I haven't forgotten

I haven't forgotten my blog. I've just been so busy that, once I get time to blog, I don't have the energy to string together a coherent sentence.

Everyone here has The Crud. Everyone except me, that is.

"Mom, why aren't you sick?", I heard today.

"Because, honey, mommies don't have time to be sick," I replied.

I'm seriously hoping that I don't get sick..at least until everyone else is better.

In the meantime, it's up to The Mommy to get the wood cut and split and hauled, as well as making homemade soups for the invalids. The Daddy has to haul himself to work, sick as he is, so I've taken over all of his chores until he's better.

I'm off to fall into bed, after a day of cutting, splitting, and hauling. I wonder if I'll be able to move my arms in the morning. :P

ETA: Man, my grammar is a mess when I am tired. I think I fixed it.

I spoke too soon, though. I woke up this morning with a sore throat..first sign of The Crud. ack! Must..Not..Be..Sick!!! I'm picturing those little Mom antibodies hard at work: Wearing an apron, brandishing a broom, telling those pesky germs to "Shoo!". And then, reality kicks in, and I realize this is ME, and my Mom antibodies have got to be mutated. Or maybe just evolved past the apron and broom stage: Little Mom antibodies wearing hiking boots, brandishing a chainsaw, wearing a belt with at least two machetes attached, screaming incoherently as little germies run and hide. Bwhahahahah!!!!

I've already split more wood today, and now I'm off to obsessively bleach everything in the house! Whheeeeeee!!!!

I guess TV isn't so bad..

We managed to get the rabbit ears hooked up to the tv so we could watch the Thanksgiving Day parade. That's generally the only time I miss having tv; I love the parade. I'd planned to disconnect the rabbit ears after the holidays, but it's been so nice to see the evening news again that I just haven't done it. I should point out that we get one..count 'em..ONE channel, and it's pretty fuzzy at times. It's not even the local channel, but one of the major networks broadcast from one of the bigger cities.

I was worried that the kids would get sucked into the tv. They do that when we visit family. Heck, even I get sucked into the tv. We have one family member that we visit..and the tv is always on. Always. I think they have well over 200 channels. I'd get nothing done all day if we had that..nothing but flipping channels, that is. lol

I should not have worried, though. No one around here is interestd in daytime tv. We like to catch the news, and Big Sis and I watch the occassional sitcom in the evenings, but the big tv event in our house lately is...JEOPARDY!! Little Sis loves loves loves Jeopardy! If there's an animal category, she will answer every single question correctly. In fact, she answers a lot more of the questions than I'd expect from a 10 year old. Even better, when she answers a question wrong, she wants to know the right answer, and all the details. That means a trip to the library if we don't already have a book on whatever the subject was. Wow..tv can actually be educational? Who knew? rofl

I am so proud of my girls, and am so glad that we homeschool. Little Sis reads like a demon, making the rest of us look like slackers, which is no small feat. We are all AVID readers, and yet she goes through more books on more subjects than I ever thought possible for one person. She wants to know everything about everything. For those of you that think homeschooling doesn't work, well, maybe you should rethink that, for when Little Sis is running the world and Big Sis is her enforcer, I'm pretty sure you'll be homeschooling, too. Bwwwahhhahahaha!

Our previous rehab project

Our last rehab project was a home in the city. As much as I hated living in the city, I do miss that big old house! So much space, so much character; high ceilings and hardwood floors. The neighborhood could have been a very nice one; there were some wonderful neighbors there. But the neighborhood was in a downtown area, and the homes just outside our neighborhood boundaries were mostly split into rentals and owned by slum lords.

I wish I had more 'before' pics. I'm notorious for not remembering to take the pics until after I've started on the project.
Before:



After. We had some wonderful neighbors that gave us a hand with the painting. Painting the dormers was fun..I was hanging out the window, using a brush on a pole to paint around the sides of the dormers, while DH held my ankles. lol The roof is slate, so I didn't want to attempt getting out on it and maybe slide off.

Before and after shots of the kitchen:




The kitchen had this wonderful floor to ceiling pantry. It took me a few days to strip it, and I am surprised I didn't end up in the hospital from the stripper fumes. lol





Speaking of the kitchen ceiling, you can see it pretty well in this shot. We installed it ourselves and OH MY GOSH was it heavy!!!



Before and after of the living room. See if you can spot the difference in the floors in these two pics. There was orange shag carpet in the house when we bought it. We tore it all up and refinished the floors.

I guess that's enough pics for one post, huh? lol It's funny to look back now at all the changes we made in that house. It really was a beautiful home when we finished. I can't wait for THIS one..the one we live in now..to be done. We traded in all the living space for acres of woods. I think it was well worth it.

Whew..what a year!

Here it is, 2008 by just a few days, and already we've had some weird stuff happen. We broke the record high temp two days ago. A full day of sunshine and glorious temps more suited to late June than early January! Then last night, as the cold front came through, we had a storm with 70!!! mph wind gusts!! A pretty scary thing, when you live in a glass front home..in the woods! So first on our list of projects for this year: storm shutters!

Last year, 2007, was quite a year for us. We got a lot done, homesteading-wise, but there were a lot of monkey wrenches tossed in: Big Sis was VERY ill and had to be rushed to the children's hospital over an hour away (long story, but that's where her pediatrician said to take her ASAP), and of course THAT is when the tornado touched down on our street. It may be difficult to tell from the pic, but that's our power line and pole in the yard! There's also an uprooted tree there on the right.



It was pretty bad, but at least it didn't hit the house. A tree fell on the rabbit pen, but all of the bunnies were unharmed..until freezer camp. ;)

I suppose, even though a lot of bad stuff happened, it all turned out ok. Big Sis is as healthy as ever now, and we have plenty of firewood for next year thanks to the tornado and the other wind storms.

We planted 200 white pines last year, and I have 200 more ordered for this year. We started an orchard, which will be added to on a yearly basis. Fruit trees are the best Mother's Day presents! :)

We worked on the house..a LOT! Once it's done, there'll be before and after photos.

My wish for this year: NO hospitalizations!!!

This is SO me!

Your results:
You are Mystique

Mystique 72% Poison Ivy 69% Dark Phoenix 61% Venom 57% Magneto 53% Apocalypse 53% Mr. Freeze 53% Catwoman 51% Juggernaut 48% Dr. Doom 46% The Joker 44% Riddler 36% Green Goblin 32% Lex Luthor 28% Two-Face 28% Kingpin 26%

Sometimes motherly, sometimes a beautiful companion, but most of the time a deceiving vixen.

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