Helping at the fair

I was asked a few days ago if I would help with the canning department at the fair. I am unsure exactly what I will be doing but as long as I don't have to judge, I am happy to help. Especially since I can myself, I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of things other people can and how to dress it up for fair. I will take lots of pics and let you all k now how it goes!

Garden update

I went out of town for a week and my garden went CRAZY! My pumpkin plant has probably eight little pumpkins, this one is the biggest.

I have four or five little tiny watermelons.

Three deformed peppers, all on one plant.

Three of my sunflowers blossomed overnight. I will get better pics later.

My potatoes grew enough that it is time to add another box to the top. I couldn't get any closer because the bees get pretty pissed off when we mess with anything in the vicinity of their hive.

And I saved the best for last. This is my crazy, fast growing, gigantic tomato plant. All of my tomato plants have several green tomatoes on them but this particular plant just exploded. It is the same type of tomato, it gets the same amount of sun and water, but for some reason it is over twice the size of the other plants.

My corn is doing well but the wind keeps knocking the stalks down. I am going to build up the rows with more dirt tomorrow.

One of my chickens got out of the pen and made a dust bed in my new radishes and ate quite a bit of my lettuce and swiss chard. She's lucky she's one of my best layers or she might have ended up as soup. If she doesn't stay in the chicken pen, she will have to live in the empty dog run until after the harvest. My peas and beans doubled in size while I was gone and my onions are starting to blossom. (Do they need to be harvested before they do that?)

My carrots are almost big enough to start eating and my Jerusalem artichoke is getting a little bit taller.

The Monster List for FMS and feeling rather out there.

As I try to figure out this thing called Fibro (And pull Gracie along because I am pretty sure it is what she has too since she has never been able to get diagnosed either.) I discovered a fellow sufferer who turned her high-octane exhausting career into a wonderful job where she gets to be home but still make money and she helps those of us who suffer with her. She became the Ask.com guru on FMS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She keeps up on research and posts valid tips and things stemming from that research to help us in our own journey's. She has what she calls "The Monster List of Fibromyalgia Symptoms". It has over 60 things related to our lovely life. Some even are their own disorders or diseases. At last count I have 43. I am afraid I am developing another. I feel very frustrated. I feel like such a frumpy failure some days. Not trying to complain and my hubby tells me I am being silly but some days I am lucky to keep track of the girls and cook dinner. I am usually in shorts and a tank. I don't wear makeup. Being raised by a single dad until I was 16 meant that learning girly things never really happened. My amazing guy tells me often how beautiful I am and how amazing and I am so lucky I have that in my life because if I had someone who had no patience for this and who expected some perfectly coiffed barbie all the time I would feel even worse. Ugggg..... That is one of the rough things about this illness. It is ever changing and because we have to limit ourselves and completely change how we do things it means that we learn very quickly if those around us truly love us for better of for worse. I am lucky. I know some who aren't.


On another pity Lila party moment: I had a moment today where I was reminded yet again how very different I am from some of the people who should be closest to me. I don't know how it happened or why but I seem to be even farther away from some of the people I love. I do love them, so much. My life is about love. I just seem to have nothing what so ever to relate to them with. About the only thing we seem to share anymore is a love for my girls but even then it is rough because what we value is so different that often blind trust has resulted in some situations that haven't been ideal. Humph..... This trying to vent but also be respectful is a precarious line. I want to have good relationships with everyone I love but I also don't know how to do that most days. I am happiest at home or with my husband exploring somewhere, metal detecting, shooting, doing what we do. My faith is so important to me yet places a wedge because either they aren't sure they believe at all in anything bigger than themselves or they aren't sure they like what I believe. How do you find a place to heal old wounds to the point of closeness when you are so very different?

Crazy bees.

It is HOT. I am not complaining, we had too long of a winter to complain about the heat once we finally get it. But it is so hot that my bees just hang out on the hive in the evenings enjoying the cool evening temps. My queen comes out onto the porch and her secret service guard bees freak out and get VERY aggressive. The crawl all over her and sting everyone (me) that gets close. She is really causing them some serious stress. I would hate to have their job.

The first time I saw this, I completely freaked out and called my big brother (once again big bro comes to the rescue) to ask if my bees were running away. We finally decided it was simply too hot to stay in the hive once the outside temps cool.

Makes for a cool pic, but the bees are certainly more on edge when Queen Anne is taking risks.

Oh, by the way, Orajel works very well on bee stings : )

OMGosh! I am actually blogging!

Wow, Lila has been busy. I figured it was time to pull at least part of my own weight around here. So today you get a post from Gracie. I have been insanely busy the last couple of weeks and just haven't had the time. Last week I spent the week with my family celebrating my dad's 80th birthday. I had a GREAT time visiting with all of my family but honestly, it felt AMAZING to sleep in my own bed.

I have several posts I plan on writing either today or tomorrow and posting over the next few days. I have garden updates, bee updates (those bugs are nuts!), and just life in general updates. Hopefully I can keep up with Lila so she doesn't have to do the lions share of keeping up with our blog.

Libertarian Reflection.

I'm sitting at my table this morning feeling pretty reflective. We are now 2 days from the "default day" and while research and reading all of my favorite blogs has shown this day to be a mixture of fact and fiction it is the day those in government have been spouting as important to our economic future. My question is this: If is it so important, so critical to the future of this country that we make drastic financial changes by August 2 why then on July 31 are you all in D.C. still arguing like children over your toys? This group fights that proposal, that group fights this proposal. Frankly the lack of any sort of agreement on putting this country above your own ideas makes me feel sick inside. We allowed this. We have built up a government of hundreds of congress and senate members and now they all bicker like toddlers fighting over a treat. I love this country, I love the ideals and tenets it was built upon. It makes me so sad and disappointed to see that personal gain has been put before the wants of the people and that our needs as a country are less important than proving a point. We need to reduce the size of government and it's ability to make stupid laws. Brawny had the right idea in her most recent post. I know they came up with the number of congress and senate members they did for a reason they feel valid but I think it is a number much to high. Stop paying all that money out to people who don't care about our needs anyway. Stop with the elections all the dang time and start making them pay attention to what we want and need. That is their job. They are supposed to be working for the people, representing our desires and wants. They aren't doing that.

Monkey in the dark.

My little Monkey has developed a new quirk. She hates her bed. I never did the Cry It Out thing. I nursed her as long as she wanted. I am one who believes that little ones grow as they are supposed to, especially when they have the benefit of having Mommy home to love and take care of and nurture them. I let Bug decide when she was ready to go to bed on her own and have the same plan with Monkey. She still likes to be cuddled to sleep. Last night she got ready for bed by putting on her nightgown and her pull-up and then we dug out her "Nawa" (She still refuses to say water right even though she knows how, hehe) She was set. As soon as we climbed into her bed the tears started. Even when I could calm her down she would relax for a minute or two and then sob again. She kept saying. "No like my bed Mama, Me no like it." I got her calmed enough that at one point she said she was afraid and together with Nephew and her sister we turned on her lights and looked her whole room over but still she wouldn't be comforted. I am hoping it passes as some of her other anti-sleep fazes have but I hate thinking I am torturing her. I finally put her in my bed after over an hour of sobbing and she went right to sleep. A few hours later when I went to bed I moved her to her room. She managed to make it a little over an hour before she woke up and was hysterical. I don't know how to make her more happy about her room. I am planning to move things around and get her toys more easily accessible in her room. She has been getting up super early and I am hoping having more toys available might give me some relief from the 5 AM wakeup calls. Plus she is getting bigger and I want to take the rocking chair out of her room. Maybe I will do that this weekend and let her pick some new bedding. See if that helps her feel better if it feels like a new room. Any other thoughts or ideas?

Created a blog just for my writing.

I am going forward in a life with positive thinking. Kat's book will be done soon and somehow I am going to publish. I want to blog about that work and all my writing but I don't want it taking over here so i made a blog just for the writing. So if you are interested in it and in supporting it please follow that too. Trust me that it is okay if you don't want to follow it. I do write chick stuff. I am also writing more than that and with North's help am getting a world built that I think you manly men will enjoy as well. No pressure though, lol.



Lila's Books - The Blog!

Another family in need....

I know. I post stories about families in need sometimes. I can't help it. If they have a connection to me in some way, even if it is small I have to at least spread the word. I would hope they would do the same but who knows. I do know if it were us how grateful we would be for anyone who spread the call for help. A relatives twin nieces share a home. Both of their men are U.S. Coast Gurard in Washington. One couple has 2 young sons. Days ago they were hit with a horrible fire. They lost everything except what each couple had in their safe, the clothes on their backs and miraculously the flag of the deceased soldier father of one of the men. They are in major need of any help they can get. The girl's mom has a blog written detailing everything here and she supplies links with info on how to help if you can. If you are in the Vancouver/Portland area she can take in person donations of help. She is fielding everything right now so the girls and their families can focus on other things.

Discussion with Anonymous.

I am a huge believer of free speech but not at the cost of someone else. Anonymous I have removed your comments from my recent post about a grieving Marine wife for a very big reason. That post links to her blog and if she has trackback on her blog will easily be found not only by her but by others grieving the loss of a very amazing man and a hero. I think your comments, especially when her grief is raw could cause her some pain and I don't want that. So I wanted to address you most recent comment here because I think it needs to be said and then I have no intent to respond again.

First comment:

Anonymous said...

Why do they do it? I don't know about you Lila but I read stuff like that and get so damned mad. All that hurt and pain...for what?

I sometimes think the best thing to do with those effing moslems is just drop a great big friggin bomb on them and walk away...

That poor woman doesn't deserve it.

This was my response:

Lila said...

No one deserves that kind of pain. To lose the love of your life in the first blush of marriage is a huge travesty. BUT my thinking is that no one small thought defines an entire group. I have met quite a few muslims who are as disgusted by the few using their religion to kill and maime. Catholics have done it. Even my church I love has had its few who used the faith as a war banner. The faith is not the one we fight against. It is those who make their mission in life the persecution and opression of others. We may not agree with the war or its reasons for starting but every soldier I know would say they have no regrets on serving and would do it again. Most are proud of their service because it is not about the mission it is about honoring a country that at the majority is hard working hard loving and free. Decemating a region goes against what they fight for.

This is the reply I found this morning when I got up.

Anonymous said...

I agree we have good moslems and bad moslems Lila...but we can't fight the bad ones and save the good ones. All we are doing is getting America's best men killed by the worst 3rd world human trash - and nobody pays the price more so than mom and the kids at home.

This warm fuzzy approach to war failed in Viet Nam, it darn near cost the war in Iraq - and it is failing miserably in Afghanistan.Can you imagine how WW2 would have turned out if we only targetted the 'bad' nazis? And argued endlessly among ourselves about exactly who those bad nazis were? If we gave them full benefit of the doubt, the luxury of human shields, and the benefit of endless 'due diligence' as we tried to gather enough evidence to justify a kill? They would have eaten us alive!

Hell, we aren't even trying to distinguish good moslems from bad ones anymore. They are radicalizing their youth against us right here in north America right now.Rabid imams and mullahs are actively preaching race hate. They've done the same in Europe and now they are doing it here. Yes, I know full well there are good moslems - but wherever their faith goes, bloodshed follows. And these supposedly 'good moslems' do nothing about it!They go quiet as church mice! If Americans pulled crap like this we would literally have a civil war over it.

That is what enrages me most about this. We can't deal with these people with kid gloves. Until we understand that, the man's death, the woman's grief, the children's loss - all of that hurt and pain and blood is for nothing.

Sorry for the rant Lila...but that woman's plight got me right in the heart. She doesn't even have the comfort of knowing that her husband's death was for a good cause. We deserve better than that.

Okay, Once again I appreciate free speech and different opinions. It is a right I employ regularly with this blog, with life, and with writing. That being said I do think there is a time and a place for rants. I think your rant is cowardly. I am pretty sure I speak for all 3 of us. You come to our blog and read and we love readers but you post on a blog connected to a grieving widow belittling the mission her husband died serving and you don't even have the guts to use your name or even take the time to consider what she would feel reading your comments.

Now to your rant itself. It is not our job to choose who lives or dies. What chooses that and I am willing to bet the men who served and are serving agree is weather or not they are the one pointing the gun, carrying the bomb, or shouting their rhetoric. There are proven reports of good Nazi's. Men who put on the uniform to save their own lives and that of their families and then used that uniform to run info to our allies, help Jewish families escape, or even hid Jewish families themselves. No people is defined by a label in my opinion and it is thinking and judging a complete group based on the misdeeds of some that is bringing the world down. Maggy had a very close friend who honestly was like family during her marriage to a soldier. This soldier fought hard for the US. He wore his fatigues with courage and pride and he never wavered from his commitment to this country and to the mission even during his deployment. He was Muslim. To belittle an entire group of people belittles his sacrifice for your right to bash him and it disgusts me. Before you spew hate take a moment to think. Think about who it could impact and who could be reading it. Remember when you do that the woman you feel bad for stands up with courage and pride in her husband. My nephew is serving overseas right now and while he is not in a combat zone I still worry and have pride in him and his service. I am proud of every member serving. They are not doing it to fight against any one but to fight for those who need them and for the country they love. Once again the mission isn't the issue. They see the big picture. White, black, Catholic, Muslim, Straight, or Gay. It doesn't matter to them. They serve to protect the ones they love and the country they love and the values they love.

So before you come onto our blog and anonymously rant about anyone or anything remember: While I am a firm believer of free speech on this blog my free speech trumps yours. If you can not show respect to our troops and their sacrifices then don't speak.