::shoe funeral::

Dear Super Rad Van Shoes,

We go way back.  I bought you at some skater shop at age 16 on my mothers credit card.  We went through my super-baggy-jeans-with-boxers skater phase.  Good times.  Many punk rock concerts and lots of fun.  We went through college together, more good times.  Then I know you spent many years in the dark closet, but after my feet spread from having babies you were the only tennis shoes that made the cut.  Every body else hurt my body to wear, but not you old friend.  You are the most comfortable shoes that I have every had.  We have been together for 16 years and they have been good years.  

But, it is time for us to go our separate ways.  I know that I have been wearing you to work every day for three years, but this has got to stop.  Thank you for sacrificing yourself to keep me comfortable.  In the past few months I have noticed that you have crossed the line from vintage cool to shabby old and falling apart.  I will miss you.  Just like I still miss my awesome duck boots that had duct tape on them.    But our time together has passed.  I just don't have the heart to throw you away, but if I put you in the closet I know I will come back to you.  I am going to ask Josh to get rid of you and never tell me about it.  

Good bye.

I will always love you,

Brooke

  

::my first etsy sale::

I have mentioned several times that I am helping my mother downsize.  One of the things I am helping her sell is her vintage purses, mostly all coach bags.  Several were too far gone to sell, but I listed a nice little hand full.  I have ebayed for years, but this was my first time to sell something on etsy.  It's fun to learn new things.  But listing these bags was like walking down memory lane.  I remember these bags as they related to being carried by a person whose very smell was soothing/calming to me as a child.  What an amazing woman my mother is.  

She never fails to surprise me.  Her closets are stuffed to the gills, and I was channeling the therapists on the show Hoarders the first time I went there.  I thought I was going to have to talk her out of every piece of trash.  But it hasn't been like that at all.  She has been very aggressive about what she has gotten rid of.  If she is even on the fence about something, she puts it in the donate pile.  I am really proud of her.  It can't be emotionally easy to take apart 40 years of your life.    

::traveling pony::

I took our pony Shooter to the trainer a few days ago.  I love driving the horse trailer.  It reminds me of being a teenager and going off to horse shows.  But I really like the view in the rear view mirror better now.  

This pony is my buddy.  He is a short little cutie head.  He has a great temperament and I love looking at him.  He's so pretty.  But he is only 8 years old and he needs to be ridden and worked with.  My kids are way too novice as riders to train him up, and I am way too big to ride him every day.  So I called the wonderful lady that I bought him from and took him back to her barn for a few months.  She charges me $50 a month to keep him, which beats the hell out of the $1,500 plus a month that I was used to seeing in the hunter/jumper world.  She is a professional trainer and she has many students that want to ride him.  So he will spend the summer with kids hanging all over him and loving him.  

shoots getting snacks

Max saying "wrunnnn soooter wrunnn".  Please note that Shooter is not listening.  Good pony.  

I am going to miss his cute little face.  

::puppy RIP::

Here is max with one of the puppies the day before they went to the neighbors.  He is not squeezing him.  

Bad news on the puppies.  Three died.  They were at my house for a few days and then they went back down to the neighbors for a few days.  Three got sick at the same time and died one right after the other.  Poor little guys.  The two that are left are thriving.  The shorties are very sad, but they understand that these things happen.  We had a little puppy memorial service where they got to talk about what they liked about the little puppies.  Very sweet.   

::garden so far::

a few day ago

I am still in love with gardening.  Weeding a bed is so very calming.  Eating food I grew is so rewarding.  And being able to give fresh produce to my friends is so fun.  

april 9th

I have learned so much so far.  I am only about half way through the season, but I have a list of things that I want to do differently next year.

 -Stagger the planting of the lettuce so that it is not all ready at the same time.  A little lettuce goes a long way and you can't freeze it.


-Make more garden stake markers.  They were so fun and easy.  

-Let each kid have their own little section of the garden were they grow whatever they want.  


-Plant more flowers.  I love breaking up veggie beds with flowers.


-Plant zinnia's with bigger heads for more pop.  


-Line and mulch the paths in the garden (I hope to do this ASAP).


-Plant way more cilantro and parsley.


-Stagger the cilantro in two week increments.  Mine is bolting and I want more.


-Do a better job staking the tomato's as they grow.  They are out of control.  

-Plant two cucumber plants and that is ALL!  I don't even like them.


-Plant more green beans.  LOTS more.
  

::EGGS! and stupid roosters::

Lily wanted a picture of the goats and her egg.

Last night we got out first egg!! We had to throw it away because I am not sure how long it was sitting out there, but we got one!  Let the eggs begin!

And...

I have four roosters!!!  FOUR!  I thought those four chickens were just a larger breed than the others.  I wanted to believe that these were hens.  But these big fat constantly crowing pains in the tuckase are ROOSTERS!!!  I paid extra at tractor supply to get all hens.  I thought that I might end up with a rooster or two.  Mistakes can happen, but out of 12 total chicks - one died - and FOUR are roosters.  Not a very good  sucsess rate.  If I did my job like that I would be fired.  (Ok - maybe saving babies is kind of a bigger deal that sexing newborn chicks.)  Thanks for letting me rant - I am over it.  

I am going to chase down the four boys and take them to be slaughtered.  Don't freak out!  The point of chickens is not to keep fluffy little pets.  They make eggs or they end up on the table.  Period.  That is farming, right?  But one of the white ones is kind of cute.  


No - they all go.  


They crow all day and night at full volume, they chase my hens all around, and they fight with each other.  They will only get more and more aggressive, till they start attacking myself and the kids.  I draw the line at butchering them myself.  I know a shop that will do it.  This is all towards my goal of being 50% self sufficient.  But - that one white one... 

::banner::

For those of you who know me, you will not be surprised that I have begun prepping for Lily's 7th birthday party.

Yes - it is not till September.  And yes - I am crazy.  Let's just get past that.

The theme this year is an Art Party.  Think lots of crafts and rainbow colored decorations.  This banner was the starting point.  

I got the basis of this idea from a wonderful blog called Frugal Family Fun.  

I LOVE THIS BLOG!  

She is clever and she makes bright fun easy kid friendly crafts that are C-H-E-A-P to make.  

We used my cricut cutter to cut out our letters.  Then I gave the punched out letters to Lily and made her rearrange them to make at least five different words.  That turned out to be a great little side experience and I will totally do this again with her.  

Next, we took the letter backing and placed it on a piece of wax paper that was large enough to fold over the letter and to go under it.  

The folded wax paper needs to be at least as big as the letter opening.  

Then open up the fold, leaving the letter inside, and fill the letter with crayon shavings.  I little bit goes a long way.  

SLOWLY - lift off the letter and tap off the extra crayon shavings. 

Fold over the top half of the wax paper.

Put a dish towel over the folded wax paper and iron on top of the wax paper.  Let me make it very clear to you that ironing the wax paper without the towel will result in a smoking unhappy melty iron.  Maybe I tried that - I'm just saying.  If you move the iron around you get a smeared finish product, which looks cool.  But we stuck with just setting the iron on top and lifting it straight off after a few seconds.  Lily helped with the ironing.  I NEVER iron, so this was a good chance for her to learn about it.    

We used a paper cutter and/or scissors to trim the wax paper to fit slightly under the paper.  I used tape to stick the wax paper to the back of the letters.    

It took some patience and trimming.  Then a hole punch made holes for the ribbons on each side.

LOVE how it came out.