Dear Santa...

Quote of the Day

If you don't like 'potty-talk' perhaps you should skip over this particular post but I just can't help sharing this with you. It is, like most of these 'Quotes', from my darling 3 and half year old son...

S: "Mom! I pooped!! ... The big one is the mom and the little one is the baby... see?!"

Life's a Beach

It was beautiful, sunny and warm yesterday so the 'girls' were out soaking up some rays. In order to keep them off the patio so that I didn't have to look at their pitiful faces looking in at me saying, "let us in because we're pathetic" I moved their chair cushions out to the sunny south side of the house and there they stayed all afternoon warming their cold blood!

Quote of the Day

The boy and I went to town today to do a bit of running around...

S: "Hey! I wanted to listen to that song!"

Me: "I didn't touch it, the song was over."

S: "No it wasn't!"

Me: "Yes , it was."

S: "Liar, Liar fur on fire!"

Hahahahaha!

Quote of the Day

"I don't want to eat the pasta! I just want to eat the vegetables!" S said at dinner tonight.

Fine! I can't keep up with this kid's likes and dislikes!

Brrrrr!

When F got off the bus yesterday her bus driver said there was a chance school would be cancelled due to the expected overnight low of -33. Well she was severely disappointed when school was not cancelled because it was only -28!

We get this funny patch of frost on our dining room window when its really cold and F stood there this morning scratching a picture of a mad girl and a school with an 'X' through it to show her disgust with having to get ready and go.


The herd waiting for their breakfast. They were actually shivering. I feel really bad for them! It is positively nasty out there!
And yet... so beautiful at the same time!

Hope you are warm where ever you are!

Millet Flat Bread

I bought Millet flour for this recipe months ago in anticipation of trying these but never got around to it. Today I made them and was happy I did because they were so good!

The recipe comes from a little booklet called Whole Grains in Motion that my mom picked up for me at her local health food store. It has lots of great recipes in it including a granola recipe that my kids love!

Millet Flat Bread

2 cups millet flour
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk or water(depending on desired consistency)
1/2 tsp cumin seed powder
1/4 tsp turmeric(optional)
2 TBSP sesame seeds
1/4 tsp red chili powder
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 TBSP Olive oil for frying

Mix together Millet flour, whole wheat flour and buttermilk or water. Let batter stand for 2 hours. Add spices and mix. Warm oil in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Cook batter in pancake sized pieces for about 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Let cool. Serve with yogurt or chutney.

I ate mine with a dollop of mango chutney! Yum!

Old Man Winter has arrived

Old Man Winter has arrived in a flourish of white and freezing temperatures! Only last Saturday were we enjoying 9 degrees, today it is -15 plus wind chill. Not that I'm complaining though, I was ready for winter to be here any way.


Both Guard Dogs have decided they are off-duty.
Cows in my neighbor's field; sometimes they are spread out like this, other times they look like a group of Emperor Penguins huddles together against the elements.
My own girls. They don't seem to mind especially since I'm feeding them hay and they don't have to walk anywhere to find food.
Braving the cold to see if it has stopped yet... nope not yet.
The rest of them hanging out inside the coop.

Dexter is wondering what possessed his Chihuahua ancestors to leave Mexico.
At least I'm still getting lots of eggs! Hmmm eggs for dinner? I think so!

Guard Dog Off Duty

Indi is off Guard Dog Duty these days on medical leave. A couple days ago I noticed she had some red on her belly and I made her lay down so I could take a look. She had a gash by her back leg that was clearly an injury from trying to gallop through the strands of barbed wire that line our property. She's pretty well been on bed rest since in hopes that if she stays still it will close up on its own.

She kind of looks like she's enjoying bed rest doesn't she? Eyes bright, tail wagging. She also likes to go to the sliding glass door and stick her tongue out at Zama and say, "na na na na na naaaaa!"

Christmas Craft Project # 1

The kids and I had planned to go to Sylvan lake today to deal with some issues I'm having with our new tenants(that's a whole other story) but this morning plans changed leaving us at home instead of on the road. After all the craziness I've been dealing with the last couple days I decided that it would be a great day to do some crafting. Unfortunately we don't do a tremendous amount of 'crafting' in this house so we needed to make a trip to Walmart to pick up a few things. 'A few things' turned into $31.00 worth of pipe cleaners, candy canes, googley eyes, foam paper and ribbon.

But it was worth it because not only did the kids enjoy this little project but I had the added bonus of them being 'hopped up' on candy cane sugar well into the evening!


F working very hard putting the stripes on her candy cane cats.
The finished product

The cats are made by cutting circles(body) and cat heads out of foam sheets(we used Elmers foam sheets.) I placed a foam square in between the head and body to make it stand out. The candy cane is hot glue gunned to the back of the cat. A red ribbon adds the finishing touch. Super easy and pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Painting

As of December first we will have been in this house for two years. In those two years we have accomplished quite a bit. And by 'we' I mean 'me' of course as the guy who wears the pants around here is wearing them in China.


Last year I vowed to finish painting the upstairs of the house by Christmas so there I was, Christmas tunes blasting while I rolled paint on the walls. This year I vowed to get the rest of the downstairs painted by Christmas. I am so happy to see the disgusting faux finished walls gone. You find me a person sound of mind that thinks this faux finish is nice and I will give you a medal! I had a plumber walk into the house the first winter we were here and look around the back entrance before asking, "is this your handiwork?" in a voice that suggested he thought it was as disgusting as I did!

BEFORE:

(Don't mind the look on the boy's face, he was just as repulsed by the faux finish as the rest of us!)

AFTER:

I'm so glad that project is done! Now what to do next? Hmmm...

A lazy Sunday

It is a chilly but beautiful sunny day here today. I looked out the window and saw the Puddle Ducks grazing outside the kitchen so I grabbed my camera and my gum boots and headed out to snap a few shots of the animals soaking up the morning rays.

As for me, I'm getting through the laundry, baking for the week ahead and hoping to get a bit more painting done on my stairwell. I think a walk is in order for this afternoon to get ourselves a bit of Vitamin D! Have a wonderful day!

Dudie Dilemma

This is my son's 'dudie'. Or rather its his new one. Last night we had a bit of a dudie dilemma in our house hold. One of his two remaining dudies had a tear in it so I had to throw it away and then he couldn't find the other one. We looked all over the house but couldn't find hide nor hair of it so I told him he would have to go to bed without it for the night. This did not go over so well. He has had one of these things since he was born and is not showing any signs of giving it up any time soon.

I got him to bed and tucked him in before sitting down at the computer. About five minutes later I hear, "moooooooommmm."(He likes to really draw the word mom out.) I go into his room. "I can't sleep without my dudie." I tell him he is going to have to because I can't find the other one. Well then the near hysterical crying starts and he is telling me I will have to go to town and buy him a new one like right this minute. Luckily, I remembered that I had saved one of his baby dudies and packed it away with his baby stuff. So there I am tearing his baby things apart to find it. I washed it up and stuck it in his mouth. " 'Kay good night," he says and that was it. *sigh*

I'm sure he will give it up sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later of course, though I doubt he will be walking across the stage at his high school graduation with it hanging out of his mouth.

Halloween Apples!

Well another Halloween has come and gone and I will have the treats kicking around the house for a while to prove it! The kids literally bounced off walls all day yesterday in anticipation of Trick-or-Treating in the evening.


I had them dig the guts out of the Vampire Pumpkin in the morning to keep them occupied and keep their minds off of all the candy they would be consuming later

How I ended up with a boy that will gladly feed worms to the chickens but won't dig the guts out of a jack-o-lantern is beyond me. You can see him saying, "EW!"
F had planned out the design for this years pumpkin weeks in advance. We were having a contest in the truck one day to see who could draw the scariest pumpkin face. She liked mine best.
Shark boy!

Peacock girl!

Finally at 6:00 I couldn't take their bouncing any more and we headed out the door and into town. We picked a neighborhood and let them loose. They were so polite! "Trick-or-Treat!" "Thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" were pretty much the only words I heard out of them for the next 45 minutes.

I pulled the plug on the expedition at 7:15 and we headed home so they could go through their loot!I remember when I was a kid my mom used to always say, "Halloween apples" in a singsong voice at Halloween. I wish that we lived in a world where kids got caramel apples and homemade goodies instead of bags of chips, candies and confections that were made in a factory in China. Oh well.

The Rooster has a name!

I mentioned to the kids yesterday that we still hadn't decided on a name for the Rooster yet. I told them all the good suggestions we had gotten from friends and family and asked which one would suit him the best. F thought about it carefully before saying that she liked Sergeant Cluck the best which was the suggestion from my brother. "What do you think of Sergeant Cluck?" I asked S who was coming up the stairs. "No!" he yelled, "I want to name it Uncle!" "Uncle? You want to name the Rooster Uncle?" I asked with a laugh.

"Yeah! Uncle!" they yelled and proceeded to run around the house chanting, "Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!"

Well there you have it, Uncle makes a name suggestion and they decided to name the bird after him instead. But don't think that that makes Uncle a chicken!