I hope this child is not getting sick again. There has been a virus going around his school and even the teachers have all gotten it. He was sick last week with it and I am praying that it has not come back. He came home and sat on the couch for a few minutes playing video games, then fell asleep. I really don’t want all the other kids getting it too.
Circus
I am not sure if I want to take the kids to the Circus or not. I know it is a fun thing for children, but I have a fundamental problem with the way they treat the animals they use in their show.
I am not the only one who has a problem with this either. I have seen a lot of people posting about not taking their kids for just this reason. If we feel strongly about this issue, then buying tickets just helps promote the continued abuse of animals.
It is a conundrum to be sure. Have a fun family outing at the Circus or forgo in protest for the animals? ugh…
Our pool
Well last year we put in a new pool. The kids and I really wanted one and to be honest it wasn’t that expensive or difficult to do. i had to learn how to clean the pool and find a place to buy my pool supplies without killing my pocketbook. That part was actually easiest but the cleaning the pool after the kids constantly jumping in with dirty feet and such, was a pain. I need to come up with a new plan for keeping the grass and such out of the pool. The kids love to run around the yard chasing each other and jump back in without cleaning their feet.
I looked around at pool filters before I bought one because I knew this would be a problem with the kids. I have jokingly told the kids that I would build a moat around the pool for their dirty feet and they thought it was a good idea. I had to smile at that, because they actually thought I was serious.
I love Chinese food
I went to the China Star for lunch and bought dinner at lunch prices. This way we could all eat Chinese without spending too much money. The lunch special is only $4.95 per person and comes with fried rice, one egg roll and a free soda. The kids really don’t eat all of a lunch special let alone a dinner plate from there so it works out for me and everyone gets to pick whatever they want. You can’t beat that with a stick.
Game night
Tonight is game night for myself and the children. I love having a game night. We gather around the dinning room table to play a game and laugh a lot. I usually have to pick the game myself since leaving it up to the kids means an argument over which game we should play. The only time I let them pick is if they come to me having already agreed without a fight.
Raising chickens
The kids and I decided that since we have such a large piece of property, we can put it to good use. We are going to start raising backyard chickens. We are building a chicken coop out by the barn all by ourselves. This ought to be interesting as we are fast becoming good little builders. the kids are excited about the project, but I have a feeling they aren’t going to want to feed them later when the chicks get bigger.
We should have enough eggs and chickens for sale to make a tidy little profit that hopefully will pay for the chicken feed as well. If we end up with too many chickens to sell, we can always eat them. I will have to make sure the kids know that they are farm animals not pets though. Of course I will have to learn how to kill and clean them, and that is going to be the hard part as I have never done that before. I am sure I can learn in no time, but plucking them from what I hear is a tedious process. Wish us luck in our new little business.
Time to decorate the house
Well it is that time again. Time to decorate inside and outside the house.
This year we are building a nativity scene for the front lawn. We sat down last night and drew out our plans for the entire thing and made a list of materials we will need.
I am also going to purchase new out door lights for the yard and house. This will be a big adventure for us and we are all looking forward to it.
I am pretty sure this project will take longer then the kids think it will, but we will have fun with it.
No Bones for My Dogs
As a kid, we had a bunch on dogs to play with on my grandfather’s farm. I loved running and playing with them across the yard and the corn fields. But they were mostly hunting dogs – not house dogs. They ate all kinds of thing. My grandmother would scrape the plates after meals and just toss it all outside for the dogs to get.
But now I have dogs that I love dearly and my vet has told me to not ever give the dogs tables scrap and to make sure they never get bones. The bones, especially from chicken and turkey, can splinter and the sharp points can slice up the dogs insides and kill them.
I sure had not eve thought of that and I guess it is a miracle that my grandfather’s dogs never suffered from internal bleeding and died from eating bones. But I don’t want to take a chance with my dogs, so no bones for the dogs. Not even steak bones. The vet says to stick with dog food and as long as I have money for real dog food, my dogs will get the best I can buy.
Sing-a-longs
My grandfather used to play the piano at family gatherings and we would all sing along to a lot of fun songs. I loved the music class in school, too. Its a good thing most schools have some kind of music enrichment for kids.
I especially loved the times when we could sing songs in the round. Do you remember any of the songs like, “Row, row, row your boat?”
Golden Oreos
As a kid we enjoyed a box of chocolate Oreos once in a great while as a treat. My mom liked cookies for things like long car rides, picnics and trips to the beach. But at home, we had dessert ever night after dinner, and it was usually either ice cream or pie.
I got out of the habit of having desserts and I rarely buy cookies. I guess that also reflects on how different my lifestyle is now as an adult. I rarely go on long car rides – stuck in bad traffic does not count! – I haven’t been on a picnic in years, and my one trip to the beach last summer was so short there was no food involved.
But today I bought a bag of the vanilla Oreos. They just seemed to be calling my name once I turned down that aisle in the grocery store. It was like a powerful “Buy me now!” magnet was pulling my arm toward the Oreos on the shelf.
I have to admit that I tore open the bag as I as unpacking the groceries. I just had to give them a taste and I’m happy to report that they are great!