I go to that means 20 laps since it is a 25 yard pool. Well, I got confused in the midst of my swimming and only swam 5-50s, or 10 laps. 250 yards. When I got out of the pool, my legs were jelly and I thought I was going to DIE I was so tired out. So I went home, picked up my book, Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier, and reread it. I had used it a few years back when I was swimming on a regular basis in the bathtub that the fitness center I went to called a pool, but apparently I had forgotten EVERYTHING. Because I was dead tired after a mere 10 laps in the pool. Not to mention that swimming in a regular sized pool is much different that swimming in a tiny pool.

The book itself is full of author testimony (boring) and kind of reads like an infomercial in others (annoying) but with that aside, there is some very valuable information.

I have gleaned 3 main concepts from the book:
1. Swimming downhill: If you push your head/chest slightly down when swimming, it will cause your hips to rise, reducing the drag your legs create.

2. Lengthen your stroke: Reach for the wall with each stroke, turning your body to the side to make the reach even longer.

3. Turning your body: When turning your body, roll head, torso, and hips all together, with a little snap in your hips.

There is quite a bit more to it than that, and there are some drills in the book to help break each skill down into easy to learn pieces. In 5 swim sessions, I have gone from 250 yards and exhaustion, to 500, 750, then 800 yards with no shaky legs when I climbed from the pool. Between this book and the workouts from swimplan.com I have been getting in some pretty good swimming time.

This Week

2007-10-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

This week's schedule:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min
Wednesday: Walk/Run 20 min
Thursday: Off
Friday: Swim 20 min
Saturday: Bike 30 min
Sunday: Walk/Run 20 min

Times/Distances: Swim: I can swim about 700 yards in 24 minutes or so...this includes drills and rests. My 100 yard time is 2:50 which is extremely slow. Oh well, I will get better. Bike: I go about 6 miles in the 30 minutes. This is on completely flat ground since there are no hills around here. Must be why the airport is nearby. Running: I can run 5-6 minutes at a time with a 1 min walk between. I must be going 1.25-1.5 miles in the 20 minutes. Big deal. But if I don't start slow though I will regret it when my knee starts hurting.

Corn Maze

2007-10-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Swim, Bike, Run

2007-10-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

I am going to enter a triathlon next spring. I was going to do this a few years ago, but I think I just wanted to get in shape and didn't really have any intention of competing. Then I got pregnant and the swimming pool water made me throw up and my belly got too big to ride a bicycle. So I gave up on that idea.

I have been thinking on the idea again the last month or so and this week I officially start my training schedule. I have a goal in mind...at the end of April there is a triathlon in a town north of us. I don't have the exact date yet because the 2008 schedule isn't out yet.

There is no deep, meaningful reason I am doing this. I'm not trying to prove anything to myself or anyone else. I like to exercise, that's all. It seems like a no brainer to me--I LOVE to swim, love riding my bike, and tolerate running if I have to--why not do all three? It lends a little variety to my workout time, if nothing else. I wouldn't mention it at all, except maybe if I record my "journey to the triathlon" here then I will actually have to DO IT!

Oh, one more thing. I'm not talking about an Ironman Triathlon here. Just a little sprint triathlon. 650m swim (the distance varies, but that seems about the average), 12 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run. If I like it well enough I might work my way up to a half ironman, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

This week's workout schedule:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min
Wednesday: Bike 30 min
Thursday: Off
Friday: Swim 20 min
Saturday: Walk/Run 20 min
Sunday: Bike 30 min

Obviously, the plan is to start out slowly so as to not overdo it. I walk almost every day, but every time I step things up I go too fast and end up getting injured. So I am taking it VERY slowly this time.

Last week I was feeling particularly pathetic--I couldn't find my swim cap and goggles (I JUST SAW THEM WHERE ARE THEY), my bike was broken, and my stinkin' ITB was acting up. For those not in the know, ITB stands for iliotibial band. Say that five times fast, I dare you. Anyway, it is a very painful knee problem. Want to know more? Click here.

This week I have a new cap and goggles, my knee feels fine, thanks to all the stretching I have been doing, and my bike is fixed. So what if it is a mountain bike that is on its last legs. It takes me where I want to go.

A Few Favorite Pictures

2007-10-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past few months...

...and one taken by one of my girls...

Muddy Pigs

2007-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Former pig pen:

Moved the pigs yesterday--the other pen area was getting so muddy they were up to their bellies in mud. They didn't seem to mind too much, but when they were moved to fresh grass they ran around like mad and acted so happy.

Happy pigs rooting in the grass:

Also, the chuckar has now adopted the chicken coop out in the field as his new home.

Every morning when I go in to feed the chickens (if it is still before full daylight) he is in there roosting right along with the chickens. He is still very skittish though. The chickens don't seem to mind him too much unless he gets too close to the feed pan. Water...no problem. Food...No Way.

2007-10-17T07:29:00.001-07:00

So, if a person chooses five projects does it mean they have to work on them? I mean, that was the whole point of choosing, wasn't it?

Yesterday: Got up at six, did some strength exercises, ate breakfast, fed the animals, made breakfast for the kids. Took oldest son to school at 8, got home and did a few chores before starting school. Worked with various kids until 9:45 (mixed in with trying to do some computer work and dressing the 2 year old) when we left for the library. Back home at 11:20, supervised making lunch and consulted with oldest daughter about her Tuesday evening meal preparation (Turkey Rice Soup and Italian Breadsticks, none of which was even remotely made by me which makes it the BEST meal in the world). Helped with more schoolwork, ate lunch, visited with Dad and Megan while watching 10 year old son do his creative writing. Todays assignment was to create lists. One topic was "Things I Can't Do"--he came up with such things as drive a car, pinch my brother, and play with bombs. Smart boy.

Drove middle daughter to gymnastics at 2, went to the sporting goods store to buy a swim cap and goggles since I have looked high and low and my old ones are NOWHERE to be found. Dropped my bike off at the repair shop to be fixed (only $22, phew), picked up son at school, went home and spent 45 minutes playing with little ones, more dinner discussion, and looking up road bikes online since I was informed that my old bike is a piece of crap and probably won't hold up to the 20-30 miles a week of riding that I would like to put on it. Things that aren't worth the cost to fix may start breaking. Here's hoping it lasts another 6-8 months before it gives out on me.

Left to pick up gymnastics daughter (skipped soccer practices because of the rain) and FINALLY got to sit down and relax for a few hours. She is doing so great at practice and I haven't gotten much time to sit and watch in the past few weeks when my husband and older kids were out of town. Got home at 8, put little kids to bed, talked to husband, watched tv, read 1/2 a page, and went to sleep a little after 11pm.

No time for crafts, but SOON, I promise.

Projects

2007-10-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take my mother's advice (something that should be done often and with little complaint)and create a circle (ring?) of 5 projects. The theory behind this is that it becomes much less overwhelming to focus on 5 unfinished projects instead of 35. Not that I have that many. Heh heh. Not only that, but there is no guilt involved. I pick my five projects, work on them as I can, breaking each project into smaller, easy to finish parts. I can work on any of the five at any time and when I finish one I can move another in. Or move one out when I have gone as far as I want to on it, to make room for another.

Projects 1, 2, and 3: Finish these quilts.

The first one is for my oldest daughter, the second is a just for fun quilt, and the third is for my youngest daughter. The tops are finished, all that remains is layering and basting it together with the backing and batting. This requires a large space (and preferably a noncarpeted floor to prevent stitching the quilt to the carpet--which I don't have)and no two year olds that love to run across the quilt and wrinkle it up. So I either have to do this at naptime or after everyone goes to bed at night. Could be why I haven't done it yet. Also the quilts need to be quilted and edge finished. Maybe I should rethink having 3 quilts tops in my circle of five.

Project 4: Finish this cross stitch project.

Project 5: Designing and making a running horse quilt for my middle daughter.

I don't know if it will work, but I have looked and looked for the perfect design and am coming up with nothing. I would like to do a paper pieced quilt of 6-8 inch blocks with running horses. So I guess I will make my own pattern. No problemo.

2007-07-31T07:30:00.003-07:00

There are large numbers of Ladybugs in my garden.

Even though they are bugs, I don't mind them too much. They are nice to photograph because they stay still. Besides, they are beneficial insects. What's not to love?

This bug, on the other hand, is a pest. This bug is the reason my garden looks so ugly. This bug is evil.

The spotted cucumber beetle is not photogenic. He moves too fast, and will quickly fly off to find another leaf to munch.

I. Do. Not. Like. Him.

Squ-i-i-i-sh

Napping

2007-07-25T10:26:00.001-07:00

My friend Chuck---an update...

2007-07-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Another day in the chicken coop. Chickens milling about; the doors cracked to let in the breeze.

But...what's that I see? Let's take a closer look.

It seems that Chuck has decided to visit the chickens.

They don't quite know what to do with him...

In fact, they seem quite baffled at his appearance.

He just wants a friend. Someone with whom to while away the lonely hours.

He appeals to the viewer...

...but sees that it is no use.

He will always be an outsider, alone in the crowd.

Market Chickens

2007-07-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

My daughter raised 3 broiler chickens to take to the 4H/FFA market auction at the fair. When starting this project, the plan was to sell the chickens at auction. First of all, she had to raise more than three. Since we were raising some anyway to sell, the chickens all lived together. Then the day before fair, she chose out the best 8 to wash and clean up. The next afternoon we chose the 3 roosters that were closest in weight and took them to the fair.

There isn't a lot that goes into showing a group of chickens in a market class. There is no pressure on the person showing to perform (unlike the showmanship classes) so all they have to do is stand at the table and make sure the chickens don't get loose.

The judge goes down the table, looking at the chickens, picking them up, looking at the weight papers, and feeling their undersides. Gross. She needed gloves. There were 5 other groups of chickens on the table, 3 of which were ENORMOUS. The top weight limit is 6 pounds (my daughter's were 4.5, 4.5, and 4.75 pounds) and these guys were definitely at the top limit. The others were smaller.

As I mentioned before, the plan was to sell the chickens at auction. Market chickens don't get as much money as a pig or steer, but for the money and time investment they are worth it. The plan, however, did NOT include winning Reserve Champion Market Poultry.

But I am not complaining. It came as such a shock to me I could hardly snap the picture. She looks a little pleased, don't you think? The judge said that my daughter's chickens weren't as fatty as the other FAT chickens and she liked their straight toes. YES!! We must be doing something right.

Along with the lavender rosette ribbon and banner, my daughter won a fancy belt buckle.

Somehow, a belt buckle that looks like it belongs at a horse show doesn't quite look right with chickens on it...

The auction started Saturday afternoon. The champion and reserve champion winners decorate the cages for auction to make their entries stand out:

I had several people ask if my daughter would have trouble selling her chickens--would it upset her too much. Uh...no. It isn't like they are cute fuzzy bunnies, or a beef that she has nurtured for almost a year. It is dinner. Yum.

Maybe next year winning won't be a complete accident.

Bragging

2007-07-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

Warning: This entire post is a shameless brag on how wonderful my kids have done so far at the 4h fair. If you are put off by parents who brag about their children or if the mention of the color PURPLE makes you cringe, go no further. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I mean it.

Really. I really, really mean it.

This is your last chance.

Okay, fine. Yesterday when we took the animals to the fair, we had to stop over in the static exhibits building to get wrist bands for the girls. It so happens they had all the exhibits from yesterday judged and beribboned, so we took a look at how everyone did.

One more note: Please excuse the quality of the photos. I was in a hurry as I didn't know if taking pictures was allowed so I wanted to do it quick. Also the light was dim and I didn't have on the right lens for low light. And I was in a hurry.

How about if we start off easy. The scarecrows haven't been judged yet, so we don't know how they did on those.

Here is 14 year old daughter's mummy:

11 year old daughter's gorilla:

and 10 year old son's hunter:

My 10 year old son got a blue ribbon on his drawing, and it will go to state fair.

Now for the purple:

All from 14 year old daughter. She did a cooking contest a few weeks ago--and won.

Beautiful peas. The radishes weren't so nice and got a red. She did that on purpose so as not to discourage the other 4hers with her skill.

A purple for both art projects! She also got a blue on her carrot cake (according to the judge it was too moist. WTH? Not gooey, just too moist. Can a cake be too moist? Apparently so.) and another champion ribbon for her tortillas.

Then the topper. The over the topper. This is the third year she has entered an educational display. There is always something wrong with it. Too much this or not enough that. She took all the criticism to heart and created this:

The judge loved it and gave her a champion ribbon. I said (being a perpetual mom, always on duty) "See what happens when you work hard and learn from your mistakes?" She also won a Premier Exhibitor award for the display, which will net her $20.

Today is Showmanship class for rabbits and chickens, and Market Poultry class-- my daughter's chickens weighed 4.5, 4.5, and 5? No, please reweigh that last one... 4.75 pounds. Not what we had at home, but I am not going to challenge mean animal barn lady too much. She was actually fairly not rude (one step down from semi nice) to us yesterday. We will see what today has in store.

Giving Chickens a Bath

2007-07-18T10:12:00.001-07:00

This is one of those things that I never thought I would do. Three years ago if someone had said, "Hey, Cristy, how about giving these chickens a bath!" I would have laughed. You don't give chickens a bath!! Or do you? Well, you do when you are getting ready for a show, apparently. The white chickens my daughter is raising for the 4H market auction are going to the fair today and they need to be clean.

We went out to the field pen with our scale and picked out 8 chickens of similar size to wash. For the fair, they have to be very close in weight so we will choose the three best ones before we leave. It is best to have a variety to choose from.

How to bathe chickens

You need: Dish soap, vinegar, a toothbrush:

A big pile of towels and three tubs of water: one with bath-warm water and a bit of dish soap, the second with cooler water, the third with coolish water and a little vinegar.

It is best to have two people--one to hold the chicken and one to do the scrubbing. Guess who got to do the scrubbing. Hint: it wasn't my daughter (although to be fair, she did wash the other 4 chickens earlier in the day with no help).

Put a chicken into the warm water and get wet. The chicken, that is, but you will probably get pretty wet as well. Scrub him up. For the broiler chickens, since they spend a lot of time laying on their bellies, the toothbrush is handy for scrubbing off the caked on poopies.

Put the chicken in the first rinse bath:

Then the second (and hope he doesn't poo in the water):

Wrap the chicken in a towel to dry him a bit. We try not to get the head too wet--I just scrubbed it a bit with the toothbrush. They hate the entire process, by the way.

Next we put the chickens into a pen with clean straw and a heat lamp. They look pretty bedraggled and sad at first:

But after about 45 minutes, they look all pretty and fluffy:

The countdown begins: 4 1/2 hours until we take 7 chickens and one bunny to the fair.

My New Friend

2007-07-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Meet Chuck. Don't be shy, go ahead and say Hi! My friend Chuck is a Chukar. Hence the name. I don't know if he is male or female, but I am going to say male. Unlike most birds, male and female Chukars look much the same.

Every morning when I go out to feed the chicks, Chuck is there, sitting on top of the chicken pen.

I talk to him while I walk around feeding the chicks and, like most good friends, he laughs at all my jokes and doesn't mind if I talk too much.

He gets a little nervous if I get too close, though, and if I make any sudden movements he will fly away. I don't mind, because I know it isn't personal. He is still my friend.

I don't think I will be going here anytime soon.

Things

2007-07-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Many things have been happening here at our little house that leave me little or no time to blog. Either that or I have been wasting my time doing other things besides blogging, you decide.

Sick: I was sick for several days. Then almost my entire family was sick. They ate some tainted pizza. Then I was sort of sick again for one day. I only had one piece of pizza. I think that is over now.

Fourth of July: Parade, family bbq, fireworks. Who could ask for more? There was even some swordfighting.

Big chickens: My (daughter's) broiler chickens are getting big.

They are mostly over 3.5 pounds which means they are at fair weight. That is a big load off my chest. My oldest daughter will be taking three of them to the youth fair next week. They will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. If only we hadn't lost almost 1/3 of them on our hot day this week, I would be very happy. Live and learn I guess, except that I am tempted to give up on doing chickens since I can't seem to get it right.

Getting ready for fair: I wish this didn't involve a lot of time from me since the kids are the ones with the projects, but I have to do a lot of nudging. Yeah, nudging, that's it. Not nagging. Nudging sounds so much nicer.

One child is not doing any projects because he didn't take his photographs by the deadline I gave him. He still hasn't said ONE WORD about it either, almost 2 weeks later. A simple "I really don't want to do photography this year, Mom" would suffice. It isn't like I am forcing him to do anything; I really don't care whether he does the project or not. It is the ignoring of it that I care about.

Another child was to have 3 rabbits to show at fair, but now she only has one--also because of our hot day this week. She should have taken some ice bottles out to her bunnies, but she didn't and 2 of them died. I am feeling guilty because I should have reminded her. I really didn't think it was all that hot. The animals were fine last year when it was over 95 degrees for almost an entire week.

One child has about 10 projects, plus all of her chickens. This is the one child I don't have to nag...er, nudge. Much.

Then there is the filling out of all the records. Ugh.

Swimming lessons: We finished 2 weeks of swimming lessons yesterday. The kids had a great time swimming with cousins and playing at the park afterwards. Except the 4 year old, who cried the last 3 days of lessons. Her excuses: "I'm nervous my bandaid will come off." "I am nervous because I don't want to get cold." "I'm nervous because __________." Whatever. Obviously, she went in the water anyway. I just threw her in and the instructor rescued her. Not really.

New deck: What? Finish the garage? WHY??? We NEED a new deck. Besides, a deck is a quick project, then we can get back to the garage. Right? Right. Heh.

Right now, most of the siding is on the garage. We need to put the drywall upstairs (12ft long pieces that won't fit up the stairs) through the wall, then close up the end. Paint garage, then roof. All of this must be done quickly because once the pile of drywall is in the garage it can't get wet.

The stringers and joists are all up on the deck. Floor, railing, and steps are left.

See? I have been busy. Or lazy, but looking busy. Can that be done? I didn't mention driving to gymnastics every day, or weeding the garden (which I haven't been doing) and the flowerbeds (which I have been doing).

I have been squashing a lot of Spotted Cucumber Beetles too.

Tuesday Ten

2007-07-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Often it's the little things that can give us a pick-me-up or make our hearts glow. Have any special little traditions or games? Love what you see out the kitchen window each morning? Next week's list is "Ten Little Things That Brighten My Day."

Last week I thought "Oh, what a good idea!" Then all week I racked my brain for things that brighten my day. Baby kisses--except for the spit involved. Flowers--bor-ing. I couldn't think of anything else.

Saturday was my birthday. Surely the cake my children made for me should have brightened my day, shouldn't it have? Except I was extremely crabby because of a husband who had been even more extremely crabby all day. And the thoughtful children put off the cake making until almost dinnertime. And it was half raw. And they tried to frost it when it was still hot so the frosting all melted. And-----I STILL HAD TO MAKE DINNER.

Now I realize that I have a tendency to be a somewhat negative person, so this would have been a great exercise for me to see the bright side of things. But that would take a little more brain power than I am prepared to expend right now.

So now I am on day three of a stomach ache, and I still can't think of anything that brightens my day. So there.

New Arrivals

2007-06-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

The last batch of babies arrived this morning. These turkeys are the ones that will grow into the large Thanksgiving size. They are so cute and tiny right now, though.

The broiler chicks and heritage turkeys are growing fast. The chicks are almost 1.5 pounds. They are losing their fuzzy cuteness.

Lets face it, they are getting downright ugly. It makes it easier to eat them though.

The turkeys are still pretty cute, in my opinion.

This little turkey is named Princess. Is it a girl or a boy? I can't tell.

Yesterday we moved the turkeys and chickens out to the field pens. They will be much happier out there in the grass.

There are 73 chicks and 10 turkeys. Amazingly, I only lost 5 chicks so far. And really, one of those doesn't count because it was dead when they got here. It smelled pretty bad, too. The other 4 died within the first day or two, and the rest are happy and healthy. I am sure some more will die, but right now they are fine. These chickens are not bred to be very hardy so I have to expect some loss. In the past, I have lost 25% or more, but I am hoping that I have gotten enough experience that I can keep it down to 10-12% this year.

Letters

2007-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

March 1, 2007

Dear Rhododendron,

I have noticed that you are looking a little sickly after the long winter. Your leaves are brown and your stems look like sticks. Are you alive in there? Is anyone home?

Love, Cristy

April 20, 2007

Dear Rhododendron,

There is still no new growth. Some of your leaves are half green and half brown and I have no idea if you are dead or not. Can you give me a sign? I had such high hopes for you when I planted you in my yard last summer. I pictured you growing into a beautiful large bush. I am so disappointed in you.

Love, Cristy

May 31, 2007

Rhododendron,

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. If you don't grow some new leaves soon, I am ripping you out of the ground and planting something that will appreciate all my hard work. Something like a hydrangea. Or a lilac bush. This is your last warning.

Cristy

June 2, 2007

My Dearest Rhododendron,

Please forgive my last letter. I don't know what came over me. I realize this has been all my fault. I planted you in full sun when I knew you would prefer a shady spot. Forgive me.

Love, Cristy

June 21, 2007

Dear Rhododendron,

It seems that you can hear me. I see your new leaves now. I am so happy that you decided to stick around. Don't worry, I will plant the lilac bush somewhere else. I will keep watering you and taking good care of you. You will never be thirsty again.

Love, Cristy

Tuesday Ten: Ten things I did today

2007-06-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ten Things I Did Today

1. Went for a walk. I woke up before six, but lay in bed until 6:30. Then I got up and went for a walk--about 45 minutes, counting feeding the chickens. Which I do since I am still walking and hauling heavy buckets of water.

2. Supervised chores. Heh heh. School is out and I have LOTS of work for the kids to keep them busy.

3. Went to the library. Today was library day. It was also the summer reading program kick off day. Not a good day to go to the library. But the kids did get to see a juggler perform.

4. Ate lunch at the park. We had about an hour between the library and 11 year old daughter's gymnastics practice, so we went and ate lunch at the park.

5. Watered the yard and garden. It has been very hot and dry this week and I am trying to keep things green.

6. Went to watch my daughter at gymnastics practice. I loooove the summer schedule because we are home by 5:30 every evening. My daughter moved up to level 7 so it is fun to watch her working with the new coaches and doing new things. I just wish it wasn't so expensive. The practice, that is, not watching her. Ah well, she loves it.

7. Made dinner. UGH. I had to run to the store when I got home from the gym to pick up sour cream and chips for our burrito supper. Now that that is done, I have to come up with something for tomorrow night. I think I need to go shopping.

8. Broke up at least a dozen arguments. Sigh. It is hot. I am tired. Why do they have to keep arguing????

9. I decided that if I have to hear my 4 year old say "Moooom" in that whiny little voice ONE MORE TIME I will spontaneously combust. Pouf.

10. Went to the neighbors' house. Our neighbors' granddaughter is visiting so they invited the kids over to play in the wading pool and eat popsicles. Then we took her to see the baby chicks and turkeys. It was a nice way to end a hot day.

Awards

2007-06-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Friday was my oldest son's last day at WLA. Next year he will be a senior and he will attend a different school. The new school will present more of a challenge academically, but I am sure he is ready for it.

The last 15 months at WLA have been very good for him, both for his confidence and socially. I never thought I would say that about a school that is made up of 90% thugs and misfits, but there it is. He is respected and well liked at school. I think that says a lot.

They held awards ceremonies both Thursday and Friday. My son received numerous awards for effort, attitude, conduct, commitment, leadership, and academics. Eight in all, I think. I wasn't able to be present for the Thursday evening awards, but the whole family attended the Friday awards and picnic.

My son is on the school color guard. He is the one on the left.

I don't remember what all the awards were exactly for, but it was some form of commitment, conduct, or effort award. For each award they receive a "ribbon" which is really a bar pin covered in a colored ribbon. Each award has a specific color. If an award is taken more than once, they get a star to put on the ribbon. They wear the ribbons on the dress uniform shirt above the left pocket. After today my son has five rows of 3 ribbons each, as well as some stars.

This was an award for getting above a 3.3 gpa for the year. Yes, there are only three people getting this award. The school gives out awards for 2.5 gpa and above. About 8 people total received academic awards. Out of 100+ kids in the whole school. Eight. Do you see why he is switching schools? He got a 4.0 gpa for each semester this year. He was the ONLY person in the whole school to get above a B- (he got an A+) in English class. His English teacher told me she refused to dumb down her class so more kids could get good grades. I said THANK YOU. I really feel like he earned his A+.

This award was for the highest gpa in the whole school for the year. My son took this award from the previous 3 time winner. Ha! Now he has a cool purple braid to wear on the uniform that he will never wear again.

He was also one of 4 kids in the school to be chosen as a finalist for the Cadet of the Year award. He got 3rd place, missing out by 2 points. I am so proud of his accomplishments this year.

There he goes, marching out for the last time.

Flowers in my yard

2007-06-13T08:01:00.001-07:00

Clematis

Crabapple Blossom

Old Fashioned Pink Rose

Rose-Fourth of July

Rose- Iceburg

Rock Rose

Pretty in Pink

2007-06-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

The baby turkeys are looking more turkey-like every day.

New Brooder

2007-06-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Brooder space is in high demand and short supply lately. Baby chicks require a good amount of heat so it is necessary to have a space where a light can be hung. Usually I use some half barrels, but the turkeys didn't like that so I moved them to my one and only large brooder space.

Which meant we had to find another space for the 75 baby chicks that were to arrive soon after the turkeys. We decided to convert an entire horse stall into a chick brooder room.

Good grief. The previous occupants of this stall left it in such a mess. What a bunch of pigs.

Besides having to scoop out most of the "pig dirt" from the floor, we had to cat proof the stall. We have two lovely cats and one stray that won't go away. They would love a tasty chicken dinner. So we put chicken wire up over all of the open spaces.

This job turned out to be easier than I thought, thank goodness. Chicken wire can be tricky but we got through it with only a few scratches.

We relaid the rubber mats on the floor and threw about 4 wheelbarrow loads of sawdust on the floor.

Last, since the space is so large and the chickies are so small, my husband brought out an old satellite dish that someone had given him. We propped it up on some blocks and hung the heat lamp in the middle. This should keep the heat down where the chicks are. Hopefully, anyway.

One problem is that it is rather awkward to actually see under the dish. I have to get down on my knees to look underneath. Also, whenever I want to get in to check food and water, I have to lift the dish up and prop it with a board.

The chicks arrived yesterday morning and they seem to like their space.

Aww, aren't they so cute?

Wednesday Whine

2007-06-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

I am going to feel free to whine today. Feel free to skip my whining.

Ten Things About Which I Would Like to Whine

1. I turned in my kids' 4-H fair entry forms late. It was all my fault. I knew the deadline was Monday, and I totally forgot. So I turned them in Tuesday morning.

Me: I hope I can still turn these in.

4H lady: Oh, yes. That's fine.

Me: Good.

4H lady: (In an annoyingly happy voice) I'll just mark them as late entries and they won't be eligible for any special awards or state fair! (She smiles)

Me: (whining a little) Even one day late?

4H lady: (even more annoyingly) Yes! (more smiles)

Now tell me, was this nice? I realize that I was late, but did she have to be so happy about it? I must have made her day by turning in those forms late.

2. Why(ne) does the sun have to set in the west? Or at least why did the people that built our house have to position it so it faces west. It would have worked just as well to face it north. That way only the end of the house would get the full afternoon sun instead of the front. It is so hot in here in the summertime. And while they were at it they could have set the house more than 20 feet away from the driveway that goes past our house, where dump trucks drive past at 6 in the morning. Right by my bedroom window. Which I guess doesn't matter too much, because...

3. Why(ne) do I have to keep waking up at 5:30 AM??? I don't want to get out of bed that early. I go to bed after 11 PM and I want to sleep until 6. Or even 6:30.

4. Five of my baby turkeys have died. I try really hard to be a good turkey mama. Really. I check on them umpteen times a day and make sure their water and food are clean. They keel over anyway.

5. Why(ne) am I the only one that will clean off the refrigerator door handle when I am not the one that makes it dirty? It appears that my children are blind when it comes to dirt and the fact that they have left dirty handprints all over the refrigerator door when opening it to get something. Oh, and NOBODY was the last one in the refrigerator. NOBODY.

6. Do we have to sleep with the window open when it is 40 degrees outside? I am cold.

7. I want my garage finished. And I want it done now.

8. I hate changing poopy diapers. Just thought I would mention that I hate this chore. I realize it is a necessary one, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

9. Why(ne) do I have to cook dinner? I NEED a cook. Slowly, but surely I am training my 14 year old daughter to cook, but she is still on simple stuff. Besides, I would still have to cook dinner most of the time anyway since she is just a kid. I think part of my dislike of cooking has a lot to do with a tight grocery budget and not a lot of time to spend cooking. We eat a lot of quick meals. Not to be confused with meals from a box, by the way.

10. Why(ne) am I having so much trouble getting my daughter's floor music worked out? Honestly, I am not an expert on this. So why is it that my daughter's coach keeps wanting me to do stuff that she should know can't be done? She is the expert, not me. She has been ordering music from this company for 25 years, not me. I wish she would just call the music guy and be done with it instead of making me go back and forth between them. We are supposed to have a session on Saturday to go over the music choices and she wants me to have a short version of the song my daughter wants. I CAN'T GET ONE. SHE SHOULD KNOW THAT.

Ahh, there. Now I feel better.

Window

2007-06-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

More Chicks

2007-05-31T12:08:00.002-07:00

Actually these little guys (and girls, hopefully) are turkey poults. At a day or two old they look an awful lot like baby chicks, though. You can get an occasional turkey look when they stretch out their necks.

I got the call to come pick them up from the post office at 6:45am. I was just walking out the door to take my son to the bus stop, so it worked out perfectly. It is supposed to be quite difficult to teach the babies how to discover food and drink, but these guys took to it right away. They also seem to like to peck each other, unfortunately.

We have 3 different varieties, 5 of each: Bourbon Reds, Slates, and Royal Palms. Their adult weights should range from 10-25 pounds. I am hoping to keep a pair of each breed in order to hatch my own eggs next year. The rest will either be sold to customers that want a smaller turkey or will go into my freezer. These types of turkeys (called heritage breeds) do not have the huge breast like the Broad Breasted Whites, but they are said to be superior in taste. We will see, as I am getting some BBW turkeys at the end of June. I can't imagine the meat tasting any better, but I suppose it is possible.

Royal Palm

Blue Slate

Bourbon Red

Chick update: There are now 4 little chicks under their mama. Three look like Black Australorps like their mama, and one looks like a Houdan. They are out of the box and pecking at their food, running back to mama when she makes her little clucking noises.

Baby Chicks

2007-05-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

When I went out this morning to check on my daughter's broody hen, Henrietta, (pronounced Hen-ree-ta, since my kids are hooked on phonics) I heard some little cheeps beneath her. She was sitting on eight eggs--there were more, but the dog kept going in and stealing them from under her until we closed off the door--and so far 4 of them have hatched.

Two chicks were dead (and rather smelly) but 2 seem just fine. Out of the remaining 4 eggs, 2 have little pecking sounds from within so I expect they will hatch out some time this afternoon.

We moved them to a little box in the field pen so we can leave the babies with their mama to raise. If we left them out, the cats would get to them.

Tuesday Ten: Books

2007-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

I like books and reading. I was going to list 10 books I liked well enough to read again, but I could only come up with five. So scratch that. Ten books on my waiting to be read list---I don't have one. I just go to the library and pick out what looks good. If I like a particular author, I read everything ever written by that author, whether I like it or not. Call it a small obsession of mine.

Ten Things I Like About Books

1. They are not movies. If I get sleepy, I can just nod off and then pick up where I left off when I wake up. With movies I usually don't get around to finishing if I fall asleep.

2. They don't call me mom. In fact they don't call me anything. How nice. Books are so quiet.

3. Books can be funny. I love funny books. Though I must say I had to stop taking Richard Lederer's Anguished English books to the gym to read while waiting for my daughter. I would start giggling uncontrollably. I prefer not to giggle uncontrollably in public.

4. Books are great for reading aloud. My kids love books and they love it when I read aloud to them.

5. I can get lost in a book. If I feel like getting away for a while but can't leave the house, reading a book is a good way to do it.

6. There are so many of them. If I feel like reading about turkeys, then I can. If I want to know about gardening, no problem. Any subject I can think of I am sure there is a book. And then there are fiction books. Oh, books without end.

7. Books make me happy. I. LOVE. READING. I often read when I should be doing something else, like cooking dinner or cleaning the refrigerator. I don't care.

8. Without books there wouldn't be libraries. That would be a travesty.

9. Books are a quiet activity. Unlike the current activity going on in my living room--fighting over the roaring dinosaur. My kids like to read, thank goodness.

10. They make good memories. Many of my memories from growing up revolve around books--acting out books, being read to every morning while waiting for the bus, reading, reading, reading.

My Vacation: Day 7, Going Home

2007-05-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

I planned this vacation for almost 2 years, but the whole time I was dreading it. Eight kids, hotels, amusement parks? What, was I crazy??? Taking 8 kids on a vacation like this, including one under 2 years old, couldn't possible be fun. It was going to be a chore--dealing with crabby babies, potty accidents, hungry children, and unfamiliar sleeping arrangements.

"Stop it," I said.

"It's for the kids," I said.

"It's not about you. It's about making everything run smooth and wonderful so they can have the time of their lives," I said.

And they did. I really believe that they will remember this trip forever. But the unexpected happened--My husband and I had the time of our lives too. So much so that we are planning on doing it again much sooner than 10 years from now.

For the trip home the plan was to take 2 days. Day 1, drive to Eureka. Day 2, drive home through the Redwoods. Once we got on the road, though, the doubts crept in. What if we can't find a decent priced hotel at the coast on a Saturday night? Is the Redwood National Forest worth an extra 3 hours of driving just for a drive through? We have to be home by 3pm to get the van back to the rental place, so that only leaves 2 hours or so for sight seeing. Should we risk ruining an otherwise perfect vacation with this side trip? Should we risk ruining an otherwise perfect vacation by disappointing the kids?

We still hadn't reached a decision by Redding, which is where we needed to turn off to go to Eureka. We stopped for gas, discussed it with the kids, and decided to push on to home. We were a short way from Shasta Lake, so we decided to stop and spend some time there as a compromise.

We ended up spending over 3 hours at the lake. We ate lunch at a little picnic area, then went and played in a little playground. We considered going on a tour of the Lake Shasta Caverns but arrived only about 15 minutes before the last tour of the day left. So instead we went on a hike beside the lake. The oldest kids went swimming in the lake. The lake was extremely cold, but it didn't stop them.

Now we are planning a camping trip to the Redwoods, with stops at the Oregon Caves and Crater Lake. Maybe next summer...

Tuesday Ten: Things I Will Never Own

2007-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Ten Things I Will Never, Ever Own

1. Barry Manilow cds. Nope, not going to happen.

2. Chocolate Fountain. I don't like chocolate. I certainly don't like chocolate from a fountain. Somehow it doesn't seem sanitary.

3. A Great Dane. What a huge dog. They must eat a lot. No thanks.

4. Tacky yard art. No flamingos. Or those little gnomes. Or one of those big pinwheel things.

5. Brand New Ford Mustang GT Convertible. Not because I wouldn't want one, but because it is out of my price range. Maybe I should take up a collection.

6. Platform shoes. There isn't a whole lot that could induce me to own some shoes like this, even if they would make me taller.

7. A Roomba vacuum. What a name. Roooooom-ba. The ultimate in useless items. In my house anyway. I wonder if it would vacuum up Legos?

8. Digital photo frame. I am having trouble seeing the point in something like this. Aside from being a novelty item that you end up putting in a garage sale after the batteries run out. Some even play music. How annoying.

9. Drum set. And no one had better think about getting one for my kids, either.

10. Toe socks. They just plain look uncomfortable. I'll pass.

My Vacation: Day 6, Knott's Berry Farm

2007-05-21T06:44:00.001-07:00

Knott's Berry Farm was our last theme park stop. There are far more "big kid" rides at Knott's, so the little kids didn't have as much to do. There was a lot to look at though, so they didn't seem to mind.

There was this ride:

It has two big No's in my opinion: Super spinning and getting wet. I sat this ride out.

Throughout all the days leading up to KBF, no one said no to any ride they were tall enough to ride. My 6 year old even went on the Tower of Terror at California Adventures and wanted to go again. There were a few times someone said no to a second ride, but there were no first ride refusals. Until today.

No thanks:

Forget it. Four kids went on this ride and afterwards my 10 year old said "I feel sick." Ya think?

Yes. But I didn't like it. Who knew that going through a bunch of loops and twirls backwards could be so scary?

Heck, no. That ride tops out at 205 feet, then drops off at a 90 degree angle. Are you crazy?

My husband was. He went on it four times, the last 3 within about 30 minutes. One of which he dragged me along on. Fine. So it was fun. But it was just as scary as it looked.

My favorite ride was the Silver Bullet. I don't have any pictures, but here is a good site to see what it looks like.

I would also like to recommend SKIPPING the wooden roller coaster Ghost Rider. Oh, sure, it looks fun and scary and spectacular--And it was, what I remember of it, that is. I was kept pretty busy trying to keep my son from rattling out of his seat and trying to keep my head from rattling off my shoulders. I had a head ache afterwards.

We found a few nice gentlemen that wanted to sit and chat...

Those crazy kids were tired and wanted to go home.

"Come on kids, can't we go on the Xcelerator one more time? PLEASE???"

Wondering

2007-05-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Is it wrong for one to get a little crabby when she drops her husband off at the airport and then she has to turn around when halfway out of the airport because said husband called and said he forgot to remove his knife and keys from his pocket before he left?

Is it wrong for one to get a little crabbier when one's husband calls her up after she got home and crawled back into her cozy warm bed and asks her to come get him BECAUSE HIS FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELED? WOULD IT???

ahem.

Would it make a difference if I mentioned that the airport is 5 minutes away?

Would it make a difference if I mentioned that it was 5 AM?

Just wondering.

My Vacation: Days 3 & 4, Disneyland

2007-05-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Look at that deserted street behind us. There was no one else at Disneyland, just us.

I wish.

The scene behind us is really just a painting on a wall. The crowds weren't bad, though, and we got to do just about anything we wanted to as many times as we wanted to do it.

Including riding on the California Screamin' roller coaster 4 times in a row. The last time we sat in the very front car. This was my first ever real live roller coaster and the thing that got me the most was the fact that it takes off so fast. One second we were just sitting there and the next we were going 60+ miles per hour. The loop was fun too. Too bad I don't have any pictures. I guess I was too busy riding.

One ride I refused to go on was this one: The Maliboomer. It is similar to the Tower of Terror, which drops you from a dizzying height (and which I also refused to ride) except instead of dropping, it shoots you upward 200 feet in 2 seconds. No thanks.

The four bravest people in our family took a shot at it. They look nervous.

Tell me, does it look like they are having fun? I am not going to say what comes to mind when looking at the faces of the two on the left.

Too high for me. Or, so I thought. I was to be proven wrong later, when we went to Knott's. It sort of looks like they are smiling. BUT: No one wanted to go again, even though there was NO LINE AT ALL. Hmm, very telling, in my opinion.

Ah well, that was all over at California Adventures. We spent most of our second DL day over there. There were not as many rides for the littlest ones, but they didn't seem to mind riding the merry go round over and over while waiting for the wild and crazy roller coaster riders.

Here are my two little princes removing the sword from the stone:

My sweet princess in her crown:

Mickey let us borrow his car and go for a spin:

Mark Twain let the little ones steer his riverboat. That was so nice of him.

I made a great sacrifice and went on the spinning teacups ride, just so I could see this smile:

On the way out of the park, after a very satisfying day, we saw Cruella DeVille.

She noticed that we had a lot of kids and told me, "You really ought to do something about all those children, dah-ling."

Don't worry, I stepped on her toes, pushed her down, and stomped out her cigarette. I told her, "You really should do something about all that smoking, dah-ling."

Too bad we didn't get any pictures of that.

Tuesday Ten: Going grocery shopping

2007-05-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

I don't go grocery shopping very often--I tend to avoid doing things I don't enjoy. If I can get away with it that is. Looking at my checkbook, I notice that I made a large shopping trip to my 3 stores--WinCo, Costco, and Canned Food Outlet--on March 14, and the next large trip wasn't until May 9. With 5 small (under $30) trips in between. There is nothing wrong with having tuna sandwiches 3 days in a row is there? Homemade bread and home canned tuna. No need to go to the grocery store.

I buy a lot of things in bulk from my mother-in-law --rice, beans, wheat, oats, split peas, peanut butter (in a 5 gallon bucket), organic cane sugar, honey, molasses, some spices. Also, I can my own tuna and have 2 freezers full of chicken, pork, and venison (if you open my freezer, that is NOT a box of corn dogs in there. I am using that box to hold something else. Am too.) Even so, whenever I do go to the store (aside from a quick fresh fruit/vegetable run) my cart gets full. Very very full.

I think it would be easier to list what I don't have in my grocery cart. Yes, much easier. No meat, no avocados, no velveeta cheese. The end, have a nice day.

Tuesday Ten: Ten Things in My Grocery Cart

1. Bagels. I eat a bagel every day for lunch. A toasted bagel. Sometimes plain, sometimes with cream cheese, sometimes with egg salad, sometimes with mayo and tomato. YUM.

2. Noodles. My children would surely perish if I didn't prepare some sort of noodle dish at least 4 times a week. At least that is what they say, and I believe them.

3. Butter. None of that fake margarine stuff around here, no way. Only real heart clogging fats for my family.

4. Fruits and vegetables. Apples, oranges, bananas. Other cheap, on sale fruit. Lettuce, broccoli, celery, cabbage, potatoes. Mushrooms (I know, but they are in the vegetable section)for quesadillas. Carrots. Onions. No avocados.

5. Staples. No, not the poky, office supply kind. Stuff like peppercorns and salt. Cinnamon. Sometimes white flour for when I am feeling lazy. Parmesan cheese from the bulk section. My mother is cringing right now. I did that on purpose, Mom.

6. Refried beans. I have tried making refried beans at home, and they just aren't the same. So I buy either the vegetarian or the fat free refried beans. My children thank me.

7. Tortillas. I have a tortilla press. It is very cool looking. I am sure it would make wonderful tortillas, but I have never used it. I think I am afraid that it won't work and I will be scraping dough off the inside, getting it under my fingernails. I hate getting dough under my fingernails.

8. Eggs. Just kidding. Although, in the winter when eggs are sparse I will get eggs at the store for hardboiling. Not now though when I am getting almost 2 dozen eggs a day.

9. Yogurt. Specifically, Nancy's whole milk yogurt. The doctor's office thinks that my littlest guy isn't growing fast enough so they want me to get more fat into him. Actually what the problem is, is that he is growing up (15th percentile) but not out (under the 5th percentile). This is a change from the last appointment where he was at the 5th percentile in both height and weight. Personally, I think he is growing just fine, but since it doesn't hurt anything to stuff things like yogurt, milk, cream cheese, and cheese in him I will humor them. He would be perfectly happy with this arrangement as well if he wasn't teething. When teething, he doesn't want to eat anything. Naturally, as soon as he can eat anything he wants, he won't eat anything. Stop snickering Cathy, he isn't picky, he's just not hungry.

10. A treat for my husband. Did I mention that my husband goes with me on these large shopping trips? He is indispensable. He deserves a treat. Without him, I have to haul a 300 lb. shopping cart around the store on my own. No lie, I think it must weigh that much by the time I am done. Last time I had to go without him, and the cart was so full I had to move my purse to fill up the child seat with groceries. I couldn't push the cart, I had to pull it. AND, since I go to the cheap place, I had to bag it ALL BY MYSELF. Sometimes I get a little crabby because when my husband bags groceries he does it wrong (that is, not my way), but NEVER, EVER, MORE. He is welcome to throw everything in the bags willy nilly. And I will get him some peanut butter pretzels, too.

My Vacation: Days 2 & 5, Legoland

2007-05-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to visit Legoland on Wednesday and Thursday, with a hotel stay in Carlsbad Wednesday night. After I booked the hotel and purchased the tickets I noticed that Legoland is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. It never occurred to me that the park would close during the week. Duh. So we changed plans and visited Legoland on Monday and Thursday instead. This could not have worked out better.

Legoland is probably about 1/3 the size of Disneyland, not including California Adventures. So for a family that has never visited a theme park all together, LL was a nice low key first day. We were able to work out how we could do the ride lines in an atmosphere that wasn't so overwhelming. By the time we hit Disneyland the next day, we were pros.

A lot of the rides have height limits so the kids enjoyed measuring themselves.

LL was great. The lines weren't long and the weather was cool but not cold. Until we hit the water rides, that is. Some of us don't like to get wet.

The first day we spent a lot of time going on rides. We were full of energy and the kids didn't want to stop for anything (except to pick out legos at the bulk lego store). The second day was different. After 2 days at DL, I was pretty tired and I think the kids were too although they didn't show it. That day we did more looking and activities that involved working with legos.

I took my youngest daughter to get her face painted.

While the big kids went to do a robot lego activity, I took the younger ones to build a lego race car.

This activity was the cause of the one and only meltdown during the entire vacation--not counting the 4 and 1 year olds of course. When I told my six year old that it was time to leave the race car building, he started crying. WTH? He builds with legos EVERY DAY at home, including building race cars. It may have had something to do with the cool racing ramp--and the fact that he was tired. Could be.

There were a lot of fun picture posing opportunities around all the big lego statues. The kids had a great time being silly.

Of course you can't let a day at Legoland go by without posing with the Lego Pirate Guy.

Next: Disneyland and California Adventures!!

My Vacation: Day One, the Drive

2007-05-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

We rented a van and drove to California. This was a much better plan than stuffing 10 of us into our 9 passenger Suburban that may or may not make the trip without breaking down.

Mapquest said that it would take 13.5 hours to drive from our house in Eugene to our hotel next to Disneyland. Since we can't go the whole way without stopping, I told the kids 15 hours. I was right. Aside from stopping to fuel up the van, we stopped once for breakfast and again for lunch. My kids are good travelers and don't require a lot of stops.

I am sure it didn't hurt that we bought 2 portable dvd players for the trip (one had 2 screens and oldest son had the one he bought so everyone had something to watch, except the baby). And lots of snacks. And Will's blankie.

Good news, I didn't have to read to my husband. NOT ONCE. Instead, I downloaded P.G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens for him to listen to. I remember it as having been one of the funniest books I have ever read. Like many things, it wasn't quite so funny the second time around, but I lived through it. Anything to keep from having to read aloud a drippy Grace Livingston Hill novel. (Not that GLH is all that terrible, it's just that I have read most of the books, some more than once, and I have had more than my lifetime dose of her tra la la life is so wonderful novels. Sorry.)

Not having to read left me free to take a picture or two out the window.

Not where we are going, but it sure looks fun.

We left home slightly after 5 am and arrived in Anaheim at 8:15 pm. Sweet. Traffic wasn't all that bad even when we got close to Los Angeles. About 60 miles out things started to get heavy, but still fast. We were going 70-75 and cars were whizzing past us at 80-90 mph, crossing lanes and weaving in and out(including the state trooper in his SUV). I mentioned to my husband it was like watching a choreographed dance. His comment: "This is fun!"

Almost there!

We drove straight to our hotel, no mistakes, thanks to my superior navigation skills. We checked in, unloaded the van, went to Burger King for dinner, then back to the hotel to go to bed. We had adjoining rooms so the boys slept in one and the girls in the other with my husband and I. Anticipation and excitement for the next day was running high.

Next: Legoland California!!

My Vacation

2007-05-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

For my vacation I went with my family to Southern California. We went to Legoland and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. It was fun. It was very very fun. We stayed in a hotel and ate at restaurants. We went on lots of fun rides. I rode the same roller coaster 4 times in 2 hours and I thought my head was going to explode. It was fun. It was very very fun. We saw the back of Cinderella and my daughter made a crown. We ate a funnel cake and did the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride 4 times. My best score was 85,000 points. I didn't want to come home because I was having so much fun. The End.

I will be going into more detail in a few days, don't worry. Lots and lots of detail. You will be sick and tired of hearing about my vacation when I am done. Heh heh.

Tuesday Ten

2007-05-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ten things I think of while I am driving

1. Other people's driving. Someone needs to explain this to me: Rule 1. Don't drive in the left lane unless passing. Rule 2. No passing on the right. Rule 3. Don't impede traffic. So if someone is driving slow in the left lane and I am not allowed to pass them on the right, how am I to keep from impeding traffic? Normally I just go ahead and pass but it BUGS ME.

2. What am I going to make for dinner? Always on my mind.

3. Did I forget my list? The answer: Probably.

4. The best way to get where I am going. There are usually several routes. Which one is the best? The shortest? The quickest in terms of time? I could easily turn this into an obsession. In fact, I think I already have.

5. Chores. When am I going to mow the yard, finish the cement work, weed the flower beds? It is time to till the garden and plant--when am I going to do that? Stuff like that.

6. Farm planning. I need to order chickens and turkeys for this summer--How many? What should I charge? I have heard chicken feed prices are going to rise--do I raise my price? I want people to know that I am selling chickens but I am terrible at marketing. I hate asking people to buy things, so how do I get past that? And what is the best way to advertise? I want a cow. And some goats. Where does one get such things as those? How can I make money off them?

7. Nothing. Ever look around and go "wow, how'd I get here so fast?" or "I hope that light was green." I don't. Nope, not me.

8. Kids. Kid problems, kid needs, kid schedules, kid fun stuff, kids.

9. Often I can't think, because someone is talking to me. Is it wrong to just want a little quiet in the car so I can think? Is it wrong to think "Just SHUT UP!!" if I am just thinking it, not saying it? Probably, but I do get a little tired of kid conversations that are talking just for the sake of talking, and not getting much of anywhere. It is worse that these conversations are peppered with me saying "What?" "You have to speak up in the car." "I can't hear you, did you say 'cat fries'?" My kids all have soft voices unless it is time to be quiet. Then all of a sudden they find their voice boxes.

10. Conversations I have had or possibly will have sometime in the near future. I can carry on quite a nice conversation with myself, I must say. Which is why I get a little irritated when my kids want to talk about cat fries, whatever those are.

Jumping for Joy

2007-04-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yippee!! We're going to Disneyland tomorrow!!!

While I was out...

2007-04-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

My husband took great delight in taking pictures of the extremely rickety scaffolding structure he built for finishing the eave boards.

I am glad I wasn't home for this.

Strawberries

2007-04-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

While at the local home improvement center a few mornings ago I happened upon a rack of discount plants. I picked up 6 bundles of strawberries for $1 each. WOW!

I was planning on ordering some strawberries from the seed catalog anyway, so this was my kind of deal. I realize I am planting them a little late, but who can resist discounted strawberry plants? Even if they are a little leggy and wilted.

I built three 4x4 frames from scrap 2x8 lumber and placed them in the one and only spot that my husband didn't object to. Or I should say the spot about which he objected the least.

Then my husband took the tractor with the bucket on the front and filled my boxes with dirt. The first 2 boxes have just regular field dirt with compost dirt on the top, and the 3rd (a hydraulic hose broke and we had to finish later) has dirt from the pig pen. You know, pig "dirt". Heh.

I planted the pathetic little strawberry plants and said a quick blessing over them.

Then I had to go to a soccer game. I left, knowing that the chickens had been eyeing my dirt boxes, so I was a little worried.

I didn't see anything amiss right away when I got back, but then I saw the hole in the middle of the box.

So we constructed some covers for the beds. Makes it a little harder to water, but that is part of having some of the chickens run free, I guess.

Those pesky chickens aren't going to get away with this.

Tuesday Ten

2007-04-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

Ten things various people said to me this week

1. "Is it my birthday today?" Said by my 3 year old daughter. My response: No.

2. "Is it my birthday today?"Said by my 3 year old daughter. My response: No.

3. "Is it my birthday today?" Said by my 4 year old daughter. My response: Yes.

4. "But why can't I be three anymore?" Again, said by my 4 year old daughter. In her whiniest voice. I. Cannot. Win. She can always find a way to be contrary.

5. "Ma'am" Said by a waiter at a restaurant. The absolute and utter nerve of that boy. Young man. Whatever. In any case, I am not old enough to be a "Ma'am."

6. "J. threw up in his bed." Said by my 10 year old son about his little brother. Ugh.

7. "But I was just..." Said by almost all of my children at one time or another. ...sitting here ...trying to help ...putting this in here ...being the most annoying person on the face of the earth. The last one is what I wish they would say because at least they would be being honest.

8. "So what have you been up to?" Said by a person I went to high school with and hadn't seen for a long time. My response? "Not much, just life." ??? I can't come up with ONE thing I have been doing in the last 20 years? Not one? I am such a dork.

9. Mom. Said by all my kids. A billion times. Mom, mommy, ma-ma, MO-OM! I don't mind, I am used to it. Don't tell anyone, but I kind of like it.

10. "I need some shampoo." Said by my 11 year old daughter. Did I ask why? Noooo. It seemed innocent enough. Turns out she was getting it for her dad who was washing the dog. With my shampoo. All of it.

The Big Day-A Story in Pictures

2007-04-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Planning

2007-04-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

I plan everything. No, really, EVERYTHING. I make lists, and more lists. I also write everything down. On a list.

The garden:

My poultry business:

Isn't that lovely? Now you know how I set the prices for my chickens and turkeys.

And our California trip:

There are some things you just can't plan for though. For instance, the fact that Legoland is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday in the off season. Okay, bad example since I should have checked before planning to visit there on a Wednesday and Thursday and making hotel plans to accomodate the fact that it is an hour drive from Disneyland. Oh well, we are going to adjust our days and do a little extra driving.

But what about this? My daughter's last gymnastics meet of the season was supposed to be on April 28. This is the biggest meet of the Spring season--Sectionals. All the gyms in the southern section of Oregon come together for a competition. So I planned that we would leave the day after the meet. Sunday. Meet on Saturday, leave on Sunday. Then we find out that the level 6 gymnasts are competing on Sunday. Sigh. Oh well, guess she misses her last meet.

Then my husband got a jury duty notice in the mail. He was to report to jury duty on May 4. We will be in California on May 4. Thankfully he got a deferral until June.

Bring. It. On.

Last night my 6 year old threw up. (Why do they always choose night time to puke?) In my family this usually means that almost every other child will do the exact same thing over the course of the next few weeks. WE DON'T HAVE A FEW WEEKS. We are leaving in ONE week.

I have a lot to do.

Chickens

2007-04-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

My chickens are penned up. This is necessary because if they aren't penned up they go into the barns and roost, leaving piles of chicken doo in inconvenient places. They go scratch in my garden spot (which won't be a problem until I actually plant something there) and they scratch through the compost pile, spreading it all over the place and making a terrible mess. They lay their eggs in, around, and under inaccessible objects. I would like to build a fence across the pasture and set them free in the green grass, really I would.

The chickens would like this too. I know this because they frequently escape from their pen. I have to tempt them with food and chase them around until they go back into the chicken coop. At least I did. Now I have someone to do it for me.

My husband took these pictures, by the way. That is not MY hairy leg in that picture.

We love our chickens around here.

Tuesday Ten: Oh, I'll do it later...

2007-04-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

I don't usually put off doing my Tuesday Ten, but often when I am doing it I am putting off doing something else. Oh well.

Ten Things I Keep Putting Off

1. Cleaning the refrigerator. I wipe it down and take out the stuff that has been in there for a while, but I need to give it a good washing. Maybe after we get back from vacation.

2. Mending. Anything that needs mending goes in the mending pile. And disappears for months. Any kid things in the mending pile are usually grown out of before I get them fixed. So I don't like pulling my sewing machine out for just one or two things. Want to make something of it?

3. Calling the hotel to let them know we will be arriving late. We are driving 14 hours to California in one day. I need to call the hotel and let them know we will be getting there late in the evening or else we will lose our reservation. I have another week or two, I'll do it later.

4. Any other phone calls. I don't like using the phone. I need to call the dentist and set up some appointments. I need to call my son's school and tell them he will be gone for a week. I need to call Megan and tell her to come visit us before she leaves for Canada. It is getting late today, I will do it tomorrow. Actually, Megan, if you read this, why don't you come over and visit before you leave. Thanks.

5. History. It isn't that I don't like history, I just am busy and it takes a while. We are supposed to do history 3 times a week. It usually gets done once. Oh well, maybe next year I'll do better.

6. Baking bread. If I don't start the bread in the morning when I get up then forget it. It throws off my whole schedule and I have to wait until tomorrow. Really, I do.

7. Working on my cross stitch project. I worked on it a little, I really did. But then I put it away again. Stitching in the car is awkward. The word awkward is awkward. Awkward. Isn't it funny how some words just fit? Awkward looks awkward, it is awkward to type, and it is spelled awkwardly. Hmm, oh look, I have run out of time to work on my cross stitch again. I'll do it later.

8. Garage sale/free cycle/Goodwill. I don't care which one anymore. I just want to get rid of some stuff. Tomorrow, when I have more time. Heh.

9. What to make for dinner. Of course I have to mention dinner. I will take every opportunity to complain about it. I usually put off thinking about dinner until at least 3pm. If I could get away with it I would wait until later than 3, but with gymnastics and soccer and picking up my oldest son I have to start dinner early or NOT AT ALL. That would be my choice. Kids don't need to eat do they? At least not every night. Maybe things would go better if we only had dinner every other night. I thought ahead today and put a pork roast in the crock pot. Yay me!

10. Looking for lost stuff. I don't look for it, I just say I can't find it. Where are my keys? I don't know, I can't find them. (Now if I was one of my kids the next question would be Did you look for it?, but I'm not, so I can get away with not looking.) The problem is that once I start looking for something I CAN'T STOP. I get obsessed with finding it. I will look in places that it couldn't possibly be, like in the plant on top of the tv cabinet. I will try to stop looking and then find myself looking again. So I just put it off. Several months ago 4 of our memory cards for the Playstation came up missing. Gone. I tore the house apart, looking in all the unlikely places. No memory cards. New memory cards for Christmas. Turns out I should have looked in my oldest daughter's riding boot(1), in the drawer under the stove(1), and under the mattress in the playpen(2). Maybe next time.

Eaves

2007-04-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we are almost ready for our framing inspection. Too many months have gone by, but I am trying not to complain. The stairs are mostly finished, the eaves are done, and all that is left is part of the upstairs wall and the doorways.

I don't want to give the impression that nothing else has been done around here. Lots of mowing, barn cleaning, chicken fence fixing, and driveway maintenance has been done as well. And that is just the outside stuff.

The stairs were not an easy project and we had to call in reinforcements. My husband's grandpa is 94 years old and has built many houses. His eyesight is a little bad and he can't hear very well, but he is great at figuring out stair treads.

So we finally got the stairs all the way up.

Please note that I am using the term "we" loosely. My husband does most of the work. I find something else to do and go help when he needs it. He would rather I stay and watch him and gaze adoringly at his rippling muscles but that gets boring after a while. He gets a little crabby when I try to chat with him because then he forgets his measurements so it is best for both of us if I go and weed the flowerbeds or something.

Anyway, after the stairs were finished we moved on to the eaves. This got a little tricky because of the height of the roof. My husband moved one of his big trucks over in front of the garage to take care of the highest part. It also helps that we have a forklift. And a 16 year old son.

Can you read his mind? I can. "Put down the danged camera and hand me the nail gun!" I know my husband pretty well, I think.

Tuesday Ten: Ten things I never thought I'd...

2007-04-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

...say.

Not only things I thought I wouldn't say, but also things that after I said them I went "Huh?" Or "I can't believe I said that!"

Ten Things I Never Thought I Would Say

1. "That looks like a footprint up there on the wall." Kids old enough to leave home alone do funny things sometimes. I prefer to remain blind to some of it. So long as they remain somewhat decorous, and don't destroy things or hurt people then I don't mind. Or rather, I like the alternative even less, which is staying at home all the time.

2. "Please don't use the egg washing sponge to wash the dishes." Yeah. Moving on.

3. " How old are you? How old is he/she?" So help me God, I vowed that I would never say this as long as I had a breath left in my body. Somehow I became possessed by my mother briefly and it slipped out. Never again.

4. "I have blood all over my glasses." Chickens flap around quit a bit after I, well, you know. I got pretty good at getting out of the way after a while.

5. "Heeeey-ay! Not 'posed to shirt peo-PUL!" OK, this wasn't me, but my now 8 year old used to say this in many variations when he was much littler and someone was bothering him. (In this case someone was hitting him with a shirt) We say it all the time now just to tease him. Feel sorry for him, would you? Because we don't.

6. I had to tell my mom when my grandma (her mom) passed away. My mom was visiting us from Minnesota but out with some friends when my aunt called with the very unexpected news. When my mom got back, I had to tell her. That was hard.

7. "Sure, go ahead and leave for 2 1/2 weeks. No problem." He took the oldest 2 kids with him for part of that time. We survived; that's about all I can say about that.

8. "No more babies!" I really, really never thought I would say this. Why say no to babies? What did they ever do to me? I'll take as many as I can! Fast forward 7 or 8 years...I'm TIRED. No more. If I turn up pregnant, trust me it wasn't planned.

Note: Unfortunately, I never had anyone ask me if any of my pregnancies was an accident. I have always wanted to say "YES! I was just laying there on the bed and my husband came in from the shower and he just tripped and fell on me! I hate it when that happens!"

9. "Your sandwich is not a weapon." I have 5 boys. Everything can be turned into some kind of weapon.

10. "Please stop sleeping with your socks." My youngest daughter keeps taking all of her socks out of the drawer and sleeping with them. And stuffing them in her hats and purses and putting them in the toy box. Stop! She has toys but she wants to play with her socks. Stop it, I say!

2007-04-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

To me, this sums up my weekend. Relaxing, decadent, wonderful.

Bad weather couldn't even spoil it.

Thanks Mom.