Monica's Musings

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-15T10:12:00.002-06:00

Teaching Evan to shoplift as a “cost savings” approach to this year’s Christmas shopping probably wasn’t the best idea after all…..

Why I hate Randall's Grocery Store

2009-11-01T16:43:00.004-06:00

So, before I joined the "I hate the Randall's Club Card" group on Facebook the other day, I had already taken notes and photos that describe precisely why I hate Randall's. So here it is:

I am wondering why Randall's Grocery Store is engaging in fraudulent advertising? They are the type of store that has a "club card" and if you use it, you pay one advertised price, if you don't use it, you pay a different advertised price. Well, I found a book in a bin full of clearance items that were 50% off, according to the sign. When the cashier rung it up, it came out to the full price. I told him I found it in the clearance bin and it was 50% off. He told me that the 50% off only applied to "club members". I went back and looked at all of the markings on the bin, as well as the book, and no where did it specify "club members only". People that have been to Randall's know that there are always 2 prices listed for all of the items: the "club" price and the "regular" price. I went online and nowhere online did it state that only "club members" were entitled to clearance priced items. There’s not even a “color-coding” system or anything listed anywhere that describes that “x” color code means this price and “y” color code means this price. I think that Randall’s is full of sh*$! While standing there at the checkout, the lady in front of me who had not completely walked off yet, turned around and said that I could use her card if there was a problem. She was very sweet but I told her “no, thank you”, I will not use the card, thus allowing “The Man” to keep tabs on anyone. I deliberately don’t have a “member card” b/c I find it unseemly to discriminate like that for no good reason. This isn’t a program that you pay to get into and that offers something special for being a member. They just make non-members pay outlandish prices and play “Big Brother”, spying on all the “members”. I have gone to that store when I needed something quick because it’s the closest to my work, but never again. I will most certainly drive out of my way from here on out. That is a promise!
I consider what they did to be outright fraud. They advertised a specific price - no strings attached - and then did not follow through on the sale. In fact, I’m wondering if it was illegal? I am attaching a couple of photos so that people can see that they did not identify the bin items as “club member only” ANYWHERE.
I hate Randall’s Grocery Store and I will never again give them any of my business.

Anybody who would like to explain to me how Randall's is not engaging in fraud and is actually a great company, please, by all means, enlighten me.

A Sunday here at home

2009-08-23T20:52:00.006-05:00

I thought I would share a typical Sunday in the summer out here at my home. Being that the temps have been in the 100's for most of the summer, it seems like most of us come to life in the morning hours, then hibernate for the day until the temperature drops below 100 in the evening. These photos were taken around 8:30 am today:

Scott and Evan check on the water level at the tank in the lower pasture.

Hummingbird at the esperanza.

Hummingbirds at one of the feeders.

A doe and a buck at the barn.

Butterfly, a purple-spotted or a pipevine swallowtail, at the esperanza bush.

Indira, my peahen, sits on the car that I should have parked in the garage just for the very reason that she usually likes to perch there.

My peachick, who is quickly growing up.

Then, as I said, not much happens during the heat of the day. I cleaned up a bit outside, cleaned the chicken coop, etc. and felt absolutely awful, like I'd run a 10K or something, and wanted to throw-up. It's just so damned hot!

By 7pm, the activity starts back up and I captured a few more pics of the residents out here in my backyard. Here they are enjoying the evening hours:

These two photos are of Buddy, Minnie Pearl, Almond, then Prime Time and Paleface.

The hummers come back out to get some dinner at the feeders.

Evan helps water the plants.

Then, it's time to go inside, cool off a bit, get ready for bed and start a new day...Monday.....

A couple of notable passings in the backyard

2009-08-22T11:16:00.006-05:00

A couple of my favorite animals past away this past week.

My very elderly longhorn, Honeycake, finally went to sleep and didn't wake up. She was a lovely and sweet cow. Very pretty and a truly wonderful and strong mother to all of her calves. In fact, she had her last calf this past winter. She lived a really long life, approx. 30 yrs. give or take. I am glad that she didn't suffer. She was up and walking around, eating, drinking, using the bathroom, just being a cow, all the way to the end.

Then, one of my favorite chickens, a little white bantam I call Ballerina didn't come in to roost the other night and hasn't been seen since. I'm guessing it was a hawk, but I don't know for sure. She was incredibly sweet and one of the few that would always let me pick her up.

I really miss her.

We had a batch of chicks earlier in the month and three of them are hers, so I am hoping that maybe one will look like her and have her temperament.

Everybody is trying to get by in the heat this summer.

2009-08-22T10:56:00.004-05:00

Well, we have made several heat and drought records this year. Fifty-something days of over 100+ degree heat. Very tired of the heat.

Oh well.

It seems that everybody is hot and thirsty. I took a pic of a frog this morning around 10am that was hanging out at one of the chicken waterers. Neither the chickens nor the dogs paid him any mind. I guess everybody understands we all need to just get through the summer.

More Pictures from Evan's Birthday

2009-07-29T20:01:00.002-05:00

Max is such a little sweetie.

Scott's old friend, Layne, and Scott.

Ed and Jenny.

Ed, Steph and Mom.

Evan turns 3 years old

2009-07-29T19:44:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Evan's birthday with a very small family get-together. Work and an incredibly hot summer made the thought of throwing a bigger party a little too much to handle right now.

Evan had a great time with his cousin, Max, and his aunts, uncle and Nana. Just the right amount of presents and birthday cake, too.

Peafowl

2009-06-26T20:52:00.005-05:00

OK, I am working full-time again and I absolutely do not have the brain capacity to manage a blog and everything else.

That said, what's going on with me? Well, I have been trying to build my peafowl flock but it's just not in the cards.

Indira, my peahen, still wanders around, but my peacock has been killed and my peachicks have ended up as snake food, save for one little guy. I started with 5 chicks and I only have one left. The snakes have been feasting on my chicks.

Rat snakes seem to be the predominant species around here, although I've seen indigo and coral here from time to time.

This morning, I checked on my last 2 peacock chicks around 6 am and by 7 am, when I was ready to leave for work, a rat snake had killed and half eaten one of the chicks. The shovel made swift work of said rat snake.

I am sooooooo pissed. I am trying to figure out what to do, but, seriously, I have never had this much trouble with snakes before!

Lord knows I've raised plenty of chicks around here, but this is the first time I've had the snakes come out and kill them so aggressively! I wonder if it's the drought that's finally driving them to do this.

Anyway, I am really mad.

Pottery

2009-05-09T16:30:00.008-05:00

I enjoy pottery. I enjoy pottery that I know someone made with their own 2 hands. My neighbor is an artist, print making is her specialty. This is the second year that she and I and another friend have gone to the annual "Art of the Pot" here in Austin, where artists display their wares and demonstrate their craft. It is a lot of fun.

Below are some of last year's finds:

Just the bird cups and the elephant at the front of this photo.

TV

2009-05-09T16:03:00.002-05:00

OK, I' m a little behind on my TV shows. I'm about 4-5 episodes behind on "In Treatment". But, I just watched "In Treatment" week 4 Oliver. Oh, my goodness, I love this show. I love Gabriel Byrne and I love the writers! I don't know what else to say. He is such a superb character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dead Chicken

2009-05-03T14:00:00.002-05:00

Woke up, let the chickens out of the coop but one didn't leave. She was one of the americauna chicks. Older now, about the size of a bantam chicken. This, of course, is sad, but also concerning. The chicken looked wet and slimy from the top of her head down to the bottom of her neck. Yes, it looks like a snake tried to eat her but she was just too big.

I've fortified the base of the coop and I'm going to put up additional screening. I hope that helps. Poor thing. When chickens are asleep, they are "sitting ducks". It's kind of like being under anesthesia.

Evan and the rain

2009-04-22T20:58:00.003-05:00

It rained!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, we need rain! Evan got a super cute pair of rubber boots and umbrella from his Nana and they finally came in handy!

Beautiful Morning

2009-04-22T20:33:00.004-05:00

I woke up to a beautiful moon this morning. I believe it's jupiter that is sitting just below it. The pictures don't do it justice. It was lovely.

Easter Egg Hunt at Home

2009-04-18T18:17:00.006-05:00

This year Evan really "got" the Easter Egg Hunt, as I told in my previous post. At home, we did another hunt for him on Easter Sunday. It's so funny, though, b/c he lives in the moment, so each egg had to be opened as soon as he picked it up. As you can imagine, it was a slow process...

And Scott, bless his heart, tried to get a few cool things for the eggs besides candy. He got some cute little stretchy bunnies, little stretchy animals, little spongy animals that come in capsules that enlarge in water, AND...fireworks! I say FIREWORKS b/c they were little flammable bottles where you pull a string and that triggers a "pop" and flings streamers. They're more like caps for cap guns, in that they have a tiny little gun powder charge that goes off and shoots whatever is in the bottle. It smells awful, just like fireworks, and scared the crap out of Evan.

I didn't want to spoil the day, so I tried to act cool, but inside I was going, "what the hell?!" You gave my child fireworks? The label said in all caps "FLAMMABLE" and "NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN". Fortunately, Scott circled back around and said he didn't realize what they were and was surprised b/c he bought them at WalMart in the "holiday" section. He thought the bottles were like the eggs you can buy where you crack them open and there's confetti inside--no explosives, very low-tech. No, Scott, next time bring your reading glasses and read the label.

It was funny b/c Scott pulled the string on the first one to show Evan how it works. It went "POP" and Evan looked and then said say in his little-bitty voice, "That's scary, daddy!". The intonation was so cute and yet, so matter of fact.

Evan's Easter Egg Hunt at School

2009-04-10T17:19:00.004-05:00

This year was Evan's 2nd year taking part in the MDO Easter Egg Hunt. Last year he didn't fully understand the hunt but he had fun. This year he realized that the eggs had goodies in them and, thus, were very valuable.

Last year, Scott and I both attended with Evan but this year I couldn't make it since I'm working full-time. But Scott did a great job of taking pictures to commemorate the event. Unfortunately, he forgot to send Evan's Easter Basket along, so Evan had to use a paper bag, but that's OK.

Visit from Bryan

2009-03-24T20:24:00.004-05:00

Bryan is an old friend of Scott's. They met back in college and Bryan is Scott's BFF (besides me, of course). Isn't BFF weird to say in relation to a 40-something? It sounds so wrong, it makes me LOL. Obviously, I am a relic trying to exist in these tech-savvy times. Pat me on the head and send me on my way.

ANYWAY, it's always nice to see him. Evan thoroughly enjoyed his "Uncle" Bryan, too.

We took the daily walk down to check on the cattle.

Peafowl now at Chez Monica

2009-03-23T16:16:00.004-05:00

I LOVE BIRDS! Have I mentioned that? Well, if not, here ya go. I love 'em. As of yesterday, I am now the proud owner of an adult peacock and peahen. I'm so excited!

I'm keeping them in the chicken coop for a while until they get acclimated to their new home.

A friend of a friend needed to re-home them and my friend knew of my predisposition to animal husbandry so she put her friend in touch with me. She said that the peahen has been laying as of late;-)

I am so glad. I've wanted peafowl for a while now but I never did anything about it.

Not to get too weird about it but I kinda think the universe is trying to help me out. Here's why:

1) Completely not an avian topic--I needed to get a job. I did not want to go out into the "job market". I loved my old boss and always loved the thought of getting back in touch with her. What happens? My old job opens back up, a friend recommends me and I'm back with my beloved old boss as of the beginning of April!

2) I always wanted peacocks. Never did anything about it. A friend of a friend comes along and viola, I have peacocks (peafowl; sorry).

I know it may sound flimsy to some, but I do kind of feel like things are going my way. Knock on wood, I hope I'm right:-)

I AM a Knitter! Sort of….

2009-03-14T12:10:00.001-05:00

My most wonderful friend, Jeni, sent me a beautiful knitting set to get me started knitting a couple of months ago. I was feeling pretty low and she really went out of her way for me. There was some super soft chenille yarn that was begging to be made into something really pretty. I tried to learn via the instructions but I wasn’t catching on very quickly so I went down to my local Alpaca Ranch and spoke to a lady there to learn a bit more. She got me started on a very small project with very thin yarn, better for a complete novice, like myself.

So, I set out to make a hat for Evan, and I just finished! I’m very excited. I feel more and more confident and I can’t wait to use the super cool yarn Jeni gave me!

I’m also getting some very helpful advice from Cristin, who is a fabulous knitter. She is the one who inspired me to take the leap into the world of knitting.

Please don’t look to close to the hat, so as not to see ALL the dropped stitches and such. Just remember, this is my very first knitting project. Pretty cool, huh?!

A little bit o’rain in Central Texas!

2009-03-11T10:19:00.001-05:00

We are having a little rain shower here this morning. Everyone around here is thoroughly excited and we relish ANY moisture we can get! It won’t alleviate the drought but it may lessen it a bit. Right now we are at the “Exceptional” Drought Stage, which, I believe is the highest drought stage.

Teddy took a trip today

2009-02-28T19:46:00.003-06:00

Wow, I am truly in awe of my bantam rooster, Teddy. He survived quite an ordeal today.

It all started when Scott, Evan and I left out to run errands today. We took the truck (F-350) b/c we needed to pick up some feed and supplies among other things.

First, we drove to the mailbox, about a little over 1/2 a mile down a dirt road, stopped and got the mail. Then we drove approx. 15 miles to the electric co. to get some account info. changed. Then we drove to Austin, on the highway, doing between 70 and 80 mph. We stopped at the OC Condos to drop off some stuff, then we went to the dry cleaners to pick up some of Scott's cleaning.

It was at the dry cleaners that Scott tapped on my passenger window and said, "Is this ours?" He was pointing toward the back of the truck and I had no idea what he was talking about.

I got out of the truck, looked by the back wheel and saw my beloved Teddy clucking under the truck. I was dumbfounded.

We tried to catch him but he kept running under cars in the parking lot. Eventually, we managed to manuever him across the strip mall property, across over to the OC Condos we had left and locked him in one of the backyards. Then we spent a good bit of time chasing and lunging at him in the backyard.

Scott finally grabbed his little leg and I got a good grip on him. He was very sedate in my lap on the way home. I told Scott I hoped that Teddy wouldn't poop on me on the way home and Scott responded that he thought Teddy probably already had the "poop scared out of him" from his ordeal. I think he was right because he didn't poop on me for the whole 30 mile ride home.

Poor Chicken!

I am so thankful that Scott was able to catch him and that it was a happy ending. I honestly don't know how he made it. There were so many times that he could have jumped out or fallen to his death. It was incredibly windy today, too, which is probably why he was there in the first place--to take shelter from the wind.

Anyway, I think he has a strong will to live and I'm glad:-)

This is an old photo of Teddy and me. He's a sweetie.

Out of the mouths of babes...

2009-02-09T10:05:00.003-06:00

OK, so this morning I am putting Evan in the car and as I am buckling him, he snorts from a stuffy nose. I sweetly say, "Oh, poor baby, you've got boogies?" Boogies are what he calls snot and boogers.

He replies, "Yes, momma, I got boogies." Nothing out of the ordinary about that, BUT, then he follows with "I don't eat boogies, I drink boogies".

Um......hmmm......OK. I guess the good news is that it sounds like he knows he shouldn't eat them. After that, I'm at a loss.

Moving on. We have some more chicks. Evan loves them. He is so gentle with them, thank goodness.

My Little Reader

2009-01-30T08:58:00.003-06:00

Evan is such the little person nowadays. He wants to be just like mommy and daddy.

Yesterday morning, he pulled the kitchen stool into the middle of the room, climbed up with book in hand (not a child's book either) and announced in a very studious manner that he was going to read. I had to grab the camera and preserve the moment!

Presently, this is my life

2009-01-20T06:54:00.002-06:00

It's not quite 7 am, the animals are fed, the child is fed, I have had at least a sip or two of coffee and I hear it....Kind of a hacking, but more throaty. Then I see it, my lovely white kitty projectile spews just a few feet from me. It stretches well over a yard ahead of him. I'd be impressed except that with only a little bit of coffee in my stomach, I'm feeling a bit like throwing up, myself, when I get a whiff of the fishy vomit odor eminating from the spill.

Good Morning!

The trip to Georgia

2008-11-29T11:38:00.002-06:00

Well, I think that most of the people who knew I went to Georgia to visit my family know that a couple of days into the visit I got some VERY nasty food poisoning. Starting at 11pm at night and all through the next day I was throwing up every 45 minutes. Then I slept for almost 2 days straight and then we drove home. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that the visit could have gone better---just a bit.....

What really bums me out is that I was so excited about going to the Georgia Aquarium but I got sick the night before we were to go. I hate that.

Oh well. No good pics of the trip either -- shocking, right?

2008-11-15T10:05:00.007-06:00

So, it's been a while, again, since I've blogged. What can I say? I am a terrible blogger.

November is flying by, I just got back from a trip to Georgia which I will probably write about later.

I know Halloween was 2 weeks or so ago, but I wanted to post Evan's Halloween pics. He didn't go trick-or-treating b/c we don't really live in a good area for that, so we took him to a Halloween party at our Gym and he had a Halloween Parade at his MDO Program. This year he was a Bumble Bee.

There were some good costumes at the Halloween Party. I liked the Storm Trooper-very realistic.

Evan and his Daddy both chowed down on popcorn. I couldn't get a good pic of Evan in the Moonwalk Castle (behind them in photo), but it was hysterical watching him get bounced around by all the other kids jumping. He loved it! I don't know if you can see him in the photo, but there's a kid who looks like he's trying to escape the moonwalk. I can almost imagine him yelling "let me out of here!"

This kid was a little too scary looking for me.

Evan had a great time. He didn't choose his costume this year but I'm pretty sure that by next year he will be old enough to have a strong opinion about his choice of costume.

Evan, the 2 year old toddler!

2008-08-13T19:09:00.005-05:00

My baby is 2!!!!!!!!!!!

He had his birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was a very small affair; daddy, baby and mommy. We thought about a party but things have been a little off lately so we decided against it. We did have a cake, balloons and presents. That was plenty for my little guy.

He is into his "bossy" phase now. I mean REALLY bossy. He tells me, daddy, the pets, kids at the playground, everybody what to do. If I'm in the wrong frame of mind, it can be a little annoying....

He's awesome, though, and I love him terribly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost 2

2008-07-23T10:43:00.005-05:00

Here is probably one of the last chances to see Evan as a One year old. He turns 2 shortly. I cannot believe he's growing up so fast.

He's quite the talker now. It took a while but now he repeats everything he hears--which is not always a good thing. He has cut down on the use of the word "sh*#" because we have made a monumental effort to stop saying it but we still hear it from him occasionally. I guess the good news is that he knows how to use it in context. For example, he might trip and drop something he's holding and the word will pop out. I wince on the one hand, and feel an irrational pride that he knows how to use it, on the other. Like I said, though, he is using it less and less--thank goodness. Cross your fingers, he hasn't used the "F" word yet.

Chicken Growth

2008-07-23T10:02:00.007-05:00

Well, my newer chickens are growing up. I think the last time I reported on "Coop News" I had purchased some americauna chicks. They are almost full-grown now and they dwarf my bantams. Scott says they look a bit "hawkish" and more like predatory birds rather than chickens. I cannot wait until they start laying b/c they are supposed to lay blue eggs. These are 2 of the 4 americaunas.
This is what they looked like as babies:

I gave away the other set of chicks and all of my roosters except for Teddy, my black cochin. He's such a sweetheart. He never gets aggressive and is pretty quiet for a rooster.

I really didn't need any more chickens, BUT, back in May I was buying some feed and I saw the cutest little bantam chicks. There were only seven left and I knew I shouldn't come home with 7 chicks, so I asked for 4. HOWEVER, they were looking to get rid of the last of them, so I got all 7 for the price of 4. Lucky me!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them when I first got them and I lost one, so now I have 6, and they are cute! As they get more mature, it looks like I've got some white cochin bantams, and some mixed bantams, one in particular is looking more like a porcelain bantam. I don't think any of them are purebred, though.

Everybody gets along great. Ever since I got rid of the other roosters, it has been very peaceful.

Fish Bowl

2008-04-28T10:06:00.004-05:00

This post is for Jeni because she wanted to see my fish bowl. It's not for fish, per se, but they seem to like it well enough. I've had the bowl for years and didn't know what to do with it b/c it's so big. I had been wanting to get some fish and one day it dawned on me that I already had a home for them. It turns out that the bowl holds 10 gallons of water and is perfect for fish, in my opinion. The only thing is that the curve of the bowl distorts the shape of the fish and makes them look so much bigger than they actually are, but I think this just adds to the enjoyment. I've had them for about 5 months now and they seem to be doing well.

I put Nina beside the bowl to give people a point of reference as to the size of the bowl. Then, of course, Evan wanted his picture taken too. He's so cute!

If you look close you can see my blue Beta and a couple of other fish swimming around.

Chick update

2008-04-25T13:11:00.004-05:00

My chicks seem to be doing well. They are feathering out and getting bigger.

This is what the chicks look like at approximately 2 1/2 weeks old. You can see their feathers sprouting out. They are kinda gangly-looking at this age. It's sort of an "in-between stages" look but they'll turn pretty over the next few weeks.

I've also added 4 ameraucana chicks to the group. They look very different from the others. I've never had ameraucaunas but I am very excited. They lay BLUE eggs. So far, my chickens have just laid the regular brown and beige, so I can't wait to see some blue ones in the mix!

Here's what they look like as chicks. Very different from my

other chicks.

Rodeo Day!

2008-04-25T12:42:00.004-05:00

Evan's "Mother's Day Out" Program has an annual "Rodeo Day" where all the kids get to enjoy some outdoor fun. There's a petting zoo, hay rides, pony rides, llamas, horse shoes and other fun games.

Even though the day was overcast, the weather was mild and it was a lot of fun.

Evan adored the animals in the petting zoo and loved the pony ride. He cried when he had to get off the pony and give another child a turn.

I found myself wandering back to the petting zoo several times in order to cuddle with the bunnies and hang out with the goats and pigs. Evan wasn't terribly interested in the llamas, but one of them, in particular, was incredibly soft. I enjoyed petting him, too.

I wanted to scoop up a bunny and hide it in my purse, but I don't think bunnies and cats mix very well. Maybe I can do some more research on that.... Also, I think we should get Evan a pony. I know Scott will not allow that to happen, but I still think it would be a great idea.

Trip to North Carolina

2008-04-25T12:09:00.003-05:00

Henry with his mommy

Aunt Cristin holds a sleeping Henry right before we traumatize him with a BATH!
Poor little guy was sound asleep and now he's being tortured by tub time. I'm sure he's going to love bathtime in a few months.
We did not force Henry to stare at the sun while we went for a walk. It kinda looks like it but this only lasted a couple of seconds and it was purely so we could get the photo of him in his stroller. Such a sweet boy!

And here is the beautiful Jeni. She is the best mom and friend!

I had a really wonderful trip to NC to see Jeni and little Henry. He was only 6 weeks old and just a tiny bundle of love and cuddles. I got to spend some quality time with my friend and that made me feel so good. The last couple of times we saw each other, we didn't have much time to get in some decent conversations. She's also very wise, even at her young age, and is a great confidante for me.

Seeing Cristin and meeting her friend Jamie was fun and watching movies and TV shows that I was totally unfamiliar with was quite entertaining. We watched "The Man Who Fell to Earth", a David Bowie vehicle that was interesting but kinda confusing to me. I loved "Robot Chicken", a cartoon network show Jeni introduced me to, as well as a couple other funny and bizarre cartoons.

We spent most all of our time just taking it easy. I loved it!

Feeling crafty again

2008-04-11T09:59:00.004-05:00

Since Evan's toy box turned out pretty well, I decided to try my hand at more furniture painting. I picked up an old, off-white child's bench and painted it apple-green. Then I stuck some more cute little animals on it like the toy box and painted some little bugs, ants and dragon flies on it. No stencils this time, just free-hand. It's fun. I'm not quite finished with it, I still need to make a cushion for it, obviously.

Also, we've got a new batch of chicks. Only five, but they're very cute. We would have had more but eggs kept vanishing. I knew it was a snake but hadn't seen him until yesterday. Yes,I had to kill the snake. It was kinda tough b/c all I had was a flat hoe nearby and he was in a nest in the coop so I had to get in an awkward position, but I did it. Yes, I feel bad about it, please don't think I don't feel guilty, but there is plenty of food around here and the snakes don't have to go into my chicken house!

On a happier note, Evan is doing great. Cute as a button!

I'm planning to visit Jeni and Henry soon. Unfortunately, I'm one of the thousands of folks who booked their flight on American Airlines, so we'll see if I make it as scheduled.

Toy Box

2008-03-17T13:00:00.005-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm not really sure why we celebrate this holiday? And by "we", I mean Americans, in general, not me specifically. I guess it's fun for small children who still love Leprechauns and dressing like little shamrocks and people that like to drink lots of Old World beer, but other than that, what are we supposed to do today?

Anyway, things are a little better on the Evan sleep front. I had sort of a "Come to Jesus" talk with Scott about getting on the program and not interfering with Evan's nighttime routine.

On a more fun note, I've been wanting to get Evan a toy box but couldn't find what I wanted that was also the price I was willing to pay. I finally decided to get an inexpensive plain white toy box that I had to put together myself. The process went very well because I actually took the time to read and follow the directions exactly.

After that, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some paint, stencils, big letters to spell Evan's name and a few little wooden decorations like birds, a sun, a star, a turtle, ladybug, lizard, dragon flies and frogs. I painted the letters and glued them on top with the little turtle, then glued on the other little creatures and stenciled on some leaves, flowers and more dragon flies.

I think it's pretty cute and a lot less expensive than some of the boxes I was looking at. Plus, it's made especially for Evan!

The other night I was sitting with Scott and Evan and it occurred to me that they had the same expression on their faces, so I grabbed my camera and tried to catch a photo of it. Sometimes they look so much alike. Evan is growing up fast. He's talking more, too. He says "hi" and "bye", "hot" (which doesn't really mean "hot" but more "warm"), "no" (of course), "cow" (his first word), and his favorite word after "no" is "CHOO- CHOO" ( meaning the train). It is so cute. Oh, he also picked up one of my sayings. Whenever something is mildly surprising he says "Oh wow", just like me:)

My Friend's Baby is So Adorable

2008-03-04T07:18:00.004-06:00

Oh my goodness, Jeni's baby is just so beautiful! He was born pretty with a lovely little head of hair. This is a good sign!

Not many newborns are "attractive" in my eyes. That's not to say they aren't just the most precious little bundles of joy, but they kinda get cuter as the first couple of weeks go by. Not this little guy, though, he's cute from the get-go.

On the home front, Evan is still making nighttime strides but Scott seems to be regressing. The last 2 nights, he has tried to go to Evan (one time with pillow-in-hand) when Evan has cried. I have to stop him (kind of sternly) and tell him "no, stay out of his room". What the F*@#?!?! It's all about consistency, but Scott seems to be missing this key point. I'm annoyed b/c I feel like I have to police 2 people at night now.

Why the "Cry it out" Method is my Savior

2008-03-01T08:33:00.006-06:00

OK, I said in my previous blog that Evan's sleep habits had been getting better. While this was a true statement, the improvements were incrementally pretty small. Sleep deprivation was taking a toll on me. Scott and I were at odds on this issue and, I think b/c of the lack of sleep mainly, it had become extremely contentious.

I was nearing the end of my rope. I went to Half Price Books (I love that place. I always have fun there and end up going a little overboard with the books). I left the store with 6 books on getting children to sleep, 2 books on raising healthy children, 1 book on disciplining children and, just to make me feel that much better and soothed, I got a couple of cookbooks and a gardening book.

It is amazing how quickly I can read when I really want to. I got through 2 sleep books in one day and did some speed reading/major skimming of 2 others. I didn't get to the last 2 books on sleep but that's OK b/c by that point I had gotten the common thread. Consistency and self-soothing are of the utmost importance if you want your child to sleep by himself in his own bedroom. The easiest and most successful transition takes place between 4 and 8 months of age. Yes, I had heard this before, but now I was finally ready to engage!!!!

I missed the 4-8 month window, and I already knew this was no cake walk, so I steeled myself to doing what had to be done.

I'm glad I spent this last month trying a more gentle way to get Evan to sleep on his own b/c I think that's what it took to show me that I needed to be more disciplined in this endeavor.

I wrote and printed copies of my sleep plan and posted them throughout the house to help remind myself of precisely what I'm doing when it's 2 am and I'm only half conscious and can't remember much of anything.

The GOLDEN KEY, the little gem of information that saved me was something that I had been dreading doing and something that Scott refused to do---let Evan CRY IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!

If he wakes up and walks over to his baby gate, I kiss him on the head, take him back to his bed and I leave. If he goes right back to sleep, that's great, if not, he has to cry it out. The first time lasted about an hour, but in the following nights, it's been 5-10 minutes tops. Last night was just once and it lasted only a minute or two.

Scott slept in his truck the first couple of nights. He needed to be out of the house b/c he can't stand to hear Evan crying and I needed him out of the house b/c his lack of support of the program just added to my anxiety and stress.

I think he's shocked that Evan has come this far this quickly. He was certain that Evan's sleep problems would never be fixed without medical intervention.

So, I'm feeling significantly better and I think I might have gained some power in my husband's eyes. Maybe he will acquiesce some power here and we can move forward in a more equitable manner.

Haven't blogged in over a month

2008-02-15T16:45:00.005-06:00

I am so bad at this it's not funny. First of all, I am NOT a writer. I find it mildly tedious. But, I think it's probably a good idea to write down a few things that happen in my life, from time to time, even if they aren't particularly interesting just b/c I know I will forget so much of my life as the years pass. Now that I have Evan, I would like to be able to keep track of dates and milestones in my life so that I can better put it into context of his.

This past weekend I took a trip to see my dearest old friend and attend her baby shower. Eventhough it was a quick trip (left on Fri. returned on Sun.), it was the longest I've ever been away from Evan. I missed him but fortunately one of Jeni's friends, Lindsay, brought her 4 month old so I got to lavish him with all of my "baby love".

I really enjoyed the baby shower, too. It was, by far, the best baby shower I have attended, to date. The only downside, was a nasty hangover the next morning. Oh well. It was worth it!

I feel especially lucky to have been able to spend some quality time with Jeni's very close friends that she made over the years. They are all truly sweet people.

I think it's funny that I was her oldest friend at the shower. We've been friends since the 80's. Wow, I feel old. Hopefully, I can get in some more time with her--and her BABY!

Evan is doing very well. He now says "cow", "no" and "bye". He's coming out of his shell, too, and gets along well with other kids. I'm so glad he's not as inclined to have a "separation" breakdown as he used to be. He's still a handful, though. Extremely active.

The nights are getting better, too. Scott went on a ski trip with some guy friends a few weeks ago and while he was gone I implemented the new sleep routine where Evan sleeps BY HIMSELF in his OWN BED. It's been a little rough but I think a couple more weeks will make all the difference.

Oh, and my sister, Stephanie, got a paid internship with a gaming company in downtown Austin. I think it's hysterical b/c she is absolutely NOT a gamer but she bullshitted her way into it. Good for her. She is a graphic arts major so they put her skills to good use once she got the gig. Her telling of the interview process is so damn funny. All they really wanted to know was what she thought of their games as opposed to other games and if she was as "game crazed" as they were. She was smart enough to check out their product before hand and completely fabricated any real knowledge of it. She is one of those people who can take a train of thought and totally go with it wherever it leads. I'm impressed. This is a photo of her at my house right after the interview and job offer. She's still a little shocked.

Chicken Names

2008-01-14T17:09:00.000-06:00

Jeni asked what I call my young chickens. Well, I feel like the black and gold rooster is Cleveland and the burgundy rooster looks like Fillmore. My 2 black hens are Claudia and Ladybird and my lacy brown hen is Nancy.

I'm keeping up my Presidents & First Ladies theme for their monikers.

Chicken Update

2008-01-11T16:01:00.000-06:00

Well, I gave away a few more roosters. They are the first 3 photos here. The last 2 photos are the chickens that remain. I also got rid of Chester a while back b/c he was so aggressive toward people. These last 3 roosters I gave away were way too aggressive with one of my hens, Eleanor. Poor girl! The chicks are almost completely grown up and are very cute, I think. They have interesting color variations.

Christmas Decorating

2007-12-24T13:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been doing some holiday decorating. It's been fun. I went to Michael's, Garden Ridge, and Costco and got some cute things. I embelished a wreath a bit and I created my own personal garland with several different plain garlands and decorations. I love the white peacocks I found at Garden Ridge. I like sparkly things but not too sparkly and I feel like it worked out pretty well. I didn't spend a lot of money or spend a lot of time on it, so my goal was met for this particular year. I think I might try to get a shot of the outdoor Christmas lights and garland along the front of the house. Scott put them up and they look really good at night.

Sleeping arrangements answered

2007-12-03T08:33:00.000-06:00

This post is for Jeni, specifically. Thank you so much for asking how things are going with Evan's sleep habits. I haven't logged onto my blog since my last post so this response is a little late.
Things are getting better, but very slowly.

Ever since we first started putting Evan in his nursery to sleep (when he was 6 months old), I have been crystal clear that we need to let him self soothe as much as possible so he can sleep by himself. Scott has always had a problem with this concept. Evan's cries hit Scott in a primal way and he will even go so far as to get him in the middle of the night and not realize he's doing it. It's some kind of sleepwalking thing. That's not always the case, but when he's really tired he'll do that. The other times, he just convinces himself that something is really wrong with Evan (like maybe a scorpion bite, or diarrhea, etc.) and goes in there to get him.

Our relationship has been having some problems lately and this is definitely exacerbating it. Since I put the toddler bed in Evan's room, Scott has been relegated to the guest room for most nights. It's farther away from Evan and he turns on the Air Conditioning to drown out the noise. This has helped a lot--but only when Scott is in the guest room. A few days of he guest room and he's back saying he will stay out of Evan's room and moves back into our room. Evan has gotten a lot better about staying asleep in his bed but he tends to wake up at least once and cries out but goes back to sleep. It is not a big deal, but if Scott is in the master bedroom, he gets up and does the WRONG thing again.

At this point, I want Scott to stay in the guest room indefinitely. Unfortunately, it seems to make life easier on Evan and me.

Toddler Bed

2007-11-24T07:30:00.000-06:00

I braved Black Friday to go out and buy a Toddler Bed and Baby Gate. I was determined to get this sleep thing under control. I put the gate up on Evan's door and put the bed together myself while Scott watched the UT / A&M game.

I planned to read to Evan in his new bed at bedtime but he fell asleep with Scott in front of the TV. That was the first sign that things were not going my way. Evan was placed in his bed, along with his favorite stuffed animals, and I scattered some of his books and toys around the nursery so he could entertain himself if he woke up and didn't want to stay in his new bed.

Scott and I turned in around 9pm---still exhausted.

I guess about an hour after that, Evan woke up very upset. From then on, it was all about Scott trying to placate Evan. Sometime in the middle of the night, Scott brought the air mattress into the nursery and slept next to Evan's bed. Didn't stop Evan from waking up, though, to make sure Daddy was still next to him during the night.

I got to hear all of this. The nursery is next to our room and they might as well have been in the same room as me. Still no good sleep.

Evan woke up around 5:30am, as usual, all perky.

I am annoyed.

Chilly Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T11:52:00.001-06:00

Well, earlier this month it was Scott's birthday. I baked him a chocolate cake and we went out to eat while my sister babysat Evan. I miss going out to nice restaurants. We need to get out more.

I wondered if it was going to be cold on Thanksgiving. With the very warm temperatures we've had this Fall, I didn't quite believe the weatherman when he said it would turn cold overnight. Sure enough, it did.

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner here and had my sister over to eat with us. Scott and I are exhausted. We haven't had a decent night's sleep in about a week. Scott had the great idea to go to his family's yearly early-Thanksgiving / Reunion out in Abilene and then travel on to New Mexico to visit more with other members of his family. I didn't think it was such a hot idea b/c Evan is into EVERYTHING nowadays and we never sleep when we have to travel with him. Scott felt differently, so I acquiesced. We, of course, ended up not sleeping for the entire trip (Evan tosses like a fish and wakes up continuously when he's in a new environment) but we looked forward to getting some rest when we got home.

The first night home, though, Evan learned how to climb out of his crib and went running through the dark house, screaming his little head off. Scott took the box spring off the guest bed and thought we could let Evan sleep on the guest mattress temporarily until we got a toddler bed. He woke up, running around screaming again. The next night, Scott lowered the crib mattress to its lowest setting and declared that there was "no way he [was] going to climb out of that". That night we put him back in his crib and, guess what, same thing happened again.

The problem is that he can't climb back into the crib and is so upset that he won't go back to sleep. We try to let him sleep with us but he tosses like a fish. He has a little cold and gets very congested at night, too. Nobody is sleeping and we are all cranky.

I am going out today to buy a baby gate and toddler bed. We are probably going to have to go through a few more sleepless nights while he gets used to the new bed and being "gated" in his room.

Oh well.

Halloween

2007-10-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

I decided that Evan's costume would be tied in with our home life this year, so I got him a chicken outfit for Halloween. I had hoped to get all of the chickens around him to make the photograph look like he was just another chick in the coop. Unfortunately, neither chickens, nor Evan pose for pictures when asked, so I was lucky to get what I got.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but Eleanor has gotten into the habit of jumping on me when I'm outside. She usually jumps onto my head and then I gently push her down to my arm. I guess it's fun for her b/c she seems to enjoy spending time riding on my head and/or arm. She's sweet. Anyway, Scott took a picture of her once and when I was photographing Evan, I got another pic of her hanging out on ME. She's a hoot.

I'm planning on taking Evan into town for Halloween to what it's all about. I hope it goes well...

The Chicks Are Growing Up

2007-10-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, my little chicks look so different now. They are feathered out and look sort of like miniature copies of adult chickens. They are very cute. They have claimed the hummingbird garden as their turf. The older chickens don't normally hang out there so I guess they decided to take up residence there. They are kind of making a mess of it, though. They love to scratch and kick a lot of the mulch out of the garden and onto the walkways. I feel like I'm constantly sweeping it back in the garden. That's OK, though, b/c it seems to keep them entertained.

Evan is still addicted to the water hose. Anytime he sees it on, he runs for it. He ends up soaking wet but very happy.

Lucy past away

2007-10-20T18:51:00.000-05:00

Something Killed Lucy Today.

She had a big gash in her side and there were two places under my "Hummingbird" Oak Tree that were scattered with white feathers.

I was out running errands and having lunch with my sister midday, which is when it happened.

She was a very good and very sweet chicken.

I'll miss her.

I still need to buy a book on dreams

2007-10-12T06:54:00.000-05:00

I have always had weird dreams. Last night's has me curious as to its meaning.

I am in the Pioneer Days (approximately 1850's, I guess), married to a strapping "pioneer type" fellow, gruff but committed. We are all wearing typical "pioneer garb", it looks like we are straight out of "Little House on the Prairie". Apparently we have 2 young kids and a niece and nephew in our charge. In my dream, the pioneer days meant that communities traveled together in search of a place to settle and we would gather all of our brass beds together to make camp and sleep under the stars (no tents), in our lovely old-fashioned brass beds with patchwork quilts. I wonder what would happen if it rained?

ANYWAY, somebody attacked our camp, setting beds on fire, there was mayhem, death, and we were trying to gather up our family to escape.

Flash forward, what's left of the community (including us) sets up a new camp by the shore. It looks like the east coast (only b/c TX does not have the most attractive beaches and my dream beach was very pretty).

People are frolicking in the surf. I'm putting on sunscreen (yes, now the "Pioneer days" include sunscreen and swimsuits--thank goodness!) and I walk toward the surf only to find people getting out b/c some sharks have swam (is "swam" a word?) into the area. When the tide goes back out, everyone knows the sharks will leave, too, we just have to wait until that happens before we get in the water.

That's my dream. What does it mean?

Photo Update

2007-10-06T09:44:00.000-05:00

I am so bad. When Evan was first born I must have taken a bizillion pictures of him but ever since he turned a year old I have been horribly lax in the photo department. An old friend I hadn't heard from in a very long time got in touch and I realized I hadn't taken a good picture of Evan and me since his first birthday. So, I took a few pictures of my adorable little boy. In one picture I think you can see a few specks of dirt around his mouth. He is such a boy.

My dearest old friend is having a baby!

2007-10-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I wrote anything, huh?

Jeni and Dave came down almost a month ago and I'm just now getting around to documenting their visit. Jeni and Dave are having a baby!!!! I am sooooo happy for them. I'm predicting a girl for them. Actually, it feels like a bunch of people are having babies. Heather and Mindy, girls I used to work with are both having babies in the first part of next year, too. I still need to make time to get together with the few friends I have who are mothers to kids around Evan's age. It just seems like I don't have enough time in the day to take care of my own little family, let alone make dates with other people. I need to, though, and I plan on making it more of a priority again. I think it would be really good for Evan, too.

While Jeni and Dave were here Evan said his first word. He said "COW". It was very exciting! He says it all the time now. He points out the window b/c he knows that's where the cows live and he says "cow" perfectly. I think he thinks that the donkeys are called cows, too, but that's fine with me. He waves at all of the animals and occasionally at people. He is so cute. He also ate his first little bit of meat while Jeni and Dave were visiting. He ate some turkey. Again, this was exciting. He still doesn't eat any other kind of meat so far but, again, I don't mind.

I didn't take any pictures during J&D's visit but, fortunately, they did! Jeni and I are showing some love to a couple of my dogs. They relish visits from J & D b/c they get extra good love and attention.

I did not make my son's hair do this deliberately! I merely applied suncreen to his face and neck and this was the result. He looks a little nutty to me. Cutey-pie.

This past weekend we went to Galveston and stayed at a friend's beach house. The house is on a canal, so it's very serene and picturesque. It was supposed to be relaxing but we found out that we really cannot relax in a non-babyproofed house on the water. It was very pretty though, and I love watching the birds and fish.

My brother and his wife had their little boy at the beginning of September. It's been rough so far, but things are looking up. He's supposed to get out of neonatal ICU in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to hold him for the first time.

Seymour is the Best Cat

2007-08-30T06:51:00.000-05:00

My cat really is the best. He regularly lets Evan love on him and I mean LOVE ON HIM. Evan crawls on him, pets him, and hugs him pretty vigorously. All the while, Seymour lays there letting him do his baby thing. Seymour sometimes even purrs like he enjoys it. He doesn't growl or bite or scratch Evan during any of this. I wish I could say the same for the dogs. They are not quite as acquiescing. Seymour is a very affectionate kitty. I love my cat. He is over 12 yrs. old and I cannot imagine my life without him.

2007-08-28T06:45:00.000-05:00

This past week an Orb Spider has made her web right outside my desk window so I can sit and stare at her anytime I want. Right now I am watching her re-spin her web. It's really fascinating. She is about 4 inches long from end-of-leg to end-of-leg. Her web is well over a yard by a yard wide. I think Orb's are truly beautiful spiders -- this is coming from someone who is definitely NOT a "spider person". We have a lot of different types of spiders out here. Like I said, she's been here for the past week and she is working so diligently on this web that I hope she catches something...

the chicks are starting to feather out

2007-08-23T08:01:00.001-05:00

The chicks are five days old and they are starting to feather out. They are incredibly cute!

Evan cuteness

2007-08-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

Evan and Seymour were hanging out together this morning watching a Baby Einstein dvd. I thought it was very sweet so I snapped a picture. Then later Evan fell asleep at lunchtime while he was eating spaghettios. If you look close, he still has some "o's" stuck to his face. Again, I thought it was precious.

The Chicks Have Hatched!

2007-08-19T12:13:00.000-05:00

The chicks are here!

They hatched yesterday. They are adorable. Right now we have seven chicks. When I checked on Eleanor yesterday, there were 2 dead chicks and 2 eggs that didn't hatch. The strange thing is that Eleanor was sitting on approximately 18 eggs in the beginning. We ended up with 11: 7 live, 2 dead and 2 unhatched. What happened to the other 7 eggs? I really don't know. I wonder if a snake or something got to them?

Eleanor & Lucy are laying eggs!

2007-07-30T15:38:00.000-05:00

Eleanor is getting broody. She's sitting on her nest right now. Last week she laid 4 eggs but left them. I think since it was her first time she wasn't interested in hatching them, but now she and Lucy have laid a bunch and she's sitting on them, all by herself, taking care of the eggs. The other chickens are out in the yard but she's staying in the coop. I think it is very sweet. I ate the first 4 eggs. They were yummy! But I think I might see if she can hatch these little guys. I like the idea of little yellow chicks running around.

We are collecting the eggs that Lucy leaves each day. She lays the brown ones and Eleanor lays the light beige ones.

Evan's Birthday

2007-07-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Evan is ONE YEAR OLD. I can't believe I have a one year old! My mom came down to visit for his birthday and to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower. We had a little family party for Evan. I baked a lamb shaped cake for him. For my first birthday, I had a little lamb cake. It's actually more of an Easter cake but I was feeling nostalgic and thought it would be neat to make him a cake like I had -- kind of a tradition.

This was my first stab at cake decorating. I should have taken a picture of it right after I finished it b/c by the time I snapped a photo, the icing was already melting off. It has been raining constantly and with the humidity, the icing just would not set. Scott said it looked like the lamb had mange...funny....but it was fun. I think I'll try my hand at it again sometime.

Evan's Nana bought him a little single serve cake at the store so he could have a cake to play with in the high chair without totally ruining the lamb since we wanted to eat the cake, too. He doesn't really like to eat cake yet. He smeared a good portion on his face but I don't think much of it made its way to his tummy.

He got lots of great gifts and seemed like he enjoyed the party experience.

I'm looking out the window and it's raining again. It's wild how much rain we're getting this year. The chickens love it b/c the worms come out and they get their pick of them as well as plenty of bugs and such. Chester, one of the roosters, kept chasing my mom, trying to peck at her every time she went outside. I don't know why he felt so threatened by her. It was pretty funny.

Rainbows in Texas

2007-07-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

We get some pretty rainbows out here! I caught this one yesterday as I looked out in the backyard. If you look close, you can see what my "pot o' gold" at the end of the rainbow is....Cattle! My cows are my treasure. I think that's fitting.

Evan has been having fun in his kiddie pool lately--when it isn't raining. He is a little water baby!

Evan is upright

2007-07-02T19:08:00.000-05:00

Evan has been walking around for the last week or so. No longer is he my little lizard, darting about. Now he's upwardly mobile--what a little man he's becoming. I'm still kind of getting used to it ( as is he). He is so cute toddling around. He walks a little bit like a penguin, shuffling around. I caught a precious picture of him sitting in the bookshelves after he pulled out all of the books. That's a great game for him. He saw the camera and got up and walked over to me. He literally DEVOURS literature! He is so smart.

2007-06-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

Are you ever afraid of becoming your parents?

I think I feel that way more than ever now. Whenever I see my brother and sister, like this past weekend, I secretly wonder if they think some of my attributes are like my mom.

I try very hard not to be like my parents. But sometimes, especially when my brother or sister is in the room, I feel like I have mannerisms that are my parents' and not my own. I hate it!

How does one shake that?

2007-06-19T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ambidextrous? When does a child show a preference?

I've been watching Evan and he works with boths hands very easily. When will he show whether he's a righty or a lefty? He also relies heavily on his feet.

I think I showed a preference early on. Scott & I are both right-handed. Hmmm......

Curious George lives in my house

2007-06-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

I have my very own Curious George! Evan investigates the workings of pretty much everything in the house nowadays. He used to be content with just pulling the silverware out of the dishwasher, but not anymore. Now he's got to take on the entire appliance! He's too cute!

Fern's new baby

2007-06-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

Fern gave birth yesterday! Here's a pic of her with her new baby!

Flower and Felix don't appear to mind the new addition.

2007-06-17T11:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day!

Evan decided to climb into his chair all by himself this morning. He is such a little PERSON nowadays. As per Scott's request, we are going to take it easy and grill out today.

As I sit here typing, Evan has crawled into his chair again and is lounging, looking extremely relaxed. Uh oh, now he's climbing onto the ottoman--not so good. He discovered the toilet yesterday, too. Again, not so good. We'll be putting safety latches on the toilets today.

My Rooster and Me

2007-06-16T21:00:00.001-05:00

He is the sweetest rooster, I have to say. I think he is the best chicken! I still need a name, though.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

2007-06-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

Today I got a picture of a red-spotted purple butterfly. It's a very pretty butterfly. The top of his wings are black and blue and the undersides have red spots, hence the name. I also saw a monarch and took a picture of him.

My sister, brother and new sister-in-law are coming over tomorrow. I am going to make them some homemade agnolotti. I'm looking forward to it.

Evan took a few real steps yesterday. At one point, he took 8 steps without holding onto anything. I'm so excited for him.

Tornado dream

2007-06-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

I have had dreams about tornados developing near my house for 2 nights in a row. What does that mean? Oh, I should also mention that my mother-in-law and my grandmother-in-law have been visiting since Thursday.

Giant Swallowtail

2007-06-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

I saw a beautiful Giant Swallowtail butterfly in the hummingbird garden today. I still want to get a photo of a Black Swallowtail that's been hanging around, too.

My rooster wandered into the front garden yesterday. I snapped a pic of him crowing. It looks like it takes a lot of energy to crow. His little neck has to contort into an elongated position that does not look comfortable. I'm continuing to feed the chickens sweet corn puffs as a treat. Evan still won't eat them but he does enjoy the strawberry apple flavor puffs.

He and Scott are on the swing holding the chickens' can of puffs.

Netflix

2007-06-09T15:48:00.000-05:00

I don't have any sort of cable or satellite, so if I want to watch anything that does not come on the major networks or PBS, I turn to netflix. I used to love them. I say used to b/c now I can't really watch them much anymore. Evan demands a lot of attention and it gets to be frustrating to have to keep rewinded over and over again to catch a missed phrase or plot point. An hour long HBO show can take a couple of days to get through.

Despite that, I have been trying to get through the latest season of Entourage on dvd. So far, I've finished disc 2, and I think there might be only one disc left--woohoo. Thank God I can keep these dvd's for as long as it takes for me to get through them.

I am really enjoying Entourage. It kind of makes up for not having other shows like Arrested Development, Six Feet Under and Sex and the City on anymore.

I think my all-time favorite show will always be Arrested Development. I miss it so much.

I had to run outside right quick b/c Buddy, one of my steer, was munching on one of my roses. I ran him off, came in, sat down and saw him munching on my newly planted grape vine! So, I took a picture of him and then ran him off, again.

Homemade Pasta - yum!

2007-06-04T12:03:00.000-05:00

I just finished a bowl of pasta I made all by myself! I took a pasta making class at Whole Foods over the weekend and it was WONDERFUL! I highly recommend their classes. It was a day-long class. We started out int he morning, learning a basic pasta dough and some sauces. Then we broke for lunch and ate what we had made that morning, then spent the afternoon making ravioli and agnolotti. We made regular pasta, tomato, spinach, whole wheat, black pepper and herb pastas. Some of the sauces we made included: red pepper cream sauce, a tomato sauce w/basil, capers & olives and arugula pesto. Some of the ravioli fillings included: eggplant & goat cheese, spinach & walnut, and a 4 cheese filling.

My favorite was the arugula pesto so I made that again at home for Scott and myself.

My pasta machine worked beautifully! Just like the ones we used at cooking class.

Pasta making is a little labor intensive but it's certainly not hard. It's a lot of fun and it's cool to be able to add whatever you want to the dough, creating your own "signature" pasta.

I think I'd like to take a pastry class at some point, too.

Good Rains Bring Out the Wildlife

2007-06-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

We had a great thunderstorm last night, so that made for an interesting morning. After I fed Evan I was washing dishes and saw something catch my eye out the kitchen window. There she was, a feral pig rooting around near the barn. I got my camera and went out to take a few shots. There were 7 pigs of various sizes out there. Unfortunately, they're quick and I couldn't get a shot of them all together. The one picture I was hoping to get didn't turn out--it's all fuzzy, but I'll put it up anyway b/c a momma pig is looking right at me and she looks kinda spooky with those little glowing eyes.

I came inside and went back to the dishes when I saw Mr. Turkey hanging around with the cows and donkeys. So, I grabbed my camera and went back outside and took a few pictures of him. We usually start out with about a dozen baby turkeys and then we have just one or two that hang around toward the end of the season.

I love our wildlife.

I also got a couple of pictures of the cows. Anabelle had her first calf about a week ago and she's really cute. She's the little brown and white one. In one of the pictures, she's checking out one of the older calves. Primetime, our bull, is in the foreground.

Chickens like Puffs

2007-05-31T20:49:00.000-05:00

I've discovered that chickens like baby veggie puffs. I originally got the puffs for Evan. They are Sweet Corn flavored and he absolutely hates them. Something about corn is a total turnoff for him. I've gotten babyfood with corn as one of the ingredients, like "squash and corn" or "sweet potato and corn"--anything with corn he absolutely will not eat. So, I had this entire can of corn veggie puffs, so I figured "what the heck" and tossed a few to the chickens. They acted like it was Crack Cocaine. It was wild. I'm planning on buying some more just for them.

They are starting to venture into the yard. So far, they've only felt comfortable testing out the Hummingbird Garden, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time until they realize they have a great, huge new place all for the taking. I love my chickens.

loss of vocabulary

2007-05-29T07:10:00.000-05:00

I am losing my vocabulary at a swift pace. Case in point, my "re-occuring dreams". Jeni commented on them using the appropriate terminology. Recurring. Yes, that would be the correct word. Makes perfect sense.

Yesterday, I couldn't say "chicken coop". "Use it or lose it", remember that.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? I'm thinking I am not.

Chickens

2007-05-29T06:46:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we finally realized a long- standing goal of mine. Scott and I brought home 5 new members of the household. Please join me in welcoming my beautiful new CHICKENS.

We've been in the process of converting my greenhouse into a chicken coop off and on for the last couple of months. We finished on Saturday and picked up my sweeties on Sunday. They are the softest and most gentle little things. They are a few months old, as I didn't want to jump right into the chick raising process. I do have 2 roosters, though, so we may end up with some chicks soon enough. They were all raised together by a woman who treats her chickens like members of her family so they all get along beautifully.

Oh, kind of a new thing for me, I am picking little pieces of dried up, previously chewed veggie puffs out of my hair right now. Evan is learning to eat the puffs and he spits out about half of them. Sometimes he's covered in sticky, deflated puffs, it's very cute. Anyway, I guess some mashed up puffs made it from his hands to my hair and I must have slept in puffs.

Lovely.

dreams

2007-05-20T16:21:00.000-05:00

I need a book about dreams.

I have several reoccuring dreams. When I say reoccuring, I mean it. I have the same dreams, well, slightly different in setting and content but pretty much the same, very often.

I have a dream that I am back in school--sometimes college, sometimes high school. I realize that I haven't been attending classes and I have finals coming up. Ican't even remember the days, times, or location of the classes. It's very frustrating.

Another dream involves my mom and/or my former stepfather, Bob. In my dream, they are remarried, something I cannot understand b/c the divorce was bad, I mean really ugly. I have so much anger toward my mom and my stepfather. I am upset b/c they do something menacing or outright unjust against me in the dream.

I'm sure it's very clear to someone what these dreams mean. Maybe it's just a lot of pent up frustration or anxiety.

I would just like to know if these are common dreams.

Blue box mystery solved

2007-05-20T16:03:00.000-05:00

I talked to my stepmother and father last night. Turns out my stepmom purchased 2 pairs of earrings. One pair for her and one pair for me. She mistakenly put her empty box in the mail. Hmmm...

Scott got me some great gifts. I got a pasta maker, a ravioli maker & a pasta cooking lesson! I love it.

He also got me 2 cakes. One was a flourless chocolate--decadent, and the other a whole wheat flour cake. Both were from Whole Foods. I love their cakes!

We opened a bottle of Caymus, 2003 Cabernet and had a great time with Evan celebrating my birthday.

Got a photo of one of the painted buntings and golden-fronted woodpeckers today. I was excited. I've been trying for a while but everytime I get the camera out, they fly away.

Pretty blue box

2007-05-19T11:45:00.000-05:00

I got a birthday present from my step-mother and father in the mail yesterday. At least, I'm assuming it was a birthday present considering the timing of its arrival. There was a pretty blue box inside the mailing package which had their return address on it but no card or anything inside the package saying it was from them. I opened the pretty blue box and found a pretty little blue velvet sack. Inside the pretty little sack I found nothing. That's right, it was empty. I haven't called them yet to let them know I got the pretty blue box and sack. I will follow up after I do. Odd.

Barn Swallows and Feral Pigs

2007-05-17T13:29:00.000-05:00

The feral pigs have come through the property again. This makes 4 times, that I know of, this year. Usually, they just come through once or twice. They are destructive little beasts! They come through during the night plowing up the ground looking for grubs and things. They are really strong. Our soil is very rocky and after they're done with it the ground looks like someone on a tractor came through and tilled the soil. It's wild.

The first image is a pig footprint. It's pretty big. Then, the second is Nina standing in one of the areas that they dug up. That was green grass the day before.

Also, I checked the Barn Swallows' nest and there were no Cowbird eggs--yay!

I've decided 9 month-old Evan is more like a lizard than a baby. He crawls so fast it's not funny. He darts around, pauses for a moment and takes in the lay of the land, then darts off again--just like a little lizard. It's very cute.

He's also cruising a lot more. That's when he stands up holding onto something like a chair and walks along grabbing onto other pieces of furniture or baby fences and makes his way around. I bought him a little walking toy. He stands up and pushes it, walking along with it -- amazing.

His baby teeth are growing in. He got his 2 lower teeth at the same time and they peek out when he smiles. Overall, he seems to be doing extremely well, but boy, does he have a personality. He's starting to throw little fits when he doesn't get his way. Not so cute...

Not too much else to report. I've got to write quickly b/c Evan does not like it when I'm on the computer. He prefers my attention be focused on him. Eventually, he'll learn the cruel truth that the world does not revolve around him but I won't let him in on that ugly secret yet.

We took him to Dallas for a wedding. One of Scott's cousins got married and they had the ceremony and the reception at her parents' house. It was very family oriented, everybody brought their kids, so it was nice. It was Evan's first trip to Dallas. The wedding was on Saturday and Sunday was Mother's Day. We decided to stay overnight and went to a Mother's Day brunch at Del Frisco's, one of Scott's favorite restaurants in Dallas. This, of course, was my first mother's day where I got to be on the receiving end. Very cool.

fussy

2007-05-11T08:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm taking a moment.
Something is up with my child. It could be teething, or a growth spurt, maybe a food allergy, I don't know but he's been cranky all morning. It's one of those times where nothing pleases him. He whines and tries to climb up my leg, I pick him up, he whines and squirms to get down. None of his toys are good enough. Electrical cords are GREAT but mommy and daddy keep taking them away from him. More crying.
He's also decided he doesn't like his bottle anymore, which would be fine except that he won't use his sippy cup either. If he were my dog, I'd just fill a syringe and squeeze a little liquid down his throat. However, I think that might constitute child abuse if I were to try it on a human being. He's napping right now, so I'm trying to get my mood up. I'm pretty sure getting fussy like the baby is not helpful.

Cowbirds

2007-05-06T08:04:00.000-05:00

I had a dilemma yesterday. I found a cowbird egg in my Eastern Phoebe nest. You can see the cowbird's egg sitting with the phoebe's smaller white eggs in the nest. Cowbirds are brood parasites, laying their eggs in other birds' nests. They tend to hatch before the other eggs so they get a head start on being taken care of by the host bird and sometimes the other chicks end up starving as a result.

We have lots of cowbirds and they are crowding out the other birds at the feeders. So, I found this cowbird egg yesterday. What do I do? Do I leave it or get rid of it? We have some great birds here. Everything from Painted Buntings, Golden fronted Woodpeckers, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, various Finches, Wrens, Barn Swallows, Cardinals, hummingbirds, mourning doves, turkey, etc. So far, I only know the location of the Phoebe nest, the Barn Swallow nest and the Carolina Wren's nest. There are no eggs in the Barn Swallow's and Wren's nests. I'll keep checking on that.

Well, I did do something about the egg. I have mixed feelings about it but I removed the cowbird egg. I want the phoebes to make it and I don't want anymore cowbirds but I feel guilty about ending the life of the baby cowbird. I don't know how far along the egg was, but hopefully, not too far.

The feral hogs struck again 2 nights ago. They are destructive animals. They usually pass through just once a year but they've come through twice in the past 2 months. They dig up the land looking for grubs and such. They tore up a big chunk of the back pasture last time.

I've gotta change a diaper. Bye.