Carmex

A few weeks ago, the corner of my lip started to hurt a bit.  I could tell that a cold sore was trying to start.  For my body, the thing that works best to prevent cold sores is Carmex.  It is a great product that has worked reliably for me for many years.  So I went to my bathroom drawer to retrieve my Carmex. It wasn't there. Then I remembered, I had used the last of it a month earlier.  

When I purchase soap, lotion, and lip balm, I typically purchase them in bulk.  I put one out on the bathroom counter or in the bathroom drawer, depending on the item, then put the rest of the items in an overstock container under the bathroom sink.  I checked the overstock container.  No Carmex!  I knew I had purchase at least one other little jar.  I thought and thought about where that back-up jar could be.  Then I remembered.  When "J", a 14-year old young man, had lived with us last year his lips started to develop cold sores.  I had given him my last overstock jar and had failed to purchase a replacement.

I went to my teenage daughter, asking her if she had any Carmex.  Nope.

I went to my teenage son, asking him is he had any Carmex.  Nope.

I would have to drive to the store.  The corner of my lip was starting to have a prickling sensation and I knew I needed to get some anti-cold sore stuff on it quickly.

Then I remembered!

Dad always has Carmex in his top drawer!

So I ran back to my bedroom, went to Jeremy's dresser, and opened the top drawer.  I searched through Jeremy's entire drawer.  There was no Carmex.  I was so disappointed.  I was also confused.  Dad always kept Carmex in his top drawer.  He was never without at least one jar.

And then it dawned on me.

Dad always had Carmex.

Not Jeremy.

Dad.

As in, MY Dad.  My actual father.

I started laughing at myself.  

I have called Jeremy "Dad" for nineteen years.  He has been "Dad" and I have been "Mom" for almost two decades.  We started calling each other that when we became parents and were teaching our babies what to call us.  But the "Dad" who always had Carmex in his top dresser drawer, that man's name is Dennis. 

A week later, my Dad came to Yuma to visit.  When I told my Dad this story, he laughed and laughed.  He thought it was hilarious.  He also had some sympathy.  He's called his wife, my mother, "Mom" for about four decades now.  They've had a few confusing episodes over the years too.

Such a funny thing.  

My Dad did let me know that he DOES have a jar of Carmex sitting in his top dresser drawer back at his house.  He also told me that he wouldn't have let me use his jar because I have "cooties". Silly man!

Anniversary Musings

I am usually a private person when it comes to certain things. However, I have been feeling impressed to share some thoughts. I have found that it is good to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The 21st anniversary of our family occurred this past week. In 21 years our family has grown from two people to nine people. We have lived in nine different homes in four different cities. We have had several heated disagreements over the years and we have had many wonderful times of great joy. The best piece of advice we got as we were preparing for marriage was this:

"Love one another. Love is a Verb." Love is not just some feeling of endearment or affability that you feel for a particular person. Love is work. Love is choice. When Jesus commanded us to love one another, He was not commanding us to be infatuated with one another. Love, in this context, was an action verb. Love is this context means to serve and help one another, to be kind and respectful to one another, to keep hanging on and being loyal and true to one another. The Commandment to love one another is vital in the marital relationship. There will be days when you honestly do not like the person that you are married to and you may wonder how you could have made such a terrible choice as to bind yourself to them. It is on those days and in those moments when things are hard that it is most important to remember what True Love is. True Love is service, helping, kindness, respect, loyalty, and fidelity to your partner. True Love sometimes requires sacrifice and often requires humility. True Love is hard work at times. Fortunately, True Love is usually rewarding work--though the rewards may take days, weeks, or even months to show themselves.

Jeremy and I have had ups and downs in our marriage. There have been days when we have both been ready to call it quits. And on those days we remember the advice we were given: Love one another. Love is a Verb."

Sometimes we've had to walk around the block a few times to calm down. Sometimes we've had to sit ourselves down in timeout. Sometimes we just had to ignore each other for a couple of days. But we always come back. We keep on Loving each other even on days that we don't quite Like each other. And that, I think, has made all the difference in our relationship. I think we are stronger today then we have ever been, both as a couple and as individual people, because we keep coming back. We keep trying. The Lord truly works all things for our good. He will turn our weaknesses into strengths, If We Let Him. He will lead us and guide us and walk beside us, If We Let Him. Because that is the other important part of all of this: The Lord needs to be a part of your relationship.

I hope this doesn't come off as preachy. As I said at the beginning, I have been feeling prompted to share certain thoughts. Celebrating Twenty-One years of marriage has made me a bit introspective regarding this topic.

Happy Anniversary Jeremy.

Open Letter

Dear Yuma County & Arizona Residents,

During the past week I have heard some very negative and very divisive statements regarding the #RedForEd movement. The thing that astounds me is that these negative and divisive comments are coming from within the movement and are directed toward other members of the movement.

Today some Educators chose to Walk-OUT to show their support of Education and their Students. Today some Educators chose to Walk-IN to show their support of Education and their Students. Today some Schools closed in order to support their Educators and their Students. Today some Schools remained open in order to support their Educators and their Students. The astounding thing is that there are people from each side who feel passionately, and vociferously, that the other side chose incorrectly in how they demonstrated their support.

This divisiveness and negativity from within the movement brings to mind "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss. Within that book, two groups (the Yooks and the Zooks who have a great many similarities to each other) become entrenched in a disagreement regarding the correct way to butter bread. It is a wonderful book that most Educators have read. I would implore our Educators to remember the tale of the Yooks and the Zooks and to apply its lessons in this situation.

Please have compassion and understanding for those Educators who chose to demonstrate their support in a manner different from your won. Please stop berating your colleagues or trying to shame them because you choose to butter your bread Butter-Side-Down and they choose to butter their bread Butter-Side-Up. Both Choices still give you a lovely slice of bread with a smear of butter. Both Choices give your mouth a treat as you chew and satisfy your tummy once swallowed.

So whether you and your colleagues decided to butter your bread today Butter-Side-Up or Butter-Side-Down, please remember that the important thing is that Both Sides chose to have a slice of bread with a smear of butter. Please be kind and respectful to your fellow Educators, even though they may have chosen to demonstrate differently than you. Each member of the #RedForEd movement is supporting the cause in the manner they think best for themselves and for their Students. We have enough opposition from without; Please stop allowing this movement to have division from within. Let's start supporting our colleagues in their choices even though they may differ from our own choices.

Please remember that we are Stronger Together!

Sincerely,

Sarah

Mother to a Bunch of Kids

P.S. I am not saying that the divisiveness within this movement is going to lead to a nuclear catastrophe. I am saying that the divisiveness is unnecessary and should be curbed.

Transplanting Trees

The following post has sat, uncompleted, in my draft box for about eight years. It is about transplanting trees. I had initially written out detailed instructions for proper transplantation. I had spent several hours over a span of days writing instructions, drawing diagrams that I then scanned and pasted into the post. It was going to be great. I only had a few paragraphs to finish when my computer had a hiccup and the post was gone! I was able to recover a partially completed draft, but that was it. Everything else was lost. And I was too disheartened to redo the work. I put it in my draft folder. And there it say until tonight. I hope you enjoy. Changes and additions that I am making today will be in italics.

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I love fruit trees. Planting and maintaining them is one of the joys in my life. When we moved into our Yuma house, I planted several fruit trees. However, after living there a while, Jeremy began talking about adding on a family room...right were I had planted my apple trees! He told me not to worry about it, that we wouldn't be adding on for a few years, if ever.

The problem is, transplanting trees can be a tricky operation. Younger trees are easier to move and more likely to recover from the transplant. Older trees have more expansive root balls. They've also become accustomed to the ground in which they are planted. I have seen older trees that were thriving in their original location shrivel up when moved to a new location. In order to ensure their survival, we had to move the apple trees while they were still young. 

We waited until the trees had gone dormant for the winter. A tricky thing in Arizona! Often, apple trees never fully go dormant in our warm weather. 

Picture of the smaller apple tree. I mistakenly watered this tree a day or two before we moved it. I thought it would make the ground easier to maneuver. I was correct. BUT it also made the rootball heavier! All that water added a lot of weight to the rootball.

Benjamin (age 5/6?) and Grant (age 2?). They are now 13 yr & 10 yr respectively.

Picture of the larger apple tree. To safely transplant the rootball, first you dig a donut our around the rootball. Then you can get your shovel under it while keeping the rootball intact.

Keeping the rootball intact. This thing weighed several hundred pounds.

To give perspective, when we removed the tree with its rootball Benjamin and some of our neighbors got in the hole. It is a big hole!

The rootball was so heavy and awkward to manuever. We called a bunch of our neighbors to come and help us. In order to keep the rootball intact, I wrapped a blanked around and under it. Professional people use canvas to do this part. 

It took five grown men to lift the tree from the handtruck to place it in its new home in the front yard.

At this point, the neighbor in the red shirt said something along the lines of: "I can't believe it took five of us to lift that tiny tree. I feel like such a wimp." Hahaha! He's not a wimp. And neither were any of the other guys that helped us. They were all great workers. Dirt just weighs a lot!

The large apple tree in its new home, waiting to be backfilled.

Baby Grant watching Jeremy backfill around the rootball. 

There were other pictures of the trees, along with diagrams. Sadly, those were lost all those years ago. We have since sold that house. The large apple tree still stands in the yard. Its trunk is quite thick now and it produces the most lovely little yellow apples. I hope the new owners will cherish the tree as much as I did. 

Generosity

My two oldest daughters are signed up for their high school's travel-abroad trip planned for Spring 2017. They are primarily responsible for paying for this trip. The trip, plus passports, will cost about $3,500.00 each! I had several boxes of chocolate leftover from a PTO fundraiser. We decided to make chocolate part of our fundraising plan. Jim, Monroe, and Beth wanted to help too. I was grateful because, in my experience, people are more likely to buy chocolate bars from cute little elementary students than from adult-sized high school students.

We've gone out a few times for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours each time. I am amazed at the generosity of my neighbors. Sure, we got several straight "No, thank you" responses. We got a few "I don't have any cash" responses. But for the most part the response was, "Of course! Wait a minute while I find some cash/change". These dear neighbors reached into their wallets. A few neighbors bought five or ten bars, depending on the bill denomination they'd found. More often they would buy only one or two bars. These neighbors were digging through their drawers and coin purses to find enough change to buy a bar. As I watched one neighbor present my child with a handful of change in exchange for one chocolate bar, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my neighbors! 

I know that in our present culture, cash is typically not kept on hand. We rely heavily on debit and credit cards. People don't have cash or coins. And yet, these dear neighbors dug deep in their pockets and drawers to find a stray dollar bill or a few coins--Just to help a fundraising kid succeed. I probably haven't adequately explained, but I am unsure what more I could write. I am simply and deeply grateful for the gracious generosity of my neighbors.

Good-Bye to the Piano Man

We said good-bye to our Piano-Man Teacher tonight. He is a lovely man. He has worked with four of my kids for over a year. He had a talent for teaching chords, improvisations, and embellishments, in addition to the basics of piano theory and technique. He came to our house each week with such a cheerful and can-do attitude. It really was wonderful to watch the kids grow, under his tutelage, in their piano-playing skills.

But, the kids are done. While they enjoyed learning with the Piano-Man Teacher, over the last few months their hearts have not been in it. I know that I could have buttoned down and forced them to practice more. I know that I could have provided incentives for their continued participation. I am consciously choosing not to. 

Rose is in the high school choir this year. She has spent hours each day in vocal practice. She sits at the piano, not to practice the Piano Teacher's assignments, but rather to pick out the Alto part of the new choir piece she is learning. Her interests have turned from piano to voice. And I'm going to let her run with it.

Nonny is still a percussionist in the middle school band. Between that and the rigor of her school courses, she is feeling a bit strained. She still loves piano and wants to continue to progress and learn. But she's at a point where she wants to concentrate on learning individual piano pieces rote. And I can help with that! So she has also opted to forgo piano lessons.

Monroe and Joe still love piano, but after a long day of sitting at school all they want to do when they get home is run and play. Sitting for another half hour or so to practice piano has become awful for them.

The truth is, I felt kind of bad about signing them up for piano lessons in the first place. The reason...  I play piano and I have taught piano. But when I tried to teach them some basics, they would get frustrated with me and with themselves. I talked to my Mom about it years ago. My Mom is a talented pianist, but she didn't teach her own kids to play the piano. She had other people do it. Her reason...her kids (ie. me and my siblings) would get frustrated with her and with ourselves. When she first realized that, she and another piano teacher decided to swap kids. My Mom taught that gal's kids piano and that gal taught us piano. And surprise, surprise: the kids started learning the piano instead of getting into fights with their Moms.

Although I will miss the Piano-Man and the beautiful music he brought into our home, I think we'll be alright. He gave my kids the fundamentals. He encouraged them to find joy and fun in the piano, to not be afraid to make things up, and to not fall apart if you made mistakes. My kids may be done with the Piano-Man, but they are definitely not done with the piano. We are going to restart piano lessons with Mom.

Wish us luck!

At Home Day

Nonny's surgery went well. Her septum is now straight; Her enlarged adenoids are removed; and her nasal turbinates are reduced. She was amazed when the doctor removed the packing and she could actually breathe through her nose! That only lasted for a little while. The reason: due to the surgery, she can't blow her nose and she is having some drainage & bleeding. SO...she has gauze under her nose to catch the mess.

The surgery was Tuesday. I took the day off from work to stay with her and care for her. (Except for an excursion to the School Board Meeting in the evening.) Wednesday was Veteran's Day, so everyone was off from work and school. Today, Thursday, school and work resumed, so Dad, Rose, Joe, Monroe, and Jim are gone. I was supposed to go into work today. Baby comes with me and Beth attends preschool. But...I didn't think Nonny was ready to be left alone yet. So Beth, Baby, and I stayed home with her. 

She slept until about 9:00 a.m. When she woke up and saw us still here, she was happy and relieved. She did not want to be left alone, but also didn't want me to feel like I had to stay. Goofy kid! Some of her friends' parents work. She knows that it is a big deal for parents to stay home with sick kids and that jobs can sometimes be at stake. Lucky for us, my boss's main priorities are the same as mine...Our Kids! :)  

Hubby forwarded the work phone to my cell phone. My work tasks for today are to monitor e-mails and update the business finances. Easy-peasy! I figured I'd work on those once the baby fell asleep. But while he was still awake, I thought: Since I'm home, I might as well start a load of laundry. Which took all of one minute. Then I looked at the dishwasher. It hadn't been unloaded this morning (a certain kid's chore). Usually I'd leave it for the kid to do when they got home, but our dishes are already backed up because our sink wasn't working for a few days. So I went ahead and unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded and started it, then hand-washed a load of dishes, and cleaned the sink. That took about ten minutes with Melanie's help. I also took a few minutes to pick up the kitchen and dining room floors. 

NOW...my house is still a big mess. It is far from complete. But I can feel the difference. AND it is kind of irritating because it took hardly anytime at all AND every job I did was supposed to have been done by a kid. EXCEPT, my kids didn't do those chores because the chores were too hard or too long or I always make them do the work. The funny thing is, while I was pregnant, I was too sick and tired to follow through on the kids getting their chores done. So my house slowly got grungier. And after I had the baby I was too sleep-deprived to even notice if the house was clean. And since going to work, by the time I return home in the evenings I am so focused on getting dinner made, kids' homework complete, scriptures read, fights resolved, etc., that I haven't stood my ground and made the kids actually get their chores done. And I've been too tired to get them done myself. 

Today, staying home to care for Nonny and having my two youngest children with me, I was able to catch up on some housework while spending quality time with the kiddos. Now, my house has a long ways to go before it can be officially deemed "clean", but I can see that it's possible and I am recommitted to the priority of teaching my kids the value of Hard Work and Cleanliness!

Jumping Back In

Well, the best way for me to re-start blogging is probably to just Jump right back in and start writing!

Beth turned 3 in September. About three weeks later, she had surgery. It was a planned surgery. She had her tonsils and adenoids removed. Her tonsils were quite enlarged! She also had tubes put in her ears. The ENT told us that her one of her ears was so full of fluid that he had to get a second something-or-other to suck out the gunk that the first sucker-thingy couldn't remove. That news made me feel great. I had really been debating whether or not to go through with the surgery for a couple of months. I knew that she needed it, but at the same time...She is Just a BABY! Every time I looked at her and thought about her having general anesthesia so the ENT could do his work, I would feel awful. And it didn't help that the hospital has to go over all the bad things that could happen. At the end, I just had to grit my teeth and keep saying: This is what her body needs to function properly!

I am glad to report that she had a quick and full recovery.

Tomorrow, Nonny is having her turn with the ENT. She will have her adenoids removed, a deviated septum straightened out, and something done with the turbinates(?) in her nose. I am not a medical person, so I am not getting terms correct. Sorry about any confusion that creates.

To prepare for tomorrow's surgery, we have smoothie ingredients and popsicles in the freezer. I have ingredients for chicken veggie soup. We have lots of kleenex ready for her drippy nose. AND she has movies picked out for watching tomorrow afternoon. I don't think she'll feel good enough to actually watch the movies tomorrow, but she feels good that they are prepped and ready. :)

In other news, Joe turned twelve in October. He graduated from Primary and received the Aaronic Priesthood. It is a bit weird to think of him as a Priesthood holder, since he's still my squishy little baby boy. Whenever I tell him that he is still my little boy, he is quick to point out that he is almost as tall as me. I'm 5' 8". He is about 5' 5". I told him even if he does manage to outgrow me, I'm also going to call him my short, little boy.

Bucks Beware!

I was born and raised in a city. Not a metropolitan city like New York. My city wasn't sprawling or congested. It was just a bunch of housing developments carved out of farmland. And the city slowly grew until it reached the borders of other cities. My city grew out, not up. 

In each of my family's houses, my parents made sure we had a garden and fruit trees growing. I enjoyed working in the garden, for the most part. My problem with gardening as a child was my health. I had severe asthma and allergies. Being outside digging around with dirt and blossoms and grass could easily trigger an attack that would put me in bed for weeks. So I was typically relegated to inside tasks while the rest of my family was pulling weeds.

As an adult, with my asthma and allergies under much better control, Hubby and I have had a garden at each house we've lived in and as many fruit trees as we could fit in the yard. But we've always lived in the city. Our biggest property was a fifth of an acre, with our house sitting on a 1/3 to 1/2 of that land. And we managed the yard nicely and dreamed of living on a bigger parcel.

And now we are living the dream.

We started two years ago with three acres. Now we own FIVE! We purchased the two acre parcel that butts up next to ours. 

We are doing lots of things with the land. We are growing in our skills as homesteaders, trying to live off the land and be self-sufficient.

This post is to document one of the Skills that I have recently acquired.

Through a mutual friend, we have met an expert on the care, keeping, and judging of goats. She and our mutual friend, who we discovered is also quite proficient in the care and keeping of goats, graciously came to my house to help me improve the care of our five goats. Those two sweet gals were not thrilled with what she found when they came to visit...

Most of the advice I've been getting from other people regarding the care of goats is WRONG! The good thing, they told me, is that I have Nubian goats and Nubians are hardy creatures. The gist of the conversation basically down to: "Sarah, if you had any other breed you would have killed them off months ago. Fortunately, you have Nubians."

I felt really bad about that, but they were kind and reassuring with me. I've since put a lot of what they told me into practice and am working on incorporating the rest of it over the next couple of months. 

Then we talked about the quality of my goats. I know that two of my does are absolute mutts (I don't know the correct goat term for this, so am using the dog term) so I wasn't concerned about them. And I knew that our milking doe had some problems, after all--she came to us with mastitis and we'd battled that for months. So I knew she wasn't the best quality.

What surprised me was her assessment of my bucks. Fred, the bigger buck, has more meat goat traits than dairy. His bone structure is also off. But the big surprise was that they said Fred is super aggressive! 

All of the behaviors that I had translated as Fred being a shy goat are actually signs of aggression. Yowsers!! We watched Fred and George, the younger and smaller goat, for about half an hour, with the expert gal pointing out all of the aggressive behaviors and the bad body structure. Choosing a buck to breed with your does is a HUGE decision. You need to be sure that the buck has good diary characteristics or you can end up with a doe who is not a good milker. Of course, the gals said this in Goat Terminology. They also pointed out the wonderful qualities in George. That goat truly is a sweet goat. He likes people, he likes my children. And his body structure is dairy and healthier long term.

And so we had a decision to make: Sale Fred to someone else for either meat or the breeding of meat. OR Weather Fred.

After talking to Hubby, we decided to Weather Fred.

And that, dear friends, is the new skill that I have acquired: I know how to Weather a buck/buckling. 

The gal did the actual banding while I held Fred still. That goat has GROWN since we got him in March. I straddled Fred at the shoulders and held on to his collar. He is a tall buck! Luckily, I have long legs. The gal was behind him with a banding tool. I have to tell you, although Fred is not yet full grown...his testicles are the size of a full grown buck. They were huge. It took some effort and finagling for the gal to get the band around his testicles. Fred was not happy with her messing with his boy bits. He tried jump and "buck" about, but I held that big goat firmly in place. I am super impressed with myself and my buff thigh muscles. Haha! 

Anyways, that was a few weeks ago. Fred's testicles have shrunk and now look like a hairy pancake. Seriously. That is what they look like.

We're going to add a second band this week to finish the weathering process. They'll continue to wither and eventually fall off.

And so...

Bucks Beware! 

I know how to Weather!  ;)

Patience

Hubby has wanted chickens ever since we moved to our country home. For Father's Day we surprised him with six chickens and a rooster. They're already a family, so we don't have to worry about too much infighting...the pecking order is already decided.

 

Jim, our four-year old son, has been waiting for the chickens to lay some eggs. Chickens tend not to lay for a while when they're moved to a new home. They have to get used to the new environment. After a week of waiting, today the chickens laid some eggs. This morning Jim collected two eggs. He was so excited! He showed them to every member of the family twice then went out to show the goats that the chickens had laid some eggs. After that he carefully placed them in the fridge, where he faithfully checked on them about every ten minutes.

 

This evening when I went out to milk our goat, Jim checked the hen house. There were four more eggs! He could hardly believe his luck. He ran inside, grabbed a basket, and carefully placed each egg in the basket. Then he went to the fridge, took the two eggs from this morning out and placed them into the basket. He sat down on our front stoop and gently placed the basket beside himself. I was sitting on the stoop too, cleaning mud off shoes.

 

After a few minutes sitting there with Jim and the eggs, Jim lets out a big sigh and says: "I just waiting and being patient, but these eggs not hatch yet."

 

I tried to explain to him that the chickens need to keep the eggs if he wants them to hatch into chicks in a month or so. He told me no, he would be patient and they would hatch today.

 

I love that he thinks if he is patient enough those eggs will hatch. I love the faith and logic of my sweet four-year boy! And I love that he is already developing patience at this age. Hopefully, he won't be too put off when those little eggs don't hatch. :)

Working Mom

I just noticed that my user profile is outdated. I'm going to update that.

Currently it reads:
"I am a Wife, Mother, Sister, and Daughter. I enjoy quilting, cooking, eating, service, gardening, and quality time with family & friends. :)"

My occupation is listed at "Mom & Quilter". That has changed a bit.

My location is "Vaudeville, Southwest, United States." I put that location in an attempt to maintain anonymity.

As I was reading my profile I thought, Sheesh! What is with the random ampersand usage?

I am changing my occupation to "Mother, Homesteader, and Legal Assistant"

I seriously want to change to location. Vaudeville sounded cute and fun a few years ago. Now, it sounds lame. Haha! It's interesting how a person's tastes can change. Hubby's new job doesn't require me to be secretive online. So I might put on actual location in my profile. But I might not. I haven't decided yet.

As for the intro paragraph, I have no idea what to write. But I don't want to keep what I've got. It sounds too cheesy to me now.

Decisions, decisions.

It's hard to write a concise paragraph that conveys to readers an accurate glimpse into my life. I guess if you really want to get to know me, you need to read through some of my old posts.

Hello Again

It has been a year and a half since I last posted. That is pathetic. The problem is I keep going back and forth on whether to post or not. Whether anyone really wants to read about my goings on. And then I start to feel really vain for wanting to post. But it truly is not vanity that brings me here. It is the thought that some of my family and friends from lands far away want to stay connected. And the way we connect is through blogs. So here I am again. Giving blogging another shot.

 

If you know me at all, you know that I like lists. I think a list is a good way to catch you up to speed.

 

1. Many of the trees I planted last year died! It was very sad for me. I lost some citrus to frost. I lost my peaches to a bacteria. I lost my plums and apricots to the heat. I lost a couple apples to a Haboob.

 

2. I have since replaced the dead trees. The new trees are doing much better.

 

3. Today, I planted two almond trees. One is a Ne Plus Ultra and the other is a Nonpareil. They look pretty cute.

 

4. We got goats. I have three Nubian goats. Desi is a 2 year old female. She is in milk currently. The kids and I have enjoyed milking her and using the milk in various ways. Fred is a 3 month old buckling. George is a 2 month old buckling. Those two boys are gorgeous! I am completely loving those goats. Some people warned that they smelled bad. But I have discovered that I like their smell. It reminds me of elementary field trips to the Phoenix Zoo and taking my own kids to that Zoo.

 

5. Hubby started his own law practice. He has been busy getting things set up. The business is really rolling along.

 

6. Rose will soon be graduating 8th grade and moving on to high school. Nonny will soon graduate 6th grade and move on to middle school. I am excited for them to enter this new phase of life. They are having mixed emotions: happy, scared, nervous, excited, overwhelmed, anxious, and so forth. It is kind of funny to watch them cycle through the emotions. I am SO glad that I am finished with that phase of life. It was a stressful time being a teenager!

 

7. Jim has been attending speech therapy preschool. His poor little ears were having some issues. We got those issues fixed, but he's got to go to speech therapy to correct some things.

 

Well, that is a good start.

Beth's Arrival

Here is the first installment of my "Catch-Up" blogging. While I am sure you would all like to see detailed posts on the progress of our house renovations, yard improvement, etc., I assume that the first thing you'll want to hear about is the New Baby.

 

 

 

This is a picture of me at 38 weeks. To preserve the memory, I want to note a few things.

 

 

1. I am normally 5' 7 3/4" tall. During pregnancy I tend to shrink an inch or two. It is pretty weird! The height loss returns by the time my baby is 3 months old.

 

2. All of the baby books, pregnancy websites, and doctors' offices recommend that a woman gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. With all six of my pregnancies, I have put on between 50 and 65 pounds. My final weight during this pregnancy was 208 lbs.

 

3. My hair was driving me nuts by the seventh month. The front parts kept getting in my eyes. When the back touched my neck, I got so hot and had problems breathing. I kept it in a ponytail most of the time, just so I could breathe properly. One day was particularly hard. I was ready to just get rid of it all! I was planning on a haircut like this...

The only reason that it didn't happen is that during pregnancy I get motion sick easily. And that bad day with my hair was also a bad day for me motion-wise. I was getting nauseous from walking. There was no way that I would survive a car ride. And so my long hair stayed.

 

And yes, I do see that my hair is down in the first picture of this post. And yes, having my hair down in that picture does look contradictory. What you need to know is that I took my hair out of its ponytail so that Hubby could take a picture to document my big, preggo belly and the length my hair had grown. As soon the picture was taken, I threw my hair back up into a ponytail so that I could breathe.

 

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Since I have a history of having big babies, my doctor suggested that I be induced a week early to keep this baby's size down a bit. I do not like inductions. I much prefer to go into labor on my own and told my OB as much. Hubby agreed with my assessment with one caveat. He asked that if I didn't have the baby by Week 39 that I be induced. The reason? He was going to be out of town on business for most of Week 39. He didn't want to miss the birth. I didn't want him to miss the birth either. Hubby has the important task of distracting me from the pain of contractions by telling me stories. Lots of stories.

So we set up a tentative induction appointment. 

After Weeks 37 and 38 passed with no baby the tentative appointment became a for-sure appointment.

It worked out fine. The appointment was on a Sunday afternoon. The same Sunday as our Ward's Primary Program. I was happy that to attend the program. I love watching the children sing and bear their sweet testimonies. This year Anne, Joe, and Cakes participated. They all did a great job!

My parents came out to see the Primary Program then watch the Grands while Hubby and I went for the induction. My Mom snapped this picture just before we left for Church.  It's the last picture of our family with five kids. The next family picture will have SIX Children!!!

 

 

Birth stories are quite personal, so I'm not going to share many details here. The details I am willing to share are:

 

1. Miss Beth was born in her amniotic sack. The nurse said it is very rare and considered lucky.

 

2. She was born at exactly 11:00 am.

 

3. She weighed 8 lbs, 12.1 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She has lots of dark brown hair and gray-blue eyes.

 

4. Hubby didn't cut her umbilical cord. He cut every other child's umbilical cord. The reason he didn't get to do it this time was that a nurse delivered our sweet baby girl and kind of freaked out. And the other nurses were kind of freaking out about how fast Miss Beth came and had to hurry to get stuff ready and in all their rushing about, they bypassed Hubby and me completely. They didn't even hold her up so I could see her! They just whisked her away!

 

I didn't even know if the babe was for sure a girl. I had to ask. My doctors and midwives in the past make a big deal about holding the baby up so the Momma can see the babe and announcing "You have a BOY!" or "You have a GIRL!" And nobody did that. They were to busy trying to get the medical trays ready.

 

All I can say to that is, I told you all that I go fast! I told you to get ready. I told you the baby was coming. You chose to ignore me. You implied I was being melodramatic.  You kept telling me that it didn't matter if this was my sixth child because every labor & delivery is different so I really didn't know what was going to happen and that you knew how labor really progresses since you'd been a nurse for so many years. Give me a break!!

 

There were many other problems, but I don't want to get into those. Enough ranting and complaining. Let's move on to happy things. :)

 

 

Hubby took this picture shortly after birth.

This picture was taken later that day. Miss Beth is BEAUTIFUL! She has dimples in both cheeks. We know this because she started smiling on her first day of life. :)

 

 

In the evening, Hubby brought the kids to see their new little Sister. Cakes and Joe got to hold her first. They were quite enamored with her. :)

 

 

Anne held her next.

 

Then Rose's turn.

 

 

Jim came in the room and headed straight for me. He looked at his new Sister, but didn't want to hold her. He just wanted to snuggle up next to me. That dear boy missed his Momma and was so happy to see me. :)

 

 

(I don't like pictures taken of me in the days after I give birth because I look so haggard and drawn. I don't usually let Hubby take any of me. But I had to have one of Jim all snuggled up next to me. I adore that sweet little boy.)

We are thrilled to have this newest addition to our family! Welcome, Welcome Miss Beth! We love you dearly!

 

One last note, Beth and I were discharged from the hospital the day after her birth. Hubby took us home, spent about an hour getting us settled in, then left for his business trip. He was gone for the next three days. Yowsers, that was tough. My parents stayed long enough to get all the kids tucked into bed, but then they had to leave too. Fortunately for me I have two fantastic daughters! Anne and Rose took turns staying home from school to help take care of Jim and Cakes while I recovered from labor & delivery. Those two girls are turning into lovely Young Women.

Oh My...

It has been three months since I have posted any updates. Three Months!

 

While I am planning on doing a complete update covering those months, an update that will span several blog posts and include lots of photos, for now I only have time to type up a quick and brief update.

 

The events and activities of the last three months mostly fall under one of the following categories...

 

1. Four children in school, which means: three different school schedules to work around, three different bus schedules, 1 orchestra member, 2 band members, extracurricular activities, fundraisers, and more.

 

2. Fixing up our new house which is falling apart. This poor little house has not been cared for in several, several years. There are so many things wrong with it. We keep thinking we've got things fixed and done, then something else breaks. It has been quite overwhelming at times. The only thing that got us through was my parents. I am so fortunate to have a Dad who knows how to fix just about anything! My Mom is his trusty helper/planner. The two of them are a great home improvement team and they have graciously come to our little town several times over the past few months. FYI: the drive is 3 1/2 hours one way. They have been absolute life-savers for my sanity!

 

3. A new baby. Our sweet baby girl Beth arrived in mid-September. My life has since been filled with trying to figure out a new baby (each one is different and each one likes to be held certain ways or to sleep in certain positions, etc. It takes lots of trial and error to figure out the preferences of a new baby) and trying to get enough sleep to properly recover from labor and delivery.

 

 

I will be posting more detailed updates in the following weeks.

 

Until then,  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yard Progress, Part 1

First off, Hubby was able to fix our washing machine last week. Hooray! I really am grateful for the easy accessibility of having a working washing machine in my home. It makes life so much easier! Especially when children are sick and bed sheets need to be washed immediately, which is what happened just a couple days after Hubby fixed the machine. It was so nice to just throw the bedding in the washing machine and have the yucky smells and sicko germs be gone.

We have been working hard on our yard. The yard is the WHOLE reason we bought this property. We're not sure the exact size. The title company has it listed at 2.98 acres. The irrigation district has it listed at 3.09 acres. The exact size doesn't matter at this point. The point is...we have lots of land to play with!!

There was a lot of work to be done with this property. The acreage was covered with obnoxious weeds with deep roots, pitted earth, cow patties, and garbage. We took out so many loads of garbage! Two or three truck-fulls were loaded with just metal. METAL! Ei-yah! Those loads went straight to the recycling center. We also took several loads of garbage to the local refuse dump.

This picture is of the Northeast corner of the property. It's been cleared of trash. Only the weeds, cow patties, and pits remain.

This is a picture from the Southeast corner of the property. The East side of the property was not as bad as the West.

Jim loved helping dig.

In addition to clearing garbage, we had to get rid of all the trees on the property. I told one friend this and she was SHOCKED! She just couldn't believe that I would be getting rid of trees. Haha! I am a big tree-lover. However, I firmly believe that a tree should have a purpose...Fruit, Shade, Climbing, or Beauty. Only one tree on the property fulfilled one of those purposes: A Palo Verde in the Southwest corner of the property was beautiful. Unfortunately, it had to be removed. Palo Verdes do NOT like a lot of water. And it was sitting right next to the irrigation covert. As soon as we start irrigating, it will die from too much water. I checked into having it transplanted to the front of the property. I had two different tree companies come out to give an opinion and a bid. Neither would move it. They both told me that it wouldn't survive the transplant. So sad! It was a pretty Palo Verde too!

The other trees on the property were nasty, pokey Mesquites and useless palm trees. A friend with a tractor plucked out all the Mesquites. We cut them down and hauled them to the refuse dump. As for the palm trees...

Two palms were about seven foot tall with a diameter of two feet. We referred to the palms as the "Small Palm Trees". Hubby decided to remove those himself. Please note the tall weeds in the forefront of the picture. The back of the property was covered in those. They have deep, deep roots and nasty stickers on them that not only poke your skin, but then set it to itching.

Hubby used his good old Chevy Pick-up and a big chain to remove the two small palms. He looped the chain around the trunk, hooked it to his truck back, and started pulling back and forth.

Being a big pregnant gal, my job was to sit several yards away and tell Hubby which way to pull. It was pretty fun watching the trucks tires spin and the tree teter. The job was harder than Hubby had anticipated. Even though palm roots don't spread out too far, they DO cling to the dirt around them. The first palm took about an hour to remove. Here's Hubby and Joe after they got the first palm out. They hauled it to the front of the property by the trash bin.

Waving "Hello" as they drive by me.

The second palm was more stubborn. It did NOT want to come out. Part of the problem is that it had grown in to the fence. That palm tree took about two hours to pull. During the process, Hubby tweaked his back again. Poor guy! He took it easy over the next few days, and, fortunately, his back healed up fine.

Washing Machine Woes

My washing machine hates our new house.

It is a fancy Samsung with all sorts of sensors built in to ensure the perfect wash. Hubby picked it out special just because of those special sensors. He has been so happy with his choice. It worked fine at our old house. But the thing does not work well here.

The problem?

Well water!

Our washing machine, with all its fancy sensors, despises the well water.

We've tried all sorts of different remedies. None have fully worked. Our last resort was to unplug the hot & cold water hoses and manually add water to the machine after it ran its initial scans. Then during the rinsed cycle, we would manually add water again.

It worked for a whole two days. And then it stopped. I don't know what happened, but the sensors are not loving our little trick and so have gone on strike.

Hubby says that he will get it fixed this weekend. I told him that, at this point, I'd rather he just buy me an old-fashioned washboard.

I've wasted three hours this morning trying to get ONE load of laundry washed in that finicky machine. If I had a washboard, I could have had ALL my laundry washed in an hour.

Oh well, Hubby is going to give it one more shot this weekend. In the meantime, there is always the laundrymat. :)

Fixing It Up

We've spent the last few months in limbo trying to purchase a run-down house in the county. On June 18, everything finally went through! The loan funded, the title recorded, and the keys were officially turned over to us.

We had done many renovations on the house during that time, trying to get it fixed up enough for a lender to agree it was worth the risk. We got the well running, installed a new water heater, put on a new roof, put in new carpet, fixed a faucet, fixed a door, fixed some walls, put on baseboards, removed three abandoned vehicles from the property, removed several truckloads of garbage from property, added a ground wire for the electrical, fixed a few jerry-rigged electrical problems, installed a couple light fixtures to replace the naked & exposed wiring that had been left behind, and crossed our fingers that those things would be enough.

Thank heavens it was!

But now that the place is ours, the renovations have kicked into high gear. 

Here's what we've been working on the past few weeks:

Taking more garbage to the dump.

Ripping out the bathroom. Please note the dirt. 

A gopher had been living under this tub...

Finding honeycomb & a dead beehive in the bathroom walls.

Taking another load to the dump.

Taking time out to nurture the garden at our current house.

Those are giant pumpkin vines around my kids.

Ripping out the kitchen cabinets. Please note my rounding belly.

Getting a 2-Yard bin for trash. That's right people...I have a BIN!!

Turning into a ghost painting the ceilings & walls at the county house.

Painted living room.

Installing new bathroom pipes & fixtures.

Framing in a unnecessary, heat-increasing window in the kitchen.

Cleaning up blood after the windowpane shattered, injuring my dear neighbor.

Still framing in the window.

Installing new cabinets in the kitchen.

Installing counter tops too.

Having a yard sale. Necessary when moving to a house 700 sq. ft. smaller.

Moving a HEAVY tool shed to the new house.

Please note the Dad in the blue shirt. He is instructing his sons to 

hold on tight and not die. They are sitting on the front of the ATV 

to add weight so the thing won't pop up.

I am happy to report that no one died...yet.

Hubby and I have been very blessed with loads of help from family and neighbors. We appreciate the time and efforts they've spent on our behalf.

Unfortunately, the work is only halfway done...

Wish us luck. :)