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.

my oldest asked me the other day if he had to participate in a math competition. i guess it's something all the local catholic grade schools do. grades 6 through 8 get to answer questions and compete (if you are in 8th grade) for scholarships to the catholic high school. sure you can i said. let me know when it is and i'll be there.





i guess i missed the intention of his question. he doesn't want to do it. all he would tell us is he "just doesn't want to do it". so we kept pressing and finally he said he just doesn't like being the center of the attention.



i don't believe that for a second. if he issues with that, we would have seen that in other things like shooting free throws after a penalty in basketball, or batting in baseball...i think he is afraid of not being "smart", or maybe being too smart. i think he's scared of being considered dumb, so he just sits back and does the little that he has to to get by.



then haley chimed in with how she and alex were both in the spelling bee...and neither of them wants to do that well. well enough, but not so well that they have to compete on a larger level. i don't get it. they are so competitive against each other...and in sports...but when it comes to academics, they want to sit back and watch.



this is the exact OPPOSITE of what i've been trying to instill in them. i love that they enjoy playing sports and all, but learning is WAY WAY WAY more important. i have extremely intelligent children and i want them to be smart. i want them to know they are smart and be confident in it. what am i doing wrong?



hubby told alex if he wants to play baseball in the summer, he better compete at the math competition. not sure i agree with that. i want him to actually want to do well. not be forced into it. i tried to tell him if he wanted any chance of going to the local catholic high school that he has to do well with these things and try for scholarships. we don't have an extra 7 or 8 grand just lying around to spend on one year of school for him. i don't want to add lots of pressure either.



i understand that it's hard to get up in front of people like that and compete. been there done that. i didn't like it either. i still have a hard time in front of people. my face gets bright red and hot. i lose my train of thought. my hands shake. and on rare occasions i break into a rash. it's not a pretty picture. i don't want them to be like that. i want them to be comfortable in front of groups. that's why i am totally for the kids reading in front of church. which is basically the whole school. they get to see everyone makes mistakes during their readings...everyone messes up once and a while.



i just wish i knew what the right thing to do is.

here i sit at 10 o'clock on thursday night baking brownies and totally mis-spelling every other word. no joke! i am soooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo exhausted! i'm not exactly sure why i am so tired. sure it could have something to do with the fact that i am getting myself (and kids) used to the "back to school" schedule. or it could have something to do with the fact my youngest ran a fever for 4 days (one night it got to 104.6 folks!) and i was up a lot making sure he was ok and comfortable or i was waking up sweating because my little oven boy had crawled into bed with me. that could be why, but i think it has to do with the fact that i had to read this book. no i am not kidding. i seriously think i have a real problem. perhaps i should join a "compulsive book-readers anonymous" group. if a book is, say, 350 pages or less, i must read it to the end. how is that a problem? well, when i say "read to the end" i mean i don't do anything else. kids are hungry? fix yourself something to read, can't you see mommy's got a book? i don't eat, drink, talk, go to the bathroom, whatever, until the book is done. and if i get interrupted? whoa, watch out! i am a raging bitch. after my oldest was born, i stopped reading for several years. it was tough. but i couldn't get into a book and forget about everything but the book when i have a little bitty one around.

ok, that was last night. i am not changing it. that's me, totally exhausted and jonesing for the next book in the series i just started. i just read Dead until Dark by charlaine harris. um, totally awesome! i have been thinking about this book and have even re-read it. it's the story that the HBO show Trueblood is based on. i so wish i had hbo again. well, that and the new season of Big Love is starting soon. i hope it comes out on dvd, then i can rent it at blockbuster. i have heard a lot of good things about it.

i know you probably are thinking i'm a total vampire freak. no, i'm not. i love a good scary book/movie/show. of course i happen to like monster/supernatural stuff more because i can tell myself it's not real. i get too freaked out by psychological thrillers. if it's about some freak serial killer, um i don't care for it as much. well, i won't say i don't like them...because i do. i just get more scared now that i have kids and things like that could really happen. i love a good stephen king book...or dean koontz....or anne rice....and now charlaine harris.

i am waiting for the library to get the next book in. can you believe some one has the audacity to check out the book that i want to read? i may have to wait until sometime towards the end of january before i can read the next one! ahhh.

double edged sword

that's what this week at the fair has seemed like. my heart has been bursting with pride because my kids have worked so hard, and have done so well.

this week has been a lot of early mornings and late nights. yesterday, the second time we got to the fair, the kids had to get their animals ready for the auction. we were anxiously awaiting the 5 o'clock meeting to find out how alex's pig did overall. haley was feeding the lambs and giving them more water, and alex was cleaning out the pig's pen and then going to start scrubbing her down and then feed her really quick. i saw some people looking at a bulletin board. i went up to look and it had all the kids with pigs listed, with all kinds of next to it. alex's name was at the top of the list. next to his name was GR. ok, being new to all of this, i had to ask someone to explain it to me...

ALEX WON GRAND CHAMPION OVERALL!!!!!!!!!!!

we were all really excited, i started making phone calls, and so my in-laws and my mom hurried up and drove to the fair just to see alex get his trophy and ribbon. poor hubby was stuck at work. i took lots of pictures though. apparently this was not enough to get the hubby to reconsider doing pigs again next year. he's still saying "no way, we are going out on top".

haley was so excited for alex. it was so cool to see. first thing she said was "that's so cool, maybe she won't get eaten then".

perhaps now you see why this fair is a double edged sword? that's right, the auction. while it's really cool that the kids get to make money off of their hard work, they also put a lot of time, money, and effort into these animals. some moms *ahem* have developed affections for these animals. so the thought of my, i mean alex's, pig going to a processing center, weighs pretty heavy on my heart. doesn't seem to bother him much. and really, it shouldn't. if all farmers and ranchers made their animals into loved pets...well, we'd all be vegetarians.

anyway, on to the auction. because alex's pig was the grand champion, his was the first pig to be auctioned. after the last of the steers, alex brought her out. they did great out there. she ended up selling for $4.25 a pound. most of the other pigs went for $2 to $3 a pound. he made a little more than $900. i'm hoping that if someone is paying that much for a little pig (she was one of the smallest up there), they are planning on something other than eating her. of course the fact it is josephville meat processing co that bought her, well i'm not sure what to think. i hope she is going to be a brood sow for them. she's such a great pig.

haley's lamb was the 12th lamb out. she brought her out, smiled, and kept her lamb in check. she did great. lambs they sell by the head, not by the pound like hogs and steers. she ended up making $280 off of her little lamb. the grand champion went for around $500, and i think the most paid was $600, but she was about average for what the rest went for. some were as low as $150...but that's still a good profit. haley's lamb was bought by wright city meat market. haley was more upset about the lamb possibly getting eaten. she was nearly in tears. i honestly forgot that people eat sheep/lambs. you don't usually see it in the meat section of the grocery store. at least not the stores i go to.

all in all, this has been a very positive experience. the kids are excited about next year. they are already deciding what animals they want to try to raise for the next fair. i think we may be sticking with poultry. i told them if they want, they can do lambs and poultry, but only one animal per child can get sold at the fair. we will see. chickens get sold for quite a bit of money, and usually they end up going home with the kid. not always, but it happens pretty often.

what's the haps

while we were gone on our vacation, 8 or 9 inches of rain fell...in one night. it caused major flood damage pretty close to our home, and we actually had a little bit of water come in our basement. several houses were moved off of their foundations by flood water, one only just around the corner from us (maybe quarter of a mile "as the crow flys") and a couple of miles down hwy P, the highway completely washed out. an 8 foot sized section just washed out. this is right by my hubby's uncle's house. his house is fine, but several houses a little lower than his washed away. like 50 feet away. one of the homes belongs (ed) to a friend of my mother in law. she was in her home with her two daughters (one of which is disabled). they escaped it when it came to rest, and had to drag the disabled daughter to safety. she lost her husband just a year ago, and has now lost her home and her car. please keep her in your prayers! i don't know if they had flood insurance. if they didn't, they are totally screwed.
i don't think we had much water in our basement. the rug down there is shot. it was pretty wet when we got home. we had 2 boxes that got a little wet, but for the most part, we got away pretty clean.
while we were in florida, my oldest 2 stayed with my dad, stepmom, and little brother the whole time. they usually go with them for a couple of days or a week in the summer...or the school year. they really love going on vacation with them, and they are able to go places that...well, we can't afford to take them. they've been to mexico a several times, aruba, jamaica a couple of times, and to florida several times. most of the time, the rest of us stay home. grace has been able to go the last couple of years. she doesn't go with alex and haley though, she goes with my neices...they are about the same age (they'll be 8 and 7 the end of june).
alex caught a 10 pound flounder, a couple of 4 pound mackeral, and a stingray. he was the only one to catch anything while we were down there. my dad has been there since march, and has been fishing the same dock (since march) and hasn't caught anything. alex caught 3 of the 4 fish from this dock. the kid loves fishing. he reminds me of myself. i loved fishing, and getting into the creeks and rivers, and lakes...you know, catching minnows, or turtles, or tadpoles...whatever i could.
my kids are out of school! yeah, yippee...for now. until the start to wear on my nerves...then i will be counting the minutes until they go back. they get awards the last day of school. this would probably mean more if it wasn't an "every kid gets x-number of awards" ceremony. if it was based on actual merit, well, i would be totally stoked about the both of them getting 4 awards. with that said, haley got an award (voted on by her classmates) for being the "most understanding" in her class. very cool. she also got an award for being in the excelerated math group. also very cool. alex got a reading award (he better get that award, the kid finished his reading goal 3 weeks into the quarter), an a couple of other english type awards. really cool, considering boys are usually better at math. i guess my kids switched. not that they aren't good at the other, haley especially.
this monday is the last day for the rest of the kids. we really need to get the pool cleaned out. otherwise these kids are going to drive me batty!

lessons learned the hard way

here are three lessons i learned the hard way.


1. when you pick up a pig, be sure to watch out for spraying behinds.
that's right, i got pooped on. not really bad, the basement floor got it worse. i just had a little bit on my pants and my shoe.

2. don't walk barefoot in a basement if a pig lives down there.
this could be a teenager or a literal pig...especially important when lesson number one has just happened. poor zack, he's the one that learned this one...he was not a happy camper when he realized what he stepped in!

3. pigs don't really like to be picked up.
you know, i should have learned this one last week, when she (60+ pounds, mind you) threw her head back and almost chipped my teeth. actually, i did learn this lesson, but since she has to go out to her new pen in the morning, i have to suck it up and pick her up anyway. hence, lesson number one again.

since i started walking, i have lost about 7 pounds. the hubby has challenged me...for every 25 pounds i lose, i get a chicken. i think i will modify it to every 15. if i lost 60, i would be happy. that would put me in more of the normal weight range. that would be 4 chickens. what the heck would i do with only 2 chickens? keep them in the basement? that's a thought...

today i have been bummed about the stuff i will be missing when we go on our trip next week. we are leaving at like 5 am on sunday. so that means i miss grace's soccer game. that monday is josh's birthday, and president's day...which means my kids will be out of school, and i won't be there for my boy on his birthday. tuesday is the day i volunteer to do recess duty, i'll be missing that too. thursday, haley and alex both have basketball practice and a 4-H meeting. grace and alex both have games saturday that i will most likely be missing.
we are celebrating josh's birthday on saturday. we are all going to the monster truck show downtown. yippee. my girls and i are not big into the monster trucks, but josh loves them. so, we go. my boy is going to be 4 years old. it is crazy to think that 4 years ago i was waiting for my inducement date feeling like i couldn't wait for it to be over, and yet really really sad that it was going to be over. we had planned on josh being our last baby. well, jeff planned on him being our last baby. i wasn't sure i didn't want anymore kids. (did that sentence make sense? double negative is bad right?) then 9 months later i found out i was pregnant with zack. i still wasn't sure i wanted him to be my last baby. jeff was though. so any kids for us will be adopted.
with josh, i was induced 2 weeks early. he was born feb 18th, but i was actually due on march 3rd. my doctor was worried about my baby being too big. haley was almost 2 weeks early, and weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces. she's my only baby that wasn't induced. grace was a little more than a week early and she was 9 pounds and 2 ounces. my boys were smaller. alex was almost 2 weeks late (my oldest) and he weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces...but was 22 and a half inches long. josh was 2 weeks early, and 8 pounds 2 ounces, and zack was 1 week early and 8 pounds and 8 ounces. i had bleeding problems with my bigger babies. well, the girls and zack. more about that some other time.

well, off i go to clean my house. 20 things!

between the laundry loads

cleaning challenge
i have been keeping up with the house work. this is a huge improvement for me. i won't say i have been keeping the house clean every day, but it is way more clean than it ever has been. i have been trying to do the 20 per room, but it takes me more than that to get my rooms clean. but it has been a starting point for me. what i mean to say is, i start with the 20, and look around and see i only have about 15 more things to pick up...it's so much more managable for me. instead of looking around and seeing only chaos, i see a starting point. and i can use it for the kids too. i tell the little guys to pick up 5 things, and the bigger guys 10 or 20, so i can sweep or vaccum. it actually works. thanks martie for the starting point.

do you have an aldi near you? i love ours. i never ever thought i would hear myself sing their praises, but here i am! not that i didn't like them before, we never shopped there when i was a kid. my mom hit the big stores. my kids love their frozen pizza. it feeds atleast 3 or 4 of my kids (that's saying alot) and its only $1.99. yeah, that's right. i bought their brand of mac and cheese (mostly because the lunch crowd at my house loves mac and cheese) and found out that my kids and hubby like it better than kraft. they said it's cheesier. it was only $.29 when i was there yesterday. their milk is always almost a full dollar cheaper, and their eggs and bread are cheaper too. if you spend $100, you are coming out with a cart full of food.

i finally finished the pink afghan i was making for a friend of mine. her baby is only a month old. now i am trying to get one going for one of the family's that i watch. the mom is due the end of march, but doesn't think she'll make it that long. yeah, nothing like working with a shrinking deadline! this one is tough too. it is a granny square blanket, and has like over a hundred little squares. i have never made a granny square one before. i've made a couple big stitch sampler afghans that turned out really pretty, a lot of baby blankets (2 filet, ripple, shell, 2 sweet dreams, and a rose bud) and i've made a few other full size afghans, but the connecting of the granny squares together always scared me a little. this one is really cute though. i hope it turns out good. i plan on taking it on the cruise with me so i can work on it on the ride down and back..and any down time i get.

challenges

ok, yesterday, i don't think i did a proper challenge post so here it is.
7 out of nine rooms i got atleast 20 things picked up...but i didn't do any sweeping.
one of those seven rooms was the little boys' room (my extra focus room) and the boys and i cleaned in there. it is better. not great. not even passable. but it is better than it was. we are going to work on it more today.

i haven't mentioned this earlier (only because i was afraid to jinx it), but zack is in the process of toilet training. well "in the process" sounds so formal. how about "my kid is going on the potty now"? sounds better. he still has accidents, and definitely needs help still, but he is consistently going in the toilet. can i get an "amen"? i was really scared he was going to be like 6 and still in diapers. i was also scared that the lack of a child in diapers would send me into a "i want a baby" tailspin...but so far so good. i don't know why i was so worried about him taking too long. he is only 2. well 2 years and almost 7 months, but who's counting? he's about the same age my other 2 boys were. the girls were way different. the month they turned 2, that was it. no diapers, not even at night. my first son, he showed some interest at 18 months...he would get out of the tub to go. i didn't push it though. now my little zack is in spiderman (or thomas, or cars, or scooby) underwear.
by the way, does anyone have a good way to get the pee smell out of couch cushions?
perhaps i will actually get some computer time this evening to post my challenge numbers.

i won't hold my breath.

promises are made to be broken, right?

well, if you remember my previous post on monday, i had promised to start on the little boys' room. well, i didn't. in fact, i didn't do a gosh darn thing yesterday. well, except vote...and picked up kids, and did recess duty for about 2 hours, and make lunch, oh yeah, and almost finished a blanket. but, i totally slacked off on cleaning.
today is another day. i decided that before i can go anywhere (playdate) we have to get some cleaning done. in fact, before the kids could eat breakfast (believe me, they aren't starving. they've been snacking all morning), they had to pick up all the toys in the lower level. that's the living room, kitchen, dining area, and hallway. sounds like alot, but it's basically one big room. they did a great job. they weren't too keen on the idea of having to pick up in the boys' room after breakfast...but if they wanted to go anywhere or do anything, they had to help. i didn't get it done. i think we are about half way there (oh oh, living on a prayer...sorry, bon jovi took over my body for a second). i am going thru stuff as we pick it up, and i am getting rid of a lot of toys and clothes. their room looked horrible when we started...like a toy store ate a bunch of clothes and then threw up...now it just looks bad. that's an improvement, right?
we have 2 basketball games this weekend, and an indoor soccer game. the basketball games are against the same team...alex's friends. the other school team. it should be a fun time. i actually like playing against them. i can root for both teams, and cheer them by name. except for the win/lose aspect of the game, it's the most fun.
i am so excited that jericho starts in a few days. i love that show. i know it's kind of gloom and doom...but skeet ulrich is so so hot. i know, that's not a good reason to watch a show. but he is seriously, seriously broodingly handsome. (did i just make up some words to describe his hotness? i think i did) perhaps i will come up with a good "sexy men i see on tv" post someday.
ok, time to get ready for the playdate.
i will update about my challenge numbers later.