... Thus ends the radio silence

It has been entirely too long since the last post. In part that is due to the fact that it has been entirely too cold to tote the camera around while doing chores. When one bundles up in a Carhart coat, a custom made stocking cap (complete with pom poms) and two pairs of gloves, one does not dawdle while filling waters and chatting up the livestock.

Today highs were in the upper 60s, the sun was shining and the snow was melting, so instead of immediately heading inside when getting home from work and school, we played.

The minions let the hens out and played with them in the yard. We have a flock of five Rhode Island Reds. They are on our place thanks to I-minion's instance. They have been keeping us well stocked in eggs this winter.



When he was 3-years-old he began pestering us about becoming a chicken farmer. We gave in. The hens are Sasquatch, Fluffy, Isabelle, Heart and The Colonel. The minions named four hens, and my husband named The Colonel. Based on their choices, I have retained veto power over the naming of all livestock coming to live here in the future.

 

The kids love the chickens. Baby O is insistent that he “Help with chickies. Get the eggs.” I think he is at least on par with me on accidentally broken eggs.

The sheep enjoyed their afternoon in the sun.


Churchill, Edward and Knightley pose.

Knightley was more than willing to show off his age by smiling.



Weston believes that she is read for her close up – or just a chance to smear up the lens on my camera.



Of course with a lovely spring thaw means that the mud is here. The school buses are only traveling on hard surface roads only. Edie and Ian have to get toted to the county blacktop about three miles from home to get on and off the bus.



With mud on the road and in the yard, it is also stuck in the paws of the dogs. We've had four days of sunshine and above freezing temperatures have helped dry things out, so hopefully this part of spring won't last too long.

Summer Recap

In short this summer has been busy, hot and fun.
Most summers fit this description. However, this one has been particularly busy since the arrival of the Fab 5 in early May. Every morning and night there are chores to do. Plus the additional of moving them from one section of pasture to the other and then of course the worry – it’s a requirement of farming, I think. Worry of things that are outside your realm of control.



I couldn’t control the fact that the month of July saw 15 days above 90 degrees or days with heat warnings/advisories. In mid-July I made the executive decision to move the flock from their main pasture to the close paddock and barn near the house, and electricity. This provided better shade and a place to escape inside where I had equipped the barn with a fan. Every few days I revise their territory they can graze – and it’s reduced the amount of mowing I have to do. I-minion usually leads the sheep since they will follow him anywhere. He calls it his sheep conga line.

The sheep seemed much, much happier with the place to hang out in the relative cool, even if the humidity remained at an astronomical level – at least for Iowa.

The heat and humidity have broken. When I’ve gone out to do chores in the morning for the last few days, the temperature has been barely 50 degrees. It is obvious that Weston, Edward, Churchill, Collins and Knightley camped outside because it was so nice.

What else has gone on?

Baby O is convinced he belongs with the sheep – he calls them all Churchill. If he’s left unattended for second he is off to the barn. They come up to him and allow him to pet them, and seem to be extra calm around him. He has earned the nickname “Water Moccasin” because any time anyone plays with the hose he is right there helping/playing in it. He is an ace at filling water buckets and watering flowers. He’ll even haul his 5 quart bucket full of water to the pen to help with chores.



The minions are adapting to “farm” life easily. They go out and help do chores with me and most recently we’ve been getting our new to us chicken coop ready to go. We bought it on craigslist for a price that is cheaper than what it would have cost us to buy the materials and build it.






J needs to put it on skids so we’ll be able to move it around. Initially we want to put them in the pasture with the sheep, as the electric fence should deter the canines that live at the house.



At the end of day there’s always time for a little book reading. Lately everyone has been clamoring to read “North American Wild Life.” It’s a Reader’s Digest book my mom bought and it has been part of my life as long as I can remember. Last summer, she gave me the book to share with my kids.

A confession, of sorts

I’m nearly sloth like about maintaining this blog. So folks don’t think it’s gone totally dormant, a post!

I am totally a wannabe domestic goddess. It may not look like it, but I’ve been told I’m a pretty good actress. My kitchen floor is sticky. Dust bunnies roam the house in search of vigilante justice. Tori the cat lives in fear. J describes the living room as filled with “rubble.” And Mount Laundry? Only the bravest souls attempt to conquer it.

Since I work full time, have three kids, two dogs, a cat and a husband I don’t want to (and obviously) don’t spend my days tending the house. I felt like I was losing a battle in the house, not spending the type of time I wanted with the kids or J. I certainly felt guilty when I would to take some “me” time.

I count coup on days I toss something in the crock pot or remember to put in a load of laundry in the washer in the morning and put it in the dryer in the evening. More than once I’ve opened the lid and realized there’s a load of fragrant towels waiting for the dryer.

I also have things I want to do in life – knit, spin, play in the garden and help my kids explore the world.

Where we live it is expectation that the mothers take on the bulk of child rearing, all or nearly all of the cooking and the vast majority of housekeeping. Working moms I know say “I’d love you to come over for lunch, but the house is such a mess.” In reality, they’re busy, they do the dishes after supper and they yell to have the kids pick up the living room. When they collapse at the end of the day they are too tired to mess with the stray Legos on the carpet or the cat fur on the back of the couch. They are like me.

At our Mount Olympus, J does half (at least) of the cooking and cleaning around the house. He’s just as integral to the family routine and caring for the kids (Most nights they’d rather have dad do baths).

We were both tired of keeping up with the illusion. No more smoke and mirrors at our Mt. Olympus. Something had to give.

I’m admitting it here, so to not insult mothers out there trying to work, raise a family and keep the health department from condemning the house.

We hired a cleaning lady.

I’ll call her Alice, in honor of Alice from the Brady Bunch. I’m sure Alice is all that kept Mrs. Brady from ringing the neck of her six wonderful and charming children/step children every time she needed to change the bedding – eight beds!

My Alice comes every two weeks. She sweeps, mops, vacuums, dusts, changes the sheets on the beds, cleans the bathroom, does a few loads of laundry, cleans my fridge out and any other stuff she sees that needs to be done. She’s been to our house three times.

I admit I actually jumped for joy and “squee-d” when I went upstairs the first time and saw the reflection of my kids playing in their room on their door – it was that clean and sparkly. My 50+ year old linoleum in my kitchen was so reflective. Alice she even scraped off the Mickey Mouse sticker that was adhered to the floor, it blended in so well that I left it. It was a great way to distract the kids when I was cooking "Quick! Find Mickey!" See, again with the faking.

Most weeks she spends nearly eight hours at my house and it works out to about $75 a time. On the evening she comes, I pause, take a deep breath and realize I’ve spent that kind of money before and not received that type of enjoyment or peace of mind.

The kids love it when Alice comes because she brings a baked treat of some kind – as she says, most husbands think that the wives should be able to keep up with the house, the wives think they need help. The fastest way to when the men over is by leaving a home-baked treat each time.

We are not a family that cleans before the cleaning lady comes. But I am ruthless about making sure things are put away where they belong. I’ve learned there is a distinct difference between “cleaning” and “de-cluttering.”

Surprisingly, J – one of the biggest culprits – and the kids are getting used to making sure if you get it out, it gets put back where it came from. Each time before Alice comes there is less and less that I feel that needs to be done. Thus, the house remains less cluttered, cleaner and my stress levels are reduced.

What’s the best part? I don’t feel like I have to spend Saturday cleaning, squeezing in something fun with the kids and then having to stay up late to do spend time with J or do something by myself. Now the house is clean, we can do fun stuff in the morning and when the kids nap, I do what I want guilt free.

Spring Fever

Buried under all of that is my garden. This photo was taken on Jan. 30 and the drifts through my garden were about 4-5 feet tall. Today, April 1, they are about 2 feet tall through only a small portion.

This winter has been long, hard and down right miserable. I am so anxious to get out and feel the dirt under my fingers and to see things growing once again. The kids are getting anxious to work in the garden, too. This year I am anticipating J taking a more active role in the gardening process. He never grew up around a veggie garden, and didn't know what to expect. This year he does. He's also excited about about growing fresh food for the family this year, too.

We are planning to improve the garden this year in the following ways:

• Better bunny proofing. We've had chicken wire wrapped around hog panels (that keep the deer out) and relied on Jasmine with bunny patrol. This year we're going to build wood frames with the chicken wire stapled to it so we can customize the size of the garden and make it safer. This is based on the plan Uncle Dan has implemented in his garden. As far as the deer are concerned, we're going to rely on the predators (aka Rocky and Jasmine) to keep them out. We don't normally see the deer near the house.
• Garden contents: We are planning on planting more green beans and peppers. I did not realize how much my children loved fresh green beans and green peppers. Whenever I make fajitas I have to secretly cut the peppers up so the kids don't snarf them as I'm preparing to cook. I want to plant potatoes and onions but local lore says to plant them on Good Friday (which is tomorrow). There is still snow where I intend to plant them, and who knows if the ground is still frozen.
• Return on the Killer Tomatoes: We'll be planting more tomatoes this year, too. Romas, cherry or grape tomatoes and maybe one or two plants of slicing tomatoes. I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, but I like little ones to pop in my mouth or include in salads. I also intend on making tomato sauce and salsa with the remains.
• Composting: It is true Iowa has amazing soil. My first garden we tilled up a chunk of the yard and I plopped my seeds and tomato and pepper plants in the ground and watched them grow. This year I intend to make a more concerted effort to improve the soil, and create good soil for growing things. As an added bonus, I'm all about recycling and minimizing our footprint on the earth.

Bring on the green things, I'm anxious to start gardening.

Mission (almost) Impossible

My friend Victoria challenged me to this way back in June, and I'm just getting to it now -- that's what makes it a nearly impossible task. Go to your sixth photo folder and find your sixth photo in the folder and write about it.

Here is mine:


This was taken shortly after Christmas in 2006, the kids were just over a year and were truly interested in controlling their world. At 13 months there isn't much you can control, but they found out that they could turn on and off the lamps in the living room and proceeded to do it over and over and over again.

Life was just getting easier at our house. After the minions were born, life was a blur of feedings, diaper changes and eventually giggles and belly laughs from them. Honestly, it was at about this time that I really started to enjoy being a parent. I could interact with them, they were starting to talk -- or at least make their opinions known. Life was getting easier because they could start to feed themselves. Each new phase while at first is a challenge, has made life as the parent of twins easier.

When they started walking we had to keep a close eye so they didn't wander away, but soon we didn't have to carry them any more. Next it was potty training. They've turned from blobs of baby to intelligent and independent children.

These little guys are 4 and are amazing. They know instinctively how to piss off the other one but in the next breath they are willing to fight to the death to protect the other one.

Now the exciting thing isn't turning the light on and off, but "reading" their favorite books to Baby O. He lays on the floor kicking and cooing. The minions sit next to him reciting their favorite books -- E-minion's prefers the Lorax and I-minion likes Richard Scary's Big Story Book. When they're done, E-minion will kiss his forehead and I-minion will give him an Eskimo kiss and tell him good night.


I'm tagging
Lazy Goddess
Mary @theyellowdoor

Is winter over yet?

It's been a long winter here on my Mount Olympus. We've gotten smacked by major snow storms every two weeks for at least the last six weeks -- that means we've had a lot of snow, and blowing snow. It also means that if and when the sun shines it's blinding.

Most of these images were taken Christmas Day -- when one of the biggest snow storms hit. It prompted the cancellation of all Christmas services at area churches for four days. We really needed Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to save Christmas. But, I hear he was too busy helping Santa.

Since these photos were taken we've had additional snow, freezing rain. It's like a glacier out there and the piles are just taller.

E-minion climbing into the snow pack from the driveway -- it was about as tall as she is.


The barn. Our last snow storm, on Jan.25, nearly the entire roof on the south side of the barn fell because of the weight of the snow and 55 mph winds we had.

And finally, Ms. Jasmine swimming her way through the yard. The freezing rain created a nice crust on the snow so she can run and jump all on top of the snow that's about 2 1/2 feet deep. It also means that she doesn't have to stay in the areas where J has plowed out.

A Goddess Improvises

For the last several days I-minion has been begging me to make "Oatmeal Cookies." I finally relented on Sunday and we mixed a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies courtesy of Grandma Caela.

This is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe my mother ever made when I was growing up. I must clarify, that by the time I could make my way around the kitchen my mother declared "Making pie is against her religion." and I'm pretty sure that making cookies would also nominate her as heretic of the year.



If you notice the chips in these cookies are not quite "chocolate" in color. You see, this wannabe domestic goddess got everything mixed up before she realized there were NO chocolate chips in her house. This shocked me, as I usually have a stockpile of chips of the chocolate variety in my cupboard. I'd picked up a package of vanilla chips for a recipe I had intended to try out. For the record -- the cookies are quite tasty with vanilla chips.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp hot water
1 tsp vanilla
1 12oz package of chocolate chips
2 cups oatmeal

Cream sugar and shortening well. Add eggs and mix. Combine baking soda and hot water and add to mixture. Mix in remaining ingredients, the chocolate chips last. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until brown. In my oven it was about 13 minutes. Let the cookies cool, and store in a air-tight container.

If you are like this wannabe domestic goddess, you'll use a fancy cookie jar. In my house, you can see it is a pretty sweet container.



Under typical baking situations at our house, I mix the cookies -- often with help from the minions. Then J actually bakes the buggers. It's part of our teamwork. We both like cookies. I like to mix them up, but hate baking. He hates mixing but enjoys baking. This time around the kids and I mixed cookies, and I ended up baking them while they went outside and built a fence out of posts they discovered behind the chicken coop.

Summer Hibernation

Based on the temperatures, cloudy skiesand the rain drops filtering through the atmosphere, it must mean that summer hibernation is officially over at Portrait of a Wannabe Domestic Goddess.

As good as my intentions are to blog consistently throughout the summer, it just isn't meant to be. This summer has been an unusual one in our little part of Iowa.

Let's name off the big news of the summer:

• My in laws who have claimed western Pennsylvania as home for the last 12 years continued the process of moving to Iowa. A lay off just before Christmas and new job in a neighboring town prompted my father-in-law to move here, live with us for six weeks, before buying a house. It's October now and my brother-in-law is here, and my mother-in-law is in the process of getting the house in PA ready for sale.
• With the excitement of the move and helping get everyone settled the garden was NOT planted this year. Rabbits have moved into the weedy area and have been feasting on the volunteer Marigolds and Dill I planted last year.
• We camped with Kelli and T and their superstar dog Lilly. That had a big impact on the kids as they frequently "go camping" in the yard or upstairs.
• We began discussing with the kids their thoughts on having a baby come live at our house. Thankfully they came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be so bad as there will be a baby arriving in February.
• E-minion and I-minion moved into their big girl and big boy beds without issue. Their former room has become the "baby's room."
• I've been knitting, a little, but more frequently ripping out since projects haven't been going my way.
• I've been cooking some, but not a lot -- as the early pregnancy ickies took hold firmly this time. They've passed and I've got some semblance of energy now.

Since it's fall, I am in the process of making Halloween costumes, preparing for the baby and for my husband to travel to China for work sometime in November.

The Weekend by the Numbers:

42 Hamburger buns munched down
24 Eggs served over-easy
11 Steaks grilled
9 People sleeping in my house
5 Naps taken and we’re not talking about the 3-year-olds -- they didn't nap
5 Pounds of chicken wings consumed
5 Pounds of potatoes baked
4 Onions sacrificed for lunch
4 Uncles (including a few of the “great” variety and I’m not referring to their status)
4 Comments made regarding either A) the need for waders because the BS was getting a little thick or B) the need to install a floor drain in the living room to wash the BS down.
3 Pounds of raw baby carrots eaten with both Ranch and Blue Cheese Dressing
3 Gallons of milk gulped down
2 ½ Pounds of ground beef turned into taverns
2 Heads of cauliflower eaten with both Ranch and Blue Cheese Dressing
2 Heads of broccoli eaten with both Ranch and Blue Cheese Dressing
2 Jam sessions with guitar and ukulele
2 Rolls of TP flushed (Hello septic system, are you OK?)
2 Accidents by the newest potty trainee because she couldn't get into the potty in time
1 Pound of cheese of the Co-Jack and Baby Swiss variety consumed
1 Can of coffee (don’t ask how many pots the Bunn was asked to provide)
1 Door knob, dismantled
1 Aunt (also of the great variety)
1 Gwampa
1 High school-aged cousin and her boyfriend (All of the males said the same thing in their best Mr. Burns impression “Excellent. Fresh meat.”)


To numerous to count:
Laughs
Groans
Pots of ice tea made and consumed
Beer drunk (I went to bed before much of it was guzzled after I went to bed. I’m guessing Uncle Dan did put much of it away, considering I didn’t see him much on Sunday)

Lessons Learned:

• I am my family. My laugh, gestures, sense of humor and in some aspects, my looks, comes from the family. It is obvious that I have passed many of these traits on to my children, since I see them in some of their actions and tone of voice.
• Expect the living room to be filled with laughter, maybe a few tears when you say (while standing in the laundry room) “No, you can’t have the screwdriver back. You took the door knob off.”
• Expect the uncles to love the story that your almost-2-year-old got kicked out of day care for a day because he bit someone and drew blood.
• Expect lots of stories about the horribly embarrassing things that I’ve been credited with over the last 29 years – including several my husband has never heard.
• My kitchen works can work as a good buffet set up.
• My table can accommodate 12 people sitting around it -- if I can locate that many chairs.

During the Hiatus

Life got pretty hectic for the last month or so. To sum it up using I-minion's favorite phrase we "fixed."

1. We hung a ceiling in our front porch, which allowed me to hang my porch swing from the rafters instead of an A-frame like a swing set.

2. My father-in-law built floor-to-ceiling book shelves in my hall way and built lockers in my laundry room.

3. My husband got his mojo going to get on of our "twin projects" completed, a 1949 International Pickup. It's running and driving now. He has grand plans of taking it to a car show this weekend. I don't know if he's rounded up a seat, or a radiator hose, or fuel line yet. But, apparently these are "little things."

4. The garden grew. I watched the weeds grow, too. Eventually I weedwhacked them. See why I'm a wannabe domestic goddess? We've picked a few tomatoes, a lot of cucumbers and I'm going to be inundated with serrano peppers soon. What the heck do I do with hundreds of them?

5. I broke my knee. Well, basically I really messed it up. But, not in a way that is typically understood. My ACL is in tact, so are my ligaments and it isn't sprained, which is why a month and a half of physical therapy haven't helped. I'm off to the doctor tomorrow to find out what the next step is. One thing I do know is my knee hurts. A lot.

6. I got really motivated to get a few knitting projects done, but then, life sidelined most of them. I'm finally getting going again.

7. I-minion is a potty trainee. Diapers allowed at nap and over night, but we're getting to the point they are dry.

8. We tried potty training E-minion at the same time, but she got stressed out. We're taking our time with it now.

9. It got hot in Iowa, that means I didn't really cook, or do much of anything, see No. 5 for explaination.

10. We went to Mitchell for an exciting weekend, visiting with Gramma Caela and time to catch up with Kelli, of http://www.teknicolorkelli.blogspot.com/ fame.

Country Livin’

There are certain perks for growing up in the country. The kids are just beginning to learn the benefits. The other night we staked out the garden and will till it up in the next couple of days.

We planted marigolds in the big planters in front of the house. I’m glad that I had a moment of brilliance to pick up a pair of garden gloves for each of the kids. As soon as I pulled my purple and white gloves with the little nubbies, the kids wanted a pair. All I had to do was pull them out of the bag and then manage to get fingers in the appropriate slots. I think the favorite part was watering the newly planted seeds. Is it a surprise that little I.minion pointed the hose at his sister and mother as soon as I pulled it out? Thankfully when we were done everyone remained dry.

Perhaps the best part was the fact that J. got our Farmall Super H running to move a couple of non-self propelled heavy objects in the yard. I.minion was thrilled when it fired up, and the grin he had was visible from at least 100 yards away. He was so psyched. J tooled around the yard. When E.minion had the chance to go for a ride, it was “too loud” and she wanted to “plant fowlers.” So, that’s what we did.

My Mount Olympus

OK, OK, I realize that my Mount Olympus is really just a farm house anchored in a sea of corn and soybeans in northwest Iowa. It certainly isn't the highest point in the state -- That's not far, though. This is home. I share it with my hubby and our twins, the minions. Individually known as E.minion and I.minion. We have a pair of dogs the size of small calves and a fat cat who call this seven acres of turf home. I'm originally from western South Dakota and miss the tall grass prairie and open spaces. I find solace in the fact that I can see a 13-acre restored prairie out my kitchen window. My dogs chase white tail deer, bunnies and the occasional skunk. I dream of turning this gem on the prairie back into an operating farm -- growing food for the family and raising sheep for fiber.