Country Living in the Cottage

We're trying something new!!

My kids love animals. (All pictures were taken today!)

They love ALL creatures!

Me? I don't mind most animals. I even like some (not big dogs!!)
We have a fish that I am quite fond of.

But I L-O-V-E fresh yummy foods
(like these fresh-off-the-plant bell peppers, that are getting stuffed with yumminess....)

What's the best of both worlds?
Chickens!!
The kids get new creatures to care for, and I get fresh eggs!!
Here's my hero, building the top of the coop. :-)

And, here are my ladies
(as a friend so sweetly put it, when she got her own chickens.)
Meet Lucy and Suzie.

YAY!
You'd better believe that one of my aprons will be used solely
for the purpose of gathering seed and throwing it to my hens. Ahhhh....

My Father-in-law just bought some land adjacent to his property, and he plans to get cows in addition to his chickens soon. I'll have my "own" farm to visit, only 10 minutes away.

Photo credit: Goodall Artists

Mr. Sucky

We like to have fun. We bake cookies ALL the time. We can often be caught doing schoolwork in costumes. Or dancing to Jack Johnson music. Or "shaking our sillies out."

And I love keeping up with the house, but it just wasn't *FUN* anymore. Not until now.

Enter Mr. Sucky (yes, he actually has a nametag that reads, "My name is Mr.Sucky the Sucker." The Nature Man named him.)

Oh, yeah, he's a bLASt!!

Well, poo

Okay, so I didn't make it even a full 24 hours. Why? Because I got too many emails regarding the last post. ha! So you do read!

Yes, I'm okay. No, I'm not mad at anyone. No, I didn't mean that you cannot email me (which was a funny question to receive in an email.) I left off the pronoun. Oh, those ridiculously necessary pronouns. I meant that I would not be emailing, calling, or visiting. Or at least that I will not feel obligated to. And, yes, you can certainly drop food by my house tomorrow. I think that covers all of the questions.

Everyone once in awhile I get so much on my plate that I feel overwhelmed. Too many things come up at once. Too many demands on my time, and emotional strains at once. And the flight reaction kicks in. I want to shut down, run away, and be alone for about a week. Ever feel like that? No? It's just me?

So I canceled everything this week. Except the field trip on Friday that we are all looking forward to. I want to focus this week on things that really need my attention. I don't want to worry about any extra activities, needs, plans.

For one thing, The Artist has suddenly started asking some very pointed questions. I knew it was coming. She is in 3rd grade after all. And I want all of her information to come from me. But I was unprepared when the comments and questions started coming. She's still my baby!! Now I feel the need to formulate a plan, and handle this wisely. I don't want to say the wrong thing and warp her for life. (Hence the reason for the new survey question on the left hand sidebar)

I also feel the need to organize my time better. Too many things come up, and I let them in my life without giving it much thought. We need to be more intentional. But I can't even formulate my plan, rewrite my schedule, plan our holiday activities because I'm never home!!! That is going to change.

I asked God to help me have some resolve and just back off for a week. And then I got the stye. Yeah, it looks bad. It's uncomfortable. And it's keeping me home. And guess how long it lasts? You guessed it: one week. God is good.
(I'm not being sarcastic.) He knew I needed some more motivation to just stay home and focus. :-) I'll save you the pain of an eye photo. It's not pretty. (I also have mastitis, so I'm feeling very rundown... and I'll save you from pictures of that as well!)

Sooooo, there you have it. You can email. I may answer, I may not. You can call. I probably won't answer, but I still love you. Call and leave an urgent message if it's important. I'll put my sign "We're busy with SCHOOL." on my front door. And maybe my other sign, too: "Solicitors will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." I can't stand solicitors.

This one week we will be home. Glorious home. No cub scouts, plays, drive-through events, homeschooling functions, extended family functions, MM, church things ....nope, just HOME. I love my home. And I don't get to enjoy it as often as I should. And the kids-- oh, we do so many FUN things, so many school things...but there are so many other things that I would love to incorporate and focus on. So many gift ideas, craft ideas, and other homeschooling resources that we own, that I don't even have time to look through.

Time is such a precious commodity. I've always loved the quote: "Children need quality time; quantities and quantities of it!"

Enjoy your time!!

People Break

I love you guys.

But I'm taking a people break. No emails, calls, visits for awhile. Please understand.

Smooches.

knee stress and house mess

Two things:
First, I hurt my knee. I'm not sure how... maybe it was from hanging upside down on the monkey bars with the kids during a picnic playdate on Thursday. Or maybe it was from riding Trevor around on my back, on all fours, yesterday. Or it could be that I fell down when I was trying to chase Isabelle around the van. Man, that kid is fast. She puts me to shame.

At any rate, I look like an old woman trying to get up off the floor. The knee hurts. Ugh.
I'm not even 30! I'm not supposed to have a hurt knee! I'm still supposed to be bouncing around. So. Anyway, Just needed to complain.

Second thing: I need to be okay with the messy house. I get WAY too stressed when my house is cluttery. But, let's face it: 4 small kids + 1 cozy cottage + 1 rather sloppy husband = MESS.
A wonderful friend gave me some good advice about a week ago: she simply said that I need to NOT CARE. Let it go. Relax. If the hallway is messy, I can still do reading with the kids. Go outside, if necessary. Do the important things first, not the "urgent things" (yes, I realize that hallway cleaning may not seem urgent, but you don't live in my brain. I may have some OCD tendencies. For one thing, I can't handle food on the floor. UGH. Or clothes. Or even toys, for that matter, unless they are in the playroom. Which is why, you see, my dear friend told me to put the blinders on and FOCUS on the "real stuff. It's not as if I was ever realizing my dream of the perfectly clean house anyway. And would I be satisfied if I got it, or would I just move on to toilet and tub scrubbing, as I've been known to do? Okay, enough in parenthesis already!)

So, there you have it. I'm determined that for ONE week (must start with baby steps!), I will let some things go. I will laugh when I usually cringe. I will focus on just being outside and reading and having fun, and I will not worry. I do a lot of "FUN" stuff and outside stuff anyway, but I usually have this nagging worrying tone in my head that says "and what if someone stops over? And shouldn't the house be clean for Fred when he gets home?" (ha, as if he cares!!) Shut up, voice. Enough.

So I warn you right now that my open door policy has temporarily been revoked, until I come to terms with my new focus. Call first. Please. Don't make me suffer needlessly. ;-) And, above all, when you do call first and then you come over to a messier-than-usual home, say only good things. (which is good advice anyway!!) :-) Thank you in advance.

Oh, and just for the record, I only hold myself to those standards. When I visit friends I couldn't care less how their house looks. Ironic, isn't it?

The Secret to a Lasting Marriage

"One of the people has to be sane, and the other one is only allowed to be insane occasionally. We take turns on who gets to be which person."

-Actor Christopher Meloni

Fred was the sane one yesterday. And today. Do I have to take turns???

Seriously, though, I feel like I've been under oppression lately. Too many things crowding in at once. Instead of being my normal energetic and rather cheerful self (right??), I've become a mess of blubbering curls.

So what do I do with this new development? Pray? Read my Bible? Cry? Call friends? Well, all of the above, but not in the right order. I'll let you in on my not-so-successful coping strategy: I bawl. Yep, I just sit somewhere and eat cookies and bawl my eyes out. Great, huh? I like to cook when I'm anxious, so there are plenty of breads and desserts abounding right now.

*edited*
Some people offer wonderful advice. Some people think they offer wonderful advice...it's well-meaning, but totally the WRONG thing to say!! I had one of those conversations today. So I called someone else, naturally (actually my Mimi, to pray, and then a friend to come over.) Thank the Dear Lord for friends when you need them. This dear friend drove right over and helped, while I took a time out with the Bible.

And you know what? THAT helped. Duh. So why don't I do that immediately?? WHY? I can't claim the new-Christian-syndrome, because I don't even remember when I was saved. Why do I wait so long to run to my Father's arms? Possibly because I feel foolish crying over such little things when there are so many BIG things that other people deal with. You know, who am I to disturb God, right? Sounds foolish. I tell my kids just the opposite all the time, but then I wait and wait and wait before I work up the courage to knock on that door.

I have two verses on my computer desk: 1 John 5:14 "Now this is confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."
and Psalm 144:2,3 "He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield, and I take refuge in him. He subdues the nations under me."

I can believe that. I do believe that. Yet I crumble so easily. Argh.

So, I'm setting some goals, and putting them out here for all to see. Why? Because, like Adelia, I believe that sharing your goals with people you love will help you achieve what you desire. I need prayer, encouragement.
First, I need to stop worrying. I know this isn't easily gauged, and everyone worries to a certain extent. But, specifically, I need to release the worry over things of which I have no control. That does no good.

Second, I need to redeem my time. A line in a book last night suddenly struck me: "A person rescues what he loves." Yes, how obvious. But, really, I tend to let the most important things in my life slide while I take care of "everything else." I need to rescue what I love. I need to focus.

Third (and this is directly related to every other goal), I need to get back on a schedule. How can I redeem my time and reduce my worry if I don't have a game plan? I'm overwhelmed. I need my structure back. Right now I feel like I've lost it from every area: church life, finances, homeschool, housework, you name it. Everything has slid away from me. My darling little sister is helping me work on my Home Keeping Binder, which I plan to put into effect on Thursday. Pray on Thursday. ;-) I know it won't be --KABOOM-- change, but that is the start of my implementation!

Fourth, dang I'm tired. I forgot. Oh, yeah!! I need more sleep. I just *think* that I can get away with 5 or so hours of sleep, but I'm not doing so hot apparently. So I'm setting a curfew. And I'm planning to get up earlier than the kids (no small feat), and have my Bible time ALONE. The kids can read in bed until 7am.

Okay, enough for now. Bible time in bed. I need it.

PS Am I stressing anyone out lately? Didn't someone recently comment about me being upbeat or something? Yeah. Sorry about this, guys. "And this too shall pass."

Another point of view

Ann-Marie posed the sleep-over question on her blog. Thought I'd mention it in case you are interested in those responses. We all love and cherish our kiddos, and it's neat (to me anyway) to see how other people do things. Gives me something to think about. And a lot of you, and her commenters, have kids older than mine so I can stand on your shoulders for some insights. :-)

Another survey will be posted tomorrow, hopefully. I'm booked every afternoon/ evening until Sunday, so we'll see how much I get done! JB, you may have been right about me getting too busy sometimes! ;-)

Oh, and Oliver cut his fourth tooth today!! The other top one is just under the gums. Poor baby just wants to eat and cuddle... isn't napping like he usually does.

another Survey!! I was gonna call it Saturday Surveys, but I can't wait 'til then. ;-)

Well, I must say that I'm surprised by both results of my on-page surveys! I am happy about the last post, though. It feels good to know that my own child isn't the only one going through a tumultuous 3-year old transition phase away from naps.

But, back to me. heh heh. I'm surprised that most of you guys think I should go back to red. Do redheads really have more fun? Fred LOVES that color on me. That's the way it was when we met, so I think he has it forever etched in his mind. I guess I like that in a way. I feel like I've grown and changed so much since then, though, and it's hard for me to go back to that look. Jerri pointed out how strange that is. A link between personality and hair color. Hmm... And, of course,she's right. I love honest friends!! So, if any of you have a specific color in mind, please feel free to email it to me. And, Mimi and Papaw, I know you love my natural color ...but I don't even know what that is at this point. ;-) Aren't grandparents great?

I also just assumed that my kids squealing "MOOOMMMMEEEE" was the norm. But I didn't expect so many "Mommas" (Mamas?) out there. I tried to get Trev to switch today (thought it might sound less whiny, like Adelia said), but he would have none of that. Oh, well.

Now, for a cute toddler saying and baby milestone before I get to the survey part! Wen the tornado sirens were going off the other night, Trevor started to get very nervous about those "tomatoes" in the sky outside. That's all he's been talking about for days. "Mommy, it's windy, is there a tomato coming?" I answered, "yep, there's one in your salad." He just looked at me like I was going crazy.

Baby milestone: Oliver got his third tooth yesterday!! But it's NOT on top. It's on the side, like a fang coming in. How weird is that? All of my other kid got their bottom teeth and then progressed normally to the top ones. Oliver is very much his own little person, though. He's such a sweet, happy, easy baby, thank You, Lord!!

And now for the part you've all been waiting for...Ba-Boom...the survey question of the night is:
Do you let your kids spend the night with others? Kids spend the night with you? We don't do it at all. I think my kids stayed one night with my folks when I was in the hospital having my third. Or maybe my Mom stayed here, I can't remember now. I'd just rather keep it simple and say no to everyone, then try to pick and choose and explain. The only time we've ever had kids stay here is when a friend had her third baby. And that was different. Friends in need can always stay.

And, if you do let your kids spend the night, at what age did you start? I ask because we're being pressured by a relative to let the kids come stay. I'm dead set against it, and Fred is on-board with me. So it's just not gonna happen. But I'm still curious what the rest of you do!

Mom survey

In addition to the two surveys on my page, I've gotta ask one more question:
First, how old were your kids (bunnies, Ann-Marie? ;-) ) when they stopped taking naps? I know it varies from child to child, even within the same family. I know most of my kids took two naps a day until they were 18-months old. I was lucky.

Trevor stopped taking naps about a month ago. He turned 3 in November. Before we gave up, we went through some struggles trying to get him to lie down and be still. It used to be SO easy. He went right to bed. But that last month he really fought us on it, and then didn't want to wake up, and wouldn't go to bed at night. So, we did a test run. He took no nap. He seemed fine, didn't get overly fussy in the evening and went to bed at 7:30. All was well with the world. I had my evenings back, even though I still terribly miss that 2-hour time after lunch when I could get the tougher subjects done with the bigger kids.

Anyway, lately he's been falling asleep at about 6:30....sitting up or on the floor, wherever. So I'm thinking that maybe he needs his naps back again. We have been outside a lot lately. When the weather is nice we walk, bike ride, you name it. Hmmm...
Just curious what the rest of you do.