Big Boy Plays Guitar

My Dirty Little Secret

So, you thought you knew me? I write about how good it feels when the house is clean and picked up, and how much easier it is to keep up with the work when things are neat and organized. That may lead you to believe my house is actually clean and organized. HA! Let me surprise you......

 Oh, we aren't done yet.....

 One more.......

Yep. That's pretty bad, huh? The people who know me in person are rolling on the floor right now laughing, and saying "Show them the basement!" One step at a time, folks, one step at a time. Well, I know excuses are bad/no good/useless. And that may be true, but one fact about this here room is that in the Winter, we cannot use it because it gets so cold in there. A glass of water will freeze solid in this room in Winter. I am not kidding. It's one of the perks of living in an 'old' farmhouse ('70's) *I am not calling anyone old here, just stating that for a house, this is considered "older". Lol.* We need to re-insulate it and replace the old windows. And I must say that is the ugliest wall paper and linoleum I have ever seen in my life! What were they thinking in the '70's?! Well, we will get to it eventually..... But for now, here is the after:

I worked on this room all afternoon until 9:30/10:00 PM. The worst part is sorting all the paper. I have to pick each piece up and decide what to do with it. Trash? File? Keepsake? If the answer was "file", I then had to decide what category it went into and if I needed to create a file for it, or if one already existed. UGH. So tedious. And for current lack of bookcases, this collection will have to make home here for now. But at least they are neater and we can read the titles.

I can now use the desk again too!

I threw away a total of one 55 gallon trash bag, two 13 gallon bags, and then some. Plus gave some things away and returned a few things too. I took out the table I had in there for scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked in a while, and the table just turns into a tempting dumping ground for items (shudders) "for now". It never really is just "for now", is it? Stuff attracts stuff. If an area is clean I am more likely to keep it that way. If it is already a mess, I am tempted to just keep piling stuff  up.

Now that this project is out of the way, I need to catch up on laundry (didn't do any yesterday, I was too busy cleaning this room!). I haven't forgotten about the video yet, or the bee hive. I will try to get to it soon, things are too crazy right now. I also need to finish my article for the May issue of the Pamphlet by Friday. I think I may post it here too (thank goodness for copy and paste!). Posts might be a little scarce around here for a little bit (hopefully not too long, I do love blogging) but I need to keep my priorities straight. 

Have a blessed night all!

A Sunday Evening

Sunday breakfast was cinnamon rolls from Dysarts...Thank you Chance!

 The two boys and I had to split one, they are so big!

 Supper: spaghetti, cottage cheese, and beet pickles my brother made us for Christmas, yum!

 I hadn't lit a candle and had background music going in a while, so last night I made a little more effort...

We picked up this CD at Lamb's Book and Bible store in Bangor last Summer. It is nice for Supper background music, as it is all instrumental, no vocals. 

 After we finished spaghetti, I dished up the boys some homemade applesauce and Darlin' read to us from Pilgrim's Progress. We've never read it before, it is a really good story of what a journey through the Christian walk looks like.

Beehive update: It is nearly finished. We just need to pick up some Plexiglas and I'm going to put some water seal on it. Then I'll give you a tour and tell you all about it!

 Also, later on (maybe tonight) I hope to upload a short video of Big Boy playing the guitar (Our computer is slow, it literally takes almost an hour to load a 45 second video, and I don't have time to mess with it right now, lol). I hope you have a blessed day! Enjoy your family, enjoy the signs of Spring!

Fuzzy, Bear And The Potato Wrestler!

We got a couple more critters. Highlander heifers. Big Boy named these as well....

Introducing Fuzzy:

 And Bear:

 "What color are the cows, Big Boy?" "FUZZY!" "Yep, they are. What's this one's name?" "BEAR!"

 And the little potato wrestler!

 He picked out the biggest one!

No tractor? No problem!

 Darlin' is pulling the disk harrow with the skiddah

Then he was able to get the ol' tractor started (it needs a new starter) and he hooked it up to the one-bottom plow and got some sod turned over before dinnah.  Have a good day ya'll!

Of Birds And Baseball

We have lots of Pileated woodpeckers around our place. One came up to the Ash tree right outside the kitchen window and I was able to snap a few pictures...

When we went to town and picked up some supplies we came across a foam baseball and bat set. Big Boy LOVES balls, so we got it for him. Here Daddy and Aunt KK are showing him how to hit the baseball.

 He loves swinging the bat, but doesn't quite get the concept of "keeping his eye on the ball" LOL.

 Breakfast on a laid-back day: Blueberry pancakes, bacon and melted cheese, yum! Sap season is officially over in our neck of the woods. We've waited a long time for fresh, pure maple syrup!! Yumminess!

Song birds this morning, thought I'd share them with y'all. They are so beautiful! They sing every morning, what an awesome way to wake up in the Spring! God is awesome!

~Homemade Hamburger Helper~

Before we get to the recipe, I just want to say that the weather has been so awesome lately. To the point where I was almost surprised to see skeeters in Wytopitlock last night! I can't believe I almost forgot about the pesky li'l' buggers. Ok, now I'll show you the goods.

Homemade Hamburger Helper

1lb ground beef or turkey (you can use just 1/2)

1/2 C diced onions 

1 TBS butter, optional

2 C milk

1 C cold water

2 C elbow macaroni, uncooked (I used ruffles, 'cause that's what was in the cupboard ;))

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt or seasoned salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

3/4 tsp oregano

3/4 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

2 C shredded cheddar cheese*

1.  Brown meat in a skillet over medium heat 'till almost done
2. Add onions and cook 'till tender
3. Drain on paper towels and return to skillet
4. Add remaining ingredients except cheese
5. Stir to combine
6. Bring to a boil
7. Reduce heat, cover and cook pasta a bout 9-10 minutes (stirring occasionally) 
8. Remove from heat and add cheese
9. Let sit a couple minutes. If sauce is a little thin, it will thicken now. 
10. Serve and enjoy!

*I did not have shredded cheddar, but I had a small can of cheddar soup so I used that and a handful of shredded mozzarella and it still came out great! It tastes just like the real deal! I love one-skillet recipes. This would be good with some veggies or with a garden fresh salad. Even the boys loved it. I cannot remember the site I got the recipe from, but it says the author is Divas Can Cook, lol. So, thank you DCC for the awesome recipe.

~New Farm Additions~

Meet White Henry...

 He is a 6+ week old Holstein steer

When I saw him, I immediately thought he looked like a "Henry".
  Me: "Big Boy, what color is he?" Big Boy : "White!" Me: "Good job, he is white. What do you want to name him?" Big Boy: "White!" Me : Yes, he is white, but what is his name?" Big Boy : "WHITE!" 
    So there you have it. White Henry. He is so cute and he loves his head scratched. :)

Here are the six girls Darlin picked up for us at Tractor Supply....

 Lord willing we will have 30 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes in a week or two! The 5 old hens I have now started laying again a couple weeks ago. We get about 2-3 eggs from them per day. They are a mix of Dorkings, BLRW, GLW and a Black Jersey Giant. All but one of them are 6+ years old. We use a lot of eggs, so I will be glad when the girls start laying! It is much easier to monitor the health of a backyard flock for illness than tens of thousands of birds in a factory house. I want to be able to make cookies with the boys without going all "freak-out Mama" on them if they lick their fingers or a spoon. Our birds free range, eating a delicious diet of grasses, bugs, worms, seeds, fallen fruit and of course chicken feed. So far they are very healthy, happy chickens and they are entertaining to watch sauntering around the barnyard.

Darlin is building our Bar-Top Beehive! I have been taking pictures and will do a post on it soon. Everyone should study honey bees, they are amazing! If you spent some time learning about bees and watching them work, I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible to believe this was all a "big bang".  Truly amazing!

Have an awesome day!

Chicks and Trees and Bees, Oh, My!

Darlin picked up a half dozen of Red Star Sex Link chicks when he was out and about yesterday. I went through the pictures on our camera and downloaded a lot of them in order to have room to tape the boys' reactions when Darlin brought the chicks home. He pulled into the drive way, I picked up the camera and just as I pressed ''record'', it flashed the caption ''battery exhausted" and that was that. I was bummed. I could even think of anything I could take batteries from just long enough to record the moment. Oh, well. Some memories we just have to treasure in our hearts, but I had hoped to share with you all too. Moments like these are when it is good to have my memory book/journal. It's the sketch book I bought a few years ago to capture moments like these and the unsung beauty of everyday life. I kept two of them when I was a teenager and my siblings were really young. The stuff they said as little ones and toddlers is so funny, yet would hardly be but a faint echo in the past had it not been captured on paper.
     I was recently talking with a dear friend about baby books. I disclosed that I felt guilty because I had not kept up with them, and could not remember things like how much a loaf of bread cost and what the headlines in the local paper were when they were born. I have decided to make my own baby books, without complete teeth charts (I know when they got their first teeth, come on, a little grace here! Lol) Darlin suggested a binder so I can move pages around and such. Brilliant. Now I just need a cook, nanny and maid for two weeks while I work on them! Ha, ha. There just never seems to be enough time in a day. Not to mention that by the time I dig out my scrapbooking stuff, clear the table and get set up, nap time is half gone!      While I do think it is important, the interruptions are more important (usually). For example, about a week ago I had Little Boy settled in the play pen with a bottle and some toys and Big Boy up at the table with me to color while I wrote a page in my memory book. I pasted a few magazine clippings on and a couple stickers to decorate it, wrote the date and then the phone rang. The caller was a lonely, elderly relative who'd lost their soulmate years ago. They go days sometimes without seeing a soul. This was the third day in a row that they had called. And they almost always talk for an hour or more. About ten minutes into the conversation Big Boy was all done coloring and had moved on to emptying the cupboards and Little Boy was verbalizing his readiness to join him. Was that some valiant sacrifice on my part? Hardly. My attitude was way off. I was being selfish and impatient. Do I remember what I was going to write about that day? No. In fact, the book is sitting on the shelf with the old date on the blank page. But does that person remember how it felt to have someone to talk to? Most likely. To my shame I never seem to grasp these concepts in the moment, but only afterwards. Anyway, what a rant I hadn't planned on giving!

So, we have chicks, and we hopefully will be getting some Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks in a week. We planted our peach and apple trees yesterday, between our Crab apple and Wolf River trees. Our berries should get here early May. We just may be getting some honey bees too! Darlin has been looking at plans to build a Top-Bar bee hive! He knows a guy that will be selling bees through next week. I'm so excited, I've wanted honey bees for 16 years! Lord willing, we will get some.

  Have a splendid day, friends! And why not try hanging your laundry out to dry on these sunny days? You'll save electricity (or propane) and your laundry will smell amazing! Not to mention there is something therapeutic about hanging laundry in the sunshine while the Spring birds are singing everywhere!

~HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY LIAM!~

Brothers

Big Boy likes hitching a ride on Little Boys walker. 

The two of them go tooling all over the kitchen! Little Boy thought I was going to pick him up, hence the look I'm getting while taking their picture!

 Ahwah.

 Kisses from big brother!

 Moon Sand : 8 cups of flour, 1 cup baby oil. The second time I made it I used 1-1/2 cups oil, we think that worked better. Darlin' found the recipe on Facebook. Big Boy LOVES it.

 He loves playing trucks.

 And water colors.

 My little spaghetti lover!

 He would eat spaghetti at ever meal if I'd give it to him!

Playing cards last night after supper. 

Have a good day y'all!