My cat is too smart!

The family cat "Carrot" is waaaaaaaaay smarter than I give him credit for. It's been super cold and the wood stove has been working overtime. I was getting worried when I couldn't find him for a while, I finally found him - see pictures :)

Any excuse to have the oven on!

It is FRIGID! So in order to help the wood stove keep the house toasty, I'm baking bread. I bake a lot of bread in the winter, one just to have something in the oven and two because it gets gobbled up fairly quickly as well. I'm not vegan but my best white bread recipe happens to be vegan. So if anyone would like it just let me know.

I have decided to have meatloaf for supper...it makes good left overs AND I get to keep the oven on without wasting gas :)

Other than that, not too much going on - I turn 39 tomorrow...ugh.

Time always flies

Friday was Isabella's 5th birthday! HOW IN THE HELL did that happen. It doesn't seem possible that she's 5 already. It was a good birthday she is all Barbied out now. She loves Barbie and if something is pink and barbie - well then it's ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL good!

I have found myself very cranky lately. It could be from the worry of being laid off from work (but if Obama can get the infrastructure package he wants going, things should be ok) or it could be the impending doom of my 39th birthday on the 15th. My birthdays have pretty much sucked every year since my Dad died. He was the one who always made a big deal about it. Even though the eternal optimist in me hopes this one will be better, I'm highly doubting it.

It's been cold lately, not too much snow, but quite a bit of cold. So the wood stove has been working overtime. I had to fix the handles again, them seem to get loose every week or two. I need to get my butt to the hardware store and grab some lock washers, but I never seem to remember.

Greg and Vincent are out looking for a tree. I hate it when Greg picks out a tree. He goes and finds the ugliest thing he can find and brings it home. I LOVE Christmas trees - the way they smell and look, but when he picks one out it's just a pain in the ass and makes me crazy. He just thinks it's funny and I just want to kick his butt.

Sorry I'm cranky - but that is just part of life - good and bad.

May you have more good than bad.

Wow...2 posts one day!

I can't seem to sleep. I finished my test, I still have some proofreading to do on the dictation portion, but my brain is a bit mushy so I'll do it tomorrow after I get kids off to school.

That is why I am posting twice. I have a confession to make, I have a horrible little guilty pleasure when I cannot sleep. Reality television - more specifically Rock of Love Charm School. I KNOW it is a sad sad thing. This evening I have put some thought into what is being put onto television these days. Visual vomit seems to come to mind as a descriptive term. I cannot fathom how some of these people would go on television and act so foolish just for their "15 minutes". I would prefer to be unknown thank you very much.

Granted here I am posting my thoughts on the Internet. However I am not saying things that I would not want others to know. The beauty of privacy :) Mostly if you don't want others commenting on your life...don't put it out in full view.

I enjoy reading several blogs out in "net land" some are of real life friends who live far away, some are of people I have met on the net and have some things in common with, some I read because they are interesting....well ok more INSTAgating than interesting. That is why I keep some things more private than others. But if you out there in cyber land - if you ever have a question...ask...I may answer, or I may not...but mostly I would :)

Have a stellar night/day!

Burning the candle at both ends.

The economy has finally caught up to me personally. The plant I am a welder at has begun to lay people off. All of the temporary and part time employee's have gotten notices that their last day will be the 26th. We also were given a letter with our paychecks asking for volunteers to be laid off. The upside to this is if someone was planning to quit anyway they would still be able to qualify for profit sharing under the "vol lay off". I however am not planning to do this. But my neck has a dotted line all over it. I was the last hire in my department, so naturally I will be the first laid off. It is the fair thing, but it still stinks on ice.

So I have picked up my medical transcription studies a little more vigorously. I figure a back up plan never hurts, and the medical industry is one that is relatively stable. And I could work from home setting my own hours, which would be nice to be able to do.

G and I have always planned things around the worst case scenario. I used to think this was a horribly pessimistic thing to do. Now that the economy is a craptastic as it is we are lucky enough to NOT have to worry where the money for the mortgage, groceries, etc is coming from. It doesn't hurt that I never have to buy meat as we hunt all of our own. I garden and can like a madwoman. Stuff like that is the saving grace.

I do feel a bit for those who do not have any idea how to get along without instant gratification items. I think they are going to be in for quite a shock at some point. Where I am optimistic that things will get better, I have a feeling they are going to get a bit worse first. But I'm a prairie gal and I have a family of tough cookies :)

Well back to the books!
Hope all is well in your worlds!

Mondays

Mondays are odd for me now. After a weekend of sleeping at night and being awake during the day and MUCH earlier than I am becoming accustom to being awake, I get children off to schools and then I come home and cannot sleep. So now I am making up for the lost time this weekend by doing laundry and cleaning the house, ok and dinking around on the computer.

We went hunting this weekend and finally managed to get two deer. Which are now waiting to be processed. G and I will be making salami this week, after I get off work - which is going to suck for both of us. The last thing I want to be doing after I get off work is grinding up deer, but he's going out to Lake Andes to hunt this weekend and we won't get it done then. I always seem to forget how labor intensive it is to process everything. It's worth it in the end for one thing, we know everything that goes into what we process, it's much less expensive as well. But my kitchen always looks like a bomb went off.

I think I am going to hang some clothes out on the line today. It's supposed to be in the 70's and a bit breezy so they should dry nicely. I am putting one or two loads in the dryer just to get caught up. I never feel like there is enough time in a day anymore, or that I have become very lazy. Quite frankly I'm just really tired, I do not get a decent amount of sleep but then again I never have either. Someone at work asked me if I ever did sleep, and I took a second to think about it - I don't "sleep" as much as I "nap". My sleep pattern is a few naps in between the chaos of my life. I am fueled by coffee (home) and energy drinks (at work). It's crazy but it's just the way it has to be.

I am excited about the election tomorrow, history in the making! But there are many local issues I am riled up about as well. The abortion issue is BACK on the freaking ballot AGAIN - this has been voted down (shockingly in this state) FOUR times now. But it keeps rearing it's ugly little mug on the ballot. I just want to scream - HEY...did you NOT notice we voted against it? DUH. Plus the government can keep it's distance from my uterus thank you very much.

Halloween was good - candy overdose as every year. But that is part of Halloween! Lilly was a vampire, Vincent was Alice Cooper, and Bella was a princess. All looked adorable (not that I'm biased!) and they had a really good time. I will NEVER do full face make up on a child again, getting it off a cranky, sugar buzzed child is NOT fun and I swear I damn near had to sand blast it off!

hope all is well in your worlds :)

Christmas Vacation!

I realize that it is just barely the end of October. We were given a memo at work today that the plant would be closed from the 24th of Dec - the 4th of Jan. This could have been a wage loser for me, but they decided that if you had vacation time coming in Jan 2009 you can use it for the time we're off. Now that being said I only have to use 2 days of vacation time! The 24th, 25th, 31st of December and 1st of January are paid holidays. Since I work nights I only work Monday - Thursday I'm not losing any work time on Fridays. So I only need to use my vacation time to cover the 29th and 30th of December.

So I get a 2 week paid vacation only using 2 days of vacation time! It will also be nice because the kids will be on their break from school as well.

Not too much new going on other than that. Work is still slow - but we are getting our 40 hours a week.

Kids conferences are Thursday, but I think they should go well. Bella went to the pumpkin patch on Monday with her preschool class. She loved feeding the goats!

So that's my life in a nutshell...boring isn't it? And I'm just fine with that :)

Chill in the air

I love spring and fall, they are my favorite seasons. I love how crisp and clear the air becomes in the fall. The colors of all of the leaves, the end of canning season and the beginning of hunting season.

I also enjoy hearing the geese fly by. There is a flock of Canadian geese that stop at a local park every year. I remember when the first two began to stop here, I was 10 or 11. There are so many generations that now use our "duck pond" as a lay over. Never ceases to amaze me. What is so neat about it is the flocks fly very low over our house to get there, you can watch them change formations and how they look like they are doing barrel rolls. But it's really neat in the pre dawn hours when you cannot really see them, but you hear them. How the volume changes as they get closer.

My father loved to duck hunt. His nickname was "big duck". He taught me how to call in Canadian geese when I was 5. I can still do this although I don't care to hunt geese, mostly because I do not care for the taste of goose or duck. I won't hunt something I won't eat. - I'm strange like that. For me it's not all about the kill, but the process of getting a deer. Trudging through the fields or woods in the dark as quietly as possible (without breaking ones neck!), getting set up in a stand, waiting for the sun to rise. The one observation I have made over the years is the smaller the animal - the LOUDER they are on approach. Deer are darned near silent - but squirrels sound like bulls in china shops!

I really should be sleeping right now - a nap between fire feedings! But this is the quietest my day will be and I enjoy having a cup of coffee, and then sitting outside for a little while before the sun comes up and everyone else gets up. Sometimes I even talk to my Dad, it's so hard to believe that he's been gone over 14 years now. I still get sad when I think he never got to see his Grandchildren in person. He would have spoiled them rotten and made me nuts in the process. I see glimpses of him in each one of them - Lilly has his friendliness and salesman ship abilities. Vincent - has his love of hunting/fishing and helping others for no personal gain. Bella has his charisma - you get drawn to her even when she makes you crazy.

Ah I hear the stirrings of Lil - she is up every day by 6 am! You can set a watch to this child, but she's always been an early riser and it's nice because we get a little visit before everyone else is up. So I'm off to cuddle with her :)

Have a stellar day!

Owie

I have flash burn. For those of you who do not know what this is, it's when you look directly (or are in close proximity to one) and your eye's get exposed to the direct light of the arc. Basically it feels like you have grit in your eyes at all times, and they don't tear up easily.

I'm going to give the "potato treatment". You slice potatoes and stick them on your eyes. Yes you look silly, but it it makes them feel better then I'm ALL for it.

Greg bought me a new hunting knife. It's really nice - and totally unexpected as well. I have to say he isn't Mr. Romance, but he does surprise me from time to time. I would prefer to have a gift that is useful rather than decadent any day. I'm such a simple gal!

Other than that, not too much going on. Work is good - other than the flash burn. Kids are good - the weather is dreary but oh well.

I'm going to go sit in my chair with potatoes on my eyes!

Interesting????

I could say I have a delima, but I don't really feel it is. My neighbor is apparently pissed off at me for some reason. She has quit talking to me, and has spoken to all the other neighbors about why she is pissed off at me. However she has said nothing to ME about why she is pissed off. My ego can handle someone being upset with me, tell me what I've done and if an apology is in order I will gladly give it and learn from the situation.

I do however resent the high school drama bullshit she's pulling. So I have decided that if she doesn't wish to speak to me I will respect her wishes and not speak to her. Her kids are still more than welcome to play here, as I would never hold anything against a child.

Now here's the kicker, I've found out she's talking smack about Vincent! THIS PISSES ME OFF SEVERELY! She and another neighbor have yelled at him to get out of their yards and told him he's no good and if they see him in their yards they are calling the cops. THE COPS for crying out loud! The other neighbor she's teamed up with has two sons - and they recently smeared habenero peppers into Vincent's face (barely missing his eyes). Did we call the police, no. The neighbor who is talking all this crap has a son as well - he has WHIPPED my son with an electrical cord, slammed his head into pavement, and numerous other violent acts. Have I called the police on HIM, no. But MY son has the AUDACITY to play in their yards with THEIR kids and the police showed up at my house regarding a "trespassing" complaint. Honestly the cops were more annoyed with the two bitchy women than my son. But I've had it!

These are also women who have asked me for countless favors - which I have done my best to do. I swore I wouldn't let all of this crap get to me, I'd take the high road. But I am at a breaking point and quite frankly just want to scream at them or something involving a baseball bat. But I won't, I will continue taking the high road, because that is what I have taught my children to do.

I am not a perfect parent, I have lost my temper at my children. But I have never called them stupid or worthless or lazy or asshole ( I could go on). My kids are a little strange though, they use words not heard so often these days : Ma'am and Sir, Please and Thank you. They share most of the time. They will help a neighbor rake leaves, shovel snow, carry in groceries. Vincent will hold a door for girls/women and actually say "Ladies first". They are respectful of others and others belongings. They know the value of hard work. They would rather be outside playing than inside playing a video game. They are good kids. And I am blessed to have them.

Ok so that was my rant - on the lighter side:

I set myself on fire at work tonight. Sadly I didn't even realize it until I smelled something burning. The item burning happened to be my shirt, I was very happy I wore two shirts today, if not I'd have burned the crap out of myself.

Teacher work day!

There is no school today. So I have been breaking up arguments since I woke up. However I mentioned that if they didn't stop grumbling at each other I had plenty of work for them to do. Then the grumbling was directed at me, which I can cope with :) And they did do their chores so it's all good!

I am trying to get everything ready for Halloween. Lilly wants to be vampire (easy peasy), Bella wants to be a princess(a friend of mine made her costume) and Vincent...well as usual he doesn't want to be something standard, he wants to be Alice Cooper. I don't think it should be too tough...however Alice Cooper has long black hair and Vincent has short blonde hair. Naturally I have bought a wig for him, now if I can just keep the cat from playing with it, it should be ok.

I still have a ton of stuff to get ready. I am the youth coordinator for the Moose Lodge here so most parties fall to me to plan and get done. Working nights does not make this easy to do. But I'm certain it will be fun, because these kids enjoy the parties every year. I know MY kids can enjoy a trip to the grocery store. That is one great thing about them, they have a love of life and enjoy just about everything about it!

Right now we are all fighting colds which stinks. Coughing and welding is NOT a good combination! But then again 3 kids with green boogery noses aren't always a good combo either! But it will pass...I always remind myself of that....most of the difficulties will pass. Some not always a quickly as others though :)

Dirt is not so dull

Tilled the garden under yesterday. We didn't realize how wet the dirt was and it took WAY longer and was a mess. But it's a task that is done.

Today I am trying to discover where my house is under all this clutter. Rumor has it we have a floor somewhere around here. I'm trying to confirm that! I swear since I started working nights the house has gone to hell in a hand basket. One would think after a while things would fall into place but I have to say they are not and sometimes the chaos is just nuts.

Lil is currently working on her "landforms" homework. Once I got her focused she is just going to town. However getting her to start it was a nightmare. But she is doing it and what she's making is really cool, I love seeing her mind work!

Bella and I have been having the battle of the wills today. I swear that girl is going to be the future dictator of Cuba someday! I hear comments about how she and Lil will be such heart breakers someday. Lil's going to be a heart breaker, Bella is going to be a ball buster! That girl is going to tell a guy what's gonna happen, when it's gonna happen, and how it's gonna happen and if he doesn't like it she'll kick his tuchas! (She gets this from her momma you know :) )

Vincent and Greg are at a city surplus auction today. Vincent has explicit instructions to tackle his dad if he tries to bid on the SIREN I saw on the auction bill. Now granted Vince is MUCH smaller than his father, but he is a tenacious little bugger. BUT I think he wants the siren as much as his dad does. GOD HELP ME!

Otherwise not much is going on - I'm dull...but I really LIKE being dull. When my life is exciting it's not usually in a good way.

I really need to update more.

But sometimes I am just to lazy.

I find myself less and less on the net lately. We have been out hunting every weekend for 3 weeks now. I had Vincent in the tree stand with me one time but he got so excited when we saw a deer he spooked her. But he's only 6 and it does make your heart race!

Right now I am having a tough time with Lil. She has developed the "tude" which is making me crazed. She's 8 going on 30. But the thing that is really grinding my gears is how disrespectful she is becoming. She knows that treating people with respect is so important. But we're getting there, I keep the lines of communications open.

I have begun to feel a bit guilty about going back to work. During the week I really don't see Lilly and Vincent very much, and lately with hunting I haven't had much time to spend with Lilly. Which could be the cause of some of her acting out too. She and I are going to have to do something fun for just the two of us. Honestly I have continued volunteering at the kids school for the afternoon crossing guard so I at least see them before I go to work every day. But I just feel like I'm missing out on things that I shouldn't be.

But I am still going to conferences at the end of the month. I didn't get to meet the kids teachers at the beginning of the year, but I do trade emails with them, so I'm getting updates. But I am used to being able to attend everything they did, and not having that joy is making me a little bummed out. Oddly enough a titch jealous of Greg too, as he gets to do more with the kids now. I had always wanted him to be more involved in the day to day things with their lives, but now that he's here more I am envious.

Work is going well, I had my 3 month review and was given a decent raise. I don't mind working nights (as I've always been a night owl), other than missing my kids, and I enjoy everyone I work with as well. I never really thought I would enjoy welding as much as I do. We are a little slow right now so there isn't any overtime, and it's not looking good for it until the first of the year.
I could live without all the burns I've managed to get. I finally gave in and bought leather sleeves - it's sort of a half jacket, but my arms have not had a burn in some time. I did set myself on fire the other day though, I didn't notice my jeans were frayed. A piece of slag hit them and poof, but sadly I didn't notice until it'd burned up past my ankle. Oh well the chance one takes when they play with fire for a living.

That's about it in a nutshell...I swear I'll keep up on this a little better.

What the heck?

Todays date is April 25 correct? Then WHY does it look like December outside of my front door. Allow me to tell you why, it would be due to the 6 inches of SNOW falling from the sky! Two days ago it was in the upper 70's and now it's barely above 30. Very, very, very tired of this.

I want to be digging in my flower beds and planting my vegitable garden. I would like to be BBQing this evening, rather than stoking the fire. Oddly enough it is going to be in the upper 40's tomorrow and the snow will most likely all melt.