Just another Manic Monday!

Ok, so I went to bed with a bit of a cold last night. My plan for today was to take it easy. I had two small errands that I had to do because Monday is the only day they happen. Fine. I can handle that. Do the errands. Come home and put my feet up.  Yeah...... Right......

It all started with the words, "Mom, I think one of the chickens broke a leg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yes, it had that many exclamations with it. We got some meat chickens about two months ago. They had a date with an executioner next week. One of them couldn't wait that long. I bet you didn't know this but it's actually dangerous for a meat bird's health to let them get TOO big. They get to where they can't carry themselves around anymore. Their hearts begin to be stressed and then they can just die anyway. So it's really doing them a favor to butcher them! Did you know that?

Apparently this poor chicken got too big for his britches. I couldn't stand the thought of coming this far with him only to have him die of fatness. He's supposed to go in my freezer, doggoneit!  So instead of my lay low day I had planned, we butchered a chicken. On Halloween! And we don't even celebrate Halloween!  The execution date for the others got moved up a week so hopefully we won't have any more surprises.

Now I'm going to go make a cup of tea. That's life on the farm!

TTFN!

Note to self

Don't leave a child's tooth in a cup inside the cupboard because you're too lazy to go find the tooth fairy pillow at 10:30pm. It's liable to be mistaken for an old crusty piece of yogurt or something and washed down the sink. Bad Mom!!

TTFN!

WWYD?

There comes a time in a mom's life when she has to let her kid do something not too bright and let the cards fall where they may. My oldest son, Joshua, and his dad love their spicy food. I often jokingly say I'm going to start making the exact same thing for meals everyday because they always put Tobasco sauce on everything anyway. All their food tastes the same!

Joshua came across a pepper called the Ghost Pepper. He's watched some rib cracking videos on You Tube about fools who ate this pepper. He wanted to try it. I hesitated in letting him. The people in the videos were in PAIN! Should a mom allow her flesh and blood child to do something like that? On purpose?

Well, I did and I laughed just as hysterically at him as I did at the videos. You want to know how smart he is? He's going to do it again with some friends tomorrow. Where did he get these brains from anyhow?

TTFN

Poison Ivy

Yikes! Seems we've moved to poison ivy heaven. I guess that's what you get when you buy a place that's been neglected for so long. No wonder the poison ivy loves it here. I thought maybe we could peacefully coexist, but it seems the plants have other ideas. Their plan is to assimilate us all!  Resistance is futile!

I discovered yesterday that Rachel has poison ivy. Again.  A friend had told me about an expensive scrub I could buy at Wal-Mart that was supposed to be great for poison ivy. I stopped while running errands and picked some Zanfel up.  When I get home, the first thing Anna says is, "What's all over Aaron's face?"  How could I have not noticed that!!  He was covered in it. All over his face, his arms, and his legs. I wondered why he'd been scratching so much. Bad Mom!!  So I scrubbed him down in the tub and the itching felt much better.  I had to do another scrub right before bed to help with the itching again. I can't believe it! He woke up this morning with no rash whatsoever!  WOW!

Now I'm going to share a little secret with you. While doing some research online about the Zanfel, I found out it's the same thing as Mean Green Hand Scrub. You know, the stuff mechanics use to get the grease off their hands?  That is SO much cheaper.  It appears I'm going to buy it by the bucket full. If you'd like a good stock tip, maybe you should buy some Mean Green stock.

Rachel still has a little rash showing, but it's not blistering up real badly like it did the last time. You can still see the spots on her hands from where she had it last time. I'm so glad to have found this stuff. Now I'll have to worry about other things when they go play in the woods.

TTFN

How to travel long distances with many small children

If you're a bigger than average family, the thought of travelling long distances can seem overwhelming.  We just returned from a week long trip visiting family 1000 miles away.  I thought I would share some of our travelling philosophies in hopes they'll help someone else.

1. Try not to plan too far in advance. Spur of the moment, last minute trips leave less time for stressing about things.  48 hours notice should be sufficient.

2. Make sure you spend the day before leaving in town all day doing errands, getting the oil changed and tires rotated, etc.  Then you won't have to worry about how messy your house is right before you leave.

3. If you're lucky, your husband will call on your way back home from being in town all day and say he'd like to leave that night, moving your deadline up by 12 hours.  Again, this leaves less time for stressing about things.

4. Make sure to take plenty of towels that way when the baby gets car sick, you'll be able to use the gas station restroom to wet down the towels and clean up the car seat.  Make sure to leave one dry so the baby will have a dry seat to sit on. Always be prepared!

5. Be sure you have the baby's favorite Veggie Tales CD. It's all he's going to want to listen to.

6. Remember your older kids have an important meeting the evening you're going to get back. That way you can allow just enough time to push all the stuff and the rest of the people out of the car when you get back. You don't want to leave all that stuff in the car!

7. Oh, one more thing. Plan it so there's just enough dog food to last until the day of your return.  You really do want to HAVE to go into town because you're out of dog food.

Now I realize these tips probably won't help many people, but there may be someone out there who gets some good perspective from them!  Let me know what tips you have!

TTFN

I love the chiropractor!

I've got such a great chiropractor! He should be glad I love him so much because I can't stand the wait in his office. I've tried several different chiropractors and this one gives the most gentle adjustment, almost like a massage. Sometimes I come away wondering if he really did anything. Then it hits me about an hour later. BAM!  He definitely did something!  He always takes his time with me, having conversation, the lights are low to help with relaxation.  Not only does he give me an adjustment, he gives me health ADVICE. He says his goal is to help his patients see less of him. I've started lifting weights because of him and let me just say, I can tell a difference. It no longer strains my upper back and shoulders to hold the toddler for a while. I'm very glad to have  found him. Now if  I could only remember his name when I need to look up the phone number.

TTFN