Calico Chickens and Bespeckled Bunnies!

The hardest to learn was the least complicated

2011-06-26T04:57:00.000-05:00

Frank and I passed during the daytime. It was like a cool northwestern breeze, unexpected and pleasant.

I felt a tad bit guilty that I was folding laundry, and William needed to be changed. I hate laundry, so I don't do it often. I used to make sure meal time was a time for polite chat and connection.
Now it seems that if it is hot and I can get him to watch his son while I chore, I've accomplished something.

Frank did his critical stare when he looked first towards William and then worked up to me.
Ya just never know at times like this....I felt my chest get tight, not knowing if he was going to say something that would make me leap up to kiss him or say something that would make me want to sink into the carpet in shame.

Is he accessing the situation, thinking that I am great....or has he stress from things beyond my control and he is just looking to yell at the only person who has NO control. The stereotypical "straw man" For all intensive purposes, I will call it the "Redhead in the valley of the "unGreiner".(those NOT able to join the DAR)

He smiles at me, tells me that the baby looks nothing like him, and asks me if he should invite his oldest Brother to the movie he plans to take Brandon to. I tell Frank that I think that would be great,but please remember you have your son with you and make sure he isn't privy to adult conversations.
c
I get 3 bags of meat on my front stoop. Wow...its been a long time since I have had true Greiner Beef and I am appreciative. I put them in the freezer, and Frank talks about how he and Russ saw a lot of movies....

I am so happy that he is going to a movie with our Son, and I am equally happy that he is connecting with his brother in a "non-farm" way.

The evening was good.

Upon report from Frank, Russel had some relevant parenting tidbits.

Apparently there were lots of "don't tell Karey" and "Don't tell Mom." Hold his hand before he crosses the street. Make sure she doesn't give William raw milk until he is 5.......It would never be true to Greiner tradition unless there were many things said and nothing anyone could report to one another.

I am so glad it was a night between fathers and sons, brothers and uncles....this that and the other.
I am just glad it was.......

Speechless.....

2011-06-18T03:35:00.000-05:00

I think I'm gonna like it HERE!!!

2011-06-17T22:45:00.001-05:00

The day before yesterday Frank and I went to the sale barn to buy a couple of "nurse cows." I'll explain more later, but I fell head over heels in love with one. I named her Opal because she has this little white oval dot on her head that looks like an Opal.

(google image)

She was a "Cull Cow" which means that she was being sent through the barn in order to be made into McDonalds' hamburgers. It was a risk, but I got her cheap. There were two really high powered cattle buyers there and they like to swing their checkbooks at each other. I told Frank that if he let me bid, they wouldn't bid against me because they would know I was going to take her home. They would put her on a truck and take her to slaughter. (he didn't believe me)

When I raised my hand, they both snapped back their neck, saw me, and they didn't bid again. I bought the second one for 8cents a pound less. (AWESOME! See...My fundamental belief that people are GOOD, held fast!) Neither of them gave a hoot if I took home a Jersey Cull Cow, as long as the other guy didn't get her too cheap.

Jersey's are really tough to come by and when you can get someone to let one go, they are about $1500 for a bred heifer who has never had a calf and you have NO idea how she will milk or behave. I have spoken to several organic Jersey dairies around here and they wouldn't even speak to me about selling a "low producer". They would rather send them through the kill sale ring then admit that they had a cow that would give 6 gallons a day as opposed to 10.

I'd of given the SAME dairy that wouldn't sell me a cow $1000 bucks for Opal, but they sent her through the kill pen and I got her for $550!

For a "family cow" that is perfect.

(Google image)

When I got Opal home and she met Rose, my Holstein cow, she was just in heaven. She went to the clean fresh water....then she went to the good hay, then she went into the dry barn....then she met the goats. (wasn't super fond of them...but she warmed up quickly.)
Then she got out onto the pasture. At first she was eating the weeds by the fence, not quite sure there was GOOD alfalfa pasture about 7 more steps in. When she realized this was her new home after everything she went through, I'm pretty sure she was singing this song~!

http://youtu.be/_nM_-CFRBS8

My Job

2011-06-14T11:33:00.000-05:00

I have had SO many people ask me what my actual "Job" is around here. What am I responsible for, what do I do on a day to day basis. There really isn't an easy answer for that question, but I found this poem YEARS ago and it describes my job description around here perfectly!

MY JOB

It's not my Job to run the Train,

The whistle I can't blow.

It's not my Job to say how far the Trains allowed to go.

It's not my job to blow off steam,

Nor even clang the bell.

But let the damn thing jump the tracks,

And see who catches hell!

I've had it...

2011-06-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

Once again I find myself in a position around here where I feel like I am running faster and faster around in circles chasing my tail and not really accomplishing anything.

It seems like I fall into bed each night completely exhausted, but yet still feel like I'm not any further a head than I was that morning. I walk though my daily routine, wishing I could put on horse blinders so that I can't see out of the sides of my eyes all of the things I need to get done.

Case in point. My cupboards which before the baby came, were meticulously organized and clean. They now are a disaster area. I need to get a plan. I need to blog more. It seems when I blog I really focus on what I have accomplished and not what I haven't gotten around to.

That gives me a shot of energy that it like a snowball effect, growing and growing under it's own momentum.

I need to get rid of some of this crap. It has been a year and 80% of it hasn't been touched.

I need to figure out something more usable and less sloppy for Frank's "library in the loo." It's such an eyesore.

This isn't too bad...

I am going to dedicate a room a day to deep cleaning and organization. Of course I realize that this bathroom will only take a day, but the kitchen will take a week. The dining room a day, but Brandon's room will take 2.

Brandon has a baseball game tonight (if it ever stops raining) and Bertena has a birthday and a dance recital tomorrow...
I need to get focused and keep myself on a schedule. I need to make sure I don't get sick--it seems when I am under the weather for a day or two the whole damn train falls off the tracks.
I need to learn how to tell people "NO, I'm sorry but I can't do that for you." Frank tops the list of people I can't seem to say NO to....

I need to drink more red wine and take longer baths...

Victoria's Secret

2011-06-07T02:10:00.000-05:00

SSSHHHH........Don't tell anyone I told you this, but....

Don't all good juicy stories start like that?
I know it has been a long time since I've blogged, but I thought I would let you in on Victoria's Secret....

When your skinny enough to look good in their $280 swimsuits.....you can't afford them.

There, I just said it.
If they hang me for that, Tell em' I'd look better in the green Hi-cut bottom and string bikini top. (I'd get caught dead in that!)
Pardon the model...she is hungry and grumpy....

The Man Cave Experience

2011-04-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Frank and I had a discussion this evening about me spending the evening downstairs in the basement in front of a 73 inch flat screen television, and him spending the evening upstairs with William and Brandon. I, was going to LOVE the peace and quiet...oh glory would be mine to be able to sleep all night without having to worry about anything. I also swore if anyone dared wake me up, I'd come up the stairs mad as hell!

Kind of a "Grass is always greener on the other side of the septic tank" sort of argument.

I made it about 2 hours.
In a nutshell....it sucks down there.

I don't know how anyone can go to sleep so far from their family. What if there is a break in? A fire? A child who wakes up scared and needs Mommy?

It's LONELY down there.
So I will check in on Brandon for the third time tonight, kiss his little forehead and tell him in his sleep how much Mommy loves him.
I will fall asleep in the recliner until William wakes up in his swing. I will change his pants, feed him, and sing until he falls back to sleep, no matter how long it takes or how tired I am.

I will also NEVER ever again wish I could be down in the Man Cave all by myself.
Because it really sucks down there! NO amount of Hi-def, TV, wide screen, surround sound, could take the place of your family.

He's always hungry....

2011-03-20T18:38:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has ever breast fed a baby knows what a challenge it is.

Exhausting, thirsty, thank less....

And then the "others" start talking....

Is he getting enough? I TRIED breast feeding but I didn't have enough milk.

OH he looks awe-FUL! Skinny as bones. Karey you need to get some sleep.

Maybe he is allergic to your milk!

He cries so much because he is hungry.

Well Karey, I would take him, cept he's breastfed.

You know your not poor anymore right? Tell Frank to spring for some Formula, then he'll sleep.

So I pumped every time William was done nursing. I pumped a LOT. And I put the extra in a bottle and I had other people feed it to him to make sure he was getting enough.....and he got more crabby and puked all over the floor.

He took a bottle from Brittney...

He took a bottle from Bertena...

And after each he promptly spit up all over his clothes. I am talking about PROJECTILE vomit.

William has an Indian nurse. She is very no nonsense and I LOVE her. She told me that the very worst thing that I could do with a Colicky baby is put him on formula. She said "American Babies are too fat. Women don't breast feed and they see the formula commercial babies, and they think they are not doing enough. William is fine. If you have any concerns call me before you stop breast feeding."

I told her that I had concerns because he cries ALL the TIME!
She laughed and said, "Eventually you will be able to read the paper while he cries in his chair. He is a fine, very healthy baby. "
Then she added, "You only feel guilty because William is the first baby you were able to stay home with. I can assure you, hearing him cry is ok. Go about your work. Put him in his room to sleep and close the door, your breasts will tell you when he is ready to drink."

I said, "If only it was that simple..."
She very smartly replied, "It is that simple, you train a baby to fit in your family or the baby trains your family to fit him. No breast fed baby is fat."

2011-03-14T00:59:00.002-05:00

Bingo Nite at Wilson School

2011-03-01T11:16:00.000-06:00

Friday night Mom, Jean, Bertena and I all went to Wilson School for the anual Bingo fundraiser!

It was a blast!

Bertena is quite the multi-tasker! She is able to daub her bingo cards and hold her baby brother!

"OH Mom! I have a Bingo, will you take him?"

Here is Grandma. I finally won ONE time, and of course it was a card I had Jean daub for me.....such my luck!

We were glad that Mom's BFF was able to come along!

Sun shines on a Dog ass

2011-02-26T19:53:00.002-06:00

Wow that actually worked!

I will explain the video clips tomorrow.

Every Baby has a sound track...

2011-02-26T19:52:00.020-06:00

I don't think it is any secret that William is a "difficult" baby. Frank is convinced that he is possessed by Satan, but I reassure him that he isn't Colicky, he is just a pain in the ass like him! ;)

Frank asked me tonight, "How do you KNOW he isnt Colicky?!"
I said, "Well because if he was when you picked him up and carried him around for a bit, he wouldn't stop crying."
I told him that Bertena would cry likeWilliam was from 5 pm until 2 or 3 AM non stop and nothing that you could do would make her stop.

Anyway, from then I realized that every baby has a "soundtrack".

Bertena's came to me unexpectantly. We were in Amana and the polka band was playing, I was exhaused and pissy. All of a sudden she (about 2 months old) started to sway to the tuba.

A week or so later PBS had Polka music on and she relaxed and did the same thing. To this day my 9 year old LOVES blue grass folk and polka music!

Later on I realized that Brandon, my NON crying, Peace - Love - Happy baby would dance and bob his little diaper butt to the sounds of really old Country Music. I mean REALLY old. The shit my Grandpa Smith used to listen to. He did however like Johnny Cash which was one of his first Halloween Costumes...but that is another blog post.

This song used to be his favorite! He would rock back and forth and smile when ever I played it for him....

Now I realize that William also has a soundtrack. He LOVES 80's music. But

My Strange Weekend...

2011-02-26T15:37:00.000-06:00

Does anyone but me remember the bad 80's movie that premised a couple that snuck a night alone in an old 1950's bomb shelter. They woke up the next morning and Armageddon had come, all of the people were gone.

That is kind of how I feel today. Bertena is at her Dad's house this weekend and my parents (SAINTS!) have agreed to take Brandon. That just leaves William, Frank and I. So yeah, I feel like I woke up one morning and all of the people were gone!

It is eerie quite for a Saturday. I haven't heard "MOM! MOMMY?!" even once today. This is a perfect opportunity to get Brandon's toy's shoveled out without him here to protest. Only problem is Frank isn't feeling well, (shocker) and he is asleep down stairs where I wanted to work. At least I have his closet cleaned out.

Before William was born I developed a pretty efficient system for the mountains and mountains of laundry that go though this house on an average week. It works great, and for the most part I really can keep the laundry monster at bay. But like most systems, it requires periodic attention... and when Mommy gets sick, the whole system goes to hell in a hand basket.

Exhibit A

This is clean laundry.

I had a hired a girl to come help me on Monday, but the weather got crappy and she rescheduled for Friday. Yeah, Friday came and went and she didn't show. But I just kept washing the laundry and throwing it on that pile knowing that eventually I would get to it.

Because I can't sort or throw ANYTHING away with Frank under foot, I knew that the equally huge pile of toys downstairs would have to wait for later.

Not to waste time, I crossed my heart, drew my sword, and engaged in battle with the Laundry Monster!

I got this much done before William needed a clean bum and a boob.

I got this much done before Frank came in. He called me earlier to tell me he was going to be late for lunch, and not to cook anything because we needed to eat up the leftovers in the fridge.

I nodded my agreement, because truthfully.....I hadn't planned on cooking shit because I had laundry to fold.

It's better when he thinks it is his idea.

He came in for lunch and said, "Baby, I only want half a plate to eat. I have a bad headache."

I said: "Ok. Then warm yourself up half a plate."

I think Frank was shocked that I wasn't jumping up to "serve him" but he recovered quickly when I said, "Or you can fold the rest of this laundry and I will make sure I only warm you up half a plate!" (I also gave him a loving smile)

I'm BAACK!

2011-02-23T15:51:00.000-06:00

As William is getting older and calming down a bit, I have found my thoughts are slowly drifting back to the things that I used to think of pre-new baby.

The nannies are going to start kidding here in a week, so two weeks after that fresh goats milk will once again be a staple in our house. I am stealing moments in the bathroom going through seed catalogs because I AM going to have a big garden this year if it KILLS ME! I also am beginning to look around again at the house and dreaming of paint colors and furniture that should go here or there instead of thinking of how messy the place is and wondering where Brandon dropped his library book or where William lost his pacifier.

I am also finally getting little projects that I have put off for too long done around the house and I am actually beginning to cook REAL meals again.

Ah yes, Life on the Farm is slowly returning to normal. Or as close to normal as it ever really was.

But First let me show you some new baby pictures, as I know that is why you came here anyway!

I'll start off with this one so you can see William in his natural state. He fusses quite a bit! Aunt Theresa said it best when she said, "Well he comes from a LONG LINE of demanding men!" More true words have never been spoken.

Speaking of Aunt Theresa, here is a picture of her and William getting to know each other for the first time!

William's eyes are actually OPEN for this one. I think they are going to be blue, but of course it will take up to a year to figure that one out.

I LOVE this picture and wish it was better. This is the first night that Mommy put her foot down and made William sleep in his bassinet. It was a battle of wills for sure, but eventually he saw things my way and settled down to sleep.

And one more time, William screaming.

On to other things.
This has been what Brandon's closet has looked like at its best for the past year. As long as he picked up his toys and I could shut the closet doors, I didn't really have the time or energy to mess with it. But in my efforts to become one of "those" Mom's, I decided this would be a simple household organizational project to get me back into the swing of things.

Not bad, but Brandon only really plays with the top layer of his toys.

I went to the local big box store and loaded up on clear storage containers. OK the rule of thumb that I learned was when you have as many storage containers as you think you will need, DOUBLE it.

I also finally got Brandon's curtain tie backs mounted to the walls, and the pictures that his Grandma Lois gave him of farm scenes hung on the walls. It is getting to be spring time so the flood of sunshine through the windows is a welcome sight!

There is the closet about half done, remember I ran out of storage totes. It looks really nice and I know Brandon is going to get a lot more use out of his toys now that they are sorted out and within easy reach.

I've been really good about keeping up Williams room. I had a great idea if I do say so myself, about organizing Williams clothes so that they are ready for the next baby. As he out grows his clothes, I wash them and put them into the diaper box. This way when the next baby comes I can see the size of the diapers on the box and know what size the clothes are in that box! Free and easy...My Favorite type of organization!

Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed that I don't get pregnant again too soon!

OH No you D'nt'!

2011-01-29T15:03:00.000-06:00

I have a confession to make.

I am becoming one of "THOSE Mom's." You know the type. The "helicopter" Mom's who never let their infants cry for one moment. The Mom who has hand sanitizer and band-aids at the ready, and is never far enough away at the playground for their child to fall off the Monkey bars or scrape the hide off their knees.

How did this happen to me?! I promise all of you normal Mom's out there, I will NEVER give you the un-approving self-righteous looks that usually accompany this type of behavior. Competitive Mommy-ing is VERY uncool. More uncool than Mini Vans and backpack style child leashes.

I didn't do it on purpose, and I sure as heck didn't see it coming with my THIRD child! But three days ago I busted out the Baby Bijorn.

GASP! I KNOW! Sinful!

Down-ward facing photo. No it isn't a hot new Yoga pose, it is the view I am becoming accustomed to when it comes to Sir William, the babe.
This is a picture of Mr. Grumpy-wanna nurse all the time. See he is happy and content and my house is quazi clean! And by Quazi, I mean that I am not at risk for becoming the next feature in an episode of "Horders" or of having DHS bust in and remove the kids.

I don't mean to make excuses for the premature busting out of the bijorn, but the lack of being able to finish anything around here was driving everyone crazy! I couldn't even finish dinner without having to adjust him in some way.

Yep this is me. You can see Williams' little skinny 2 week old legs sticking out of the baby Bijorn. (YES I did cover his legs with long socks after this photo was taken.) You don't think I would haul his little butt around on my stomach and let him catch his death with cold did you?!

I will also confess that the shirt I am wearing is a prop. I mean it. Normally I only wear William and a nursing bra, so I can just unfold the flap, hook him on and finish dinner or the laundry. I put a shirt on before this picture was taken because after three C-Sections two weeks postpartum, my stomach is a horror story.
Your Welcome!

6 of one, half dozen of the other...

2011-01-24T17:09:00.000-06:00

I show off the fact that my laundry is ALL done, folded and put away in order to confess to you dear readers this.....

My kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes.

Shit.

Talk about feeling like a dog chasing his tail! At least I can take comfort in the fact that I typically do my meal planning and kitchen "prep work" on Mondays so when I get this done it wont be so bad tomorrow.

In the mean time I am going to take William down to the laundry room and finish the rest of my blog because it's cleaner than the kitchen.

Daily Tid-bit

2011-01-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

Not much goings on around here. I have been trying to take it pretty easy, because contrary to my popular belief, I am NOT superwoman.

Today's task o' the day is Frank's fave work shirt. It is missing every button that originally came on the shirt except for the one that I used bright pink thread to replace a few months ago. I have no clue where the rest of the buttons went, but I will sew new ones on today....maybe even with fabric appropriate thread.

When I replaced the sole button I was teaching Bertena how to sew and she had hot pink thread in the machine. I just pulled off a yard or two and sewed on the button. I SHOULD cut it off and do the job properly, but I am kinda curious to know how long that hot pink thread button will last.

What can I say? My life is boring so I take amusement where it finds me.

The Amniocentesis Debockle

2011-01-20T19:34:00.000-06:00

For those of you who follow my blog, you know that last Monday the 10th I had a scheduled appointment for an Amniocentesis in order to make sure that William's lungs were fully developed and he was ready to be born on the 11th at 8 am.

Mom, my girlfriend Rebecca and I got to the hospital, I had blood work drawn, and they hooked me up to a monitor for an hour to do a non stress test.

Here is me pre-test. There weren't many smiles while the test was in progress! It was more mentally "painful" than physically painful.

Big baby bump! Wow, Hospital gowns are UNFLATTERING!

Mom and I joked that William is going to laugh and make fun of my laptop when he gets older due to the rapidly changing technology. Laptops in 20 years will be about as cool as 8 Track players.

After Dr. Marthers performed the Amniocentesis, I had to stay in the hospitial for another hour to make sure that the test itself didn't cause me to go into labor. I read that it can do that about 20% of the time. We went home and made plans for tomorrows birth.

THAT is when the phone call came. I was feeling kinda crappy so I laid down to rest a bit and I got a call from Dr. Marthers office. I couldnt' believe the voicemail! According to their tests my "level" what ever that means, was only 42 and it needed to be a 50 before they would take the baby. I was in shock and I was SO disapointed!

To add insult to injury I had to wait another week for my c-section and he was due to be delivered on my older sisters birthday. Not only do I have to be pregnant for another week, but my son is going to have to share a birthday with my sister that I have a rather strained relationship with. UUGGH!

So the first thing that I have to do is call everyone that I had originally told that I was going to have the baby on the 11th, and explain that I am NOT going to have a baby. NOT Fun!

(image from Google)

I kinda felt like this.

Long story short...I went into labor naturally at about 5 or 6 pm.
The rest is History!

The baby is here!

2011-01-18T17:47:00.000-06:00

OK. It has been about a week and I thought I should FINALLY update y'all on the baby~! I have started and stopped this post about 1000 times because you know how things are with a new little one in the house!

Enjoy!

Here is one last pregnant picture of me! This was right before the amnio. THAT is another story for another time.

William Michael was born at 4:01am on 1-11-11! Cool Birthday huh? He weighed 7 lbs 1 1/2 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long.

Here is Daddy and William! Frank was SO unbelievably amazing. I have to tell you that story too another day. He never stops surprising me in a GOOD way!

Oh sleepy, beautiful, amazing baby!

This is a picture of Frank and the most amazing doctor EVER! It is the anesthesiologist and I think I fell in love with that man the second he put the needle in my back! All Hail the harbinger of the pain meds!

Mommy, Daddy, and William! You will have to forgive my lack of makeup and hair style, I was busy bringing that beautiful baby into the world!

The reason I think I never get anything done...

2011-01-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

Everyday I look at my "To Do" list and wonder why I can never seem to get ANYTHING done! Lately with the baby arriving in less than 5 days, I have been in a semi-panic trying to at least clean the upstairs of the house before we bring home William. Same ol' same ol' I just never seem to accomplish anything, but I know I have been busy all damn day long.

Yesterday I decided to document my day and I think I finally figured out the reason why.This house is too big, and I have no help from anyone else. I seem to scurry from task to task and once I get one bathroom cleaned Frank or one of the kids has been in there and they have destroyed it all over.

This shit is ending NOW. I am going to take a page out of my sisters notebook and just start nagging. Her husband actually helps out around the house because if he doesn't she makes his life an audible living hell. I think I am going to start doing the same instead of feeling so overwhelmed, powerless, and resentful.

It just occurred to me yesterday that in the 3 years we have been together, Frank has NEVER and I do mean NEVER done a load of laundry, never cleaned a toilet, swept a floor, vacuumed a room, or changed a single sheet on a bed. Once in ages he will put his own dishes into the dishwasher and I think he has emptied the dishwasher maybe 3 times. And to tell you the truth it doesn't really bother me that much. What REALLY bothers me is the fact that he will pile his dirty clothes in the entryway hall instead of taking ONE more step and putting them down the shoot. The fact that the dishwasher will be hanging open and he will leave his dishes on the table and not bother to just slide them into the dishwasher. The fact that he will tear through a pile of clean, folded, put away shirts, messing up them all in order to grab the one at the bottom of the pile and leaves the rest thrown all over his closet. And the fact that he won't take his dirty under wear out of his dirty jeans. UUGUGGH!!

That shit PISSES ME OFF!

I decided to document an average day in order to see it for myself and decide what changes I need to make in order to de-stress my life a bit because we are adding another family member VERY soon.

The day always starts at 6am or so when I get the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door to school at 7:30. Then I make breakfast for Frank and wake him up just before it is done around 8. 8:30 or 9am Frank is out the door and I typically spend about 30 minutes organizing my day, drink a cup of coffee, and get any lists together I need.

First 20 minutes is spent cleaning up the kitchen because if I let it go even one day, it is a NIGHTMARE of biblical proportions, and I am a firm believer in the fact that if your kitchen is clean, the rest of the house can be a bit dusty and cluttered and it doesn't show as much.

I needed to take the garbage out so I bagged it up...

And THIS is what my eyes were greeted with when I opened the cabinet. BOTH cans were over flowing and of course no one except for me will take out the bag and replace it with new, so what didn't fit into the can was tossed BEHIND the trash can.

I had to empty both the burnable and non-burnable trashcans, replace the liner, pick up the trash on the floor and sweep and wipe the floor clean in the cabinet so that it wouldn't stink!

This is the famous spot that frank throws all of his clothes, or he will use the handles of my pantry cabinets as "hooks" for his clothes he is going to "wear just one more time." This is going to stop because there is a huge line up of hooks along the wall in the garage and I am going to throw out his clutter there and make it so he can access those hooks. This dirty pile of clothes and shoes makes me NUTS.

On my way out to the garage to put the trash out I see someone who's name I won't mention, but the first letter starts with Frank, tracked in muddy foot prints and tons of dirt. The photo didn't turn out but you can see the tracks all the way down the stairs and up into the back hall clear as day. Can't blame this one on Brandon....the prints are size 12.

So after I swept it up as best as I could I decided I don't really have time to mop the stairs and besides I am 38 freaking weeks pregnant! But since I did haul my ass all the way to the basement I might as well do a quick load of laundry.

While I was putting away the clean linens in the linen closet in the "chicken bathroom" I see this mess all over the sink. WTF?! SO I spent about 10 minutes cleaning that up and I realize this bathroom is really dirty and needs a good scrub, but it is going to have to go onto the list for tomorrow. I do a quick once over and force myself to back slowly out of the room.

Mail lady came! Whoot! I have packages which is a nice distraction. Of course I have to open them now.

One package is 5 pairs of 12H jeans for Brandon. I put them immediately by the sewing machine so that they can get hemmed up before getting put away, and one package contains the new pretty vintage glasses I ordered.

I LOVE these glasses and I think every woman who is over 30 deserves good sheets, good towels and good dishes.

This is my glasses cupboard now. A mush-mash of old unmatched glasses that have come from God knows where. I think I deserve to have some pretty glasses for company or just for enjoying an ice cold diet coke.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that it really IS January 5th and I haven't put away the Christmas decorations yet.

William's hospital bag is packed along with his car seat at the ready.

My bag is quasi packed, the stuff I use everyday will have to be tossed in on the fly or someone will have to bring it to me later.

Brandon's room needs to be cleaned up but I can't get too mad at him.....

Because my bedroom is WORSE! Embarrassing. It is almost 11 and I haven't even made the beds yet.

Holy crap speaking of 11 it is a quarter after and I have an OBGYN appt at 11:30 gotta GO! Yeah I dropped a jar of canned corn onto the face of my blackberry this summer and I haven't gotten around to sending it in for an insurance replacement. I probably won't do it either until it either A. Completly dies on me, or B. cuts my face so badly I need a plastic surgeon. That is just how I roll.

Get back from the doctor and realize I haven't written my thank you notes for Christmas yet. A bigger problem than yesterday when they weren't written because my Sister-In-Law Kim, has not only written hers, but it has arrived at my house today. DAMN IT! I have to get that done today before the baby comes and I forget.
I spend about an hour and a half writing 6 thank you notes and getting them addressed, stamped, and ready to go out.

Yeah...here is a bit of insight to my "nesting psychosis". The fact that the dusty Christmas decorations are still out all over the palace in January doesn't seem to bother me a bit. The fact that the toilet seat in the master bathroom is old, and never seems to quite come clean when I scrub it and the fact that the shower curtain is ripped a little and dirty at the bottom, bothers me to NO END!

Like the baby is going to request a different Mommy if I don't immediately go to the store, replace these items, and get them installed TODAY. I know it makes NO sense....but I did it.

Another portion of "nesting psychosis" I went through was the shoe laces in Frank's Doc Martin's and the shoe laces in Brandon's snow boots were worn out and I had to immediately replace them. I long to be the type of woman who has shoelaces on hand and who never makes her son go to school with broken laces in his snow boots for two weeks before I remember I need them at Wal-Mart, but needless to say I am not quite there yet.

OK. Christmas decorations are taken down and put away. What a dusty mess they have left behind, but that is going to have to wait until after I feed Frank lunch and get that cleaned up and get him out the door again.

Now I just need to beg Frank to take this stuff downstairs and put it somewhere close to the closet under the stairs so that it is ready for next year. Yeah that MIGHT happen.

The End of Christmas Reckage

2010-12-30T17:18:00.000-06:00

I noticed today that the table I keep in the dining room to hold my uncompleted "projects" was actually empty! Well notice there are about 4 piles of things under and around it that I have to get to, but the projects that I had separated out and placed into bins WERE done and put away!

That is a good feeling because I have a few things that I would like to get done before baby arrives.
The most pressing on my list are getting Brandon's jeans hemmed. It is an absolute NIGHTMARE to keep him in jeans because a 12 husky is too tight and a 14 husky is way too loose. He looks like I don't love him his clothes are so ill fitting! I am about to just throw up my hands and send him to school in sweat pants.

The next thing I really want to get to is to make fleece hats and mittens for the kids out of my sleep sack remnants.

Oh yeah and I want to make some of THESE!.....

Is this the best or WHAT?! A nursing cover up that allows you to look down at the baby on your breast, and doesn't sweat him out with a blanket when the weather warms up! BRILLIANT! I bought the boning on EBay and I need to carve out some time to get them made up. I have some great vintage fabric in my fabric horde that is screaming to be used for this purpose!

Does anyone else's dining room table look like this or is it just me?
This is the last of the Christmas gifts that need to be put away. The kids are spoiled BEYOND all recognition.

Ok, one last question. Has anyone else ever lost one of their kids in the HOUSE?! Sounds dumb, but I was getting a bit concerned. If I can lose a 110lb. 4'9 6 year old, what hope is there for me keeping track of a newborn?!

While I was busy working this afternoon I noticed an eerie silence coming from the living room where my son was supposed to be playing while I worked in the dining room. When I went in there, no Brandon. I went downstairs to the "Man Cave" and he wasn't there either, nor was he outside. I started to get a little concerned when he didn't answer me, so I went to put away some of his new books and I found him. (See what I mean about the jeans that don't fit?!)

You just have to love a 6 year old kid that puts himself down for a nap!

A Good Day

2010-12-30T16:35:00.000-06:00

The weather has been so unseasonably AMAZING today that I have been able to waddle my big pregnant butt outside to clean up a few messes and clear away the melting snow.

It feels more like early spring here on the farm and not smack dab in the middle of winter! The snow has melted away and it is actually a bit balmy!

Here are a few pictures of my goats grazing the day after Christmas.

Here is a picture out my kitchen window today! What a difference a little sunshine makes!

It is nice to get a "fresh start" to the snow, especially when you can see our 1/4 of a mile lane off to the left in this picture. We have a new baby due to arrive in 12 days- and a clean and clear lane is a real blessing! One of the things that I am paranoid about is that I will go into full blown labor, Frank will be away from his phone dinking around with some cattle and the ambulance won't be able to get to me due to the drifting snow!

Christmas and Family

2010-12-28T13:31:00.000-06:00

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I LOVE these people!

It seems amazing to me that my entire world revolves around these three people. When William arrives it will be four, but for right now at this moment in time, when you look at the people in this picture - you are looking directly into my heart.

All of my dreams, hopes, ambitions for the future. From the moment I wake up in the morning to the second I fall asleep at night these are the people I am thinking of. All of my blood, my sweat, my tears, my passion, joy, and pain begin and end here with them. My family!

We might be a modge podge, mis-matched bunch, but we are a family none the less and we have love in spades.

I love you all so much! Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring as many blessings as the last!

Boy's room

2010-12-28T13:19:00.000-06:00

As Christmas winds down to a close, I am still putzing around getting things that annoy me done before the baby arrives.

One thing that I have put off and put off because quite frankly I didn't want to deal with it, was Brandon's stash of trophies. He has two years of pedal pulling trophies in his bedroom and I need to get last years down stairs onto the bare shelves and make his room look a lot less visually cluttered. It will also cut way down on the dust collection in here!

Yeah it is a little out of control and with them all shoved up there it just looks messy.

Here is a picture of the quilt Grandma Lois made for him out of his Dad's old jeans. He LOVES it!

Stuffed in the little pockets of the quilt were prizes and toys. Lois got him these little blocks with his name on them and they are so cute!

Here is the big box full of trophies that need to go downstairs along with a new jug of fabric softener. As thrifty as I am and I do make my own laundry soap, I still just cannot give up the yellow capped Downy. I just LOVE love love how it makes the house smell and how static free the laundry turns out.

I saved back his two best trophies. His winning the Iowa State Fair, and his first place trophy for being number one in the state of Iowa in his division. I think the top of his dresser looks SO much nicer now!

Along with clearing up the stuff that drives me nuts, I am also taking care of some of the stuff that drives my Mother nuts. She is going to be staying here for a few weeks after the baby is born to help out because I can't do stairs after my C-Section, and Frank really depends upon me as a support person.

No laundry (washer and dryer are downstairs) and no help for Frank for 6 weeks just simply isn't an option and so we are really blessed that she is able to step up to the plate and help us out.

I am not, nor have I ever been much of a clock person. Don't get me wrong, I OWN clocks, I have clocks hung in various spots around the house, I just don't really ever look at them and when the battery runs out I don't notice.

It drives my mother CRAZY and so I went around to each room and changed the battery's in the the clocks and set them to the correct time. She will be a happy camper when she sees!

Nursery additions

2010-12-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

Frank and I got an unbelievably large amount of CUTE stuff for Baby William this Christmas. I think it came as a shock to Frank when most of his presents were gifts for the baby! He jokingly said that he got "screwed" and everyone laughed. I just told him that it wasn't about him anymore Daddy!

Theresa, Frank's sister got some of the cutest stuff I had ever seen! I have caught myself going into the nursery twice just to coo over the monkey things she picked up for the new baby.

First there was these booties and the hat! ADORABLE!

These three monkeys have magnets in the hands so that they will clasp their hands like this or string together. I love these little monkeys so much I don't really want to give them to a drooly baby!

But my two favorites are this vintage inspired cymbals monkey from Mom and Dad and this large blue sock monkey from Aunt Theresa! HOW cute are they! There is also a plush monkey rattle that is soft and easy to grasp. TOO much fun!

Christmas Morning 2010

2010-12-26T11:53:00.000-06:00

Christmas was a huge success. As I write this I still have memories of full tummies, a very messy house, and the sounds of squeels of laughter coming up from the rec room downstairs!

Brandon and Bertena got most of what they wanted, plus a few special suprises that they didn't even know were coming!

Opening up stockings from Santa is always a special treat!

Wii stearing wheels so that they don't have to share one and they can race eachother.

Mama and Papa got Bertena a shake and malt mixer along with a ton of good candy and icecream so that she can make homemade Blizzards for the family! There was a toy one on the market with a crank handle, but I told Mom not to get that one for her because it would just break in a week. This one is a Hamilton Beach so it is high quality.
She will probably end up taking it to college with her where the icecream and m&m's will be replaced with Ice and tequilla.

Communal "big" present from Frank and Mommy....

A lap top of their own so that one can be on Mommy's and one can be on the shared computer! I think they were very suprised and VERY happy!

Afterwards it was time to eat Christmas Breakfast. Grandma was the cook and she rocks out a mean breakfast! I have to admit though it felt wierd to be sitting at the table while someone else was serving up the grub~!

Even Bertena ate a hearty breakfast!

Grandma you are the BEST!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T10:22:00.000-06:00

Just thought I would check in with everyone and wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here are a few of the pictures I took of the Greiner Christmas Eve. In the pink is my niece Elizabeth, and of course Brandon and Bertena. This is the anticipatory moment where they are holding their first present to open, but they haven't yet been given the red light to GO!

This is Frank's middle brother Matt, and his wife Janet. He is the third born out of five. On her lap is my other niece Catherine. They are just little dolly's to look at them, but they are full of spunk and fire when you meet them! I LOVE that about them and I just laugh and laugh as I watch them roll and tumble around.

There is Grandma. I wish this picture had turned out better!

Here is Dad and Brandon looking over the new quilt that Grandma Lois made him. She made them with the jeans pockets out of Frank's old pants and she stuffed toys and treats in each pocket! It was a VERY special gift and I know right where I am going to put it in Brandon's bedroom to show it off.

Here is Matt checking out a new tee shirt~!

Pink is your color Matt! I suppose when you are the only Man in a house full of women, you get used to the color pink!

You can just tell by looking that this little cutie doesn't get her picture taken much! Yeah right! I said, "Elizabeth! Show me what you got!" She turned around, saw me with the camera and just instantly put on this angelic smile and posed with her new toy. ADORABLE!

The ol' 96er, or the 72er

2010-12-23T12:52:00.001-06:00

Does anyone remember this hilarious skit from the movie The Great Outdoors?

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Frank ordered himself an early Christmas present, a 72 inch flat screen LCD television. Yeah. It is going into his "Man Cave" and he just lights up and dances around the house when ever he even thinks of it. Every day he come home from working or in for lunch and asks me if it has arrived yet. Like you wouldn't notice a 72 inch television is in the house!

This ought to be interesting because the damn thing will need to be mounted to the wall, I imagine it will be dangerous and top heavy otherwise. I can just see one of my beloved children becoming smashed by it falling! Of course Mr. Cheap didn't pay to have someone come mount it to the wall and I can see him doing something like propping it up in the corner and then having a cow if anyone sneezes upstairs for fear of them knocking it down.

I probably will end up having to take it upon myself to hire Lyons Appliance or someone to hang the darn thing safely when it arrives.

More on the matter later.

Chore time!

2010-12-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

This morning I have a lot of loose Christmas ends to tie up. I woke up and made some homemade sausage and gravy over biscuits. It was pretty darn good considering it has been a really LONG time since I have had to make a roux. After I had my men fed I sent them out to chore so that I could get some work done around here.

I bundled Brandon up good and tight, but he wanted to make sure he took one of his batugan's with him in case Dad did something dangerous and he got left in the pick up for a bit.

He reminds me of that kid in "A Christmas Story" where he can't put his arms down! LOL

Here is my favorite picture of my little Farmer-In-Training! Muaah! Love you DoneDone!

The best ham Brine EVER!

2010-12-22T16:46:00.000-06:00

Christmas dinner is going to be at our house this year and I get to make the main dish. I chose ham because after Thanksgiving this year I am pretty turkeyed out. I saw this recipe on Cook's Illustrated TV one Saturday and I have modified it and I think it makes the best Ham known to man. I thought I would share it with you step by step as we go along.

The thing to remember about this recipe is that you have to start it a few days in advance. It can be brined just over night, but if you plan ahead and brine it for a few days, you get much better results.

What you need for the brine is...

4 cans frozen apple juice

2 sm containers cloves

6 cinnamon sticks

2 tbs. nutmeg

1 cup of Honey

I use the frozen juice because you need about 2 gallons of the stuff and if you buy pre-packaged apple cider it will cost you about $20. Now I don't know about you, but I think spending $20 for a brine is insane. When ever I see frozen apple juice on sale I grab it and usually it is only about $1.50 a can.

Combine all of the ingredients and bring it to a boil in a large bottomed pan. You don't want to lose much to evaporation and a large bottom pan brings the mix to a boil more quickly and you lose less volume. While this is going on your kitchen is going to smell like HEAVEN!

Find a stock pot that is just big enough to fit your ham. You want to do your best to cover it as much as possible but also save brine. After the mixture is boiling pour it over your frozen bone in ham and let it sit for a day. When you use a frozen ham you don't have to refrigerate it until it has thawed. This time of year I sit it outside if temps don't drop below freezing with a brick on top of the lid so nothing gets into it. If it is below freezing put it in the garage if you don't have a spare fridge.

Trust me, this brine is WORTH IT!

My funny Brandon

2010-12-22T09:50:00.000-06:00

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this kid. He is my baby, at least for a couple of more weeks. He makes me laugh so hard that my stomach hurts and he never stops amazing me with some of the pretty sophisticated insight he comes up with!

Long story short, Brandon's biological father dropped out of the picture about 4 years ago. We hadn't heard or seen much from him in all of that time until about 4 months ago. I got a yahoo instant message from him saying that he had this "anonymous source" who told Brandon's father's father, that Brandon wasn't his biological child......yeah confused yet? Wading through that big of a bullshit tale will confuse anyone. M as I will refer to Brandon's sperm donor, claimed that I had told someone who then told his dad that M wasn't the natural father. M wanted a DNA test and he wanted to be let out of his childsupport obligation. The thing was that he didn't really pay childsupport that often.

Frank and I sat down and we decided that we should "Make it official" and because for all intensive purposes Frank WAS Brandon's dad, we would start proceedings on Frank's formal adoption of Brandon.

That hearing was yesterday and it went VERY well. M appeared via telephone and he admitted that in the past 4 years he has not attempted to phone Brandon, send him a birthday or Christmas present, nor has he attempted to seek visitation. I was surprised that he didn't burst out with his usual "blame Karey for everything" drama he had during our few email exchanges. He stoically answered the questions and didn't attempt to blame anyone for his actions.

My attorney asked him again if he had in fact signed over his parental rights, if he still wanted to sign over his parental rights, and if he regretted doing so. He admitted that he did not wish to back out.

At the end of the hearing M showed his true colors and shocked everyone including the judge when he asked if as of that moment he didn't have to pay child support or cover Brandon's medical insurance! The judge snapped up her head in shock and then just shook her head in disbelief. My attorney admitted that at the moment when a biological father is about to lose all rights to his child, she had never heard the sole and only concern to be money that he wasn't consistently paying anyway.

The judge explained to him that she wasn't going to be able to issue the order of termination of parental rights until tomorrow, and then it might take a bit for the originating county of the child support order to process the paperwork. He would then be notified of the termination of the court order. She then explained to him that it would take more than one day to complete the process and he was going to have to be patient.

Frank testified at the trial and spoke of his and my relationship, his and Brandon's relationship, and testified to the fact that he and Brandon had a normal father and son relationship and that he cared for Brandon like his own. It melted my heart to see him speak so lovingly about us, the future baby, and of course Brandon.

This morning while Brandon and I were waiting on the bus he asked me if the "doption" was done because he needed me to help him learn how to spell "Greiner" because in Kindergarten they were going to start working on writing their last names. It just came out of his mouth so pure and innocent and matter of fact that I started to cry! Brandon asked me what was wrong and I honestly answered, "Nothing." It just filled me so full of happiness that my son finally has a stable, loving, and amazing father figure in his life now. Some one who loves him, appreciates him, and will help guide him.

I really boned up the first one and I am so blessed that we found Frank. Thank God for second chances!

Fu^&ing Mural

2010-12-22T09:12:00.000-06:00

This mural is seriously going to be the death of me!

I went into the baby's room yesterday to put away a few odds and ends that I had picked up in anticipation for the babies arrival, and I saw this leaf off the mural laying on the floor.

With dread in my heart I looked up to find THIS!

WTF! I grabbed the Aleene's Tacky Glue and got to work. It is driving me absolutley CRAZY that I have to constantly be messing with this damn thing, but now it has become something of a personal vendetta! It is me vs. the mural and I refuse to let it win.

HaHa! Take that! Although I am sure this won't be the last time I have to fix the darn thing, I have my trusty bottle of glue at the ready by the monkey lamp!

Homework Bootcamp

2010-12-21T11:52:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I got an email from Bertena's teacher that, SHOCKER, she was was behind in her homework and all emails and phone calls to her father were going unanswered. I am not quite sure why the problem got so out of control before the teacher notified me, but now that I am aware of it Bertena and I have been knee deep in Homework bootcamp.

We got over 30 pages of homework done this weekend and although there was a lot of frustration flying back and forth both ways, I am very proud of how hard she worked and how much she accomplished.

It is so difficult in a "split parent" situation to accept the traits of your children that are so obviously from the other parent. The lack of structure at her father's house KILLS me especially when it adversely affects my daughter.

I also HATE the fact that I am thrust into the "bad cop" role yet again, but if her academic success is hanging in the balance, it is a role I am more than willing to take on.

The Belly Cast

2010-12-18T18:26:00.000-06:00

A while ago I spoke of making the belly casts. I wasn't sure if I would like it but the kit was only $30 so I ordered it online and it arrived VERY shortly later. I guess the good people at Proud Body Belly Casts know that their clientele is working under a pretty tight deadline and they haul ass to get their products out!

Mom helped me do it because lets face it, someone has to touch your bare breasts and Frank isn't much of a crafter. She did an awesome job and it turned out really great! It looks a lot more sculptural than some of the ones I have seen and less "arts and crafts time".

Here is the raw cast. Looks pretty good but I do have to admit that it is weird looking at yourself in 3 dimensions like that. I always knew I wasn't the chestiest thing in the world, but GEESH! Thank goodness Frank is a leg man. Oh yeah and he is a bold faced bad ass liar. Ever since I got pregnant one of my breasts is significantly larger than the other. Like pregnancy doesn't morph your body in strange and terrifying ways anyway I have misshapen boobs too. Frank said to me, "Baby it isn't that noticeable."

Yeah he is a damn liar, GOD BLESS HIM!

Big baby belly!

Here is a picture after I applied the "smoothing paste" to it. It looks much more life like and you can't see the mummy wrap. After I give it a day or two to dry I will lightly sand it and apply a sealer. I then think I am going to paint it a opalescence gun metal grey and hang it in Frank's and my bedroom. I hope it turns out well because I want it to look like a piece of art and not a hokey craft project gone wrong.

Old Photos and Old Treasures

2010-12-18T18:03:00.000-06:00

I have been on a big picture kick lately and a lot of my time has been spent sorting through old pictures. It has been a fun distraction and I can't wait until I get my Craft Area cleaned out so that I can start scrapbooking some of the pictures that I have found.

I thought that I would share a few with you.

It is 1983 and I am rocking the kindergarten vibe. This is Cheryl Lynn Suby and I on our first day of kindergarten. Obviously I am the one on the right. We were over the top cool with the strawberry shortcake and Miss Piggy book bags!

MAN ol' man look at the feet on me! It was a harbinger of things to come as I am a size 12 in adulthood.....SOB! We are posed next to the first new car my Mother ever owned, a Chevy Chevette. I learned how to drive in that car that was how good of care my Mother took of it. Eventually it got stolen twice by some psychotic stalker my Mother had and went to the dump. Good memories.

The little redhead with the pig tails in the middle is me with my arm around a boy, that too was a harbinger of things to come! I think his name was Brett and I remember that he was really smart. See even in Kindergarten I took after the boys with the brains.

Here is Cheryl and I getting onto the school bus. We really knew we were HOT Stuff!

Speaking of "Hot Stuff" here is a picture of Frank in his Westpoint Cadet uniform. SWOON! How did I get so lucky and bag a hottie pattotie like him?

This is my little brother Arron in the boats at Adventureland circa 1983 or 1984. What a little cutie! Every time I look at his baby pictures I see Brandon because they look SO much alike. When ever Brandon and Uncle Arron go anywhere people stop him and tell him how much "his son" looks like him. Arron gets it so much that he doesn't even bother to correct them and just says. "Thanks!"

Another thing that I have been doing is going through old boxes of mine that have been stored in the Morton Building. It is a dirty and tedious process, but I did stumble across a jewelry box of mine that has some pieces that I have been praying that turn up! It makes the drudgery worth it and steels your nerves to dive through another box even when you know you are going to end up throwing half of it out.

Boxes like this one. There are kids clothes and hangers in here. I sent the clothes through the washer and boxed them up YET AGAIN so that I could donate them to the women's shelter. There was also old shoes of mine. They got donated too, but I am not sure how much call there is for size 12 women's dress shoes.

Craft room crusade

2010-12-15T17:33:00.000-06:00

I have been having contractions off and on for the last couple of days so I know it isn't going to be long until this little one arrives. Brandon was born 3 days from today gestational age, and Bertena came two weeks from today.

I try to get a bit done here and there as I feel up to it and this evening I told Brandon that I was going to go downstairs to work on organizing my Craft Area. Brandon just looked at me in a puzzled way and said, "What is a Craft Area?" I told him it is the area downstairs that is off limits to him and his sister. Still he had no idea what I was talking about. So I told him that it was the square space downstairs where all of my fabric, sewing machines, and scrap booking stuff was. He looked and me and said, "OH that place downstairs where all of your crap is all piled up?"

Yes Brandon that is the place. Thank you Mini-Frank.

Here is the Before Picture. I know it is hard to believe, but this is what was left after I had gone through it once.

This section of boxes is on my "hit list". Some of these boxes I haven't opened since I moved out of the apartment I had in college. Man I have a lot of craft supplies!

Here it is from the back side. That dress form is still the size of my niece when I made her summer dress for her high school graduation.....in 2006.

One last look...

Taa Dah! See I can actually accomplish something when I am 9 months pregnant! It doesn't look like much progress, but a few more days like this one and I will have it knocked out!

That big empty space fills me with hope for the future of the Craft Area. Maybe before the baby comes it won't look like Area 52!

Utility room VICTORY!

2010-12-14T10:41:00.001-06:00

Ahh the Utility Room, how I used to hate thee....

The harbinger of nastiness, the beacon of drudgery, the hall of all things menial and monotonous.

I would have a physical reaction when ever I knew that I had to do anything in there and eventually it just really became dirty and stacked full of crap that I had no idea of what to do with. I am embarassed to admit that at its worst I didn't even empty the garbage can of dryer lint!

No more. It is clean, organized, and useful once again! When I finished my coffee, did up the breakfast dishes, and kissed Frank goodbye for about the 10th time, (I am getting a little more needy and clingy to him as my pregnancy nears the end.) I HAPPILY went downstairs and did a load of laundry and started another.

Oh ironing board....I missed you! We are going to rekindle our romance as I actually really do like starching and ironing Brandon's and Franks' shirts, Bertena's pretty outfits, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE pressing out new sewing projects.

See that itty-bitty little pile of laundry at the corner of the washer! I know right! That is all of the laundry that I have to do in the entire house! The table that is kinda floating out in the middle of everything is an awesome place to fold and put away because about 60% of the laundry has to be put away down here anyway.

It was so stupid for me to haul it all upstairs, fold it, sort it, and haul it downstairs to be put away. All of Frank's work clothes, Bertena's clothes, and about 50% of the linens are housed down here. The only stuff that needs to be put away upstairs are the dish clothes, Brandon's wardrobe and my clothes. Frank's good clothes are also put upstairs in our bedroom but I bet I do a load of good clothes for him about once a month if that!

Here is my "Canning kitchen." It is neat and tidy and organized. I need to clean out the fridge and freezer as it hasn't been wiped out in a while and I have bannana's I have been saving up in the freezer that I want to make bananna bread out of. That will happen later.

These are the shelves in Frank's Bathroom. I have them all sorted and neat and I had a sit down with Frank about not rooting through the clothes and making a mess. He has been SO good this past week about putting his dirty clothes into the basket and NOT destroying the neatly folded piles when he gets himself dressed in the morning.

I went through all of his work clothes because they were completly out of control. I donated about 3 boxes of stuff that didn't fit and Frank didn't even throw a fit. I think he realized that much of it he NEVER wore and it just junked up room and made me have to cram the stuff he uses into too small of a space. The homeless shelter will appreciate the work clothes for the husbands who stay there occassionally.

In return for his effort I promised to work harder at not letting him run out of socks and keeping the toilet cleaned. Hey if he aims it isn't such a disgusting mess!

Here is Frank and Brandon's shower. Apparently it used to be a light yellow color because I scrubbed and scrubbed it and the yellow isn't rust stains it is the old paint showing through. Mildew builds up down there because I don't clean this room. I threw away the shower curtain that was black from about 1/3 of the way down along with the walls. There was also about 15 empty shampoo bottles just laying around in there and about 100 stuck to the floor slivers of soap.

After I scrubbed all of that up I decided that eventually I will need to scrape down this shower and paint it again, but PROGRESS not PERFECTION is the name of the game.

At least now I am not as worried about Brandon and Frank contracting a flesh eating virus taking a shower down here. Boys are SO gross!

Here is the Vanity. There was an inch of soap scum, used razors, whiskers, and just general disgustingness all over this. I tried cleaning it with a washcloth, but I quickly gave up and used paper towels that could be thrown away. The mess was just that bad. Now it looks SO nice and Frank actually cleaned his whiskers up the last time! My heart filled with love and I realized that maybe he isn't so hopeless after all!

It took me an entire day to get this bathroom cleaned and the Utility Room took 3. Once again I am indebted to my Mother because if it weren't for her helping with the cooking and child rearing, my time is broken into small, almost worthless chunks where you can't really get deeply into finishing anything without having to run upstairs and cook lunch, run to get Brandon off the bus, or run to attend to one of the kids.

It feels GOOD to have slayed that dragon!

Frustrations in the nursery

2010-12-14T09:19:00.000-06:00

If I'd of known then what I know now.....

Those words ring so true especially when it comes to the "Monkey Tree" in the baby nursery. I was so excited when Frank bought it, but when it arrived I knew I was in trouble! It came in seriously about 200 different pieces and it was stuck between two pieces of contact paper that made it VERY difficult to remove from the backing.

Add to that trying to attach it to a highly textured wall with nothing but a 9 year old for help, and well you know that disaster is looming in the back ground.

Bertena and I finally got the tree part up on the wall and we both agreed that we had enough for the day. We decided to let the leaves go until the next day. The next day we walked in and discovered THIS....

Almost the entire tree and fallen off the wall. That alone caused that Anger/Frustration/Sinking feeling in my stomach. But the worst was yet to be discovered. Once that fell off the wall it stuck fast to each other and all of the branches were a stuck together mess that just seemed to get worse and worse each time you tried to untangle it.

You see it looks like it is just the vinyl cling but it isn't. This particular wall mural is made of very cheap thin vinyl that has this super tacky surface on the back side. This tacky substance doesn't stick to anything except itself.

With tears welling in my eyes I just shut the door to the nursery and ignored the problem until my Mother arrived last week. I just couldn't even deal with it alone. If the damn thing hadn't cost about $130 I would have torn it off the wall, wadded it up into a little ball, and set it on fire in the lawn.

Here is the finished Mural! My mother was so amazing about not only helping me get the damn thing up onto the wall, but keeping me calm enough to see the process out. I am 100% positive that I would have NEVER gotten it done with out her. Several times she said, "Karey no one is going to know if it doesn't look exactly like the picture. Let's "free style" it and don't let your OCD get the best of you. It is going to turn out fine."

Of course she was right. She usually is about these types of things.

Every day or so when I go into that room I will see a part of the mural that is wanting to lift away from the wall. I grab the bottle of Aileen's Tacky Glue, the old fashioned stuff in the gold bottle, and I glue the part that has lifted away directly to the wall. It works like a charm and the good thing about Aileen's is that it is removable with normal wall paper paste remover.

Eventually I am going to have the whole thing shellacked to the wall. Mom and I joked that we wished there was a spray enamel we could spray over the top of it to make sure it didn't fall off the wall again. I laughed and said, "Sorry William, I know you are 16 but the Monkey Tree STAYS!"

Slowly but surely the nursery is coming around and Frank was right when he said that I am never going to be done with it. I am going to be dinking and dawdling around in there forever.

I think I am going to hang a long shelf over the top of this mural and put antique and vintage monkeys along it.

I'd also like to paint a height chart on one of the closet doors. I LOVE those things but we moved every two or three years with my older two kids.

The Greiner doll stands guard in Grandma Hays' rocking chair. I am sure sometimes she sees me putzing around in there and she just shakes her head and smiles.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-12T18:49:00.000-06:00

I don't feel super good and I am dog tired, but I had to get some blog posts up here. I have a ton of stuff that I want to show you that my Mom and I managed to get accomplished, but the rest are going to have to wait for another day.

First I wanted to show you the awesomeness that is my decorated home for Christmas! THANKS MOM!

It isn't a big secret that I am not a huge Christmas person. My mother is the ultimate in Christmas cheer and that gene must have skipped me. The house looks amazing though and I can't believe that she did all of this with just the crappy mismatched Christmas ornaments I had laying around the house and a few bucks spent at Goodwill! I told ya all she is amazing!

The Calvary is here!

2010-12-08T16:23:00.000-06:00

My Mom is here this week to help me catch up and do some things around this house before the baby comes. So far she has helped/motivated me beyond measure.

I won't be posting for the rest of this week, but prepare for some awesomeness this weekend after she leaves and I have a chance to take some pictures of the magic my Mother has worked!

Till then!

Putting up the tree

2010-12-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

Bertena's Monkey Bread

2010-12-06T21:14:00.000-06:00

One thing Bertena and I really enjoy doing together is cooking. It started out when she was little and of course every little girl wants to help Mommy in the kitchen. But once she was older I made sure that I included her in the meal prep thinking, (foolishly) that if she helped with the meal prep that she would actually eat more and different things.

She seems much more interested in baking than in normal day to day cooking, and even though I am a terrible baker I try and help her out anyway that I can. She decided Saturday night that she wanted to bake something so I sat her down with a stack of cook books and she chose Monkey bread!

She read the entire recipe, we assembled the ingredients and she whipped it up! The next morning before she woke up I put the Monkey Bread that had been allowed to rise all night into the oven and woke her up when it was finished baking.

Here is my little sleepy head holding her freshly baked Monkey Bread!

She is pretty proud!

It is over half eaten and that is just the damage Brandon, Bertena, and I caused! It was delicious!

Slow down Brandon! No one is going to take it away from you.

Bertena is digging into her first bite! She was very proud of herself and rightfully so. Brandon and I both thanked her for an awesome breakfast!

Soapin' with my Girl pt. 2

2010-12-06T20:18:00.000-06:00

The morning after Bertena and I made soap, it was time to take it out of the mold and cut it. It was a very exciting time for the kids and they both helped pound on the bottom of my refrigerator drawer, aka Soap Mold, in order to have the huge bar of soap hit the counter.

Presto! Thank heavens it came cleanly out of the mold. I really wanted Bertena's first soap making experience to be a really positive one with no bumps or hiccups.

It makes me nervous to see her using a knife, but I realize she is 9 years old and perfectly capable. Besides I wanted each step of the process to be hers.

She even let her brother cut a few bars. I thought that was quite generous of her.

Next came the time to lay the bars on the curing rack. The next weekend she is here they will be ready to wrap and give away to friends! She did a great job with the soap and now my dining room smells like cinnamon bun!

Kitchen cabinets, Not even half way there

2010-12-04T09:40:00.000-06:00

My kitchen cabinet crusade continues. Yesterday I took after the corner "dry goods" cabinet. This is the cupboard that I keep cereal, flour, sugar, baking supplies like choc. chips, almond bark, rice and muffin mix. This one was a real mess because I cook A LOT and eventually the things that don't get used very often push back and get stale, things spill, and I forget what I do have and what I don't have and everyone knows there is nothing worse than being in the middle of a recipe and not having one of the ingredients.

Because this is a corner cabinet, it is really deep and wide so it is easy for things to get lost in here.

Once again I am showcasing my talent for over packing a cabinet.

Ahhh Nice, clean, and organized. I was so inspired by knowing where all my baking supplies were that I baked my family two pans of fudgy brownies!

At first I went package by package checking dates and taste testing to see what was stale and what was fine. After my 3rd mouthful of stale crackers I just decided enough was enough and I was going to stop punishing myself. I gave it all to the chickens. They are going to eat good today!

Ok now what is this? Now I KNOW I didn't put this up in the cabinet. What you are looking at is a half eaten frosted Oreo cookie in it's plastic tray. I could tell by the teeth marks it was Brandon's. He probably snuck a cookie, decided he didn't like the taste and put the half he didn't eat back so that he wouldn't waste. Is he a Mini-Frank or what!

Soapin' with my Girl

2010-12-03T21:50:00.000-06:00

This evening after dinner the boys took off to go watch wrestling with Adam Bomb and that left Bertena and I some much needed alone time to craft! What we decided to make was soap!

Bertena picked out her additives and Mommy mixed up the lye solution. She chose cinnamon bun and oatmeal.

Bertena did a GREAT job mixing the fats and lye solution. We made a goats milk soap and used lard for our fat. She learned a lot about the soap making process, even if she couldn't remember how to pronounce "Soaponification."

Afterwards we wrapped up the bars that I have had curing for the past few weeks. We still have to wrap the raffia around the bars.

Good Job Boogie! I can't wait until tomorrow when we take her soap out of the molds and lay it on the rack to cure. She is planning on giving it as Christmas gifts to her special friends.

Random junk and complete bedlam

2010-12-03T16:19:00.000-06:00

Just another boring post today. I had every intention of really digging in and finishing the basement today before I had to go pick up Bertena today. Dad agreed to pick her up after school and at 4 after I picked up Brandon we were going to head on over. That left me with 7 uninterrupted hours to finish up down there.

Of course this is my life so it didn't quite work out that way.

I got a call from Bertena's school at about 10:45 that she was sick in the nurses office and she needed to be picked up. Because I didn't want her to have to wait an hour for me to drive down there and get her, I called my Dad and he agreed to pick her up and I immediately took off towards Amana to get her from Mom and Dad's house.

By the time I got back to the farm it was 2:45 which left me enough time to make my sick princess some hot chocolate and a small snack, run out and feed and water the rabbits and chickens, check on the goats, then jump into the car to have Brandon off the bus at 4pm. Whew!

But before my day derailed I accomplished this....

Hemmed another pair of Brandon's jeans. He is IMPOSSIBLE to keep in jeans because a 12 Husky is too tight and he swims in a 14 Husky. They also are WAY too long.

I always make sure I keep the original hem so that he doesn't look like a dork.

I also got around to at least STARTING to fix my friend Jennifer's work jeans. They have been sitting in my sewing basket for about 2 months. I am surprised she hasn't gotten pissed at me yet.

That is as far as I got before the phone call. I cleaned up the hole cutting away the fraying. Yep that's it, but at least it is a start.

I also made two batches of homemade laundry soap. The process makes the whole house smell fresh and clean!

I shoveled out the Tupperware cupboard.

Once again I am the queen of shoving 10lbs of shit into a 5 lb. sack. It's one of my many hidden talents.

It feels better just looking at that cupboard now. I forced myself to undergo a very strict purging process. If it didn't have a lid or if the lid didn't have a bottom it GOT THROWN AWAY~! No exceptions.

This closet was also cleaned out. Before it had so many unworn coats in it that the closet doors barely shut and you had to forcibly divide it to cram in the one or two coats in here that actually get worn! I am donating the out of style coats, the coats that don't fit anyone anymore, and the ugly coats to the homeless shelter.

Belly Casting

2010-12-02T10:31:00.000-06:00

I am thinking that I am going to do this. I haven't really been able to get it off my mind since I saw it and although the idea seemed silly and stupid when I was pregnant with my older children, now that I am getting older it seems kinda cool.

I will have to beg my friend Jennifer or my mother to help me because unlike in this Video, I don't think Frank will be the most willing helper! LOL

With my other two pregnancies the idea of doing a belly cast kinda sicked me out. Usually they look like bad art projects but I saw this one and it looked beautiful and scuptural too me.

I would want Frank's hands under my belly and not over my boob. I also really like this one.

Mom has agreed to do the casting for me so I am going to go ahead and order the kit. I think it is "this might me my last baby" euphoria that is coming over me!

Putzin'

2010-12-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

Well my magnesium deficiency has cleared up and I had about two days where I felt like a million bucks! I wouldn't have even known I was pregnant if my belly didn't keep bumping into everything that I walked past. My muscle spasms have stopped to the point where my back doesn't even really hurt anymore and my leg doesn't have me limping around like a 90 year old woman. I have more energy than I have in months, and that foggy head-in-the-clouds feeling lifted. I was able to concentrate on a bunch of things that I had been neglecting and I got a ton of work done around here. That lasted for two whole glorious days and I was struck down by a terrible cold!

I am coughing up a lung, I am snotty, have a headache, and a new development yesterday and this morning was that I have started to throw up every little thing that seems to upset my stomach. Fun fun!

None the less, I have been just putzin' around the house trying to get as much accomplished as I can. When I take a day off the house just falls the hell apart. I can't stand it!

My cabinet cleaning is coming along. I realized that I just wasn't putting all of the cabinets in my kitchen to good use of the space and that was adding to the stress and clutter. Case in point, my dry goods cabinet.
I am not sure how I managed to stuff all of this into that one little cupboard, but I did. Then of course you can't find anything and you end up with 4, yes 4 boxes of lasagna noodles. Crazy.

I cleared her out, wiped down the shelves and door, tossed to the chicken bucket what was stale and vowed to ONLY put what belonged in there back in there. The rest was moved to it's proper place.

Noodles, PB&J, Quick prepare meal items, and boxed snacks are the only things that were allowed to stay. I know it looks pretty empty, but it will fill up when I move these items out of the other cabinets where they don't belong.

I also need to get started wrapping the soap that has cured with pretty paper and getting it ready to sell and gift! That is a "fun chore" so I am saving it for later.

Another "fun chore" is to put the Monkey Tree decal up in the nursery! Frank bought it for the baby and I was over the moon happy! It is going to make it look SO cute! Caveat is that I ordered the wrong color Monkey, so by the time I get a chance to exchange it, I will actually have found the time to get the tree up.

Wish me luck. I am going to need it because that tree is in a billion pieces.

Here is also the fun polar fleece that I can't wait to cut into to make more baby clothes! Everyone and their mother has this stuff on clearance so I picked it up for on average 3-4 bucks per yard! I just LOVE touching it and day dreaming about all the cute stuff I am going to make!

Basement progress

2010-11-30T12:40:00.001-06:00

I have been busy. And by busy, I mean REALLY busy! I am finally feeling like a human being again because the Magnesium supplements are doing their job. It is like night and day peeps! My back pain has all but disappeared and I have more energy than I have had in MONTHS. My leg still bothers me some, but it isn't even close to the pain that I had before.

I have been really good at keeping up with my lists, but I know when to say when. When I get worn out I take a break or a nap because I know if I don't do that I will be worthless the next day.

But here are pictures of the progress I have made in the last two days!

This is the hallway downstairs. The first door on the left is the bathroom, the second is known as the "Red Bedroom". Right now it is a catch all for furniture that I haven't gotten put away or sold because there is no room for it. On the right is Bertena's bedroom.

Here is the F&$%ing pool table. When we moved into this house it was smack dab in the middle of the room. Russel, Frank's older brother asked me if he could have it. I nearly kissed him on the lips I was so excited to be rid of it. Obviously it is still there. Russel backed out and decided he didn't want it. I have tried to pawn it off other places, but like a lot of the items that were left behind in this house, no one wants it- but no one wants to allow me to get rid of it.

Frank and I had a major row about it shortly after we moved in here and I found out I was stuck with it. I asked him to help me move it over to where you see it now. Frank didn't want to so he told me that it was impossible "for 5 men to move! It stays where it is at."
Of course that pissed me off so I funneled that anger and I took the damn thing apart, moved it, and put it back together myself. SHE-RAH!

Now I am planning on covering it with cheap felt and letting the kids set up their train set on it so that it can stay up full time.

Wow, I need to get the carpets shampooed down there!

I can't wait to get in there and organize my craft supplies so that they are handy and easy to find. I have the shelves set up and once I get all of the heavy lifting done, I can use this room to create!

I found a TV. No shit, I really found a TV that I forgot that I owned. It is going to go upstairs in Frank's and my bedroom.

I also found a library book that the library had sent me a notice about. Bertena swore up and down that she put it in the drop box and we didn't have it. You can't really argue with the library so I ended up paying for it. I will return it and have a positive balance on my library account instead of the usual negative balance. I don't know what it is about me and my craving for library fines. I think I have probably paid for a new computer by now.

Here are the pictures of the before.before

101 ways to use up leftover Turkey

2010-11-29T11:33:00.000-06:00

Ahh Thanksgiving is over, but what a blessing it was! Friday we had my parents and friend Jennifer over for dinner. I felt terrible, but surrounding yourself with people who love you and good food has a way of putting you back into a better mind frame.

Sunday we all went to Kurt and Laurie's house for dinner. The whole family brings dinner pot luck style and everyone has their specialty. The only thing I am ticked I missed out on was my Cousin Megan's cheese cake. I completly forgot about it when I got tired and my muscles started screaming at me. All I could think about was home and getting my leg up.

Well I thought that I would post a bit about what I do to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey here at Casa La Greiner.

Pictured below is a creamed turkey and gravy. I LOVE to pour this deliciousness over fresh biscuts. It is a crowd pleaser.

And in this pot of lovely are the bones, fat, and eft over drippings. I boil the bones slowly all day long and make the worlds best turkey and noodles and turkey and rice.

What great ideas do you have for using up the left over turkey?

Magnesium Deficiency in Pregnancy

2010-11-23T17:50:00.000-06:00

For the past few weeks I have had some alarming pregnancy symptoms. I was bone chilling tired, my back and arm muscles would seize up resulting in a TON of pain and a day spent just trying to get the bare minimum done, and I was really anxious. My heart would race, I would get a headache, and I just generally felt nervous and on the brink of a panic attack. All of this came to a head on Sunday when I felt like I had a blood clot in my leg. My leg was hot, I could barely walk on it, and it felt as if someone shoved a hot poker into my lower calf.

Of course me being me, I tried to walk it off, elevate it, apply heat, and took some Tylenol. I didn't sleep a wink on Sunday night and by Monday morning I knew something was seriously wrong.

Because my Mother gets blood clots in her legs often, I knew some of the signs and symptoms. I was pretty scared because that can cause a life threatening problem so I called my doctor right away and went in. After examining me the doctor didn't think it was a blood clot, but I had an ultrasound just to be safe.

The lab work came back and I had a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is an essential metal in the body.

The symptoms of magnesium deficiency include fatigue, muscle cramps, edema, nervousness, restless legs, headaches, and pain. I had all of these symptoms but I wrote it off to just being big and pregnant. High blood pressure is also a side effect, but because my blood pressure normally runs kinda low, this symptom just put me into the "normal" range.

The doctor prescribed a pain medication for me along with a muscle relaxer. I also am taking 800 mg of magnesium supplements a day and have gone way out of my way to make sure that my family and I are eating a diet high in magnesium. Some helpful foods include...

whole grain breads and cereals, rice, pasta, oatmeal, wheat germ, nuts, peanut butter, soybeans, kidney beans, baked beans, bran, bananas, corn, artichokes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelon, dried fruits, oranges, grapefruit, limes, avocado, milk, yogurt, cheeses, meats, chicken, fish, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, seaweed and chocolate!

I have stayed on a strict schedule of my medication taking it every 6 hours. When I don't stay a head of the pain, it takes hours for me to be able to comfortably move around. My muscle "spasms" aren't really spasms at all but a constant tightening and contraction of the muscle that doesn't let up.

Castile Soap and Cupboard organization

2010-11-23T13:04:00.001-06:00

A lot has been happening around here since my last post. I have yet another pregnancy complication. Thankfully this time it is a pretty easy fix, but it has caused a lot of pain and down time along the way. Turns out I have a Magnesium deficiency which is causing my muscles to seize up and my feelings of anxiousness. I will blog about it later.

I have Bertena for 1/2 of her Thanksgiving break, so we have been filling our time doing fun little catch up things around the house because I can't stay on my feet for long periods of time.

Today we made Castile Soap with organic citrus peels. It turned out beautifully and is setting up in the refrigerator drawer "molds" as we speak. Later on this evening we will unmold it, cut it, and get it set out in the curing racks.

Bertena and I went to an estate sale on Friday and along with the molds, we picked up some tupperware. I just love the old fashioned tupperware because it was made to last! We picked all of these up for $5 and after I run them through the dishwasher, we can get them put away.

On my long list of things to get done before the baby arrives, is cleaning out all of my kitchen cupboards. I don't know why I chose to do this one first, but I did. Originally it was full of odds and ends glassware and bucket calf nutritional supplements. Talk about a waste of space! Now it is neat and tidy and is going to be home to glassware I actually use, but not as often.....Old bowls I use to set out things in, my bulk spices, and my coffee stash. It looks SO nice and has freed up a bunch of space in my other cabinets.

I got the gross grain ribbon onto the Baby's name letters and have them hung above his closet. That was fun and it looks really nice.

A closer picture.

I also got the shelves put up on either side of the bathroom shower to house old bottles that Jerry, my father-in-law had collected through the years. It makes that space not so crowded and freed up some of the shelf space above the window. I have a few nick-nacks that I want to put on that shelf above the window so it doesn't look cluttered up with bottles.

Cleaning out the cupboards is a satisfying thing for me to do. I know that sounds SO strange, but I really like opening up a cupbord and seeing it all organized and knowing exactly where everything is.

Here is the before:

When I let them get shoved full of crap I find that I have 1/2 full containers of everything. I have 10 boxes of freezer bags both quart and gallon sized. I threw away all of the boxes and just used one bag to store and organize them. It takes up about 10% of the original space. The kitchen towels and washcloths were refolded and neatly stacked. The cleaning supplies were put up here, and the egg cartons were put away in the back hall closet where they belong.

The After Picture:

There is a ton more room in here and I didn't throw anything out except for the boxes the bags came in. It is amazing how little space stuff takes up when you fold it neatly!

Two cupboards down, 28 to go! No I am not kidding. I really do have that many cupboards in my kitchen and they all need a good purging.

Sewing Baby Sleep Sacks pt. 2

2010-11-21T11:25:00.001-06:00

Well it is official, I am nesting. I haven't been able to sleep well and so instead of watching the boob-tube I got up and started sewing sleep sacks for the babies. I decided to do a step-by-step so that you could see how easy they are to make and go a head and try for yourself! They truly are a labor of love and it is amazing how fast they go together.

Of course when I was at the fabric shop I forgot to pick up zippers for the sacks, so I have completed them as far as I can w/o the zippers. It was a happy accident because I found the invisible zippers on eBay for about $1.25 each as opposed to $3.50 each at the fabric store. They are due to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed as I haven't had much luck ordering crafting supplies online.

The first step is to lay out your fleece and your pattern pieces. Two of these pieces need to go on the fold. In order to save some time I cut out two fabric panels at a time so I only had to do this 3 times for 6 different sleep sacks. Be careful to make sure that your pattern is up the up way and down the down way. I messed that up on the frog pattern and now the frogs are upside down on one of the sleep sacks.

Try and keep your pattern pieces strait. It doesn't really matter on this solid piece, but for the prints it matters a lot. You don't want the pattern to lean to one side or the other. In my opinion details like that mean the difference between a quality piece, and something that screams "HOMEMADE BY MOM WHEN SHE WAS DRUNK!"

Cut out all of your pieces. And by all, yes I mean all. Trust me on this one. By the time you drag out the cutting mat, fabric, scissors, etc. if you don't cut out all of the sacks you are planning on making, you just never seem to find time to get after the rest.

On the other hand if all of the pieces are cut out, they literally sing to you to sew them up and make them!

Here is the pattern that I used. I always make notes on the outside of the envelope. With this pattern you can still make the other two baby pj's even if you have cut out one style. For many patterns this simply isn't the case. I like to make a note on the envelope so that I know what I can and can't make out of a used pattern.
Another thing to remember is that once you have cut out your size, you usually can't go smaller and you can't go larger. So I make sure to mark on the envelope when I made the pattern and what size I cut it out to.

Here are the 6 pieces that make up the sleep sacks all set out. Make sure you fold the material correctly so you don't end up with some inside out pieces!

See. Upside down frogs. Bummer.

This picture, besides pointing out a big mistake I made, was also to show you how I do the scrunching from the sack to the yoke.
Thread a needle with contrasting thread so you can see it to remove it later. made even wide stitches with a knot in one end and a long string on the other. You will use this tread to scrunch the material up so that it sews onto the yoke pieces. After you have the back sewn to the back and each front pieces sewn to the front yoke pieces, pull the thread out.

Here is the back. You can see the shirring detail along the yolk hem. I think it adds a lot to it.

Here is the front pieces, again note the detail.

Next stitch the shoulders together. Be careful here so the sleep sack isn't lop sided. Those pieces sometimes like to slide and not measure up.

Here is the top of the sleep sack with the arm holes and the neck holes finished. For the first two I double rolled the material. It was a pain in the ass and hard to get through the sewing machine. Polar Fleece doesn't ravel so don't bother with a rolled him. Just fold the sides under 1/4 of an inch and top stitch.

Another view. Avoiding the rolled hem makes it lay flatter too.

For the solids I attached the applique touches. It is now that I need to install the zippers before stitching up the sides and bottom. I will just be anxiously awaiting the mail man.

More to come!

Biscuts and Gravy for breakfast

2010-11-20T08:48:00.000-06:00

Breakfast with the kids on the weekends can be a real pain in the drain. Bertena and Brandon rarely agree upon what they want to eat, and I am not a short order cook!

But today I whipped up some Biscuts and Gravy and I had two happy wild indians on my hands!

Even Bertena who is the pickiest eater in the universe, ate her entire breakfast! Now if I can just get them to go longer than an hour after breakfast before they ask me what they are having for lunch!

The best soap molds EVER!

2010-11-19T21:55:00.000-06:00

You might see old refrigerator drawers, but I see great soap molds!

I bought these for a buck at an estate sale and I can't wait to fill them with soap! I am going to try an olive oil based soap tomorrow if I get my behind up and out of bed before the kids. Wish me luck and BTW, no shocker here...everyone I know is getting soap for Christmas from me!

Making Bath Bombs with the kiddos!

2010-11-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

Friday night = CRAFT NIGHT!

The kids and I made those fuzzy bath bombs tonight as a family craft project. It was a TON of fun even if we did have a mishap or two along the way!

Note to self, when using kool-aid as a colorant, only use one package per batch!

We added WAY too much witch hazel in this one and so we had to quickly dump Bertena's Citrus smelling batch into Brandon's cranberry smelling batch in order to not ruin Bertena's! OOPS! It turned out alright and the bombs are VERY scented!

Look at that smile! She is a crafter after my own heart!

You mean there are crafts where I get to smash things?! ALRIGHT!
Brandon is a natural at this part!

Bertena's much more delicate approach to filling the "molds".

Our finished product! The kids actually WANTED to take baths tonight, but they have to harden overnight. Sorry kiddos, but no bath bombs until tomorrows bath.

Not too bad for a trio of first timers! Thank goodness this craft project worked out so much better than my soap!

Sewing Project: Sleep sacks for baby

2010-11-19T21:27:00.000-06:00

I decided a while ago that I was going to make sleep sacks for the new baby. They are MUCH safer than blankets and I loved the ones I made when Brandon was a baby. Because my friend Jennifer has a new baby boy too, I thought I would just double up and make some for JT also.

Bertena and I shoved off to the fabric store in order to get the pattern and the fleece for the baby's sleep sacks and Bertena picked out polar fleece for her very first garment sewing project, a snuggie!

Here is the exact same pattern that i used for Brandon's sleep sacks. It was an $11 pattern and I NEVER pay full price for patterns. But the on sale Simplicity patterns just weren't what I wanted. I didn't want sleep sacks with sleeves because they are too hot and chances are William and JT won't have the same length of arms so the multi-cutting and sewing won't save me any time. I sucked it up and paid full price for the pattern I wanted, but when you make a lot of them the cost is absorbed per piece so it really isn't that expensive.

Here are the fleece prints I picked out. LOVE them!

Here are little dinosaurs. There is an embroidered dinosaur randomly placed around this print.

And of course Monkeys and zoo animals! I do love my monkeys!

Frogs are always SO damn cute for a baby boy!

Here is a lt blue with a fuzzy bear applique I will add to dress it up. This one is the exact same sleep sack I made for Brandon 6 short years ago.

Sweet rubber duckies!

And here is some grey polar fleece that has a scruffy little puppy applique I am going to use for it. They should be ADORABLE and I will keep you up to date on the project as it comes along. I also need to remind myself to get pictures of the boy's wearing them!

Nursery Craft and the unveiling of the Baby's name!

2010-11-19T12:43:00.000-06:00

As promised I have completed the craft I made for the new baby's room and I wanted to share the process with you! It was really fun and I think it is going to add a lot to the nursery.

First assemble all supplies!

Paint each letter. I recommend sanding these really well. I didn't know this was important and it caused grief later on in the process.

I then used Modge Podge to put the animal paper patterns onto the letters. Let these dry at least overnight.

Then sit your butt down in front of the TV, take a wal-mart plastic bag and use an exacto knife to cut away the excess paper.

Next attach all of your cute little trinkets! Adds character and makes the letters come alive!

My favorite is this monkey I found at Michaels.

I also like this little monkey and the footprint token I painted. Cover the entire thing with modge podge so that it is sealed and shiny.

And alas the baby's name!
Our new son is going to be named.....
William Michael Greiner

I am going to attach blue grossgrain ribbon to these letters and hang them above the closet. A nice finishing touch to the room.

Corn Chowder Recipe

2010-11-19T12:16:00.000-06:00

The only reason I am blogging about this is because this batch of my trusty Corn Casserole is because this batch was especially good and I want to remember what I did differently so that I can repeat it!

What I added was a 1/2 a cup of sour cream, instant potatoes (because I was too lazy to boil and cube a real potato) and I added chives.

The kitchen smells SO good! There is nothing like a good stew on a crisp Fall day.

I took the leftovers and froze them for later. It is going to make an AWESOME post-baby dinner!

Semi Homemade Beef Pot pie

2010-11-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

I decided to share a quick and easy recipe that I love to make to use up the left over beef stew. I believe that Beef Stew isn't something that can be made successfully in small batches. It just doesn't taste as good. The down side of this is that eating it twice is just about enough for me and so I devised this cleaver way of using up left overs!

My pie crusts suck, and I just haven't really ever worked up the ambition to learn how to make a good one so I like the store bought. Unfortunately this one is the PITS! I HATE false advertising so I made sure to photograph the box that said, "Unrolls without creases or folds". I guess it didn't say "Unrolls without huge splits and tears!"

I take the double pie crust and tuck the beef stew neatly in between. I forgot to thicken the hell out of it and you will see why this step is important in the last picture. Oh well it still tastes great! Make sure you vent the pot pie or else it will get super soggy, spill out, and make a mess of your oven. (Obviously I have forgotten that step once too.)

Then just bake it on 350 until it gets golden brown. I USUALLY like to brown it more than this, but Frank and Brandon were in for lunch early and they were starving so I just pulled her out.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notice how it is a bit runny due to not thickening it a lot and not letting it bake for as long as it should have. It still tastes awesome and is a great way to use up those leftovers in a new and cleaver way.

Olive Garden with my girl!

2010-11-19T09:57:00.000-06:00

A while ago Bertena's school in Cedar Rapids was placed on the Failing School's list because of the No Child Left Behind Act. SO what the school did in order to try to make compliance was invite in three different educational tutoring programs into the school in order to provide free assistance to any child who wanted/needed the extra help to pull them up.

Well Bertena scored in the 98th and 88th percentiles for reading and math respectively, but if I were to pay for tutoring from EduCare it would be several thousand dollars. If her school is willing to give it away for FREE then anyone would be an idiot not to sign up.

The only problem was that because she really isn't "in need" I had to wait to see if there would be a spot for her. I visited with the program director and the principal and I was shocked and appalled at the complete lack of giving a shit, for lack of a better way to put it, by the parents of Bertena's school. When Todd and I went to the educational meeting there were only 4 parents in attendance, two of them were Todd and I. In the later evening meeting there were 8 parents. WTF?!

Most of these parents actually signed, "Do NOT want free tutoring" on the permission slip and sent it back. The reason? You have to provide your own transportation from the tutoring. I can't believe it. This is a poor community in Cedar Rapids and you would think that these parents would want better for their children then they have. If your child is so far behind the minimum standard and is a 4/5 grader working at a second grade level, you need to get off your ass and do something about it. Oh and 60% of the students are on Free or reduced lunches, so a lot of these parents are not working and the bus route runs right by.

So needless to say I was able to get Bertena into the tutoring. She has been working really hard and her tutoring teachers say that it is really refreshing to have a gifted child in the program and they were surprised that she was there. I just explained that Bertena wants to be a doctor when she grows up, and to miss an educational opportunity like that would just be dumb!

To reward Bertena for a job well done, we packed up and had a great meal at the Olive Garden.

Bertena got the Alfredo, her favorite!

We split some calamari and I got the seafood portifino, my favorite. Of course the salad and bread sticks were a BIG hit!

We finished it all off with a HUGE piece of triple chocolate cake! I just LOVE these special times spent with just Bertena and I.

Goat milk soap making

2010-11-19T09:42:00.000-06:00

Well apparently the 7th time is the charm! I FINALLY made some soap! It was the lye after all and I was so happy and inspired that I made another batch this morning after Brandon was on the bus and Frank was fed and out the door.

This bottom batch is Vitamin E and Basil essential oil soap. Smells like spring time and will be nice for the men in my family.

Two batches of Vitamin E and Basil Goat Milk Soap! SO excited! I am going to pop these out of the molds tomorrow and make one more batch of soap. Tomorrow's batch will be a fruity mix with orange and apple essential oils.

Here are 15 beautiful bars all ready to cure! My goal is to have them ready by Christmas time so that they can be given away as gifts. I need to wait and see how many different kinds I can get whipped up in time for Christmas.

Having these set out in the dining room is making my house smell SO good! The batch in the above picture is a 100% organic Lavender and Chamomile blend. I can't wait to shower up!

Getting ready for winter

2010-11-18T13:06:00.000-06:00

I have a ton of stuff that I need to get accomplished before the winter snows fly.

I have come to the conclusion that I don't like being pregnant very much, and apparently pregnant doesn't like me very much either! It is really hard to get done 1/2 of what I used to accomplish now that I am in my 3rd trimester. But today was a rare day where I actually felt 1/2 decent and I decided to make the best of it and get done the outside things that I haven't had time or energy for.

I have to start taking down water bottles and putting in rubber water bowls. Rubber because the rabbits don't like the taste of them and they don't chew them and also because once they freeze in the winter time you can pop the ice out really easy without risking breaking the bowls.

The rabbits have to be "trained" to want to drink out of them so I only take down the bottles when I know they are going to drink out of the bowls and not just play in them.

A better picture of the rubber bowl.

I scooped rabbit manure and laid down a thick bed of pine shavings for under the cages. The pine absorbs everything so my walk isle doesn't turn into the worlds most disgusting ice skating rink. It also is great at absorbing odors because now the barn needs to be shut up tight to keep out drafts.

Here is a better picture of my set up. I only got peed on once while working under the cages. I consider that a win.

Here is the barn door that Frank never managed to find time to have a real door installed on. SO what I am going to have to do is just tack plywood over it and use old insulation to shove into the gaps to stop most of the drafts.

I know this little bit of redneck engineering will drive Frank crazy, so hopefully this spring he will put on a new door for me.

Here is the grower pen for my meat rabbits. They are little escape artists so I invested in some chicken wire and I think I have the problem licked. The only other problem? I have 5 rabbits that are butchering size running wild around the rabbit barn. I need to wait until Friday when I have both kids to help me catch them and get them put away.

Next on my list is to clean up both the front and back porches. It is amazing how much garbage accumulates between spring and winter. I am hopeful that I will get it done before night falls.

Great Auction finds!

2010-11-18T12:15:00.000-06:00

My friend Jennifer and I went to an auction yesterday with Brandon in order to find her some furniture for her new house. Of course I bought something.

I found a 7 gallon chicken waterer and bought 3 chicken feeders for $20! Whoot! You can hardly find these huge waterers and if you do they are like $42 bucks. I LOVE a good deal to get my blood rushing!

I will save back the smaller feeders for spring chicks, but the large hanging feeder is going into the chicken coop today. I have one in there already and now with two feeders and two waterers I will only need to fill one a day and not two!

The 7th soapmaking attempt

2010-11-18T10:27:00.000-06:00

I made my 7th batch of soap today.

It is evolving into ~~somewhat~~ a complete obsession. I think I have finally figured out what I was doing wrong 6 batches later. I guess sometimes I can be a slow learner. I was using Potassium lye and not Sodium lye and as I read the books I bought on Amazon.com it said that Potassium lye, although it can be used for bar soap is much better used for liquid soap. EUREKA!

For this batch I had to dip into the more expensive ingredients that I had bought for after I had gotten some experience under my belt in soap making. But the thing is I had so many failed attempts that I used up all of my cheaper and more forgiving ingredients before I have a single useable bar.

This morning Frank was eating his breakfast and I was getting ready to dump the last failure down the disposal when he uttered, "What! Your soap failed AGAIN! What is the problem, making soap isn't that hard. Why don't you just buy some and give it up?" I wanted to strangle him, but instead I just said, "I KNOW it isn't supposed to be this difficult, but the fact that I CAN'T get it to work is driving me MAD!"

He knew to just give me a kiss on the forehead and shove off to chore. He understands how I get when I set my mind to things. The tides couldn't keep me from stopping.

Playtex drop-ins bottle system

2010-11-17T12:36:00.000-06:00

I went to the Amish close out store and bought the bottle system that I wanted for pennies on the dollar.

Buying bottles for the kids has always been done with sort of mixed feelings. Although I KNOW in my head that it is impossible for a breast feeding Mom to never use a bottle, it still makes me feel a bit guilty. Everyone needs a break every once in a while, but I also know that it is a slippery slope when you introduce a bottle.

I am not really even sure what I am tripping about, I nursed Bertena for 6 1/2 months and Brandon for 8 months, so I don't give up on the breast easily. With Bertena I was working two jobs and with Brandon I was a full time college student taking 22 semester hours to complete my degree. With this baby I don't have that kind of pressure and outside responsibility. Let's just hope that he doesn't turn into a biter at 8 months like Brandon did.

But it is what it is. At least paying only $18 for 6 bottles, 200 drop in liners, 8 replacement nipples, and a dishwasher cleaning rack, makes swallowing the guilt a little easier.

Baby nursery craft

2010-11-17T11:16:00.000-06:00

I found these nursery name sets on Craig's list and I just thought they were SO darn cute!
I was half tempted to order one in the name that Frank and I FINALLY decided on, but they were $8 per letter and the baby's name is 7 letters long. Ouch!

So I decided to haul my behind out to Michael's and make them myself.

mailto:sale-zgdn6-2060653991@craigslist.org?subject=CUSTOM%20MADE%20LETTER%20BLOCKS%20FOR%20NURSERY%2FCHILD%20ROOM%20%20-%20%248%20(Will%20Ship)&body=%0A%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fcedarrapids.craigslist.org%2Fbab%2F2060653991.html%0A

Here is the link if you care to order from her. She accepts paypal.

Here is my stash-o-craft supplies. I will be working on this off and on today and I will unveil the finished project later on along with the name we chose for the baby. (You can probably figure it out by now though just looking at the picture!)

Soap making, Take 6!

2010-11-15T06:37:00.000-06:00

Today is Monday and I volunteer at Brandon's school for the morning. After I get home around noon I am going to go to Brighton in order to pick up some fresh lard to once again try my hand at soap making.

UGHHH this has been a frusterating learning experience! I have made 5 very different batches with 5 different recipes and I have yet to have any success. I am too stuborn or too stupid to give up on it, so I got online and chatted with an online pal of mine who gave me a "fail proof" easy recipe to try.

I am not quite sure what my obsession with Soap making is, but I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with the fact that I haven't been able to do it!

I will post later on tonight and let you all know how it turns out. Hopefully here in a few short weeks after the soap has had an opportunity to cure, I will be lathering up in the shower with fresh, homemade, sweet smelling soaps. Until then I intend to die trying!

Baby sink?

2010-11-14T09:28:00.000-06:00

My mother-in-law Lois had the foresight to install a "baby sink" in the upstairs bathroom when she had this house built in 1977. Once Frank and I moved in here I had dreams of the many baths for our new babies in this sink.

Now that we are nearing "go time" for the arrival of our first infant, I am second guessing the sink.

The "Chicken Bathroom" as we all call it, is the bathroom that Frank uses most often upstairs. I love it because it means that he isn't crudding up my master bath, but it gets SO FILTHY so quickly. I seriously clean this bathroom at least twice a week and sometimes in a matter of hours it looks like I haven't been in there with a wet washcloth in a month.

The sink gets so stained and so nasty that I don't know if I ever will feel comfortable enough to place an infant in it!
I bought some soft scrub with bleach and I am trying to spiff up the sink enough to know that it will come clean enough for the baby. If not I am just going to have to break down and buy one of those infant tubs and break my back over the rail of the master tub.

Wish me luck. The Chicken Bathroom sink would be nice though because it has this little sprayer and it is deep enough for a bath, but shallow enough to be safe. If it pans out I will only have to lay a kitchen towel down in the bottom of the sink and bath time will be a breeze!

Grandma time

2010-11-14T07:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my Mother-in-law came over to watch the Manny Pacquio fight on PPV. Before the fight began she and Brandon spent some quality time together.

Grandma's just always seem to have time to put together a puzzle or read a few books!

Clean Island!

2010-11-13T16:58:00.001-06:00

Man o' man I have been BUSY today! It is amazing how some company will give you a huge kick in the pants when it comes time to put away your piles of shit!

Over the past few months I have been cleaning like a fool, finally getting all of our things into their rightful places and getting rid of the stuff we have no use for. I still have a LOT of work to do, but I am finally feeling like I am accomplishing something. My lists really seem to de-stress me and today I actually even got things that I have on my list for Sunday done. I am ahead of schedule and that NEVER happens. Usually I just get further and further behind until I scrap my schedule and redo it.

This is all of the piles of junk that require a finer touch to clean out. I just didn't have time in my hurricane of work so I just put it onto the kitchen island where it is right in the way so that I knew for sure that I would get it done.
I managed to avoid it for about a week.

I see counter peeking out!

Ta Da! Clean island counter, and I mean REALLY clean! I can't remember the last time that it looked this clutter free! I bought a bunch of hanging file folders so that the farms paperwork can be organized and put into the office.....eventually. I really want my bedroom back, but I think it will be a few months after the baby is born and sleeps through the night before it will be Frank's and mine alone again and not a temporary nursery and an impromptu office.

I need to make a curtin for that little nook. I keep the potatoes and cleaning supplies down there and I am sick of looking at them. That or I need to find another place to put them. But MAN o' man does it feel good to have this done! It is like a huge weight has been lifted from my chest and it inspires me to push on!

Anyone who has tackled a huge household project knows that it always gets worse before it gets better. I am just very VERY glad to be moving onto the "better" part.

OMG, does this feel good!

The Calf that thinks its a Goat

2010-11-13T15:35:00.000-06:00

This year Frank brought home a late bucket calf that wouldn't drink and so we bought a dairy goat in order to save it. Fast forward to today. The calf is now weaned, but it doesn't understand why we put it into a pen with a bunch of other calves! Our bucket calf thinks it is a goat you see.

I am really not sure how he managed to get out of his lot with the other 4 bucket calves, but he did! Now he is happily grazing the yard with the other members of his goat herd.

This is a bad picture, but hey it is cold and I had bare feet. Behind the calf is Daisy, his surrogate mom. Once he found her he quietly put his head down and started to graze.

TOO funny!

Recipe for Old Fashioned Corned Beef and Cabbage

2010-11-13T10:53:00.000-06:00

Been a long time since I posted a recipe, so I decided to post this one for Corned Beef and Cabbage.

That and I am avoiding cleaning the rest of the house.

This recipe is a crowd favorite! A good old fashioned Corned Beef just can't be beat and I have found that most recipes that you find online are not the good stuff that Grandma made because people add a bunch of funky flavors, beer, and other stuff that I feel takes away from the good authentic flavor of the beef. So here is my no-frills recipe that will keep your family coming back for seconds and thirds!

Start with a large corned beef. I constantly keep an eye out for them at my grocery store and when they go on sale, like after St. Patty's day, I stock up and buy them. They keep awesome in the freezer and we eat them about 4 or 5 times per year.

Place your beef into a large crock pot, add the seasoning pack and quarter a half of a large onion. lay the onion around the edges and sprinkle the packet on top.

Use a large dice, that way if you have anyone in your family who is not a cooked onion fan, they can take them off but the flavor of the onions is still in the meat.

Chop a large head of cabbage. Cabbage is one of the most forgiving veggies in the world and one will keep for MONTHS in the fridge.

Place the cabbage on the very top.

In another crock pot I add quartered potatoes, the other half of the onion, and carrots. I find there just isn't enough room in the first crock pot, and the beef needs to cook for about 8 hours and the veggies turn to mush in that amount of time.

Next add a half of a container to 3/4 of a container of beef broth. Place the other part over the veggies.

Grate in some fresh ground pepper. No salt because the beef is brined and the beef broth has a lot of salt naturally in it. There isn't anything worse than it being too salty and you can always add some in but you can't take some out!

One thing that is AWESOME about crock pot cooking that most people forget, is that it doesn't have to be done in the kitchen. I have mine in my dining room right now using an extension cord. I think it is great to get the crock pots out of your main work spaces in the kitchen especially if space is at a premium in your house.

When I lived in my little apartment in the city, I had a dinner party where I hooked up a crock pot on top of my counter in the bathroom to clear up space in my kitchen for more cooking.

Let it cook on high for about 8 hours. Less if you are using a small cut of meat. Turn the veggies onto low and keep an eye on them so they don't get soggy.

ENJOY PEEPS!

The Dinning room is a win!

2010-11-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

I finally have my dining room back! OMG people it feels good!

This week I took all of our misc. stuff that I had sorted out of the rest of the upstairs into the consignment shop, took the donations to the Salvation Army and the Homeless Shelter, and put away all of the other things that just seemed to accumulate there.

It looked so nice that I decided to put together a "fall" theme on the table. Thanks for the inspiration Jayme! Check out her blog here... http://www.talefromthecoopkeeper.blogspot.com/

We are having company over tonight for dinner and to watch the Manny Pacquio (sp?) fight on TV. Frank is pretty excited about it and it has given me a much needed shot in the arm to get all of the rest of the house picked up and vacuumed. I am not a big fight fan, but I LOVE having people over and cooking for a crowd.

I have a Corned Beef in the crockpot and it will be nice to enjoy some company before the baby is born!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

2010-11-13T09:23:00.000-06:00

One of my absolute best gal pals came over yesterday to help me treat the goats and do a few things around the farm that I am just too preggo to do myself. I love to cook for a crowd so I asked her around lunch what she would like me to make for dinner.

Of course she said, "Oh I don't care." But I asked her if she could have anything that she wanted in the world what would it be. Her answer was sometime when I make Lasagna to invite her over. PRESTO! I had a lasagna in the freezer! It is official, the older I get the more I am becoming my mother!

It was Jennifers birthday a few days ago so I made her the lasagna and we had some apple cake with candles. Everyone needs candles and to be sung the Happy Birthday Song on their birthday even if it is a few days after the fact!

Happy 37th Birthday to a pal that I don't know what I would do without!

What does $150 buy you anymore?

2010-11-11T15:30:00.000-06:00

Well I finally made it back home alive. I was only off the farm for 4 hours and it felt like I was gone for 4 days! I am exhausted and I need a nap, but I know if I lay down that I will fall asleep and poor Brandon will be abandoned at the bus stop.

I got all of my running around done and although I was super busy and I did get a lot accomplished, I feel like I didn't get anything done.

I went to the consignment store, donated to the Salvation Army what they didn't take, took back that worthless Boppy Body Pillow....that is a story! I will tell you later on. Went to Wal-Mart and took back Brandon's broken birthday presents and replaced them and bought groceries. I made it home about 2:15 and Frank was sick with worry. I forgot my phone and he didn't know it was going to take me that long to do what I needed to do in Iowa City. Hell, I didn't know either, and thank God nothing happened to me or the truck or else I would be up the proverbial Shit Creek with out a paddle.

It all worked out well though and do I have some treasures to share with you! Eveything was bought for less than $150! Who says you can't buy much with $150 dollars anymore?

A new pair of snow boots for Bertena. She LOVED her brothers and I finally found a pair in her size that were not boy colored.

A Columbia jacket and matching snow pants for Brandon.

Three pairs of the good No-Roll top maternity jeans for me!

6 pairs of brand new gloves. Two of them are the really good "thinsulate" kind.

A set of queen sheets and pillow cases and one of the divided party trays with the lid.

Two new sets of cute, funky queen sheets for Bertena's room. It really and I mean REALLY bothers her to use sheets that she has seen on her brother's bed. I asked her if she cared if she used sheets that were on Mom and Frank's bed and that didn't bother her a bit. But fresh clean sheets that Brandon layed on at one time creeps her out.
These sheets will only be for her bed and she will be a very happy camper, after Christmas. I am wrapping these puppy's up for Christmas.

Two new vinyl table cloths for the craft table down stairs.

A counted cross stitch bib for Bertena. She wants to learn and I think she will really like this. Again, Christmas.

A BIG wicker basket with a wooden bottom for placing in Bertena's closet to help keep her organized.

A cute globe foil print in the same colors as the baby's room. It will go on the blank wall by the closet.

A 2000ft range baby monitor. I LOVE this model. It even vibrates and has an intercom button so you can talk through it. Target has the most bizarre return policy I have ever seen and I traded in the worthless Boppy Body Pillow plus $11 for this. Turns out if you don't have a receipt, and of course I didn't, they take off money from the cost even if you just want to exchange, but it is all on some sort of super secret sliding scale that is based off your drivers license. I asked her how much I would get back and she said she didn't know until she scanned my license, but it could be only 50%! Are you kidding me?! I told her a few bucks I didn't mind, but I had a BIG problem with 50%... Don't ask me for details because the covert operative behind the Customer Service Desk counter wasn't giving any.
I guess based upon my drivers license, I got 100% of the cost of the Boppy put towards the baby monitor, but the whole thing seems weird to me.

And last but not least, 22 pairs of baby socks.

Who says you can't get anything anymore for $150!

BUSY BUSY Day!

2010-11-11T08:51:00.000-06:00

I have a billion places to go today and I have just been putting it off and putting it off.

I am really good at doing that when there is a task that I don't particularly feel like doing.

This morning I woke up early, got Brandon onto the bus and started in on my dining room. The dinning room has looked like it would pass a casting call for the set of "Hoarders" the past few days. It is controlled piled drama. As I have cleaned out all the closets and rooms and once we shoveled out Bertena's bedroom I just put it into it's appropriate "pile" in the dining room. Today is the day that all of that stuff needs to go out the door because I am sick and tired of looking at it!

This is a huge pile of stuff to take to the consignment store. Out of my house you!

Here is three big piles of trash that need to be burned today. I have a weird fetish about saving cardboard boxes and it was time to get rid of a ton of them.

And finally here is the pile of stuff that I have to take back to the store. I need to get better at this task because I waste a LOT of money not taking crap back that is broken or not as advertised. I usually just give it away or toss it. BAD.

1.) A Ben Ten toy that is Brandon's from his birthday. It was made defectively and the battery compartment wasn't cut out. SO I have an expensive toy that doesn't work that needs exchanged.

2.) 7 year floodlights. I bought these about a year ago and they are guaranteed to work for 7 years. What a crock of shit. Four of them have already burned out and I am taking the darn things back!

3.) A Boppy Body Pillow. This was touted as the miracle 'get to sleep' item for pregnancy. It cost $50 but I thought if it worked it would totally be worth it. It didn't, not for me at least. I am just a tick shy of 6'0 tall and the "hook" part that is supposed to go between your knees rests right next to my girl parts if the other hook part is under my head and neck. If I pull it down and have the hook between my knees, the top hook is under my boobs. NOT comfortable. It needs to go back so I can get just a plain ol' body pillow.

First Major "Nesting" Project: Detailing the Titan

2010-11-10T13:31:00.000-06:00

As I am getting solidly into my 3rd trimester I have decided to attack my "nesting" projects learned from previous pregnancies, a head of time. This way I am not freaking out and paying through the nose to have other people help me in these tasks.

One major one that I never seem to get to until I am about as big around as Shamu the whale, is to install the car seat and have it checked out by a professional to make sure it is 100% safe. But the Titan looks like it has been through a dump. Twice.

So today when the weather is in the low 70's here in SE Iowa and a nice breeze is blowing, I decided to detail the Titan.

I LOVE this truck. It is smooth on the highway, I feel safe driving my soon to be three children around in it, and it can tackle anything I ask of it. I have hauled home treasures from auctions, baby gear, chicken and goat feed, and (probably TMI) it was the first place that Frank and I made love.

Yep there are some good memories in that truck. A few times Frank has talked about trading it in and getting me a Pathfinder or an Exterra. I think that would be a good idea if we decide to add on a fourth child, but for right now I really don't want to get rid of the old girl. She has been good to me and I have really been letting her down letting her get so dirty inside and out.

On Friday I have an appointment to get her into the mechanic for an oil change, new breaks, and a top to bottom mechanical safety check so she is ready for the baby. After that she will feel like a new woman, and be ready to provide the kids and I many more thousands of miles of safe and reliable transportation.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2010-11-09T10:39:00.000-06:00

I started making my own laundry detergent religiously about 3 months ago, and let me tell you I am never going back to Tide. The laundry is fresher smelling, cleaner, and it costs me less than a penny per load as opposed to almost 50 cents with tide.

If you haven't tried this you just have to! It is awesome and takes me about 15 minutes per month to make a batch and it makes your house smell like you did laundry all day!

The only ingredients you need are a bar of Fels-Naptha soap, washing powder, and 20 Mule Team Borax. You can find all of this at any Super Wal-Mart. I did buy the washing powder online at a site called SoapGoods.com because I was ordering soap making supplies from there anyway and it was pretty cheap.

First grate up the bar of soap into a pot of 1 quart of boiling water. This smells SO good!

Stir it really well until it is all disolved. Don't skimp on this part or else your soap won't be as gel like and one load will work better than another if you get a chunk in there.

Pour two cups of washing soda and two cups of Borax into a clean 5 gallon bucket and add two gallons of super hot water, from the tap is fine. Stir it well until it is disolved. I use my hand at the end to make sure there are not pesky clumps of borax that didn't break up.

Finally add the fels-naptha blend and give it a good mix. Set it next to your washing machine (or if you are much more anal than I am fill empty laundry detergent bottles) and let it set up for 24 hours before using.

Trust me you are going to be glad you did!

The final lap!

2010-11-09T09:38:00.000-06:00

Sunday before we shoved off to go to my pal Jennifer's for dinner, Bertena and I got her bedroom cleared out. What an accomplishment on both of our parts, and Bertena said to me, "Oh My Gosh Mom! I think you should PINCH me because I don't think this is real!"

Tonight we are going to arrange her furniture, put her special treasures away, and decide where she wants all of her art hung on the walls. Because the walls are cement it is a big process to hang things beause you need special hardware and a drill. We will tape the spots where she wants things and Frank will insert the plugs for the nails.

Me vacuuming.

Me vacuuming again....Did I ever tell you how much I like the way a room looks when it is freshly vacuumed?

Here is the bed she wanted along side of her two freshly painted walls! The photo doesn't show it well but in her bedspread are splashes of that green and purple. That is where she pulled her "Color palate" from. Mommy was very proud of her keen eye for interior decorating!

I really wish we could replace that carpet for something not so dark and not so BLUE. But Frank put his foot down because apparently it is "newer" and his Mom had it installed not long before she moved out of here. I understand his point, but the carpet just doens't work for a feminine little girls room, but I lost that battle so the carpet stays. It doesn't mean I have to like it.

Here is Bertena's "special shelf" and a lamp that I salvaged out of the house that was left by his mother. It works really well in here because each globe will turn on and both will turn on for task lighting. We decided not to paint the black iron. The desk and shelf will be painted eventually. We need to wait for a non windy day when we have someone who will haul it upstairs and outside to be painted, and then haul it downstairs to be put back in her room. Frank isn't a super sport when it comes to tasks like this.

This is our project for the evening. Covering her bare walls with all of her cute, funky stuff! It will be FUN!
But in case you forgot what the room looked like before we started her is a reminder. It makes me shudder!

I need to show these pictures to Bertena so that it refreshes her mind and gives her a mental push to never let it get like this again! I am proud of her for all of her hard work and for her sticking with it and making her bedroom some place she can be proud to call her very own!

Dinner with friends

2010-11-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend I was feelin' a little lonely and needed to get a "friend fix" in. I called up my long time gal pal Jennifer, the one with the new baby, and offered up BBQ'd beef ribs on the grill as a ruse for inviting myself over to her pad for laughs, adult conversation, and cuddling with the new baby!

OMG! Are these the three most ADORABLE kiddos in the universe?! I think so!

Jennifer and I! Post partum Mama and 3rd Trimester Mama, or else you would see a few cocktails being enjoyed.

Much better picture.

Jennifer and I have been friends for about 15 years. MAN I can't believe it, we are "old responsible" not so married women now. That is a pretty far cry from the wild and crazy chicks that used to take the small town bar and karaoke scene by storm. Ok I will admit, I was probably the "wild and crazy" one and she was the more sane, make sure Karey doesn't end up in some creepy guy's van down by the river, kinda gal.

We have had a lot of fun over the years and together we have been through a lot! We have broken hearts, we have had ours broken, had lots of cocktails and belly laughs, cooked huge meals at each others houses, and now we are adding having babies to the mix!

I don't know what I would have done with out Jennifer when my daughter was born 9 years ago. I seriously would have probably lost what little grip on reality I clung to and ended up in a padded room somewhere. She has the BIGGEST heart of anyone I know and the most loving spirit. After about the millionth colicky night with Bertena I remember her giving me a HUGE hug, telling me it was going to be ok, taking Bertena and giving me a much needed rest!

I have always known she was going to be an amazing mother, and now 9 years later little JT has the best Mommy any little boy could ever ask for!

I LOVE you Jennifer! I can't wait for my post partum period to be over and we can go out for an hour and grab a much needed cocktail. I'll pay for the sitter.

Bertena's room update

2010-11-07T11:39:00.000-06:00

WOW! What a weekend!

We got a LOT done and I am so glad that I took these pictures so that now as I take yet another break and breather I can look back at what all we got accomplished yesterday and this morning. It recharges the batteries and makes going back down into her room to work a lot easier because you can actually see that we are nearing the summit!

Here is a picture of Bertena shoveling out the last of her closet. Her closet kind of became a catch-all when I would tell her to clean her room. She would just clear a path and shove all of the things that happened to be discarded in her "path" into the closet. There were clothes in there that she had not touched since we moved into this house still folded at the bottom. Dusty, but still folded.

Oh My Gosh Bugger, is that actually the FLOOR I see! Keep up the good work, we are making progress!

There is that Pepto-Bismo pink wall that I have told you about. You can see the fake brick molding that made it a horror to paint. I am so glad that I went with semi-gloss paint, it looks fresh, clean, and new now.

Here is the green and the "Hannah Montana" purple wall. You can see that although we did carry out two full trash bags and three boxes to donate, there are still a lot of stuff that Bertena considers "keepers" on the bed and on her special shelf.
What we did was box all that stuff up, slide it into the bathroom and when we get the furniture back into the room I will make her decide once again what stuff she truly loves, and what stuff can be gotten rid of.

Here is the yellow wall by the closet. I have a special saying that I want to put up on the wall but the walls are really and I mean REALLY textured, so putting up those rub-on words is a real challenge. SUPER FRUSTRATING!

Humm...Booga-Butt must have touch the wet wall last night! Don't tell her I said so, but I think the purple hand print is sweet and I am going to keep it there!

Here is the rub on lettering. It took almost an hour and a half to get them up because they stick to everything except the highly textured walls! I had to stop myself twice from ripping it down, wadding it up into a little ball and throwing it away!

I am glad I didn't though, they look great! The saying says, "If you are confident, You are Beautiful!" I couldn't agree more! I am going to have to take some Aileen's gold tacky glue to keep the dots on the wall because they keep falling off. DAMN textured walls! Aileen's is a good go-to glue because you can get it off later with some homemade wall paper remover.

Last look at the exit! In for a penny in for a pound. Well Dt. Coke break is over. I need to get downstairs to make sure that Bertena is still doing the task I assigned her in her bedroom when I came up to get a drink. It doesn't take a detective to realize she is probably playing with a newly found treasure and NOT boxing up her special shelf.

Bertena wanted the metal frame bed that was originally in the baby's nursery instead of the antique Jenny Lind style bed that was in her bedroom, OF COURSE! But Mommy promised her that I would let her be the decorator and I think it is important that she sees that Mommy puts the same care and attention to detail into her bedroom as I put into Brandon's tractor bedroom and the Baby's Monkey nursery. Only problem is that I pray that I have the bolts to put the bed back together. I have one more place to look, because I remember bagging them up in a ziplock and labeling them carefully and putting them in a "safe place." Famous last words.

Painting Bertena's room...

2010-11-07T09:32:00.000-06:00

All day yesterday was spent cleaning out Bertena's Bedroom. And if you have seen the post about what it looked like before we started cleaning, you know why this is truly a two all day project. Bertena has done a really nice job hauling out trash and being generous (with persuasion from Brandon) about donating items to the women and children's homeless shelter.

"Bertena! You need to DONATE this!"
"No Brandon! I USE that!"
"Bertena you can't save EVERYTHING! Give it to the kids' that don't have a toy!"

Bertena and Frank are HORRIBLE packrats. It is almost to the point that they are actually hoarders. I will admit that I love to save stuff, but the piles and piles of old newspapers, broken items, and clothes that don't fit anymore NEED TO GO! I can't force Frank into cleaning up his act, but I do hope to help Bertena.

I was going to just shovel out her room and "surprise" her with a painted, tidy bedroom, but I knew that I would simply be prolonging the inevitable. She would just fill it back up again and she would feel betrayed that I had tossed out her "treasures" while she was at her Dad's house. I think that is where a lot of her packrat tendency's come from is her feeling powerless.

Bertena's father has a revolving door of girlfriends and girlfriends' kids that parade in and out of the house over there. She just never seems to know who will be living in the house when she returns and what group of delinquent children will be all over her space. He also has lots of "roommates" I believe his brother has moved in and out of there with his son 3 times in two years. She never knows who is going to be in her room and messing with her stuff.

Over here I make sure that it is different. Her bedroom is her sanctuary from the storm and no one goes in there at all when she is gone except for me to make the bed and put away her clean laundry. A few times in the beginning she would have a cow frantically searching for a lost item all the while blaming Frank or Brandon. I would just tell her to take a deep breath, calm down and look for it and the item always showed up. It really put her at ease and suppressed some of her control issues.

That is why when we decided to re-decorate her bedroom I allowed her to pick everything "within reason."

I said no to buying a new comforter bedroom set because I just shelled out a TON of money about 8 months ago for a new really high quality set. Other than that, things were really up to her.
She decided to go for a "Groovy Funky" theme. All four walls are painted a different color, lots of bright neon prints, and lots of fun vintage art that we have found in our travels to thrift stores and garage sales.

I spent about 3 hours yesterday painting one fake brick wall a dusty pepto bismo pink. Two walls in her lower level bedroom are exterior walls and the concrete was poured to look like the fake brick that was so popular in the 1970's. I am not quite sure what I hated more, the drudgery of smooshing paint into a zillion tiny crevices, or the color! BLEEH!
But a 9 year old girl deciding to paint one wall of her bedroom pink is NOT "unreasonable", so I shut my damn mouth and let her do it.

"Oh MOM! Don't you just LOVE that wall!"
"Yes Sweetheart, it looks amazing!"

I will post pictures later on. I need to get a second coat of "Hannah Montana Purple" up on the last wall and then the FUN PART starts, staging furniture and hanging up our pictures!

An internet break...

2010-11-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

Hello all!
Yes I am still alive, I have just not been feeling the best and I took an impromptu break from all things Internet.

Monday evening I was in the hospital for a bit. I thought that I was having back labor, the pain was overwhelming! I naturally have a pretty darn high pain tolerance and it had me doubled over crying for my Mother LITTERALLY! When Frank came in he rubbed my back for a while and said he could see and feel the spasms and agreed that I needed to be seen in the ER.
So we loaded up the boy-child and took him to Grandma Lois's house and Daddy and I went to the hospital. They hooked me up to a ton of different machines and check me. My cervix was locked up tighter than Ft.Knox, thank God, and it was decided that I was probably getting sick and had a bladder infection. Two days later WAMMO! I am just about as sick as a human being can get without dying.

Being pregnant and sick is the absolute WORST because there isn't anything you can take for it and your tired and worn out to begin with.

But I am back and we have a pretty exciting day planned here at Casa La Greiner. I will be sure to tell you all about it later.

Batman Costume is a win!

2010-10-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

I finally have the Batman costume finished! THANK GOODNESS!

Here are the pics!

I went to the school today so that Brandon could participate in the Halloween parade and he looked pretty darn sharp!

Bottle babies and Bertena

2010-10-26T09:57:00.000-05:00

Bertena got a quick tutorial in how to feed Bottle Babies! It gave me about 20 minutes of time to get dinner on the table!

Here is Bertena feeding Peanut. He is the little goat that could. I can't believe he is still alive, yet alone thriving!

Here is our other boy. He is SUCH a good goat. Has a great personality and always waits his turn for the bottle. He is going to make someone a great herd sire with that temperment.

Peanut peaking out from behind Bertena's leg....

Peanut isn't what anyone would call patient! I think Bertena finally knows what it feels like to have two "kids" clamoring for her attention all at once! LOL

James Thomas Anseth!

2010-10-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

One of my oldest and dearest friends had her first baby on Saturday! She is 41 years old and he truely is a miracle! When ever I start to want to bitch and moan too much about my pregnancy woes I think about what Jennifer went through to bring little James Thomas (JT for short) into the world, and my pregancy seems like a bowl of cherries in comparison!

I let the kids take the photos! They did a great job and they were both really excited to see such a new baby!

He is SO TINY! Only a little over 5 lbs! Can we say PEANUT!

Look at all that dark hair! He has the cutest little swirly colic, SWOON!

Sweet baby. He looks a LOT like his mother! He has her nose and her lips.

Grandma changed his clothes after he spit up, and of course he spit up 10 seconds afterwards! LOL

NO Gestational Diabetes!

2010-10-26T09:31:00.000-05:00

(Photo DiabetesInsider)

Whooot! Oh people I am so glad to be able to report that I tested NEGATIVE for Gestational Diabetes! Thank the heavens!
Yesterday I went in for my 3 hour glucose test, and for those of you not in the know it went something like this.

Friday-Saturday-Sunday-- I have to eat a candy bar and drink a large regular soda. I know this sounds awesome, but I have never been much of a sweets person and the sugar made me super sick to my stomach and made the baby freak out inside of me! NOT fun!

Sunday at 12am NO food, or drink.

Monday 9am- Off to Washington hospital to get my first of many needle sticks to test my blood and urine.
              10am- Needle stick
               11am-Needle stick
               12am- Needle stick
Now in between getting jabbed by a large gage needle every hour on the hour, I sat literally in the hallway of the hospital after drinking 100cc's of an orange flavored slightly carbonated syrup. I brought my laptop with me in order to watch some NetFlix instant movies, and I also brought with me the quilt top that I am piecing so the wait wasn't that bad.

The part that sucked MAJOR ASS was the fact that I was out in the hallway and every Tom, Thelma, and Louise who happened to wander by felt the need to A.)Touch my stomach (I HATE THAT!) B.) Sit next to me and not cover their phlegm cough C.) Sit next to me and tell me all about their medical HORROR stories and why they too where in the hospital.

One guy was SO annoying I text messaged Frank with the message "I am in HELL!" He called right away and after about a 20 minute phone conversation where the man actually sat and stared at me in giddy anticipation of my getting off the phone so he could continue to tell me about his chronic medical conditions, he finally gave up and left.

Afterwards I met Frank and a seed rep at Unc and Neph's a little pub and grub in Washington where I successfully shoved a side salad, two diet colas, a huge fish sandwich and a half order of fries into my pie hole. It was the best meal I had eaten in forever after 20 hours of starvation.

You just cannot do that to a pregnant woman! It's inhumane.

The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!

2010-10-24T12:08:00.000-05:00

I feel like I am sitting in the middle of a sand pit and slowly the sides of the pit are caving in on me. And if that wasn't enough I have everyone I love with shovels throwing more and more sand on me.
There is an old saying that goes, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get." That couldn't be more true these days.

What I need to do is just take a deep breath and just keep plugging away at it all. Harvest is DONE thank God, and now Frank will lighten up a bit on me and more of my time will be freed up to get accomplished the things that I need to get accomplished. We had a talk before the Harvest season began because last year he made me feel terrible about myself when I would work side by side with him all day long and then we would come into the messy house, with laundry piled up and no dinner ready and he would act like I was lazy and didn't care about him! It was like I was trapped in the twilight zone with him and he really genuinely didn't understand why on earth I didn't morph into two separate people, one to work all day with him, and the other to do all of my "Karey Work."

He was SO much better this year. The only thing he said was, "Man shit really falls apart fast when you aren't home for a day." True dat my love, TRUE DAT!

I need to keep telling myself that I am NOT taking on more busy work for myself, and I am going to use the words, "Sorry but no." when friends and family make requests or demands upon my time. There just isn't any of me to spare these next few weeks.

Am I the only woman in the world who seriously checks down a list of her family members and responsibilities to make sure that I am not forgetting anything?! It seems really silly to me that I do this, but it really does keep me from leaving Brandon at the bus stop, skipping an OBGYN appt., not remembering to sign a permission slip for Bertena, forgetting to water the chickens, or leaving Frank out in the field.
My list goes something like this.
1.) The Kids....Bertena
                       Brandon
                       Baby
If none of them need anything, then I move on to Frank.

2,) The livestock....Goats
                              Chickens and ducks
                              Rabbits
                              Calves
3.) Friends and Family
4.) House things.....Laundry
                              Cooking
                              Cleaning

I often feel like a firefighter putting out fires in order to try and do damage control. This week I am going to put together a list and really fight to stay on top of it. Wish me luck.

OVERWHELMED!

2010-10-24T10:37:00.001-05:00

Aye Voy!

(Photo ClipArt)
I am super overwhelmed right now. I had four kids born last night in the rain and slop. One didn't make it but it isn't surprising. I bought a bunch of starved out goats from someone who didn't take care of them. They finally started to turn the corner and low and behold one of them was bred. Who ever did this to them should be dragged behind the nearest woodshed and have the shit kicked out of him. The poor little doeling didn't stand a chance and now I am going to have to fight like hell to save the Mother.

(photo blogspot)
One of the triplets disappeared last night and it was too dark and too wet when I got home from visiting a friends newborn baby in the hospital to find it. It turned up this morning fine. The only thing is that it had wandered into another does pen and she ignored one of her twins that was born last night in order to claim that knot-head, so her own twin was cold and starving. Frank and I got the buckling inside to warm up and tubed him with stolen colostrum from another doe who had a single. He already looks much better and later on this afternoon I am going to try to graft him back onto his mother because it is too darn early in the kidding season to already have four bottle babies.

(Photo travelpod)
Frank woke me up out of a dead sleep this morning because it was 6:00am and I wasn't awake. He thought it was Monday and I was late getting the kids up and ready. He woke me up and said, "KAREY! You need to get out of bed and get your baby goats fed! It's 6:00!" I wanted to strangle him. Then 15 minutes later he came back in with the same sense of urgency telling me it was 6:15 and the kids were still asleep!

Finally it dawned on me he thought it was Monday. When I told him it was SUNDAY, he said, "OOPS my bad! I am a dumb ass. Go back to sleep Baby, I love you!" Gotta love that man. He tries.

So now it is 10:30 and I hear my older paint doe out in the pasture bellering that she is about to kid. By lunch time she should have it done. It is the 24th and I HAVE TO GET BRANDON'S COSTUME DONE! I also have a 3 hour glucose test to take Monday morning so I can't volunteer at Brandon's school. I went to the quilt shop in Kalona yesterday so I at least have something productive to do while they pump me full of sugar and test my blood for gestational diabetes. The friend of mine who made me that AMAZING quilt frame still has not gotten a quilt from me and it has been a year. I am a bad friend. Well not a "bad" friend, but a slow friend.

Well I guess my little coffee break is over and I need to get my feet moving.

(Photo Cybercom.ie)

WHO are you?! I'm.....BATMAN!

2010-10-23T09:09:00.000-05:00

Brandon's batman costume is coming along. I will keep you posted as I make more progress. So far I have Brandon's hood completed now. It looks much better.

These pictures were just too cute no to share!

Breakfast disaster

2010-10-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

You ever have one of those mornings when everything you touch seems to turn to shit? I have.

I woke up early and fed my bottle goats, went out to the Goat Barn to check on the goats and check for new babies. I found one dead baby that I have NO idea who it came out of. I have a sneaking suspicion that it came out of one of our goats that had what we thought was "twins", but I just hate assigning blame when you don't know. That put me into kind of a funk.

Then I milked Daisy so that the bottle babies have fresh milk for today and I spilled about 1/4 of it. GGRRRR!

Finally I came back inside and got breakfast ready. I put the potatoes on and sat down at the computer to read a quick article about Goat Mineral. Literally 3 minutes later the whole kitchen was filled with smoke and I had burnt the potatoes beyond all recognition! Damn! I hate it when I do stupid stuff like that! It doesn't happen very often but when it does it really ticks me off.

At least the omelets turned out good. Bacon and cheese, my Men's favorites.

I am meeting my Mom in Kalona today to do some shopping. I need to get to my favorite quilting store because the quilt that is in the frame is almost done and I never take it out of the frame to bind until I have a new one pieced and ready to go in. I need to buy some backing material for it, and buy some off white muslin to move ahead on the quilt that I am piecing.

The finished quilt top is a gift for my Mom and Dad. I had high hopes that I would have it done before Christmas, but the 'Magic 8 Ball' is saying, "Signs point to NO!".

The quilt top that I am piecing now is a gift for a friend that made my quilting frame for me. I will blog about it later on and if you are interested in buying one, they are oak and heirloom quality, I can get you in touch with him.

New kids

2010-10-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well our fall kidding season is in full swing. We have 8 kids on the ground, with three does kidding yesterday alone. We had a set of triplets, a set of twins, and one single. As is normally the case with Triplets, one kid is a bottle kid now, and we had a Doe develop CAE so I had to pull her kid off right away so that she wouldn't transmit the disease to her kid.

Here are my two bottle babies. The black headed Traditional Boer goat is the smaller of the triplets. He is small but mighty and at first I didn't think he would survive. He isn't out of the woods, but he has a lion's heart and it is obvious that he is a fighter. The red headed traditional is the single out of the CAE mom. He should do just fine as I had saved back clean colostrum from another goat this spring to give him.

I took these pictures so that you could just see how tiny this little black headed billy is compared to a "normal" sized baby goat. When I was feeding them this morning the black headed boy just bellered and bleeted while the red headed boy just laid there quietly and waited for his turn.
Frank called them Brandon and Bertena! LOL I decided that the black headed one isn't really Bertena because A. it is a boy and B. Bertena would have been complaining that she didn't like the taste of the bottle!

Here is a good picture to show size difference.

And here. Man that little guy is a PEANUT! Even his head is teeny-tiny! Maybe that is what I will name him. Peanut. What do you think?

Batman FAIL!

2010-10-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

Well last night I tried to finish Brandon's Batman head cape, and I was met with less than spectacular results!

Brandon is still little enough to be a good sport and let me take a few pictures so that you can see what I mean. One of the ears is mysteriously too long and I don't have them back far enough or low enough. It took about 10 minutes to sew them onto the head cape, and it took about an HOUR to take them off!

Hold on little man! Mom will get it fixed. He is just happy that I finally have at least STARTED his Halloween costume!

Batman Begins!

2010-10-21T12:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, no more stalling. The time to erect Brandon's Batman costume is upon me! The poor kid is really stressed out that I am not going to get his costume done before Halloween and he hounds me about it daily!

Our conversation went something like this....

Brandon: Mom when are you going to make my Batman Costume?

Me: I don't know, but I will get it done before Halloween.

Brandon: But what if you don't get it done?! I'll be NOTHING for Halloween!

Me: I will get it done sweetie, besides you'll never be nothing. You will always be my beautiful Son!

Brandon: That's a CRAPPY Costume MOM!

I have everything that I need all together now. Brandon runs into the house almost everyday eagerly looking at the dining room table, walking away disappointed when there hasn't been any progress made on his costume.

I am using the lower left hand corner's costume for the hood and the right hand red costume for the body.

Here are all of the materials. The gold shiny fabric is the tool belt and the blue shiny has a black back so that when he flips his cape the inside next to his body will be blue and the outside is black. The body suit of the costume is going to be lycra, just like a real superhero!

Here are all the notions.

All of my tools....

The first thing that I am going to work on is the hood in this picture. This pattern didn't come in a large enough size for Brandon, and the other pattern had a crappy head dress so I bought both patterns and I am going to make one costume out of two.
I have to modify the head piece quite a bit because Brandon has a large melon. I also need to get him in to get a hair cut ASAP because his hair is SO curly and fluffy. I need to minimize the amount that the hood has to cover!