Budget Barber

I have been meaning to get the boys' hair cut for a while now. I finally loaded them up and drove over to the barber shop but they had closed 18 minutes prior. So I decided to wait no more. I got out the clippers and scissors and went to town. Above is Diesel as we started cutting-a before shot if you will. Below is the finished product. He looks a bit bewildered, doesn't he? I trimmed a few more strays in the days to follow, but I think I did a pretty good job. So if you're up for an adventurous trim, come on over and sit right down.

On a side note: today I was highlighting my hair (at home, with the box) and I had my solution all mixed up and I decided to relieve myself before I put the gloves on and went to work. In the 15 seconds I was not paying attention, Gordon picks up the bottle and DRINKS IT! I had to call Poison Control for the 2nd time. I hope they don't keep tabs on this sort of thing. Oh, and they said he should be fine.

Where Is My Pot of Gold?

So Monday we had an afternoon storm come through and ahead of it was a rainbow and the rainbow landed IN OUR BACK YARD! It was awesome. I took some pictures, I hope you can see that the colors land in the green grass in front of the trees, clearly on our property. Even so those pesky leprechauns shanghied my pot of gold. So not fair.

How could I forget?

I was so excited about finding that verse that I forgot to tell you about how our day got started this morning!
We all got up about the same time and I let son#2 play on the deck while I got dressed. I was gone maybe 3 1/2 minutes. I walk out of my bedroom to see him standing in the doorway about to walk on the carpet with himself and a cardboard wrapping paper roll covered in white paint. It was in his hair all the way down to the bottom of his feet, literally head to toe. So I picked him up and dumped him in the shower, scrubbed him down then shut both boys in the playroom as I tackled the bigger mess. The gallon paint can was on the deck. I had foolishly left the lid off hoping it would harden so I could throw it in the trash, 3 days ago. Obviously it still had a ways to go. There was paint on the deck, my outdoor area rug, the welcome mat, the door (glass panes, frame and threshold), the inside mat, the carpet runner, the tile floor, the kitchen door mat, the wooden threshold, and one footprint on the carpet. After much scrubbing, the only thing I got completely clean was the tile floor, and the child. No, I take that back, he still has some paint on his ear. It wasn't a great start, but we did manage to still have a great day.

Eureka!

I have found a verse that I need! In my Bible study we are trying to find Bible verses that correspond to our specific prayer requests. I've been looking for days! I found one that speaks directly to one of mine, here it is...
"But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile-now I've thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone.....no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God's laws, but by trusting Christ to save me, for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith-counting on Christ alone." Philippians 3:7-9
I have the hardest time concentrating on the Bible or anything for that matter when the boys are awake. They keep me very busy, especially with husband being out of town. When he is away and I get to feel what it's really like to be a single mom, I gain such compassion for those women. How in the world do they do it? If you know one, give her a break, a hug, or a babysitter. Don't bother buying her books or bubble bath because she will never use them.
It has gone well this time though, with him being away. We went to Nana's house on Monday and went swimming. On Tuesday the boys went to the park with Nana. Tuesday night we had our last VBS meeting before the actual VBS. I stayed for 2 hours but skipped out at the end. The boys were with a new sitter and I was worried. I showed up and son #2 has obviously soiled his clothes because he is wearing this way-to-tight red onesie and his tennis shoes.I'm laughing now at the mental picture. He was walking around with that big belly sticking out and that red shirt stretched tight over it. It pulled down at his neck so the collar was a bit stretched out, man I wish I would have taken a picture. It was hilarious. Son#1 loved Sara the babysitter and has asked to go see her everyday since. I'll have to check her availability, this could be a very good thing.
Wednesday we went to church, Diesel got to see Sara, it was still light afterwards so we played on the playground for a little while. This morning we left to do our recycling, go to the dump and to take in our first trip to the city's Farmer's Market, but it hasn't started yet! The information I got last fall said "Farmer's Market-every Tuesday and Friday June-September." Now, to me (being a stickler for details) this means it should be up and running June 3rd, the first Tuesday in June. But evidently the event organizers just meant they start up some time in June. They should really be more specific, for people like me. But we got stopped at the train crossing which was great for Diesel, so I turned the car off and we watched and waited. We ran our other errands and then played in the sunshine at home through our normal nap time. This actually worked out well because both boys were so tired they went down easily and son #2 actually fell asleep without me beside him!

They're HERE!

I saw 2 lightning bugs this evening! That's the first I've seen of them this year. I think that means summer has begun.

I'm growing an avocado tree from a pit. It has taken it a long time to sprout and I looked up on the internet how to grow it. I follow the directions carefully, but I didn't read ahead. The tree has roots and leaves now but I finished the article and it said it "sometimes" bears fruit in 3-4 years!and that your chances are better if you have several trees so they can aid in pollination. Here I thought I was going to harvest avocado's next year. I also didn't know it would be so large. It's supposed to be 20-40 feet tall. That's like a real sized tree. I was thinking it would be more the size of a large bush. I don't have a good place for "several" 20-40' trees. Do you?

Sicko

Poor little Gordon got an ear infection while we were in AR for great-grandma's funeral. I took him to her doctors office in podunk. It was close to closing time. I was sure to bring him in so they could see how cute, but obviously sick he was. The receptionist kind of made a face but they agreed to see him, I think mainly in honor of Grandma. So the doctor confirmed my suspicion, it was indeed an ear infection, his temp was 102. Then she called in a Rx to another city because, get this, there is no pharmacist nor pharmacy in podunk, population 282! And she told me that some of her patients can't afford the gas for the trip to the nearest town with a pharmacy to pick up a Rx. So she keeps lots of stuff on hand, none of which she offered me. Guess she thought I could make the drive. I'm just kidding, we discussed it, they were all very nice and told me repeatedly how sweet GGma was and how much they would miss her. So thanks Grandma, for the doctor props, your stardom helped get my baby on the track to feeling better.

Gardening

So my gardening is going well. My plan is to scatter my fruits and veggies around the back yard instead of having one big garden. I have one bed on the side of the house where we are already harvesting green leaf lettuce. The broccoli is coming along and yesterday I planted mixed lettuce seeds and flat leaf spinach in that bed. Then in another bed I planted 2 rows of sweet corn and 3 mounds of pumpkins. I also watered the blueberry bush, which reminds me that I need to go the farmer's market and get another one. I wanted to wait and see if it lived through the winter first. I think I have already mentioned the grape vines. 3 of them are still alive and have a few green leaves. They all got stunted (again) by the frost in late April and then the horses stepped on one of them. I was trying to be nice and I let them in there to eat the tall grass before I mowed it down and they go munching on the bushes and stepping on my grapes!

Back to my garden. I planted okra seeds today, this is a new veggie for me, never grown it before. I also have one Big Boy tomato, one sweet cherry tomato, one red bell pepper, one green bell pepper, one sweet banana pepper, and one jalapeno pepper plant. And for herbs I have cilantro (which was surprisingly hard to find, evidently it is very popular) and oregano. I am also growing mint and basil for my mom and I'm still searching for rosemary. I think that's everything.

So this is my stress relieving hobby. I dig, I weed, I water. Not too much brain activity required for that. You'll probably hear more about my garden just because I love it. Feel free to skip over any future blogs about pepper pests or pumpkin problems.

Meet Bill & Molly

Yes, that's right folks, here are the first animals on the Rocking K Ranch. Picking them up was a trick. First we went to see them, their owners weren't home but a tenant was present and he said it would be ok to take them and he would hold the money. Konrad seemed to believe him but we needed a pen to put on our trailer to haul them in. Tenant suggested hog tying them and putting in the back of our car, which we politely declined. So off we headed to a friend's house to borrow her great dane dog crate. Well she wasn't home, but Konrad thought it would be ok to take it anyway...from their back yard...inside a chain link fence which also contained a pit bull. I did not know this at the time because I stayed in the front yard to keep the boys out of the fish pond and to protect a sweet cat that thought it would be a good idea to let a 3 year old get close enough to pet it. We soon loaded the trailer and were rounding up the boys when who should drive up, you guessed it, the owner of said trailer! Caught red-handed! It was a bit embarrassing, but we took the pen anyway. So we drove back to the goats and Konrad and tenant wrestled Molly into the pen. Bill was happy to go, he just followed the can of feed. That was about the end of the excitement. We enjoyed watching the goats as we drove down the road. So now we have 2 goats! and we are fairly certain that Molly is pregnant and soon we will have 3, 4 or 5 goats. I'll keep you posted and will surely post pics if we have any babies.

Finally Home

Our Texas adventure was a lot of fun. We were there to celebrate Grant's graduation from divinity school. Grant's family and Ken and Tina were there. We took in a Texas BBQ complete with pony rides and a petting zoo. We spent Mother's Day at the Zoo. Between our family passes and discounts, all 12 of us got in for $3.50. They certainly made their money on lunch though I didn't pay, thanks Ken. We thought we might have to detour to Arkansas on the way home but instead we drove home on Monday, then the boys and I left Wednesday for Arkansas for Grandma Hendrickson's funeral. She was 91 years old and had 4 great-great grandchildren, my sons being two of them. She was a Christian and is happy to be with God now. We spent some time out at her house before we left AR and I was able to dig up some of her hibiscus, iris' and a couple other pieces of plants to bring home with me. I share her love of gardening. She was also a bird watcher, a hobby I hope to take up someday. Someday when I can sit still for more than 3 minutes at a time without interruption. The boys traveled good, but I am still so glad to be home! Above is Kaden, we kept him happy quite often by feeding him. Here he is with a container of a new hit snack Lil'Crunchies. If you have little ones, they'll love 'em. Thanks to my friend Amy for introducing us to them.

Big Texas Adventure

Our trip to Texas is underway. Today we met up with the family and ate an authentic Texas meal of BBQ and beef brisket and finished off the afternoon with pony rides and a petting zoo.

This is Meerkat enjoying his first pony ride.

This is Meerkat sliding down the jumpy slide.

...and in the petting zoo.

Here Varmit is making himself at home in the hotel.

More later about our Big Texas Adventure!