Yard work

When you live out in the country and own a large yard, it's a necessity to own a riding lawn mower. During spring and summer months, we have to mow nearly every week unless it's extremely dry (and if it's extremely wet and we CAN'T mow, I resign our yard to being a jungle and move on). Part of having a riding lawn mower is teaching the kids to be responsible around it and learn to drive it so they can start mowing the lawn at our earliest convenience. I figure we've got another five years before that particular convenience is available, but that didn't keep Oz from putting M1 on the mower and letting him push the accelerator.



Getting started was somewhat difficult.

M2 was appropriately freaked out by the thought of her brother driving ANYTHING and climbed to higher ground immediately.

She's a wise child.

That look of intense concentration is due to the fact that he was attempting to max out the speed on the mower.

Stopping is a lot easier when it simply means taking your foot off of the gas pedal - thank heaven he didn't have to try to press a brake. That boy's adrenaline was into serious overdrive.

-----

Then it was time for a garden check! So far, I only have one plant that's looking puny - one of my cucumber plants is looking a bit off, but the other one is doing just fine.

Here's the pictorial update:

The basil is REALLY starting to grow! M1 keeps asking me when we're going to pick some and cook with it. I told him I want to give it another week or so to make sure the roots are seriously into the ground before I pick anything off, but it's looking good!

We caged the tomato plants a couple of days ago. Didn't want to hold off much longer since they're also really growing well. I got some good advice on a gardening web site that suggested planting some of the actual tomato PLANT into the ground as well as the root system. You'd never know there's probably three inches of plant underground now! That Roma on the left side of the photo is nearly up to the first rung of the cage.




SEED! I grew these from seed!!! These are my green bean plants, and I've probably got close to 10 of them poking out of the ground now. I'm going to wait until it finishes raining tonight or tomorrow and then go thin them out. I may hang on to the ones I pull, though, lest I kill the rest. I'm still nervous about growing anything from seed. Historically, that's where my plant-murdering tendencies come out the most.

My hens and chicks. Oz's grandmother gave us this plant last fall since the container had broken. I need to repot it but wanted to see if it would make it through the winter first... and it HAS! I'll probably put it in another pot this week and find a place for it.
I'm just so excited - spring has definitely sprung!

Sheep shearing and Amish living

Last fall, M2's preschool class went to a place called Shepherd's Cross for their pumpkin patch. It's a lovely place, even if the religious side of things does get a bit overwhelming (don't get me wrong - I'm not against a religious bent, but when you're trying to talk to 4-year-olds about how pumpkins grow, you don't also need a lecture on how this is similar to growing in Christ), and they had mentioned something about sheep shearing in the spring.

So a few weeks back, I visited the web site and saw that the Wooly Weekend was coming up. Originally I was supposed to be out of town this weekend and was hoping Oz would take the kids, but the plans fell through and I was able to go along.

I wasn't able to get any good shots of the actual shearing from the angle I was at, but here's a photo of the ewe getting her hoofs trimmed. She kept bleating for her lamb, which was REALLY loud.



She was a good sheep, though - two years old and very well-behaved.

Here are some of the other ewes they were going to shear today... with some of their lambs.

One of the lambs - aren't they adorable? These were Suffolk sheep. They're black when they're born but turn white with black points by fall. Some of these were so little they still had tails!

These looms were upstairs. I finally know how one works!!!

See the vertical yarn? That's the warp. You tie it on first. It threads through holes in the racks (they have special names that I can't remember, so I'm calling them racks). Then you put some more yarn on the shuttle (on the right where you can see the yarn heading away from the product) and it's called the weft. To weave, you push on a lever up at the top of the loom. This lifts one of the racks and lowers the rest. You put the shuttle underneath the raised warp, push the threads together to make the fabric tight, flip the next lever, and repeat the process till you're done!

And here I always figured it was a lot more complicated. Goes to show how my mind works. Or doesn't, depending on how you look at it.

They let the kids do some handweaving, too, which they enjoyed.

I had to take a picture of this weeeeeeee tiny little lamb.

The resident sheepdog didn't like that very much.

Random duck on the property as we went to check out the herb garden they had growing there. That was M1's favorite part. M2's favorite part were the resident barn cats. Go figure - didn't we go to see SHEEP??

I had to take a picture of the kids before we left.

After we left there, we went down to Chouteau to the Amish Cheese House. It's well worth the drive. I picked myself up an Amish cookbook (that's right... Amish), the kids picked up some candy, Oz got cheese (derh), and then... then we had to go get some sweet rolls.

I'd take a picture of them, but I don't want anyone storming my house in the morning. ;) I'll let you know how they taste.

Thoroughly ducked

I have to say that before today, I was a duck virgin. Never been ducked. I really imagine most people haven't. I'm kinda special that way.

The thing is, though, that I have WONDERFUL friends. We love each other in our own very weird way, and one of the ways we show this love is to prank each other on our birthdays. We've had a lot of fun with this. My birthday last year was kind of the start of it all - I went out to dinner with these girls, and while we were in the restaurant, the car was "Peeped" with a whole string of Peeps... from my peeps. It was great. So I knew my turn was coming again, and I knew that I had to take my daughter to gymnastics this morning.

And I knew that when I got home, there would be SOMETHING.

Reeeallly wasn't expecting this.



These ducks in the pictures are really only the tip of the iceberg. Supposedly, there are precisely 105 ducks in my yard. "Yard" is also a relative term. There are some hanging in the branches of the tree... sitting by my front door... stuck on the fence out by the road (I'm sure there are many amused drivers out there today)... they're everywhere. Stuck in the handle of my screen door were two duck Pez dispensers that I will actually share with my children. And on the table on the front porch sat THIS darling:

My friend C has really outdone herself this time. Those ducks? White chocolate. The eggs? Chocolate Easter eggs. The green is coconut, the walkway is more Pez, and the lake is blue icing. I have been TOLD the cake is devil's food.

Did I mention it's raining today? My ducks are getting their feet wet, but in true duck fashion, they're mostly just letting the water roll right off of their backs. Some of them are turning into puddleducks.

I can't wait till my husband gets home. If I had to guess, his reaction will be something along the lines of, "Duck me!"

Thank you, ladies, for making me feel so loved!

I am officially Mrs. B

I had always wondered what I would be like as a teacher. For one day, I got to find out. For one day, I am apparently a pretty quiet one. I have a reasonably good hunch that if I was left to my own devices for an extended period of time, I would have a somewhat different take on that, but for now... I am simply a substitute. The one who fills in when the 'real' teacher is gone. The one at whom the kids stare and think, "What's she going to be like?"

We got the work done, though I'm sure it's not as perfect as it would have been if the real teacher had been there. The kids probably got away with more than they would have if the real teacher had been there, too.

However... it was kinda cool to be called Mrs. B. I did have my FULL last name written up on the board along with the daily vocabulary words (more on those in a bit) when they walked in, and the whole group had an interesting time trying to pronounce it. After a few seconds of letting them mangle it every which way, I just grinned and told them to call me Mrs. B.

And Mrs. B I remained for the rest of the day.

There were only 10 kids in the class - nine initially, but one was tardy - so it was not like I was dealing with a full public-school-sized class, nor was I dealing with all the attitude that would have potentially come along with public school, so it wasn't a hard day. I can sure understand how some students fall through the cracks and some of them get completely bored, though. Some kids were consistently done first; others were consistently daydreaming and really not focusing at all. The kid who was arguably the smartest in the class was also the one up to the most devildom. In the end, I told a teacher friend of mine that it was like herding sheep - they CAN be taught, but they'd just rather go out to graze!

Anecdotes!

I didn't have to teach the entire day. The gym teacher took them for half an hour first thing in the morning, the Spanish teacher came in for half an hour in the morning, and the writing teacher held their attention for 45 minutes right after lunch/recess. The best part of all that wasn't sitting back and relaxing (though I did) but watching the kids. One of them consistently kept checking back to see what I was doing or how I was reacting to what the interim teacher was saying. One of them who had done a great job of listening to me all day would put his head down on his desk and thoroughly ignore anyone else. One of the girls was a little jumping box whenever the teacher was talking (which helped me understand why she was all the way at the back).

Apparently third-graders also LOVE to overthink things. Give them a list of words and say, "Use each word in a sentence," and they want to know the precise definition of each word before writing, and they want to know if they can use more than one word in a sentence, and they want to know... and they want to know... and they want to know. Give them a magnifying glass and two plants (radish and grass, specifically) and ask them to find some similarities and differences, and you then have to explain the precise way to do that. Deeeeep breathing required.

The final anecdote, and then I promise I'll be quiet and go away.

As I mentioned before, the daily vocabulary words were written on the blackboard first thing in the morning. These words came out of the book that they're reading, and they have 4-5 words each day. They write the words and definitions into a notebook and get tested on them at the end of the book. I read the chapter to the kids as they follow along, and as they hear a word, they raise their hands and we discuss possible definitions. At the end, the correct definition goes onto the board.

One of today's words was "massacre." As we got past the word, five hands went up. I called on one of the boys and asked him what he thought the word 'massacre' meant.

And, in all seriousness, he practically yelled, "That's eye make-... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh noooo... that's mascara."

Even *I* had a hard time not rolling on the floor over that one. It's hard to go from that to random death, but we did make the jump - eventually.

Such was my stint as a third-grade teacher!

The party post

So I'm finally getting around to blogging the party! I could blog other things instead, if you like... like M2 informing me today that one day I will be as smart as her. Or finding out that I'm going to substitute-teach tomorrow for an entire class of third-graders!

However... party priority.

This was kind of the 'pre' fun. The party had a rainbow theme.

Not that kids get excited about cake or anything.

Especially THIS cake. All self-respecting 80's kids will now collectively say, "Ahhh! I remember her!"

Three out of four candles on one blow isn't bad, right?

And then for the absolute cutest photo...

Me wanty cake!

Present time was fun as well. She got plenty of good stuff. Now... take a look at the last photo, at the boys on the left. See the big grown men playing with the Care Bear? Let's do it again... one last collective, "Awwwwwww...."

Thanks to my friend Beth for taking most of these photos for me and giving me copies! I appreciate it!

Winter Recap

My poor baby girl had an interesting birthday party! But before we get there, we have to start the day before.

Meet the guinea.

This was in my garage on Friday when the rain/snowstorm really started. It was tame enough, because it would run to me when I called it, and it hung out in my garage for a while, especially during a hailstorm. I've heard it several times today as well, so I think it's living somewhere out in the pasture. I'm going to go hunting for it again when the ground dries out a bit. If it ever does. The theory goes that it's going to rain again next Saturday. Gah.

Back to the party. It wasn't going to be a big party to begin with, but just as I started pulling out the cleaner to go scrub the bathroom, the constant rain became THIS.

It didn't stick for a while, so I was optimistic, but that first photo was taken about 9:30... i.e. BEFORE the party. That's when a few people started calling and Oz went out to check the road conditions since we do live in a rural area. They were slushy but not icy, so we kept the party as a 'go.'

Below is what it looked like by 11-ish. We didn't lose any tree limbs because, quite frankly, anything that was going to fall apart was taken out last winter by that massive ice storm that took out our power for a week.

More on that in a minute.

After the little kids left, the big kids bundled up and went outdoors. Oz and his two youngest brothers had a big snowball fight, and then everyone worked together to build a snowman. I have no idea what's on top of his head. Those kids are mine with my MIL and my Sweet Little Sister's husband J.

The kids made a mini-snowman, too.

Just before everyone decided they were freezing - and DRIPPING with melted snow - and came back indoors, the power went out. At first I thought it would be up within a few minutes. At 2 p.m., when my Sweet Little Sister and J left and my kids went down to rest... it still hadn't come back on. At 4 p.m., I started planning for a dinner sans oven/microwave/lights/thawed meat (I usually use my microwave to defrost meat). At 8 p.m., when the house was pitch black, I took a long, hot bath and watched my bathwater literally steam in the candlelight.

I took this picture at about 10 p.m. I feel it epitomizes my evening: Reading an old book by lamplight with a cat lap warmer and a nonworking phone!

We got power back about 9 a.m. today and let the kids run rampant outdoors.

I am grateful for heat. More on the party tomorrow!

Bakerella I am NOT!

I reiterate my title statement. What you are about to see is not pretty, perfect, or very Susie Homemaker-esque. But preschoolers (and the principal) liked it!

Here's my version of making Bakerella's gorgeous cake pops. She can do this SO much better than I can. I have an infinite amount of respect for her now. I had respect before, but now I bow before the Cake Pop Deity in actual reverence.

Start with cake. Chocolate cake in my instance. I used Pam to grease this, so the sides climbed, but meh. Why worry about that when all you're going to do is crumble the entire thing? That is a detail best worried about another day.

Crumble the entire thing and add an entire container of frosting. This takes FOREVER to mix in, because you have to make sure that all of it is mixed very, very well. I learned that even if you only have a few stray crumbs, they will come back to bite you in the butt later. Trust me on this. It's not pretty.

Then you form the cake/frosting mixture into a ball. This isn't pretty, either. This is what your hand will look like halfway through. I actually had to wash both of my hands before going to back to making more because the balls were sticking to my hands rather than each other.

The product of my labor... so far...

Once you get them all formed, stick them in the fridge or freezer till they're cold.

Then it's melting time! I used two colors of candy wafers today - white and pink - just for giggles and because my daughter likes pink but boys don't. I melted the white on the stove and the pink in the microwave, just to see which worked better. Microwave wins. Just do a 1-minute cook time at 50% power followed by 30-second intervals at 50% power, stirring in between. It should be melted in about 3 minutes' worth of cook time.

This is what the white ones looked like... I did them first. See how those crumbs show up? I warned you!

Then I got smart and took a picture of the process. Bakerella is 100% right about how to do this. She first of all recommends using a bowl with very high edges. I actually used a glass (as in, drinking glass that I usually fill with gin & tonic) for the white chocolate. Dip the stick in the chocolate before sticking it in the cake pop and let it set for a minute. Then thunk the thing down in the melted wafers and spoon the stuff over the top. Lift out, and TAP. TAP TAP TAP. It reminded me of that Simpson's episode where Lisa takes up tap dancing... "taaappa tappa tappa!"

Moving on.... tap some more. Some will fall apart. Keep a spoon handy to scoop them out. If you want to be like me, eat the casualties until you are nauseous. Once they start falling apart, though, put the rest back in the fridge until they're cold again, because apparently warm cake/icing falls apart much easier than cold cake/icing. Nothing like logic to ruin my snacking.

After a while, I wound up with THESE.

Did I mention that you shouldn't forget the styrofoam to stick them in?? That is one I nearly forgot. Kind of important.

There. It has now been blogged.

It is finished. :)

M2's birthday - the actual day

M2, in case you ever read this, never EVER doubt that I love you. How do I love thee? Let me count the pans. That's fried chicken, asparagus, and mashed potatoes in the pot on the back - you picked the meal! I then used the chicken pan to make gravy, too, which you insisted was crucial to the meal.


For all you other moms out there, THIS is really what love means. Being willing to cook all of THAT so that you can then wash all of THIS.

And don't forget the cake! It's not my most elaborate cake, but it worked. M2 actually picked out the cake and the frosting herself (with the sprinkles, of course... I know my friend Beth would approve), but Mama added the writing, sloppy as it is. I promise the party cake will look better.

Doing a round cake also gave me a great excuse to use my Kake Kutter! I have the square cake one, too. My Ozzie wuvs me.

See that gleam in her eye? That's 4-dom. It's a whole kingdom of entitlement complexes, drama, and still wishing for snuggles. She pwns that kingdom right now. She knows it. She wants it. She blew out all the candles, which is really what that concentrated look is all about.

And then she thoroughly enjoyed her cake and ice cream. See that gleam? It's back.

After that, it was time for presents. Everyone into the living room to watch the show!

Of course those weren't all the gifts, but it was the first gift and the last. That kitty is the new winner of her heart. She's in love with its tail. I knew she would be, which is why I bought it in the first place.

Finally... a birthday wouldn't be a birthday without a little movie at the end, would it? Gotta have memories. Enjoy!