Sunday, February 27, 2011

What will tomorrow bring?

Ohhh my it seems to be that life is snowballing... I total a car, because I got the other two stuck.... Get truck unstuck to reveal flat tire, ask innocent friend to send her husband to fix tire in -30, he does so and is even nice about it... (THANK YOU!!!SOOOO MUCH) then after being in the house for over a week I don't think my hip which i fell on in the accident is getting any better, I ask my RN mother to give it a feel and she says "ohh crap.. I think its dislocated... does it hurt?" Well, heck yeah it hurts but only when something touches it, or the wind changes. I thought it was just bruising but apparently that ball type thing I can feel right beneath my skin.... not normal... well crud.... so we pack kids in the truck to take some to be babysat while we go to the Dr... and poof... wait for it....... here it comes..... ANOTHER FLAT TIRE... no not flat, it blew out as we were driving! so since it was AGAIN -30 I drove home... on the rim.... about 2kms... and parked it right back in the garage... So no Dr on Saturday... nothing is open Sunday, so we wait until Monday to fix the tire, then maybe we will get to the doctor... maybe not... I guess we will see what tomorrow brings....

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Springs sprung.... I missed the memo....


S

As I scan the net I see that Spring has sprung, oh the crocuses and daffodils are coming up and the snow is melting away to reveal the lush lawn beneath it.I have even started to plant some herb seed and my hanging strawberries in my south facing windows... I get up every morning and raise the blinds... I look and i see white.... more white, ohhh look! dirty white.... and our frozen scarecrow out in the garden. Its not the arctic we are living in here! But I fear its close...
There are no crocuses on this Baron prairie... The sights of winter are thermometers that read -43 and sometimes cant be read until the ice is chipped off... the dog house door covered y a snow drift...
But I have faith... I look out our back window and I see my wonderful fluffy sheep and I dream of all that wool.... Currently the sheep are able to walk right over the fence because of the drifts but I ignore that and just look at the fluff....
The kids are finishing up there school year already... We go hard during the winter months and take very few days off, thus, we are able to spend more days playing when the weather is nice and mom and dad need to be outside working the land, with the help of these little gooses.
Right now I feel stuck, waiting for spring to arrive, waiting for plants to sprout, to finish the school year, to get my new kitchen built(unlikely at best, maybe when our kids leave home...haha) waiting for the Lord to bless us with more babies, and for warmth...
I try hard to realize that with my husbands absences I need to make our life work in shifts of 2 weeks no dad and one week work as hard as you can because daddy has to go back to work in 4 days.. but its hard, I hate having to wait for him to come home and then get half a job done and have to wait to fix all the things we didn't do because we didn't have time to do them. the constant ... oh we should do that... when it warms up, when Mr. Rigger returns, when the kids get bigger, when the snow melts, it all kinda begins to sound like your not being heard and maybe the term should be when hell freezes over.....
Frustrated.... not pregnant .. and irritated today... bahumbug!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cupar Farmers Market



CRAFTERS, GARDENERS, SELF SUSTAINERS, AND THE LIKE
 Would you be interested in participating in a bi-weekly indoor FARMERS MARKET this April - October in CUPAR?
We have 20-25 “booths” ( A 5ft long table in front and a 5 ft table behind you) for you to display your items for others to purchase. Renting a “booth” would be $20 per market. To be paid monthly and in advance. Market will be in the “greenhouse” at Prairie Sweets.
We do all the advertising.. But spread the word by mouth all you like or ask for flyers to take to your favourite places.
Nothing is set in stone yet, we are looking for input from you.
We are thinking…
The first and third Saturday of every month
(starting April 16th) 9am to 1pm
Maybe a basket draw every market???
We will set up a “business board” in the shop to display your business cards or advertisements during our business hours.
 
To contact us with any suggestions or your interest please email myself Cat Demarco at
therobinsnest@mac.com or come in and talk to Judy at Prairie Sweets. As we are trying to get this together rather quickly your input would be appreciated by March 20th 2011.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Mommas new specs....

So with out further ado.... my new specs.....


Slightly wacky hair but ohhh well not the worst picture I have ever had........


Pretty snazzy they are.... ummn... I got used to wearing them really fast which is good, birdie gail keeps grabbing at them but she will learn i'm sure....

It has been a good day.. the kids used their puppets to perform the puppet version of the Adam and Eve Story and right now the kids are playing a board game!!! that Big Dog created !!! this putting there toys away thing is like crazy good... Heading to watch a little "Lemming hunt" and tuck wee ones in for the night... at this moment... life is good..

Fellowship...

When I do the dishes after dinner I am always so pleased when there is someone there to talk to, someone there just so i'm not alone. Many hands make for light work right? So, in my theoretical mind I feel as though my children should have such fellowship. That they should be happy because they always have there peers to play with... there brothers and sisters. When I was a child I was not friends with my siblings... I had a brother and a cousin and we all lived in the same house. THEY were good friends! They were three years apart, and they didn't go out of their way to be awful to eachother.

My children differ slightly... they fight all the time! now it may just be that it seems like they do but I have paid attention and between the six someone is always fighting!

Yesterday was an especially large day of fighting, we had friends over which was great, but the instant the friends left they were at eachothers throats... One child even went as far as to shove another child into a door and leave bruises. When asked why it was said that one kids was touching anothers toy and because they didnt want it to get recked they wrecked them... Now let me explain this is not an isolated incident.. they think that there "things" are very important. If there were a fire I could easily see a few of my children run into the house for that special toy and leap over an injured sibling to get it.... That is really sad!

It makes me angry and then I start tto think I have been the sole cause of this. We try to make them feel special at birthdays and christmas and we buy them toys. they save there allowance and are allowed to spend it however they like. Which in its own way is good but at the same time... maybe has made them think stuff is where its at?

So in a rage (only on the inside, I had a calm exterior i assure you), i decided that if they want to love stuff more than there siblings then the STUFF has to go. So everything in there rooms was packed up, all that remains are beds, blankets, pillows and that one super special teddy or two (actually 4 in all cases). They were a little awe stricken.. then last night as they were trying to sneak around upstairs to play they realized.... there are no toys... we have to entertain ... OURSELVES!!!!! They fell asleep rather early last night... imagine that.

So this morning I figured out that if there is nothing for them to play with i am going to have to entertain them... hmmm.. well i thought... during the week that will be okay because they have school to do... and as i walk into the laundry room there are three of six children surrounding the odd sock bucket playing puppets.... amazing... I could have saved sooo much money if i had just bought them socks!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Ask for patience ....

I frequently ask the Lord for patience. Patience to make it through the day, to hear myself think when babies are crying and i'm trying to fix dinner, when the laundry piles up, when its busy and in a bout of selfishness I have allowed myself to get behind. Patience is what I need...

Yesterday was an awful day, everything snowballed and I had this weird sense of patience the whole day through..

We awoke at 630 I got all the kids up.. although they lolli gagged until 700. We ate and I got them to dress and settle. It was shopping day and I figured if I could run to the city with just two children and my mum watching the rest I could be home by noon and we could still get a full school day in.






The Lord had other plans for us ....

We hit a snow drift about 6 kms from our home on a gravel road. We flipped end over end and landed wheels down in the ditch. No one was hurt, just shaken. It was minus 30 out so I couldnt wait in the car for help, we went to the nearest neighbor to find an empty home, about 15 minutes later a car drove by...

I had forgotten my cell phone (for the first time in months)... Now a little background on Saskatchewan... we have gravel roads... unmarked gravel roads so to give someone directions to your home is sort of iffy... it sounds something like " okay you go five miles past the red train car and turn west on the road with the two reflective arrows then go north to the coolee to the T intersection head west and if you see the silage tank you've gone to far.... we are the first farm on the left" yeah... its iffy... so to give directions to someone elses home... or to the site of an accident would be just about impossible.

THANKFULY, a neighbor had left for work late.. we had never met until yesterday!

We got home and thought. what do you do when your in an accident? so we called the local insurance place for advice.. they said to call the RCMP, whose phone number is not 9-1-1 and is not listed under RCMP in the phone book... hmmm... they ended up calling me before i found there number...

They told me to take the kids to the ER, which I did... all is well... we are fine...

Now a little history.. the reason I was taking my mothers car to the city is because I had dropped my 4x4 in the ditch in our yard. So after the accident I had the tow truck come and pull my truck out of the ditch... to find.... A FLAT TIRE

Again it is minus 30.... the tow truck drivers air compressor is OF COURSE frozen and ours in the garage is not starting... he fills the tire the best he can and I pack the kids up and head to the gas station, fill the tire.. head to the ER... get out of the ER... tires flat.... re fill tire... drive home.... Cant get in driveway because 2 whell drive chevy blocks the driveway.... errgggg... hoof the six kids down the driveway in the dark to a nice warm home.... OH WAIT... its 54 degrees in the house!!!!!! The furnace which we just paid the electrician a 304.00 service call to fix....... yeah... it crapped out AGAIN.

So I tuck take the furnace wires to sit just the right way and it fires up.... the babies are cold... tired... Nathan and I have whiplash, and our home is sub zero..... What a day.....


I'm thankful today.... that our family is healthy, that our bellies are full, that we have such an abundant life and helpful friends, Im thankful for my mother (I TOTALLED HER CAR) Im thankful for Gods grace, he saved us, he kept our family together, he makes me patient, and who I am... it was a long day, but i think I awoke this morning with more patience and more appreciation for our life....

more to come

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I'm married to a meat man!

My husband grew up a Hutterite. For those of you that don't know the term, it would be comparable to Amish only they are all about technology. They run commercial dairies, grow self sustaining gardens and sell the residual, they farm grain, cattle, pigs, chickens, and sell all for profit above and beyond what they need to self sustain. They are amazing! They make their own clothes, and each woman only works about two weeks a year in the kitchen ( I love to cook but if i had to cook for 200 people everyday I think i would be thankful to only have to do it for two weeks)

So anyways he eats a lot of meat. Like he would love to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, tuna sandwiches with veggies for lunch and BBQ chicken for dinner... everyday! Which as you can imagine is monotonous... whats for dinner... meat... breaky... meat... lunch? .. yup more meat.. and its expensive.

At one point when he worked a lot away from home I had us on a completely vegetarian diet and then when he came home we ate meat, now it would seem since hes doing the shopping with me I am finding that we are eating meat every night again and in a hopes to fill a freezer with our own home grown stuff this year I am finding it hard to gauge what we are going to eat.. and WHERE WE ARE GOING TO PUT IT!

We eat 2 chickens at a meal... so if we had a chicken meal once every week that would be 52 chickens to freeze.

Organization sure is a big job. I do not intend to ever change my husband but when he works i am able to feed the children and myself in a less expensive way so if we have meat once a week while hes gone I save 19 meat meals (in comparison to eating meat every day) that's not bad!

So instead of 30 meat meals a month it would be 10 (seven days hes home a month)... My belly and my budget like it!!!

THE LINE UP AS OF RIGHT NOW:

20 turkeys
100 meat birds
50 heritage chicks
hopefully 3 lambs
and maybe a milk cow!!!!!!

Ohhhh its all still a dream right now but maybe if I pray... pray.... pray and the Lord wants it that way... then it will all happen.

Here's hoping...

P.S. The trucks are still stuck, but we got the car out! wooo hoooo!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

When life resembles a song...

Have you ever come to one of those moments in life when you hear a song and you think "its as if this song was written for me in this very moment!"

Today was that day for me.....

Unfortunately although its a great song, by a Canadian artist too! Its not what I wanted to hear today... even so... I had to laugh...



"the chev got stuck, and the ford got stuck, got the chev unstuck when the dodge showed up, but the dodge got stuck in the tractor rut which eventually pulled out the ford.....







I have no more vehicles and I am not getting our tractor stuck!

That's the scene in MY DRIVEWAY!! not on the highway ohhhh no.... 30 feet from the warm garage...... I fall off the driveway (the ford), my mother comes for coffee and tries to "scoot" around the ford ( the dodge), and my brilliant plan to use Mr. Riggers 2 wheel drive to bounce me out JUST SINKS INTO THE DRIVEWAY AND NOW WONT MOVE!!!

Its dark now so I gave up.... but my mum and Big Dog are still shovelling, I wish them the best of luck!
I think I will make hot cocoa... that will cheer them up.

When life hands you lemons... what do you do huh??

How much is too much...

A good thing can be a great thing but then... it can start to be a painful thing or it can become painful to maintain... hmmm...

I breastfeed.. sorry men readers.. So when you start it is a learning process, you get used to it after a month of so and the baby learns to latch and you bond and then it is a beautiful (good) thing.Then at around five months teeth apear and a little doubt sets in but in general its still an okay thing, in a month or so you get used to teeth and there increased intrest in the world outside your chest and all is well. Then at around ten months, when she tries to leave the room still latched on (oooouuuuuchhhhh!) you think, "maybe this is not so okay anymore", then you waffle. Breastmilk... free.. warm... always available.. "I'll stick it out" then on hour five through the night, you wonder "Could my nipples actually fall off? hmm... I wonder..." Would bottles be soooo bad? so you try it.. she revolts! she wants her mama... now what? How totally grafic and my apologies in advance but I think they may fall off! then i would be some nippleless freak unable to nurse future children

Okay ready to reel it back in now....

they wont fall off (right?) i'm just sore and she had 8 teeth they are bound to grind a bit. Limit feeding times, i know.... feed her more solids ( a great theory...but she rarely eats.. unless it contains chocolate) distract her... she barely leaves my arms.... it seems i have created a monster... but she is a cute one. enough about my tatas on to the chicks...

How much is too much...

Chickens, or chicks as it would seem....

I have ordered 55 heritage chicks from this awesome little farm in Maple Creek, SK see http://www.dnjranch.webs.com/
they are going to be my "layers". Now they are unsexed so what ever I end up with for layers will be great. I might keep a cock from each breed but that we will see about....
So then above that I was considering ordering some chicks from a comercial hatchery to raise to 12 weeks and butcher, to fill my freezer, and a few friends freezers. Now these friends... aren't farm friends so I wouldnt expect them to help butcher or anything, and really that seems like more something that Mr.Rigger, Gramma and I ought to do alone (we tend to bicker a bit). So how many can we butcher?

On a forum I participate in a woman had stater she did about 50 birds in 8 hours on her farm... So if I did 150 it would take us three days or blood and guts if we had actually done this before so add another day and 4 of the six days that Mr.Rigger is home for a week off would be spent culling the birds... Now this would cut down our food bill SUBSTANTIALLY!!! so there's kind of a toss up.... We also have to butcher three sheep and probably two goats, and I was also considering Turkeys... (wow.. now that I write it down its kind of a lot!)

The pay off... cause every job needs one.... We would know EXACTLY where our food came from, our freezer would be full at a fraction of the cost, we wouldn't have to go to the city near as much. We would learn what NOT to do next year as well as what we did right, and it would be hard work. I like hard work... hard work makes you feel like you earn things.

So is it worth it? I am leaning toward yes, i would like to know my freezer will be full well in advance. But its all up to Mr. Rigger. We will have to see how full he thinks our plates are right now.

Ohhhh more exciting news... I'm sending in my seed order on Friday, i need to start some things by march 15th... Spring is coming!!!!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ouch..

So i'm headed to the dentist today... (thats the ouch part) I have rarely taken good care of my teeth (flossing daily, checkups etc...) and now I am paying for it. I have a mouth full of cavities and since we attachment parent we rarely have time to visit the dentist so I try to have them get as much done as possible... Last time I went they did the entire top (7 fillings I think) and today they do the bottom (who knows whats wrong there!) So that is a great way to spend the day. Mr.Rigger will be with the children today (Except Big Dog who gets has his monthly ortho today) so lets all pray for him... Amen.... He is a wonderful man and he truly does his best to make the kids happy, he plays and plays and plays but sometimes forgets things like lunch, water, school, tidyness..... and when I return I walk into highly wound up kids, a very tired Mr. Rigger and a not so neat home... With the addition of numbness and the anxiety of going to the butcher.... I mean dentist... this is why I pray...

Yesterday we headed to town to shop and for Mr. Rigger to get his eyes checked. His eyes are a bit worse than the last time he had them checked. He suggested I get my eyes checked as well. I had been having some blurryness in my right eye and cant remember ever having my eyes checked so I agreed. When they put the lenses in front of my eyes it was like a whole new world! I could see!

I need glasses... I never thought of that!

I figured some stuff was just blurry, you were supposed to have headaches in bright light and when you surf the net to long, tv just makes some people nauseated and night blindness is normal... or not!

Who knew!

I ended up getting a real snazzy pair so I will post a picture when I get them back next week.

I am trying to stay optimistic about this.... I am fearing the getting old like crazy!

Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Because I am soooo computer illiterate

I posted this to my other blog the other day... the one I haven't written on since forever and i was thinking it was pretty important.. to me.. so here it is

Thursday, February 3, 2011

A renewal of faith....

What is the definition of insanity?? I have never actually looked it up but as the saying goes "its repeating the same action expecting a different reaction of outcome". And so the insanity begins. I am going to blog, often... and this is a big deal because other than cook, change diapers and do laundry there is not a lot i do get to do often...especially for me.

BUT, I have heard people call there blogging time "ME time" and i like it! Its cheap... don't have to leave home and i can do it whenever i feel the need.... Not many things in this life hold true to that!

Now if I can just put my pictures on here that would be great.... priorities... priorities..... I have two laptops (macs ) and a PC that all have pictures on them... i need to organize things!

So it begins...

Updates...

I need to think of "Stage names" for my children.. I think the little guy.. definitely J Bear (compliments to the eldest for coming up with that one) and the rest hmmmmm...

Starting our garden in the spring will be fun it is planned to be over an acre this year... that's a lot of weeds! But hopefully that will be a lot of preserves and will bring down the grocery bill substantially.

I think that we do pretty well budget wise...but i know there are many families with more kids that do a lot better.

For a winter month though...
AFFIX JAW FIRMLY IF YOU DON'T HAVE MANY KIDS!!!

1300.00 on groceries, toiletries, etc... (I cloth diaper and use cloth wipes)
400.00 on gas for our F-150 ( We are looking to buy a 15 seater!! wooo hooo!)
Hydro runs us about 9000.00 a year.. they only bill us once a year but we PRE pay so we don't get a 5000.00 bill at the year end. (wont let that happen again). oh and keep in mind EVERYTHING we have is electric including all appliances and furnace. so say 750.00monthly
200.00 on cell phones (no land line)
lord only knows how much on Mr. Riggers travel and accommodations/food.
200.00 dental payments ( braces, braces, braces )
300.00 debt repayment
1000.00 debt repayment
200.00 insurances
50.00 hauled water

and i think that's it...

is that a lot ?

4400.00 / 8 people = 550.00 month per person

126.92 per week per person.

I think that's pretty good... but i think if we halved the food bill it would save us 7800.00 per year! we could support three more babies or a soon to retire mum for that... (well maybe not my mums a little lavish )

more to come.... i promise
 
 
Sooooo... more housekeeping... if anyone is interested my other blog the one I never write at is Catsquiverfull.blogspot.com
there is a pretty hot picture of my hubby there doing his thang in the garden... hubba hubba... i love that picture!

Monday, February 7, 2011

oh my how they have grown!

In May of this past year we purchased four pygmy goats and three bottle fed lambs. They are soooo big now. Every time i go out to there pen I begin daydreaming of the amazing diaper soakers, and sweaters there coats will make for us this coming year.

 Its refreshing to see whats coming.... even when it entails work...

We are trying to be more self sufficient. Our attempts to "live off the land" are slow but mighty. I figure by the end of this year we should have (with our proposed acre and a half garden ) The meat from two goats, three lambs, 30 chickens, and hoping for maybe 10 turkeys. Hopefully as well as meat we will have an abundance of vegetables preserved via freezing and canning. This with our baking of all flour based products and not using paper products (diapers, paper towel, napkins, baby wipes, etc... ) and using cloth instead. Should have me (exhausted) but fulfilled.

I CAN DO THIS... I JUST HAVE TO... DO IT!

My intentions are always good... I always throw more seed and plants to grow in the garden then I expect to survive, yet it seems that more always survives than I plan. Unfortunately the weeds are also very abundant.

But again I CAN DO THIS!

I will weed and (Lord I HOPE) my children will help... I reiterate the little red hen story (who will help me thresh the wheat... not I not I) on a regular basis however they do know i would not allow them to starve so we will have to find a happy medium.

Things in life change so drastically as we age..
When I was a teenager, I was the pale goth type... I NEVER went outside, never wore a jacket, never owned snow boots and despised pretty much everything.
Now I'm still pale but not by choice... I go outside in the spring, summer and autumn... but still rarely in the winter, I now always wear a jacket or sweater, I own the hugest snow boots ever with steel toes, they come almost up to my knees.. the fabulous Mr. Rigger ordered them from the distributor they have for there work apparel. I no longer hate everything... Things, even little things can make me cry or laugh until i have to run to the potty and people in general are alright.. they too make me laugh and cry on the rare occasion.

People are funny, but what they do is there business and I stay out of it, but in turn expect the very same courtesy.

So here's them big boots, and those awesome sweaters I was telling you about... and if you notice my Birdie Gail.... NOT ON MY HIP!!! in the sled... SMILING....

TODAY WAS A GLORIOUS DAY!






OH I ALMOST FORGOT.....

I had a realization today that made me laugh.... I never wear a toque because I rarely go outside but I figured today I should wear one... Only.... a toque wont fit over my dreads.... it made me giggle....

Have a grand day!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Time...

Today was a good day, the kids have school days (Monday to Friday ) and the weekends are for PlayStation's, ds, computer (non educational stuff) just mind numbing fun... to say the least the kids love weekends! I am also a friend to weekends... I can get my weeks worth of baking done, i have time to need bread, time to have tea, I EVEN had time to make a new friend today! What an awesome day...

5 loaves of bread
18 cinnamon buns
4 banana bread
18 bran muffins ( my absolute favorite thing ever)
2 pizza doughs
and...
a friend.

What did you make today?


I had a charge of renewed faith today. I found it refreshing to talk to another adult, to talk about my husband, how we fit well together, how my children are grand and lovely, how life is good and life is sometimes not so good. I feel refreshed and when I came home my children were happy to see me.. I'm surprised they knew I was gone!

Thanks for that Melissa, and mum for watching five of six...

I appreciate the break, now back to another nitty gritty week of Eastern hemisphere exploration and the mechanics of the skeletal system.... wooo hoooo...

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Getting organized...

So the last few days in our home have been tough. I think they have been tough for the kids but really tough for me. I try not to do a lot of self pitying but this week i didn't do as well as I usually do...

Dans excited because hes figured out a way to stay in ( meaning work away for 5 weeks and come home for one intead of working away 2 weeks and coming home for one)...

Birdie Gail (13 months) has decided to refuse all solids and has reverted to being almost exclusively breastfed ( she will eat sweets though) she is growing like a weed which is comforting and i know her little muscles hurt but mine hurt to when i have to wear the sling all day of pack her on my hip...

The big dog (age 11 going on 26) is... a teenagerish boy.. hes just ... a boy.. i know but still I am the "Head" of the house when my husband is absent and he is required to listen to me... and I CLEANED HIS ROOM... he is soooooo choked!

The prim and Mrs. proper sent some of there toys on "Vacation" (my way of sending them "south" to the basement for the summer season) they have a bare minimum in there rooms now until the garden frost comes next fall. I need the house clean! I will go absolutely crazy if its not. I can not handle gunky rooms so each kid filled a tote and they waved goodbye as it was packed downstairs.

I had a temper tantrum this week.. I decided that all my wool and fabric and needles, all those unfinished and unstarted projects are just never going to get done! My children need me... just about every moment of the day somebody needs me... at first this is frustrating.. I get mad when they unravel my knitting, wont help me weed the garden, insist on sitting on my lap every time i have a hot cup of coffee, want to be "doing what mums doing" so one needle point project turns into their needle point projectsssssss.... But now after my tantrum (In which I put all of those things in boxes, let go of a lot of "stuff" by way of making the kids a huge craft box and took all of the rest into the basement to vacation with the toys) I feel relieved...

Nothing to take me away from my husband, children, and our home... Its kind of refreshing to not be daunted by a thousand and one unfinished things (our home itself is VERY unfinished so it makes a very discouraging backdrop) hanging around.

I am hoping that next week will run smoother. Babies will eat, tweens will comply, attitudes will fade, forgiveness and calm will fill our home. Daddy will be home on Tuesday the same day as the Costco trip, we swim Wednesday with the "non warehouse" shopping to be done and an optometrist apt for daddy, Thursday Nathan and I hit the dentist, Friday is ECO DAY (our homeschooling outing) and Saturday and Sunday are to be spent fixing my french door, reinforcing a header, leveling a floor, and spending time enjoying family, Monday night Mr. Rigger heads back to work... maybe for five weeks?

I got my pictures online WOOO HOO.. with out further ado...


 First the love of my life in his new..... bold glasses

Birdie Gail playing (Not attached to my hip)

J Bear.... disassembling my kitchen cupboards to start his one man band

Birdie Gail Back on my hip

Christmas morning Mrs. Proper showing off her favorite gift

She looks so darn good in that hat! She wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.

Big dog competed in a curling bonspiel after Xmas... they had a hoot...

Speaking of hoot this is Little Prim with a burrowing owl at our last Eco day

Mr.Melancholy (still working on his stage name) shooting a nice smile.


That's the group.. more to come...