TV Dinners

Today is the first of the month. Have you ever gone grocery shopping on the first of the month? Well stop it! Your cashier hates you.

Okay, okay...not hate; but most definately not love. Not even like. Maybe tollerate. If you get under $200 worth, it's tollerance. Over that, it just might be hate. Just a warning.

My kids are running amock again. I think one of them has eaten their dinner...he did ask for more. And I just gave them all their dessert. Frozen strawberry ice cream something. Don't ask me, it's frozen and says it's strawberry. Came in individual cups...I'm not sure what it is.

I've decided for the maybe 1 millionth time that Captain Morgan is my best friend ever.

MY Captain is working tonight. Allllll night. I'm a single mom until sometime tomorrow when he's ready to wake up. Makes for a fun morning/early afternoon of keeping the children quiet while Captain sleeps.

Monster Monkey was riding his skateboard (yes in the house) during dinner. While the others were eating on the floor in front of the TV. While I was on here catching up on my favorite blogs. Yeah, I didn't care much. Told them to eat at the table. He's just got the hang of going straight on the darn thing without falling. Props to the Monkey! That's better than me.

Shorty has the hiccups, and I don't care. I've got the #1 bestest cure of hiccups, though. If you can lift the person....lift them up upside down and shake them. If they laugh, they are cured of the hiccups...if you can't lift the person, you're on you're own...and if they don't laugh when shaken upside down, you're on your own. I guess crying while upside down would work too....

I really don't feel like writing anymore. So I'll leave you with this thought.

I let my kids run amock, but they still aren't allowed to watch Sponge Bob. Which, I think, is the downfall of all Americans in this century, both children and adults. They aren't allowed to watch a whole lot of other things, either. All of which I think should be taken off the airways all together, not just saved to "adult viewing". There's just too much crap on TV these days to be truely helpfull as a babysitter anymore. Damnitall!

What do you think about while you're cleaning? I think blog posts. Yup, I compose blog posts while I clean. Mostly it's about what I'm doing, what I find, and what I find disgusting. Call it a mental play-by-play, or a voice over in one of those weird documentaries.

The mom is then overjoyed after almost breaking her back moving the couch to clean under it. The agony of the shove and the thoughts of disapearing sanity are whisked away by the discovery of the long-lost (enter item(s) here

This inner blog is usually what keeps me going, as well. I tell myself, "Keep it up, just finish this room and you can go post all this neat-o stuff you're thinking". Most of this mental blogging never makes it to the keyboard, and what does often doesn't get past the edit stage, and what does make it far enough to be posted...well it's just much better when it's in my head.

Something must get lost between the point where I think it and the point when I allow myself to sit and type. Probably got swept up and tossed in the trash with a bunch of other things that I probably shouldn't have thrown away, but didn't care about at the moment. Like the perfectly good pencil I didn't see hiding under a piece of paper until it was in the trash. I didn't fish it out.
It'll soon be on it's way to a trash-heap grave yard to someday be decomposed into dirt. In essence, it's dead. So it goes. (and if you know what book that came from, you win 10 big smacks on the back).

While I was being a lazy slacker this morning, catching up on blogs I've missed...while M.M. watched Dukes of Hazzard on DVD, I found out that one of the blogging mom's whose blog I *heart* is 29 years old just like me! The only difference is that she has seven kids, and I have four (okay there's more differences, but hey...if you didn't know that, there's more wrong with you than not being bored enough desprately click off my page (which is a dig on ME, not you, silly))

I lost my point. OH! She's really cool, kooky, has losta kids and is 29. I got 1/2 of a losta kids and I'm 29. Hahahaaa. Okay sounded better in my head....

I seriously could go on for like pages, but I think that's just a by-product of not having anyone adult to talk to today. I'm seriously thinking of calling the operator just to talk to someone who doesn't call me "Mama".....

Cleaning party

Rather than bore you with tales of what has happened in the space of time that I've apparently fallen off the blogoshere (holidays--were good!), I'll just bore you with tales of today's happenings.

I set the kids on chores. We're trying it differently, and it's working well for the most part. I put slips of paper with chores on them in a bowl, and each kid draws out a slip of paper and then does the chore. It's having amazing success! Except for MM, who did 2 chores, then refused to do any more. That's okay I still have 3/4 of my slaves...errr I mean children....working at full speed.

While they started this new chore/cleaning/cheap labor endevour, I decided to clean off my desk. I plead temporary insanity. Cleaning off my desk doesn't just mean clearing a working area on the top. It also means pulling things out of the cubbies and tossing, filing, or putting away everything that has accumulated.

But about an hour later, I'm done (except for dusting it off and polishing it) and I found some amuzing items. First, right on the top of my desk....a piece of dog food. I have no clue how long it's been there, nor how it got there, but it's now back in the dog's dish (hey nothing waisted here).

The second item isn't so strange, except if you consider that it's January and I have cleaned off my desk at least (at most?) once since summer.....a dried up dandilion.

Also in the dark caves of said cubbies, I found 1/2 of a dollar bill. Not a hint of an idea on that one. No signs of the other half.

The most amuzing thing (IMO). I found a panty liner! No not used, you're gross! I remember when MM brought it to me, asking what it was. And I took it away and tossed it in my desk. Hahahaa, memories....guess you had to be there.

After I polish my desk, I just might attack the bookshelf. No telling what I'll find there!

The pile of junk on the other side of the desk is haunting me. I might just unfold one of the table clothes on that pile and drape it prettily over the mess.

As for the kids...they are well through the bowl of "to do" chores! And the house is rapidly getting cleaner. I like this! No need to tell them what to do, and they aren't getting burned out by doing 'their' chores. Although the thought of Shorty trying to take out the trash makes me chuckle. And the look on Bone Head's face when he drew "bathroom trash" almost made me fall off my chair laughing.

They don't know it, but I've a half gallon of yummy ice cream waiting them when they are finished. I think such great effort deserves a reward! Don't you? I mean, the whole house (minus bedrooms) is getting cleaned! Even the pets fed and the dog brushed! And all I did was write some things down! Seriously...we started about an hour and half ago, and there's only THREE chores left to do!

Oh and the desk...the horrible desk. I might have nightmares....seriously....then again maybe not cause of the nice, clean family areas that I now have!

Okay, okay. The reason that we're doing all this cleaning today, and it's so bad...I got a job cashiering at a local whare-house type store. It's a pretty good job, the people I work with are really cool. But, working leaves me so pooped at the end of the day that I can barely get myself home, let alone make dinner, spend time with kids and hubby AND clean house.

*Tales from the kids*

MM found out today that the first 3 letters of his name spells BRA. Everyone had a good laugh on that one. And I must say that I am QUITE proud of my almost 5 year old! He can recognize and WRITE the first three letters of his name and recogizes when the rest of his name isn't right. I'm such a proud mama!

School startes back up on Monday! Shall we all jump up and do the "Go Back to School" dance? I'm gunna!

Just enough energy to....

post these thingies....cause I wanna, and cause I seriously only have enough in me tonight to post these, instead of thinking of something to actually write....*I started a new job on Tuesday-cashier at a local small-time (actually they are big) wharehouse store.

and so...stolen from Seven Seeds (whom I just found and love)

Thursday Thirteen: Thoughts On Babies
1. Babies have to have the most wonderful smell on the face of the earth. Even poopy, pukey, milky and everything else. Their smell is just the best.

2. Babies are wonderful things to have for a while and GIVE BACK!

3. I think a baby's first laugh is what angels sound like.

4. As much as I do NOT want another baby, I still get teary sometimes at the thought that I won't.

5. I sometimes have gas (duh we all do), and that always makes me think of the first flutterings of baby kicks.

6. Sometimes I pray that my husband will someday agree to adopting a baby.

7. I'm about to have 2 new babies to cuddle, and can't wait! (both s-i-l are preggers)

8. I miss reading all the books and articles about being pregnant and having a baby.

9. I have only finished about 1/3 of my first child's baby book. Child #2 has one, that is empty and the other two don't even have books at all.

10. I'd like to be able to say something totally snarky when people ask me "oh wow, are they all yours?" (someday I WILL)

11. I don't miss waking up at all hours of the night, but I miss sleeping with my babies close to me.

12. My youngest is almost 5. He's the child I didn't want (yet), and I cried when I found out I was going to have him. But I wouldn't change things now for all the money in the world. He's my baby, my little man and I love him!!!

13. If it were possible for us to afford 10 kids, I probably would have had more.


AND....stolen, totaly stolen and shamelessly, from Poppy

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. I remember the hours my parents spent putting lights on our real trees, and I don't think it was exactly enjoyable for them. So we got a fake one. But it's got pine tree car smelly things on it! :)

3. When do you put up the tree?This is a source of major contention in my house. I do NOT like my tree up until at the most 3 days before the big day. But hubby and the kids just cannot wait that long! We set it up last weekend. UGH

4. When do you take the tree down? December 30th and NO later!!

5. Do you like eggnog? GOT RUM?? Sure!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I really don't know. I guess it would have been the jewelry box. The one that my son just broke a couple of months ago. The one I had for about 20 years...

7. Do you have a creche? Okay, no clue what that is...so I guess not.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My hubby.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Any of my kids. As long as I can find what I'm thinking about.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Ugh Neither!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas! Family tradition!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? haven't started yet this year...no clue!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope. Things that have done their time in the house get sent to the thrift store...as the previously metioned items did.....

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Orange Juice! Mixed with either champene or vodka...oh and we always have delish cinimon rolls too.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?Clear.

17. Favorite Christmas song? um....It's begining to look a lot like Christmas?

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Stay home. I'm so not up to battleing the hordes on Christmas!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? LOL yeah!!! Got kids, will sing

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, but Captain had been saying "we'll put our angel on top of the tree", don't know if that's a hint. I like our star, it plugs in!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We're allowed to open ONE present on Christmas Eve, which is always the ornament that Grandparents sent (to the kids). Christmas Morning, we eat our OJ (and alcohol) and rolls then open stockings. Then wait a bit for the anticipation to build then open presents.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The stupid toy commericals! UGH! If I hear "I want that" one more time....

23. What I love most about Christmas? When it works out right to have a QUIET snowy walk after opening presents. If it's snowing all the better!



Okay that's it, and that's really much more than I thought it would be. Gosh, I had to THINK! And I'm sure I could have come up with better answers if I wasn't so drunk*...errr I mean tired!

*I'm not DRUNK! I've only had 2 rum & cokes! lol

Thrifty Christmas

My house will be full of crabby kids today. 3/4 of said crabs are in the begining stages of the stomache yuck that I'm just now getting over. Yes I've been sick all this time I've been writing and feeding horses and all that. Feeling much better today, just in time to take care of sickies. Yippeee

Yesterday's trip to pay bills turned out wonderfully!

Despite my stupid moments including, but not limited to: Feed store guy saying I was waddleing. Same feed store guy also asked stupid me "what can I get ya" to which I replied. "I need food" to which he laughed and said...."well we've got candy there, and some juice and soda and some yogurt". Yeah, um horse food, I normally goto the feed store for my groceries. Yeah thanks, it's just me, the waddleing lady who can't keep her places of consumerism straight.
He is a very nice guy, though (the feed store guy), even if he always make me smell something when I'm there. Yesterday it was yummy rose scented goat milk soap.

OH! But the wonderfullness! Monster Monkey was heartbroken after dropping the give-aways off at the thrift store. I mean, the whole nine yards, head hanging, tears just dropping like a storm, the old heartbroken cry. I caved. We went into the thrift store to look for a little replacement toy, to make him feel better.

So, we stood, we looked, we played. I waited and waited and waited. I told him which toy I'd get if I was him. I waited some more. I spied baby toys! **My sister-in-law is expecting! She's due in July, and I'm as excited as a little girl riding her first pony! I get to have a baby and give it back! Words cannot begin to convey my giddiness!** I scooped up all the toys that I really liked. Put a couple back, picked up a few more....ended up spending a whopping $1.75 on these....

As MM kept looking and trying to decide on which toy was the "coolest", my eye caught on something quite close. I tried to stay away, I tried my hardest, I promise!
I kept telling myself that we were only here to get something small for MM, and I'd already gone off that to get the baby toys.
But they were calling me. They were sceaming, I tell ya!

And so...

I came home with this! The sled is all metal and I fell in love with it the instant I saw it! It's about 2 feet tall. I'm not sure where I'm going to put it yet. I never know where I'm going to put anything. Not even things that I already have had up in the past. It's never the same two years in a row. BUT! I think it'd be adorable either in the bathroom, or near my door.

This wall hanging thingy is just wonderful! The snowmen are 3D! Again, NO clue where this is going. I'll either have to take something down, or put up more nails.

About this time the workers of the place came into the area with a large shopping cart and started putting MORE stuff out on the shelves and hangers.

The hordes flocked like sea gulls on a discarded salmon. They came out of the wood-work!

But I was in there, I saw, I grabbed...yes even out of the cart! LOL I asked first!

The ladies didn't have to "stock" half of the things in the cart, they were almost all snapped up by Christmas decoration hungry people like myself.

The snowman is a candle! The hat comes off and the candle is inside. It's never been lit...and I don't think it will be. Mr. Snowman looks a little freaky without the top of his head.

I got a few other really neat-o items but blogger hates me today and I can't upload anything else.

But trust me, they are neat!

I'm waiting a bit and seeing iff SIL wants to come with me back to the thrift store today. I want more!! I think this wonderful find is starting to break the ice, and my grinch-like heart is starting to thaw!

Maybe I'll allow Captain and the kids put up the tree this weekend....

OH! All this stuff, plus a Monopoly Jr game and MM's new toy car came to a grand total of $8.75. This was a garbage bag FULL! I'm going back!

Gone with the Wii-nd

The wind is GONE! *Does happy dance*

Captain told me this last night-travel back with me to the morning of the doggie doo....

Captain "There's a big mess in there, could you clean it up?"

Bone Head walks into family room....."WHO let the horses in?"

I fell on the bed laughing when I heard about this! I then had to explain why it was so funny to me....that I'd blogged about horse poop in the very same room....he ended up nearly falling OFF the bed, laughing. Yes we are easily amuzed.

Last night also brought the conclusion of Sci Fi's Tin Man and a huge let-down. I hate when movies spend so much time working it all up and then the ending is just--blah. It was a good show all-in-all, but I think they rushed the ending to fit it all in *only* three 2-hour episodes. Anyways....

This is what I want for Christmas. Erm...I mean this is what I want to get my children for Christmas. Yeah, that's it. But can we? No sir, we cannot. At least not yet! I'm not ready to give up hope, when Christmas is still 20 days away!

I did a massive search of all stores in the area on Sunday. No luck and very little customer service. It's not even available online. No one has a clue as to when a new shipment will come in.

And so, I wait for the email in my in-box saying that it's available, and hope and pray. Cause if we can't get this, I have NO CLUE what we're getting the kids for Christmas....oh so sad!!!

I figured it up as there's about 20 stores in the area that might sell this item. If each store gets 100 units, that's 2000 units total. In an area that has 200,000 + people. Yeah...that's gunna work.

I really didn't think that it would be that hard to find one. They have been out for a while, right? The rush has (or should have) passed by now, and now it should just be people like me who have finally talked their S.O. into it. (Oh and that took one of his friends getting one(no clue how), and him playing it before he agreed)

Okay, okay I'm sure there are some places out there in cyber-land that still have this in stock...I haven't checked EVERYWHERE! Mostly because I don't have a credit card to everywhere! Just a few places. And no, I don't have a bank card thingy that works as a credit card online. Yeah, I'm living in the Dark Ages, and no it's not an Alaska thing-it's a me thing.

Today is "pay the bills" day, so I get to run around to all the various places and do just that. Oh and drop off the trunk-load of old clothes and toys I have so that I can pick up a little hay. Cause of course, the hay guy hasn't called us back yet, and the trailer we borrow is already borrowed....soooooo

Yeah, this is just fun.

Because I wanna....

Because I wanna just sit here rather than doing the long list of things that I should be doing, cause I actually sorta like these things.....and cause I found (erm clicked into, through another) a cool blog. Thanks to Blackbird

What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now? tag body stuff for men, dove shower stuff for me, baby magic all-in-one stuff for kids
Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? nope
What would you change about your living room? new color walls, new arrangement for couch, new couch, new tv, new curtains, move fishtank-yeah i don't like the living room
Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? clean
What is in your fridge? food!
White or wheat bread? wheat
What is on top of your refrigerator? change jar, my platters and far holding my dusters
What color or design is on your shower curtain? mine's white with tulips, kids' has fish
How many plants are in your home? a few...only three are mine, other 3 are m-i-l's
Is your bed made right now? nope!
Comet or Soft Scrub? soft scrub
Is your closet organized? not at the moment
Can you describe your flashlight? dont' have one
Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? glass
Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? nope
If you have a garage, is it cluttered? yeah, 2+ car garage and can't even fit one in there
Curtains or blinds? both!
How many pillows do you sleep with? just one
Do you sleep with any lights on at night? nightlights in hallways, fishtank light on in dining room
How often do you vacuum? ugh every day
Standard toothbrush or electric? standard
What color is your toothbrush? pink, purple, clear and white
Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? not in the winter
What is in your oven right now? notta
Is there anything under your bed? storage bins for clothes out of season-summer now
Chore you hate doing the most? laundry
What retro items are in your home? nothing, I don't like retro
Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? sorta, the computer is in the family room
How many mirrors are in your home? three
What color are your walls? living room-yellow, dining room-blue, kitchen-blue, bathroom-blue, kids bathroom-green, guest room-cream and brown, hallways-sage green Everything else is white....so far
Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? yeah captain has some, locked up and hidden
What does your home smell like right now? i smell coffee and ferrets
Favorite candle scent? honeydew from party light
What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? none
What color is your favorite Bible? blue
Ever been on your roof? nope
Do you own a stereo? nope
How many TVs do you have? one
How many house phones? two
Do you have a housekeeper? just me
What style do you decorate in? alaskan ranch
Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints?Solid.
Is there a smoke detector in your home? several!
In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? kids, photos, lockbox

Well, wasn't that fun?

I survived going outside! Didn't even freeze too badly...aparently this whole thing about getting real clothes on is a good idea...



It's now fully light out, but the light is sorta a peach color. It's cloudy, it's not the sun making it's morning apearance...which happens often at sunrise. I love that.



Right now it's just freaky. It reminds me of the one time when we were in Georgia and the tornados came. The color that's just not right for what the clouds and sun are doing.



Trying to avoid either sitting in the crawl space or bath tub. There's no tornados here...no tornados.....

Cherry Chocolate Wind

I hate starting things out with weather, but the weather is the biggest news right now. It's freezing! The horrible wind is still here, 20-30 mph but today it feels like -11 out there.

I drove the kids to the bus stop. It's only .10 of a mile there, and it's only 5 feet from my door to the car doors. We froze! Warming up now, since I have cuppa java #2 in my hand-er on my desk. But! The weather report says snow...and warming up. Although not less wind. It's so bad, if a gust hits you in the face, it literally takes your breath away. You don't want to get caught in a long gust, it's bad. And bad enough that it's hard to turn away once you do get hit. Oh and you get hit.

Last year for about 2 weeks, the wind was so bad that it pushed my greenhouse off it's foundation. Pulled the nails and screws right out and pushed it about 2 feet. It also tore off the shed doors, and the stable's shed door. I hope that it doesn't get that bad this year!

Another wonderful by-product of this wind and cold. We woke up to several piles of doggie doo-doo in the family room. I thought I was doing Cody, our pound puppy black lab/shar pei mix, a favor when I didn't let him out one last time before going to bed. Turns out I did myself a DISfavor. Oh well...Bone Head cleaned it up for me! Boys are wonderful!

This picture is not great (Captain took it through the window last spring), but it's cute!

We watched episode #2 of Sci Fi channel's mini series Tin Man last night, and I must say that it's getting better. Although poor Zooey really can't act! I don't know if her acting style is what the directors are going for when they cast her, or she's got some connections...but it's almost painfull to see a pretty good movie with other good actors and then there's her. But, dispite the actors, we will be tuning in again tonight to see more.

Monster Monkey is on another dress-up phase, this time it's "Army Guy". Last one was Superman and before that was a ninja. So now he's dressed daily in mis-matched cammo, and his spiderman snowboots.

He carries his backpack loaded with all the things a 4 year old commando might need (even a much-smooshed PB&J), and carries his Avatar glider stick thingy as his gun.

It's too cute to say, so here's a picture of him...before he found cammo pants too!

He says he wants to join the Army when he's big. I say wow that's great. I know that in a day, week, month or year he'll change his mind and want to be something else.

Come Spring, I'm guessing he'll be Mr. Dare devil again.

One addition I wanted to make to I am...I am not. I am not a decorator, but I love to paint and remodel. We just finished (by we I mean Captain helped for about an hour and then I finished) painting our main bathroom. It's toothpaste blue-I mean SKY blue. Captain is now sketching out what he plans to paint on the walls. Pretty much Arizona. We both grew up there, and we love the colors. It will be a mostly desert scene. He's a wonderful artist (something else I wish I was), and I know it'll be great once he gets TO IT. But for now, I smell toothpaste everytime I walk into the room. Everyone thinks I'm nuts, but my brain sees it and I smell it. Same thing happened when I painted the guest room a wonderful chocolate brown. I smelled chocolate!

Who knows what I'll smell when I plaster the walls in the family room. It's sorta an orange, so maybe pumpkin pie? I'll be sure to report!

Going out to brave the wind now. I must feed the horses, and I really want to do a quick run around the house to make sure there's nothing damaged and nothing else that I missed in my winter prep. I do know there's a wind chime I missed, I hear it...but I'm not sure where it is. At least I'll be able to follow the sound!

If no post later today or tomorrow, I've surely turned into a ME ice-cube. Hopefully a gallon of coffee can thaw me out!

Sorry once again to the neighbors. I think today I'll get totally dressed before I head out.

I am...I am not

I survived November! Now here comes December and all it's wonderfulness...

Yeah, I'm not the gal you'll find in the kitchen baking delectible holiday treats. I'm not the gal you'll find spending hours in the craft room, making the perfect hand-made gift for every extended family member. I'm not even the gal you'll find putting out a trillion holiday trinket decorations.

Nope, I make a few treats..."Puppy Chow" is the only thing I must make every year. It's the Chex chocolate recipe...check the side of a chex box! I'm also not the type to share recipes.

Nope, IF I find a crafty thing that I think I can actually complete, and have a person that will LOVE it, I will do it. But mostly, I'm the gal who goes to the craft fairs and buys other people's hard work. My hands thank me for that.

Nope, I have a few boxes of decorations. Most of them for the tree, itself. I do have zillions of lights...but those aren't my fault. They were left in the garage by the previous owner, and hey, why not use them?

BUT! It's already December, and if you didn't know...it's freaking freezing here in the Last Frontier. The outside lights weren't put up when it was still somewhat warm, so unless we get a warm-up there won't be any outside lights. Sorry folks, ya wanna come do it for me?

So you're thinking, "This girl's not Martha, who is she?" What? You're not thinking that? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

I believe myself to be a moderatly great amature photographer. I didn't pay for the kids' school pictures this year (I'd need to take out a loan for four kids). I'm going to take them myself with my wonderful 35mm!

I am a struggling homemaker, who has the task of doing dishes and making dinner down, but cannot find the right schedule for doing the loads of laundry this family produces.

I am the crazy lady on the road who will take out the trash or dog or feed the horses in my pajamas. There have been many neighbors who get to see my PJ bottoms in the morning. I like to think that the people just down with the little red car prefers the white ones with the green and blue paint splash-like spots. *

I am also the crazy mom who will walk out the door and shout for her kids. Others on the road have bells, whistles or gosh the telephone to wrangle their scattered children. I yell. I like to pretend I'm calling pigs in for their slops.

I suggested to Captain (my wonderful hubby) last night that if we could train the horses to enter doors, we could bring them in the house on nights like last night. ** It was all a wonderful idea until he pointed out that while the manure would be no problem, the urine would. Hmmmm...the tiled floor is looking better and better! Until then, I guess they'll have to be happy enough outside.

The weather...I guess all great conversations either start with, or end up with the weather. At least they do in my world. So, what's the weather, besides freaking freezing? Well, folks, its a balmy 14 degrees out there, with wind out of NNE at 26 mph, with gusts WAY more than that. That all totals a wind-chill factor of -5 and lower. (wind chill is the wind blowing and makes the actually temp FEEL colder). While this is not even close all that Jack Frost can throw at us, it is the coldest it's been so far this winter, and we're not liking it at all!

And so, to combat the little trips that I must make outside to do various chores and things, I make a giant pot of coffee and drink it. Thus ending up jittering all over the house getting some done, but mostly just trying to remember what it is that I'm trying to do.

With that, it's light out enough now to feed the horses, so here I go...I'm sorry neighbors with the red car, my PJ's today are the blue ones, not your favs. ***

* I've never actually MET these neighbors. We've lived here over a year, and I haven't even said hello to them. Course, they haven't said hello to me, either.

**The horses HATE the wind, mostly because it deadens their ability to hear what's going on around them, not because it's cold. They do have a stable, which is always open and available to them, but they will only go in it if it's raining!

*** The thought does cross my mind, that maybe if I actually get dressed before doing outside chores, I wouldn't have to drink so much coffee to stay warm. Hmmmm...but then what would the neighbors gossip about?