My Peacefully Chaotic Life

We had a birthday party to attend today. It was a nice time for everyone there. The girls received goody bags as we left. Candy was tucked inside each bag which they immediately dove into! But they also each had a kite! Well, nothing doing but we had to go fly those kites as soon as we got home! The old, stick in the mud parents were not exactly on board as we had plans on taking care of some needed work. But we were happily proven wrong as we had a wonderful time with our children. Sometimes the work needs to wait in favor of family time. I captured some wonderful pictures. Alas, striving for anonymity requires some sacrifice so as much as I would love to share some of the cutest ones (such as LadyBug with her cheeks puffed up attempting to blow her kite when the wind would not cooperate!) these pictures will have to do. And between my slow computer and dial-up internet it will have to be just two this time!

This may be an odd question but here goes: Have you priced birds lately? Pet birds, have you priced them? We had to go to "the big city" tonight and one errand was to run by the pet shop for something. We let the children look at all the animals while we were there because it is after all cheaper than the zoo. A yellow canary was $99.99!!!! And the sign said they are hard to tame, do not get along with other birds so they are best to be left alone, and only the males have a pretty song to sing. So with my luck I would spend $100 only to get home with a psychotic, anti-social female canary who can't sing!

I have had the question posed "When do you find the time to blog?" Well, my usual time is late evening after the children go to bed. Unless Husband unknowingly gives them Dr. Pepper instead of the caffeine-free Root Beer he thought he picked up. In which case, children going to bed is pretty much unheard of and I just blog. :o) Obviously the baby went to bed on time. He's not quite ready for soda! (Although I once knew a woman who regularly put Mountain Dew in her baby's bottle. She had a 4.0 GPA but was a little slow in the parenting skills.) LadyBug finally gave it up at 10:00 PM. The FlowerChild is on the couch with her dolls rambling incoherently! Not really but she is a hoot when she gets going in her own little world with them! My day was busy as usual. We got in quite a bit of homeschooling today with extra lessons in Math and Reading. So maybe the breakfast is helping! I got some daily cleaning done. Considered doing laundry but decided tomorrow would be a mu...

Meet Jack. He is our sweet elderly black lab and the FisherMan's devoted companion. We have had him since the day someone dropped him off on our dirt road when he was just a little bitty adorable puppy. That was back when The GuitarMan was still little and adorable (yes, you are still adorable but not so little :o) So we could not resist that cute little furball or our son's pleas of "Can we keep him?" Jack has had a rough week. He injured his foot somehow and has been in a lot of pain with it. Good thing he has all of us to cater to him and spoil him until he felt better! We have given him pain medicine, wrapped his leg in a heating pad, and he has slept with the girls under the covers, no less all week. Think that is something? You should have seen us in the Spring when his leg was broken and casted after he was run over (he was asleep under the vehicle, which is something he has never done!). The vet wasn't so sure that he would make it at his age. I was big,...

I mentioned yesterday that I was trying to prepare a family breakfast each day. I have wanted to start doing this for a while for several reasons. It is such a nice way to start the day together. It also helps us to establish more of a concrete routine. It is an easy way to flow into family devotions and homeschool time. The children are more cooperative and settled when their tummies are full. A light breakfast means constant requests for snacks and a bad case of the grumps. Well, my children were not really on board with it yesterday. They did not eat very well and they kept looking at each other with this hesitant expression ( what's up with Mama? why are we all at the table? ) LOL I am great about lunch and supper but a family breakfast just isn't something we normally do on a regular basis. I have my cappuccino, the children have their breakfast and The FisherMan takes a snack or egg sandwich or something with him to work. Well, not to be deterred I tried again today. It ...

Today was a busy one! But I managed to have a lot to show for it. I cooked a nice breakfast for the family. I don't usually do all that. I just normally feed the children. But The FlowerChild is staying hungry and it is affecting her attention span so I am trying heavier meals. We had eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and biscuits. I think I could get used to that! Afterwards I cut The Fisherman's hair before he headed to work. Then I cleaned up the kitchen and did some laundry. I also got a loaf of bread in the machine to bake. While that was going we started school time. School was finished by early afternoon. The washroom is about halfway cleaned up now. I still have a PILE of clothes to do something with. Some are maternity and the rest are the children's clothes they have outgrown. Lunch was soup and sandwiches. Afterwards we read aloud for a while. The FisherMan braved the cold for a few minutes when he got home and took the girls out. It was just too cold to take little Smi...

Chuck Wagon Beans 1 lb dried navy beans 6 cups water 1/4 lb salt pork diced 1 large onion 1-3 garlic clove (your taste) 1 large green bell pepper 1 1/2 lbs meat (cubed chuck steak, ground beef, even hot dogs) 1 1/2 t salt 1/2 t oregano 1/4 t red pepper 1/4 t ground cumin 8 oz tomato sauce Soak beans overnight. In the morning rinse beans. Brown salt pork and add to slow cooker along with beans. Saute onion, garlic, and pepper in drippings. Add to slow cooker. Brown beef and add to slow cooker. Add spices and tomato sauce. Add more water if needed just make sure to cover beans. Cook until tender.