First impressions...

First impressions really do make a difference on how you think about things. I have been wondering lately about what kind of impression that I give to others when they meet me for the first time. I hope it is that I am happy, energetic and ready to take on the next adventure, but sadly I might come off as being grouchy, lazy and tired :-0

In regard to first impressions I gave my entry way a good look over. It was dark, boring and no attention to detail showed here. Sweet Man and I have been tackling that, to change it into something AWESOME! It all started with the painting of the door to change it from barn red (I love barns, just wanted to let you know that) to bright white. Then we needed a shelf of course to put knick knacks on (that were on sale the previous season), and a coat rack to invite visitors to relax and stay awhile.

Then a clock was needed, without batteries, to prove that we aren't slaves to time. We make our own schedule here!!

Then sweet man trimmed out the forgotten window at the top of the foyer, that had been collecting cobwebs and stuffed animals (don't ask)  for the past seven years. With the window looking so snazy, it was the perfect place for my cow!

Last but not least, Sweet man built a quilt hanger to display the quilt my Mom gave me for Christmas last year. It was made by my Grandmother :-) I think it's a great place to honor the hard work that went into the making of this, and I don't have to worry about sticky fingers on it!

 Now if you would have popped into my living room the other day, your first impression would be that these children must have tied their mom up somewhere and proceeded to trash the house.

But if you look again you will see that it was our blue day. They had a scavenger hunt all around the house to look for blue things, and then they had to classify them. Now don't go thinking that I am some super creative Mom, it was in the teacher's guide ;-) The girls loved finding the stuff. However the putting away was a bit more of a challenge. Trying to teach responsibility here you know, so while they were cleaning it up, I made myself a second cup of coffee and observed ;-)

If you walked into my kitchen this morning your first impression would have been that I made awesome muffins. They look nice in the picture don't they?

They were TERRIBLE!! I apparently put to much salt and not enough sugar in these. Oh well, I said I like to serve my kids a hot breakfast, I didn't say anything about it being good!

On a personal note, sometimes I think I give the impression that I don't care about the way I look....

Well, that's not true at all. I'm just so busy making sure everything and everyone else gives a good first impression, that I hope the way I look, will be OVERlooked ;-)

Spa Day!!!

Yesterday started bright and early with a trip to Urgent care for Sadie. She had been running a pretty high fever for two days straight, so we thought it best to see what might be going on. They gave her an antibiotic, but they give you one for anything from a sore toe to strep throat :-0..so we still aren't sure what is going on with her. Guessing it's just a virus that needed to run its course.

With Sadie being sick the whole family stayed home from church again this morning. (Church members..I promise we ARE coming back!!!) I really tried to take a day of rest, but when I opened the closet door to our bathroom and tons of beauty products fell on me, I decided it was time to organize. Don't you just love beauty products? I have some that claim to make your hair straight, curly, shiny, different colors, poofy or flat. I found every scent known to man in the form of lotion that swears to take away stretch marks or make you tan. I had acne cream, wrinkle cream, day lotion, night lotion and so on. I never use these mind you...they were just on sale ;-)

After I cleaned out and organized this small Sally beauty supply closet, I stood back and admired it. Wow, I bet I would look so nice if I actually used this stuff! So, I decided to have a spa day. You know the kind that you actually paint your own nails instead of someone else's. The kind of day when you light those decorative candles and use the bath salts that are only for special occasions. The kind where you put a Mary Kay mask on that makes it look like you forgot that LAST week was Halloween. The kind where you make a cup of hot tea and run the well dry filling up that garden tub. :-0 With the well being dry it freed me up from doing laundry and dishes, so I got to soak extra long...like it was at least 10 minutes!!!!

After pampering myself so, I just couldn't bring myself to whip up a huge dinner, so we used leftover taco meat and store brought refrigerated rolls to make a taco bake thingy. Grape salad  went alongside it perfectly. If you have never had this salad, I suggest you give it a try. A friend from my old church used to make this...I miss you Monnie! Good memories were made around this salad :-)

Tomorrow it will be back to coveralls and chores. At least for one day I got to feel pretty and have a spa day ;-)

A girl with a dream...

Once upon a time I had horses. It was something I had dreamed about for as long as I can remember. When I was 22, I became a proud momma of a sweet little girl, and my first horse. I couldn't believe my dream was finally being realized. I added several horses over the next couple years, and also 2 more sweet little girls. It was a lot of work trying to manage both, but oh so worth it. I can still remember how the horses would come running up through the field when they heard my creakity screen door slam shut when I went out to feed. I loved how they would nuzzle the back of my neck on a warm summer day when I had nothing else planned, other than to hang out and smell them. Oh the horse smells are the most wonderful to me! I loved buying hay and picking it straight out of the field, and then coming home to stack it. I loved the fact that I knew I could eat anything I wanted on those days as well, cause you knew you where burning TONS of calories! I even miss the bright early phone calls from the neighbors calling to let us know that our stud pony was out AGAIN and eating their flowers..or the time my hubby tried to catch that pony while wearing only his underwear. :-0.. I also remember how hard it was to carry one child on my back, and  push the other two in the wheelbarrow as I was going about my daily farm chores. The frozen water buckets that had to be thawed out twice daily in the winter wasn't the best either. There was also a spring flood that had hit our little barn one year, and I spent most of the day digging ditches all around the barn to ensure they had a dry bed to sleep in, only for them to think it enjoyable to walk in my ditches and undo everything I had just done.

Even though horse ownership was hard, I loved it. I loved that even though there were days that the weather just wasn't suitable to doing outside chores, it was always suitable for riding. I loved the fact that I could trust my big paint so much, that we rode alone. I had my best thinking time those days. But with three small children, I REALLY needed those thinking times. I miss the over night trail rides with friends and their horses, and hubby even came along on one of those! I miss being able to say "yep, I have a horse".

I can still remember the LONG process of breaking our half linger pony. We named her Fry's Golden Honey.  Sweet Man had cut down some trees and sawed them up on my Dad's sawmill to make me my very own breaking pen. One day, after several months, I had thought she was safe enough to take out of the breaking pen...she saw it as an escape. We tore up through the path like a wildfire was chasing us. I just knew, I was either going to die, or have the time of my life. Well, I didn't die...:-) Then the vet bills starting coming. Our best horse got caught out in a storm on New Years Eve, while we were away for the night. He ended up having a twisted gut and we couldn't save him. He is buried in that beautiful  breaking pen. His name was Baltic Reed...when our friends heard about our loss, they offered us a "free" pony from the farm that our Golden Honey came from, as a companion for her. We accepted and loaded our three little princesses' up and took off with our rusty Ole trailer to go pick her up. We named her Fry's Chocolate Brownie. You see a theme here? We like food. She was sweet, but had coliced on us several times. On one occasion I spent two days walking that pony ALL over our property, tubing her with mineral oil, having the vet come out several times and gave her several shots. The pony lived....our bank account didn't. I think the bill for that one time was over $700. Meanwhile the three little princesses' are growing up, eating more and needing braces, clothes and activities. Something had to give...... As I stared at my dream, I realized it had become my families nightmare. I realized it was selfish of me to keep trying to make my dream work. We sold my horses. The day the new owners came, I had to leave. I just couldn't bare to see them drive down the driveway with my dream that I had waited for, for so long.  With it being fall, all the old memories have started coming back. Fall was always the best riding time for me. The summer garden work had slowed down and the weather was perfect for throwing on that bright orange vest of mine and taking off into the woods, just me and my horse. Yesterday I got a new edition of a horse magazine in the mail. That of course brought up the questions from the girls of why don't we have them and when can we get them again.?? I seriously thought about throwing myself a pity party, because I know right now we can't. Instead, I think I will count my blessings, that for one time I got to live and love the dream that I had always dreamed, and now I am realizing there are other dreams that are just as exciting.. Maybe one day I will get to try again at horse ownership, when money isn't so tight and my time isn't so divided between chores. But for right now....I am a cowgirl without a horse....

Who doesn't like a good surprise for breakfast

Growing up in my parents house there was one thing I could always count on, my Mom making us a hot breakfast. It wasn't always fancy, but I rarely remember her giving us a pop tart or a bowl of ceral. We woke up to oatmeal, cream of wheat, eggs and biscuits or even pancakes in shapes of our favorite characters. When I became a Mom I realized what a labor of love that was, and that I wanted to do the same. Now that my girls are getting older they have figured out that if they are the first one up they will get to be my "helper", which normally ends in a messy kitchen and a late breakfast, but hey, I'm working on making memories here! This morning it was Hope who joined me first, so I let her pick the breakfast. She chose strawberry surprise muffins.

 The recipe calls for strawberry jam, but when you have a whole shelf full of jam you just pick whatever floats your boat that day. Today it was raspberry. :-)

With all of our ingredients line up Sadie soon joined us in the kitchen. After the sweet little princesses got done fighting over who would stir and who would add the ingredients, it went pretty smooth. ;-)

 They went perfectly with a cold glass of almond milk! (And yes I had to tell the girls they couldn't eat one until I took the picture..hey I have a blog now ya know)
;-)

STRAWBERRY SURPRISE MUFFINS
1 cup flour (we use whole wheat) 3 tablespoons honey 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1/2 cup yogurt (any flavor or plain) 2 tablespoons melted butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla jam  Mix everything except the jam, until flour is moistened. Fill greased muffin tins 1/2 full. Add a spoonful of jam, then more batter to fill cups 2/3rds full.Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

After breakfast and school was taken care of for the day, I had a few chores that needed to be addressed. One being those sweet little chicks that are residing in my laundry room. One of the little stinkers figured out that she could fly and after I put her back in the box she procedded to tell all her peeps that there is a whole wide world outside their little box. Now, even though I think that carpet cleaning commercial where they are talking about the free ranging house chicken is hilarous, I do not wish to have one. Being a "farm girl" has taught me to be creative, so I decided to wander out to the garage to see what I could find to rememdy this problem.  

As I step out on the backporch I am greeted by this big guy...

 

And I can't find my broom  weapon...but wait, what's this??

Oooooohh, and it even has a pokey thing on the end. I think this will work just fine!

Yep, sure does! When I make it to the garage, I of course have completely forgotten what in the world I even came here for. I stand around and scratch my head for a bit. Oh YEAH, I'm supposed to reclaiming my laundry room from a flock of chickens.  I trudge back to the house weapon and screen in hand. These chickens will NOT get the best of me!!!!

When I am done, I stand back and admire my work. 

it's nowhere near as fancy as Sweet Man would have made it. 

He would have put hinges on it with a sky light and exhaust fan I'm sure...

You see how farming brings out creativity? 

I am even using a pool stick for their little roost. :-0 

Bet you don't want to come over and play pool now....

Diamonds really are a girls best friend!

I often think if I was a child in the public school system right now, I would be described as being ADHD. As much as that is looked down upon, I rather enjoy being that way. It keeps things exciting ;-) I am often asked what curriculum I use in our home school. The answer is always different. I get bored doing the same thing day in and day out, and I believe the girls do too. We keep our math and reading programs the same to ensure we are on track, but the other stuff changes frequently. Recently, at one of our Mom's night out, a friend had told me about unit studies with lap booking. If you don't know what lap booking is, check this site out. It explains it with pictures. Don't you just love pictures? The thing I love most about unit studies, is that they are short, and you only study a topic for a week or so. Although, for us it takes longer, mainly because I get distracted easily too! What is the whole point of this paragraph you ask???  Well....my girls love mysteries and I love diamonds, and we found a unit study that combines both!!!! Here is a sample you can look at if you are so inclined. :-) We started on it yesterday, and we all loved it so much. They actually keep begging me to do more, even though I wanted to be pretty much done with school. ;-) With all of this learning going on yesterday, not a whole lot else was accomplished. We ended up having leftovers for dinner and then headed out to run errands and vote. After that, we made a quick stop at the library to pick up some more books on CD, and some books on gems, which will pretty much keep the girls occupied for awhile.  The girls are so excited about learning right now, which makes it that much easier for me!! I guess diamonds really are a girls best friend.

Just an ordinary day.

This day started out just like most of the days before. I got up to pack sweet man's lunch, then sit in my chair with my coffee, and my dog for quiet time with the Lord. (I think I might be slowly converting my dog to Christianity)

We started school bright and early, at Noon, with Sadie pretending to be a robot. She would only answers questions in the most correct robot voice that she could muster up. She recited her math facts by hanging upside down in her school chair. When asked what she was doing she said "doing my math facts"...like isn't it obvious??  Hey, whatever works I guess......

Grace recited her poem "The Robin" by Celia Thaxter, to the baby chicks of course. She thinks they really enjoyed learning about another feathered friend, and they did seem to actually be listening. They were probably just trying to figure out if they were going to be picked up and carried around the house in a plastic pumpkin again. (Which they do not enjoy!)

While Hope was supposed to be writing her alphabet, I look over to see her playing with crayons. She said they were birds migrating south for winter and would probably be back in the spring....hmmm, and I thought that child never listened to me.  We finished school early to do a little (real) bird watching at our feeders. When I say "we", I mean mostly them. I was reading a magazine...but I was beside them, that should count for something right?  After that I guess the younger two were taking the "No child/toy left behind" very seriously, for they proceeded to line up their toys and teach them school.

After much play, it was then time to cook dinner. We decided to make pepperoni lasagna. 

As Grace put it, "everything tastes better, when we make it together"...

and that was definitely the case with this dish!

 Just so you don't think that she hasn't changed her shirt in days, 

I thought I would let you know that we have four of them ;-)

 I'm going to need a bigger kitchen......

Pepperoni Lasagna

1 large container of cottage cheese 

8oz mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

3 green onions (chopped)

Mix all the top ingredients together 

In another bowl combine

1 jar of Italian sausage and peppers marinara sauce

1/2 stick pepperoni chopped

alternate in between uncooked noodles

add 1/2 cup water, cover with foil and bake at 350° 

until the noodles are tender. (about an hour) 

While this dish was baking away in the oven, we were left with free time. 

What do four ladies do with free time???  Manicures of course!!!

The girls kept commenting on how good I was at giving manicures. 

Guess beauty school is finally paying off! They even did my nails too! 

Just when I finish cleaning up from the other "activities" 

I see the girls are expressing their interest in science.

I force a smile, thinking how great it is to have kids that enjoy learning...

but MAN, I just cleaned that kitchen!!! 

I think I need to sit down for a bit....HEY.., that's supposed to be MY chair!

As I look back on the events of the day, I realize this was no ordinary day at all, 

but then again I am not trying to raise ordinary girls.

If I had only known.....

If I had only known, that I would have three sweet children,

I wouldn't have sold all my baby stuff after the second child.

If I had only known, I would be teaching my own children to read and write,

I would have paid more attention in school.

If I had only known, my kids would grow up so fast,

I would have cuddled with them more.

If I had only known, that dog hair on the carpet, led to giggles and magic shows with disappearing dogs,

I would have let the dogs live in the house sooner.

If I had only known, that a slightly dirty house made visitors feel comfortable,

I would have cleaned less.

If I had only known, that letting my girls dress themselves led to feelings of self worth,

I wouldn't have stressed out so much over red socks with pink dresses.

If I had only known, that a smile really was the prettiest thing you could put on,

I wouldn't have worried so much about my hair.

If I had only known, how much my family loves a good hamburger,

I wouldn't have made them eat tofu for so many years.

If I had only known, how much fun it is to lay on that dirty carpet and play games,

I wouldn't have vacuumed so much.

If I had only known, that after 12 years of marriage we would still be struggling to pay the bills,

I would have done it all over again, only sooner!