Random Photos

T-ball!

This is the first year that we have a kid in a non-school organized sport. The price for these activities were just so high were we used to live that we just couldn't afford it. It seems that the organizers in this area really do want all the kids to have a chance to play and make it affordable. Of course the whole community comes out and helps to support local kids sports so that makes a big difference.

Keegan is really enjoying playing T-ball this year. He is learning a lot and not just about the sport. He is learning how to be part of a team. Keegan has always been the take charge kind of kid, the leader. Now he gets to learn how to be a follower too.

Keegan showing Mom WHY he needs a drink. "MY TONGUE DRIED OUT MOM!"

Keegan heading for home plate. GO KEEGAN!

I love this photo. Keegan is the "pitcher". They don't have pitchers in t-ball but since this is were 90% of the balls that are hit go, he gets a lot of practice scooping them up and throwing to first base.

Doesn't he look like CHARLIE BROWN is this photo????

Now Keegan is the catcher. He gets to grab the balls that somehow get hit backwards instead of out into the field. He said he likes this "job" because he feels like a super hero in all the gear. 5 year olds are so funny.

On to the bunnies! Next to the kids they are my favorite thing to take pictures of. Right now we have 3 litters of babies and 4 more does that should kindle (give birth) within the next two weeks.

Ray is having much more success with his Californians that I am with my Jersey Woolys.

Here is one of Ray's litters. BABE gave birth to 10 kits (babies) and they are all snuggled up with each other to keep warm. Of course mom made a great nest for them and lined it with her own fur that she pulled.

Here is my litter of Jersey Wooly's. My doe FoFo (Konnor named her) gave birth to 6 kits. 6 kits for a Jersey Wooly is considered a large litter. I have NO idea what they are going to be yet. We do have two white and 4 dark gray kits. It will take a month of so until we know. There are dozens of different varieties of Jersey Wooly that you just never know what you are going to get.

Ray has it easy. Californian + Californian = Californian. BUT Jersey Wooly + Jersey Wooly = any one of maybe 30 different varieties of Jersey Wooly.

Here is another one of Ray's Californian babies. She is just getting the coloring on her nose, ears, tail and feet. This one is part of a litter of 9. She fell asleep right after her medicine.

She developed "NESTBOX EYE", kind of like pink eye. We bring her into the house twice a day to medicate the eye. Ray is getting very attached to her and I think the feeling is mutual. Where the other kits run to the back of the cage when Ray comes out, "Squints" runs to the front and practically jumps into Ray's hands when he opens the door.

~Just Me.

MYSTERY SHOPPERS

I can't imagine that there is anyone out there that hasn't heard about MYSTERY SHOPPERS. This is where a person gets paid to go into a store and pretend to be a real customer but what you are really doing is making sure that the store is following corporate procedures, that it is clean and well maintained, and that customer service is excellent.

I had began thinking about this a few years ago, but every time I tried to find a company that did mystery shopping, you always had to pay to be put on lists. I knew I didn't want to pay for the right to work so I past on all that I saw.

On one of the email groups I belong to a woman has been posting about her experiences as a mystery shopper. She seemed to be really enjoying it. She isn't making a fortune by any means but is supplementing her family's income and having fun at the same time.

The company she works for is currently giving out referral bonuses so she asked if anyone on our email group would like to have the information sent to them to sign up. I JUMPED at the chance. I sent her my email address and she sent me the information. I signed up right away and went on my first assignment last night.

It was FUN, it was EASY and the best part, I was able to take Kimberly along with me.

Now I am giving you all the same opportunity as this woman gave to me. There is NO FEE to join this company. YOU pick which "shops" you want to do, how often and so on. They direct deposit your earnings either into you bank account or into a Pay Pal account.

You do need a computer, printer and a digital camera. You will need either a bank account or a Pay Pal account so that you can get paid. They are world wide so even if you don't live in the United States like I do you can still work with this company.

Like I said, I did my first "shop" last night and I have 5 more to do between now and next Monday.

If you would like to have the information sent to you, please send me your name and email information and I will send it out to you right away! You have nothing to loose.

~Just Me.

Love not like

It is not easy being a mom to 7 kids. I mean really if you were thrown into a house with 8 other people what are the odds that you would like everything about all of them. 20%, 10% how but 1%.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all my kids and my husband too. But I have to say that I don't always like them. I have begun using the phrase "You gotta love them - You don't gotta like them, but you gotta love them" all to often lately.

Does this make me a bad mom?

I was thinking as I was getting ready for bed last night - If I weren't their mom and they were someone else's kids, would I want to spend time with them? Well luckily for most of them, the answer was YES. BUT I have a few that I think I might want to avoid until they outgrew what ever drama stage they are in right now.

Can you love someone and really not like them? Ok, I am not talking loving an abusive partner, I am talking a kid.

Where you live or What you live in?

12 years ago I was a renter. I kinda liked where I lived but hated what I lived in. I was renting a 3 bedroom mobile home on 7 acres of wooded land the mosquitoes were horrible though and it made it impossible to be outside even in the middle of the day. I liked that I lived away from town and that it was quiet and peaceful. I hated the cramped living space and lack of storage. With 3 little kids at the time, it seemed I spent more time running an obstacle course of toys then enjoying my home.

I put together a list of what I wanted in a living space, things like more then 1 floor, a 1/2 bath and a separate laundry area on the first floor, at least 4 bedrooms and a detached garage. I wanted to be close to a playground and have room for a small garden. I went to a realtor with my list to find my dream home. After a short time I found it and it have everything that was on my list. I bought the house, moved in and HATED living there. Why? because now I was living in town. I hadn't given any thought to where I was going to live just what the house was like. I really thought that the house was all the matter.

Oh I didn't hate it right away but within a few months I knew I had made a mistake. Everyone knew everything about everybody. I couldn't hang my wash out or I would have the clerk at the grocery store ask where I got the neat new purple sheets. If I had a service person come to the house I would get 4 phone calls asking what had broke. When after 6 months of not loosing the baby fat from baby #5 the rumors were all around town that I was pregnant again.

I spent the next 10 years complaining and planning my escape!

This time around I decided that although there were definitely certain things that I wanted and needed in my new home - I also needed to live in an area that I loved. I had to make some compromising with the house to get the area. I no longer have a half bath, in fact we only have 1 bathroom and it is on the first floor. The carpets are worn and the drywall is nicked and needs to be painted. The sinks all leak and the windows are drafty. I no longer have a 2 car detached garage but I now have a barn. We are 7 miles from the schools and 16 miles from the closest Wal~Mart but I wouldn't trade it in.

Last night I stood outside and looked up at the sky and saw thousands of stars. Stars that were invisible when I lived in town. I said a pray of thanks to GOD for bringing me to this area. I went out side this morning and took a deep breath of country air and listened to the silence and was filled with peace.

I know for some the city is the only place they could ever live and for others it is country living all the way. But does the house you live in make you happier in where you are OR is it really the area? I learned the hard way, at least for me, it is where I am not what I live in.

~Just Me

Sissy La La

Every since I was a little girl, whenever I was afraid of something, my dad would call me a "sissy la la". The phrase stuck with me and now my kids use it towards each other.

I was a BIG sissy la la this morning!!!

I went to the hospital as scheduled to have my stress test for my heart. What I didn't know before getting there was that I was going to be injected with radiation and then stuck into a machine to take pictures of my heart. NO WAY!

I am VERY claustrophobic. Hell, even with 4 mgs of Xanax in my I still couldn't do an MRI the other year.

I DID try this morning. Before they gave me the injection the very nice tech got the machine ready and I climbed up onto the table. She started it up and as I was being slid into place and the rotating plate thing came closer and closer to my face, I freaked.

She got me out quickly and I apologized over and over again for wasting her time, but there was just no way that I could spend 20 minutes in there!

I dub myself a HUGE SISSY LA LA!

Hopefully I will do better this afternoon when I go for my annual mammogram.

~Just Me

Around the farm

First are our Californian Meat rabbits. These are Ray's "babies"

Here are our breeding bucks. On the top is John Henry and on the bottom is Lance.

Here are our breeding does. From left to right, top to bottom: Shear Mist, Babe, Val, Guin, Esme and Arabella

Here are our 6 laying hens. They are great girls and each of them gives us one egg a day.

Here is our future "hoop" green house. Ray made this out of an old trampoline that the former owners left here when they moved. Each end is half of the trampoline and the middle poles were the legs (doubled). We got the white plastic cheap. We are hoping that this will let us extend our growing season.

Here is the front view. Ray still needs to finish this side and make the raised beds. We will be planting in here as soon as it is done and hoping to have fresh veggies well into the fall. Then we will be able to start our garden crop much earlier next year too!

Last but not least is our 2 week old baby chicks. Ray made them a mini coop. AIN'T IT CUTE!? They are outside during the day and then come into my kitchen over night. I can't wait until they are old enough and big enough to stay out all the time! CHICKENS SMELL BAD!

~Just Me

Blood and water

I never did understand the saying "blood is thicker then water". I know what it is supposed to mean - You let those that are blood related to you do things to you that you wouldn't allow anyone else do. What I don't understand is WHY?

I have asked this question a lot of times to many different people and I have yet to get an answer that I can wrap myself around.

I don't know, maybe I am a freak or maybe my blood is thinner then water, but if someone betrays me I don't care if they are related or not. I have a few friends that I would give my life for and some relatives that I would stand by and watch drown. Harsh I know.

A very good friend of mine grew up in an abusive house. His father beat him almost on a daily basis. His father is still verbally abusive to him and to his children, yet he is compelled to have a relationship with this man "because he is my father". Why does this make a difference. What if he suddenly found out that this man was not really his biological father? Would this give him the permission to end the relationship?

I know of a woman who had no children of her own and then married into a ready made family. Her husband is wonderful and had custody of his children because their mother was incapable of being a mother. She was neglectful to the children ran around with many men and as a result they developed emotional issues. The step mom stepped in and took on the role of Mom. Put her whole life on hold for these children, poured her whole heart and sole into them and then bio-mom walks back into the picture to "try" to me a good mom after 6 years and the kids all but forget the step moms name. WHY? The bio-mom never sat up at 3 am with a throw up bucket in hand, got up at 4 am to bake those cupcakes for that last minute bake sale, hosted the birthday parties and sleep overs. But just because she shares some DNA with these children she is automatically given a a free pass. WHY?

This is a serious question. I really want to know why if you believe that you share DNA with someone they are given a licence to hurt you and you feel compelled to forgive them when a friend is held to a much higher standard.

~Just Me