Small successes

Wow...things are getting busy around here. I just worked on getting the kids activities on my calendar last night, and I don't think I'm going to be home much this summer. I'll either be in the car, waiting on the kids, or traveling out of town. I need to figure out something that I can work on during my waiting times.

Here are my small successes for this week:

1-
Our bottle calf Flower has been with us for over a week, and she is doing just fine! She now has no trouble sucking on her bottle, and gets done with it very quickly...then she sucks on the bars of her pen for quite a while after she eats. The kittens are also doing well, and getting a little more used to people.

2-
Signed the girls up for swim lessons...unfortunately, I hesitated when I first called to make sure the time would work for our schedule. It took several more days of trying to call (I only seem to remember when the pool is closed!), but yesterday I stopped by the pool during our trip to town (we signed up for summer reading program, got books, dropped Eva off at Girl Scouts, went to the general store for home improvement supplies, went to the pool, played at the park, went to the post office, went grocery shopping, get a Sunday paper, and then picked up Eva from Girl Scouts) and it turns out all the level 1 classes were full. Eva failed level one last summer, so I had to choose between a platform class (where they stand on a platform and learn how to blow bubbles, etc) or level 2 (where they learn arm strokes and leg strokes for crawl and backstroke). So, Charlotte is in the platform class in the first time slot, then Eva is in the level 2 class in the second time slot. I need to take her to the pool a few times before lessons start to work on getting her used to having her face in the water (which is the main reason she didn't pass level 1 last year.)

3-
Eva and I had eye appointments this morning. I am still as blind as ever, but will have new glasses in a week or two. Eva is a little far sided right now, but no glasses needed, as the doctor thinks that she will eventually be nearsighted like everyone else in the family.

In the big successes department, hubby has gotten up shower walls in our upstairs bathroom! First, he had to chip off a gazillion tiles from the walls (about two feet high, all the way around. Then he had to patch, spackle and prime. Then I got to paint the bathroom (he helped with some of the edging over the lights and bathtub...I'm just a little too short for those). Then the walls went up, and silicone sealant went on. Tonight he is planning on caulking the bathtub and installing the faucet, knobs, and hand-held shower. He also got curtains up in our bedroom. Next on the list (after a few more small items in the bathroom) is either the exchange student's room or the junk room...depending on whether or not the window guy will be cutting a hole in the wall of the junk room to make it a usable bedroom space.

More small successes at Faith and Family LIVE!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Some time this morning hubby is bringing home a bottle calf from the feedlot. Since MIL still has a cast on, we decided that it would probably be better if we take care of it. Well, better for MIL anyway...I'm not so sure about the calf.

2-
Remember Bitey and Scratchy? Well, both cats have since disappeared. At one point hubby found a possum in our shop (where the cats lived) and then he put away the water and leftover cat food so as not to attract more wildlife. Then, he noticed the good mouser at the feedlot had a couple of kittens with her, so he kit-napped them. They are currently being held hostage in our carpetless room in the basement while we try to get them used to people. I'm still thinking that this isn't the greatest idea ever, since neither hubby or I are cat people. But, I guess we do need something to help with mice, because I still haven't seen a snake here, and when I do, I'll be moving out until I calm down (could be weeks...)

3-
When I mow the yard (which is WAY too big for me to keep up on. I talked to the aunt who lived here, and she just did it all in one shot, and when her kids were little, she just had them play outside while she mowed. I'm a little more paranoid than that, so the kids have to be inside while the mower is running...so max, I can do about 2 hours at a shot...which is about 1/3 of what we have...) I have plenty of time to think of strange thoughts...but one that I think of most often is "what if there is a snake somewhere out here, and it doesn't get out of the way of the mower, and it bites me, and the kids are inside resting, and I don't have my cell phone..." Okay, so I do paranoia REALLY well.

4-
My mom is now retired...my mom is now on Facebook...this is a bad combination. Another bad combination is her and her telephone, because she is calling A LOT! I am hoping she finds some hobbies pretty soon, because every time she calls, the girls go nuts and start doing annoying and dangerous things.

5-
Charlotte now says at least a couple of times a week "I wish we could have TWO baby brothers!!" Usually in public, so I feel as though I need to tell people that no, I am not pregnant. Particularly since right after I had Charlotte, one man at church asked me when I was finally going to have that baby...to which I had to say "I did, she's over there".

6-
Eva is very much enjoying Girl Scouts. After the confusion with the first meeting when the troop leader didn't show up, I was pretty worried...but she had her meeting this week, and it was for 2 hours! I thought the meetings were only going to be an hour, but I guess that will be the school year schedule. Although, I have to admit, I found it strange that the troop leader was gone again (she had to work), but at least the regional coordinator came down to run it!

7-
I just found out that swim lessons in town are coming up this month. I think I may need to stop by the pool soon and sign the girls up...particularly Eva, who is still a little afraid of the water. Charlotte, on the other hand, needs to be a little MORE afraid of the water!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary

Small Successes

Well, I have actually accomplished quite a few things this week, but here are the small successes at the top of my list.

1-
Helped MIL and SIL plant half of our second community garden plot. I had no IDEA how big an area FIL plowed up...it doesn't look that big when I drive by, but we planted 17 tomato plants (the leftover plant is going in a topsy turvy planter that I bought for Eva) 12 sweet peppers, 5 hills of spaghetti squash, and four rows of beans. In the other half we are eventually going to plant summer squash, butternut squash, maybe some more beans and maybe some more sweet corn (we have a partial field planted). In our first garden that we planted a few weeks ago, we have rhubarb, strawberries, cucumbers, and pumpkins. We also planted a new strawberry patch at our house (the aunt who lived here before us had a great patch, but got sick of dealing with it, so planted a bunch of irises to kill off the strawberries...)

2-
CLEANED OFF MY COMPUTER DESK!!! Okay, I have to admit that there are a few items on it, but for several weeks I've had a stack of Eva's first grade curriculum (over a foot high) several personal books, pens, pencils, notes with random phone numbers, mugs (just one per day, I only have two big cups for my morning tea...) AND I had a TV tray set up next to the desk filled with overflow stuff. That's a lot of junk cluttering up the walkway between our kitchen and living room (where our desk lives.) I moved my cookbooks off of my "office bookshelf" onto our new china hutch, and put Eva's curriculum on the shelf that used to have my cookbooks. So, right now I only have an ipod shuffle (need to charge that one...), my mug, the book I am currently reading, a notepad I am typing from, Eva's science text and workbook, and my Sidetracked Home Executives card file (that has been ignored more often than used recently.)

3-
Planned the first quarter of Science for Eva (which is why her books are still on the desk...I'm hoping to knock out at least quarter 2 today!) I even have a list of materials I need to gather, materials listed for each week, and a bright highlighted reminder the week before we are supposed to observe the growth and change of mealworms (YUCK!!!) I even googled to find out where to buy mealworms, and it appears that pet stores may be a good place to find them. Now I just have to figure out if there is a pet store within an hour or so of our town that has mealworms in stock. There's part of me that is contemplating taking Eva for a week long visit to her (now retired) biology teacher grandma so that I don't have to deal with mealworms...but maybe I should just suck it up, rather than drive 6 hours round trip to avoid them.

More small successes at Faith and Family LIVE!