Valentines Day

We celebrated half heartedly. As my husband said last night, 'I don't need a holiday to tell you how much I love you'. Awww. He is pretty sweet.

On the spur of the moment I made cupcakes and the kids and I went over and shared them with Grandma. I saved some cupcake batter and I had more in the oven as hubby came home. That must have inspired him because he decided to make our favorite sweet and sour chicken for dinner. And he wouldn't tell me what he was making. So that was a yummy surprise.

All in all it was a nice day.

C got to have her first Valentines day celebration with kids at Preschool. It sounded like they had a pretty fun party.

Preschool has been a great decision for her. She can read words like A, At, An, My, the, see, and more than I can remember right now. She's progressing very nicely. She should be reading really well by the end of the year, and hopefully I can work with her over the summer. I'm excited for where she'll be in kindergarten. But I am sad to think of her in kindergarten all day (or half day?). I'm going to miss her helpfulness. Hopefully A will mature a bit more in that way.

oh wow

So I have had a real problem with dry skin all over my hands this year. I think it may have something to do with taking care of animals at cold temps. Or maybe its just being outside more. Who knows. I just know I've had to use a lot more lotion that normal. I've been really using Mary Kay's Santin Hands Hand Cream. We all know that Cream is much better for your hands than lotion. But anyway. This cream came as part of my satin hands hand kit. It has this way cool kit that totally makes your hands feel like satin.

Step one is called Extra Emollient Night Cream. This is a heavy greasy feeling but nicely scented substance. The next step is Buffing Cream that is blue and has some grit in it to help get all the dead skin off. After this you use Cleansing Gel which I'm not sure if its just supposed to clean all the other stuff off of your hands or if it is supposed to clean your skin extra well. Next comes the Hand Cream. After all of this your hands feel SO good. They are so soft.

But the problem I was running into this year was that my thumb knuckles just didn't seem to take the moisture at all. They were ROUGH.

And life went on and I forgot to moisturize with just eh hand cream often enough and last night it was just awful. I was looking at my hands and noticed that some of my other knuckles were starting to have sections of skin split. I've never had something that extreme happen and didn't know if cream would be enough.

So I tried putting on just the Extra Emollient Night Cream last night just before I hopped into bed. I thought, 'hey, that is what the label says, right?'.

Anyway, I am happy to report that my hands this morning are impressive. They feel so much better!

So go check it out. I highly recommend Mary Kay's Satin Hands line. Especially the kit. Its AWESOME! Go find a Consultant!

ignore that last post.

Nothing to see there. I just re-read it and boy did I ramble.

A couple of interesting things that I didn't cover in that post... Mom and Dad have completed all of the medical stuff that they needed for their mission papers, and said that they will be making their next appointments with the Bishop and Stake Pres this next week! I'm really excited about that! Also a little worried, but that is for selfish reasons. I'm a little uncertain about maintaining this property without them until Aug when my sister is moving into their place. Besides that I'm totally excited!!!

Also, did I mention that Bertha the goat was pregnant? I think I did. Anyway it was the neighbors sneaky pygmy goat that did the deed. This is the second time in the last 3 years we've had this problem. Of course the first time it was different goats on both sides. Anyway back to the point. Bertha will be having the goat any day now. I'm hoping for a girl so that we don't have to worry about fixing it. Also, I'm thinking about keeping the goats. I know I've said I would be getting rid of them, but I'm a little worried that the sheep won't be able to keep the pasture down on their own. So I think We'll keep them until we know for sure. If the sheep need help, then we'll keep the goats (and don't tell hubby, but we might think about getting a couple more sheep if the price was right, and THEN get rid of the goats). My real deal is that the goats have no return. You don't have to do much to maintain them, but feeding them all winter for no value in return gets old.

I need to post some pics. I'll see if I can get on that :)

blah

So I don't have anything specific to blog about. Just a bunch of random stuff.

We've been getting a lot of snow for the past few weeks. The last few days we've had new snow. This morning about an inch and yesterday about 3 inches. I'd normally stay home and enjoy it all but preschool and feeding the animals has me out and about.

Our chickens are doing just fine with the cold weather. Egg production has been down a little. We've gone from getting 3 eggs some days to about 2. Our Black silkie is now and official member of the egg producing society. For the past week or so she's been giving us an egg every other day. Which according to the web is normal. so Yay! We get a cute little taupe colored egg every other day. Its cute, but I'm a little afraid to use them in my cooking due to most recipes asking for a large egg. I already have to deal with all the different egg sizes that my rhode island reds hand out. They give X-large and large? I think. When making bread I grab 2 of each size in the hopes that it will average out to the right size.

The sheep are growing fluffier and fatter with wool all the time. Charlie, the lone male is still very friendly. Cally (or gladys as I've re-named her) has become slightly jumpy when I'm around. I think its because she got out a few times and I had to catch her. For some reason that seems to make the sheep jumpy for a few months. One of the scardy sheep has warmed up a bit. She and Gladys hang out and are equally jumpy together. Then there is still one holdout for the scardy sheep status.

The rabbit continues to do well despite the cold weather. She hasn't gotten out since the last episode. Mostly because I don't get her out. Well, except that once when she was covered with snow and I grabbed her to wipe it all off. Still hoping to find a home for her.

A fellow ward member was telling me that they had a coyote get 2 of their chickens. They never put them in a coop before this, so I guess it sort of serves them right. But it still isn't pleasant. And since they live about a mile away it makes me a little scared for my chickens and sheep and rabbit. And reminded me about when the neighbor last summer told us about hunting for 2 wolves that were hanging out around the neighborhood. A little scary for the animals.

Oh, and on the wool front. Cleo over at The Sheep Shed was so nice this past weekend. She called out of the blue and asked me if I wanted some wool! I was all for it. Who could say no to free? Anyway, she gave me a couple of bags of wool that had been in a wet corner of her barn. They needed to be dried out before storage. But besides that they were just fine! She said that she had found ice in one of the bags! Anyway, a day or so in front of our fireplace and they were dry as a bone! I'll probably was them this month sometime and then store them until I decide what color and what I want to do with them.

She also gave me about 1 lb 9 oz of brown merino. I've never used dark brown wool before so that has been an adventure. First I did some research and found that I had to wash it in water that was 160 degrees. That was almost boiling! So it took me a while to get water that hot. Then I couldn't let the water get cooler than 160 degrees or the lanolin could redeposit on the wool. So I got the water to about 170 degrees and it sat in the water for about 15-20 minutes. But you know what? that wool had almost zero felting!!!! That is big for me. I usually handle the wool way to much and end up with a lot of felting.

This time I put the wool in mesh laundry bags and didn't handle it much at all. I just handled the laundry bags. I also spun the wool dry in the washing machine. by the next day it was dry and ready for carding.

Well, I'm about halfway through with carding the wool and so far have about and oz of wool that got clean, but still has a bit of lanolin on it. Which is fine. Its much easier to boil a pan of water than it is to get a whole laundry bucket of water boiling. After I'm done with this, I'll clean the other wool. I'm planning on using the mesh bags again and hopefully I'll be successful again with the lack of felting!!!!!

On to other subjects....

Mom and A have a really bad cold. They have of course spread it to Myself and C. But that's life.

With all of this snow we've been spending a bit of time over at mom and dad's house. Since they live next door its fun to go over for a change of scenery. We've been working on fun puzzles and the kids like to play with grandma's toys. Over all, its been great fun to have somewhere to go when the weather is horrible.

I've finished spinning enough wool for a church bag for myself. I'm really excited to get started on it! I did have enough wool spun at Christmas, but then my mother in law saw the bag I made for my mom and requested one for her birthday. She requested it several times while she was over for Christmas. So what could I do? I just wish that people who don't know how to do crafts realized how long they took. Her birthday was january 14th. lets just say I worked like a madwoman. Also, I wasn't able to put as much thought into it as I would have wanted. But it was cute. Somehow it turned out much bigger than the one I did for Mom. Also instead of a tulip, I put daisy's on it.

I think on my bag I'm going to got back and do the tulip again, but this time I'm going to use the picture from the cake that you make in Nancy Drew and the Secret of Shadow Ranch. Its a really pretty tulip in red and green. Although I'll probably change the color to white or something that will look good on a purpley pinkish bag.

Hiding

I'm currently hiding from my mother in law. She stayed the night last night. I think she was lonely. But now she is cleaning my kitchen and probably putting everything in the wrong places (I still hide things from myself, will my kitchen ever recover?) of course I'm joking. but I am hiding. I just needed a break. My back was hurting. But now it feels fine. Should I go shower and let her continue to clean, or go and help. I feel like a bad person because this is even an option for me.

On the whole, it feels quite hilarious.

I think I'm in a weird mood.

Just a little whining

So for the last few weeks at church, things have been a little up in the air. Last week they put in a new primary presidency and this week they put in a new relief society presidency.

The real problem is this. The new primary presidency is the old Sunbeams teacher. The problem being that those little sunbeams are still getting used to primary and for the last 2 weeks have had substitutes. Good Subs, but still subs.

I have a hard time seeing it because we sent the cutest most ready for sunbeams class I could have imagined. I was so proud of them.

Yes, there were some cold feet but they were adapting well.

Then this week comes (second week of subs) and at least 3 girls didn't want to go to class. Two were girls who don't normally have a problem. My little A was one and is very independent. I know I was in nursery with her, but she didn't care if I was there or not.

anyway, I'm just concerned for these kids. I had hoped they would have a new teacher in today but no dice.

It makes me sad and now I'm a little worried about these kids. Probably more so because my kid is in the group.

I'm sure they'll get it ironed out. I just wish it was sooner rather than later.

Thanks for letting me whine. I know they must be trying to find the best sunbeam teacher ever :)

blogging in my head

Someone over at MormonMommyWars said something that really hit me. She talked about blogging in her head.

I had to read that again...because I thought I was the only one who did that!

Like last night I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and letting my thoughts wander. I remember thinking about a topic and then started thinking about what I would write.. then I fell asleep.

So if I ever remember what that topic was, I promise I'll write about it.

:)

more funny

I forgot to mention that the comedian's name is Elna Baker.



that is my attempt at putting a video up on my blog. :)

Funny

I was listening to this american life this morning. I think it was the show that they aired last week. Anyway it was titled "Matchmaker" or something like that.

I was enjoying the last story, and as it ended Ira Glass (the host) said blah blah blah has a new book coming out entitled "The New York Regional MORMON Single Adule Halloween Dance" and other memoirs. Of course this caught my ear and I had to google it because I had missed the authors name.

Turns out there is a very funny Mormon New York comedian.

Check out her my space page. The video clip is extremely funny. http://www.myspace.com/elnabaker

or you can listen to her other story at www.thisamericanlife.org

Nursery

I've been in Nursery since last March. I was originally called with my hubby just for 4-5 months to fill in until another person was called. Well, after that time, they did call another couple, but again, just to fill in. I should mention these weren't official calls, just requests from the bishopric and primary presidency.

Anyway, I would sub when asked and after about 2 months the other fill in couple moved into their new home in a new ward.

So I kept filling in until about 4 months ago when they finally made the calling official.

The nursery was run very well by 2 ladies when we first went in. They had both been there for over 2 years. The first one was released soon after we joined the crew. She was immediately put in as the stake nursery leader.

The other lady was a very sweet, smiley lady whom all the kids were drawn to. I was thankful for her because I'm all thumbs when it comes to convincing a child they want to stay. Although after all this time, I'm getting much better.

The smiley lady was just asked to teach the valiant 10's, and started Jan 1st.

So now we have a new leader in nursery and me. The new leader is very nice and sweet. But I must say that like me she has back problems and should not lift children. I'm sure we'll get by though.

The nursery has been well run up until now and I don't want to blow it.

We had 14 kids on the roll, but our class size fluctuated from 8-12 normally. Our typical schedule was this:

When the kids would first come we would switch back and forth from play dough to toys. Toys one week and playdough at tables the next.

Then we would go to toys. If we started out with toys, it just meant that toys were played with longer. If playdough was first, it just meant that toys was shorter.

After that was snack. This was followed by lesson/singing time. We split the group in half. we were lucky enough to have a large room that we could separate by one of those curtain door things. She would take half and do singing time, and I would do the lesson with the other half. then we would switch. Also, we teachers alternated months on who would do the lesson and who would do singing time.

It was a lot of fun and I felt that we sent a very ready group of sunbeams.

This year I've made a few changes and I hope they are for the better. Also, we only have about 6 kids.

I want to start off with the same thing each week. I think this will help the kids a little with stability. They will know that they can count on toys first every week. This will help those who need that stability.

Next we will have snack. I thought this was important to keep next because the kids are used to it being after toys.

Next we will have singing time. I put this next to keep us from being up to the tables for a long long time. Also should mention since our group is down to 6 we no longer need to split for lesson and singing.

After singing time, I thought we could have a time called finger play. This would be for play dough or any other crafty thing we might want to do. Last week we failed miserably with color with water pages. :( They are still too young of a group for that.

After finger play is lesson time. Again, they were used to this being last, so we kept it last.

So far we've done this schedule once. I'll give it another few weeks before tweaking anything.

I also wanted to mention how important it is for the nursery kids to learn certain things so that next years sunbeam teacher has an easier time of it.

Its very important that the kids learn to sit in chairs. If they can do this by the time they leave nursery, then the sunbeam teacher has one less thing to deal with.

Its also important to figure out the kids who cry. We had one kid who had a really hard time of it. His parents would always drop him off and he was heartbroken the rest of the time. they would then stay for most of the class. They tried dropping him off and just seeing what would happen and he would cry for most of the time. It was really tough. Then the idea of having his sister drop him off came up. I don't remember where it came from , but it worked!

Another little boy is reluctant to stay, but can be easily bribed (usually). Last week I merely mentioned a cookie and he was fine for the rest of the time. He even forgot about the cookie by the time I walked over, got it, and brought it back.

Another little boy would stay, but was sad, and didn't want to be involved. We would try and get him involved, but that would make him cry. So one week we decided to just leave him alone. He wasn't crying, but was standing by himself by the wall. Eventually he realized we were doing something fun and joined in. He hasn't been a problem since. He's now a sunbeam.

Currently we have the last boys little brother. Now that his brother is gone, he is very sad. He has a loud recognizable cry, so a walk to the drinking fountain isn'g possible without his mom or dad hearing him and coming out to get him. So we tried treats. This was great and he would stop crying. Still wanted to be near the door, but wasn't crying. I hope that he'll come around like his brother once he realizes we're doing something fun. One thing that I think is a clue for us is the fact that for snack time, he didn't want to sit at the table but would let my hubby (who was a sub) hold him and feed him the snack. Interesting. Ideas anyone?

The next problem we're having is another almost 18 month girl. She's very sweet and does very well until the other boy starts crying. That starts her crying. If anyone has any ideas, I'll take them!

Anyway, other ideas for helping to get your kids ready for sunbeams:

The 2 weeks before nursery we had the kids who were moving up visit primary during singing time (do they call it that any more?) for about 10 minutes. This introduces them to primary.

Also, we talked about Sunbeams a lot. And along with our last lesson we colored a little certificate that said something about being a sunbeam now.

Stupid rabbit

It was cold outside and my hands must have been stiff or something (at least thats what I'll tell everyone) and I picked up the rabbit and accidentally dropped it. It ran under the chicken coop and I spent the next half an hour freezing my behind off trying to get it.

It took myself, hubby, and a broom to get it out. By that time I was frozen. The knees and a generous part of the leg of my pants were soaked from wet and frozen ground that had an unhealthy mix of sheep urine and poop all over it.

Yum yum.

Politics

I wish people whose blogs I read would avoid the political discussion/rants.

The reason being is this.

I am innocently reading some of the blogs I read regularly and all of a sudden I'm disgusted because that person is pro the weirdest guy running and on another blog there is someone saying they would never vote for some guy who I was thinking of voting for.

Neither one with plausible arguments. And it tells me something about some of my favorite bloggers that I maybe didn't want to know.

Anyway, it shouldn't matter to me this much except that I guess maybe I read those blogs for fun and bringing up politics makes things sticky and makes people take sides.

So don't do it!

Please?

I am so tired

Remember that poopy sheeps wool I started to was yesterday? Well after the first wash, there were still spots of lanolin. There was enough of it that I felt I needed to start the wash process over.

This was my first time washing wool in pillow cases. I think that is what part of the problem was.

Anyway I was up until 1am washing wool. And as I was pulling it apart to dry... I found lots of lanolin build up in places.

I threw up my hands and went to bed at that point.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do now.

I may have to start the whole process again.

Happy... something or other!

Our black silkie laid its first eggs in the past few days. Hooray!

We had a steady snowstorm going all day yesterday. So I was only a little surprised that we didn't get any eggs today. But I wanted to make sure so I opened the side of the hen house (hubby was thinking ahead for easy cleaning!) and took a look.

I was so surprised to find an egg in the main area near the corner. Also I found that I had overlooked an egg in the main nest that all the hens like. She was making an awful lot of noise in the hen house on Sunday, so I think that was when she laid the first one. Then after figuring out what was happening she then decided that she needed to be like the other hens and lay in the nest.

So that was our exciting day!

I've also just put some poopy and dirty sheeps wool in to wash. It actually looked like good stuff. Just the muddy brown that most wool looks like unwashed. I think it may have been the cleanest stuff I've had to wash though.

My spinning wheel is so fast that I've spun through all of my fiber except for a grocery bag that is half full of wool I may keep for needle felting. There isn't enough of each color to spin, though I might if I don't use it in the next little while.

I've also decided that I like dying unspun wool better than spun wool. If you dye before spinning, its a whole lot easier to blend the fiber and cover up any uneven dying.

So, back to the snow. On Sunday we received around an inch, maybe 1 1/2 inches. Yesterday we received more. I think its around 6 inches, but I'm just guessing.

We're trying to eat healthier, but its been hard for me. Since Christmas we've been eating all sorts of junk food and candy. The hard part for me is going from a bunch of chocolate to no hard candy. But we're trying. Since Sunday I've cut back from a whole heck of a lot to today where I've had (so far) 2 mini butterfingers, and its already dinner time. There aren't any more of the mini butterfingers though, so they won't be calling to me from the cupboard!

Spinning!

My spinning wheel got here on the first. Hooray!

It just occurred to me

What if its not the recipe at fault here, but something I miss-measured or forgot to put in when I was putting the thing together?

But the flavor was the same in both bags... so it was something I did more than once.


Ugh.

I don't think I'll do those again. Well, maybe in my own kitchen...Then I could set up stations and get a few friends together to help. And re-read the directions over and over again.

brownies

so, our ward does one of those ultra craft days where you can make something like 6 different items and most would make great Christmas presents.

This year they offered some great stuff, some ok stuff, and some good values.

The good values were in the form of brownies in a bag, and pumpkin muffins in a bag. At 50 cents each, this was a good value.

I ordered 4 of each. I thought these would make great co-worker and neighbor gifts.

I showed up at the activity to make my mixes. they even provided a cute holiday themed bag!

Anyway, I think we gave 6 away and were given one.

So a few nights ago I thought, yum, lets make some of these brownies. Since we had a choice we decided to keep the brownie mixes for last just in case we didn't give them all away.

So I followed the directions, except I used a substitute for the buttermilk. Seriously, who keeps or buys buttermilk on a regular basis? So I bought one of those containers of dry powder that you use to replace buttermilk. It was in the cooking isle.

So I followed the other directions to a T. I put it in an 8x8x2 pan and dutifully set my oven to 400 degrees and my timer to 40 minutes.

At 40 minutes my fork didn't come out clean. (I was out of toothpicks). It was so bad that I set the timer for another 20 minutes. After that it was still not clean.

I set it for another 10 minutes.

After that, I think I went for another 5 and then it was finally done.

The top of the brownies were slightly burned, but the brownies were done!

And the result. They just weren't very chocolatey despite the extra chocolate chips that were in the mix. Even my hubby didn't like them.

Well, tonight I decided to try them again. This time I put them in a 9x13 cake pan.

I wasn't certain that this would solve the problem that I had the other night, so I set the timer for 35 minutes to hopefully avoid overbaking.

At 35 minutes they were almost there and I set them for another 5 minutes.

they were done.

And they weren't very good! I thought that because they were made with chocolate chips and buttermilk that they would be extra yummy. And they were just not very good.

I'm totally surprised and a little bummed because we have another mix on the cupboard to be used. I guess if I throw it away it was only 50 cents.

So the moral of this story is this - if you make a mix at a super activity, try it out before you give it away. Lucky for us the only person we gave the brownie mix to was a bachelor and will most likely never make it, or will re-gift it.

I'm mildly worried about the pumpkin muffin mixes we gave out....

Life

So, here it is. New Years Eve.

Our big plans? We're going to stay home, go to bed at our normal time. I guess we're just boring.

Hubby has tomorrow off.

AND!

Tomorrow I get to pick up my spinning wheel!! Hooray! I've been waiting nearly 3 weeks. It had to be shipped from New Zealand.

Anyway, I'm super excited about that.

C and A had a great Christmas. They've been playing madly with their new Christmas toys and only destroyed about half of them so far.

I still haven't decided if I like the whole 'buy my own Christmas gift' thing we did this year.

I was told I was going to be released as a nursery teacher a few weeks ago, but that didn't happen. Yesterday they gave me a roster of sorts for next year. so I guess I'm staying. It had my name on it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Each week my back hurts and is sore for days after nursery. I think that had to do with all of the bending and lifting. I'm going to try and stay in the game for a while longer. I like nursery. Just don't care for the pain.

Our nursery is going to be down to about 5 kids (YAY!). We were up to 14 when everyone was there. But that didn't happen often. We averaged about 10-12. I'm hoping with the reduced number of kids there will be reduced pain. If so, I'll stay. If not, I'll try to stay a few months and then I'll ask to go.

If last week had been this week, and the older kids had already moved on to Sunbeams, we would have had 1 kid. It sounds like a vacation to me! I think we may take the time to clean out the toys closet and organize our other suppplies.

Hubby and I also serve with the 8 yr old scouts. so if I ask to be released from nursery, its not like we're slacking.

Anyway, I really hope that it all works out.

Look what I made!

Golf Club covers. 3-9 irons and one pitching wedge.



Yes, I am married to a rabid BYU fan.

Onions

OK, so I wear contacts. cutting onions? No big deal.

Today I hadn't put my contacts in yet and was making hubby's favorite Green bean tator tot cassorole for a special treat. My eyes were also tired and a little irritated from a late night. I was about 1 minute into dicing an onion when it hit me. First the pain and then the tears. Then a moment of relief as the tears helps. then pain again. It was about 5 minutes of this cycle. When I finally finished I just wanted to find somewhere to sit and not open my eyes for a while.

OUCH

I really feel for anyone who regularly cuts onions and don't get to wear contacts.

Remind me

Remind me never to obsess about something over and over and then expect people to not know what the big mysterious gift coming is.

:)

I guess I should have realized. I also mentioned the mystery to another of my sisters and she was like, "oh, you're getting a spinning wheel?".

Yeah, no surprise. Oh well. :)

So yeah, I'm getting a spinning wheel for Christmas. A Majacraft Suzie Pro. It has to come all the way from New Zealand so most likely won't be here for Christmas since I ordered it on the 12th or sometime around there. It probably won't even ship until today. I was hoping for a tracking number, but most likely won't get it. I ordered it from my local yarn shop/sheep farmer (support your local farmer!), and it will be shipping to them, and I'll be picking it up from there.

Anyway, in family news Mom and Dad keep trying to freak me out by saying their mission call could come by early Feb and they would leave soon after that. Really, its exciting. The reason I'm freaking out is that by virtue of living next door to them, as soon as they leave we are responsible for feeding the 2 goats and making sure their pipes don't freeze (whoa, how will we do that? They heat by a fireplace and oil furnace. Oil is expensive... sorry, tangent) and we still haven't figured out who will pay their bills, or how it will be done.

It is exciting. Really. I'm really pleased that they are going on their mission. I hope they get a call that uses their skills. Dad is a bit of a jack of all trades, and Mom can play a mean piano, and anything musical, as well as great management skills. I know that wherever they get called, they will love it.

so change of subject.

Christmas is a little wierd to me this year. I know exactly what I'm getting. I even chose my stocking present. A clover needle felting tool! Purchased from my local yarn shop!

On one hand its great! I know what I'm getting and I'm loving what I'm getting. On the other hand, there isn't the normal Christmas excitement or something. there is an element missing somehow. I haven't decided if thats bad yet. :)

Just to explain - this year we decided to tell each other what we wanted. Hubby has a birthday near Christmas as well and we decided that he would tell me what he wanted there as well. The weird part was that he didn't even tell me. He just went shopping a couple of times on his lunch hour and bought some new clothes. I argued that he needed them, so they didn't count and he said they counted. So... I guess they do.

So that is the weird part. I didn't even have a hand in getting him a gift. Weird.

And his stocking. I was going to fill it with gag gifts from the dollar store, and maybe a few things from the regular store ($10 doesn't go far) and then he said don't bother. I'd rather have some nice chocolate. But then he says he's going to buy a new baseball hat for a bowl game he is going to and I told him that at ~$21 that could be his stocking gift.

So yeah, this Christmas is a little weird this year.

sheep Sheep and More shEep

We went ahead and bought 2 more sheep for a total of 4 sheep. Its fun to keep them. Sheep seem to be easy keepers. They don't try to get out. They can be friendly.

The first 2 sheep we bought were bottle babies and are used to humans around. One even comes and plays with the kids. He would follow them around the yard if we let him out. today C had the container for the chicken feed and Charlie the friendly sheep wanted to see what was in it. It startled C a little and so she ran, but was giggling the whole time. I was watching carefully just in case it became a sheep attack of some sort. But C was giggling the whole time. I did step in front of Charlie and slow him down at one point . Just to make sure he didn't actually catch C. I wasn't sure what he was going to do. I was probably being overprotective. The only thing Charlie ever does to that chicken feed container is try and see if there is food in it and then he nibbles on the container.

I'm glad we got the animals. Even if their only benefit is to give the kids experience with animals, since we don't think we'll have any inside animals. We don't like the shedding. At one point we did have a yellow lab. But that thing shed year round. We had yellow hair on everything. While moving (4-5 years after we found him a new home) we pulled out a blanket and it was covered with hair.

The sheep will give us about 5+ pounds of wool each. The Chickens give us 3 eggs most days. They take about 1 day off a week. The rabbit...well, we are halfheartedly trying to find him a home. She will give a couple of ounces of really soft fur in the spring. But I've been questioning if it is really worth it. The poor thing sits inside her cage all day. She's afraid of people. she's afraid to be out of her cage. I don't know what to do with her. But I don't feel great about her being outside in this really cold weather.

So an announcement.

Something big is coming to our house for a Christmas present. I'll keep you in suspense until it arrives!

Happy holidays!

Enchanted

So I was reading a favorite blog the other day and they had posted some Youtube videos from Enchanted and said that the songs were stuck in their head.

I was watching them and the kids came in and they were mesmerized.

If you haven't seen any videos from Enchanted, here are a couple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv350WPnBNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KObgs81QyR4&feature=related

The movie looks like a lot of fun. Probably one that we will have to own one day.

now for a real post

sorry about that last post. I was typing on a computer in the same room my hubby had been asleep in for 3 hours. you'd think he'd be sound asleep, but somehow I woke him up. so I was trying to finish my post and was super concious of every single key stroke. Therefore use of backspace was denied. Anyway, here is a real post.

We have a new neighbor. Not a big deal. The only thing is hearing heavy machinery for the next few months. and then again when he builds his house. But he seemed like a nice guy when I (nosy neighbor) shouted through a space in the trees and introduced myself. He seemed like a nice guy.

Our other neighbor whose house has been for sale for a few months now is another story. He bought the house last December right out of a divorce. He lived there for a few months and then moved in with a girlfriend. That was ok because he had some strange friends over there from time to time. Then his sister moved in with her hubby and 2 kids. She seemed ok, but her hubby was a little different. One day he road their 4 wheeler around and around in some water from their above ground pool that they had drained. I think there might have been some drinking involved. He did that for about 3-4 hours. And then there was the 2 week period where they kept having bonfires in the backyard at 1-3 in the morning. Not a big deal you say? Well, out here in the somewhat country there are not as many things in the way blocking the sound. My parents (with my property in the middle ) were kept awake by their noisy antics. I was woken up a few times, but Mom is more sensitive to noise at night due to her working nights half the week. Anyway, after Mom called the cops at 3am, they only had one more bonfire.

This was not huge for us, not a party, but bearable, until we realized that they were stealing wood from our woodpile in order to fuel these bonfires. Ok, I don't know if they stole more than one log (they put it back on our woodpile half burned) but that was enough. Wood costs money! And that is how we heat our home in the winter. So if I had had the guts (and not cared about neighbor relations) I should have marched up to their front door and demanded payment. But I didn't. all I did was put up a 'no trespassing' sign to replace the much worn one. I hoped that they would get the drift.

Anyway about November first the sister and family moved out. The house was still for sale. Strange thing was that the owner never did any clean up. There were still a large pile of garbage near the back door from the sister moving out, and a huge pile of broken cement and junk on the side of the property. For me and other members of the family, this was weird because when you are selling a house (especially in this market) you have it spic and span. Repaint and clean the carpets. The yard needs to be immaculate. Nothing like that ever happened over there. And we have to pass this place every time we leave home.

So yesterday the for sale sign had a new addition. It said 'short sale'. So I called the realtor to get the scoop. I had met the realtor when the owner bought the house. He had come and introduced himself and asked about the neighborhood and also the former owners. Also about the well which is shared with my parents home. Anyway, nice LDS guy.

He filled me in that after the owner had moved in with his girlfriend he married her and then got sick for a few months. This was a problem because he owned his own buisiness and was unable to work and so no income. So then his sister became unable to pay the mortgage, and that was when he put the house on the market.

He has it listed at 184,000 or so, but I know he bought it for around 160,000. So he must have borrowed more than he needed for upgrades and improvements. But now he can't afford the house, so the bank has to deal with it. Anyway, in today's market the house, although on 1 acre is probably worth $120,000. It has a huge 3500 worthless shop in the back that is dark, drafty and scary and it just needs to be knocked down because its taking up valuable real estate.

The house is a wreck . It was built in the 60's and not taken care of. When I met the realtor I begged for a tour of the house and shed. It was very small. Had 1.5 baths, 3 bedrooms. One bedroom was about the size of my closet. The other bedrooms are about as big as my kids rooms, including the master (what master?). The floor under the washing machine when stood on, you could bounce. If you tore down the shop, stripped and redid the house from the studs, floors included, could be worth a decent amount of money. But I don't think there is any profit in it. The people who owned it before this guy were house flippers and they barely got out with their shirts. They probably lost money. Also, the house has a one car garage that is very very sad. Made out of old mobile home material. Get my drift? This place is sad.

Well, I've got to go and pick up C from preschool.

New neighbors

We recently discovered that our neighbor sold his front acre. Its the one right next to the street. It makes his house back from the road, and once the new neighbor builds it will make it so cars driving by can;t see his house.

So we aren't unhappy about it. There is a thick row of trees between the neighbor and us so it's not like we can see him.

Anyway, that is all on that subject. I think I'm keeping hubby up with my typing.

The birds!

So about this time every year we reenact scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Its kind of cool. And no, we don't have a problem with poop. I don't know why. Maybe its because the birds like to hang out in the trees that are in the neighbors yard instead of ours?












All I can say is that these pictures don't show anywhere near all of the birds we have hanging out around here. But it gives you and idea.

We also had our first snow a few weeks ago. Just a skiff.



We also went to hubby's company Christmas party! We had a whole lot of fun!

Question

should we buy more sheep?

Are 2 enough?

I think the thing that is really bothering me is the fact that these are Cormo's are excellent sheep and the price is 50% of what we would normally pay.

Do I want to feed them all winter...

Do we want to sell Bertha and Lucky? (The goats) That would give us more pasture, and Dad would probably feed the sheep since the pasture is so close.

I'm also a little nervous because I don't know all that much about sheep care. They need hoof trimming like horses. I've never done that. Also, is it expensive?

So many costs!

Also, do I want to pay $8 each for shearing of more sheep.

Maybe I can get a deal. But would I be getting in over my head?

These are the thoughts I'm consumed with right now.

Oh, and I've figured out I'm not feeding the chickens enough. so egg production is down to 1 egg a day. I've increased feed. If I don't see an increase in egg production, I'm decreasing it again. Not starving them, just decreasing it because they don't need to eat as much if they are not laying an egg every day.

anyway, I love all the animals around here. The kids love the sheep. Charlie (the fixed sheep) is so nice! Callie (the female) just follows him around.

I've also decided to stop obsessing about a spinning wheel. I don't really need one. I mean, my spindle is working just fine right now. I don't need to spend at least $400 on a spinning wheel at this point in my life. (unless I find a used one close by and for a good price) :)

Old McDonald had a .... chicken?

Well we did it again. We've expanded out menagerie. We now have 4 chickens.

This time it was hubby who wanted them. He built the coop with a little help with our wolf scouts (passing off the 'build something' arrow point). Then we couldn't find any chickens to buy!

So I advertised a few times on craigslist.org and finally found 3 rhode island reds. Of course after I found them there was a whole week where chickens were available nearly every day.

Anyway, our research showed that Rhode Island Reds do well in cold weather, lay brown eggs, and are pretty hardy. Most of these chickens are heavy layers, laying 6 days out of 7. Also, they don't tend to slack off as much during the winter as most other breeds do. Something about it being colder. Anyway, they lay on average somewhere around 260 eggs per year.

The person we bought the chickens from also threw in a black silkie who lays white eggs, but not yet because she's to young. She said something about how anyone who has chickens should experience this kind. I should take some pictures of them all, but especially the silkie. It looks like it has a mohawk or something.

Anyway its been a lot of fun. The kids helped me feed it, and I may let them help a little with egg collecting.

We put the hen house and run inside our pasture. So the 2 sheep keep the chickens company. I've also moved the bunny inside the pasture, next to the hen house. We had it on the back porch and had some poop catchers under its cage, but man that thing is a poop machine. so I say let it poop in the pasture. I just have to figure out how to make the cage more weather proof. The bunny is long haired so seems to stay warm. I just worry about it once it gets really cold.

So the hen house has 3 nests. Hubby needs to build a 4th one so that the silkie has one.

Each nest has a little door that has a hook keeping it closed. Well Charlie the sheep figured out how to open it. Actually, he just nosed around enough to make it open so he could investigate. So hubby looks outside and says 'the chickens are out'. We raced outside and figured out that only 2 chickens were out. We chased them around the pasture and finally got them back inside. We tightened the hooks and are hoping that we're good now. If not, we may be getting different closures. We really don't want to chase them around anymore.

I'm really excited about the eggs. Today was the first time we got 3. So finally all 3 chickens are laying. I had heard that when they get moved around (or chased around :) they tend to take a few days off to get accustomed to their new surroundings.

The strange thing is that instead of all 3 chickens laying in the morning like most chickens do (according to the internet), we have lazy chickens who lay throughout the day. This morning I fed them at 9:30. Only one egg. I checked again around 11am (we had been getting 2 a day, so I didn't want to miss one) and there was another egg. I checked once more before church for fun and there was another egg! I hope these guys know that I'm not checking 3 times every day!

The other thing we are dealing with is that its been so cold lately that everyone's water keeps freezing. Yesterday i had to use an ax to chop through the ice on the sheep's water trough. The chickens keep stepping in the water, making it filthy and then it freezes. The bunny's water bottle (supposed to be weather tough) has been freezing solid.

My solution? pour hot water on the chickens water. this melts a little of the ice and fills the bowls the rest of the way. The bunny has a water bowl that I've been doing the same to. I fill it with hot water every day. The water bottle is useless. (weather tough, my foot).

The girls love to help. They love that hubby installed a new gate in the pasture so that feeding and caring for the animals is super easy now. It is literally a hop skip and a jump from our back door.

On to other things. My parents next door have 2 goats. One is sort of ours. We tried to give her away last summer, but things got complicated and we took her back. Then the neighbors intact nigerian pygmy goat hopped the fence and we thing bertha may be pregnant. If she is, she is due the first week in Feb. Its hard to tell for sure with goats, but her stomach is very different that it used to be. Lots of strange bumpy angles and her tail is at constant attention. I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to it if she is pregnant. I don't know if I'm up to a delivery!

Mom and Dad are in the process of putting in their papers for their mission. They could have a call within 3 months. Its exciting and scary.

They could stay in the area, and at home. Or they could go anywhere. We are pretty sure that because of Dad's allergies they would stay stateside. But you never really know.

So that is the excitement in our lives. I'll try and post chicken pictures soon.

Some of my adventures in Dying!

I'm finally having the fun that I thought I should have in my dyeing! When I first started dyeing, I wasn't sure how serious I was about spinning, etc. So I thought I would just use Kool-aid. It is said to be colorfast when using vinegar, but will fade with washing. I was making and felting a bag, so I thought that would be ok for what I was using it for. I mean, how often do you felt a bag? Anyway, I posted pics of that in previous entries.

I was a bit dissappointed with kool-aid because it seemed like the colors were really bright and it didn't seem like I would be able to produce a variety of colors.

Well I've since decided that spinning is for me. Just look at our two adorable sheep!



They are Cormer. A girl and a boy who is fixed. They come from a registered Cormer dad and different mothers.

The other day it was raining and I thought 'poor lambs!' and went out to pet them. They were wet, but if you looked deeper into their coat they were dry and warm. I'm so excited to use that wool! It has a great crimp to it and it's so soft.

Don't tell hubby, but the next thing for the sheep is coats. This makes the wool that much nicer and keeps trash out of the wool, and is supposed to improve your yield.

So back to dyeing. I decided to stay with food based dyes. They can fade over time, but I really like the thought of this being safe to use around my kids. The only thing I have to worry about is staining fingers and clothes. Chemical dyes you have to worry about inhaling and it looks like you have to be careful with it, and of course your kids can't help! So food dyes work for me at this time in my life.

Another thing I've learned is that yes, red yellow and blue are primary colors. But its really hard to make all the colors you may want from them. Using icing colors works great when you want a specific color. And its much easier!!!

Anyway, Here are my adventures from dyeing from today.

All of these results were obtained in the microwave. The wool was soaked in water for 10-15 minutes to wet it. Then the wool spent anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes in the microwave. I just kept cooking it until the dye was exhausted, or nearly exhausted. :)

I also added about 1/4-1/2 cup of vinegar. I didn't measure this.

First up is hot pink!

I used 1.1 oz of spun wool and Wilton icing paste, color pink. 1/8 tsp. Way to intense. Doubt I'll do this one again.



Next up is blue and purple tie dye.

I used 1.4 oz of spun wool and 1/8 tsp of Wilton icing paste, color delpinium blue.



Next is a pretty rosy pink
I used .9 oz of spun wool and 1/16th tsp Aster Mauve wilton icing paste.



Next is another hot pink. Just a little lighter.
I used .9 oz of spun wool and 1/16th tsp of pink wilton icing paste. I was trying to get the pink just right.



Next is something I made up myself! It turned into a pretty light pink.

I used 1.1 oz spun wool and the Neon food coloring kit from Mccormick. 10 drops of purple, 2 drops pink and 1 drop blue.



I tried to take a picture of all of the pink colors I created in my quest for the perfect pink. It didn't turn out well, but it does show the differences in shades.



Next I made another sort of tie dye blue/purple.

I used 1 oz spun wool and the neon food coloring kit from Mccormick. It was supposed to be sky blue. 12 drops blue, 6 drops purple, 2 drops green.

Washing wool

I've been washing wool for about 24 hours now.

The first time I washed wool (2lbs, looked very dirty) it was a breeze. It happened just like the instructions said it would. Thank goodness.

This time, it has taken forever. And I'm very happy we don't have to pay for our water, because I have used a ton. I just worry a little about our septic system.

Anyway.

This time I followed the exact same instructions as last time - If you are a first time wool washer, please don't follow these instructions. I'm leaving a lot of "don't do this" and "do this a certain way" out of my post because these are not instructions, rather this is what I did in general. (there are other websites with great instructions available).

1. very hot water. Add dish soap of choice (nothing with bleach) about 1/3 cup to each pound of wool. Soak wool in this for 1-2 hours.

2. drain water, add fresh water.

3. step 2 again.

By this time you have clean wool.

Well this time after step 3 I noticed that there were areas of the wool where there seemed to be a slick and sticky substance. This is known as lanolin. If left in your wool it will make it hard to card and eventually make the wool stiff and sticky.

So its late, I thought I'd be done by now, and I'm tired.

So I add all the wool together and start at step one.

I let it soak all night in this.

This morning, same spots of lanolin.

So upon further research I decided to try super washing soda from Arm & hammer. Also, I've switched my tubs of water and big laundry sink full of water for my washing machine. At this point, since the wool is pretty clean, It's ok. But I would never use the washing machine from the beginning. To much sheep poop on the wool. Yuck.

Using the washing machine means that all of the wool has to be bagged so that no fiber can sneak into my washing machine parts and cause me to have to buy new parts.

So I just filled the washer and put in 1/8th of a cup of washing soda per pound. Since I have 9 pounds, I put just over 1 cup in.

I let it soak for no longer than 20 minutes. Washing soda can harm your fiber if left to long.

I just put it through the spin cycle. This is safe because unlike the agitation cycle, it doesn't move or agitate the wool.

When I pulled the wool out of the machine (never refill the machine while the wool is still inside!) I noticed small brown dirty looking, slightly greasy small blobs. These lightly coated the inside of the washer and the pillow cases that I have all the wool inside.

I wiped down the inside of the washing machine, but couldn't do much with the pillow cases. As long as I keep the water hot, this yucky stuff shouldn't redistribute onto the wool. As long as its not hanging out on the wool, I'm ok with this.

Anyway, the wool is currently soaking in dish liquid again. Since the wool is pretty clean by now, it won't soak in there very long. I'm thinking about 1/2 hour.

The next rinse I'll use vinegar. Washing soda is very base, so you need to bring the wool back to somewhat neutral I guess. Anway, after the vinegar I may rinse one more time. I'm not sure how necessary it will be though.

Please cross your fingers for me that I didn't somehow felt the whole 9 lbs. I would die.

Oh, and we'll be getting 2 sheep on Monday. More on that later.

I'm so excited!

I just arranged to buy 9 pounds of wool this evening.

Help me think of great colors to dye it and projects to use it on!

I'm already seeing pretty pink slippers from Santa for the girls. Maybe I could figure out how to cross stitch (or iron on) princess. They are so into princesses!

I found Snow White at the DI today. $4 seemed a little over priced, but I know it would cost me more at the store (if they are even selling it). I guess I was spoiled by that awesome garage sale a few months back where movies were .25 and .50 each.


I'm liquidating my Nintendo collection.

I was amazed to learn that I have 2 super nintendo systems, 1 super nintendo game

2 rf's
2 power cords

5 NES systems
20 NES games
13 NES controllers

Also 2 Atari systems
7 atari games
2 Atari joy sticks
1 Atari rf

I actually think there is another box of NES's around here somewhere.

I know there is a box of 5 or so new replacement connectors for the NES.

If anyone wants one, they better speak up!

I ramble on answering machines

I'm sorry!!!

cute kids

C and M are sitting here next to me discussing hubby and my's wedding photo.

M says " Mommy" pointing to me "Daddy" pointing to Daddy. "Daddy is a nice boy" :)

She is putting together words very well now. Lots of 3 -5 word sentences.

"daddy fall down on my feet" the picture is on the ground now

"I fall down. I fall down Mommy" She is laying on the ground.

C says "your so silly M." and "I have Mommy and Daddy right here." holding the picture.

Now its "Mommy I Hungry" from M which means that I must feed the troops.

M calls C "honey". I think its because hubby and I call each other that. Occasionally she will say C's name.

Way to much to say for one entry

There is now way to explain what has been happening with just one blog entry. So I'll start with my new passion. Felting!!! And Spinning! And all that sort of stuff.

So, I recently got back into spinning wool after not doing it for about a year. I guess I was to busy with life and moving and building a house and landscaping and .... well I could go on, but I'll stop.

But I've gotten back into spinning. I started out spinning on my spindle again


and then decided I wanted to take a class. There is a local place called the sheep shed where they offered a spinning class for $40. the class is around 4 hours so I thought it was worth it.

The class was fun and while maybe not worth $40, it was a lot of fun. The lady who taught it is recovering from cancer and she and her husband are in their 70's. She spent the first hour or so going over wool quality and types of wool and gave us a lot of pointers on buying quality wool and types of sheep that produce that wool. Also what to look for when buying wool (veggie matter, etc).

We also spent about 1.5 hours spinning on various spinning wheels. Of course I liked the $700 wheel the best. That's not going to happen!

Anyway, after having so much fun, I came up with all sorts of possible money making ideas that would make it possible for me to really get into spinning.

After much thought, of course none seem really feasible.

Anyway, for my birthday my hubby gave me the latest Nancy Drew game !!!! and said that I could spend $50 over at the Sheep Shed. I decided that if I was really going to get into spinning, I should think about getting some sheep eventually. So if I was going down to that level, then the best thing for me to buy for my birthday would be some carders for combing and blending wool. When I called the Sheep shed to make an appointment, Cleo , the owner said that she would give me some wool to play around with as well.

Well, when I got there, she pointed out a huge back of yucky looking wool. There was a lot of it though. So I felt like I should spend a little more money in her shop to help cover it. So I spent another $15 and bought a Niddy Noddy for winding spun wool.

Hubby thankfully wasn't upset when I came home having spent $73 instead of $50. He was little surprised though.

Anyway I weighed the wool. To my surprise it was 2 pounds. Wool typically sells around here for $5/lb, so Cleo really gave me a great gift. Anyway, before washing the wool I thought for sure it was multi colored brown colors. I wasn't super thrilled, but was excited to try washing and carding wool.

I put the wool in a huge bucket of hot water and dish soap. After that, I took it out and gave it 2 rinses (1-2 hour soak) in hot water. This rinses out the rest of the soap and lanolin.

Imagine my surprise when the wool came out off white. Now I should mention that each sheep varies in the shade of white that it produces. Also each sheep's wool takes dyes differently. So you typically dye all the wool at one time, and probably try and limit the sheep involved. A fleece from a sheep typically weighs around 5 pounds.

Anyway, I dried the wool next to the fire for the next few days. Then I started to card the wool.



after carding, it looks like this



It took about a week to get through all of that wool.

I should probably mention that you can dye the wool at two different stages in the process. You can dye it after washing it, or you can dye it after spinning it. I chose to dye after spinning it.

It took about 2 weeks to card and spin the wool.







In the meantime a project had been suggested to me. My parents are going to serve a mission for our church in the spring and Mom would need a sturdy church bag. I forget where I got the original idea from, but it got me excited. Now I remember. From this blog - http://letsknit2gether.com/blog1/

So after the wool was all spun, I had to figure out how I was going to dye it all. For wool (or any animal fiber) the best dye is a protein based dye. If you go this route, you need to buy pots, pans, measuring stuff, and stirring spoons specifically for this. You can never use these things again for food cooking.

Since I don't have that kind of disposable income, I opted to go another route. Kool-aid. Now, this dye does have its problems. It will fade over time. But for my purpose, it seemed ideal. A bag doesn't get washed very often. So the only way for the color to fade seems to be regular use, and maybe the sun.

So I bought several colors of off brand kool-aid and a couple of packets of real kool-aid blue and dark red that weren't available in the off brands.

I experimented with these colors in the microwave and then showed the results to my Mom and let her choose. I have to admit I sort of talked her into my favorite. Purple. the purple wasn't that dark purple you might think of. I'll add a picture once I have it. She was leaning towards a dark red or blue thinking they would hold up better. I was thinking more about what color would go with more outfits. :)

Anyway, it took me a couple of hours and every packet of purple I had to get the right shade. Even then I had to grab a couple packets of blue and red and mix them to get the right shade and add them to. I really liked that effect. It made the purple more reddish. It was nice.

Anyway, after that, I hung it all up to dry in my laundry room and almost overnight it was dry enough to start crocheting.

After looking at bunches of patterns on the web, I couldn't find any I thought would hold up to what my mom needed the bag for.

So I decided to design my own. This resulted in a week or so of crocheting and re-doing. This was partly because of design stuff, crochet errors, and even running out of yarn.

Anyway, after a week I was ready to felt. Here is the result.

With a box for shape -


Without the box -



I think Dad is going to put a cardboard square into the bottom of it for shape.


Now I'm really into felting. Since the first bag, I have crocheted and felted a purse for me



I haven't decided if I like it yet.

2 soap holder thingeys for use in the shower from this website - http://bricoreandfamily.blogspot.com/



and a pair of slippers for C that I will felt today.

before -


After -


I'm not sure if they are felted enough. I think I'd like to try and felt them some more.

Now here's the problem. I'm out of wool. Without wool or some other fiber from and animal, I can't felt.

What am I going to do? I am going through withdrawals!!!!!!

Mcleods daughters

yes, I'm addicted. I just am. They showed Seasons 1-3 on the We channel a few years back and now I've been catching the current season.

I've just got to rant.

If Mcleods daughters was to be taken seriously, then the crime rate in Australia must be out of this world. A few episodes ago the girls were kidnapped when they knocked on a farmers door in order to get water for their overheated radiator. Last week Rose fell and is now in a wheelchair and should walk after a lot of rehab (and in this episode tries to kill herself due to not wanting to live without walking). The week before that Rose narrowly escaped being date raped after being given a drug. The preview for next week shows Rose being held hostage at Drovers Run while some random guys search the house.

These episodes are 4 in a row. (kidnapped, date rape, accident, hostage). I can swallow all of this happening over maybe 1 season, but 4 in a row? Come on! seriously!

What happened to this show being about relationships? Family and romantic.

I still like the show, but am just finding it a bit hard to swallow at the moment.

so much to say

Heres the Readers Digest version of what I've not felt like posting about.

The day we got the occupancy permit for our home, my husband decided to move in. This was Mid-December. The next day I awoke to find that I had herniated a disc in my back. Lovely.

After much pain, and after trying a visit or two to the chiropractor, I decided to visit my normal doctor and get the good pain meds. My real doctor was out of town for 2 weeks, and so I had to go to another doctor. He prescribed a pain med, anti inflammatory, and a muscle relaxant. I was in bed for a week and things seemed to be getting worse. One day I forgot to take my pain pill (hey, I was on 3 different pill schedules!) and ended up in the ER because I was in so much pain. The sad thing was that after I got there, they made me wait so long to get in, my pain pill FINALLY started working. Although it was making me very nauseous. Anyway, the ER doc prescribed me a heavier hitting pain med for emergencies like that one where the pain was just awful. I never ended up taking it, but held on to it just in case.

By the next Wednesday I was spending more and more time out of bed. I still had 3 or so relapses, but was doing all right. I started going to and have since graduated from the physical therapist. I also started going to a chiropractor who practices kinesiology, and acupuncture. It was ok. I don't know how much it actually helped. And, this guy has since turned his practice over to another guy who is just awful. So I'm thinking about going to another chiropractor because about 2 weeks ago I had another setback and am having major sciatic pain again.

My husband has been a real trooper and has supported me through it all. He is going to school, working full time, and helping with the kids and doing dishes and laundry.

Since spring arrived we have been working hard. I think this might be what has been leading up to this latest setback.

We've had grass planted, planted trees, planted a garden, planted shrubs and flowers, etc, etc. We've been very busy.

We've also been very busy helping my parents. They are having my sisters wedding reception in their yard in July and of course they have to whip everything into shape. We haven't actually done all that much, but we have helped out.

My hubby and Dad work together really well, and help each other out physically, and with coming up with solutions.

Anyway, we are also Wolf leaders in our ward and are having a lot of fun with it.

C has a new friend who she has play dates with.

C and A are hard to keep from Grandma and Grandpa's house. If they see Grandma or Grandpa, they always have to say hi and go and see them. I think G & G might finally be getting tired of it. Last week Grandma started talking about rules at Grandma's house.

I'm sure there is more, but that was the basics.

more pictures!

Tile in the entry way and 1/2 bath


Tile that will be under the fireplace


My dream kitchen!!




My awesome laundry room


I'm looking forward to a soak in this!!!

Life goes on

So we got the final-ish move-in date from our builder. Now we've been told that the final inspection will be the first week in December and we should be able to move in after that.

So a bit of a delay just like everyone else warned us about. Lets just hope that it doesn't get moved again. Again, its very nice not to have to be out of the house by the end of the month. We would have had to live somewhere for 2 weeks and that would have been a pain.

So my Dad called with one of his occasional updates yesterday. Since he lives next door to the new house, and just retired last week due to his back getting worse, we are lucky enough to get these updates from time to time.

He said that the tile backsplash was going in and just about done. They were also working on the tile entryway. The sinks had been dropped in, and the plumber was hooking everything up.

Earlier this week the cabinets were finished up (my kitchen rocks!) and the linolium went in last week. The painter still has a few places that need touch up.

I can't believe how quickly things are going!!! But not quickly enough for the original finish date of Thanksgiving that our builder originally gave us. Oh well.

The house has been on the market for one week now, and not one call. Its going to be fine though. We have been very calm about it, and I feel comfortable about things. We are going to be fine.

Interesting development

The offer on our house fell through on Tuesday. Talk about the bottom falling out. Everything has changed.

The home under construction is coming along well and we should be moving in around Thanksgiving. That will make selling this home a little bit easier.

We are still in a little bit of shock.

Anyway, we put our house back on the market today. Its nowhere near ready to show. Its a stinking mess. The carpets need to be cleaned again and the bathrooms need a good scrubbing. The whole house needs to be picked up and vacuumed. The dishes need to be done.

I need to start packing.

And we are talking in church on Sunday.

I feel a little slammed.

Why do they do that? Why do they ask you to speak in Church when you are under a lot of stress and have a whole bunch of things to do. Oh yeah, lets write a talk and then stress about giving it. AAAHHHHH!!!!!

OK, enough of that.

They finished painting our new house on Monday or Tuesday and they put down subfloor and linoleum yesterday and today. They also got the well hooked up to the house on Tuesday, and inspected on Wednesday.

Things are just coming along swimmingly.

In a way its nice not to have the stress of having to be out of the house by a certain date. That way I'll have a bit more time to do the final cleaning. And if the house was to be delayed, we would have had to find somewhere to live for a little while, so I guess its good not to have to stress about that.

The thing that really stresses me is potentially having to carry this home through the winter into next summer.

I sure hope someone is looking to buy a home during the holidays. Cross your fingers for us.

Our Front Door


Front door from the inside. Front room to the left, 1/2 bath to the right.


We have 4 bedrooms. The closets in 3 bedrooms look about like this. The master has a walk in.


Our dream pantry!!!


The cool trench that leads from the well to the house.

Nancy Drew "The Creature of Kapu Cave" walkthrough

So, this game was a bit of a dissapointment. It was to short, to easy, and was it just me or did Joe Hardy look like he had a bad comb over?

However, it was a New Nancy Drew game from Herinteractive, so its better than nothing right?!

Herinteractive releases 2 games a year. One in July and the next in October. I would like to take this time to suggest that they may want to space these releases a bit. I've found that both games never excel. Usually one is awesome, and the other is ok. Maybe if they space them a bit, they'll have more time to concentrate on each game. Another thing they could do is introduce a 3rd release per year. I know I'd buy them. They could release in April, August, and then in December, just in time for Christmas. The only person who wouldn't like this would be my husband. He enjoys the easy birthday gift that the October released game brings.

Onward with the walkthrough!

So start the game, look through Nancy's room if you want. Its basically the same as last time. Click on the ticket when you are ready to go.

Watch the movie, talk to big Island Mike, exhaust all conversation topics and then go shell hunting. Find the beach by walking around to the back of Mikes place and following the path to the beach.

Surprise! On the beach you run into Frank and Joe with his bad comb over (shame on you for ruining his hair Herinteractive!)

Listen to them and then look for shells. There are only 5 places on the beach you can find them.

Click on the small pool in front of you, go forward once and click on the wet spot on the sand, go forward again and click on the big rock in front of you.

Now turn around. Go forward once, and in the lower left hand side of the screen is a cairn. or pile of rocks sort of like a trail marker. click on that. Now go forward twice more and click on the log to the left of your screen.

OK, now time to go and make an Aloha necklace. Go back to Mikes place and find the outside necklace making area.

Flip through the necklace examples to find the Aloha necklace. Then simply string the beads so that it looks like the necklace in the picture.

Give it to Big Island Mike and he will give you the keys!

This is the last time I will say this. Always and forever, exhaust ALL conversation topics when talking to people!

OK, as soon as you click on the jeep, a GPS screen will come up. And I was hoping to be able to drive this jeep! Anyway, in my opinion, the GPS screen is cool, but after you've seen it come up 3 times, it gets old. They need to shorten it just a bit.

Anyway, choose Camp Quigley.

OK, once there, explore! And of course, pick up everything that is not nailed down.

Near the jeep you will find a winch and a panel with lots of numbers on it. In front of the tent you will find a tape recorder.

Rewind the tape and listen.

go into the tent and explore. Find the Clipboard, the radio with no power, the note with the radio frequency from Dr. Quigley.

Check out the table with the microscope on it. Strange that the radio has no power, but the "Formula" machine does???!?

Also check out the green box with the strange lock on it. Push the buttons and hear a familiar sound. Rewind the tape and write down the order you hear those sounds. Herinteractive was nice enough to "Name" the sounds also, so write down the "Blah"s and the "Blee"s correctly.

ok, now that the box is open, read the notes about Professor Craven, notice the phone number at the end of the notes, get the hook, and the pass.

Call the number. Whether you try and be Dr. Kim or try and be yourself, the lady hangs up on you.

Lets fix the jeep. Use the winch and the hook, you should be able to get it out.

Look at the panel with the numbers. This time Nancy will recognize it as a solar panel and tell you that some of the cells are missing.

Lets go and see if those lovely people at the Hilihili research center have some extras.

Whether you use the pass or not you end up in front of Professor Craven getting yelled at. Don't worry, he calms down.

When you ask for solar cells, he asks you to get some seeds. They are downstairs. Or should I say down a ramp? Anyway, look around all you want. Despite the high security, no one is around, and you won't get stopped.

Once you've found the plants that need harvesting, look to the right and find the card that describes the seed you are looking for. Its easy.

Once you are done, bring them back to the Professor and he will instruct some guy to put the cells in your vehicle.

Back to Camp!

Lets fix the Solar panel. If you are familiar with Suduko, this should be fairly easy. If not, just remember that in each of the 4 squars, there should only be numbers 1-9. In each row, there should not be any numbers repeated. When the lights are all green, you are done. Just keep messing around with the numbers if you don't understand Suduko, and eventually it will come together.

Now hook it to the winch and wind the winch so its back in the tree.

Lets go call Dr. Kim.

Turn on the power and figure out how to input the frequency found on that note from Dr. Kim

Pick up the microphone on the table to talk to Dr. Kim.

Call Joe and see if he can help.

Now we are playing as Joe.

Go talk to Big Mike.

He will send you fishing.

On the way to the beach, live through the earthquake and talk to Pua at the surf shack.

Now head down to the pier and start fishing. Click on the fishing rod and then the bait each time you want to catch a fish. Watch your bobber. When it dunks down below the water, click on your rod. It will show you the fish that you caught. Some are dang ugly!

As soon as you have caught 6 of the Ulua, you will run out of bait. That really stinks because all these fish are worth big island bucks (from Pua).

Go and give the Ulua to Big mike.

Leave, once your around the first corner you hear a car leave.

I'm going to bring the rest of these fish to Pua so I can get some big island bucks.

OK, now that I'm $9 richer, lets go check out big mikes office.

There is nothing on the desk to see, just look at the calendar. There you will find a post-it and the key.

Once you get into the locked cabinet, you will find a map. Now you know that Dr. Kim is at 3 finger rock. Joe calls Nancy and leaves a message with the coordinates. Then he gets clobbered.

Now as Nancy, you know where to find Dr. Kim. plug those coordinates into the GPS and get going!

As you are going down the trail you will see colored flags marking other trails with plants at the end. At each plant take a colored baggy and collect a sample. This will save time later.

once you get to the end of the trail, look up and click on dr. kim to talk to her.

She sends you back to camp for her clipboard. Hop in the Jeep, go back to camp. The clipboard is in the tent. Hop back in the jeep and head for 3 fingered rock (really should have been called 3 toed rock in my opinion)

Give the clipboard to Dr. Kim. she will tell you that the first page is missing. Now you have to gather all the data and analyze it according to the instructions on the clipboard.

Back to camp! Look at the clipboard and find instructions. You will need a microscope. If you look at the one in the tent, you will find that the one there is broken.

Lets go to the Hilihili! Don't worry, they'll let you in. Just push the white button for assistance.

Dr craven will give you the microscope part, but needs you to fertilize some plants first. The plants are down the ramp and on the right side of the room.

The first time I did this puzzle, I just kept pushing buttons and solved it pretty quickly. This time I made a chart and figured out what each color would do. Either way works!

Talk to Dr. Craven again and he will give you the part you need.

On the way out you hear him firing Mr. Fiderman.

Back to camp!

Fix the microscope and pour the contents of the red pouch on it. If you read the clipboard instructions you know that you need to seperate and weigh the frass (pictures on the clipboard), count the seeds and count the insect parts.

Also note that you are missing 2 colors of pouches. Those are at kapu cave but dr. kim hasn't told you about them yet.

One thing on the clipboard that you have to do is identify the plants that the samples were taken from. Lets call Joe and see if he can help.

Playing as Joe, lets go and play some of those games in Big Island Mike's office.

The Wiki Tiki game is just for fun. You can win a sharks tooth that can be made into a necklace and exchanged for Big Island Bucks.

The other game is an informational game. You will need more bucks to read everything. You can catch fish or make necklaces. Either way is pretty easy. Don't forget to ask Big Mike about Franks accident and pick up the paper on the ground.

When playing the informational game, don't forget to take notes while looking at the plants!

Lets go talk to pua now. Hey, she's renting snorkel gear!

After talking to Pua, lets round up some bucks. You can make necklaces or catch fish if you have any money left for bait.

However you do it, once you have $30, rent some snorkel equipment.

While you are earning money, you will hear Pua and her father arguing. You will want to talk to both her and Big Mike about it.

Once you are able to rent the snorkel equipment, go down to the sand where the big wet spot is. You will be able to enter the water there. There are 5 places to collect shells down there, and at the end you will find a dark hole where an eel lives and won't let you through.

hey, we forgot to call the pawn broker. Lets do that.

Now lets call Johnny Kuto.

OK, now its time to talk to Big Mike.

Now lets go talk to Pua. On the way, Johnny Kuto calls you back. Nothing.

Pua tells you about the chart in the courtyard. Lets go talk to Big Mike to find out his favorite flavor of shave ice. You'll need money for this one.

Go and talk to Big Mike. He'll tell you to guess his favorite shave ice by making them and bringing them to you. This is sort of fun. He will tell you how many flavors you have right. But it could get expensive.

After you get the right answer, you will be able to open the box in the courtyard. you will find a strange map and Joe will call Nancy.

Ok, look at the clipboard. the first page of directions has the coodinates for Kapu cave. Lets plug in the coordinates and check it out. Also, collect the samples there.

OK back to camp to analyze the new samples.

Once you have the clipboard full, turn on the Krolmeister Formula machine and put your clipboard in it.

Now we need to take the results to Dr. Kim.

The first time you talk to her she'll tell you about the webs at Kapu cave.

The next time, she'll get excited about your results. the nice thing about this puzzle is that she'll tell you which color has the wrong data.

Make sure you exhaust all conversation topics with Dr. Kim. She may finish a conversation, but if you try and talk to her again, you'll find that you have more questions to ask.

OK then, off to the Hilihili! Dr. Craven is asleep so now you can check out his thingeymajig. Be sure to hit the settings tab at the far right in order to turn off the sound. Also, check out his lab coat near him.

Remember that Fiderman guy who got fired? Well, I bet his locker would be a good place to find one of those protective suits! Write down his combination and his employee number.

When you get in the room with the plants, go left and then all the way to the back of the room. You will find a room with a computer in it. This is where you'll figure out what plant to take a sample from.

The HH3333 is right outside the door to the office you are in, and to the left. very easy. Get a sample, and get out.

Getting out is a bit of a problem. Review these directions, don't pause a lot, and you should get out just fine. If not, you'll just have to try again.

R,S,L,S,S,S,L,S,L,S,R,S,L,S,S,R,S,R,S,S,S,R,S,L, at door, and leave!

We're out! Back to camp.

You'll need to go into the tent and put the plant sample in a test tube. When you click on the table to use the test tubes, you'll find that they helpfully put the plant sample on the table for you. Just put it in a test tube and squirt in some liquid from the bottle in front of you.

They also put the Red sample on the table in front of you. By clicking on it, it will put some of it in the test tube in front of you. Do the same with the liquid.

OK, back to Dr. Kim!

Talk to her and then take the canopy samples from her pack. Back to camp!

once you analyze all those canopy samples (using the test tubes and that liquid) then its back to Dr. Kim!

OK, after taking the ring from Dr. Kim's pack, lets go to Kapu cave.

There is only one place where anything can be put in Kapu cave. Find it, Its on the main statue.

I hope you took notes from that map Joe got out of the box in the courtyard. You'll need it now.

Put the pictures in the order listed on the map. If it doesn't do anything, play with the block on top, second from the left. That always works for me.

OK, so lets go into this cave filled with lava. The first 2 jumps you take, you'll make. Don't forget to look at the statues you are passing. The 3rd (or so) statue you see, you'll be able to pull his tongue out. This will make a ledge come out of the wall. Take the ledge. There is no other way over. But once you use the ledge it will disappear and you will be stuck.

You'll come to a lovely puzzle. Basically its one where you find the right sequence and you solve the puzzle. Only problem is that when you push any wrong rock, you die. And you get to second chance it for the next try. Lovely, eh?

For all you cheaters, here's the answer. Center top is #1, second from the left on the bottom is #2, the big button in the middle towards the left is #3, and the very left middle button is #4. This will cause you to slide down a tube.

The next puzzle is fairly easy. You are going to put the turtle laying eggs story in order. Use the domino style tiles for it.

When you get the puzzle right, the head will sink and the eyes will look right. As soon as you can, click on the right arrow. Otherwise you will get squished.

Now we go back to Joe.

OK, after we hear the message from Nancy, Joe says we should go and see if the eel is still there under the water. Get out your list of animals from that map again. Make sure you have them in order and handy. You will need to choose the right directions according to that order while Joe holds his breath.

Lets go!

What I'd like to know is how Joe can say "Whoa" every time you choose a direction, without drowning!

Once you get there and the rock breaks the bridge, you are again, stuck. Climb the bridge 'ladder'. Explore the cave and you will get to a statue thingey where you can push a button. Push it and go in. Look around and find the canisters. Then Big Mike shows up. And then Nancy shows up! Wow, lets have a party!

I'm not sure there is anything to this next puzzle other than dumb luck. Just keep trying and you'll make it. Though I have to laugh at Nancy's instructions. Like Big Mike can't hear them also! Ha Ha!

I'm disappointed in the lack of a big finish on this one! And, hey! I wanted to make some more necklaces!

Anyway, the next game looks good.

Looking forward to it in 9 STINKING MONTHS! Man Herinteractive, could you possibly produce more games, or at least put them out every 6 months or something?