They don't pay me enough for this.

As you may recall this blog once went by the title Confessions of a City Gal.  It was the documentation of my slow but sure progression from a dyed in the wool city girl to a down the dirt road farm wife.  I'm pretty sure my header read something like, "One chicken, goat, casserole, and stomach bug at a time."  Well, today I have achieved a FarmWife necessity.  I learned to drive a tractor.  Not at all by choice, let  me tell you.

My neck, still sore from my free fall out into nothing snow, needed some TLC this afternoon.  As Husband readied himself for work, I readied myself for R&R.  Advil, a warm buckwheat stuffed heart, blankets, and Lord of the Rings on DVD were all gathered as I hunkered down on the couch hoping to catch a few naps.  Husband kissed us all goodbye and headed out into the snow with my cell phone in hand.  10 minutes later the phone rang.  Husband's van was stuck in the snow a little over a mile down the road.

He tromped up to a neighbor's house to call his folks.  His dad had already left for work meaning there was no one to help pull him out.  He headed down the road towards our house only to be picked up by a guy in a truck who dropped him off at our drive.  He came in, changed into coveralls, and told me to pack the kids up.  We were going to rescue the van.

After dropping the kids off at his mom's we headed to the barn to start up the tractor. The tractor had other ideas.  Ideas like sitting in the cold barn and not going anywhere.  Husband grabbed the starter fluid and showed me where to spray it.  Unfortunately it was empty.  We tromped through the snow to the old barn to get another can of starter fluid from the new tractor.  Then back to the new barn and the old tractor and tried again to no avail.  Back to the old barn and new tractor only to discover Husband has no idea how the new tractor works and it's battery is dead and hasn't been hooked up to the charger as FIL had told Husband it had.  Back to the old barn with the battery charger in tow.  30 minutes into the adventure he finally got a tractor started.

That's when the fun began.  You see, FIL's old tractor is a 1970's Deutz open cab tractor.  Open cab.  As in  a seat totally exposed to the elements.  And seat as in one seat.  Not two.  It was 32 degrees outside so I knew I was in for a cold mile jaunt down the road. Much like driving a convertible in the snow.  A convertible with only one seat and no doors.  A convertible that smells like cow pies and diesel fumes.  What I didn't know was that Husband thought the best way for me to ride behind him was by standing on the hitch tongue on the back of the tractor.  It's a metal piece about a foot long and about 6 inches wide.  It also moves somewhat freely.  "Stand here, put your other foot on this bar to steady yourself, and hold on to the seat back," he tells me.  "Try not to hit any bumps," I replied realizing I was basically surfing behind a giant piece of machinery down a road covered in snow, ice, and mud.  I do not surf. In fact, I have the balance and physical grace of a new born giraffe.

Husband thought I'd be warmer behind him than perched up on one of the fenders.  He may have been right, but I only know I will never ever ever be persuaded to stand on the hitch of a tractor again.  I don't care if that's the only way to avoid a herd of hungry zombies.  I'll take my chances with the undead.  I have never been so scared in my entire life.  I'm pretty sure I cried a full quarter mile of the trip back to the old van.  It was unsteady, exposed, and so cold I couldn't feel my fingers to be sure I was still holding on to the seat properly as we jostled down a rutted, potholed road not visited by a road grader in far too long. When we had to turn around on a lease road and back the tractor toward the van, I flat refused to go another inch clutching to the back of that beast.  Instead I walked/jogged the 1/4 mile from the lease road to our van.

By that time another man with a back hoe was by the van.  He helped Husband hook up the chain and pull it back off the snow bank he'd pulled down the road with him.  As soon as the van was unstuck, Husband realized we couldn't get the tractor, the back hoe, and our van down the same 1 lane cut in the road.  I was standing behind the van when the back hoe driver asked if I was having fun.  "I don't remember this being in the wedding vows.  I knew I was marrying a country boy, but no one warned me about this kind of stuff."  Husband hops out of our van and says, "Babe, do you know how to drive this tractor?"  I laughed in his face.

45 seconds of instruction later and I was driving the tractor down the gravel road between 2 foot drifts of snow and slush so Husband and the other guy could maneuver the other vehicles around each other.  Husband put the tractor in 2nd gear so I couldn't go very fast and told me to stay in the tracks in the road.  The only time that 1 mile trip down the road has ever been longer was when I was standing on the hitch on the way down.  Cold made colder still by the constant wind I was creating driving down a frozen country road.

Husband backed the van all the way down the road because he figured it would do better with the rear wheel drive if he didn't turn it around.  By the time I made it back to his Mom's driveway he'd driven the old van home and jogged back to his parents' so he could get the tractor back into the barn.  I moved off the single seat and back onto the fender for the last 200 yards of the trip.  "I just want you to know I cried from the cross roads to the lease road."

"What?  Why?" he asked in a frustratingly clueless manner.

"I have never been that scared for that long in my life!" I snapped back.

"Oh, you mean when you were standing on the hitch," he said.  "Well, now you'll have something to blog about."  He knows me too well.

Now I'm freshly showered to rid myself of the smell of diesel fumes, dressed in lazy clothes straight from the warm dryer, wrapped in a blanket, with a pot of coffee brewing happily in my kitchen.  I can feel all of my fingers and toes once again.  My neck still hurts but then I'm sure having my shoulders up under my ears for 45 minutes didn't help.  Husband finally made it safely to the highway and to work only an hour or so late.

I've learned a new skill.  That means the snow can melt.

Snowmageddon 2012

 It has hit.  In a Big, Bad way.  Luckily there was very little ice before the massive snow storm hit around 1:40 this morning.  Here we are, 14 hours and 9 inches of snow or so later & it's still coming down.  Husband keeps shoveling a patch in the back for the dogs to use when they need out but snow keeps sliding off the roof & filling in his hard worked open spot.

Unfortunately that means I have snowy dogs coming back in every 2 hours & my carpet isn't happy.

We did let the FarmHands go out to play this morning. 30 minutes of dressing and fussing and crying because no one had boots that fit for 15 minutes of playing outside followed by 3 hours of laundry to recover from the excursion wasn't entirely worth it in my book, but if the hadn't been out I'd have never heard the end of it.  Mama went outside with them only to be the last out the door and the first back in (after getting everyone else dressed and out I had to come back in with the first FarmHand that got too cold...Bitsy).  Now I'm paying the price for a free fall into a snow angel.  It was much easier when I was 9.  At 36 my neck didn't handle the landing quite like I expected and now it's a little on the stiff side.  But the snow angel is wonderful so maybe it's all worth it.

Misha Gale is loving all the snow. I'm happy for her.  She's been depressed since we lost Bonpas last month.  9 inches of snow has brought the puppy out in her again.  I can't wait to see what she does in February when she gets her baby sister.  Husband's cousin who owns Misha's mom, just posted that Skye was having litter #3 last week.  Much to our surprise, the puppies came along Saturday night/Sunday morning.  There's one red baby girl in the litter and Husband already has his name on her.   Her name will be Sasha Skye.

The rest of the day will find us all hunkered down with a stack of movies, bowl of Christmas candy, blankets, pillows, and a long few days of being snow bound.

Merry Christmas to you all from all of us down on the farm!

Baby, it's not cold enough outside.

As you may remember, I'm not much for cold and snow and ice....but at the moment, I could really go for a hard freeze.  Yes, I'm really enjoying the spring-like temperatures the mid-west has been enjoying this January but I'm beginning to see the need for a true winter. We've only had 2 or 3 seriously cold days & only 2 dustings of snow.  Not nearly enough to kill all the creepy crawlies around here.

 This morning I pulled a fat tick off one of our farm cats while we waited for the school bus to come.  I've found a few stray fleas on Lilly and Buddy at bath time of late.  There was a wood roach scampering about  this morning.  In January we should be free of bugs & creepy crawlies but instead, they seem to be living the high life.  Maybe not a margaritas pool side high life, but most definitely better than the rotting in a block of ice life they're used to in January.   Personally, I'd prefer to send them back to their block of ice before our summer is one long battle of the bug.

If we don't get a few weeks of serious cold we're going to face a plague of biblical proportions come summer.  The FarmHands will be anemic from all the mosquito bites.  Cookouts will be made a near impossibility by the swarms of black flies vying for our dinners.  So, even though I am normally anti-winter, in this instance I am changing my stance.

Bring on the snow, please.  I'm ready.

A sure sign

Spring is coming. The proof of it was in my laundry room Saturday morning trying to get warm.

I had just logged on to Facebook to find out what I had missed in the night when Husband came in the back door with a small white limp bundle in his hands. He hollered for me to change into old clothes, grab some towels, and come to the laundry room. When I got there I could see the poor lamb he was holding was half frozen and still covered with after birth. I wrapped the lamb in one towel and tossed the rest in the dryer to warm up.

When Husband went out to do chores he found the ewe and her twin lambs in the woods. It had snowed the night before and the lamb he brought me was laying with his legs splayed out behind him in the snow. He wasn't getting up and obviously hadn't been able to nurse.

Bitsy and I spent the morning rubbing him with warm towels, rocking him, talking to him, and praying he'd stand up. She named him 'Woody.' After about 30 minutes I got out a book we have about sheep and found out giving him some milk (from his mother) could help him gain enough strength to stand. Husband milked the ewe and we offered the little guy his bottle. He guzzled it down and started baaa-ing for more.

Husband held him up so he could try standing. Once Woody was steady, Husband let him put some weight on his feet. That's when Woody tried to make a mad dash for my lap. Well, as mad a dash as a noodle legged new born lamb can make. He flopped into my lap & head butted my stomach and chest looking for more to eat.

After more than an hour of worry and work, Woody got to go back out to live with his mom & twin brother. It broke my heart a bit when he left me for his real mom, but it would have broken it much more if he'd have given up in my laundry room. I'm sure it would have crushed Bitsy to pieces as one look at his fuzzy little face and she was a goner.

We now have twin girl lambs born last Monday named Jessie and Bo Peep and twin boy lambs named Buzz and Woody. Thus far we haven't had a lamb live through the summer, but I'm still holding out hope that the cast of Toy Story will make it.

It may still be a few weeks away, but Spring is definitely on it's way.

This is my island in the sun

I wonder if I could convince my doctor to put me (or the FarmHands) into a chemically induced coma until spring? Either that or I'm going to implement my plans to become a super villain, design and build my own weather control device, and banish snow, ice, and arctic winds from Southern Illinois.

*Deep Breath In*


*Deep Breath Out*


*Deep Breath In*


*Deep Breath Out*


I'm OK now. For the moment.

Someone remind me of this in late July when I'm sweating out half my body weight every 30 minutes or so.

Earlier this week we were braced for an inch of ice and 3 inches of snow. We got a brief glaze and a few flurries. This time we anticipated a dusting of snow and we got 3 inches.

I fully agree with my Aunt Anita (Silverbelle) when she said, "I think I will change professions and become a meteorologist. That's the only job I know where it doesn't really matter what you say, you won't get fired."

Ups and Downs

This week has been full of them. Some extreme, some not so much.

Saturday we got some bad news about Grandpa & Grandma M&M. Since Grandpa broke his ankle he's been having some other health issues and their doctor told Grandma he can't come home. Grandma cannot take care of him on her own. So Grandpa is still in the nursing home working on getting better while Grandma stays in their appartment. It's tough on everyone because with the exception of hospital stays, they've not been apart in my memory. I'm praying that Grandpa will get his strenght back & something can be arranged so they can be together again.

Then there was the impending Snowmageddon 2011...that didn't exactly live up to the hype. At least not at my house. And for that I am eternally grateful! We got a brief glazing of ice and a dusting of snow. The power went out for a few seconds 3 or 4 times. The kids haven't missed a day of school all week. I have not been trapped in the house. These things make me very happy.

Our Wii bit the dust in the middle of the power flashes Tuesday. I tried everything I could to get it working again. Husband was ready to pack it up and send it back. In a last ditch attempt at a video consol ressurection, we took it to another outlet & plugged it in. Ta-da, Magic (as Bitsy would say)! It's working again and we didn't lose the hours of "work" I put into buying Darth Maul and Jango Fette or opening up the Zumbathon. That would have been devastating.

And I'm pretty sure someone has tacked 3 extra days on this week. I woke up certain that it was Friday but feeling like it should be Saturday. Much to my chagrin, it's only Thursday. Where's a TARDIS when you need one?

I'm done.

I am officially done with winter. Unfortunately, Mother Nature hasn't gotten my memo. She's decided it's perfectly acceptable to dump massive quantities of snow and ice on me. OK, so maybe just the ice. And maybe by "massive" I mean 1/4"-3/4" of ice...but personally I think anything over 0/4" is far too much.

I was supposed to take #1 Son to see his ENT today and get his ear tube checked, but decided against it when the thought of driving an hour and a half home in ice occurred to me. Husband is blaming global warming.

I am well stocked with milk, granola bars, and Ramen noodles, so we should survive. There are only 2 things I'm truly dreading. #1 is Husband driving to work in ice when the salt trucks do not know any roads within 3 miles of us even exist. #2 is the possibility of the power going out. I get a bit stir crazy when we're without electricity. I wouldn't make a good Amish wife. I really like my microwave and the fridge & freezer are pretty stinking important, too.

So here I sit, awaiting Snowmageddon 2011 and wondering if it's going to live up to the hype or will it go the way of Y2K (which I never believed in to begin with).

Keep warm, dear readers. Keep warm.

De-lurking, snow prevention, and sweatin' to Salsa.

Happy National De-Lurking Day! Whoo-hoo! I'm so excited! Someone pinch me!

Um, Sorry. I got a bit carried away. But it would b awesome if someone de-lurked today. I love comments. They make me happy. Knowing that somewhere out there in the vast blogsphere folks choose to visit my tiny corner of the interwebs just makes me all tingly.

I have an announcement to make. The snow is officially over for the entire southern part of the state of Illinois for the remainder of the winter. How do I know this? We bought snow pants for #1 Son & B.B. today. That should seal the deal. We've never bought snow pants before. Our kids had hand-me-downs enough to keep them all dry & happy for the 3 days they used them each winter....until this year. And this year the snow just won't quit. So we snagged 2 pairs (they're HUGE!) in hopes that they'll get some serious use out of them before they out grow them...when they're 14 years old or so.

Today I tried something new. Husband and I blew through Wal-Mart like we were racing against Armageddon, came home, napped, and did my Zumba while the FarmHands were still at school. It's not really easy to do Latin dance aerobics with a 3 year old underfoot, but it's much easier than doing it with 4 kids lounging about asking strange questions the entire time. I kid you now, working out is like talking on the phone. They will ignore me for hours on end until I dial a number or boot up my work out on the Wii. Then it's, "Mom, can I have? Mom, can we watch? Mom, is this over? Mom, can I play? Mom, I'm hungry. Mom, I'm sick. Mom, the dog just ate my underpants. Mom, a horde of the undead is attacking our house." It's enough to make a girl scream...if she had any breath left after doing 20 minutes of Salsa.

Maybe I'll make a habit of it. Or maybe I'll go back to my regularly scheduled nap time and fight the approaching horde of zombies while keeping my heart rate over 120.

A grown up Christmas list.

In about 45 minutes I will have been stuck on this 10 acres of land for a full week. 7 straight days. In that time I've made 2 or 3 trips to the mail box at the end of our drive, 2 trips to take out the trash, and one trip out to the sheep pen to dump table scraps. Stir Crazy would be the phrase that best suits my current frame of mind.

The FarmHands are going nearly as insane as I am. Husband decided to put all the presents under the tree today. This is the first time the FarmHands have ever seen their wrapped gifts prior to the day we celebrate Christmas. This change has caused B.B. to collapse into a bawling heap at least 3 times just this morning. He's desperate to open a gift. I really do not want to give into and therefore encourage the tantrums so I said no. I am currently public enemy #1.

Because we've been snowed and or iced in all week, Husband decided he'd do the grocery shopping Friday night after work. He's been able to make it back & forth to work with no small amount of stress. Once he's reached the high way, things have been hunky-dory...the problem is the five miles of ice between us and the highway. Since he was already out on good roads, I made him a list & sent him shopping, much to the amazement of the FarmHands. When they woke up yesterday to a pantry & fridge full of food, you'd have thought Santa himself brought it all.

While at Wal-Mart, Husband bought my Christmas present. He has a horrible time trying to keep secrets. He's already offered to tell me what it is. I declined but fear he wouldn't have been honest had I allowed him to ruin the surprise. He wrapped my gift & put it under the tree yesterday while I was baking cookies. The FarmHands are dying to know what it is, so Husband told #1 Son. #1 Son told B.B. B.B. told Bitsy. 7 seconds later, Bitsy came running out of the bedroom and yelled, "Mommy, Daddy buyed you Eclipse and...." that's when the others began screaming. "NO, Bitsy! Don't tell Mom!!" and they whisked her away to the bedroom. Husband starts laughing because he hadn't told them what he actually got for me. About a minute later Bitsy runs back out of the rooms and says, "Mommy, Daddy not get you Eclipse."

Since then they've been on a mission to wheedle the truth out of their father, who surprisingly has not cracked. This morning he told B.B. it was a banana in a box, wax fruit for the table, a board game, and other odd things.

I fear the FarmHands have run out of ways to entertain themselves. The fighting and bickering has reached epic proportions. 30 minutes ago they were in the boys room when the screaming started. I went to investigate and found Bitsy playing, "Duck, Goose, Come Chase Me!" with the boys. They're currently on their 2nd or 3rd viewing of the cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the day.

All I want for Christmas is a grown up to visit with....one that I'm not married to.

I wanna' wash my hands, my face and hair with snow.

That's a total lie. I don't know anyone who'd really do that...but it sounds nice in the song.

We have 3-4 inches on the ground at the moment, but with drifting it's much deeper in places. My window thermometer says it's 18 degrees outside. Our first official snow day of the year was called at 7 last night. BabyGirl is still asleep and the others are lounging about in their jammies.

I'm praying for a calm day full of Christmas movies and board games. I'm bracing for a day of arguing and cabin fever. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Lily May & Buddy Joe have morphed into snow bunnies. Every time I turn around they're bouncing up & down to get out the door and play in their run. I don't understand this because neither dog really likes walking in the snow. They both hang back when they need to go out but shoot out the door just to stand & shiver in the snow. At least I don't have to dress them in 15 layers of protective clothing so they can spend 8 1/2 minutes outdoors.

After church yesterday, the FarmHands needed to go out to play in the snow. Bitsy lasted all of 15 minutes before she was deposited back in the mud room by her Daddy. The boys lasted about 5 minutes longer and BabyGirl came in after 25 minutes or so. It took us almost that long to get everyone dressed in the first place. And afterwards, there were snow caked coats, gloves, hats, socks, and pants to be washed. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

But I'm probably wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. Just ask the FarmHands.

Monday Weigh-in

Ang posts her weekly weigh-ins on Monday. I'm going to take a page out of her book & twist it a bit. I'm going to weigh Monday all on it's own. Just 2 short lists to decide if it should continue to be Monday or if we should just skip on through to Tuesday.

Monday's good list:

1. I finally saw the urologist about my kidney issue.
2. B.B. saw the urologist at the same time about some issues he's having.
3. I got Bitsy in to the walk-in clinic with only a 30 minute wait.
4. I got a pair of jeans on clearance for $7.
5. I finally caved in & bought a temporal artery thermometer.
6. The people at the hospital lab were accommodating & helpful & they gave B.B. & Bitsy suckers.
7. Buddy is doing pretty well with the potty training business.

Monday's crappy list:

1. I've started a 2 week round of Cipro for my kidney which may be followed by a 60-90 day preventative regiment of antibiotics depending on my culture & how this antibiotic works (this is on this list because I have a hard time remembering to take my Prozac once a day much less an antibiotic twice a day....and I hate the idea of being on it for months at a time, but I have to get rid of this stinking infection).
2. B.B. has retractile testes (I'm sure he'll be thrilled that I've shared this on the interwebs) and has a hernia.
3. Friday we have to drive 3 hours away to see a pediatric urologist to find out if B.B. needs surgery to repair the hernia.
4. I had to take Bitsy with me to town today & she is one ill little girl.
5. Bitsy has a double ear infection & possible bladder infection that kept her from sleeping last night.
6. The urologist put a bag on her to attempt to get a urine sample for us to take to the clinic.
7. Bitsy screamed bloody murder when the nurse put the bag on, then she refused to pee in it at all.
8. They needed her to pee in a cup at the clinic & she flat refused.
9. Wal-Mart says the prescriptions will take 20 minutes to fill, but they really mean 40 minutes to an hour.
10. I'm sick with a bad head cold that kept me from sleeping last night.
11. After driving home, Bitsy finally peed in the little potty & I got the urine sample we needed.
12. That meant a second drive in to town to drop off the sample at the hospital lab.
13. Husband was getting ready to leave for work, so I had to take a tired B.B. & sick Bitsy with me back to town. They were not happy campers.
14. Bitsy had to be registered at the hospital so I could leave a cup of pee on a counter (but see #6 in the list above).
15. My lips are chapped wicked bad from all the mouth breathing & nose blowing.
16. We're being threatened with 4 inches of snow tonight & tomorrow.

Yeah. Monday sucks. It's a mathematical fact.

An End in Sight

Believe it or not, this freaking snow may actually melt! But as Husband's Great-aunt EM said this morning, "I'll believe it when I see it." I do have to admit, we've had the better of it by far. Friends to our south (Ragged & her family) have been without power & water & iced in on & off for nearly 2 weeks now. The news keeps reporting thousands without power. Kentucky has been declared a state of disaster. Things have not been good to our south. We've been very fortunate in that aspect.

That being said, I am so sick of the color white right now, if I were to go bridal dress shopping with my future Sister-in-Law I'd be forced to pull my own hair out. Although getting out of the house would be fun.

We've been surrounded by snow for 11 days, and I have had enough. I want to see green. I realize brown is what is under the snow. I want to feel the grass under my feet. I realize mud is what's coming...lots & lots of mud. I want to feel the sun on my face. That may actually happen soon. Today is the second day since the snow hit that the sun has felt warm & not icy & too bright.

If we get the warmth we're being promised by the local weather channels, I shall have to pull on my mud boots & go for a walk before I go mad. I am seriously considering taking out a hit on Punxsutawney Phil for his gloomy outlook on Monday.

Please Melt, Would Ya'?

Tomorrow will make the fourth snow day in a row for the FarmHands. And I am one day closer to the loony bin.

Snow Day!

Yesterday we had four inches of snow on the front steps at 7 in the morning & no school. By 9:30 am sleet & freezing rain hit. That lasted until sometime after 11:30 last night. I'm not sure when the snow started up again, but it was coming down steadily at 3 o'clock this morning. Now we're stranded in no less than 9 inches of ice, snow, sleet, and more snow. Luckily we still have power (obviously) unlike our neighbors to the south who got hit with massive amounts of ice. With temps hovering in the upper 20's & lower 30's for the next few days, I would be shocked if the FarmHands made it back to school this week.

Husband took a vacation day yesterday so he wouldn't have to fight the ice to get to work. Now we're thinking he should have scheduled one for today as well since it's not looking promising for his trip in this afternoon.

In the meantime, we're decently supplied with videos, board games, milk, and bread....as long as the FarmHands will lay off the milk a bit (they drink it like it's going out of style anytime they're stuck at home). Maybe now they'll make a dent in all those coloring books we've been hoarding. Or maybe they'll just argue & bicker & make messes until I give up & lock myself in my bedroom with my Pride & Prejudice DVD & swear never to come out again. That sounds more likely.

I had big plans to clean house yesterday, but instead I took a long nap and spent the day in my pj's doing absolutely as little as possible. Maybe I'll do something today....don't hold your breath.

At Long Last.

A few weeks before Christmas, Husband bought the FarmHands a 6 foot long orange toboggan (not the hat). We had been getting reports of snow coming...lots of snow...inches & inches of snow. We got diddly squat. Maybe a few flakes, but nothing to write home about & nothing stuck. So the giant sled of wonder has sat idly in the shed since mid-December.

Yesterday we left for church amid flurries & the pie crust promise of accumulation (easily made, easily broken). On the way home from church it was clear the dusting wasn't going to stick around. The FarmHands were crushed. Their plans of snow ball fights, snow men as tall as our house, and rocket fast trips down the hill on the sled of wonder were shattered like thin ice under heavy boots.

But last night there was a glimmer of hope. Big fat flakes drifted slowly down as the temperature steadily dipped. Real, honest to goodness accumulation was expected. They were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar snow danced in their heads.

They awoke snow bright & too early to this:

Just enough snow to fulfill their big dreams, about 2 1/2 inches by my guess. They immediately started dressing to go out, but much to their chagrin, it was only 15 degrees & their dad (the man in charge of all things outdoors) was still sleeping. A few hours later & we started piecing together snow suits from the hodge-podge of winter wear hiding in our house.

I clearly remember always having a new snow suit & snow boots each winter. They were sorely needed when I was a child. Snow suits & boots were worn to school by everyone only to be stripped off & hung in the cloak room while school shoes (the brown leather kind with buckles)were dug out of book bags & worn into class.

With measurable snow being a rarity around here, my kids layer sweat suits over pajamas and squeeze into hand-me-down snow pants that may be 15 years old. They tug on mud boots over three pairs of socks & scramble to find their gloves they only wear while waiting on the bus to pick them up after school.

I'd guess it takes as much time to dress them as they actually spend outside in the snow. But the effort is worth it when you hear the squeals of laughter when the first loose snow ball is tossed. Even Mama got in on a bit of the action, tugging on mud boots & Carhart coveralls Husband grew out of long ago just long enough to snap a few pictures, take a quick, screaming trip down the hill on the sled, and make a mom sized snow angel.

Bitsy was heart broken because she was deemed too little to play in the snow at first. She stood at the window gazing forlornly out at her siblings streaking through the snow & freezing their little noses off. Once they came in, I bundled her up & took her out for a quick trip down the hill on the sled. While she reacted very little to the sledding & snow it's self, she screamed like a banshee when I brought her back in the house. I guess the snow was more fun than I figured.

Now we're all in, bundled in jammies watching Alvin & the Chipmunks, & munching on apples. I wonder how long the snow will inspire awe. Will I enjoy it until it melts, or will I be straining towards spring tomorrow? Time will tell.

How to be the CEO of Snow Days.

I have made the executive decision to keep my children safely at home today. Yes, I realize there is only a dusting of snow on the ground. Yes, I realize there may not be more than a dusting of snow all day today. BUT....the forecast is calling for 2-6 inches or more for our area & I do not feel the need to go through the vast effort it takes to get the two oldest dressed & out the door only to have to pick them back up from school 2 hours later.

The snow is still falling. I do not want to spend my day worrying if they're about to put my pre-schooler on the bus to send home (#1 Son is terrified of riding the bus & absolutely cannot deal with it unless thoroughly prepped for the ride...he's convinced the driver doesn't know how to get to our house because she follows a different route than we do normally & he can't get the seat belt off so he thinks he'll be trapped on the bus).

So today will be spent vegging out, baking cookies (if I can get up the gumption to do it), playing, and fighting over who gets to talk to the baby.

Wishin' and Hopin' and Thinkin' and Prayin' for Spring

Sunday was a brief respite from the doldrums that have set in around me. I have been without fresh air & sun light far too long. Since Bitsy's arrival I have spent little time in the great out doors. It was too hot to have an infant outdoors very long last summer, and it's a tad hard to keep up with the three mobile kids when you have a new born in arms...at least without a fence or tethers. Prior to her birth I was in too much discomfort to get much enjoyment from being out of my recliner. So here I am, eight months later, desperate for Spring to arrive.


I did not realize the depth of my desperation until I was teased by mid 70 degree temperatures and vast amounts of sunshine. The time spent zipping around on Husband's ATV, swinging with Bitsy in the yard, watching the kids fling sand from their long neglected sand box, opening the windows to allow new air to replace what we've been re-breathing for the past 5 months, visiting with my sprouting spring bulbs (hello my darling tulips, how was your winter?) and having the sun warm my face has ruined all hopes of enjoying the last days of our weather imposed isolation for me.


Today I've spent most of my day huddled under my down comforter on the couch reading The Shack. While enjoying the book thus far, I have not enjoyed the blahness that is threatening to overwhelm me. The massive amount of rain we've been doused with in the past 2 days isn't helping. And with it currently making the shift from rain to snow, I'm sliding down a slippery slope. I may sequester myself in my room with my Mindy Smith CD, a stack of books, a cup of coffee, and the kids' box of Trefoils. If only they could be left to their own devices....but alas, I am not willing to clean up after the Lord of the Flies Daycare.


Instead I will help BabyGirl with her homework, attempt to clean up the mess that has grown in my day of sloth, and comfort Bitsy who may be cutting a new tooth while I leave you, my dear friends, with pictures of Spring courtesy of FreeFoto.com.

For the Record

Read this well. You may never again see it's like. Husband was right. I was wrong. Cherish it. This is the last time.

We were hit with a sleet storm Thursday...you remember, the day I wrestled my screaming daughter out the door for school only to have her sent home an hour & 35 minutes later due to impending ice (that, I must add, didn't hit until 3 and a half hours later). In the end we had almost an inch of sleet. It looks like snow on the hood of Little BIL's truck, but rest assured, these are not pretty little flakes. They are shiny, frozen globes of ice. It was (as QM would say) slick as snot.

Due to the sleet, my trip to town normally occuring on Friday was postponed. It was still icy but melting yesterday. I wasn't ready to brave the roads on my own, so trip to town would have to be a famliy affair (Husband the chaffuer). BabyGirl was even on board...for about 15 minutes. We were waiting for Bitsy to wake up from her nap & in that time things fell apart. BabyGirl decided she didn't want to go to town after all & began haggling for someone to stay home with her. The mutiny quickly spread & soon the boys were chanting, "Let's stay home," along with her.

Then came the clean-your-room-drama followed closely by me bagging up everything left on her floor & stashing it in my room. Not a pleasant 30 minutes to say the least. After this melt down, I was far from in the mood to drag all 4 kids & a sniffling, sick Husband to the grocery store to listen to them fight & bicker & beg for toys & candy while I fought the Saturday afternoon crowd. Husband wanted to go. I did not. He tried more than once to convince me otherwise. I was too irritated to attempt it. The roads were thawing, so I said I'd just wait until today & go on my own. Brilliant plan, right?

Well, it was....until we woke up this morning to this:

There was no warning. We had no clue snow was coming...perhaps because we watched nothing but movies, Nickelodian, and Spike TV yesterday. Should have at least checked the local news.

The snow is still falling. I'm running low on groceries. Husband has offered to make a run to town with a grocery list & his truck. Not to sound ungrateful, but no matter how detailed the list, he never gets quite what I want.

So for the record...for the annuls of history....for posterity I will now admit that Husband was right, we should have gone to town yesterday.

Randomness in pictures & post

For Emily who says baby bellies are cute. She's right. You just can't help but kiss them!

Snow Day!! Or rather, thin but slick crusting of ice day...one way or the other, I have 4 kids home with me today & Husband had to leave for work 30 minutes early to get there in time. Heaven forbid C**** think of the safety of their employees before they worry about their profits. I need chocolate...the good kind.

Good news at BabyGirl's world. You can read for yourself. And the picture of my toes is from the night before we went to the hospital to have Bitsy. I once read that the least you could do for your OB was take care of your feet since they were the second part of the body he had to see the most. Those were the only tan lines I managed to get this summer. My belly kept the rest of my legs out of the sun. It had an SPF of around 1,300.

Last night I was fighting to keep B.B. in bed. He'd gotten out of bed for the third time when I caught him in the hall way. I was not happy. I swooped in to catch him when he hollered at me. Normally he would have yelled, "I need a dwink!" or "I hava go to da potty!" or "Dere's coyotes in my room!" and waited for me to reassure him, or take him to the bathroom, or get him a drink. Instead he yelled, "Fire twucks & fire guys!" and shot back to his bed. Hmm....

Oh, I hope we aren't snowed in on Valentimes day (yes, I know how I spelled that. I love Junie B. Jones). Not that I'll get a Valentine...will you be my Valentine? Please? But BabyGirl has missed every party they've had at school thus far. Hallowene, Christmas, 100 day...she was probably sick on Yom Kippur too.

Speaking of which: at work last week Husband's co-worker said he was giving up caffeine for Lent. To which my husband replied, "I didn't know you were Jewish." Seriously, Ya'll.

The kids are watching the first season of Fraggle Rock. Something is seriously wrong with my husband (news flash, right?). He doesn't like the Muppets. I worry about him. He may be a communist. Do you know he'd never seen Star Wars until we were dating? The deprivation. Sad really. (The old hay rake & plow that set in front of my house. I'm ready to see green again.)

I have a quick observation to make about the Olsen Twins. They are worth what, a billion dollars? Can they not dip into their trust funds to buy a hair brush & some eye make-up remover? They're looking a tad homeless lately. It worries me. But then, at least they wear panties...I think.

I'm considering an inverted bob. I'm tired of the current thing & have the desire to move on before I end up shaving it all off. That's never a good thing. What do you think? A little less Posh Spice & a little more middle America.

Husband bought the kids a trampoline a few weeks ago. You know, one of those little ones you're supposed to jog on. Yesterday #1 Son was jumping like his life depended on it when I heard B.B. scream, "Help, Mommy!! Help me!" I couldn't find him anywhere. #1 Son kept jumping and started laughing. B.B. kept screaming. That's when I realized....he was under the trampoline. Oy.

My husband, Charles Ingalls

BabyGirl is on the mend. That's the good news. The bad news? Because she's well, she doesn't want to do her homework. Instead she has the strenght to fight & argue about it. The TV is officially off until it's done. For our boob-tube addicted bunch, that's really saying something.

To top it off, we're going to get hit with a pretty big (for our neck of the woods) winter storm tonight. We're in the running for anywhere from a half inch of ice & 3 inches of snow, to a wintery mix, to 7 inches of snow. Yikes!! Pretty sure that means no school tomorrow...and yet again the OT will be put off.

The worst of the storm is supposed to hit about the time Husband is making his trip home from work. This makes me nervous. Always does. He drives a 1994 Ford Ranger that's on it's last leg. He has to drive more than 10 miles through the country to get home. All this happens between 11 pm & 3 am depending on the night.

B.B.'s first Christmas we got hit with about 8 inches of snow. It was powdery & the wind kicked in to create drifts 2-4 feet deep or more. I went to bed exhausted that night & worried about Husband getting home. Because B.B. was so little & I wasn't getting any sleep, I drifted off surprisingly quickly (which was a blessing). In the night, I heard Husband make a phone call. I was glad to know he was home, but was more than a little shocked at the idea of him calling anyone, ever, much less in the middle of the night.

I got up to see what was going on and realized it was nearly an hour & a half past the time he normally came home from work. He was just getting in the shower, so I knew he'd just come in the house. I asked him what was going on & he said he just wanted to call his mom & let her know he got home OK. They work together & she lives 1/2 a mile down the road, so I didn't understand why he needed to call her. "She's still at work. She decided to wait it out in the canteen until morning." I asked why she didn't ride home with him & he said, "Because I walked home from church." I nearly flipped out.

He had driven the 10+ miles to the town where we go to church & walked the last 4 home through the country (not a route he usually takes). The thought of him walking 4 miles through thigh deep snow in the middle of the night with windchills hovering just over zero was enough to make me more than a tad crazy! I was so thankful that I had not been awake 20 minutes earlier to find him not home yet. I would have panicked. He had prepared for his trek without telling me so I wouldn't worry. He had his coveralls & winter boots in the truck (he normally doesn't take either one with him much to my chagrin) along with gloves and a ski mask. He didn't think it was a big deal.

His mom wanted him to stay at work with her but he said there was no way he was leaving me and the kids snowed in alone over Christmas. He was getting home one way or the other. I'm only glad I knew nothing of it until he was safe at home. It reminded me of the Little House book (On the Banks of Plum Creek, QM?) when Pa got caught in town when the storm hit & he spent 2 days in a snow cave 1/2 a mile from the house eating the girls' Christmas candy.

Tonight I know he's prepared...and I'm still nervous. Lord, take care of him please. We need him around here.