Almost Done

My new fangled mud room.
I want a super cool tiffany type light fixture for in here.





Keep in mind that this is a work in progress. The current plan is to paint the hutch and kitchen table black. I still have a great deal of work to do. I need to finish painting the trim on the glass cabinet doors and re hang them. It is taking me forever. I also should have picked a different color for the appliances. The original plan was to paint the cabinets white, but when I did that they looked awful. If I had known I would have purchased black appliances. Oh, well. We also need spring to come so that money tree in the yard will start bearing fruit ( ha ha) so we can replace the counters and floors. I am thinking it will break up the YELLOW if I run the counter material up the back of the wall to the bottom of the cabinets. I have also considered painting that area the green from the mud room or continuing the red. After I accomplish most of this I am going to repaint the white trim through out the house a not so glaring white.

Credit Where Credit is due

Those of you who know me well know that I am not a fan of commercial cleansers. I feel that they are nothing but a way for companies to suck money from our pockets and destroy our planet. There are a few good old fashioned things out there that none of us can live with out and generally make our homes a little healthier, but those have been around since our grandmothers time. I have been on a quest in the past few years to cut my chemical purchases and still keep my house clean. I have dug up a ton of natural homemade cleansers and am generally pleased with their preformance. However there is one room that still mystifies me, the bathroom. I have been making my own baking soda and lemon juice cleaners and have found them to work well. I just longed for the day I could whip out my nice spray bottle and clean away. I have now been saved. Clorox, of all people, has made a new line of products called Green Works. I decided I would try them for my dreaded bathroom. WOW ! I love it. It cleans wonderfully and I can be sure that I am not harming my planet. The only problem I can find is it comes in a plastic spray bottle that I do not have the facilities to recycle, but I guess so does my lemon juice. It just goes to show, if we consumers demand it they will produce it.

My Kids Are Weird

Now everyone says that I know, but mine really are. Yesterday when we went to town to buy feed and food (feed for the animals, food for us) I found a really cool product. I found sushi kits. Now, most people would not think that it was a really cool kid product. I , however, am not most people.




I knew right then and there that my kids would love them. Is anything cooler than cut up veggies, fish, rice, and sea weed?


If you are me.... then the answer would be " why yes, there are lots of things a great deal cooler.", but not to my kids. So that brings us to our title, my kids are weird.

As soon as the big one hit the door coming home from school he knew something cool was in the house, and when he found it we had to start consuming it immediately. I will have to admit it was a fun afternoon. We laughed and giggled, and I even tried the sea weed. We have a standing rule/activity that we each try something new each week. I have have to admit mine was a reach for me, but fun. Now for Mr. Tweedy's apple pears.

Mr. Tweedy is Feeling Creative...

Mr. Tweedy, being in a rather creative mood, came up with this strange song for his boys, Alien Oddity. It is interesting, in a sort of Acid type of way, but the kids like it.

He also made a new Blog about his misadventures in the fire world, EmergencyRun. Not much there yet, but just wait...

The Story of The Can

Here it is THE CAN, and here is it's story.

It all started on a lovely morning when my oldest requested a tuna sandwich for lunch. Being the wonderful loving mother that I am I packed him one complete with love, and snow peas on the side. There was some residue left in the can so I kindly sat it out on the back steps for the cat, who was out there having her breakfast. The day quickly spun out of control and I tried to get all my chores done forgetting about the can. The next morning I went out to get the paper and found it on the complete other side of the house with these lovely teeth marks in it. I don't know which terrifies us more, the fact that this animal could chew through metal or that it's teeth were so big. We sort of go back and forth on that, and it leads to some very lively discussions around these parts. I do know that there is something big and scary out there and it hangs around my house. Fun!

Attention

I am now hotmom@cybermesa.com. I would appreciate it if all of our friends and family would send me an email since I have lost everything. Thanks

8:40 am

I hate to bore you with yet another blog about how strange and busy my life has become, but this particular day made my mom laugh.


I have:

Cleaned up one kids runny poop while he pulled everything apart and yelled " my butt is clean mom look, look, look"

Decided to send the other kid to school even though he had a slight fever and was not feeling very well. Yes, I talked to the teacher and they are keeping an eye on him. He has just missed way to much school. I quite sure a phone call will come soon to pick him up.

Talked to my mom on the phone. That phone called ended when I calmly told her I had to let her go so I could ......

Put out a big ol fire in my compost heap

Then I found something dead in the basement

Did 2 loads of laundry

And finally found a tuna can on my deck with a tooth hole in it so big that my youngest can stick his pinky finger through it.

It is 8:40 in the morning. What have you done?

The Grand Experiment

It seems that our grand experiment has gone a bit off course. We have now cooked 2 of our elderly chickens and still can not get any useful meat off them. I will say we were grabbing at straws with this one anyway. Our chickens were 4 or 5 years old and anyone who tries to eat a chicken that is over a year is usually a bit of a nut. They say that under 4 months is best for good chicken. I kept thinking we could use them for stewing and get something, but no luck. I guess this whole process is one of experimentation anyway and I will eventually run across a system that works for us. We needed our chickens culled and I could not bear the thought of just killing them and tossing them. Now we have the experience to know we can sit down and eat a bird from our yard, and we have found a person to get them to the table for us. Our plans this spring still include a yard full of "eattin" chickens.

Whoville?

That Who-Hash is looking good right about now, especially after what these crazy people ate last night!

That is right....
We are crazy people. Last night we pulled the chicken we lovingly called " mangy chicken" in life out of the fridge. We cooked her up and laughed for hours. The night of the mangy chicken will live forever in our memories and my children will tell the story long into adulthood. Now, we picked the chicken who no predator would eat in life so one can imagine how tough and rubbery she was.

Now I know why you eat them young !

Problem Fixed

We are having technical difficulties here at skunky acre. Our computer has crashed and we have lost all our information. This of course means I have no ones email address. Now, I should have been a better wife and mother and written it all down. That did not happen so my poor family has lost out. We are in the process of setting up accounts with a new server ( what better time to do it). I will post our new email as soon as we know it.

3rd Grade Math

My sweet little ( or not so little) 8 year old boy has been home from school all week. It started with a terrible stomach bug, then seemed to linger with just a yucky feeling. I would send him to school and with in one hour they would send him home. Now on Friday his teacher sent him home with a weeks work of school work. No problem for 2 well adjusted adults who have actually held down meaningful jobs, right.

WRONG

Have you seen what they have these LITTLE KIDS doing. I emphasized the little kids part because they are just little kids. I think the worst part was the math. Let's start with the fact that the work book is not just labeled " Math Work Book". No, no, no, it is " Everyday Mathematics The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project Student Math Journal". What the heck sort of title is that.

Now, for those of you not blessed with a third grader with this particular book it is terrible. I had to actually call another 3rd grader to come over and explain it to us. Yes, that is right I was incapable of doing the work. Mind you I am not a math midget. I may not have made the grade in school, but I can do our taxes. I would think if one can take on the IRS then they could do 3rd grade math. I will say I plan on talking to the teacher. If I can't understand it then how can the kids !

I have now spoken to other parents and they are all alarmed at the chaos contained in the book, and all of their children's math grades have dropped also. Oh, wait did I mention that my kiddo's report card was in the stack of work and his math grade had fallen from almost and A to just passing. All this from a student who's favorite subject used to be math. Now I have a feeling that math may be behind his long recovery.

Blog

My brother has a blog,
My brother has a blog,
You should really check it out,
My brother has a blog.
Texomatales.blogspot

It Must Be Love

I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Tweedy and I must really love each other. Now why after 16 years of marriage would it just now be apparent. The answer would be this week. Our house has been insane. Take the fact that I decided I would really get going on the kitchen redecorating so I took the kitchen apart. Add it to the stomach virus that seems to linger and is working its way through the family. Then toss in a 3 year old who has decided to question us at every turn. What you get is 2 whinny children, 14 tons of laundry piled up, a disaster of a kitchen, an empty fridge, and 2 people who love each other very much.


And by the way we changed the new gooses name to Sally, Dinner is in the freezer, and I will post pictures of our very brightly painted kitchen as soon as I am done.

We Did It

It is done ! Today we dropped off Dinner and his elderly girls at the butcher. It is a little bit quieter in the chicken yard, but that is a good thing. It was easier than I thought to load them up and drop them off. I sort of wondered if I could do it. Could I really take my sweet little pets to be made into food. I did and as a matter of fact it made me want chicken for dinner. Good thing I have left overs in the fridge.

We learned a lot when we dropped them off. The butcher raises all his own food and also sells a few pigs on the side. You buy them, he raises and butchers them for you. I sort of like the sound of that. It is definitely food for thought.

The Thinker

My youngest is my thinker. He contemplates all the big questions in life, and comes up with some interesting answers. He also asks me many questions I either never thought of or am not ready for. Here is the latest example.

Last night I was tucking my sweet little 3 year old boy into bed when he suddenly became very concerned. I asked him what was wrong and he said " the wolf come eat me like pig". Now I know the story of the big bad wolf, so I just told him our house was strong like the little pig with the brick house. I pointed out that the wolf could never get in that house and the pigs danced and sang the days away. The wolf ,as I recall, ran off with a burned bottom. He then became concerned with the strength of our door, windows, etc. After what seemed like forever and a day the many ways a wolf could get into our house and eat us like a pig were covered. He then went to sleep and left me to wonder what new questions he would ask in the morning.

Jackpot !

This is the main bathroom on the main floor of my house. Yes, the one everyone see if they need to use the facilities at our house.

Ugly isn't it!

We are in the process of ripping down the old paneling that looks like fake tile, and some fake tile underneath. Boy, the previous owners really liked fake tile.



This is the new pretty tile we had put in this summer to replace the fake plastic tile in the tubs. See, I told you they loved fake tile. We also had the faucets replaced. Aren't they lovely?



Now to the reason this story is called jackpot. We have 3 bathrooms in this house. All of which are in a state similar to this one. We are waiting for the money tree to sprout in the back yard to move forward. Well, yesterday the bathroom extras tree sprouted at Lowe's. We went in to buy some boring things like a new bucket, and water softener salt. Then we caught sight of the piles and piles of towel racks, and toilet paper holders all marked down 75 to 90 %, and they were Kohler. Now, as you can imagine, there was quite a ruckus going on. You had to really fight to get matching hardware. Being the daughter of my mother I was prepared. If my mom taught me nothing else it is how to get the good stuff at a sale. I walked way with exactly what we wanted for our bathroom and the main floor bathroom. The only thing we are missing is the toilet paper holder for the main bathroom. I am inspired. I just may finish ripping down some walls....... when everyone gets back in school that is.

News Flash ...........

We have important breaking news here at Skunky Acre.

It seems that Bob may in fact be a girl.


Yes, Silly did know what he was doing. It all started when there was a great deal of, well, " activity" in the goose area. We did some research and found out that Bob is not a mix breed, but a Chinese goose. African and Chinese geese both look very similar, except both sexes of Chinese geese have a knob on their head. That solves a lot of issues around here and means I don't have to do any fancy dancing when my kids ask questions. We are not the masters of goose sexing so we will just have to wait and see if Bob lays eggs, then a name change may in fact be in order.

And The Winner Is .......

Introducing Bob the Knob, or Knobby Bobbie. We go back and forth between the two. One will stick eventually. Either way his name is Bob. I guess we all thought that Silly would pick a girl. Now, I don't want to make any judgments about my goose and his goose drive but , well , he picked this fellow. We do believe he is a boy. Out of all the lovely full blood African geese Silly picked this mixed breed sweet heart, so it is hard to tell the sex. I am a bit pleased. Bob is sweet and will even let you pet him and pick him up. I had never felt the knob on a goose until we got him. They are very , very soft. I also love his eyes. Those beautiful yellow rings are wonderful. I do have a very interesting story to tell about transporting a pissed off goose to find a friend ( lets call it that). Oh, and the noise and confusion of a giant bird lot. Let's just say turkeys are scary and I don't want one anymore.

This Means War

The rooster and the goose have begun to fight. I don't mean that picking on your sibling type of arguing. I mean the gangland, prison yard , cut you with a knife fight. We now have to keep them separated. This is quite fun as you can imagine.

Picture this.....

Me in my nightgown, muck boots, and snow coat in a chicken pen in the dark with a 50 pound goose and a 8 pound ball of furry who hate each other.

Now, I have to talk one of them into leaving the pen ( or as they would say giving ground to the other guy). I gave up this morning. I now have to worry that Silly will flat out kill Dinner before my big tough man gets home to whip them into shape. All I have to say is good thing I got a hold of the meat man last night and he is willing to help us take a few chickens from yard to freezer. In fact it is scheduled for next Thursday.

Lucky Goose

This picture was taken quite some time ago. It is a picture of Silly and you can see the tail feathers of the much missed Lucy. Silly is still very depressed and generally pissed of about his loss. We have come to a point where something needs to be done. Being the mom in the family and therefore the doer I called around this week looking for a nice home for our beloved goose. Silly me, I thought everyone would be thrilled when I found an actual bird sanctuary full of african geese for him to go live at. When I gleefully announced to my children that I had in fact found him a home they collapsed into little puddles of jello. I was accused of all sorts of terrible acts and labeled a bad mother. I just don't think I had realized how attached my kids were to those geese. I knew they had cried long and hard over Lucy, but she had actually died, not just gone to live a happy life with a flock. After much abuse I gave in and called the loving goose flock back. I have now arranged to buy a goose from them so at least Silly won't be alone any longer. There is one hitch to this. We have to bring Silly with us and let him pick out his mate. Yes, they insisted. I am thinking that should be great fun. Loading a goose in the truck to go to a farm and select his new mate. I can see all sorts of reasons for you to check this blog tomorrow.

Just in case you are wondering I love having geese so this really is not that big a stretch for me. And in case you are wondering how they feel about eating some of our chickens. I have been told ( by them) that they don't care. " Dinner is evil" they say and run off. I guess there is something to be said for being half way nice. It could really save your neck some day.

Saved by the ..... Book?

This picture has very little to do with my post, but I thought is was adorable. Sorry, I am a parent.

Now to the meat of the story, pardon the pun. Mr. Tweedy and I have been going through all our books and trying to scratch up the nerve to get out there and kill ourselves some Dinner. Pardon the pun again. Then I came across the most brilliant writing that has ever been put on a page. Yes, one of the books suggested that we call a meat processing company and have them do the dirty work. What smart people they were, no wonder they wrote a book. I have been on and off the phone all day trying to find a place to handle my meat ( sounds dirty doesn't it). I am having a hard time reaching anyone and I think it has something to do with the holiday. I am sure I will have better luck next week.

Oh, and Happy New Year