just 'cause it's snowing out...

and I need some happy pictures that are not winter, and I don't have a lot of time to blog right now and am feeling grumpy about it snowing!  Enjoy...

Pretty flowers

Oh my word what's wrong with her???!!!! I think she's going to sommersault!  I laughed so hard when I saw Time Out doing this. Took lots of pictures until I had this one!

 She's trying to eat some grass, but her neck is not long enough! I love this picture. This paddock is attached to their barn, so no there i not grass in it. When we move we'll have to replant some grass. They get turned out when were home in the "grass paddocks" around the house.

This is the day she was born. Oh I was the proudest woman on earth that day.  I got my filly!

This is Bullseye. We lost him. Sad day that was. And no there is not green snot coming out of his nose, that is a piece of bailing twine we used to grab him, until we got a halter for him. He's a few days old here. 

Have a great day from the very snowy state of Maine!

welcome february!!!

Welcome February!!

 I am so glad that January is gone! But it looks like February is going to be coming in like a lion. Yup more snow today and tomorrow! Ugh! Could get a foot of snow! I sound excited with all the exclamation marks, but I'm really not, but might as well be, it's coming weather I want it or not. So I'll dig out my ski pants after the clean up and play more king of the hill with the kiddos!! And make some "red neck" s'mores, (TY FTCF for the idea) and drink some hot coco! So with that I dug out some older pictures that I felt like sharing and they don't contain snow!! Green grass and sunshine!! From July of '09. And a little more about us and our life on the farm! The kiddos are so little too :-( They grow too fast. So brief and fleeting is their childhood. And since I have lots of laundry sitting on my bed and more in the dryer I think I'll sit down and blog instead! I'll fold clothes later!

So sit back and enjoy the sun, beautiful blue sky, and green grass that is sure to come... sometime this year!

My girl is so in love with these two ponies! She sat out with them for hours! 

Takin a snooze in the sun. They seem content. And they were.

Who are these two ponies? Well not ours. Abby woke me up one morning running around her pasture and neighing her head off. I could hear her running in and out of her stall. I peeked out the window and saw these two horses (I thought they were horses, until I got up close to then). It was probably 6amish. I went back into the bedroom and teasingly asked Matthew if he had gotten me some new horses. He just gave me a blank stare and said. No. He's not a morning person, at all. I said that there were 2 horses that are not ours and not the neighbors horses. That got him up, and I headed out the door, with him coming behind me. I have old halters and went right up the them. They were very friendly and welcomed my petting them. I slipped halters on them and  put them in the grass pasture we had set up for Abby. We called everyone we knew that had horses and no one knew where they had come from. In turn they called everyone they could think of in the area that had horses. We found horse tracks all over the place up and down the road. We gave them water and they drank it down. By then the kiddos are up and very excited to see them. We burst their bubbles when we said they are not ours and probably would not be keeping them. The thought of someone just dumping them on our lawn entered our thoughts too. It's happened. We have horses, so why not two more? We had lots of what we call "rubber neck's" coming by our place to see our new additions they had heard about. We live on a back country road, and know just about everyone who drives by. We got phone calls from nosy people who wanted to know about them too. I didn't answer the phone to answer their questions. If someone had called me and said they were missing some ponies I would have answered, and let them describe them to me and prove they were theirs. Call me crazy, but that's what I would have done. We had them for two days, and they stayed right in that pasture. When we heard that we were getting some heavy rain for days on end, we called a friend who has a much bigger barn and lots of other horses to see if she would take them, because we had no place to get them out of the weather. She came and got them. That was a chore loading them on her trailer. Clearly they didn't travel much in trailers, or ever. Got more rope burn then anything. At one point I thought they were going to take Abby's fence down! The kiddos were so sad. We still hadn't found the owners at that point, and didn't know if we had just been gifted two ponies... what were we to do with them? They were not trained either, Matthew tried to ride the bay, and he just spun around so fast he fell off. He tried again, and it was obvious that he wasn't broke to ride! He was laughing though, and he didn't get hurt. Well, thankfully later that day we found the owners. They live probably 8 or so miles from us. The owners had been on vacation and had just gotten home, and when they went to feed their beloved ponies and found they were gone, they started making phone calls. So all ended well there, except the kiddos broken hearts. But we went over the the ponies house and they saw they were happy and well loved along with lots of other animals.
And two random pictures!

I just thought this was funny. I found these two eggs in the nesting boxes. Same age chickens, but one is clearly farther along in her egg laying production then the other!

For my boy. He loves John Deere.

Now I must go and fold the laundry, so at some point I can go to bed tonight and not have tons of laundry on my bed! And there is always another meal to get going too!

monday confessions...

If your interested in getting to know me, keep reading...

Is it wrong to eat a Little Debbie snack AFTER you work out?? Well I totally did that! It was good too, the work out and the snack!  It was a German Chocolate. They remind me of the old girl scout S'Mores cookies. They are so good! I don't get them often, so they are a treat for me. Yes I know they are full of bad for you things, but if I have a craving for them, I buy them. It does me no good to deny that "thing", weather it's chips (another weakness of mine) or chex mix, or fresh pineapple, or what have you. I feel like if I'm really craving something I should eat it and end that craving, and move on. I don't go hog wild on that craving, moderation.
I read in a magazine that you need to do something for 21 days for it to become a habit, and six months for it to become second nature. I stopped and thought about that for a while too.  I think that is true, at least for me. When I started working out, and don't think that I am a freak about working out and have weights, and  have this long process of working out, and all that stuff, because I don't, and I'm not. I just know that the older I get the harder it is to take and keep weight off, and having four kids, let's just say it changes the waist line. That said, I would NEVER not have kids either. They are a blessing and our heritage, and I feel blessed to have them and love them very much. So,  I work out 3-4 times a week. How do I find time? Well, I kick my husband out of the living room, send the kids off to bed, crank the music and do it! Not long after I started, about 2 years ago I felt better, and that just motivated me to continue. Plus my best friend was getting married and I was in her wedding, and I wanted to loose weight! Motivation for me is key! I changed lots of other things after that too, and lost the weight, and have kept it off. I hope I can keep it off for good too. I can also tell when I haven't worked out for a while too. So I guess I need to keep my German Chocolates to a minimum! Good thing only 8 come in a box!!

NEVER put chocolates on your dryer either. I did that too. Just regular chocolate chips. They melted. I put bleach on top of the bag, and then when I used the bleach on the towels, I found my missing bag of chocolate chips. Oops. Now why did I have a bag of chocolate chips on my dryer you wonder? Well I was trying to get the grocery's put away, and put them on the dryer while I was rearranging my jelly cabinet (my husband made it for me, and yes I put jelly in it, and extra pasta along with my pizza sauce!) to put some of the pasta away, and imagine this, I got distracted, forgot they were up there, and left them there.  Now I guess I'll be making some homemade chocolates, again.

My kiddos told me today that their lunch was tad poles and grass! It wasn't. If I have to state the obvious!

I'm a fan of Jason Aldean's music!

Here is my jelly cabinet! Ya, there is a small book case next to it too. 

winter fun

I lost a day this week. Don't ask me how that happens, but it did. All day today I thought it was Thursday. I kept making plans, shocking I know, for home school. But it's Friday. I'm glad too. I'm ready for the weekend!
 Last night was a friends birthday and we, a bunch of us gals, crashed her house for a girls night in! The kiddos, mine and all the other ladies were not invited, and we had a blast! A bunch of friends eating and laughing and having a great time together. We had some of that microwave fondue, and I was in charge of heating it up and, I've never done that before, fondue that is, and I burnt part of the plastic it was in! Oops! It smelt like burnt popcorn!  Fried zucchini all over again! Well they made me try the chocolate and it was fine, the stuff that was not burnt, and we had strawberries and some other yummy treats! Gotta have yummy snack food for a girls night!  I didn't get to bed until 2:30am! And let me tell you morning came really fast too! Matthew let me sleep in, but I was up at 8:00, but laid there until 8:30. He did all the chores while I slept, what a great man I have! I could have stayed in bed, but my eyes refused to stay shut. Go figure. So we had school, and carried on with the day. I had 2 glasses of coffee today instead of one. Yes, I drink my coffee in a glass, it's iced coffee. Yes you read that right it's iced. I don't drink hot coffee. Yuck. Not even when it's -12! Earlier this week some in-laws came over, and my brother in law decided we would do a kid swap. So the kiddos had to be good in school all week, his kids and ours are very close in age, and they home school too. So tonight we did the kid swap. Emma and her cousin, they are 2 days apart in age and just like two peas in a pod, are here for the night. Two five year old girls, oh boy! Well DaLaney and another cousin are three months apart in age, went to the in laws house. Two seven year old girls, oh boy!! Could prove to be interesting for both sets of parents! It's all good, they've spent the night before...
So what did I do this afternoon? Well I wanted to take a nap, but that didn't happen. I'll show you what I well we did this afternoon.

What on earth is that?

This is interesting... the boys deep in thought...

OK, now it's looking like something. Know what it is yet?

Oooooo, doors going on! Nice hands honey...

Ta da.. got it yet??

Isn't she perty?

What? Oh that's the inside of it!

"Fire it up and watch them horses run"... Oh sorry, I love that song! Know it?

We're in business, well almost... can you smell it?

 OK, I didn't realize I had taken so many pictures. Actually I have more, but won't share them all. We got our saperator set up today! And when I say we, Matthew was the one that bricked it up. I watched and took pictures and handed him the bricks! Apparently you buy the saperator, and then you have to brick it up and then fire it up and let the bricks cure. So that's what we did. Now we have to level it on one side, because if it's not level it's a nightmare to use. I still need to show you what we used to have compared to this one. I haven't found the picture yet. I'm sure we'll have a learning curve with this one. Hopefully it will be a short one and we can get it and have fun with it. If it had been the middle of February today we would have had a good run of sap. But it's only January.  It started to boil, the water, we put in it in about 10-15 minutes! That's fast, but the fire comes right up, and well, it's too hard to explain, I'll have to see if I can get a picture. Oh, and if your wondering why there is a tarp looking thing hanging up, it's because we had a space heater blowing on  the bricks to help them dry and it kept the cold out of the sap house to help them set while we glued them on with the cement. Now we need to empty the saperator because it's supposed to be really cold tonight! What were the kiddos doing while we were working? Well they were outside enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, and temperature's that didn't freeze you, and they were riding their bikes too! No unfortunately I don't get a picture of them. Would have been great picture too! Maybe tomorrow. It was kinda tough riding the bikes with the snow, but they tried, and had fun doing it too!

Oh and the name of the song is My Kinda Party by Jason Aldean!

Note: I know it's called a sap evaporator, and if your wondering why I call it a saperator and have the time and inclination you'll have to read the other posts with the label syrup to explain the meaning of the word. It's cute how it got it's name!!

the fruit of my hands...

I'd like to think I'm bettering my family by cooking from scratch, and us raising our own food and such. I like it when I can pull a chicken that we raised on our farm out of the freezer. I know what that chicken ate, because we fed it, I also know what it didn't eat and know that he/she lived the way a chicken should. You know outside in the fresh air, able to eat bugs, scratch the ground, roll in the dirt, all the fresh water/food it could want and 20 or so of his/her friends. We put them in a chicken tractor and move them everyday to a new spot. They also fertilize a field that really needs it, putting out what they put in! I'd like to think it had a good life and one bad day. That is what we strive for with our animals that we eat. I believe that Joel Salatin said that of his animals. I like that our kiddos help with the chores and know that we will be eating these chickens and we need to take good care of them, so in turn they will take care of us. Filling our bellies! The chicken tastes so much different then the store bought ones. I couldn't believe the diffenernce the first time we had one. I'll admit the first time we raised meat chickens we learned A LOT. What not to do and what to do differently the next time around. It's OK that we didn't do we everything right, we learned and now we have a better system. The point is we tried. Thats all you need to do is try. I'm not a fan of watching the killing of them, I get a bit squeemish. But once they are dead and the blood is out I like to put them on the plucker! I haven't been the one to gut them either, again squeemish. I have watched them get gutted and it's not that bad. Really makes me NEVER want another hot dog though. YUCK! I do get the wonderful job (I like that job)of washing them out and freezing them. I also do get to make sure there are not more guts left in them. At one point I did have to have a brother in law help me with that, too many guts. I got a little grossed out. I know what a girl right?!! LOL. It's OK I can poke fun of myself! My husband is wonderful and doesn't expect me to do the things I don't like when it comes to killing them. I stand off in the distance. At some point if I can stomach it I'll help more, but until then I do what I feel I can handle. Besides it stinks. Even outside in the open. YES we do it outside!! Gasp. I'll admit I've never seen the killing of any other animal, and I'm OK with that too!! Just a side note here, I have killed mice and rats, but don't intend to eat them nor do I like them! Some of the kiddos don't mind at all, and others can't handle it. In time I'm sure we will all just do it. No rush. When I do cook a chicken Emma asks if I can put "the rubbin' stuff on it?" She's French like her mother and talks with her hands, and gestures with her little hands back and forth like she's rubbing stuff on the chicken with a look of excitement on her face, her large, round, blue eyes twinkle with life! I usually always do put the "rubbin' stuff" on a chicken when she asks. I'ts too cute! What is "rubbin' stuff?" Well sometimes it's a Pampered Chef mix, and if I don't have any of that stuff I mix my own stuff and rub it on the chicken!

My own mix of E.V.O.O. rosemary, fresh garlic, salt, & pepper. That is what I had on hand for this bird! 

Mr. Chicken, with the "rubbin' stuff" sitting on a holder. You can put a can of beer, or soda in the holder and make it juicier  and flavored. I haven't tried it yet. But it makes it kinda  fried on the outside. 

Mr. Chicken all done. Smells good and tasted even better!

Homemade bread. Half wheat, half white is how I make our bread! Slap on some homemade butter/jelly and your in business!!

Add some sort of homegrown veggie and you have a meal!!  

Is that not farming?

good quote

"Tack is getting your point across without stabbing someone with it."
I found this quote in Guideposts magazine by a reader named Shirley Zieve. I find it to be very true.

monday confessions...

I'm beginning to wonder if the winter is ever going to end. It's been snowing A LOT! It's also been very cold here too. It was -12 the other morning. When Matthew milked that morning he said when the milk hit the side of the pail it froze! Burrrr... We kept the animals inside that night. Their barns that is. I don't usually like to put blankets on the horses, but if it's is going to be that cold we put the blankets on the horses. We locked the kittens in the cow barn that night too. Twelve below and the sheep won't stay in their barn, they sleep by the horses  barn!
Monday, was a typical Monday for me. I seem to be very scatter brained on Mondays. I seem to go from one thing to another, and go around in circles, and accomplishing some of my tasks.Try as I might it just is that way. The kids are hard to corral for school too, two days off and they seem to think it should continue. They settle into school by Tuesday though. That Monday morning it wasn't too cold, but Maggie put her foot in the milk pail, so we dumped the milk, then Matthew asked me if I could milk that night so he could get some more hay because later this week we are supposed to get more snow! I said sure. I was glad to do it, it's felt like forever since I milked, so I happily went and was milking away when Maggie moved her left leg, and knocked the pail over. Milk went everywhere! I didn't grab it in time, and then she decided she needed to do her business! Bad thing is I was almost done milking too! Uuugggghhhh. No fresh milk on Monday. Supper was late that night too, we had last minute company for supper and Matthew had to help our neighbor get the snow off his roof, and he fell off the roof. Thankfully he landed in a nice soft fluffy snow pile, and is fine. Our neighbors wife saw him fall and he said the look on her face was horror, as she watched. She asked if he was alright, and he gave her a thumbs up, he looked like a snowman, covered in snow! I'm glad all went well considering and Monday is over, until next week!! Hahahaha...
Anyways I was glad to have dessert that night. I had my favorite dessert! I have a weakness...

Chocolate..

frosting...

Yup, that's what I'm talkin 'bout! These are my favorite things, almost ever!! Yumm-eeee

Yup, whoopie pies! I got the recipe from one of my sister in laws. And I have to say it's the best thing ever to eat too. Not too sweet and just wonderfully chocolaty, but that may be because I use rounded over tablespoons of chocolate!!  I'd have to say chocolate makes Mondays better!! Hahahaha. In a matter of speaking of course.