Quiet Morning

Good Morning!! It has been a LONG week. Work wise I'm doing well. Its a fast paced environment so I get home exhausted. Its good to be back doing something though. I'm finding it difficult to getting used to the juggling again. I know that this will come with time, but I hate forgetting things and not having dinner at least prepped at night. Next week I'm really going to focus on that.

The Man and Gabbie are still sleeping and I am enjoying the quiet for a change. I can truly say that I haven't had much quiet time lately and its something that I enjoy. No TV, no screaming baby, no constant talking, no noise. Just the hum of the laptop and occasionally the refrigerator.

Last Sunday we took a long walk around the farm and I snapped a couple pictures. Gabbie had cabin fever BAD!!! She had been cooped up inside for too long. So we bundled her up, put her in the stroller, and took a nice long walk.





We also harvested our honey this week. Its was cool to finally see a result of all our work. Thank the Lord for our mentors! We wouldn't have been able to do it without them. We got around 25 lbs of honey and its a good quality too! its about 16.5% water and it tastes wonderful. As you can tell its got a gorgeous dark amber color which is indicative of poplar trees. The Man has a renewed interest in beekeeping now and we both want to try and expand next season. Only time will tell.




I am currently waging war inside my home. For those of you that know me personally, you know I am scared of one thing in this world...mice. Well the other day I went to open a lower cabinet and one of those nasty things was right there!! Of course I started screaming bloody murder!!! I know I live in the country and I know that it is "inevitable" but I will not tolerate them in my house. I can't imagine how the hell it got in to begin with. I want to call out an exterminator but I know that would be beyond our price range! As we speak my wonderful silent morning has been invaded with tiny chewing and scurrying sounds!!! ITS BACK!!!! I think I'm going to call a local pest company and see what they charge. I know that they're in the attic as well so The Man and Poppa may have some work to do VERY soon. God this is driving me CRAZY!!!

Today we are planning on taking Gabbie to the pumpkin patch. This was an annual tradition when Mabel and I were small. Mother and Poppa took us every year. It is something that I want to start with my children as well. Mother and I are going to do a bit of grocery shopping as well. She needs food and snacks for Gabbie during the week so we are going to hook her up. I will definitely be taking pictures so you will be seeing our day!

I need to get some projects done. My niece Emily will be here any day now and I have to get her present done. The Man is contemplating driving to NC when she is born. Gabbie and I can't go with but I think he needs to. I will just have to wait to see her beautiful face :( So I need to get that done soon that way when we get the call he can take it with. I've start on my Christmas presents and need to get them done too. I can't wait to see what everyone else I making!! It should be interesting!!

The Man is officially done cutting wood!!! YIPPY!!! We have about 2 years worth in the barn! I'm so happy that this big job is done! Its reassuring to know that we will heat this winter! LOL!! He also called and got the propane tank filled just to be on the safe side. Its like an insurance policy for us. Now he can move on to some smaller projects he's been wanting to do. He hung up Gabbie's swing in the back yard. Now we can go out and swing anytime we want!! Gabbie is happy about this!! He built a fire pit out of stone in the back yard. Now we have a place for Thanksgiving, which is fast approaching! His number one project now is to rid the house of MICE!!!!

I'm still hearing our little friend so I think its time to wake him up and at least have him scare the damn thing out of the house! Lord give me strength! I'm too scared to open the cabinet and scare it myself! Pathetic I know! But everyone has a fear, right?! I'm sure I'm not the only one that's scared of mice, am I? I will be back soon, hopefully tomorrow. If not then next weekend, unless I can wake up early one day during the week. Until then you behave and have a GREAT weekend!!

Pumpkins and.... Lilacs?!

I forgot to add this to my post earlier so I decided to make a new one. Its very appropriate for a Sunday morning.

Yesterday when we pulled up in the driveway I saw this.



Now, I have waited each spring for this bush to bloom. Since we have owned this house it has NEVER bloomed after the spring. So why is it blooming on the first of October??? I don't know if you can see in the picture but the leaves are starting to die. They're all brown and spotty. It has gotten me completely baffled. Oh and it smells heavenly; just like it was spring and not 50 degrees outside! I'm so stumped at this! So, like I do when I can't figure something out, I called Mother. She said that its a message from God, a blooming bush instead of a burning one. She seems to think that God is sending us a message, telling us that everything is going to be ok. That even in the cold, something beautiful can grow.

All I have to say is that if God is trying to tell us something; he/she picked a fabulous way to say it!!

What A Week!!!

I'm exhausted!!! This has been one hell of a week. Work has been crazy!!! So busy!! They have assured me that its usually not like that but wow!!! I can't breath during the day! So that's been stressful. Tuesday I picked Gabbie from mothers and she was kinda cranky. We got home and she wouldn't eat her dinner. I put her down and picked her up 5 minutes later and she was burning up!!! Weird!! Her temp was 100.9! I gave her Tylenol and figured it was another round of teething kicking in. I WAS SO WRONG!!! The next 2 days her fever never broke, she stopped eating, diarrhea, and vomiting. I took her to the doc Thursday morning. No ear infection, no strep, so the doc tested for a UTI. We went to the hospital for some blood work and a antibiotic shot. I knew then that there was a problem. The nurses had to PULL the blood out of her with a syringe!!! After we got all the way home the docs office called to see if she had taken an liquids, which she did not. After about an hour the doc personally called and told me she was admitting her. The blood work came back and her white blood cell counts were through the roof and she was badly dehydrated.

Talk about an emotional wreck! She was a trooper though. She didn't start drinking anything until late Friday afternoon so we had to spend a second night. We finally got out yesterday afternoon when her blood cell count was back to normal. She's now at home and back to herself. We are still dealing with diarrhea but I pray that will soon pass. So yeah... I need a vacation now!!! OR a good stiff drink!! I never want to go through that again. Now I'm not an overly dramatic mom; I know that shots aren't going to kill her but that little girl got prodded and poked so much that when a nurse came in the room she started crying!!! They didn't even have to touch her!! I felt so bad for her! She couldn't play much and she couldn't get down and crawl because of the IV. It was bad! I hope we never have to go through that again. Through it all she still kept up good spirits which totally amazed me. I think we saw her true personality and I hope she stays that way.





She's sleeping right now so I get a bit of a break. I've got my chocolate raspberry creamer and silence for a bit. The Man is at church, we decided it wasn't a good idea for Gabbie to be out and about just yet, so I'm going to enjoy myself for a bit. Don't know what we are going to do today. We were supposed to extract honey on Friday so we may be doing that today. Our mentors will call when they are done with theirs so they can help us. I will keep you posted on that!! Its gonna be AWESOME!!! I'll stop here and use my time wisely. Until next time!

Good Morning

Top O' the Morning to you!!! Ok so I'm not exactly that chipper at the moment but I'm feeling a bit ambitious so maybe I will be after I drink a cup o'coffee. Today starts my first full day of work in just over 3 months. For some reason I'm scared. Not necessarily of work, that's the easy part, but of juggling home, husband, and Gabbie. I know that everything will fall into a rhythm but right now its kinda scary. I am ready though and I know its in every one's best interest. Gabbie has gotten even more clingy than before with both The Man and I so she will be heading to her Grandma's everyday now. This will help with all that and get her on a schedule for when The Man goes back to work, which will hopefully happen soon. The Man will then have the free time to get some things done around the farm that he's been wanting to tackle.

I didn't get to make Gabbie's onesie for the big game because this fit her. Well it sorta fit her! But still.... isn't that much more fabulous than a onesie?!


Yesterday I went into work for a half day. Its going to be difficult learning all the legal language but I'm sure in a couple of weeks it will be second nature. In theory the job is pretty easy but when you add on learning the lingo it takes a bit more. Today is jam packed!! I will be handleing all of the real estate and have 2 closings today!! YIKES!!! Thank the Lord that her current assistant is still with us so she can show me how things work. I learned yesterday that I better catch on quick because I only have like 2.5 weeks before her current assistant is gone!! Yep, the stress is on! Like it ever left HA! It just switched forms.

Well I guess I should get ready for the day. Until next time!

Ask And Thou Shall Receive

Sorry I haven't posted. This time I do have an excuse. No Internet! Since we live in the boonies Internet service comes at a premium. We have ours through our cell provider and it is limited to 5GB a month. Well The Man lives on the Internet and since he doesn't have a bedtime....well you can guess what he's up all night doing. Needless to say our inter net ration was used up quickly which is ok because I didn't have much to report... until yesterday. Yesterday I finally got a job!!! Its with an attorney as her legal assistant. Not exactly in my field but still interesting. It will teach me new things, which is always a good thing, and who know, maybe it will lead to a career. Either way I'm excited. I start Monday so these are my last days to get everything together. It will be bittersweet. I've gotten used to spending all my time with Gabbie so it will take some getting used to but it's a good thing. She's gotten really clingy lately and that's never a good thing. Its not my style. So its a good thing for everyone. That and I'll be weaning her as well so its good for Mommie too!

We have a busy weekend ahead. Poppa and Step-Mommie are coming down for a visit. There are some major issues going on at Poppas work and he needs to blow off some steam. So they'll be heading down today so Poppa can shoot some guns and do some manual labor. We have wood that still needs to be split and a leaky roof. Once all the work is done there is a festival down town that Step-Daddy's band is playing in and then there is Sunday. Sunday is a HUGE day in our family; Bears vs. Packers!! We are GIANORMOUS Bears fans!! So we will be getting together at Gramie and Grampie's to watch the big game. I have to make Gabbie a football onsie to go with her Bears socks before then!! I'll make sure to post pics!!

As for me I have alot to get done between now and Monday. I need to get this house in shape and get everything and everyone back in some sort of routine. We're not too out of shape so it shouldn't take much but The Man is going to have to get to sleep at a decent time now! LOL!!! He's not going to like that!! I will be cleaning and putting out my autumn decorations today. I pray Gabbie takes several long naps so that I can get all this done. Well I suppose I should stop here and get going. I think I'll need another cup o'coffee though!!! Until next time!!!

PS I want to thank all of you for your support and prayers. We are so thankful for all of you. I pray that The Man has passed his test and that life goes back to normal soon. I know that it will and that all of you had a hand in it. Thanks again for everything.

Farm Animals, Tests, and a Break

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I don't really have a good reason, just haven't had much time to myself. Miss Gabbie is sleeping now so I have a moment to fill you in on the past week. Last weekend we went with Mother and Step-Daddy to the State Fair. We had a blast!! It was fun watching Gabbie experience new things. We witnessed 2 milestones; sharing food and a FEAR of all farm animals!! Yep, all of them, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, rabbits...all of them!! It all started with sheep! I thought she would be fine with them considering we have two rather large dogs. Not on your life!!! She let out a blood curdling scream that I had NEVER heard before!!! Needless to say we heard the same scream all day when we moved from livestock barn to livestock barn. The sharing of food was so cute and it made up for her newly discovered fear. She was gnawing on a pizza crust and offered some to her daddy. It was too cute! Then she offered some to her grandma. Now anything that she has in her mouth, food or otherwise, gets offered! She also had her first ride with Mother. They rode the carousel and it was so fun watching her. She really liked it!





The Man is studying for the Praxis again. He takes it on Saturday and I pray that he passes. We heard yesterday from a teacher that his former position will be open again next school year and the the principle wants him back ASAP; word is that there is a teacher going on maternity leave after Christmas. I pray that he can pass so he can get back to teaching. I know that not working has taken its toll on him. I'd be willing to bet that he is mildly depressed over all of this and I know that passing will help, even if he can't teach again til next year. I can't say I don't blame him. We are in 2 different situations when it comes to being unemployed. I was fired from a job that I wasn't passionate about so it wasn't a blow to me, just inconvenient. The Man, however, couldn't teach and that is his passion. He was meant to be a teacher and he is an amazing teacher. So for someone to say you can't do what you love and what you are called to do is extremely difficult. That combined with that whole "I am Man I must provide" mentality makes for an upset husband. I try to show him the bright side but he's one of those "half empty" people. Its an ongoing battle between us; some days he wins, some days I win. Either way I know that we will look back at this time, some day in the distant future, and be thankful for it. That is if I don't kill him first ;) LOL, just a joke!! I promise!

Mother is taking Gabbie over night so I will have some ME time!!! I've got a lot of things to get done but I'm contemplating spending my time doing fun things instead of the alternative. I know The Man will be studying the majority of the time so I should use my time wisely but I love the ideas of just sitting down with a good movie and crocheting. I'll weigh the odds.

Other than that there isn't much else going on. We are hanging in there and except for the obvious, are doing as well as we can. I will definitely post tomorrow morning since I will have it all to myself and I'll let you know what I did with my free time. Until then!!

Recovering

We had an amazing weekend! Filled with the typical, good food, family, guns, and of course, my beautiful daughter. All the women folk in our family took a stab at shooting skeet and let me tell you, it was fun!! Every one of us hit the clay at least once and the shot gun we were using wasn't made for women either. It was a blast. I was able to unload some built up stress by unloading several hundred rounds of hand gun ammo. Poppa, Step-Daddy, Mabel, and I had a great time with the hand guns. It was fun spending that kind of time with our fathers! Poppa is teaching all of us the details and concepts of using a hand gun for self protection. Regardless it was a blast and now, next time he is down, Poppa will be teaching several other family members the ropes as well.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures so there is nothing to post but I'm sure you can use your imaginations! The Man, his father, and Poppa also slipt a TON of fire wood. We will definitely NOT be cold this winter. I'm very thankful for The Man's father and Poppa for helping him. It would have taken The Man way too long to get all that work done himself, even though I know we would have done it.

I'm working on an afghan for Emily, my niece. The Man decided that he didn't want me to do the typical quilt for her. I found a very cute pattern of something I had never tried before and so far its working out great. The pattern isn't as big as I'd like so I'm going to adjust it a bit to make it larger. I'll let you take a peek when I'm finished.

Not much else to report. Gabbie is miserable with her teeth. She's up all night long, which means that I am as well. I'm giving her tylenol but its not helping her sleep much. I'm going to try the teething tabs, several of my mommie friends have recommended them. Hopefully it will work and she can get some sleep in. Maybe I can as well ;)

I guess I will leave you with that. Until next time!