Tis the Season!!

This past weekend we had a lot of fun when we went to our first Ugly Christmas Sweater party!! What really cracked me up is that we are Jewish, so we didn't have the luxury of getting these "wonderful" sweaters from relatives every year! The rules were you needed to wear a sweater or embellish one to enter.

The hunt began!! We hit Goodwill centers, Salvation Army places, etc. and couldn't really find anything!! But then, I totally scored when I went to a thrift store near home. This thing was really, really bad!! It had sequins, it had glass beads, it had things I couldn't even describe!!! It was perfect!! It was a jacket so I didn't know if that would count. Time was running short and Tom and Rayne still did not have anything to wear. I was asking friends if they had anything, but either their kids were too young or the sweaters wouldn't fit.

I started thinking about the options I could do with a glue gun. The possibilities were endless!! But then, we found another resale shop! Oh my gosh, ugly Christmas sweaters everywhere!!! LOL!! They had them up in the windows! We had an sweater field day!! Big furry Santa beards, holly berries gone made! Snowmen on crack!! It was marvelous!!!

Next we hit a children's resale shop and scored for Rayne!! Even down to the Santa shoes!! We were ready for the party!!

I even found a sweater for Tom. Oh, it was bad. A fireplace with a reindeer and a tree decked out with pearled garland and a flashy jeweled star on top and satin gifts underneath!! Who could ask for more!!

Dressing up was fun!! Even more fun was going to our favorite Sushi restaurant. Rayne was too embarassed and wouldn't wear her costume, but I, of course, just embarassed her even more with my outfit!! I had my leggings with their own special gold foil and even wore my Hanukkah socks complete with my green hula girl Rocket Dogs!

Oh, would you like to see a photo of this? So, glad you asked. Well, here it is!! And, yes, it did win Most Heinous!! If you would like to see more photos of the party, check them out on here:

Sung to: My Favorite Things

Snowmen doing coke lines
and sequins galore

Green Hula Rocket Dogs
who could ask for more?

Gold shiny leggings
and Hanukkah socks

I think that my heinous outfit rocks!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

What the heck is a Webkinz?

Alright, so now we are going through this phase called a Webkinz!! Who was the brainiac that stuck a W on the foot of a stuffed animal and then created a website for said animal!! I need to shake this person's hand!! Pure genius!! If you need to get something done around the house, dishes washed, rooms cleaned, dinner made.......threaten Webkinz time on the computer!! Heck, you might even get a back massage out of the deal!! I don't know how long it will last, but I'm going to milk it for all it's worth!!

On top of that we seem to have a live Webkinz around here too! We opened up our home and decided to foster a puppy. Well, I don't know if we is the operative word, The conversation may have gone a bit like this:

Me: Honey, do you want to foster a puppy?

My Husband: No, not really.

Me: But they're going to put the mom and the puppies down if they don't find homes.

My Husband: I really don't want another dog in the house.

Me: We're not going to keep it. Just foster it until it finds a home.

My Husband (exasperated): I don't care!

Me: Thanks hun!

So, now we are fostering this puppy that is now 7 weeks old. It has grown into it's cuteness. We're thinking it's some kind of terrier and maybe Jack Russell because of the coloring. But what it really looks like is some kind of snowball and a cross of a plush Webkinz! It has this spaz fur all over it that sticks out, especially on his face where it looks like the eyebrows of an 80 year old man has just taken it over entirely!! He is completely white with the exception of one black eye and an opposite black ear.

When he was 5 weeks old, we thought he had kennel cough in which he proceeded to give that to all four of our dogs. That in turn became distemper. He did survive but now he has the remnants of the nerve damage. Now, besides the funky hair, he has the shakes every once in awhile. It's actually quite amusing to watch. There's nothing mentally wrong with him, he's a very happy go lucky dog and loves to follow you around! He's going to make someone a very good companion one day, but with 5 dogs in the house we are full!!

If you happen to know anyone looking for a puppy, let me know!! He's ready for his new home!

Quick Marshall Update!

We got another phone call from Marshall on October 31st! Well, for us it was Halloween, for him it was November 1st already. We were getting ready to go trick or treating, but that could be put on hold to talk to him. He was in the middle of work so with the delay of voices going back and forth and constantly being put on hold, it was a really nice conversation!

He's doing well and dealing with the cold! I guess now he can get goodies make with chocolate in it! He said, he has gotten well over 100 cards and letters and some packages and he was just so amazed at the generosity of some of you guys. People he's never met! He doesn't know how he can thank you enough. He said he's going to try to send thank you notes to those who sent gifts, but it's been really hard to do so what with work and studying for his tests. He gets done with one thing and has to start on another and then just basically conks out! But he did want me to pass on to everyone that he is very, very thankful to all of you.

I asked him if it was true that he might be coming home at the end of March and he said I knew more than him! We got a letter from his commander letting us know Marshall was doing a great job and he said that everything was on track for Marshall to come home at the end of March. I'm crossing my fingers, toes and everything else that he will come home safe and sound.

And, as Marshall is doing his job in Iraq, our other son decided he would enlist! Trenton, our oldest is now a Marine. He joined the US Marine Corps and they picked him up for boot camp at Camp Pendleton on November 5th! If all goes well, we'll see him graduate the beginning of February!

Then, in the middle of all of that, my daughter-in-law Jaimie, Marshall's wife, will be starting her stint in the Air Force as well!! She will start basic training November 27th! Then after she graduates, she will go to Tech School for Traffic Management Operations!

We're so very proud of all of them.

Another Marshall Update

We finally heard from Marshall again!! It's been awhile since we heard from Marshall. It was only a brief phone call, but we'll take it. His 21st birthday was October 24th and he's been pretty busy with his job in Iraq and also studying for his CDC's.

Marshall said he has gotten a lot more letters and packages and he is so appreciative of all the well wishes for his birthday and support. He said some of the most unusual items he has received were a gelled eye mask to help him sleep during the day and that he was also sent a box of tampons!! He said he didn't have any girls in his troop to give those to, but maybe they can use them to absorb something!!! LOL!!

I'll continue to post on my blog updates on Marshall when we get them. He said he did send a package back to us and I'm hoping he put the cameras in that. If so, I will post the pictures we get back.

Again, thank you to everyone in helping to make his 21st birthday a memorable one!

Marshall in Iraq!

October is a busy birthday month! Not only is it my birthday, but it's also one of my son's birthday too!! Marshall will be turning 21 on October 24th! Not only is this one of those special birthdays, but he is in the Air Force and is currently in Iraq. When we found out he was going to Iraq, it was a bit upsetting, but being in the Armed Forces it was to be expected. When I realized he was going to be spending this momentous occasion there, I got really upset. As I've said in my previous posts, birthdays are very important to me and it just really got to me that he was going to be celebrating a rather poignant birthday without family or close friends.

Before he left we threw him a surprise 21st birthday party with friends and family. He enjoyed that, but it was more like a going away party as it was two months before his actual birthday. We did have a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday. And even though we tried to get the feel for that moment, it's just not the same when you are doing it two months in advance.



Then, I thought of a great idea!! If he can't be here for the party, we'll just bring the party to him. I am fortunate to be on a LOT of group lists, so I called out to the members of those lists to help participate in a mail in type surprise party for my son!!! It entailed sending a birthday card or note to wish Marshall a Happy 21st Birthday!! The response was overwhelming!! People from all over the world emailed me to let me know that they were going to send a card or letter or even a package to let Marshall know that they were thinking of him on his birthday!

I cannot thank everyone enough of how I appreciate each and everyone one of you and how heartfelt it is that all of you would do that to make my son's birthday so special.

One woman even emailed to let me know that her husband was there in the same area as my son and is the Seargant Major of his unit! She said that she was going to email him and ask him to do something special for my son for his birthday! How awesome was that!

Even though I wanted this as a surprise to Marshall, I knew I was going to have to let him in on the secret just a little. I sent him an email to say I had something cooking for him and he was going to have to make sure and check his mail!

This is what he wrote back:

Hey I got your Birthday gift From The Master Seargent lol in front of Guardmount ( which is the flight i work with and guardmount is we get briefings before we go work so we know whats going on and what to be aware of) He came in and said "Brown where are you", i stood up and he said "Get to the front." so i was like uhhh i have roll call training but then he said" your mom emailed my wife in a soap forum and she told me to give you this gift," willingly i said "okay"..... he said "CLOSE YOUR EYES" ummmm whats going on ....... i closed my eyes and he gave me a hug with everyone watching i looked up in surprise and said " uhhhhhhhh wow, thanks i guess" so uhhh thank you lol ha ya that was weird but cool its a small world i guess you got to talk to the flight chiefs wife in a soap forum awesome!!!!! anyways ya i have been checkin the mail every day and hope it gets here okay!!!!
He also went into further detail about what happened with the Seargant Major when we were on the phone. Marshall is in Unit B and the Seargant is in Unit A of their troop, so seeing the Seargan Major was completely unexpected which made it even more special!

I talked to him last week around October 12, and since then he said he has received 75 letters and two packages! The mail person told him he is loved! He said they couldn't all be for him as he didn't know that many people! He said, once he started reading the letters and realized that they were all from people who knew his mom, and that they were all wishing him a Happy Birthday, he thought it was really cool. I sent him a box with disposable cameras in it and he said he put all the cards and letters on his bed and took pictures of them.

As soon as I get those, I will develop them and post them here for everyone to see. I will also continue to update my blog when I hear from Marshall. Again, thank you to everyone for making this happen!

It's My Birthday, It's My Birthday!!

Name that song! I know one person out there that would probably know that answer!! Really, my only reader!! :)

On October 9th a long time ago, and sharing the date with a famous Beatle, I was brought into this fabulous world!

Through all the ups and downs, the most outrageous moments and the quietest of times, it has been an asbsolutely fantastic journey that I am still traveling. It's always fun and exhilerating to see what the next day will bring, whether it's just hanging out with my daughter and husband, or attacking rodents in the barn! There's always something going on in the Brown world!

Usually, over the past few years, my birthdays have been somewhat uneventful. The major ones such 16th, 21st, 30th, 35th, 40th have been marked with something special. Such as surprise parties, throwing myself a HUGE party, navel piercings, going platinum blonde, throwing myself another party to make sure it was done right!! The years in between passed quietly with family and friends. Don't get me wrong. Birthdays to me are ALWAYS a major occasion even if they are not celebrated with a grand hoohah every year, just as long as they are celebrated.

But this year was a little different. Turning 43 is a regular number, nothing to scoff at. It's in the middle. Just past 40, but not quite 45! The eyes seem to not want to work as well, but the fight for getting glasses goes on. I thought this year would be another quiet year, but surprisingly it has turned out to be a wonderful celebration week!

On my birthday, my daughter cooked up a nice little birthday party for me which started off with me locked in my room while she got everything ready!! When the time was right, I was blindfolded with my tiara on my head and led into the living room where she had filled the floor with balloons! My in-laws even came to visit and joined the party with my husband and daughter! I had a vase with some roses, and was regaled with a few gifts. I was even presented with a cake! It was very nice and cozy and I was pleasantly surprised. I was then taken to my favorite sushi restaurant where the owner and chef treated me to a wonderful birthday feast of all my favorite items and then some. It's great to know the chef who also happens to be the owner too!!

The next evening I went out with some girlfriends of mine who I haven't seen in years and years. Did I mention years!! Another fantastic birthday surprise!! We all looked like we did back then and it was if we had just seen each other a few week's ago. It was so wonderful and great to see them and catch up. Although it would have been fun to hear them sing karaoke!! :) Come on Johnna, you know you wanted to! :)

Tonight, is Mom's Night Out, done special for my birthday!! Guess where we're going!! Hmmmm...can we say sushi? Did you even have to guess? Back to my favorite restaurant we go! I've already informed the chef and he's ready!! I can't wait!! Even if it's just me that shows, I'll still be a happy camper!! Although, I know we'll have a great time!! Eatin' sushi!! Yummmm!!

Well, that leaves tomorrow!! Of course, the week couldn't end without being with family again. And my birthday week will finish with dinner with my dad and stepmom. Try as I might, I could not swing sushi again. I will have to eat cooked food and since I do, it will be Italian!! My dad has his favorite restaurant and that's where we will be going.

My birthday week started with family and it will end with family and for what I thought would be an unmomentous occasion turned out to be a very memorable celebration!!

I wonder what's going to happen next year?

Avenue Q Tickets on Sale in Houston

Order now through October 12th for Avenue Q at Hobby Center in Houston.

This is currently the only Texas stop scheduled for this show.

Performance dates are:

Thursday, November 1st at 8pm
Saturday, November 3rd at 2pm
Sunday, November 4th at 7:30pm

Take advantage of a special Student/Educator discount on select price levels until the deadline of Friday October 12th. Variety of seating/pricing options.

Show description:

Avenue Q is Broadway's smash-hit 2004 Tony Award winner for BEST MUSICAL, BEST SCORE, and BEST BOOK. A hilarious show full of heart and hummable tunes, Avenue Q is about trying to make it in NYC with big dreams and a tiny bank account. Called "one of the funniest show you're ever likely to see" by Entertainment Weekly, AVENUE Q features a cast of people and puppets who tell the story in a smart, risque and downright entertaining way. The New Yorker calls it "SUBVERSIVE and UPROARIOUS!"

Order your tickets by logging on to:
http://www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/groupsales
and enter your special password:
Homeschool

DISCLAIMER: This show is not for everyone. Who is AVENUE Q appropriate for? Adults love AVENUE Q, but they seem a little, er, fuzzy on whether it's appropriate for kids. Avenue Q is good for teenagers because it's about real life. This show is not appropriate for young children because AVENUE Q addresses mature themes including drinking and sex. It's hard to say what exact age is right to see AVENUE Q- parents should use their own discretion based on maturity level of their children. But, we promise you this - if you DO bring your teenagers, they'll think you're really cool! Also, if you are easily offended by satire or adult themes, this is not a show for you.

Feel free to pass this info on to friends and family. You do not have to be a homeschooler to purchase these tickets.

When it Raynes it pours!

What's the old adage? Computers can't live with them, can't live without them! In this day and age we've come to depend on technology so much that if we didn't have our cell phones, blackberries, computers, ipods, we would probably just curl up in a ball, rock back and forth and whimper.

The past couple of days have been wreaking havoc on my business life. If it were something I did, that would be one thing, but I didn't do anything! It seems that the people of Go Daddy decided to switch their servers around and my website happened to be on one of those servers. But did my website get switched? Apparently not. Imagine my surprise when I was checking several sites that my images are on and they weren't there!! Hmmmm....then I began noticing that the last email I received was at 3pm that afternoon! It was now 10pm! I decided to check my home page and POOF! It was gone. All of my other websites seemed to be working. DSL modem working. Rebooted the computer, all working.

Call GoDaddy. Hmmm...looks like your DNS is pointing to a server that doesn't exist! Oh, well that doesn't bode well, now does it! Here, click this button, choose this server and you'll be good to go in the next 5 minutes to 24 hours!!

Well, 24 hours later and still nothing is working. Call the good people of GoDaddy back and now they've upped the wait time! It's no longer a 5min - 24hour wait before they'll do anything, it's now a 24hour - 48 hour wait!! I'm sure if I was Danica Patrick, they would be stumbling over themselves to get her site up. But, it's just me. A customer who's been with them the past 7 years and really, that doesn't count for much!! Plus, I don't drive a race car or look like her! :)

So, I sit and wait and ponder about the good ole days when we wrote letters, worked out of file cabinets and talked to people on the telephone and whimper!

SquirrelyMan!

About 4 weeks ago we became parents yet again! You'd think we were tired of boys, but no, not in this household. We didn't plan on adopting, but he kind of dropped in our laps and after taking one look at him we just couldn't say no. Rayne actually found him lying there helpless without a mother and when she showed up with this poor baby in her arms, we just couldn't say no.

How could you pass up a little boy that looks so cute as this?

This was taken when he was about 4 weeks old. When Rayne brought him home, he was still pink and no fur on him! Without having a clue on what to do, we knew to go to the internet! There we found The Squirrel Board and with their help we gave him warmth, food and shelter (well Priority Boxes do make for good shelter!). Since then, what we thought impossible has happened! He has flourished and grown. When he turned 5 weeks he opened his eyes and found that his mommies looked a little different from him, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's gotten used to the noise in our house, but we're hoping that doesn't affect him when we release him at 12 weeks.

He's now 6 1/2 weeks and is learning the enjoyment of tomatoes!

He's now too big for his Priority Mail box and has been upgraded to a high rise cage! It has tons of amenities and as Rayne puts it, if she were a squirrel, she would love to live in it!! He has a cozy log home with his fur bed and a couple of small fuzzy stuffed animals, one of which the pet store thinks looks like a squirrel. He has ladders to climb, wooden sticks and ropes to hang off of and wood perches that we got from our own yard! Although he likes to play, for now he seems quite content to still curl up on his fur rug and sleep like most young uns do after eating.

So while we do have our run-ins with snakes and rats, every once in awhile we have fun animals out here too!

Ding Dong the Snake is DEAD!!!

Rats, chickens, dogs, what else? Well, those who know me have heard the story of Cocoa and the snake!! Seems a couple of months ago a snake with about a 1" fang span decided it wanted to have my dog for lunch!! Of course, me, not even thinking snake bite, thought he had gotten stung by a bee!! The poor dog all day had his little paw swollen until he looked like he was going to be a big dog when he grew up!! It wasn't until that evening when he rolled over and his entire leg and chest had gone black that we realized it was a snake bite and not a bee sting! Luckily, Cocoa survived as I had been giving him Benadryl all day and then all the "happy" drugs that the emergency vet gave him! A couple of weeks ago, Tom went around my soap shack and found two snake skins. The first one was slightly bigger than the other and both were longer than I am tall!! I know, not hard to do!

I had thrown down some ceramic eggs thinking that maybe I could trick that ole snake into eating them and killing it. But every day that I looked, those eggs were still there.

I was just thinking the other day that maybe that snake had moved on. The chickens don't really come around here anymore and our rat problem has gone away, so there isn't really a food supply for it.

So, this afternoon as I was heading happily to the soap shack, I had just called Tom on the cell phone and right when he picked it up, the only sound he heard was me whispering.......SNAKE! There on the path, right in front of me was a big snake! It looked about 3 feet long. Tom said, go grab the shovel and chop off it's head! Well, I would but the shovel was in the barn, meaning that I would have to step over the snake to get to the barn. Laughingly, I asked if I could go get the rifle! Heck, I think I did a good job on that rat!! But, Tom said no!! :) I walked slowly towards the snake as it stared at me and made a long arc around the back of it. As I passed it to head towards the barn to get the shovel the snake slithered into a crack in the wall of our well shed. I grabbed the shovel anyway and placed it by the tree cause I wasn't going into the well shed! No telling where that snake was.

When Tom came home this evening he wasn't in the house. Seems he was out in the well shed hunting snakes! He said he opened the door and the snake was under and old desk we had in there. He tried to get it with the shovel, but it was cowering back in the back. He thought he got part of it. After several tries, he grabbed the rifle! At that point, Rayne wanted to watch!! I was in the house but after hearing three gunshots, I went outside! I don't know what it is with several shots and trying to kill varmints, but it just seems one doesn't do it in this household!

When I got to the well shed, Tom had pulled part of the wood out and you see the snake trying to snap at somebody!! Tom had hit it in the middle. We got it pulled out of the shed where it finally died. Apparently, my sense of measurement is quite wrong. After getting the measuring tape out, this guy was a full 5ft 6inches long! A lot bigger than me!!

But now the nasty, dog eating, chicken snake is dead!! Whoo hoo!!! Our yard is safe again. Till next time!! :)

Kids and Playdough!

The fun of summer! The giggling of your child as you sit down to make wonderful crafts together!!! Errr what? Crafts? Uh, nooo. Yes, I am not a crafty person. What, you say? But, you make lovely soaps! Yes, but, to me that is fun and exciting and when I think of crafty, I think of rag rolling, and popsicle sticks and yes, making playdough and slime from scratch. That, is not me!! Luckily, I have a daughter who does like making that kind of thing and she reads directions rather well!! Now, her one flaw is that she does not clean up the mess she makes afterwards!

I was on the phone the other day with my sister and she was attempting to make Playdough from scratch using water and flour. When that became too sticky she started adding cornstarch. Rayne overheard our conversation and whipped out her handy dandy craft book and explained that her aunt was doing it all wrong!! Although it was too late to help her aunt, she took it upon herself to make her own playdough! Into the kitchen she went. Bowls clanging, tops popping, spoons clattering and Wallah!! Playdough!! A huge chunk of yellow dough that she could mold and meld as she wished!! This time she said she did clean up, but this entailed pouring water into the bowls she used and tossing them into the sink. At least the counters were clean!! We're making an improvement!

The next morning as I'm going through the house, I walk into my bedroom and notice on my beautiful duvet, the only thing I really like in my room, that there is something gross, runny and yellow on it!!! I call out to Rayne to find the dog that is sick! I get my duvet cleaned up and find more in the kitchen. I can also hear the dog now and it is our small 5lb Chihuahua that is not feeling well. We toss him outside and get everything else cleaned up.

As I'm sitting in the living room, Rayne comes in and says, "I think I know what happened." It seems her playdough is missing! Yes, the yellow playdough she made the day before!! Apparently, the 5lb dog has eaten the flour, salt, yellow dyed concoction and his body is now letting him know that it didn't like the taste of it! So, he's letting Rayne know this by showing her on my duvet, the floor and as we lean back on the couch, we find he has left us this message there too!!

Ahhhhh, the joys of kids, dogs and Playdough!

Let The Good Times Roll

Last Friday as I was scrolling through a mountain of emails, I came across one from a very good friend of mine whom I've known since 2nd grade! In the email she said, Berta is in town, Meesh happens to be in from Boston, we've contacted Glenda who is on her way in and it wouldn't be the same if all of us weren't here. Can you come on in as well? What fun!! I called up my wonderful husband, checked out what his plans entailed for the weekend, which wasn't much. So, I had a babysitter!!

The next day I headed out for Houston and had a mini reunion with friends I've known since high school! Well, with the exception of Rhonda as mentioned above!

We headed down to the Heights and checked out some of their shops in a very unique way and one that most people don't get to experience! Heights shopping by braille! We had intended to go down during the Yale Art show and White Nights, but it was raining so there wasn't any art out, but the shops were open. We ducked into an antique craft mall and were checking out the interesting things inside when the power went out! No problem, that's what cell phones were for, right? We were able to get out of the glass shop safely without knocking any valuables over. After concluding that the ice cream shop was not the best place to go when the power was out, we went to another shop called Retropolis! What a cool place and even cooler when there are no lights!! It's a vintage shop and it was like playing in grandma's attic!! Now, if we could've only found those go go boots!! We were in there for an hour when the power came back on and then it was a whole new experience when we saw what they really had!! MORE COOL STUFF!! After another hour of running around and playing dress up, we headed out to another friend's house for a barbeque.

I did receive a phone call from Rayne saying that she was getting a ton of restricted calls on her dad's cell phone. I told her not to answer them and to give the phone to her dad. Turns out she was at her cousins house. So, I just told her not to answer the phone. Five minutes later, I get a frantic phone call from her saying that fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance looked like they were heading to our house and she can't get her dad on the phone! I call home and get a busy signal. I wait and call home again and my husband calmly answers the phone. I ask him if anything is going on and he says no. I tell him about the phone call I got and he says didn't happen there, but he did tell her to come home. Another five minutes go by and I get another phone call from my daughter crying because she says that dad is grounding her from his cell phone since she let her cousin use the phone to dial numbers and now he thinks that she may have inadvertantly dialed 911, hence the restricted calls coming in and all the fire trucks, police and ambulances going by! Yes, my family cannot run without me!! :)

Jennifer and Sean welcomed us all into their home for great fun and great food and crack dip! Berta even stayed up past 10pm!! Believe it or not!!

Back to RubinSmo manor we went for more fun and games!

The next day we went to see Berta's mom and also got an unexpected visit from Norman! After having a great lunch at Shanghai River with the gang, I headed home. Upon arrival, my house and famiy were intact and they were very glad to see me!

Thank you Rhonda for inviting me. I had a great time and it was a blast seeing everyone again.

Old Yeller

Yes, you know. The movie about a boy and his dog? Well, Rayne decided she wanted to watch that movie this evening before going to bed. As I was trying to catch up on emails from a fantastic weekend of girlfriends (more on that on another post) she walked into my room to let me know the movie had ended. She's standing behind me to tell me the movie is over. I ask her, "Did you cry at the end?" "No" she says. I'm thinking that's a little odd, but okay she might be a little young for the movie and not apt to give in to emotions quite yet. So, I still type away with my back to her and say. "You mean, you didn't even cry when Old Yeller died?" Then I hear with a quivering voice, "No, but it was a good movie". I whip around and she's standing there with tears in her eyes!!! I laughed!! Yes, I know, bad mom!!! But, I said, "You were crying!!!!" Then she starting laughing and crying at the same time!! I told her that everyone cries at Old Yeller. You aren't human if you don't cry!!! So, now she has me crying cause she's crying and we're both laughing our heads off because we are both crying! I give her a big hug and kiss and then she starts singing the end song. Yes, it was pretty funny and cracked me up that she did get so emotional over the movie and that she also knows that it's okay to cry at sad movies!!! She's going to do great at chick flicks!!!

Annie Get Your Gun!

Well, the rat saga continued!! We thought we only had two rats in the barn. I bought some tasty rat baits and the next day they were all gone!! I bought some more and set them out. They were nibbled on as well! The package said that it would take five days for the poison to work. Sure enough five days later Rat #1 lay dead outside the barn. The next day rat #2 was seen slowly walking in a dazed stupor barely breathing. He was put out of its misery. Yeah!!! We thought we had gotten all the rats. The day after that, one of our little chihuahuas came running up to us with a gift in its mouth!! Yes, another rat!!! Whoo hoo!! The thing was near death as well. This went on for a few days of finding dead rats in and around the barn!! The count was now up to 7!! I can't believe we had this many!! A couple of days later another was found dead. EIGHT RATS!!! ARrrgghh!!! A few more days passed and no more dead rats!! The rat baits were untouched. Finally, we had gotten them all!!! I went to go help my kiddo in the barn feed the horses when one of our other dogs started freaking out over some wrapped up fence wire in the barn. I walked over to where she was and saw something furry inside the wire. Dead rat? Sick rat? We poked at it with some bailing wire and that thing jumped sky high!! Neither sick nor dead!!! It was stuck inside the fencing wire and I wasn't going to wait for it to come out. I called Tom on the phone to see if he wanted me to shoot it with the .22? Haven't had much luck with that thing when I was trying to scare dogs. Almost hit a kid on his bike!! Didn't mean to, but was told never to hold the rifle again! :) I figured this would be close range and could put the gun right into the fence wire. We went and grabbed the rifle. Rayne had the phone as Tom listened in on what we were doing. I turned the safety off, aimed the gun right at the rat and pulled the trigger. The rat didn't do anything!! I poked at it with the baling wire and the thing jumped!! How could I miss, the rat was HUGE!!! It looked like a baby possum!!! I shot again and poked at it, still that sucker jumped!!! I tried it again, this time putting the muzzle of the rifle right at what I thought was its head! Pulled the trigger and the thing ran inside the fence!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!!!! I had some kind of freakin' miracle rat!!! Did it have nine lives!!! Did it think it was a cat!!! My husband is telling me I'm missing the stupid thing, but I know I'm not!!! I have the bloody gun on the body of this goofy animal!!!!!! Now, I'm getting mad!!! This sucker is going down!! I am not going to have it in my barn!!!! I put the tip of that gun right against its fur and pulled the trigger again. Rayne and I are looking at each other thinking this is NUTS!!! I have shot this rat FOUR times!! It has to be dead!!! I poke it one more time with the baling wire. Finally, it does not move!!! But, I am not taking the fencing down to see if it is really dead. When Tom came home that night he pulled the fencing off it and even he said, it was a big rat!!! Finally, someone believes me about how big this guy was!!! He picked it up and sure enough it had three holes in it!! But, you know what my wonderful husband says to me? "Four shots at close range and you still miss one!!!" LOL!! But, I did shoot him twice in the stomach and once in the head!! That rat was a fighter, I'll give him that!!

So, now the rats are gone from our barn, and I'm going to the shooting range and taking lessons!

More Farm Life

It's not that I don't mind living out in the middle of nowhere. It's actually quite peaceful. Where else can you go out at night and literally see a million stars? Or, take a blanket and watch meteor showers without have to drive to a dark and deserted place? You're already there! In the mornings when we go out to feed the animals, we're greeted with Elvis' long bleat. Elvis is our gimp sheep. For those of you who have the little toy of "This is what a sheep sounds like, Baaahhh." You've got the wrong toy! Sheep don't sound that way! Then, there's Max, our Nigerian Dwarf goat who thinks he's a dog. He just wants to be pet and watch out if you leave the door open to the house. Max will be up on the couch watching t.v. with the rest of the dogs! The horses will stand impatiently in the barn kicking at the walls waiting for their food. They are always hungry. You open the tack room door and are greeted by not one, but two RATS!!! We still cannot get rid of these things. Tom grabbed his rifle and went to go shoot them, but they scattered. It's always good to have a gun in the country! One ran under the plywood board on the other side of the tack room. He lifted that up and what did he find? A 3 foot snake!! I was hoping that the snake would eat the rat, but no such luck. At least he shot the snake as he wasn't doing any good. You figure if he was that long he had been there for awhile. He wasn't a good rat catcher! Since that episode, we haven't seen the rats and sticky rat traps are next. I know how to shoot the rifle but I don't have very good aim with it. I'll leave that up to Tom! Ahhhhh, just another day out on the farm. At least the radishes and lettuce are growing very well!

Farm Life!

How many flushes does it take to empty the well? One of the many adventures living out in the country is that we don't have city water! That is a good thing in itself. You don't have to worry about all the junk that the city and state had decided is good for you and what you need or don't need to have! I like having well water! It's fresh, clean, tastes good! I decide whether I want to put flouride in my mouth or not. The only time having a well might prove to be a hindrance is in bad weather when the electricity goes out. Then it's always nice to have jugs of water on hand to brush your teeth, wash your face and flush the toilet!

Or, when something happens to the motor of the well! Such is the case that happened a couple of days ago. Sitting in the living room we hear a horrendous noise coming from outside! It's very loud, whiny, horrific. It's the motor for the well. This happened about 5 years ago and we had to replace the motor! I guess they only have a 5 year lifespan? As I walked past the wellshed there was a horrible stench of burning rubber. We figured that whatever was left in the well tank would be all the water we would have for the next day. In the morning Tom check the motor. The good news is that the motor was still running fine! The bad news is that the pulley was lying in pieces on the ground with the belt shredded beside it. Hence the smell!

We had a good homeschooling lesson in conservation that day! Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth and only to rinse out the toothbrush and your mouth. Wash your hands quickly. Do we really need to wash dishes today? We can wait on that shower too! Tom came home that evening with a new belt and a new pulley. The pulley worked, the belt did not. Another day to conserve water. We ate out that night! Another day to conserve dishes. But a new day a new belt and all is well in our household. We did not run out of water in our welltank. The dishes are done and we all smell good! Oh, and all toilets were flushed as we never had to conserve on that end! All in all, farm life is still good. Now, to take care of those two rats in the barn!!

I always wanted to be in the news!

You know how you always hear about slow downs on the freeway? I never thought I would cause something like that! It's been one of those days! Due to a big gust of wind, I heard those words going through my head! Pick up on aisle 12 as I saw boxes falling off of my truck! Thankfully, no one was hurt, no accidents were caused. But, as I was pulling over to the side of the freeway all I saw was a sea of mitts floating across 5 lanes of traffic!

Well, if people just opened their doors and reached out and grabbed one, they would have gotten a nice treat to take home for their showers!! At least the work guys will have something nice to pamper themselves with tomorrow!

The misunderstanding of blogging!

Everyone tells me I need to start a blog! Why? Do I really need to? Everyone has one, right? Do, I really need to right down my deepest thoughts, my passing fancies? How do you go about writing a blog? Do you start rambling on like a raving lunatic where no one wants to read what you post anyway? And, if you do start to write one, who really is going to read it in the first place. Is it wise to tell all your friends to check out your blog? Or, should you wait till you really have something significant to say? I feel I've been using the computer since there were gopher holes back in the 80's to even get on the internet. Why do I feel so inadequate in writing a blog?
So, this will be my feeble attempt in trying to catch up with the mainstream and write what comes through this scattered brain of mine. Maybe something good will come out of this? We'll see. Can you teach this old dog new tricks?

We'll see!