Indoor Pool Removed

Our waterproofing in the basement is finally complete.

No more indoor pool.

No more musty smell.

No more moldy storage.



Isn't this a beautiful sight? It's my new sump pump. I think The King is trying to figure out how he could trick me into believing this waterproofing is my 20th wedding anniversary gift. Our anniversary is coming up in November.

This green stuff will keep the walls dry. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad anniversary gift...for some women. But not for me. I am a high maintenance woman. I have higher expectations. I am holding out for .....




Cement. A new floor.

I told you I was high maintenance.

Blogger in Training

I found these pictures on my camera. Duchess is notorious for taking photos. Maybe she's thinking about starting a blog. I'm sure if she could write, this is what she would post:

Here is my living room. As you can see, I have the television right in front of the sofa for maximum viewing enjoyment. My cat Goldie loves to watch Animal Planet. I am sitting outside on the veranda.

Here is my husband, The King of my castle. He is enjoying a little down time in his new blue recliner. Our dog Tiara is his loyal companion. I am planning to remove the wallpaper from this room and replace the pink flooring in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

Duchess

They Ain't Heavy

They ain't heavy, they're our sisters.

Mindless Machines

Today Jester ran in the Milaca Mega Meet. I have heard it said to be the World's Largest High School Cross Country meet in the world. Last year there were over 3,000 runners who participated. I am waiting to hear the final count for this year. It is an awesome sight. Bare legs everywhere, except on Jester.

Jester said that many people called out to him during the run complimenting him on his socks. I asked if he yelled back that his mom found them on the internet. He said, "I was in the zone...actually I pretended I didn't hear them, because coach says we should be so into the run, that we aren't aware of anything but the run, that we should be mindless running machines. That's what I am, a mindless running machine." (Big cheesy smile.)

I am so glad he explained that to me. Now I know what I am. When I get on this computer and start blogging, I get in the zone. I am not aware of anything around me. That's what I am, a mindless blogging machine.

Have Socks, Will Run

Last year I missed all of Jester's Cross Country meets. I had just had a baby and it was a very cool fall, so I chose to stay home. Every time I did Jester's laundry during the CC season, I would wash a pair knee high teal and black striped socks that he had worn as part of a Munchkin costume in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz earlier in the year. When I rolled them together into a ball, I would wonder why he was wearing them to school. I always forgot to ask him.

Then the end of the CC season arrived. The coach hosted an end of the season banquet, complete with awards and presentation showing photos of the runners throughout the season. I made sure I attended this event since I had missed seeing him run.

Another mom approached me prior to the power point presentation. She said, "I just love the socks Jester wore at the meets. We could always pick him out of the crowd." My heart rate increased as my smile became artificial. Flashbacks of washing and folding teal and black knee highs came to mind. It couldn't be. He had to have been wearing them to school under jeans, not at CC meets with shorts. I hesitantly asked, "Uh, what socks are you talking about?" Chuckling, she said, "Oh, those striped knee highs, what a hoot! At the meets, parents from other teams would comment on his unique choice in socks."

The room started to spin around me. Paranoia set in. I was envisioning everyone around me staring, pointing, talking, and laughing about Jester's socks. I was certain they were discussing how poor we were, unable to afford a pair of no show socks like all the other runners wore. Why would Jester's parents dress him in teal and black knee highs when the school colors were black and gold? I was wishing I could shrink away into oblivion. Thankfully the lights dimmed and the attention shifted to the power point presentation.

One photo in particular will be etched in my mind forever. It is a photo of all the runners at the starting line taken from the knees down. Every set of legs in the photo shows only skin and then running spikes....except one. A boy whose only skin showing is at the knees and then a teal stripe, black stripe, teal stripe, black stripe....you get the picture...all the way down to the spikes. To make matters worse, the photo was titled in very large letters with Jester's name in quotation marks. My cheeks were turning warm with embarrassment as I heard the roar of laughter and clapping in the room.

On the way home I asked him why. "Why would you want to stand out like that?" He just smiled and said, "Those are my favorite socks. Besides, Coach likes my individuality." How could I argue with that? Hadn't we been teaching him for 15 years to be himself, to not be someone he isn't? I had to come to terms with my humiliation, and the memory began to fade until...

This season. Jester was very concerned about his sock situation. His teal and black socks had huge holes in them, and had gladly been taken out of commission by me. He really wanted a pair of knee high gold and black tiger striped socks, but couldn't find any. However, we did find a pair to express his individuality. He's in the gold shirt and black shorts:

Here is a back view of the socks, I think he looks like a bumble bee. Notice how bare the other boys' legs are:
That's my boy. I don't think he will ever become a victim of conformity.

(If anyone comes across gold and black tiger striped knee highs, please let us know.)

Wordless Wednesday

Don't Forget to Close Your Crunch

Today, when driving through town, a car pulled up next to us at a stop light. The driver had an over-sized item in her trunk so her trunk door was propped open. Duchess noticed, and in a very concerned tone of voice exclaimed, "Oh no, that lady left her crunch open."

Viv--On the Road to Recovery

Remember Viv the survivor? She is on the road to recovery. We found this egg out on the ground very near to the place Kitty murdered the first chicken in "Survivor Chicken Island". I think she laid that egg in that exact spot as a memorial to all of those who gave their lives in the Kitty Challenge.

It's only one, but it's a start. Way to go Viv! Kitty may have caused you some psychological trauma, but she's not going to get the best of you forever.

Weight Loss Challenge

I have joined the newest Tales From the Scales weight loss challenge. It has been hard for me to write this post because I do not want to tell anyone my intentions. What if I fail? What if I just quit? I have very little will power, and my flesh is weak. Most of all, I hate dieting. Accountability. That's what this is about. Blogging about my challenge will keep me accountable.

I have seriously dieted three times in my life. (Serious meaning it lasted more than five days.) The first time I lost 10 pounds, the second 16, and the third 12. My goal this time is 40 pounds. FORTY!!! Why 40? It seems like the perfect number for me. I have held on to 10 pounds for each of my last four pregnancies, AND I am going to be 40 in May. Forty pounds seems logical to me.

Duchess has been asking me lately if I have another baby in my tummy. I look like I do. I saw some pictures of myself on my digital camera. They weren't pretty. I think I am too proud, embarrassed, or vain to post them now. Maybe if I lose weight and have an awesome 'after' picture to share in the future I will. I also don't feel compelled to share my current weight or measurements. Let's just say if I gain much more weight, I will have to start shopping in the plus size department. These are the trivial reasons I want to lose weight.

I have more reasons. First and foremost, I have been convicted that I am a glutton. I believe my gluttony is hindering my walk with the Lord. Secondly, I want to feel better. I don't have the energy I used to. Thirdly, for health reasons. My mother died from breast cancer. Being overweight increases my risks even more. There is a history of Type 2 Diabetes in my family. I don't want to be a risk factor for that either. Lastly, The King has just been told he has high cholesterol and needs to lose some weight. This is a great time for me to start and support him in the process.

I don't have a 'diet' that I am planning to follow. Right now I am going to start out with portion control, cutting back on sweets, and fats (notice I didn't say cutting out), and exercise. If it doesn't work then I will have to do something more drastic.

My biggest challenge is being home all day. I homeschool and have constant access to the fridge and pantry. Whenever I give my kids a snack, I tend to snack right along with them. My other challenge will be trying to fit exercise into my already busy days.

My weigh in day is Tuesday and I will be posting my results here. If you don't really care to know what's happening, don't check in on Tuesdays.

On my mark....get set....GO away pounds, GO AWAY!

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Squire's 11th birthday today. We are so blessed to have him as our son. He is a gentle spirit, creative, and a peacemaker. We love you Squire! Happy Birthday!
Jester did not have time to make him a cake so we had to buy one. It was definitely not as beautiful as one Jester would have made.
See that face? Squire's dream come true, an electric guitar with an amp (and headphones for mom). He has wanted an electric guitar for over a year, and has been saving and saving and saving his money to buy one. Did I mention he's been saving his money to buy one? Every time we are in town he tries to talk us into going to the music store 'just to look'. Needless to say, he was shocked at the unveiling of his gift.

Moving Radiators.....

(Start by reading, It all started when...)

The pipes from the furnace to the heaters were cut. There was no reason the heaters couldn't be moved, right?

When we sanded and finished the floors in 2000, there was no way we could sand under the heaters. There had been carpeting that had been glued to the floors, so it was a rough under them and very hard to get clean and keep clean. A thorn in my side.

The King graciously pulled out two 500+ pound heaters and started to sand the floor. The palm sander was taking forever.

Time to bring in the big tools:
The King rented a sander and made short work of the job at hand. While he returned the rental equipment, I quickly applied water based polyurethane to the floor--under both heaters. Upon returning home, The King saw my error and gently explained to me that I should have used oil based instead. The color will never match up without an oil based finish. UGH!

I let it dry, then used the palm sander to sand under BOTH heaters. I didn't dare ask him to go back to town and re-rent the big tool. I then applied the appropriate polyurethane. I didn't stop there, I even painted the baseboards behind the heaters that no one will ever see.

So come on over, look under my heaters, I don't care. They are clean! Clean I tell you! (Come quick, clean doesn't last long here.) The thorn in my side is gone!!!

Can you see how one thing leads to another?

Stay tuned. We're still not done.

Hey, Let's Cut Those Out....

We have hot water heat, which means we have big radiators in all our rooms. The pipes that carry the water from the boiler in the basement up to the radiators in the living area are really big and hang down really low. Head bumpers which posed a problem. If we were to add another throne to our castle, some taller people may have to duck their heads to get to it. Furnace Guy came over and told us what to do.
"Ah, just cut 'em all outta there. Replace it all with PEX. You can even use all my tools." The King spent three weekends fitting old pipes to new PEX tubing. He was not in the mood for a wife to say, "Hey honey, since you cut all the pipes to the heaters, do you think we could move them out from the walls to sand and varnish under them?"

More Insanity. Stay tuned. It gets better.

(Read Next: Moving Radiators....)

Then The Water Came.....

All we needed to do before the waterproofers came was to grade the floor for cement. But water started to come into the basement. Irony. The waterproofers couldn't come in until we graded the floor, but we couldn't grade the floor when there was standing water.
Then one day while The King was hauling five gallon buckets of water out of the basement, he noticed the water was bubbly, and smelled a lot like laundry detergent. (I had been doing laundry all day.) After a consulting a septic guy, we were told our septic system was failing and backing up into the basement. It wasn't just water in the basement, it was sewage water.

Our waterproofers were put on hold. An emergency septic crew came in and installed a new septic system. All seemed well for a few days, until The King suspected a problem. Two of the three new septic tanks that had just been installed were cracked and ground water was seeping into them. One week after the first new septic system was put in, it had to be dug up, and replaced with an even newer one.

Oh, the basement insanity. Stay tuned. There's more.

(Read Next: Hey Let's Cut Those Out....)

It All Started When....

We decided we needed a second bathroom. Our castle has but one. Uno, Ein, Een, Un. One bathroom for nine people, it just isn't right. With so many royal members of the family wanting to sit on the throne, we decided we needed to add another one.When we decided to add a bathroom, the only place we could really go was down. Down to the hole, the pit, the dungeon. In the spring this basement held so much water that if we ever wanted to sell this place we could advertise an indoor pool.

We called in the waterproofing experts. They told us they needed to remove a lot of the concrete floor to put in tiles and then they'd patch over their holes. It was smarter for us to remove the entire floor so we could plumb in the bathroom when they waterproofed. The King jackhammered until he was numb. We hauled the floor out of the basement one five gallon bucket at a time. That was the first big project.

"Hey honey, maybe we should remove this 18 foot long by 8 foot tall by 12 inch wide concrete wall while we're at it. It will really open up the room." More jackhammering. The wall was hauled out of the basement one five gallon bucket at a time. That was the second big project.

This was only the beginning. Stay tuned for more Basement Insanity....

(Read Next: Then The Water Came....)

Birthday

On Wednesday, September 12, Prince Charming turned one!

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. What happened to my tiny baby boy? We had a quiet birthday party for him with just our family.Jester baked and decorated his cake. As you can see, Prince Charming was pretty happy with his cake. He got some new shoes to wear to church and some new cars to push around on the floor.

Happy Birthday Prince Charming. We love you!!!

Where Were You One Year Ago Today?

One year ago today I had a doctor's appointment. A routine prenatal visit. I had woken up the night before with some horrible pains, not contractions, but very familiar pains. The pains I felt every time the baby would flip into the breech position. During the last six weeks of the pregnancy, my doctor, chiropractor and I were on a mission to get the baby head down. Accupuncture did the trick, more than once. The only problem was that it would only last for about 5-6 days and the baby would go breech again.


I have to back up about two weeks. We had successfully gotten the baby to the right position by accupuncture. At 38/39 weeks my doctor said he would induce, since the baby was head down. We did not want risk having to have a C-section. The OB ward was slow that day, only one other lady and I were there, both inductions. Her husband would come in to visit from time to time. According to him, we were both laboring at about the same rate. Suddenly my nurse told me she had to go help next door. I heard the WORST blood curdling screams I had ever heard in my whole life. Then we heard a baby cry. My nurse came back to check on me and I told her I wanted whatever the lady next door had. She had already given birth, and I was barely getting started. She said, "Believe me, you do not want what she had." Later, the new dad from next door came in to tell us his wife had given birth. He looked pale and was shaking when he told us that when his wife had gotten up to use the restroom, the baby (unexpectedly) started to come...and was born feet first. They would have sent her to have an emergency C-section, but labor was moving too fast and they had to deliver the baby breech. The nurse had been right, I didn't want that. My labor never progressed that day. I was sent home, a very sad and tired mama, and more fearful of having a breech baby than ever before.


On my due date, September 11, 2006, I went in for a regular check up. My hubby was out of state for his uncle's funeral, so I had a friend come over to watch the kids while I went to see Doc. At the appointment, he gave me the bad news that the baby was breech again. (I had figured as much.) I told him that I was a little concerned I might be in very early labor. They WHEELCHAIRED me to the OB ward almost immediately--me protesting all the way. "Hey, I walked in here, why can't I walk?" (They had doctor's orders, I guess if my water were to break, the cord could fall into the birth canal and strangulate the baby?.?.) I was put in a bed and hooked up to monitors. Sure enough, I was in the early stages of labor.


My doctor came in to check on me after about an hour. He said they were going to get everything in order to do an external version--flip the baby by pushing on my belly. I protested again. I had a sitter at home, no husband in the state, and no camera! I begged him to let me go home...to work out childcare, pack a bag, and get my camera. He reluctantly let me go...for one hour only, with orders to get back to the hospital IMMEDIATELY if my water broke.


I sped home in my 15 passenger van. When I got to our driveway, I could see our sheep roaming in our neighbor's bean field. I laid on the horn and got their attention. They just stood there. I finally drove into the ditch and chased them with the van back into the pasture, being tossed and turned all over the van seat with every bump I hit. I could really feel the contractions by this time. I got the childcare situation worked out, my bag, and my camera and off to the hospital I went, ready to have a baby.


The external version team was ready when I got back to my room. They started by doing an ultrasound. Guess what? Baby was head down! (He had his hand on his head like he was dizzy or something.) I think all the bouncing in the van flipped him right over. I could already see the headlines in medical periodicals, "Chasing sheep over bumps in a 15 passenger van is a new alternative to external version". I spent the rest of the day in the hospital and my hubby made it back to see them hook me up to pitocin. Labor had slowed, and we didn't want to give the baby a chance to go breech again, so I was induced.


This time the induction worked. I really wanted to have the baby quickly but kept telling everyone how I would prefer to not have my baby on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. I got my wish. Little Prince Charming made his way into the world in the wee hours of the morning of September 12, 2006. So now you know what I was doing one year ago today. How about you?

First Week of School

Our first week of school went very well. The boys were actually quite excited to begin. So far I am pleased with our choice to do use My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures as our main curriculum. The first two weeks focuses on maps and globes.

We learned that globes are the most realistic world maps. Because globes duplicate the true round shape of the earth, globes are true to scale. Other maps artificially flatten the real round world, so mapmakers have to cut, stretch and distort some parts of the earth to get it onto flat paper. The worst distortion is at the top and bottom. Greenland looks bigger than all of South America on a flat map. A globe will show you that South America is actually eight times bigger than Greenland. This activity showed how distortion happens from a globe to a flat map. With a marker, I drew (very poorly) the continents onto a tangerine. I had only one chance to do it, this little tangerine cost $.85. I refused to buy more than one. Then we peeled the tangerine and pushed it out as flat as we could. The far left section of the peel shows how we cut into Greenland, and by pressing it out, enlarged the continent. Scribe asked a good question, "Why don't they just draw it smaller on the flat map then?" (Of course the teacher's manual didn't have answers to possible questions, so I had to come up with my own.) "Well, if they drew it smaller, the distance of the borders of Greenland to the borders of surrounding land masses would not be accurate." Scribe said, "Oh, I get it now!" (Whew! Score one for mama!) Then we ate the contents of the tangerine--2 segments per person. (Cheap mom--lose a point!)
Here are Squire and Scribe doing some of their book work. Notice the smile on Squire's face. He told me this week, "I really like all the stuff you chose for school this year. I don't think it will make my cry like last year." (I didn't know if I should have laughed or cried.)
Duchess loves being in Kindergarten. I set a schedule for her to do one lesson per week in her math book. She kept begging to do more. She ended up doing three week's worth in three days. I hope she will continue to be enthusiastic about school all year. Maiden did not want to be left out. I had to come up with "school work" for her to do. Here she is improving her sorting skills. She calls it her "sorting math".

Stay tuned, we will be sharing more throughout the year...

Pita Bread Lesson

This year for Labor Day we had some family and friends over. The King grilled leg of lamb and Dutch oven chicken. I love pita bread with my leg of lamb, but have become a pita bread snob in recent years. I can't stand the preservative flavor in the store bought stuff. Solution: Bake your own! Here is the rolling out process.




Next, bake on individual foil sheets in a 500 degree oven. The pita will "puff" up. It only takes a few minutes to bake, but I can only fit 6 in each oven at a time, so it gets a little time consuming.




I cut each one almost immediately to expose the pocket. I don't know if I let them set for a while if they would deflate, so I cut them right away. I had really good luck baking this batch. I made 50 full pitas and only 4 didn't puff. A record for me.

Survivor: Chicken Island

Here is "Viv", the winner of Survivor: Chicken Island, which took place right here on our hobby farm. All of the challenges were fatal. Most of the participants, approximately twenty-five in all, were laying hens like her, although there were a couple of roosters in on the challenge.

The first challenge took place in June when we were on vacation. Farmer Boy, a friend of ours, was watching the farm and doing the chicken chores for us. We got a phone call one morning to tell us that something was getting into the chicken coop. He had found chicken remnants laying around. He figured it had to be coyotes, and locked the chickens up until we returned home. Challenge #1: Escaping death by coyotes.

Our chickens don't like to be caged, so the first survivors were not happy that Farmer Boy had them imprisoned. They protested, squawking, "Bock, bock...we are free spirits, we like to roam around the farm at our leisure. We don't really care to eat the organic chicken feed our owners drive 25 miles to purchase for us. Cluck, cluck...we prefer that cheap off-brand cat food they buy those poor scrawny cats at the local Wal-Mart store. Cock a doodle do...We don't like to drink the water down at the chicken coop, we would much rather drink the cat water up by the house." Farmer Boy did not cave in to the pressure. If it weren't for him, there would have been no chickens left for the next challenge.

Challenge #2: A new dog. We brought a stray dog home with us from vacation, hoping she would be a good watchdog and scare away the coyotes. We named her Kitty. Kitty was confused...probably because we named her Kitty... She didn't do a very good job protecting the chickens. The first night she was home, she killed one. The unsuspecting pullet was up at the house drinking from the cat's water. She didn't know what hit her. The dog sat proudly with the dead chicken at her feet. Kitty was sentenced to a long chain.

Challenge #3: While the Royal family plays. Kitty had been with us for about a week when we left to play at the lake. We returned home after dark and by the glow of the yard light, I could see an unfamiliar outline in the shadows. Next I saw the chain with no dog attached. The outline was a pile of ten dead chickens neatly stacked by the house, a thank you gift to us from Kitty for saving her from a life on the streets.

The next morning we were able to see how busy Kitty had been. There were piles of feathers spread around the yard. E-I-E-I-O, a brown pile here, a white pile there, here a red pile, there a yellow pile, everywhere a pile, pile. Kitty must have tortured the chickens for hours, chasing and killing them in numerous areas of the yard, and then neatly piling her prey near the house. The King found more that next morning that were so wounded there was no chance of recovery. He had to put them out of their misery.

By this time we realized Kitty was not a good dog to have on our farm. (I know, we are a little slow.) She proved it by getting off the chain again. Challenge #4: Kitty can't stop. She killed a few more chickens, but when she started chasing the sheep, The King insisted she had to go.

Challenge #5: Kitty is out of here. The day we loaded Kitty into the van to take her away, she got loose. She knew there was one chicken left and was intent on finding her. Viv won! She was the last chicken standing! Kitty was banished from our kingdom forever.

As for Viv, she has post traumatic stress disorder. She has not laid an egg since Survivor: Chicken Island began. She is not the chicken she used to be. She now spends her days roaming around the farm, eating cheap cat food, and repeatedly clucking under her breath, "A dog named Kitty didn't get me, a dog named Kitty didn't get me, a dog named Kitty didn't get me...."