All or nothing

We had nothing on our calendar for this weekend.  Which was something I was very happy about after the last couple of weeks.  I had a list.  Jim had a list.  The kids had anxiety over the lists.  Kidding. Only kidding!   Yesterday I hopped out of bed, started the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, helped the girls with chores, oversaw the start of rebreeding the rabbits (- hoping for better outcome than last time), and cleaned the filtration for the turtles.  Jim had to go to a memorial service for a co-worker and texted to offer bringing home lunch (there was a food truck at the memorial service - odd but whatever-). That is when I made a huge mistake.  I stopped moving.  I sat down, ate lunch, and the next thing I knew I had been talking to Jim, half watching the NFL Draft (which I definitely wasn’t interested in), and vegging out for 2 or maybe 3 hours.   Whoops!   Should have eaten while standing up I guess.  It was honesty exactly what I needed I think!   I did have a moment of panic when I realized Madison and  Andrew were pulling in the driveway, it was 3 pm and I was still in my pj’s!   I grabbed a quick shower and then realized that they were here to hang out because Evelyn was playing at the neighbor’s house!   Andrew, Madison and Jim went fishing and I stayed on pick up the kid duty when the neighbors got sick of her….which they never did!   Upon returning from their fishing trip, and realizing the kid had been over  there for 5 hours, they finally dropped her off.  She had so much fun!   Jim then decided that it was a good night to burn stumps and drink beer.  The kids had to roast up some marshmallows.  It was a nice evening to hang out and be outside!      

This morning after church, I still had part of yesterday’s list, and so did Jim.  I asked the kids to help and we accomplished so much!

Goat castration - check

The rest of the rabbit breeding - check

Planting some trees I got (for free) - check

Got the tillers out and   running (thank you Preston and Andrew!) 

Tilled up the patch where I want to plant strawberries, tilled up the garden  check and check

House is mostly clean (ish), back patio cleaned off, laundry done, Jim’s firewood picked up and   stacked,  Jim got some weed whacking done, we had Sunday dinner with the kids, talked a little to the ones who live a ways out, and played with the grandkid.  Also took care of a school issue (I hope), updated the calendar, located pool equipment and worked on a new project that I am planning with the ex turtle tank.   It was a great day!   We are all pooped, but I feel like today we worked together to get so much done and tonight I am going to bed content with life.  

I only wish the weekend had a day in between Saturday and Sunday!   

The most exciting thing of all?  I discovered asparagus coming up on the asparagus patch that Preston and I planted a couple of years ago!   It came up after we planted it, did not come back last year (I was sad) and now low and behold- asparagus!  I am leaving it to go to seed.  Next year, no matter what, I am eating it!   It took everything I had to not pluck it up and cook it today!  

Sometimes Facebook memories get me in the feels. This was from the year Cameron decided to order a tux off of Amazon.  It was a tiny bit small, but arrived only a day or 2 before prom (in a Barbie sized box I might add).  We spent a lot of time getting the wrinkles out.  He had to walk sort of stooped over and kept his elbows bent so you wouldn’t notice it was a little cozy on him!  It still makes me laugh.  

Evelyn is very excited about Tball this year!  Andrew is her team’s coach.  She was concerned that they were practicing and she didn’t have her shirt yet!  I love this kid!  She also wanted to go on the slide, but a while back she slid down and ended up hitting her head, so now we have to hold her hands.  She’s got these 2 men wrapped right around her little fingers!   As it should be.  

Weekend may be over, but this is the last full (5 day) week of school!   We got this! 

REtirement

It is official....I REtired from teaching Religion Ed.  Last night was my official last night as an RE teacher.  I expected to be a little sad about it, but honesty, all I feel is relief at this point in time.  I had a good run....somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years.  I have no idea how many kids I taught.  I have no idea how many lessons I conjured up at the last minute.  I have no idea how many of the kids I taught are even still practicing their faith.  I do know that I enjoyed teaching, I have loved being around the kids, and I appreciate all of the people who I taught alongside, and those who have selflessly given of their time to teach my children.  Since it is unlikely that I will ever actually retire from working (because let's face it, I have seen my retirement statements), I am living this one up!  :)  

We had a little picnic in the park for the kids, and I did a ridiculously bad job of taking pictures.  Saige got an award for good attendance.  The woman in the above photo, whose face you cannot see, the one handing Saige her "prize" is Monica.  She is the DRE for the Scranton and Osage City churches.  I will never be able to say enough good stuff about her.  She is a true example of love, patience and desire for people to know the goodness of faith.  We are so lucky to know her!  She literally taught Saige for 4 years, and Saige absolutely loves her.  I will be sad to not see her every week!  

Saige and Harper will now both go to Confirmation readiness class.  I think Mallory and I are going to tackle this project together.  I am feeling excitement at the idea of having all my children done with their sacraments....at least the ones that were my responsibility as a parent to see them through!  It might be a premature excitement, but I am feeling good about it anyway.  

It is good that we are finishing some things, as when I got to my car after the picnic, I realized that I had about 400 missed text messages.   Switching gears in to ball practices, upcoming ending the school year events, band year-end dinners, and a few other things that mean my focus is about to change to all things summer.  

Sunday night blues

The weekend is over and we definitely did not get enough time to finish all the stuff we needed or wanted to.  Of course, we gave away Saturday, so that did nothing to help.  

Today, we decided to buy a lawnmower.  Jim has been looking and researching and attempting to find a good used one, and talking about it for quite some time.  We have had fixer-uppers and have resorted to push mowing most of the time for the last couple of summers.  I don’t mind helping to mow, and I don’t even really mind pushing, but our summers tend to be  a mess of running and we never seem to finish mowing out here.  Because of the rattlesnake/copperhead population I feel that letting it go all natural is not really an option. I was super happy when Jim landed on this mower that was on some sort of spring sale!  I was so amused when Jim, Andrew, Preston and Quincy went to unload it….there stands Evie on a large rock shouting “hey Quincy- how about you help!” Sassy much?   What would we do if she wasn’t around to give us directions?   

Of course she had to make sure it runs ok for us too!  

Andrew asked Jim and Preston if they wanted to go fishing.  Jim originally said no, so Preston and Andrew went without him.  Jim ran to get the mower and the next thing I know Madison is showing me a photo of him with a fish he caught.  I guess he changed his mind!  I’m glad he got to go. He likes to fish and should get to do it more.  

I believe the Florida crew goes back to Louisiana tomorrow.  I’m sad for their vacation to end, but not getting pictures of the beach, dolphins, and all sorts of fun will definitely be better for my jealousy.  I do hope they had fun and that their trip back is safe!  

The bad news is we have to get back to the schedule tomorrow.  The good news is we are getting wickedly close to summer break!   Now if someone could let Kansas know so we can turn off the dang furnace that would be appreciated!  

Garage sale day

It is city wide garage sale weekend in Overbrook. I know I have written about this before, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people will show up to buy other people’s old junk.  Ahem treasures.  

The 4-H club runs a sale as our one major fund raiser per year.  We do it like this - ask the community and the club members for donations.  Tell them no clothing (because that gets too overwhelming).  Have a drop off time.  Serve food.  Never price any of the donations - just ask for a free will donation.   Watch people struggle with their conscious because they want to pay $1 for something they know good and well is worth more, but they don’t want to rip off a bunch of kids. Or the opposite- the “I was in 4-H as a kid here is $20 for an old cup.”   

Are there people who will rip off children?   Absolutely!  But the generous ones far outnumber them.  Plus, everything was donated, so if we get $1 for something we didn’t have to purchase, we are still ahead right?   Not to mention, if they haul it away, we don’t have to!  I have never seen the sale make less than $1200, and today was no exception.  

One thing I don’t think I have done at my years of garage sale service is freeze my buns off like we did today!  It was a lovely 34 degrees with a brisk breeze.  It was brutal.  At one point I thought i saw the grim reaper, and I almost ran out to welcome him because I was cold and delirious!   Turns out, it was not, in fact the reaper, it was a nice Amish woman who was selling baked goods in the building next door.  She was wearing her bonnet and a cape style coat!  Which is how guilt caused me to buy her baked goods and bring them home.  That guilt cost me a lot of money, but I did get a couple amazing pies out of it!  

I was very proud of our club kids today!  They were amazingly helpful and worked hard.  I know they were cold, but I didn’t hear many complaints.  I do know Casey’s sold a ton of hot chocolate though!  Preston and Quincy had to work at their weekend job, but they did one heck of a good job last night cleaning the building, setting up tables and carrying donations before I even got there.  Harper and Saige worked  all day today helping with organization, putting together food orders, and making change. I was so proud of them!  

Today was also the Overbrook fishing derby.  Evelyn was sooo excited about it!   Yesterday, she asked me if I was coming to watch her fish.  I told her I would come for a little while, but that I was also helping with a garage sale.  

I took a couple of breakfast burritos and ran over to watch her.  If I thought it was cold at the garage sale, which was inside a building, I was wrong. It was cold at the lake.  Outside, with the wind whipping over the water, it was Absolutely miserable!  Evie told me she was cold!   She was happy to hold a breakfast burrito because it warmed her hands up!  Harper and I made it about 10 minutes before we threw in the towel and scurried to the car!   Evie said she caught zero fish!  My mom took Clayton in for his age group, and said he didn’t catch any fish either.  

Jim worked at the fishing derby. They set up some warming stations- grills with hedge burning to stand beside. He said it was pretty miserable and he thought they should have considered moving it back a week or 2.  

Meanwhile, as I’m freezing half to death, I got some beautiful, warm looking photos from the Florida crew!   I was insanely jealous.  Send me some warm air kids!  

As we were cleaning up, I had a couple of phone calls and texts from my lawyer and my engineer at work both telling me my email had been hacked.  I stopped by the office to change my password. I grabbed the girls, texted Jim and we headed for home.  That’s when Jim texted “caught the truck on fire on my way home - happy Matt (the mailman) had a fire extinguisher or I’d have even in real trouble!”   Ummm excuse me sir….what?   Are you ok?  Do you need us to pick you up?  He was at home.  He put the hedge logs they used in the warming stations in a bucket in his truck.  He had poured water on them and thought they were extinguished.  Apparently they were not. He said he was driving along, singing along with Alabama on the radio, when he looked up and saw flames.  Whoops!   Our neighbor girl and the mailman stopped to help (thank God!).  Let’s just say it left a mark. I’m glad it worked out as a shake my head and laugh type of story, rather than a tragedy.  

Also this week, Quincy had a signing day at Washburn Tech.  Her intent is to go into their culinary program during her senior year next year.  I’m excited for her!   The good news is that due to some grants, the first year won’t cost her anything.   She is smart for taking advantage of this opportunity.  Tonight, she and Harper made dinner so she could work on her skills.  They made Chinese food including sweet and sour wings, fried rice and Fortune cookies.   It was amazing!  The one thing that they didn’t warn us about in advance - Harper was in charge of the fortunes.  She decided to make misfortune cookies. This should come with a disclaimer, as I don’t want an STD, Preston wasn’t amused with getting kidney failure, either.  Jim wondered if “you will catch your truck on firel was in the future or in the past!

All over the place

My brain is all over the place..  Last week was a little rough.  This week hasn’t been a lot better, but my mindset is a little more positive, which helps.  

Yesterday, as I was waiting on Evelyn’s bus, I was thinking about an old boss of mine saying if dandelions were hard to grow, they would be considered a beautiful garden plant.  She’s right, although before she said that I’m not sure I had ever given it much thought.  I do remember being paid a couple bucks for picking the yellow heads off for my great uncle Leonard who liked to make dandelion wine.  I also remember tasting said wine and thinking Uncle Leonard was loco.  

Whoops got sidetracked tracked there.   I love dandelions.  They are so pretty.  They bloom when it’s a cold spring, they bloom when it is hot.  They are pretty, medicinal, edible, and extremely hardy.  They also provide some of the first food for bees in the spring, and they have an interesting history.  

But the absolute best part?  They contain thousands of wishes, just waiting to be wished.  

I am not sure if I have covered the topic of the chicken shortage lately, but I like to get some chicks in the spring to replace the hens that will inevitably quit laying as they age.  I also sometimes have raised broilers to put in the freezer.  When I was a kid, my mom always got chickens over spring break, and then we would butcher chickens the first week of summer break.  I will be completely honest, I though "butchering chicken days" was an actual holiday.  I thought all families celebrated it.  We would spend days as a family butchering at my grandmother's house, then my aunts and then ours.  It was a messy, sort of gross job, but for some reason, when you were all in the misery together, it was also sort of fun.  We would start early, work all morning, and then have lunch together.  We would repeat this until all the birds were done, and we would process hundreds of birds that would feed all our families for a year at a time.  As an adult, realizing this was not an actual holiday, and that "normal" people took their birds to have them processed was sort of a relief.  Mostly because my grandfather and father were the guys who took care of dispatching and defeathering them, and well, frankly, I don't have it in me.  Jim certainly doesn't want to be the dispatcher, so we have always just taken them to the locker plant.  Wow - I really am all over the place this week huh?  

Anyway, this year, I started to order some chicks from the hatchery.  Not only have the prices gone crazy, but they were back-ordered until August or September.  I have been looking daily, when the hatcheries send me their "daily specials" and I gotta say, none of them have been that special.  I have also been watching at the local feed stores during their chick days, but they sell out faster than I can get there.  I have been a little discouraged.  I decided we had enough chicken in the freezer leftover from last year that we would be ok without raising any, but I still wanted to get a few pullets for eggs.  I finally gave up, bought some fertile eggs from a friend, and made an agreement with my maintenance man to give him my eggs to set, and he could keep half of whatever he gets to hatch.  I was hoping to get a few that way.  Low and behold, my boy had some vacation time he had to use or lose, and he took a few days off this week.  Since he was going to town, I loaded him with a couple of my errands.  He called me from Tractor Supply yesterday and was happily telling me they had a whole bunch of chicks.  He listed off the breeds, and I told him to surprise me!  He did good!  We have 6 leghorns, and 6 golden comets.  Evie was elated!  Of course, so was Jerry - that dang cat tried to eat the bird right out of her hands.  Quincy was home "sick" yesterday and helped me transform Preston's rabbit cage into a wonderful brooder for some cute little chickies.  They seemed really good in there, and we were able to rob the heat lamp from the baby goats so they were warm, cozy and eating!  I am so happy!  My maintenance guy told me that he had 10 chicks hatch, so we will be getting a few more in the next couple of days, which will be perfect timing!  

Last night, Saige and I took off so we could go to the last RE class for this year.  There is a year-end picnic next week, but this is the last classroom time we will have.  I was reflective over the last 20 years of teaching, and I feel good about my decision to quit. We had the class, and I was surprised when asking my kids what they had learned this year they had a few answers.  Maybe they listened more than I thought they did!  As we were leaving, the national weather service noise came blaring through the car's radio (if you know, you know).  They were saying severe storms just to the west of where we were.  As I came around the parking lot, I could see what they were talking about!  I told Saige we were going to try hard to get home, feed baby goats their night bottles and put some blankets over the baby chickens before the storm hit us!  Luckily, since Quincy and Harper were home, I was able to call them, and they took care of the goats and of finding the blankets!  We managed to get the blankets clothes pinned down and everything settled into shelter before the storm hit!  And it was quite a storm!  There were confirmed tornados, insane amounts of wind, tons of rain, and a little hail too!  My poor Mallory hates storms and ended up coming out to sit with us!  Jim got home from helping prep fishing derby prizes just when it opened up and completely poured!  I like a good storm, but prefer them without the threat of tornados.  I admit that I was not amused with the amount of noise these storms produced last night, making it sort of hard to sleep!  

About the time that Cameron and Lauren graduated from KSU last year, Lauren's mom made the move to Florida.  They are currently visiting her.  I admit my jealousy, as I love, love, love Florida!  I sent a list of ocean safety for Cameron - you know - things like NO swimming with sharks, NO playing with jellyfish, and you have NEVER surfed before, so you do NOT know how.  :)  I truly hope they have a great visit!  Lauren's mom invited me to come down anytime.  The woman doesn't realize that someday I will just show up on her doorstep!  :)  

Preston spent yesterday at the league band concert in Prairie View.  He didn't have much to say about it, but I heard they got a I rating, as well as a large trophy!  I am so proud of the band program.  The band teacher had surgery to remove cancer from his kidneys less than 2 weeks ago.  To see him up, conducting and traveling with his band is nothing less than amazing.  I absolutely love what he has done for my kids, and for the program as a whole.  Sometimes you are just blessed with amazing people dropping into your life, and this is a great example of that.  

Since I am all over the place, I am adding more randomness to this post.  Spring in Kansas....is the epitome of frustration.  I crave warmth, sunshine and green plants.  I am done with being cold, jackets, socks, and jeans.  Yet, here I am, stuck in a state where the weather is anyone's guess.  One day it was 87, the next is 55, the next is 26.  Get your bipolar self together Kansas!  The red bud trees, the roadside flowers, and the greenish trees say it is time for consistently warm weather to arrive!  

Daisy Pagie agrees with me!

There is more, but this post has gotten a little out of hand.  Suffice it to say, life is moving along at the same rapid pace, my sanity is still teetering on the edge, and my tea is not caffeinated enough!  But life is still good!