Lots of New Snow

I could not get moving yesterday. Maybe it was all the snow falling outside or the lingering twilight. Or the fact that my stomach felt queasy and I was tired. Maybe just a combination of everything, but it wasn't a very productive day.

I remembered to go to the feed store a couple of days ago for these critters. I did not, however, remember to ask the boys to unload it for me. Lucas and I used a sled and hauled one bag over. I'll get them to do the rest.

My chickens were refusing to cooperate and hold still for photos. Busy bodies.

This is their temporary shelter until the coop is done. Sunday a in/out door (bottom right corner) was cut and I think the insulating was finished. Now to sheet the interior, paint and put down the flooring. So much work!

Lucas and I made chocolate chip cookies. Finished with 4 dozen of which half were promptly eaten when the boys got home.

Met the boys at school to do half an hour of open gym with their high school team and then it was over to their IYB game. I love watching the boys play, but do know how many more games I'll drag the family to. Players are ranked 1-4 and split over the teams. One of our #1 players in injured and out for the season. It completely takes us out of being competitive. (Last night was like a 30-point loss when it should have been a close game). If the league won't let us pick-up another good player it's really a waste of time because the boys are just screwing around. I can't see dragging three other kids to the gym for "play time". Besides it drives me nuts to watch them mess around and develop bad playing habits. It's just a bum deal all the way around.
After the games we ran to Office Max to pick up a small computer table for Nick and grab some groceries. Got home at 9:00pm to finally have dinner! Relaxed with a little television and hit the sack at midnight. Looking forward to a more productive day today. Or not.

A Full Day

Today was a full day. Once I got going. I got Elijah up at 6:20am and then Nick up at 7:20. By 7:30am I went back to bed and didn't get up until 10:45am. Ug! The dark in the mornings has me in hibernation mode.

Lucas is "reading" his "map" for the cookie cutter ABC's.

Remember the drawers I cleaned out? Well, here's the hats and gloves left over. Sorted and took care of that mess. The blue one? It was Nick's when he was five. That makes it a 12-year old hat. (I don't get rid of anything, do I?).

Got the air hockey table cleaned off and then moved behind it. Tents, summer stuff, totes of toys... things deposited and not taken care of.
The only thing I left was a tote full of games. (Until we are done building and there are shelves I'm going to store stuff in totes where it can stay clean). Hope to get the boys to move the freezer outside this weekend. It is blocking a door we could be using.


Olivia stayed home today. She cried all night and pretty much all day today, too. The tooth on our right is being pushed out by the adult tooth. Apparently, she either has a low tolerance for pain or it is really painful. She hasn't eaten for two days now. I feel so bad for her. (Her top teeth really aren't black. The only thing she has had has been a little grape kool-aid so that is what you see.) She won't even close her mouth and sucks up her saliva noisily rather than swallow. I sure hope that thing comes out this weekend. If not Monday it is off to the dentist so she doesn't starve herself. She did about 12 pages out of her homework book today. I think it was the only way she could keep her mind off her tooth. And on top of that.... growing pains in her legs. She's just a mess.

Look at all that stuff. Can't wait until my husband has his shop and the shelves are moved to it and not in my to-be living room.
I have totes of rain gear and rubber boats. You know, just in case.

Oh, here's where the gloves and hats ended up. In baskets on top of the drawers. And that is a pile of stuff to go upstairs or outside. About half of it got taken care of. The totes of toys have to wait until I go make room for them.

Took some time to make homemade potato and ham soup. It was my first time and it was so good. I think I could get into making soup!

I put the green on to finish up this Irish flag hat for Nick. Then I quickly made the black and white hat for Ladarius (he's on the boys' basketball team and asked if I'd make him a hat, too).


Then I was off to a 9:00pm game. Lucas went with me and cheered for his brothers. It was so cute. Look at the sweat on Elijah. Those boys were working hard. The kid Nick is defending was a huge ball hog. His team had more talented players than we did, but this kid would not pass the ball. He took the shot at least 12 times in a row when I quit counting. If he would have been a team player they would have beat us, but he wasn't and we won by 15.


No exciting photos tonight, but I like this one because it has both of my boys in it. Their one time to be on a team together. They have no idea how much it means to me!

Well, we're sneaking up on 1:00am pretty quickly. I have lots of stuff I'd like to do tomorrow plus the boys have two games! My days are full. I'll be glad when it's full of fun and not work! :)

A Windy One Today

The sun might be shining, but it was windy and cold (like 42* cold).

The flowers are all dead and pretty much frozen in the dirt so it's now a lot of work to clean out the beds. I have four more and the entire ditch to do. Today I dug up the dahlia tubers. I couldn't believe how big some of them were ~ like the size of a cereal bowl! I can't believe I grew them from seed. I had to wash the dirt off so I wanted to use the hose. I can't remember the last time I was that cold. It's been five hours and I still have the chills. I hate being cold and wind is the worst. (Seriously, today in the garden was worse than -20 with the constant blowing).

Here's my little helper. Someone should tell him it is cold. I don't even get kids. I was bundled up and miserable. I couldn't get coats on the little ones for anything. They just kept telling me how hot they were. To be a kid again.....

Nick build me another compost bin today. I hope to finish cleaning the beds tomorrow. Still have to take down and store 15 hanging baskets as well. Plus, there is a ton of stuff around the yard. Oh, and have to mow the leaves. And rake the pens. Actually, I'm really not whining about the work....just the wind making the work so cold and miserable. The forecast has sun at least through Tuesday which I don't consider 40* sun, but at least it isn't rain. I think we'll get it all done.

Dipping Temperatures

Yesterday, at little before 10:00am, I headed out to clean the pond. Any morning it's going to be a day too late. Well, at 33* my hose was frozen because even after all these years I can't remember to drain it at night.

The wind was blowing and it was downright cold. I'm just over the hill so this time of year the sun is late hitting my property. It was about 2:00pm before it was high enough to keep me warm (that's just past the power pole). I worked on pulling plants until my hose thawed at 11:45am.

That's when I set to tackling this mess. My goal was to get the leaves out. I know that more will blow in, but at least there won't be so many in the Spring. Under the leaves is green slime. When it gets cooler and no one was swimming anymore we quit treating the water so lots of algae grew. The entire thing needed pressure washed.

It really doesn't matter that it is rubber and we don't have snakes in Alaska, it still startled me.

It took 3.5 solid hours of pressure washing to get all the way around. Then I spent 3 more hours packing the leaves in a 5-gallon bucket out of the pool to the trailer. (You know this if you read the post below).

This photo is from this morning. Doesn't it look like winter? I got most of it done. There was a couple inches of water/sludge that didn't get pumped out, but I'm okay with that. It all has to be rewashed, but spending one day now will save me three days in the Spring.

Today's work is to blow the leaves at the end of the pond and around the greenhouse, mow the leaves in the ditch and on the corner, pull dead plants and dig up 200 bulbs. Emily said she'd give me a hand when she got home from school. :)

I took this at 7:30am. Yes, only 23*! I checked a second thermometer and they read the same. Funny though...yesterday it was windy and I was miserable. This morning it was calm, I was running around in a t-shirt and it felt refreshing. Maybe it's just having the weight of the full pond off my shoulders.