My guru rocks!!

Okay so most who know me know I am super out-spoken about children and protecting them. I am a firm believer that we as parents need to do everything we possibly can to support, love, and nurture our children. I think that when you can having a single income household so that a parent is with the children at all times is a huge benefit. I know that it is not always an option and am in no way coming down on the families where both adults need to work or the single parent. (Our Maggy is a working Mom and does an amazing job!) I think children benefit the most from being raised by their own parents. So today I was checking up on my favorite blogs and went to the guru! My guru is Dr. Laura. Honestly her book "The proper care and feeding of husbands" saved my marriage and I still apply the things I learned to my interactions with my husband. She is very no-nonsense and I love her. So when I saw this entry I wanted to stand up and cheer. For those who don't want to go look it is about an article that was passed to her about child deaths from being left in a car in the heat. She comments that the majority of these deaths are because a parent forgets to drop the child off at day care. I also loved the paragraph where she deals with the articles reasoning that the mother forgot her child and her response to those reasons.

Let’s look at her stressful month of September: business trips, day care, work, visits with relatives and anxiety. How many of those factors would have been eliminated if she was a stay-at-home mom? Answer: ALL OF THEM, and the child would likely be alive.

Sadly she is spot on. She then lists the suggestions made by the article on how to prevent this from happening and he comments on those are also very right.

The article ends up giving suggestions so you won’t forget your kid to die in your back seat while you are busy with what is more important.

1. Put something that really matters to you - like your cell phone - in the back seat with the child. Do you realize that means that your cell phone is more important than your child?

2. Keep a teddy bear in the baby car seat. When you put your kid in the seat, put the teddy in front, so you’ll see it and remember you have a child. After all, you’re a “busy employee.”

3. Ask your child’s child-care provider to call you on your cell phone if your kid doesn’t get there. Oh, so now the day care, minimum-wage worker is more responsible for your kid than you are?

4. Put visual cues in your office and home reminding you to check the car seat. Gee, I thought parental love and bonding did that. Guess not.

I agree with every single comment she made after these atrocious suggestions. Really? Step up and make parenting the priority. If it is you won't forget your kids in the car. I am sure many will find this insensitive and unfeeling and I am sorry you feel that way but when did children stop being a the focus and purpose of a parents life?

The new hen house

The coop is complete! It has six nest boxes that I can access from the outside, a roost near the roof for safe sleeping and a slatted floor for easy cleaning. We plan on putting skirting around the bottom in the winter to help keep them warm. In all it cost around $600 to build. I was hoping we could do it cheaper but even a building this small is expensive to build. We figure it will take about two years of 5 eggs a day to pay for the coop. Wondering if it was really worth it?

Quote of the day

While building the new chicken coop:
Hubby: do you think this nest box is strong enough?
Me: Honey, it's a chicken coop, they aren't going to be playing racket ball in here.

Kidney infections, black labs, and exhaustion.

Oh my!! Sunday afternoon I started feeling weird. Frequent potty breaks and fatigue. Then pain every time I went to the bathroom. Finally by 1 am I was passing clots the size of dimes. Yeah TMI I am sure but this is a tale of woe, I am allowed to over share. So I took myself to the wonderful ER (read the sarcasm.) and left Hubby home to keep an ear out for the girls. I have to say that both times I have gone to this hospital in the dead of night we have been seen quickly. They run some tests. Sure enough I have a kidney infection. The nice Dr. said if I had waited until morning then he would have admitted me and I would have had to quit nursing. Not something I am prepared to do. Luckily that was avoided and I was sent home with some prescriptions. Of course at 2:30 in the morning not every pharmacy is open and I needed a CVS because our health plan doesn't work with Walgreen's. That was an adventure all on it's own. I drove all over thinking I knew where one was and then finally gave in and called directory assistance. They passed me to a CVS that was not open but had a number to find one that was. 4 calls later and I have one tracked down. Bleck. I came home and except for waking to nurse I slept over 24 hours. My amazing guy stayed home from work to take care of our angels. Feeling much better now.

Recovery was punctuated by issues. We have a sweet black lab named Jasper. Yes after the vampire. Jasper likes to eat things and as he is still young at 5 months it is hard to keep him from doing it. He ate the safety net of the trampoline and the plugged in cord of an air purifier. He finally responds to "No Jasper" and will drop what he has. Unless it is my eldest saying the words because he would rather play with her and usually they end up in a game of tackle the dog. Jasper is an indoor dog. It is much to hot in the desert for a black lab to be anything else really. He is house trained finally but he will pee everywhere if he thinks my husband is mad at him. He is amazing with the girls. Our little one is 18 months now and she can be laying on him, one hand pulling his tail while the other holds his ear still for her to bite him and he lays there and takes it. He loves to cuddle and chase a squeaky toy. I am pretty proud of him despite the fact that he made recovery a bit harder.

Now I am just exhausted. The baby isn't napping well so i can't get anything done. I am not sleeping well. I still feel all sorts of achy. Remember people to drink cranberry juice. It is a wonderful preventative for infections like this.

Chickens

So my little springtime chickens are rapidly outgrowing their pen. Ok, I lied, they outgrew it a long time ago. But the point is, I need to build a decent coop. One that is roomy enough for them and safe as well. The safety issue was brought home yesterday morning when I was awakened by screeching chickens. I jumped out of bed in time to see my neighbors dog drop one dead chicken and grab another as he ran by me. I chased him into the back yard where he dropped the second chicken (now dead) and grabbed my duck. I rescued the duck and captured the dog. The neighbor was horrified and after locking the dog up, helped us clean up the mess. He spent the whole day trying to find the boys new chickens. He gave us the number of a friend who had too many birds and would let the boys pick any they wanted and even as many as they wanted. The youngest chose a nice little laying hen. My oldest son however chose the one bird we have absolutly no use for.

This is a black polish crested, or something like that. The poor bird can't even see past his feathers. I woke up this morning and wondered what ungodly creature was dying in my back yard. Then I remembered that I had an adolescent rooster, he thinks he is tough stuff now that he is the only male in a yard full of hens. Lucky guy thinks he just hit the jackpot.

But I started this post to talk about coops, not freak roosters. We need something that we can move someday if we sell this house, we really don't want to build another one. I think we could figure out a way to build just about any design so it could be taken apart and moved in peices. We both liked the looks of this pen and it would be fairly easy because we have a spare dog kennel to use as the outdoor part of the coop.

What do you think? Does anyone have any good ideas for a chicken coop? I would love to hear them. Oh and the adolescent freak rooster needs a name. We were thinking some heavy metal rock band name because he looks like a head banger to me.

I am a horrible blogger!!!

Hey all! I am a horrible blogger. There has been so much going on in recent weeks that I have slacked. I am sorry!! So much that I am not sure where to start, lol. We had drama, we had laughter, we had sadness, we had silly days. What a roller coaster!

I was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) and told to change my diet fairly radically. I have a minimum of sugar (as in a sprnkle if a regular recipe calls for it) so have been sweets free for over a month. Low dairy, low red meat, high raw foods. It has been rough but I have lost 15 lbs at last check and while I still have most of my symptoms it is not nearly as often!!

I have been working to repair one damaged relationship with someone I love a lot and allowing myself to let go of one that can't be saved. That has been amazingly hard. I am such a quiet person and I do not do well with confrontation. Stress make my FMS issues worse. So I had to really take a minute and see that if something is so toxic as to cause me physical pain it needs to not be in my life. It has broken my heart but it also has needed to happen.

My Big Hunter Man (hehehe I love you babe!) went on a 10 day bear hunt to the deeper parts of Canada with his Dad and some of the men from work. He even got a bear but it wasn't much of a bleeder and the wilds so thick that they guides weren't able to track it. He plans to go back next year with his Dad and brothers!

I had some wonderful time with a SIL and her family!!! They have always brought such joy to my life. (See epic weekend post!)

Anyway...... I was catching up on my blog reading when I saw a wonderful piece on our Brother Blog about single income families. We are a single income family. (Since I tend to give my web designing away, haven't sold a book and only make a little with my shop. Oops.) We are very blessed that we are able to do this. We are lucky that Hubby makes enough for us to not need to watch every penny but we weren't always here. When we moved to the PNW we had the crib, our kitchen table, clothes, dishes and a prayer. Hubby and I slept on the floor for a while as we slowly bought furniture. Even then it was important to both of us that I be home with our children. I think the best gift you can give your child is the relationship with yourself. My girls know that Mama is always here for them. I get to see the first steps of the first book read all alone. I can make sure they eat good things and are always safe. That is so important to a child. I had a lot of nanny's as i grew up and it was rough when one left and another came. I fell in love with them. I needed them. BUT when the job was done i had no place in their lives so i always had a feeling of abandonment. My Dad and my grandparents were the only constants through those years and while they were amazing I still was tough. I love knowing my children don't have to worry about any of that!!

Squash A Plenty

We got a very late start on our garden this year, because the PNW decided it wasn't going to be spring until mid-June. Which can be especially annoying when you decide to take the proverbial bull by the horns, and get over your gardening fears by planting a HUGE garden. Huge. Like 35x60 feet.

Okay so maybe that's not huge. But it is considering last year my 'garden' was two small planters. Sometimes things are all about prospective.

The issue is, since we didn't really have time to seed in the ground this year, we just went ahead and bought starts. I took my list, Monster in tow, and drove to a smaller organic nursery nearby. Now, I'm not insane about organic food. I think it tastes better, but I'm not going to go pyscho about it. One thing I have found though, is that organic vegetable plants tend to have better tasting fruits, on top of being tougher and more hearty in general.

I also found out that this particular nursery has much better prices then I had planned after looking at several other nurseries. So I went a little crazy. Okay, a lot crazy. Like a lot, a lot.

I bought 8 different kinds of squash, not counting cucumbers (pickling and slicers). And in multiples.

I think I'm going to be buried in it.

The Epic Weekend Of Awesomness!!

For the first time in a long time my guy had a 3-day weekend. This is magically rare. Even most holiday weekends he has work because if they are tunneling the machine has to be monitored 24/7 and by someone who knows the machine well enough to fix any issues. Anyway, we decided to go to Apple Valley and see my awesome sister-in-law and her hubby and kids. Hubs really hadn't had much time there since their newest addition came along. They are pretty much our favorite couple. She and Hubs are 13 months apart and have always been incredibly close. They married about 2 1/2 years before us. They were our couple friends. The ones we would hang out with or double date with (even with a tag along baby, lol.) One of the hardest things for us over the past like 7 years was not living close enough to see them regularly so we knew once we moved here there would be plenty of back and forth trips. This weekend was just another display of the awesomeness that is being together. We packed the kids and the pup up and left Friday as soon as Hubs was off work. (We pulled Bug from school an hour early.) On the drive we had some drama as Monkey (formeerly known as Squeak, lol.) decided to choke on a pretzel. Really choke. SO with me diving to the back seat and Hubs crossing 4 lanes of traffic to pull off we had our adrenalin rush. Luckily she has a good gag reflex and puked up the pretzel. She also puked up everything else she had eaten in the previous 3 hours but oh well. At least she was okay. Then we had to stop for a potty break for Bug. Then we stopped to get last-minute supplies at the store. Then we stopped to pick up pizza. So our normal 1 hr 40 min drive took more like 3, lol.

So we got there and put pizza in the oven and just visited and spent time together. It was just a wonderful peaceful evening. Then it was time for bed. Monkey refuses to sleep in her travel crib for long so she slept on the air mattress with us. I curled up with her to nurse and get her to sleep and realized I had made 2 mistakes. 1- I forgot one of her blankets. She has to be with a blanket to go to sleep these days and 2- I forgot a fan to mute the noise. So every time someone would laugh or walk by the room she would jerk awake and cry. It took hours to get her to sleep and even then it was rough because Jasper was not pleased about being tied up outside to sleep.

Saturday morning dawns with my SIL needing to go to the dentist. We convince (read BRIBE) the guys to help get the kids ready and we all went to town. After dropping her and my MIL off the guys and I took our baseball team shopping. We went to walmart to rectify the whole blanket/fan thing and then we got down to paying the bribe. We went to Sportsman's Warehouse. My BIL bought a .22 rifle so that he could shoot with Hubs who had brought our new .22 with him to sight in. (They live in the country so we shoot in the back yard.) Hubs bought this crazed rabbit on a stick thing. It is a coyote lure. The stick plugs into a little box and then the rabbit dances around and chirps. The men were in heaven!! We went back to pick up our missing compadres and then went to lunch at my favorite place of all time, Winger's. Seriously they make the most amazing chicken wings/fingers/nuggets coated in this sticky, spicy, yummy sauce. After some sly check grabbing by my BIL (Thanks!!) we loaded up and went back to the house. The boys loaded their guns and spent some time sighting them in while I chilled on a 4-wheeler and watched. All the kids watched too. Then Hubs let me shoot. OMG!! I love this gun. No kick so I don't bruise. (I bruise easily which is a whole other blog.) I shot the bejeepers out of a paper plate tacked to a pallet. So fun. Then I took a nap. It was so decadent and I obviously needed it as my guy woke me up 2 hours later to tell me the lasagna I had made and froze was refusing to cook. Sucker ended up taking like 4 hours so we had steak and hot dogs instead. We all relaxed together and went to bed. Jasper was super noisy, whining, barking and growling all night long. I think some night life came a bit to close for his liking.

Sunday dawned as another beautiful day. We spent the morning just being together with them getting ready for church. Once they left we decided to take a 4-wheeler ride so we got on a big Polaris and left on an adventure. I think we rode for easily 2 hours. It put Monkey to sleep, lol. We went through some rocky formations, through a gully and back up to the ridge. It was beautiful and so much fun that we are going to buy a 4-wheeler of our own so we can play more!! Then we met the family in town. As it was memorial day we wanted to all go and visit the grave of a very special baby. It was the first visit for me and I have to say it brought so many emotions to be there. I loved seeing the tribute to such a precious life and in a way it brought me peace about my own losses. It was a beautiful moment. We then went back up to the house and played games. I always love playing games and this evening was no exception as I rocked!! (I am so modest huh?) We played Phase 10 Twisted, Imaginiif, and Apples to Apples. Such a blast!! We were all shot by 10:30, lol. So much for being hip young adults!

Monday we got up and cleaned up and then went on a 4-wheeler ride. My guy, Monkey, and I were on one machine. SIL, BIL and Baby B were on the other and were pulling a trailer holding the other 6 rugrats! BIL led us all over in places we hadn't seen on our previous ride and it was a blast. I especially loved this little wooden shack that was so old it was tipping a bit. It was huddled next to a huge boulder and had a clearing surrounded by beautiful trees. Just absolutely amazing to see and so much fun. I think we would have played all day had we not needed to get home.

So all in all it was an absolutely amazing weekend. We had so much fun being together as a couple, as a family, and as a brood of awesomeness, lol.

Hello, Springtime! Love, Maggie

Spring seems to have finally clicked here in the NW, and this weekend I got an itch to start working outside and logging some really good yard work time. Since my gardening resources at home are limited, and last years 'crop' was a bit of a bust I decided to go with another route this year. I am planning to do a larger garden with some friends on their small family farm (which luckily is nearby) so I didn't need to really have veggies outside my door. Herbs, however, I use constantly. So having a small herb garden, and even a few tomatoes, made sense.

I (with quite a bit of help) threw together some wood boxes, and planted basil, mint, thyme, rosemary and parsley. I still have a bit of room in my planter boxes, and I'm hoping to find some good cilantro plants soon.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

Spring time

We finally seem to be getting some spring weather and so I thought some cute pics of baby animals are in order. I have decided to raise a few chickens for eggs this year. We got two Buff Orphingtons, two Rhode Island Reds, and two Barred Rocks.