The Writing on the Wall....

Yesterday as I was stripping wallpaper from my kitchen walls, I came across a secret message. It was written on the wall underneath all the layers of wallpaper. I uncovered a couple words and started to fantasize what the message would say. I knew that it would be profound, being that it was coming from my houses past... I had hoped it to be a clue to the location of a secret cubby space that was filled to the brim with gold and diamonds... But just like the wallpaper itself, the message turned out to be a disappointment. If you look closely, maybe you can read most of the words yourself... It says " Who ever takes this paper off -You had better appreciate the work I put into it." That just set me off into a litany of "Ill tell you what I appreciate.... you $#% #$#$# (again with the language...sorry. :) )



I worked all day scrubbing that crap off the wall. If I had known the trouble it would be... I would have just painted over it like the last person did. I had a rough day yesterday so I crawled my sorry behind up the stairs to take a long hot bath... turned on the jets and relaxed, thanking the last owners of the house for the jacuzzi tub... and then I appreciated the fact that I did not break my leg (like I had originally thought) when I fell from the step stool... I appreciated that I did not hurt myself anymore than I had, I appreciated that I am able to change the ugliness of the kitchen without it costing me a fortune...and finally after nearly an hour in the tub relaxing...I appreciated that the smart ass who wrote on my kitchen wall probably didn't know he was putting up ugly paper, he probably thought it would make the kitchen beautiful. I should thank the guy for loving my kitchen so much.....

Wallpaper from Hell Update...

After 8 hours and 2 ( not 1) but 2 trips to town for first aid supplies...Ive got half a wall cleared.
Yes you read that right... 8 hours + 72 miles + 1 layer of butt ugly paint + 3 layers of antique wall paper = One giant a*@!$ mother f@#$@!#$ headache.
(Sorry for the language but there are not words to describe this particular brand of headache) :)

Bad BAD Idea....

My class was canceled for today, so I thought I would finish off the painting in the kitchen finally...Its only been partially done for about 3 months. I just need to scrape the wall paper off and put on the fresh paint. I think I will paint the trim the same color as the wall, so it should be really easy and just take a little while...
Boy was I wrong!!!

Well after another day of snowblowing, we had about 12 inches of snow come down, marky poo has the driveway all cleared out. Again. Maybe this will be the last time. I am so tired of snow. Its almost time to plant the gardens, I cant even find my garden....its some where under all this snow and to the right of where marky poo is standing. He should be spending his time tilling the garden not snow blowing it... UGH!

I am starting my last week of classes. I will be taking the big test next monday or tuesday. I am not nearly as nervous as I was when I started. I sure am hoping I dont get snowed in on the test day...

We pulled of a big surprise this weekend! It was Danibelles birthday.

Bec did all the decorating. She did an awesome job!
Mom blew up a ton of balloons, between smoke breaks....
Heres Bec. It was hard work making it look so festive here.
Heres Dad and the beast Flynn...He wanted to get into the cake a little too early, he needed to be controlled... Flynns doing a great job keeping dad from that cake....
We had a little princess party before the birthday "geal" arrived. Dont we look great with our beautiful hair.
Heres Tylen James getting ready to toss a few of those balloons around.

Surprise!!!!!
She was so shocked! And happy. She loves to see her grandparents and Goddess Bec~ and of course princess Livia!
A great time was had by all!

SPEECHLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a Big Day!!!

Happy Birthday Means Much More

"Happy Birthday" means much more

Than have a happy day.

Within these words lie lots of things I never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,Then thanks for all you do.

It means you mean a lot to me,And that I'm proud of you.

But most of all, I guess it means that I am thinking of you

on this very special day, Happy Birthday.

Dani Leigh...we love you very much and we are so so proud of you. You are a wonderful girl that we could never live without. Here's wishing you all the good things you could dream of because you certainly deserve the best!

All our love always,

Mom, Mark, and

Tylen.

Love Ya Angel Face!

Danikas New Haircut!

This is my beautiful 14 year old child. I always thought my daughter was going to have blonde curls. I was wrong. Shes got dark brown hair that couldn't curl to save its life. She wanted to get her hair fixed for her birthday, I agreed to let her do what ever she wanted... ( I did some serious thinking her hair could come home blue.)
I was a little wrong. She wanted red, not blue.
She got the ends trimmed a bit... not much.
A couple layers.... andWhala! Three (yes, 3) hours later... here she is...

My almost 15 year old beautiful child! Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy Wednesday!

Today is wednesday! I am going to work at the restaraunt today. Its now my short day. Only til 2. After that I am taking Danika to get her hair cut and colored. She is going to be putting blonde and red highlights and lowlights in her brunette hair. I am hoping it looks great for her! Shes pretty excited about it.
I hope you all have a wonderful day! After work, I will try to post some photos of little miss danika. Do you remember when she was little and cute... remember her simba roar. All the time she was crawling around the house roaring like a lion... I hated that then. I sure wish I had lightened up back then, cuz I would love to see her that little and have her roar at me now! Time flies! especially when your not paying attention. Little simba is going to be 15 years old! 15. That is not a typo...

Spring!

Its Officially spring. Finally. On Saturday night, we did not hear any frog songs. On sunday night, that is all we heard. I also very nearly...too close for comfort stepped really really close to a frog. It was not quite as big as this one in the photo, but whats the difference? A frog is a frog is a frog...unless of course its a toad...UGH!

Remembering Grandma...

I have been lying awake since 3:30 AM thinking of my grandma.I was dreaming of her and her house and when I woke up I couldn't help but reminisce. I was remembering her tiny little house with the great big yard. When I was a young kid I would climb underneath all these plum trees that she had in her backyard and the branches over my head made up the roof of my own little house. It seems as if every time we pulled up to her house during the spring, summer or fall months grandma would be outside on her hands and knees plucking out tiger lilies. "Thinning them out, so they can grow better" shed say. I swear she must have pulled thousands of those things out. Grandmas house was always filled with too many people it seemed. But I think the walls of the house where made with some sort of stretchy product. They would swell to the size we needed. Large enough to accommodate, all the while staying small enough to keep us all cozy. Do you remember grandmas weather window? The only window she could look out to see what the weather was going to bring us? She once told me how to tell if it was going to rain. She said the leaves on the trees turn upside down before it rains. When I was real young, I thought she was a genius. As I got a little older, I thought she was just goofy. But as I got alot older, I realized she really was a genius, she just didn't want the rest of us with average intelligence to feel bad. Next time a rain storm is coming your way, watch the leaves on the trees, they really do turn upside down. Grandma always seems to have a cold nose. "Wanna feel my cold nodey?" I say that to my kids now, Dani just kind of gives me a funny look and tylen giggles. I wish they had gotten a chance to know grandma the way she used to be. I really miss her and her tiny house. She kept us all together. I think she would be ashamed of us if she knew how scattered we all were now. And that makes me feel incredibly sad.

GREAT DAY!

In one weeks time, we went from shoveling around 3 feet of snow...(yes I said feet) to raking the yard. In just one week... This has been some crazy weather. But man we are from Minnesota. We should be used to this. Why are we not used to it? Good question. But the great news is... Its Finally Spring!!! And I totally aced my test! Now I can relax and enjoy this sixy degree evening. Ive got visions of my garden floating around in my head, home improvement projects, and of course... Saturday I am taking out my bow!

Isnt she georgeous!?! I hardly know her at all... but Ive been taking very good care of her. Shes been whispering to me for 6 months... "play with me, come on...I know you want to... Pull back on my string, let it fly...whoosh... I know you want to." So Ive dusted her off... and we've got a date for sure Saturday. And probably tomarrow evening as well... I am so thrilled to get it out. I just know that this is gonna be my year, And poor Marky poo will have to bow down to my greatness...I will be the next Great White Hunter!
Hows that for confidence?

Wildlife!!!

Here are a few wildlife shots I took this week. Our little swamp is coming to life. Right in front of our eyes...
Ok, well this guy has been hanging around all winter. Him and a few friends. I just couldnt get a nice photo of him til now...
This is one of the pair of blue herons nesting in the swamp. He was out looking for food while mom is incubating little blue herons (?) maybe?
And, these ladies ere here the other night... We see them alot. They like us...

These fellas were here tonight, just a few minutes ago.

Well, I survived. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was imagining. (Although it was all book stuff...not hands on) I was most definately the oldest one in the class. But I was also the only one to get 100% on my first test. So... maybe there is hope for me yet. It was longer than my usual day, that might take a while to get used to.
Boy, in these scrubs you sure can see how much weight I have gained this last 16 months... Im calling it my winter weight and its gonna start melting off right away... along with the snow. :-)
Well Im off to study, more tests tomarrow. They sure throw alot of stuff at you and then test you right away. Theres going to be no dozing off in that class.
TaTa

Its Monday...

Well its monday. Not just any monday, but The Monday. I start my classes today. I am nervous. Real nervous. I really really dislike doing something new. Which explains why I am still cooking in small cafes after 20 years. I like to stay inside my comfort zone. But this... this is breakfing free. Trying something new. Starting over. Moving on. Growing up. Anyway you look at it, its a scary thing. But good for me. Good for my family. Right?

R.I.P....

A calf, (not this particular one) was going to be coming to live with us this week. He needed to be bottle fed and his owner didnt have the time to do it, so he was coming to join our little farm. Sadly he passed away April 11, 2008.

One of the newest ducks, Tylens "best friend" passed away April 12, 2008. Tylen was sad, but the promise of two more ducks encouraged him to move forward.

Good Morning all. Its such a peaceful morning too. I love the early morning the best. Its so quiet. Everyone is still asleep. I enjoy my coffee, catch up on my reading... I am grateful for these slow and lazy times in my life. I am still thinking of Dana Jones from http://cabinchronicles.blogspot.com/ She had a very thought provoking post yesterday about roots. I have lived my whole adult life like I was some kind of gypsy. Moving from one town to the next. Sometimes without any thought or planning put into it. The place I am at right now is perfect for me. I love the people here. I love my house. I love the property I live on. And I love the opportunities I find for myself and my children. I don't care that my sisters think I live in hickville. I want to stay here until the day I die, maybe even longer. There is a little cemetery about 1/2 mile up the road... I think that all the things that I love about here, are really not about things. I think that its inside me. The way I see things right now. I have known people in every town I have ever lived in, but these people are special. I have loved every house I ever lived in but this one is different. And I have found different opportunities all along the way, but the ones here, are ones I want to participate in. I am doing things I never thought I would do. Hunting! I know for a fact I used to get grossed out and angry when I would see a truck driving down the road with a deer in the back. I would say "why cant they cover that! Why force me to look at it?" Now I know. Theres a certain primal pride in shooting a deer for its meat. And its certainly a bragging thing to be able to show it off, especially if there is a rack. I myself am now guilty of driving a truck with a dead deer in the back. Wanting all the world to look and see what I have done, all by myself. Any way what I am trying to say, is I do not think I am less strong for not having put down roots sooner than this. I believe with all my heart and soul I am stronger for all my travels. I didn't think I needed roots. I could come and go as I pleased. And I felt in control of my life. Now... If I were to leave here and move on. A part of me will stay. Right here. Rooted in this swampy land. I don't think its so much a matter of me putting down roots. I think its this place hangin on to me. And I am sure gonna let it!

More Quotes...

As you all know I love quotes, so, since I don't have anything to say this morning... Here are a couple of quotes I found in my web surfing yesterday. They make a person think a little. I like that.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, then women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!"
~ Sojourner Truth

You can not strengthen the weak by weakening the strong;
you can not help small men by tearing down big men;
You can not help the poor by destroying the rich;
You can not lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer;
You can not keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You can not further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.
You can not establish security on borrowed money.
You can not build character and courage by taking away a mans initiative and independence.
You can not help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
~William J H Boetcker

Have a wonderful day, the snow is done...bring on the spring...(this time, preferably for real please.)

Big Job...

This is Marky Poo. He came home from work yesterday unhappy. The company he works for just got a new job. Its a really big job, which is wonderful news during this slump in construction. The job will take anywhere between 2 - 3 years to finish. But... the job is in N.D. A 5 hour drive from here. So, he will be leaving Monday morning and returning Friday night. Every week, for 2 - 3 years. This news gives me mixed feelings. While I am excited at the idea of steady income for a while longer, I am a bit bummed because I just agreed to take an over night shift with my new job. Which definitely can not happen if Markypoo is to be gone. And then there is the whole college thing. With markypoo gone, my work load would be considerably smaller, but then I would be forced to allow a (almost) 15 year old girl be in charge for up to 16 hours a day. Which I think is just asking for trouble. I am sure we will come up with a couple different solutions before anything really happens, I'm just thinking out loud here.
On another note, I just looked out side. The wind is still howling! That makes it a bit hard to see how much snow we actually got. But it didnt look too bad. maybe 3 or 4 inches... But, Oh for the wind. I am nervous to drive this morning.
********************Update***********************
For once I was right, there is only about 4 inches of snow. Its still lightly snowing, and the wind is blowing hard. There is a sheet of ice underneath all that new snow. Driving to work is gonna be hairy.

A New Kind of Visitor....

A Blue Heron! This is actually one of a pair. The other did not make an appearance. This one was looking for food I think. I saw them both flying earlier. I wonder if maybe they are nesting out there in the swamp. This is kinda cool. We havent had blue herons before. Canadian geese and a few ducks. I actually saw one a couple days ago, but didnt know what it was. I saw it land on a broken down tree and thought it was one huge owl.
I apologize for the fuzzy photo, but I had to zoom in quite a bit to pull the bird out.

P.S. Its another blizzard. Its snowing and blowing big time. :( dang it!

A Little Birdie...

Told me these two beautiful babies might be coming for a visit...
If thier daddy doesnt work over the weekend... I so hope so, because....

Somebody has some birthday presents to pick up...And it gives me a great excuse to buy a dairy queen cake! Yummy...Im gonna order that cake no matter what, so I sure hope to have someone to share it with....I miss these girls so much! (only one of them likes me... can you guess which one doesnt...)

Back to The Old Grindstone...

Yes its true, I am no longer snowed in. So I am going back to my crazy schedule. I am headed off to work at the restaraunt this morning. I really enjoyed having three days off! I cant remember the last time that happened.
Yesterday morning, the kids' school bus went in the ditch abaout a half mile up the road! They are the first on the bus, so I went to pick them up and bring them to school. I felt so bad that I couldnt pick up each and every kid that was standing on the side of the road waiting for thier school bus. The bus waited for a wrecker for 1 hour and 55 minutes! Thats crazy I am so glad there were no other kids on that bus.
I went to my orientation yesterday. I am starting to get really excited. They gave me a free tshirt... I thought that was nice of them. Turns out it was actually a Im sorry gift as I had to have a shot while I was there. I survived though. I start the CNA classes on monday...
Have a good day all.

Difference in a day...

Rmember this pleasant scene from yesterday?

here it is today.


I snapped this photo this morning, right before the kids got on the school bus. Crazy how fast the snow is melting... causing lots of muck!

When you get dumped on....

Make snowballs! Duh!!
We had a lot of fun making our snow castle...Tylen was king, danika was queen and I was the princess... I as a princess naturally had to have a tantrum and rebel against the king and queen...they were trying to ruin my life! What else was a princess to do???

Weather Update...

I guess I am not going anywhere after all. I should really learn to check my facts before I speak. We had 32 inches total snow fall yesterday. The snow plow did come by causing a six foot drift at the end of our driveway... but just look at my car...its not moving anywhere, if I could just get it through that snow drift I could make it to town...School was canceled. I didnt make it to my orientation. I called the lady in charge I sure hope she believed me. How bad does it look that I had to cancel the first day!?! They only got 12 inches in town, and the schools town only got 2 inches!!! now we just lost our satelite and internet... Ok...were back it was only out for half an hour or so... Back to the buried in snow car, keep in mind that I had it all cleaned off yesterday when I attempted to go to work. The good news in all this is, I can get an extra day to decide what shift to work! Tata...Im off to shovel some more snow...

Well Danika made it home safe and sound. They were nearly an hour later than they had planned. I called to tell them about the snow but I am not sure they believed it was serious because they didnt prepare for any extra time. I am so glad they made it safely. It stopped snowing around 9:00 last night. School was canceld, Tylens reaction: "Sweet!" We have so many rural kids and their roads werent plowed for the school buses. At about 12am the plow went by. I am so relieved! I am going to my new job this morning. I do have to shovel in order to get out, but I do not have to worry about making it to the highway. So we survived the storm, although not very gracefuly. But now its over, and chances are its our last snow of the year. The final total of snowfall was 20 inches. I for one am glad its over!
Well, Im off to my new job. We still havent decided on one specific shift...Ill have to make something up as I go...

Weather Update...

While the town the kids go to school in recieved 2 inches of snow... I went out to measure our inches... (we are having a backwoods argument out here...some say 8...some say 12...I said 18) The grand total is:

17.5 Stinkin Miserable Inches

(and still comin down!)

UGH!!!

This crazy weather! I should be showing photos of all those tulips I planted last year...the rose bushes, the flowering crab trees...instead all Ive got is this...

Tylen is standing in the snow, not sitting.

Can you feel my frustration?

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!

My earlier post was a bit optimistic. There was about 3 times the snow I had originally thought! YUCK! This is Marky Poos car... See how the snow is still falling like crazy!?!

This is the windshield of my poor car. I was trying to scrape the snow off so I could get my tushy to work.

And finally, see that car way in the back there....its stuck. half on the road, half in our drive. Finally after 3 winters here...Im snowed in! I just wish it would have happened in like december or some month when we want snow...This Stinks!!!

Now, if you'll excuse me I need to go dig out a shovel so we can get that car in the driveway before a snowplow comes by....

This Stinks!

This Stinks!!!

So, after all the teasing the weather has done. Making us think spring was within our grasp...

Another snow storm.

Yes, another one. I just peeked out the door this morning, there is about 5 inches of new snow on my front steps and its still coming down hard.

This is crazy. I dont know why I am so surprised. This happens every single year. You would think I was used to this kind of disappointment. But nope. I was hoping against hope that the weather guys and the old guys at the restaraunt were all going to be wrong when they said "Snows comin' " We burned all our brush piles, and long swamp grass along the ponds last night in anticipation of the green grass to come. Its gonna be a while longer.

Im so bummed.

I better leave early for work today...

A neat way to start your day...

Danika emailed this to me. I recognized a lot of places in here!

Well, this is my last weekend to decide which shift I want to work. 2:00pm - 10:30pm or 11:00pm - 7:00am. I sort of think the overnight will be better for us... I just dont know. I need to know by monday morning. I am going for an orientation at my new job. I am leaning towards overnight. Marky poo is not. (I dont think) I think I will be missed less if its overnight. The kids will not be on thier own. Not really anyway... Decisions decisions decisions. I am not good at making them...lol!

Thank goodness I have a couple more days to think this over.

Look What I Found!!!

The snow finally melted enough to unbury this! I told that boy he better put his bike away before it snowed. Now its all rusted... Bummer. He really needs to learn to listen to his mother. He doesnt know, yet, how much easier his life would be if he could only follow my directions... sigh. Hes just like his father in that way...

Remember this nasty scene from yesterday?It was the total opposite today...Yard work.

And windows opened! 53 degrees today...YEAH!!!!!!!!

Its spring...Im lovin it!

New Additions...

I over heard my children talking the other day... Tylen (6 year old boy) was visiting with his 2 new ducks. I heard him tell his sister (who was visiting her 9 new chicks) " These ducks are better than the XBOX." How cool is that!?! This little boy who is afraid of everything is enjoying taking care of ducks! I am so thrilled. So of course I, ran right out and got him 2 more... He was totally thrilled so the next day...today...I ran right out and got him some more!(The oes I got today are actually geese. UGH!) I am going to quit now, I dont want him to get too much of a good thing.


Here are a couple of comparison photos... here are the chicks on day one.
And here they are today. These are not very good photos to judge their size... But they are easily twice thier size... They grow really fast!
I can hardly wait until they get outside...(They stink) Ive got markypoo out there right now building a strong and sturdy and weasel proof chicken house for them. Maybe then I can get them out sooner...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Lissie Belle from your favorite Aunty Sarah!

I sure do miss you honey, when are ya coming for a visit? After schools out right?

I know that I am Lissies favorite Aunty because I remember when we were waiting for her arrival, I suffered from morning sickness, leg cramps, a growing appetite, and a growing stomach... almost like I was pregnant too...

AMERICAN IDOL....

Ok, real quick here... Those guys that were on tonight... Clark boys or something like that... OMG! They made my skin crawl. That had to be the absolute worst version of "This little light of mine" It gave me the creeps. Badly. I was totally freaked out by them I have never had a reaction like that before. Either I like it or I don't. But this tonight really bugged me. Am I the only one?

Guess What?

A dirty rotten stinkin blizzard.

A Nature Walk...

I am suffering from a bad case of cabin fever. A co-worker told me a few days ago that he has tulips popping up at his house. I dont. I still have 2 feet of snow on top of my tulips. I went for a walk today to see if I could find any signs of spring.
peeling birch bark... does this only happen in the spring?
The snow is melting in the big pine trees. That looks like spring.
A tiny pine tree peeking out from a snow bank. That means the snow is definately melting.

The deer trail coming across the pond looks like thin ice. I sure hope those deer watch what they are doing.
A tiny little birds nest, it may be left over from last year.
Red branches, they look springy to me. I wonder what they are?

Pine cone. I know that its not spring-y, but I love to see them.

Oh, look! Its green grass! Its official! Spring will be here sometime in the next 3 months...

Surprise!!!

This is the new tatoo I got yesterday. It is amazing, remember that ugly rose tatoo I got a few years ago? Its under this one. They fixed it. This is a bit bigger that I had ever planned on getting, but Its hiding that ugly one. I actually went in to get a little frog put on my foot, but they talked me into this one. Cool huh?