Why I Allow My Children to be Slackers!

I'm not good at consistency. As my little buddy Johnathan would of said, "not at all".

I don't vacuum but maybe once a month. The floors get mopped maybe 3 times a year. I clean my bathroom clean when it's gross. I mean REALLY gross.

I don't cook dinner every night. That doesn't mean we get take out on the nights I don't cook, it means the people in this house have to fend for themselves. If they are lucky there is leftovers, bread, or hot dogs in the house on those days.

I get to deal with the consequences of said "laziness".

I don't vacuum, because my children do. But they don't do a great job of it. So, that means I don't have the cleanest of floors but maybe once a month when I decide to vacuum for them.

We "spot" mop most of the time, the floor gets visibly dirty in on the hard floors I hand a spray bottle and a rag to a shorter person (usually the 8 yo) and tell them to clean it. I can live with that.

The bathroom? Well, the kids clean that, too. They are still learning what MY definition of clean is, so it builds up yuck around the toilet on the floor, under the seat, and around the sink faucet... then I clean it WITH them when I can't stand it no more or if we are having company over.

The kids are also responsible for the dishes, most of the dog care, bird, chickens, folding laundry, and whatever else I tell them to do.

I get lazy sometimes. I have days I don't want to be a responsible adult and "keep up" with the housework that I am responsible for. So I don't. I pick my priorities and I leave the rest for another day. It will get done. Just like when my daughter or son hasn't done their dishes for 3 days straight and we have no cups.

We live with the consequences and we move on. They get done and it's usually STILL a fight, but they are learning WHY we do the dishes more than once every three days. It takes less time and is more sanitary to do them daily. But if I let them "fail" they see and live the consequences. Then maybe, just maybe, they will remember that when they have their own home and do the dishes everyday...until they have their own minions in the form my of grandchildren. Then I hope my children will in turn give their children the grace to be lazy sometimes.

And frankly I think my way is working just fine if the 12  year old is singing while he does his work.

Public Service Anouncement

My heart is heavy tonight for a family in my town that I don't even know. A family whose 14 year old son is fighting for his life after being shot by a police officer. That 14 year old had pulled a FAKE gun out in the police officers presence.

Please pray for the King family and for the officer involved and his family.


I was just talking to my children about this very issue at the end of October.

My husband found a fake gun while working on at a Fear the Farm, a local zombie hunting place open for Halloween. Someone had left it behind and it had been altered to look more real. It had the orange tip removed. My husband was startled by it being there, until he picked it up and it was plastic.

Please teach your children to NEVER pull a Gun , real or fake, on a police officer.

Teach them to raise their hands and announce that they have a FAKE or real gun on their person and where it is located at. Let the officer retrieve the gun or wait till the officer tells them to remove it from themselves.

Fake guns should not be painted or altered to look more like real guns. They have that orange tip for a reason. To save lives. The lives of the person holding the fake gun. Usually a child. If it doesn't have a orange tip, consider painting the tip orange.

I am not against kids playing with guns. My boys play with toy guns. They have air soft guns. They turn sticks into guns. But I suppose if your child is not capable of understanding how to behave around a police officer with a gun, real or fake, then you might want to consider not letting them play with guns. Or maybe you don't let your children play with guns and think that is enough. No, please  still educate them. They may end up with friends playing with their guns.

EDUCATE your children starting NOW how to behave if a police officer is around or questioning them in public.

Along for the Ride

I woke up this morning at 9 am. This is normal for me, I am not one of those 5 am farmer types. My gals get milked around 9:30 am and 9:30pm.

Life has been so busy around here that I when I seen the time my first thought was, "oh no was I supposed to be somewhere this morning?!" The second thought was "what day is it even?" 

After figuring out that it was a normal Wednesday with no where special to be, I leisurely crawled out of bed and began my day.

Life has been going by so fast lately I feel as if I am just along for the ride. Not really even slowing down long enough to ENJOY the ride.

Tomorrow I get to stay home all day... oh wait it's Halloween, never mind.

Phillipians 4:14

I started out feeling discouraged this morning.

Monday we got about 4-6 inches of rain in less than a hour, maybe even less than a half hour. I wasn't home, but I was gone for a about an hour. We came home to a trench washed out in our driveway and our roof developed a leak!!!

When we entered our home from our walk out basement there was a puddle of water on the floor, in the basement? Where is this from? Why?

Upon first inspecting the problem we thought our old dog had peed on the floor above and it ran down into the basement. So we moved on with life. A few hours later I noticed the ceiling was sagging in the kitchen over the fridge. I pushed on it and sure enough, it was soft and wet. Oh boy!

I put a quick call into my insurance agent to start the claims process. They told me to get an estimate for the damages. So I called a couple roofers. Got the news that I need a completely new roof. We have the insurance adjuster coming out on Friday and they will decide what, if anything, will be covered by them.

I'm praying and trusting God through this, but it isn't easy for this control freak to do that~!

I was feeling so discouraged, we are already robbing Peter to pay Paul to get our 1/2 cow this year, but we can't afford to not get the cow this way. If we had to go to the store to buy meat it would cost us sooo much more in the long run. So, this money really does have to come to us from God. We can cash out our IRA's there is almost enough in them to cover the cost of the roof. If that is what God directs us to do.

When I told my friend just how much our deductible is for our insurance she replied, "oh yeah never mind. That's too much. God can't possibly do that!" I laughed and was reminded by her sarcasm just how big our God is!

I already see God working in this. Preparing us for it, if you will. I have been canning like crazy this year, even though we didn't even put in a garden this spring. And my 100+ tomato seedlings turned into less than 10 plants! Our God is bigger than that!  Our 9 apple trees are overloaded with apples. So, I've done apple sauce. A friend invited me to pick beans with her. I put up 21 pints of beans from that FREE adventure! That same friend gave me about a bushel and a half of tomatoes. 16 quarts worth plus some sauce I'm boiling down overnight. Another friend gave me a 1/2 bushel of tomatoes, I turned that into 8 quarts and a meal of goulash. I have pears coming from another friend at the end of the week or so. They graciously give me their extra pears year after year. I am so blessed!

Here is where I need YOUR help. Help me show my problems just how big our God is!

I'm having a soap sale to help fund our roof project. Offer expires 9/30/2013. Buy 2 get one of equal or lesser value free! Make sure to email me your free bar choice, do not add it to your cart.  I know God can provide enough buyers to completely sell me out, if that is His will, with out even saying a word about it. He's that BIG. I know He could also provide the money from some other avenue. But I also know that God calls us to help one another to be proactive and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

My favorite verses is found immediately after a more well known verse in the Bible. The well known verse is "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

I feel many of us forget the verse that follows it. I know I do that is why I have made it my favorite and memorized it.

"Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction." Philippians 4:14

This verse reminds me that we are to help each other in times of need. It helps remind me to take a meal to family who just had a baby or illness. It helps remind me to help clean a friends house, with out being asked, in times of stress. It helps remind me to call a friend when they are having a difficult day to cheer them up. It reminds me to slow down and spend time with the ones I love and the ones that love me.  It reminds me to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Can you help me spread the word about this sale? Pin my page, share on Facebook, tweet about me, or email your friends? Maybe even buy a couple bars?

Help me show my problem just how big our God is! Thank you in advance.

Adventures in Wonderland...

Here is our story of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Our real life "trip the rabbit hole".

October 2011 was an eventful month for us, health wise. I had the unpleasant experience of having a bulging disc in my lower back accompanied with an illness that put me in bed for weeks.

In addition to MY health troubles, my daughter Elaine was 6 at the time and she was also sick with the same illness. She got the worst of it, in my opinion. She had a fever of 103 every night for 10 days, then I finally caved and gave her Tylenol. Then her LOW body temperatures every night started. Despite me sleeping with her and having a heating pad on her all night her temperature did not go over 90-91* till morning came and her fever of 103 returned. I was never so thankful for a child to have a fever than those 2 or 3 mornings. Her low temp was considered mild hypothermia!  Hers turned into pneumonia and SHE choose to have 2 antibiotic shots vs. taking oral antibiotics. I like to let my children help direct their health care and learn to trust what their bodies are telling them.

But this story is mostly about my middle son, Collin. He also was sick with this same illness. We were tired all the time, we ran fevers at night. All three of us. Collin however started screaming bloody murder at night. He'd go to lay down and just the act of moving his covers sounded like a freight train was coming through his head. He would say things like, "mom your nose is HUGE!" or "why are you so far away?" When I was inches from his face. His senses were all out of whack, as if he was in Wonderland. The floor was uneven, to him. He lost all sense of time.

I took him to the doctor with no answers, no tests ordered. I think she thought we were making it up. I searched the Internet for some answer to what my son was experiencing. That is where I found Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. It listed TWO known causes. 1. a brain tumor or growth and 2. The Epstein Bar virus (EBV), commonly known as mono.

We returned to the doctor armed with my knowledge of the syndrome and demanded he be tested for EBV. He tested positive, of course. It fell into line with all the symptoms we were all having. Tired, fever, etc.. But the doctor didn't think it could be that, as the kids spleens were not enlarged.

EBV has no treatment, you wait it out. There is treatment for complication such as pneumonia like Elaine was unlucky to get, but not for EBV itself.

Elaine also had a few episodes of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, but not as severe as Collins. He continued to have episodes almost every night for about 2 weeks, then it tapered off to 3-8 times a month for the next year ish. He's also developed "flapping" like an autistic child would do when he is upset or excited. So, we believe that to be also caused by his EBV.

So, that concludes our story about our trip "down the rabbit hole". It was the most worrisome and scary moments of motherhood for me, to date. Including Corey (my oldest) being diagnosed with a benign tumor in the neck of his right femur. I was irrational myself with illness. I would call my sister telling her I was dying, that we must of all caught something off our calf. Add to it my child having symptoms doctors could not explain, I was frantic!

Whining...

Well last year we had  drought around here. I whined.

I whined about rising feed costs. I whined about the dry heat. I whined about the drought.

This year we have had plenty of rain. Making plenty to whine about.

I whine about the cost of hay. Can't make hay in the rain, it needs to be dry! I whine about the mosquitoes. I whine about the muddy goat stalls.

And now, NOW, I whine about HOOF ROT! ugh. My girls got a mild case of hoof rot started the last time hoofs were trimmed. Got it all cut off and cleaned up. Thought that was it. NOPE. It's back, with vengeance.

What hoof rot does to a goats hoof is to separate the outer hard part from the inner soft part. It's a bacterial infection that breeds and takes root easily in, you guessed it, WET conditions.

So the whining continues.

Christmas In July Sale

We are having a sale on our soaps.

Buy 3 get one FREE!

Offer ends July 31st 2013.