Gosh the wait is killing me!

3 of my rabbits are due anytime now and it is driving me insane! I feel like I did when I was pregnant with Sophia and didn't know when she would come.  This is nuts!  2 of them have made nests but none of them have pulled any fur as of 10 minutes ago...yes it is after midnight and I just went and checked on them. lol

Our pet numbers have increased since the last time I posted- we gained a new puppy--his name is Scooby:

Cooper named him!  We are keeping him on the backporch for now.  He goes outside with me when I do chores and we let him run around the house a couple times a day.  He chews literally EVERYTHING!  He will be 7 weeks old tomorrow.  He is half beagle and half??? maybe yellow lab?? He is just so squishy and adorable.  We already love him so much.

Today I talked Chris into driving to Nixa to go to Chick day at Nixa hardware!  Came home with 9 chicks...

They are so cute!  I wanted more but I know better because we are going on Thursday to pick up our 125 from Cackle.  We were supposed to go last Thursday but they called earlier in the week and said they weren't going to hatch them until the 30th of March.  So I had to wait another week.  The wait is killing me!

Tomorrow is Homecoming at church, we are celebrating 50 years in the building and have an all day service planned.  I just finished making bread and cinnamon rolls for the dinner.  In the morning we will have regular Sunday School and worship and then we will eat and in the afternoon Bro. Efton Piper is coming to bring the afternoon message.  It shall be a glorious day I am sure.  I am also sure that it will be a long day kid wise. sigh.  Sophia will get really tired...I think I will take the stroller downstairs when we eat and PRAY that she falls asleep in the stroller so MAYBE she will get her nap in.

Life is not fair. (A minor rant about family...and other things...)

Don't get me wrong, I love being a stay at home mom, but sometimes I just want a break!  Since my sister went off the deepend I don't have a babysitter aka grandma and papa since they have Jake full time now. My kids have only spent the night there a couple of times and whenever mom and dad need to do something I get stuck with Jake.  I love Jake, I really do-but he and Cooper fight constantly!  Everyone says it is just because Jake is 6 and Cooper is 3 but I think Jake is a bully.  Everything has to be HIS way no matter what and he is always right.  It drives me nuts.  He will argue with you until he/you are blue in the face.  He treats Cooper like he is dumb because he doesn't know as much.

Today Chris and dad decided to go to an auction.  I wanted to go but dad didn't want to deal with Jake so I have to stay home and babysit Jake with my kids. Mom is at work and then she has to go to a funeral.  My plans were if I didn't get to go to the auction then I would go grocery shopping-well I can't do either and its not FAIR!  I know I am whining but I just want a break once in awhile where I can go to town and not have to worry about getting everything done before naptime, or changing diapers in the car, or getting home intime to pick up the kids.  I just want to go to town and have the day to myself.  I would also like to have a night with just Chris and I.  I don't care if we stay at home, I want to be able to stay up as late as we want and sleep as late as we want.  We have to go to bed at 8 or so since Sophia sleeps in the living room and even if we don't go to sleep we have to be really quiet and keep the tv in our room turned down low.

I want to be able to cook supper and sit down and eat with Chris at the same time.  Whenever I cook Chris comes and gets his plate and sits down.  I then fix Cooper's and Sophia's and then mine.  By the time I sit down to eat Chris is already done and in the shower.  I wish we had a bigger house so we could have a kitchen table so we could all sit down together. 

But I guess I shouldn't complain too much because there are other people that have worse problems than I.  I should be lucky that I have a family who loves me and cares for me.  I am happy with my life most of the time and I love all my animals, friends, family, neighbors, church families... but life isn't perfect all the time.  No ones life is perfect.

And to top it all off-just looked outside a bit ago and 2 of the big steers were in the front yard-down by the highway.  Thankfully we have a fence in our front yard, but the driveway isn't gated off.  I got them back in, but it seems like something always goes wrong when dad and Chris leave. 

Oh well- here are a few pics I took the other day.  Love this pic of Sophia:

Had a busy few days-

Missouri Weather is CRAZY! Yesterday it snowed, the day before it rained, the day before that it was 70!  Today the high is 58 and by Thursday it is supposed to be 80! Craziness I tell you.  But I shouldn't complain because we could be having weather like Japan- earthquake and tsunami. ugh. I don't know about this world anymore.  I saw this status update on Facebook earlier today and it really makes you think:

Sept 11th- New York, January 11th- Haiti and March 11th- Japan. Luke 21:10-11 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes', famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. 'Jesus says for behold I come quickly' so ask yourself, are you ready?


Friday the kids and I went to Fair Grove and picked up T-Bone...525 pounds of beef!  We now have 3 freezers stocked with ground beef, cubed steaks, roasts, brisket, t-bone, porterhouses, and much more!  He was so lean though we didn't get any rib eyes or sirloins.  I cooked a lb of hamburger last night and there was ZERO grease.  I had to add water to keep it from sticking to my pan!

Friday night we went to Springfield and picked up 4 rabbit cages from a lady off of CL.  Great deal!  We then went to Mongolian BBQ and saw my cousin and his wife.  hadn't seen them since Christmas.  Also saw some of Chris's 'friends' from Weaubleau.

Saturday we went to Pittsburg to fix Shelly and Randall's lake house-the heat wouldn't come on and they are selling it.  So it needed to be fixed.  Got it fixed and then went to Weaubleau for a few minutes.  Stopped in Hermitage and ate at Tators-pretty good food.

Saturday afternoon we rearranged the bunnies in the shed and worked on the brooder houses.  We burned some brush piles and tall grass too.  The weather was just so beautiful we didn't want to go in the house.  Plus it was warmer outside than it was inside!

Sunday we overslept for church.  Stupid Daylight Savings time... I cleaned the house and did some laundry while Chris and the kids slept the afternoon away.  Later we all went to Bolivar and got haircuts (except Sophia that is).  I didn't like my haircut at first but after I played with it is okay.

Yesterday I went to WalMart and saved $40 in coupons!  Got a bunch of catfood, 4 toothbrushes ($0.24 each), 3 tubes of toothpaste ($1.00 each) and 6 more bottles of Purex.  I will not buy anymore laundry detergent for a LONG time!


598 loads worth!



Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Well I woke up at 4am this morning and it was absolutly pouring down rain.  (The weatherman said last night that it would not start until after 10am...he was wrong!) It is still raining and it is 10pm!  We DO NOT NEED ANYMORE RAIN!  This is ridiculous!  My yard is like a lake, the ground is completly saturated with water.  AND it is supposed to rain tomorrow! AHHH.  But the ducks love this weather. :)

I had planned on going to Springfield today, but since it was raining I decided I didn't want to drag the kids out in 40 degree wind blowing rain.  So we stayed home.  It was bad enough having to go out to do chores today and it was time to clean the rabbit cages...not fun in the blowing rain. blah.

This afternoon I made an awesome chocolate cake.  I got the recipe here and it was divine!  I think it was the best chocolate cake I have ever made and tasted! Here are some pics:

I love this pic!

My FAVORITE measuring spoons! They are collapsable!



Voila! The Finished Product!

Last night for supper I made polish sausage (lite), fried potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and corn...don't know what the name of the dish actually is but we call it Silver Dollar City Sausage and Potatoes.  I boiled my potatoes first and then fried them in the cast iron, once they start to brown add everything else and cook until peppers are done.  Salt and pepper to taste.

In the summer I will add zuchinni, fresh green beans, or okra.  But those things really aren't in season and I didn't have any of them on hand.  The kids LOVE this!  We ate the rest of it for lunch today and Cooper wanted more!  Tonight I just made steaks and hominy. 

My kids absolutly love hominy and so does Chris.  I really like too.  I am thinking about trying to make hominy.  All I need is corn, lye, water, and salt.  I was reading earlier and 2 gallons of dried corn will make approximatly 5 gallons of hominy.  4 quarts to a gallon so 20 quart jars or 40 pint jars.  A 50lb bag of corn is only about $8 at the feed store and that would make approx. 50 gallons!  But I can share some corn with the chickens and the ducks :)  I was thinking about making 10 gallons to last the next year.  Hominy is expensive to buy and we eat a family size can each time.  I think I may try it sometime soon.  I could grow my own corn for it, but they say field corn is better than sweet corn for hominy and then you have to let it dry and shell it.  You can dry hominy out and grind it up to make corn flour and make your own tortillas...something to try!  I am always up for a challenge. lol

Today Chris spent over $150 on wire to make rabbit cages.  He thinks he can make about 10 cages with what he bought. A lot cheaper than buying the cages. TSC wants $30.00 for rabbit cages and you still have to assembly them.  We can make them for half the cost.  We need to buy more bunnies though.  He is wanting to get about 10 more New Zealand Does so we can have lots of babies.  Funny thing I learned about rabbits- you can breed pretty closely related rabbits- like a mother/son or father/daughter just don't do brother/sister if you can help it.  With dogs you have to keep at least 3 generations apart.  Kinda weird it doesn't matter with rabbits. 

My ducks haven't laid any eggs yet.  I think they are still getting settled.  Today and yesterday was the first days I'd seen them get very far from the coop and the swimming pool.  They don't quack which I think is weird-Chris says that it is good.  I kinda want some more ducks, maybe some ducklings but I think I will wait until after we raise our chicks-which by the way we are getting in 15 days!! (not that I am counting lol)

'

Homesteading

So I have discovered that some would call me a Homesteader.

"Homesteading has more than one meaning. It used to mean qualifying for free government land because you lived on it, built a house on it, and so on. Now it means living on the land and trying for at least some degree of home production of your needs, especially food. When people who were raised in cities try to accomplish that, I believe it can be every bit as much of a challenge for them as crossing the plains was for our pioneer ancestors. People go to all kinds of places to do their homesteading: the suburbs of their city, the mountains of Appalachia or the western United States, the northeastern United States, the Midwest, northern California, Alaska, Canada, Mexico. No matter where you are or go -- if you can grow a garden and raise some animals, you're a homesteader. And a fortunate human being!" --- Carla Emery, The Encyclopedia of Country Living

I think I may really like that term.  Homesteader.  Makes me think of Laura Ingalls Wilder-whom I love!

Chris and I stayed up pretty late last night researching and discussing if we wanted to move forward in the rabbit business.  I know I have only had rabbits for a couple weeks now, but I really enjoy them.  I have found a processor in Rogers, Arkansas that will pay up to $1.45 a pound for rabbits that weigh 4.75 to 5.75 pounds.  They have to be white rabbits though and you have to maintain at least 25 does for them to buy.  Plus we would have to build a rabitry.  (new word in my vocabulary...rabitry)  Basically we need a building with insulation and ventilation, varment proof and with lots of cages.  I can buy the feed pretty cheap at MFA ($7.00 a 50# bag) and I would like to have some sort of automatic water bottles of some sort.  So it would take some money to get it all started...but if we had say 100 does we could make around $14,000 a year...roughly.  It would be a full time job though and that would mean me not finishing school.  BUT I could stay at home and that is really what I want to do.  I would like to teach also, but I think I could fulfill my teaching wants and needs by teaching my kids.  AND I would consider homeschooling and possibly substitute teaching. 

These may just be dreams, but I would like to achieve them someday.  When I was little I always said that I wanted to live away from people and just farm.  Funny how right that little 5 year old was.  My parents and teachers said that I would want to move away from here and see the world. Nope, not really.  I think it would be neat to see other parts of the world, but I am happy right where I am.  There are days I would like to move away and start a whole new life, but I know I could never leave my family and my friends- I depend on them way too much. 

I am truly blessed and happy with my life as it is. 

oh and a pic of my bacon wrapped pork roast that I cooked yesterday for Sunday Dinner. It was so good!

 oh and gotta share this too!

I went to Walgreens a bit earlier and bought a few things:

Not pictured:  1 Gallon 2% Hiland Milk

The total: $26.09!!!

thinking...

I think I need to come up with a name for my backyard.  Chris is referring to it as the Zoo...

I would like to think of something cute and make a sign, but am having trouble with ideas.  The best thing I have is My Backyard Haven...but I don't like it.  Doesn't have the right ring to it. hmmmm.

Also been trying to name the bunnies so far we have: Smokey, Trixie, Speckles, Hershey, Q-Tip, and Ace.  Thinking about Hermie and Sunny for the other two.  Need to name the kitty---or just call her kitty. I don't know if I am going to name her or not.  I probably won't name the ducks or any of the chickens-there are just too many of them. lol.

I can't explain my need/want for animals.  I just love them to pieces.  I love the expressions on my kids' faces when they see them and I can just imagine what is going through their little heads.  When I was growing up we always had cows and dogs.  When I was really little mom and dad had pigs but they sold out in the mid-90's when the market bottomed out.  I would like to have some fresh pork, but I don't have a pen right now and the market is really good for hogs.  I would also like to have a goat or two...and a llama-just because lol.  Today they sold a 1 year old pony at the salebarn and he only brought $75!  Oh man I wish the kids were a bit older...they could have had a pony!  Every little kid wants a pony--we would have been the most awesome parents in the world, well maybe kinda cool at least. lol.  Every family has a dog or a cat-and don't get me wrong I love dogs and cats, but my kids will know what a responsibilty is and will know how to take care of animals.  I think raising chickens, rabbits, (and now ducks) will teach my kids something that I alone can't teach them.  It is good to know things. 

I think if the economy keeps going the way it is going people will start looking for local things even more than they do now.  I would love if I was able to provide people of our community with food and supplies.

oooh maybe Highway H Critters... or DeHart Critters or Backyard Critters.... or Erin's Backyard Critters...I think I like that- Erin's Backyard Critters  but who knows I may change it!

 I don't really think this blog post is making much sense though...probably has something to do with the pain killer I took earlier for my tooth.  Guess I will go to bed and let the meds do their thing. lol

DUCKS!!

I need to stay away from the sale barn!  We went again today and came home with 10 muscovy ducks and 2 more rabbits.  I took a bunch of pictures so enjoy!