Farmer me

My sister was out of town recently and I, as selfless as I am, decided I could handle doing her chores for her one day.  She has a sheep farm, how hard could it be?  I found the hopper which is where the grain is stored.  There is a small trap door in the bottom and all the grain sits above it in a giant steel drum.  The little trap door was stuck so I yanked which opened a flood gate of grain.  I had the standard farmer response....screaming, because as everyone knows screaming slows down a Niagara Falls of grain.  You would think a bin whose only job is to dispense grain would be more user friendly.  When I finally figured out how to get the door unstuck and close it, I had dropped a small field worth of grain onto the ground below.  My son and I got to spend an hour scooping it into buckets.  The highlight for my son was watching me accidentally pick up a dead rat with my bare hands.  That experience will be seared in my brain for some time to come. 

We then got to hop on her 4 wheeler and drive out to another pasture to feed some sheep.  She assured me the rams wouldn't bother us when we went out there.  She was wrong.  All my talk to my son about staying away from them because they are dangerous must have worked.  They chased us while he screamed "THEY ARE COMING AFTER US" and "THEY ARE GOING TO EAT US", repeatedly.  I may have to tell him that sheep don't generally eat people.

The final task was untangling their 100 pound monster of a dog.  She had wrapped herself around a crab apple tree which had very low branches.  I had to crawl under the tree, nearly losing an eye to all the sharp branches, on my hands and knees while the grateful giant molested me. 

My sister should probably not leave town again. 

School days, School Days Good Old Golden Rule Days

I got very motivated last night and planned out much of our upcoming school year with the kids.  I was very excited and decided to have a little test run today.  Do you think it is too late to enroll them in public school this fall yet?  Alright not really but it was eye opening.  Not sure if it is them not used to a scheduled day at home or my 4 year olds many meltdowns or their ages or lack of sleep or the 20 month old who is so jealous she won't allow me to look at her siblings or my crazy hormones.  There were approximately 17 meltdowns, and that was just me.  It can only get better from here, right?

Mexican Rice

I am a lover of rice.  More specifically, flavored rices.  Coconut, cilantro-lime, a nice pilaf.  This is my go to rice for most of my Mexican dishes.  Go head, try it.  I promise you will like it.

3Tbsp butter
1.5 cups long grain jasmine rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Rotel with green chilies
1 (4oz) can green chillies
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 small onion minced
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1.5 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Heat the butter and minced onions for 2 minutes in sauce pan.  Add in Jasmine and garlic and cook a few more minutes until fragrant.  Add in all other ingredients except cheese.  Put lid on the pot and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low for 15-18 minutes.  Do not remove lid or stir.  Mix in the cheese at the end.

Books make my world go round

I have decided to write the official, very best of the best children's book list.  I can see you now with that "oh geesh not another best kids book" look on your face but it is true.  You know how I know that this is the very best list?  Because I wrote it.  Okay honestly I know this isn't a complete list of all the best kids books, there are far too many for one list.  These are some of our favorites and I have read them with my own children many times over.  This particular list is for the age range of 2ish to 6ish.  It could probably go as high as 33 since that is how old I am and I love all these books as much as my children! 

With no further introduction and in no particular order:

Bear Snores On- Karma Wilson

It Could Alwasy Be Worse- Margot Zemach  I must admit the title appealed to my pessimistic side but it is an excellent story about appreciating what you have. 

The Story of Ferdinand- Munro Leaf

Slinky Malinki- Lynley Dodd

I've Lost my Hippopotamus- Jack Prelutsky A hilarious collection of poems my 6 year old can't get enough of!

Madeline- Ludwig Bemelmans

Fancy Nancy- Jane O'Connor- My daughter takes all of her style tips from Nancy. 

Rikki Tikki Tembo- Arlene Mosel

A Giraffe and a Half- Shel Silverstein

Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak

Giraffes can't Dance- Giles Andreae

The Incredibly Book Eating Boy- Oliver Jeffers

How to Catch a Star- Oliver Jeffers

A Sick Day for Amos McGee- Philip C Stead- My current favorite

The Napping House- Audrey Wood

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain- Verna Aardema

The Gruffalo- Julia Donaldson

Bad Kitty- Nick Bruel

Roar of a Snore- Marsha Diane Arnold

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear- Nancy White Carldstrom

You are Special- Max Lucado

On the Night You were Born- Nancy Tillman



Now if you have children in this age range and are missing any of these books, I suggest you purchase them all immediately.  If you do not have children but think you may some day, purchase them all immediately.  If your children are grown and out of the house, buy them anyways.  You can relive your own childhood.

Deceiving Recipes

I am what you might call a head over heels new recipe junkie.  Always on the look out for that perfect new recipe.  You know the one that is fabulously healthy and tastes like it isn't.  It takes 3 simple ingredients but used in this new spectacular combination my taste buds sing with joy.  On top of all this, it only takes 6 minutes to prepare!  Okay I maybe have never come across anything like this and if I were to create such a dish I would be loved by all mothers for years to come.  I have tried many, MANY new recipes over the years.  Some amazing and some that make me wonder if I will ever be able to get that revolting taste out of my mouth. 

During this quest I have sought out many resources but none as worthless as pinterest.  Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoying pinning the night away as much as the next person but I am finding that most of the recipes are being over-sold, and that is putting it nicely.  I am not sure why this is.  At first, I believed the descriptions.  Maybe I had faith that others wouldn't exaggerate on something as significant as a recipe.  Maybe prior to this pinterest recipe they had only eaten fast food tacos.  Maybe others don't take it as seriously as myself.  Who knows.  What I do know is that if I had a dollar for every mediocre recipe I have tried on that site that was described as "THE BEST such and such I have EVER tasted" I could....well....probably buy a fancy coffee but you get my point.  From here on out there will be a much more rigid standard by which I choose a new recipe from pinterest.

Toymageddon

The other night I was yelling speaking with a firm tone of voice to my children about their smelly disaster zone bedroom, when it occurred to me that I needed to stop with the threats and start with the action.  I sent them out and loaded up piles of toys and hid them away.  I was sure this would lead to them feeling remorseful and wanting to keep their room clean.  I was wrong.  They did not seem to notice in the slightest.  This could only mean one thing, they still had too many toys.  I took away more.  They still do not care.  Children 2: Mommy:0

Time for my semi annual blog post

It is May and seeing as I have been exceedingly neglectful of this little blog in the past year I decided to throw my blog a bone.  This past week I have been thinking a lot how quickly life can change.  Not my most cheerful topic, none the less it is what has been on my mind.  One doctors appointment can scare the dickens out of a person and make you realize just how precious all the time and health can be.  This got me thinking about all the people I know who have dealt so beautifully with the big loops life has thrown them.  Seeing them and their attitude give me hope that when life does give something I am not expecting, maybe I will be capable of the same joy in trials.  I am sure they are not joyful all the time, there must be many tears.  But maybe these people have learned how to live by faith because that is all they have.  They can't fix it.  They can't do anything about it.  They can only trust that they are in the hands of God through all of it.