I'm learning to knit!

So, a few years ago, I decided that I might be interested in learning to knit. I saw a learn to knit kit done by lions brand yarn. It was on sale and I've been interested in learning to knit, but was a bit intimidating.

I'm a pro at crocheting. I can follow most any pattern, and am able to make stuff without a pattern.

Well, I'm a sucker for a good sale and I decided that what the heck, I'll try it!

So, I bought the kit, followed the pattern. But I didn't like the finished project. It was pretty boring. So I took it out and then found an easy pattern for a really cute scarf on some internet site.

I made it through the project, but it was a bit scary. Knitting makes me feel out of control. I'm really in a bind if I don't count, or forget where I was, or lose a stitch!!!!!!

So after that scarf I put the knitting down. I thought maybe I would pick it up at a later date.

Then I got into spinning. I got so into it that I went from a learn to spin kit purchased off of e-bay to owning 4 Cormo sheep, a spinning wheel (majacraft!!!) and a newly acquired drum carder (Christmas! It is SO much faster!).

But lately, I've been feeling limited as to what I could do with all of my wonderful homemade yard.

I felt like I couldn't make any baby blankets with it (a past passion) due to felting and the need to wash baby items frequently.

And in the meantime, every time I was at a thrift store and I saw needles, I bought them (much cheaper). And I ended up with a decent collection of sizes.

Well, just recently I thought, why not pick up the needles again?

I decided to try and knit a scarf, you know, just to remember how to knit. Then I decided to suck it up and relearn how to pearl.

Ugh.

Anyway, I'm still refreshing myself.

I've just been knitting this and that. I started on a really cute scarf and then knit the kids some ear warmers (using the knit and pearl together and making a cute windy pattern).

I still have half a scarf on the needles at this moment, but I'm going to finish it. Its a simple knit stitch over and over. It would match the ear warmer I made for C perfectly.

Change

so why the change to a new address yet again?

Well, my family found my blog. I decided that I was ok with that.

Well, 2 of my sisters, AE and S decided to read all the way back to 2005 and of course become offended by what I said 2! YEARS!!! AGO!!!

I've moved on, but why can't they?

My sister S keep calling me and trying to get me to apologize for my entries.

I don't know why I should. I've moved on and those were feelings that are in the past. In fact, S and AE and I have probably already hashed out these situations.

For some reason reading about it for them is like opening the box again.

I finally just gave up.

I'm tired of changing my blog to suit them. I had to get rid of history, the older posts link and the search function. My blog looked so unfamiliar. I didn't recognize it anymore.

So I said to heck with it. I moved the blog to another account so they can't find it and started a new blog.

It will be filled with fluff. No deep seeded emotions or feelings. Or even things to think about.

Nope, it will be the braggy family blog that everyone and their best friend writes these days.

I don't think I've sold out due to the fact that this blog is still out there.

I've still got my rant and rave blog! So hallelujah!

A blog to check out

www.pioneerwoman.com

Strangely enough, it was hubby who pointed this one out to me.


Here are some other new ones that I enjoy.

http://sheepgal.typepad.com

and

http://jerrybaker-amg.blogspot.com

A letter

To any person who may have been diligent enough to read all my entries clear back to 2005.

First of all, props to you.

Second, I would like to state (as I stated many times in those early days) that this blog (especially in the beginning) was meant as a journal for me. An outlet, and a way to get feelings out without making my husband listen to them.

I have had people contact me telling me how they are offended with something I said, a story I told, or even a feeling I had.

I have had people tell me that they wish I would delete entries so that others couldn't read them.

I would like to say to you that I won't. This is my journal. If I deleted or otherwise altered those entries it would be like ripping pages out of my journal, and pretending that I wasn't feeling that way, or thinking those things.

I don't feel that it would be being true to myself.

So in order to please these people, I have altered my blog so that you can no longer access historical entries.

If someone finds a way to access historical entries, I would appreciate being let know so that I can 'plug the hole' so to speak.

For those offended by my posts, I will say this. You are reading my personal journal. I am allowed to have my own thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Also, please take into consideration that over the past 4 years I have matured, as we all have. You will notice this in the posts as you read them. I know that when I read old posts that I notice this about myself.

So, take this how you will.

couponing

So today I went a little crazy and bought about $75 worth of groceries. It only took 3 stores, but I ended up with a trunk full of groceries.

I started at the Albertsons that is farthest from my home. I bought 4 boxes of Quaker instant oatmeal (buy 4 get them for $1.50 each) and 5 boxes of quaker cinnamon Life cereal (Fred Meyer coupon for 5 for $10). Then I used 2 $5 off coupons from the sale the week before (buy $30 of certain items, get 3 $5 off coupons for your next order), and some mfg coupons (2 - $1 off when you buy 2).

I paid $2.16.

Then I ran the deal again. 5 boxes of Life (Freddies 5 for $10 coupon) and my mfg coupons (2 - $1 off when you buy 2). And another $5 off coupon from the sale the week before.

I paid $3.60

I was so impressed with myself I had to call Milton and tell him about the awesome deal I had just gotten.

Then we went over to Subway and had lunch - Just over $6. but since this isn't groceries, I won't add it to my total.

Then we went to the Albertson's closest to my house and ran the deal 2 more times.

The first time I bought 4 boxes of Captain Crunch that Albertsons was having a sale on (buy 4, get them for $1.50 each)
And I bought 4 boxes of Cinnamon life and 1 box of Captain crunch using the Freddies coupons and the MFG coupons.
I spent around $14.96 (can't find the receipt)

The second time I bought the 4 boxes of Cinnamon Life and 1 box of Captain crunch.

I spent $8.60

Then I went over to Walmart and did our regular shopping and only was able to use $1.25 worth of coupons. But I was also in the 20 or less checkout. I spent around $48. I had some non grocery items to buy as well as 2 large Pace Salsa's which are around $7 each.

so this is the story of how I got a trunk full of groceries for around 77.32

There are still people doing better than this. But I'm still learning. There are tricks that I have yet to figure out. But in my favor, I will say that its hard to think this all through while keeping track of 2 hungry kids :) .

Another one

We had another chick die. Unknown causes.

I was checking the small chicken coop for and egg yesterday (the silkie is living with the chicks) and in the second box I checked there it was. A dead chick.

It took me by such surprise that I couldn't help but say "oh!"

Anyway, I have now idea why it would have died, except maybe exposure? Maybe it got to cold?

8 eggs today, 4 eggs yesterday. I'm not sure what is going haywire here. Oh well. All the better reason to not keep all these darn chickens.

I've come to realize that 1) I like chickens. Some are really quite nice. Others are snotty and the rooster is just a big goofball. 2) I can't make money from selling eggs.

So I've got a couple of options. First one is to wait until spring and see if I can sell hatching eggs. People have broody chickens but either don't have a rooster or can't have one. So they look for hatching eggs. If this doesn't bring in the money ($4-5 per dozen) then its on to...

option 2! - which is to keep about 5 chickens and maybe a rooster and be happy about it.

Why is it that every make money scheme I hatch turns into a rotten egg?

One of these days ... :)

I realized today that my sheep need some attention.

Charlie pulled out a big patch of his wool. He likes to rub on anything that will stand still. The calf hutch. The chicken coop. I've looked closely on his skin, and none of the other sheep are itching, so I don't think it's lice. But I may treat them for it anyway just to be sure.

For sure I'm going to sew them coats. I bought the material off of e-bay this morning. So it will be happening soon. I'll have to post pics. But how will I get them to hold still enough to put them on?

The other thing is that they all need a good hoof trimming. I just don't know how I would be able to wrangle them enough to hold still for it.


Don't they have pens that are for one sheep/calf where you can confine them and do all that needs doing?


I'll have to investigate.

The cows are doing great. They are gaining weight like champs. We started slowly adding grain to their diet of alfalfa. They are now getting about 5 lbs of grain per day.

We've come to realize something. Cows aren't cheap. I don't know if we will be doing this again.

But it's been a good learning process.

I've learned a lot about all sorts of different animals here on our small acre.

I've learned that I don't want goats. Not even angora goats. They are brats and a pain in my behind.

I don't like rabbits. They poop a lot. But maybe if one of the kids wanted one and was old enough to care for it.

I don't want a cat. 'Nuff said.

Don't want a dog. We love 'em, but hate the land mined.

It's really been a learning experience here. I feel bad that we've had so many animals through here, but I feel like it was necessary to find out what worked for us.

And all of the animals went on to a nice home. Well, except for those darn angora goats. 2 of them were eaten. And mighty tasty they were too I heard. But after they ate my garden 3 + times, I felt like justice was done.

chicken update

I'd just like to annouce that now that the chicken house is freshly cleaned, the egg production is on its way up again.

today we had 7 eggs. The most eggs we've seen in a week.

Yahoo!

Oh, and I've started giving away roosters.

I've got 2 going tomorrow. So that will bring me down from 26 to 24 chicks. I'm crossing my fingers that the guy shows.

Back to the daily grind

So now that the holidays are gone, we are just back to the daily grind.

Hubby has to take a week off at Chinese New year. So I'm looking forward to that. I kind of what to do something, but am not sure what yet.

C still loves school and A loves preschool.

The snow has melted for the most part and until today the weather has been pretty mild. Today was a little cold.

Today I got to choose between cleaning out the hen house or cleaning the kitchen.

The egg production has been extremely low because the odor of the hen house so I chose that project.

It was smelly and dirty. As always, I felt like everything I had on needed to be washed and I need a shower!

The only thing I didn't like was that my dishes needed to be done when the scouts were doing a project around the table.

I have one annoying scout who loves to say things like today "The table needs to be wiped off. There are Cheerios!" and when we were passing out the scouting for food flyers he said some lovely things about how my car needed to be cleaned out.

When he said the car comments, I invited him to clean it. Today when he mentioned the table, I said that I had to clean out the hen house, and then when he said something about it again I reminded him that I am his scout leader, not his mother and then wiped it off.

Considering that all it had was a little jam from lunch and a couple of cheerios from breakfast, he should feel pretty lucky.

Its really the way he says it. Like "I can't believe you don't have a spic and span house!"

He is the rudest boy I have ever met. I know he must have manners in there somewhere. He has a very well behaved family.

UGH.

I wish someone would tell him about how every person in the church is a volunteer at their calling. We don't get paid. Sometimes we don't even really like what we are doing, But we do our best anyway.

The truth of the matter is that I'm still recovering from my herniated disc. Most of my days are good ones now which is awesome. But my stamina is still not as good as it once was. Its getting there though.

I now can stand at the sink (it bothers my back) long enough to load the dishes, wash the pots and pans, and clear off the cupboards. But then I have to sit down for a while. If I push it, It can be sore for the next few days.

I'd love to be able to clean the whole kitchen at one go, but I'm not there yet.

But considering that just over a year ago I had trouble sweeping the floor all at one time, I am improving a whole lot.

And as I improve my house is getting more and more under control. But I can't push it. That is the one thing I've learned. Knowing when to take a break.

I know that people look at my house (I know I do) and think "What a dump!" this is only 2 years old?

Well, I wish I could tell them why its not as clean as I would like.

But I can't.

I guess the one thing I would like to tell people would be, "Are you sure you know the whole story?" Are you sure you are accurately judging me?

And I've definitely learned not to judge people on looks, or their home.

Don't get me started on our Visiting teaching group where we met at my home and the other 2 ladies looked a little uncomfortable on my ragged soon to be reupholstered couches. They barely even spoke to me.

The reason my couches have yet to be reupholstered is that I'm a little intimidated by the project and I really haven't made the time yet. And hubby put the fabric in another room and I don't see it often and its easily forgotten about.

Maybe I need to work on it during the Chinese New Year break.

I'm sorry for this rambling post.

I have to go and tuck the girls in now.

Tater Tots and dead animals

Well, winter is officially here with a vengeance.

We are now dealing with frozen water for the animals and a lot of slogging through snow to feed them.

And there is another side to winter. An unexpected side. A deadly side.

I have had to deal with 4 dead field mice so far this winter.

Yes I said 4 dead mice.

I didn't know this before, but have now been educated that where there are chicken houses, there are usually mice.

I thought this couldn't be the case because so many people over on www.backyardchickens.com talk about how their chickens will kill all sorts of small snakes and mice if they get into the coop.

Well, I didn't account for the fact that once a chicken is asleep, you could basically do anything you want with it. They can be moved from coop to coop and hung upside down if you want.

So this must be when the mice come in to play.

In our small coop where all the baby chicks hang out, I've been using a small bucket of water to supply them with water. Last year I fought against a freezing outside waterer all winter. This year I've resorted to a small bucket. It seem to do well. Most of the time it has less ice than an outside waterer and I can refill it everyday with hot water so that it stays liquid longer. also, the chicks keep a hole open on their own if ice forms. Then they can stand on the ice and drink.

Hey at least they have water.

Anyway I've found a total of 3 dead mice in the water this year already. The first time it was 2 and it grossed me out. But yesterday it wasn't so bad when I found 1 hanging out alone.

Can I just comment about how strange it seems to see them in there? They look so natural. Like they are going to hop up and go on their merry way.

their ears are perky and their paws are usually out like normal.

Its just wierd that they look so alive but are so dead.

UGH.

The 4th mouse I found in our alfalfa. I was getting some for the sheep and I noticed that between 2 bales of alfalfa it looked like something had tunneled through. So I went to move the bale.

That's when I saw it. A dead mostly unrecognizable, mostly decomposed mouse on top of the very bale I was moving.

YUCK!

No I didn't touch it. Yes, I moved it with a strand of alfalfa. I just realized that I'm going to have to see it again today... What the heck am I going to do with it? I guess I'll throw it in the bushes or something like that.

So on to the other dead animals around here.

Back around Halloween we hatched chicks. We incubated 44 or so eggs and 22 hatched. I then bought 9 more chicks to bring new blood to the flock.

We lost the first chick to unknown causes. I think he may have been dropped by someone and it was just to much. If you've ever handled a new chick, you will know that they can be hard to hold on to because they want out of your hands!!!

The second got trampled in the brooder (basically a warm protected home for baby chicks, usually a cardboard box with pine shavings). Probably happened during feeding time.

The 3rd chick was rather a sad loss. We had gotten a new rooster for fresh blood for the flock. He was a few days younger than the rest of the crowd and seemed peppier. He was easy to spot and fun to hold.

Well, one day I was out feeding the chicks (by this time they were outside) and I noticed that somewhere his toe had gotten opened up, and the tip of it was gone. I don't know how or why, but I couldn't do much. I just made sure he got a good meal and that the toe got a quick cleaning off.

The next morning I found him wedged between a nesting box and a wall. Stiff as a board. Frozen solid. Don't know what exactly happened.

Monday, I found the 4th chick. Somewhere during the day the chicks managed to break the 250w 120v (I think?) light bulb that was in their coop. This is a huge bulb and provided a lot of heat.

The light was on in the morning, but when I was out there with the scouts (8yr olds) I found the broken light bulb and noticed a dead chick outside in the run.

It had snowed that day and the poor chick was mostly covered. I don't know what happened. Probably died from exposure.

Luckily, most of the chicks were fine because at this age they have most of their feathers.

I've since replaced the light with a 60watt bulb. It's not as hot, but it's sort of a relief.

The 250 watt bulb almost caused a fire (I found it as it started to give off a lot of smoke) and it always worried me after that.

Its been 2 nights since the light bulb change out and the chicks are doing fine.

So now that I've told you about the dead animals, its time for the tater tots.

Cecilee came home from school one day talking about tater tots. It took me a while to figure it out, but turns out what she was talking about was tank tops.

She had worn a cute sun shirt type outfit that we had put a pretty white shirt under. She was trying to tell me that her friends had liked her tater tot.

It was pretty cute.

Now she keeps trying to layer her clothing for unknown reasons. Yesterday she wore the 'tater tot' under her normal shirt. She said it was to keep her warm.

Yes she has a warm coat, goes to school on the bus and they make the kids play inside on cold days. So its not that she needed more warmth.

Its just kind of funny to see these new ideas that she brings home from her friends.

Anyway she tried to do it again this morning. But no 'tater tot' in sight. She had 2 different shirts, both of them the flowing dress type shirts. There was no way one was going to fit well under the other. It was pretty funny.

No, I didn't let her wear them both.

A new post

I feel like I need to put up a new post, but don't have a subject in mind....

Hmmm

Well, we are on our way up to Salt Lake for a weekend getaway without the girls. We'll be staying in Provo and will be attending the BYU Vs Wake Forest BBall game.

The girls will be staying with their Aunt in Meridian.

Am I the only one who gets all paranoid when taking a big trip and leaving the kids with someone else?

I start worrying about our wills and stuff like that.

Our wills need to be updated so badly.

For example, A who is 4 now, is not even mentioned.

Also, the family that we have named as guardian have moved to another part of the state.

We feel it very important that the people who raise our kids in our place be based out of the same area that we are. Both of our families are from this area and I want the kids to be around a lot of family.

I think I may have to go and rewrite the wills.