as i sit here finishing up my lunch (a ham, bacon, cheddar cheese and cream cheese wrap...affectionately known as heart attack on a flour tortilla), i was thinking about all the things i have done lately, and all the things that are coming up.

this weekend was spent traveling to a town about 45 minutes away. every. single. day. on friday, haley had a tournament game there at 7. her coach picked her up and drove her there because there was no way i would be there early enough for her to warm up. they won that game. the coach's daughter spent the night with us, and then haley spent the afternoon with them while i went to alex's game, then they met me there. then alex and haley both had regular season games in the same town. so saturday was spent there. alex's game was a mess. the boys weren't playing their best, but the officiating was horrendous. we had boys getting smacked and elbowed in the face, in front of refs and parents, and no calls made. even the parents from the other team were upset at it. no one wants to win that way because when you don't call a fair game, it makes your team look weak. so they lost. haley's team won by more than 10 points. they played a really tough team on sunday (second tournament game). this game, we knew, was going to be tough. they are a very talented bunch of girls. one girl in particular was a monster. she's fast and aggressive...but fouled out because she let her emotions get the best of her and didn't keep herself in check. we won that game by more than i thought. hubby's cousin's little girl was on the other team, so we sat with them during the game. talk about awkward! but we cheered for both kids, and had a good time talking about how the families are. this was the first game we were held to 3 pts in the first half...and they only had 2. i think it ended up being 16 to 4 (most of our points were scored after that girl fouled out or because of her fouls). haley had 4 points in that game, and 12 on saturday. she is at least 2 or 3 inches taller than most of the other kids. her games had different refs than alex's. i don't know why they would put adults out to ref 4th grade girls and kids to ref 6th grade boys, but oh well.

we celebrated my girls birthdays and my sister's 29th birthday. haley's birthday is this thursday. it's hard to believe she's going to be 10. it's even harder to believe that 10 is also her shoe size! YIKES! i sure hope that means she's going to be tall, and not some clown footed freak. oh, i kid! so i will have a post on her coming soon.


my boys spent all weekend at my dad's house. it was much easier than dragging them to games all weekend. and we were going there anyway on sunday. haley spent the night there on sat and sun nights. grace went to a birthday slumber party on saturday night, and then had 2 of my nieces spend the night sunday night.

i got rid of 4 roosters on monday. thank you craigslist! a guy sent his son to pick them up and we are now down to 11 chickens...and 2 too many roosters. though i can't convince josh or haley of it. i asked josh if he would take money for his rooster, and his eyes started welling up...and i was all "bud, i'm just asking, i'm not going to make you!" oh and we now have a cute little black and white girl kitty.


our 8th graders from school are in washington d.c. this week for the annual pro-life trip. what a bad week for that. it has got to be crazy up there right now...not to mention not exactly pro-life friendly. and 4 years from now, it will be my haley going to d.c. hubby and i already had a talk. neither of us has been there yet, so we are taking turns. i can't wait for alex's teacher to get back (she went with her daughter) so we can all hear about the trip. i guess that would be the deciding factor of whether or not i would want to go with haley...or send hubby instead.

well, i am off to take care of my waking babies!

well i finally did it.




i made laundry detergent all by myself.



thanks to lacy, and her fantastic recipe for liquid laundry detergent, i finally felt capable. well that and i finally found the washing soda i have been searching stores for during the last month or so. turns out shop n save carries it. unbelievable! i had been searching all these other stores (farm supply stores and walmart) and the grocery store has it.


anyway, it is so so so very easy. lacy's instructions are so easy to follow. if you think it's something you want to try, check out her post (link is at the bottom of this post) and seriously give it a try. i couldn't find the bar soap she recommended, so i used another brand that said it was all natural. i couldn't find it without scent so i picked the scent i liked best and it has worked beautifully.



http://razorfamilyfarms.com/crafts/washed-up-not-even-close/

oh, yeah, we have another cat. i snuck out last night and brought smoke a new friend. her name is sammy and she is a beautiful black and white cat.

so far so good! the hubby still is likin' the new job. i mean, if the man can get out of bed and be at work by 6:30 in the morning (this includes a 45 minute commute), well he must REALLY like the new job. that or he's living off a "new job" high. probably the latter. this week he's working 6 days...at 10 hours a day he's making some good money.

sunday we went to visit my mom and grandparents...my two aunts...and my uncle and his little girl...and my sister and her husband and their 3 girls. we had a pretty good time. i love my family. they are a little off their rockers, but i love them anyway. my mom asked me if we were really thinking about getting a bulldog.
me: no. no dogs.
her: well i thought i heard you guys were looking and i thought i might get one for santa to give to the kids.
me: santa would be taking it back with him. i don't want another dog. it hasn't even been a year since we got rid of the last dog. no way.
her: well haley really misses having a dog.
me: she can have all the dogs she wants when she has her own house. i am tired of being the only one that takes care of it. i don't have time and i have too many little ones in my house. no way.
her: yeah i guess you guys are pretty busy.

i am glad we had this discussion when i wasn't PMSing. i might have been a little more ummm pissy(?). i don't want any more dogs. i am tired of neighbors complaining about dogs. i am tired of cleaning up after dogs. i am tired of petting dogs. i am tired of dogs. i have too many kids to deal with...that want and need my attention, i don't need a dog wanting and needing attention too.

that being said, tiger, our cat disappeared last week. i thought he went up to the in-laws, but they hadn't seen him either. no one has seen him. i am hoping someone found him, thought he was a sweet little stray and kept him. i am totally fine with that. he's a sweetheart. he wants lots of love and attention. i think he was getting tired of all the little guys' attention (perhaps being worn as a hat didn't suit him?) and he left for greener pastures. i hope that's the case. i think some of the local toms were giving him some trouble too. he was coming of age, and i guess they didn't want the competition. well, we still have smokey. he's got his little house on our front porch and he's loving life. he is a gorgeous gray with green eyes. he's smaller boned. i'm thinking about getting him fixed...but it seems that as soon as i put money into a cat they die...so i'm not so sure i want to do that. so far he's doing good. but i think he's a little lonely. maybe he needs another friend.

hubby would kill me if i bring home another cat.

still have 16 chickens. they have grown more, and i haven't noticed as much fighting. that may be because the crests are starting to cover their eyes more. i hope that the other roosters don't start picking on them. i need them looking good for the fair.

i found out i have 4 kids in my swine group. i am kind of nervous about having a meeting. i don't really know anything about pigs. add the fact that one of the kids has a dad that was a pig farmer...well, yeah, i'm a tad nervous.

boy i'm glad i'm me!

well, maybe.

today i only have 2 extra. well, until school lets out. yay me...


i was early starting out to the car, you know to take one of my b.s. (babysitting) kids to the bus stop.

unfortunately, the cat had been locked up in my van all night.

i don't keep a litter box in my van.

that's ok, he just used zack's car-seat.

yay me, again...

i didn't find the mess until i had almost put one of the babies in it...of course, i also realized, just then, she had made a mess of her own. yeah, it was all over her onesie, pants, and even her jacket.

yay me, three times over!

so far, i have spent my day cleaning poopy car seats, poopy kids, and well, it's not over yet.

alex comes home today. they are running late because their plane was waiting on a part. it's ok, the part was in chicago, they are in orlando. it should be in sometime today.


i can't complain too much, though. i made it in time to get kid to the bus stop. i got the car seat sprayed out in time, you know before the rain. and it is hopefully going to be dry enough for the kid pickup at 3. i made it in time to pick up josh from school. i made the kids their favorite sandwiches (cheese and mayo). and i've only had 3 poopy diapers to change.

it could always be worse. the cat was in the van all night. i only found that one mess...of course i didn't actually look any farther...oh, i hope there isn't any more! the kids will find it for me i'm sure.

wtf????

i'm not usually one for profanity...ok, let me rephrase that...i don't use a lot of profanity. the occasional slip here and there. but today? well, the wtf, that almost slipped right out.

i took the kids to the flea market today. i like to go up and see if they have any good deals on produce, check out the animals, see if anyone i know is there. you know, fun stuff. i brought 3 of my 5 kiddos with me. we walked around and were on our way out when i spotted a sign that said "free kittens". oh buddy, i had to check it out. inside this kennel were 4 kittens. one was black, one was solid gray, one solid white and one that was white with some spots. super cute. i couldn't resist the gray one. i picked him up, held him, checked under his tail (looked like a boy to me) and then the crowd came. everyone had a kitten. this crazy lady with the little white one decides she wants to find out if hers is a boy or a girl and proceeds to rub her finger over the cat's butt. i kid you not. this woman was feeling up this poor kitty. then she does it to my little gray one (you know, for comparison) and i have never felt so sorry for any animal in my life. she ended up not even taking one, so i took the gray one...and the white one. what can i say, i felt so sorry for them both. i hope i was able to hide what i was feeling at that moment.



seriously, who rubs a cat's butt?

pigs and sheep and kittens oh my

ok, first off, let me just say, we have a new kitten. he's a little gray tabby kitten. i'm not sure what his name is yet. i've heard "tiger", and "shady", and "take it back where you got it". (guess which one was the hubby's suggestion) so far so good. he hasn't been eaten by any dogs, hit by any cars, or eaten anything poisonous. of course we haven't had him a full week yet, so anything can happen.

last night i took alex to the lincoln county fair. their hog show was last night, so i figured "what better way to see what we need to be doing". well, most of those pigs were bigger than ours. 90% were white (the pigs, not the people...although i guess those stats would work for both). there was a huge age range in kids showing. there were kids as young as 8 or 9 or as old as 18. they all were terrific. we weren't able to stay for the whole show (which lasted several hours), but i think alex has a better understanding of what is expected of him. he's getting nervous now. the fair is only a couple of weeks away.

after we got back from the fair, we took the whole family to see haley's sheep. she has 3, but she has to pick 2 for the show and 1 to sell at the auction. she has to break them before the fair. basically, she has to get her sheep, (which is difficult) and hold them until they surrender, then let it go and catch it right away. she has to do this at least twice with each one. i helped her, so did alex and the hubby. i didn't realize how oily their wool is. (that's where lanolin comes from...breastfeeding moms should have some on hand) and boy howdy, they stink! it's hard to describe, but think wet dog+urine+feces+farm=one big stinky mess! the kids didn't even argue about taking showers...that's how smelly it was. i will be doing this again in a few minutes...and every day until fair. fun.

well, i have dinner to get on the table, kids to get out the door (to do some sheep work), and well, there's always cleaning to get done.

then there's the fact my littlest one is turning 3 this saturday...don't get me started, i can't believe my baby is so big!

rachel, let me know when it is you are coming into town. i'd love to get together!