Market Monday

As you can tell from reading my last two posts, I have had a very busy and interesting couple weeks.  But I have finished tons of new pieces for my booth.  It might be a tad over-stuffed but I am so happy with what I was able to get done.  Little thank you toss out for my sweet extended family that came to my house to visit this weekend.  They sat among all my projects in different stages of completion and were probably horrified at the condition of my house, but loved me anyway and kept me company while I worked.  You can go... here... if you want to see some of the items I just delivered to my booth.  Have a great week!

Ending with shots in the toe!

Christian has been MIA in our household for the past two weeks.  First he was off to Stake Scout High Adventure... caving, repelling, hiking, camping, bouldering, rafting... he was home for two days and then off again to Ward Scout High Adventure. 

He was to be canoeing all week, camping in between.  All his equipment had to fit in waterproof buckets.  He is becoming quite genius in the art of packing an impossible amount of stuff in the smallest packs/containers!

He was dropped off to start his adventure at 3:30 am Monday morning.

In true Christian fashion... he arrived back home Friday and the house volume was cranked back up to very.high.levels but truth be told... we like it!  But I noticed right away that Christian was limping.  He just said he had a blister on his toe.  K.  I should have questioned further, his idea of a little blister and mine are two different things.  By Friday night he was having a hard time walking at all.  When I finally got him to show me his foot, his left little toe was swollen to at least 4 times its normal size.  The odd thing was that I did not see any blister.  I thought it may be broke it was so swollen.  He elevated it and took some pain meds and went to bed.  Saturday he woke up and was still limping but not one complaint.  By late that night though... his facade was crumbling.  More pain meds and soaking and elevating foot.  Sunday morning, there was no more shrugging off the limp.  He could not put any pressure on his foot.  I used my mean mommy voice, which still can strike fear in the heart of my 15 year old son, and took a much closer look.  It was horrid!  His little toe was BLACK!  He said, "it is excruciating!"  I rushed him to the ER.

This is where I wanted to pinch my oldest son... hard.  Cause when I helped him walk into the ER, him grimacing in pain the whole way, the nurse asked him to rate his pain on a scale of 0-10.  Zero being no pain and Ten being unbearable pain.  He said 4!  4?!  FOUR?!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  The boy was literally sweating from the pain and he said a 4!

Before I could ring his neck for that answer, they had us back in an examination room.  The doctor came in and took one look at his toe and was taken aback.  She was convinced it was broken badly or at the very least had some object stuck in it.  Xray.  No break, no foreign objects.  She needed to open the toe, the color and heat of the toe had the doctor very concerned.  She couldn't hide her enthusiasm for this little mystery though... I'm sure Christian's case was making her Sunday at least an interesting one.  They had to give him 3 shots right into the toe.  I thought Christian was going to start throwing fists.  He did not move, but the sweat poured.  The shots did no good in the end, she couldn't get him numb and said she was going to have to open the toe anyway.  The next 30 minutes were gruesome.  I will spare you the details and how many gauze pads were used.  The doctor determined that Christian must have indeed gotten an injury some time the first week at camp... either a puncture or blister.  At some point thereafter the wound got infected... probably by the river water during canoeing.  His body healed over the wound but not before infection had set in.  The dreaded scenario of the body healing too quickly from the outside in.  So the infection had gotten quite critical.  The swelling cutting off circulation to the toe and busting blood vessels... it was a mess.  So Christian now has a toe with a very large hole in it, that hole is uncomfortably packed with medicated dressing.  He must stay off his foot, and keep it sterile.  In two days we hope to be able to have the packing removed and start the process of a slow healing.  Scary news though is that infections of this severity rarely heal the first go around.  We have many symptoms we will be watching for in the next few day.  Praying for no more complications.  Whew! 

 In usual Christian fashion... he is still in high spirits, even after 4 hours in the ER.  We made toe jokes all the way home.  Pain meds help with the jovial mood, of course.  Christian said he had only one regret... that we didn't get a good photo of the black toe, for his posterity. 

Last Sunday I was up in the weeeee hours with Ty as he suffered the severe consequences of dehydration.  This Sunday found me in the ER for 4 hours with Christian.  I, WE, need a nice, quiet, simple, and uneventful Sabbath Sunday this next go around.  I shall pray for that starting NOW!

Home Boy

Ty, our little home boy... meaning he would be so content never to leave the farm.  He loves our house, his room, the land, all the trees, the animals, etc.  He is quite content to have others come here and hang out, rarely does he consider leaving the farm, to do anything, a good idea.  Except for 2 things... scouts and baseball.  He really loves weekly cub scouts and during baseball season he is so driven by his love of the game.  This week, though, his two loves collided in a hectic way that I thought may do us BOTH in.  Adding to the impending collision the fact that last weekend he was in the initial games of the AllStar tournament and he got dehydrated... tremendous headaches, dizziness, double vision, and a night of severe vomiting... whew, he survived the crazy schedule to enter this week... with an even more hectic schedule.  Ty and I don't DO hectic schedules well, we much prefer slow paces in general.  But THE week came nonetheless and we tackled it with all we had to give!

Beginning Monday morning with Cub Scout Day Camp.  This is a Monday-Friday, 7 hours a day camp.  Ty loves day camp, but after being sick with dehydration on Sunday... he was nervous to say the least.  Thankfully he did fine, a credit to all the amazing scout moms that rally to pull off this HUGE event each year.  I really love that when I drop Ty off in the morning I know there are tons of 'moms' and even a few dads that are there to be with him, so appreciate, truly.

 I drop him off at 8am.  Return to park at 2pm to sit in pickup line for an hours so I can be first in line to get Ty at 3pm pickup.  I know this is a blurry picture but this is classic Ty when he barrels into the truck at 3.

 On the very first day he leaps into the car all grins, exhausted but happy.  Rattling off all the fun things he did that day... archery, bbguns, olympic games, chess... whew!  But wait!  "What happened to your leg?!"  Huh?  He looks at the scratches down his leg and seriously can't remember getting them.  Boys! 

We don't have time to ponder the flesh wound for long because Ty has to quickly change into his baseball uniform... go, go, go.  Within 15 minutes of pickup from camp, his has changed clothes and is asleep.  Yep.  Out cold.  This is a phenomenal that has been both a blessing and a curse with Ty.  The boy falls asleep in minutes of being in a moving car.  This week that has been a blessing because he is able to get 1 1/2 hours of sleep between camp and the beginning of his baseball game each night.  Please note that this photo is taken in the parking lot of the ballpark and I have taken off his seatbelt and laid his dead asleep body on a pillow for more comfortable sleeping... didn't want grandparents to think I drive with him unbuckled, wink!

 And at 4:45pm I simply whisper his name, and he shoots out of a dead sleep ready to PLAY BALL. 

So lets get this straight.
Ty's schedule:
7am - wake up, get dressed for camp, eat breakfast.
7:20am - load into car for 40 minute trek across town to camp.
8am - arrive at camp and drop off.
8am-3pm - tons of fun, lunch, go, go, go.
3-3:15pm - happy ramblings about all the fun, me reminding him to hurry and get baseball uniform on, and Ty asleep in truck.
4:45-8pmish - Ty playing baseball.
8:30pm - he finally gets dinner, fact about Ty... he cannot eat right before a game else he gets "knots and cramps in his gut" or so he describes it :)  So late dinner it is!
9:30pm - I am sending him to bed although he is CONVINCED he is not tired and wants to watch movies instead.  I reassure him that he is only nine and that I know better and that I am much meaner and he better get in bed.  And we repeat this process the very next day.

So please imagine with me... the relief when his team finishes the tournament on Wednesday, we lost and it was a tough loss... but the 3 week AllStar season (every night 2 1/2 hour practices or games) is done, regular season games and practices before that, and imagine my content sigh as I exhaustedly plopped onto our couch late, late, Wednesday night.  And the phone rings.  Late night phone calls are always startling.

Shawn answers and is nervously looking at me... afterall he knows how crazy my last few weeks have been especially THIS week.  He hangs up the phone and gives me a sheepish grin.  I am defenseless against my man's sheepish grin, dang it!

So the story goes like this...  older AllStar team has lost 2 players with the possibility of another player out too... they always 'draft' extra players for AllStar team to have a deep lineup, but the potential loss of 3 players will cripple the team.  So the Coach of that AllStar team asked to pull Ty up as an alternate for the older team.  To be asked to 'play up' in an older league is an honor, Ty was asleep at this moment but I knew he would be so happy when he got the news in the morning.  Their tournaments start this weekend, whimper, sigh, exhale.  Ty may not actually have to play, but he is in the wings... and I am CONVINCED this is the baseball season that never will end, nope... I am doomed to have the ridges on those darn bleaches forever indented on my tush, yep.  But this is not about me, right?!  RIGHT!  I shall pick him up yet again from camp at 3pm and we shall wait for the call to come to the field... and if it never comes, that would be great too, cause this has been a great, hectic, crazy, mom taxi driver, wonderful week and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  But let it be noted... next week I may not leave the farm once, nope, hermit in training... I like the sound of that!

Market Monday

I will be very busy this week finishing items to refill my booth... I had the best week since I have been open and lots of holes to fill, thank you!!  Go to my Market blog... here... and see what I added now, and be sure to check back next week as I have some more larger items going in then!

Happy Dad's Day!

We started celebrating early by heading to IHOP Saturday morning for a big 'Daddy's Breakfast'... never mind that it was noon!  We make it a point not to go to IHOP too often because we do not show self control.

Ty may have eaten just one too many double chocolate pancakes.

 Christian on the other hand could have kept going, this guy can eat a crazy amount of pancakes.

 This morning Shawn got breakfast in bed.  I made enough for me too, snicker, and we enjoyed a long lazy breakfast together.

 For lunch we had philly cheesesteaks and for dessert... walnut brownies with coolwhip.  Funny side note:  the only thing Shawn asked for was some new cologne.  So I headed to the store on Friday while he was out of town with Christian and decided to find a new favorite 'scent' for him.  I sniffed and sniffed several samples.  Problem was, and it took me til just that moment to realize, that I could NOT smell because I was battling a raging sinus infection.  ugh!  So instead my sweetheart got a gift card to go get some cologne, because his wife was smelling impaired.

I missed church today, combination of sinuses and Ty not feeling well, but I sent these treats with Savannah for the Nursery children to color the tags and give to their dads.  I hope they all loved their treat from their littles!

Warning... may give you a headache...

So to catch up on our first week of Summer break (yes, we finally finished school last Friday)... funny that I feel the need to 'catch up' and it is only Wednesday of our first week.  I digress.  So here it is... feel free to take aspirin after this randomness:

Christian left on Monday for Scout High Adventure.  I saw the agenda and was exhausted just from reading it.  So this is what my house looked like in preparation.  What?  Do you think the tent clashes with my linen slipcovers?!

 And all that was wrestled, man handled, and pretty much squished into this!  And he was off!

 The result of Christian's departure was two fold: 1.  the house has become very quiet.  2.  little brother was missing him terribly after 2.2 seconds and I was looking for a 'project' that would keep little bro semi-distracted for the next few days.  So the solution was helping Ty find all his past baseball jerseys and promising to help him make them into pillows he can proudly display all over his room.  He not so subtly draped each jersey on my ladder in the family room.  What!  Does he think I may forget about my promise to help him do this?  Hopefully I can post by weeks end our FINISHED pillows.

 Last night I arrived home from the ballfield with Ty.  I entered with pizza, cheezy bread, and a smile.  My husband entered the back door seconds later with THIS!

 That, my non-plumbing friends, is a thingamajig that SHOULD be firmly attached to the main water pipes entering our house.  Shawn was weedeating at the side of the house and the ground was saturated with water.  He dug down and found the thingamajig busted off its pipe.  Looks like it may have been leaking for quite some time and then finally threw up its hands and surrendered.  So after quickly grabbing some pizza, my hubby has his priorities straight after all, he ran to Lowes moments before closing and grabbed all new replacement thingamajigs.  By this morning... we could flush the toilets again.  A great daddy hero moment!  Woot, woot!

 Now my front porch looks like this.  Small price to pay for flushing toilets.  Such a luxury.  Afterall, toilets are just not as convenient when they don't flush, agreed?!

 And somewhat along the same theme... Savannah has set up a 'triage' station in the laundry room.  Seems this little guy had a bad case of 'pasty butt' (I'll just let you research that on your own if you want further details on that little ailment) and he seems to be on the mend.  Pasty butt... we live glamorous lives.

 And to follow the random pattern... I had husband... smack dab in the middle of plumbing emergency move this into my living room so it is obnoxiously in my way, while I decide if I love it or not... I think I do... more on that later... are you thoroughly sick and tired of my... dot dot dots!

 I mentioned that I needed to get out and collect all my fallen pinecones... youngest son did it for me yesterday.  Boy knows how to melt his mom's heart.

 Oh and did I mention, the same evening of burst water pipe, Savannah had a friend over?  Yep.  Suffice it to say she was not amused by our non-flushing toilets either.  But thankfully she is about as animal crazy as Savannah so we had some babes to distract her from our 'issues'.

 Gotta love good kids, don't ya?!

PS and by the way, I am on a slipcover kick at the moment, I've decided to collect random chairs that need complicated upholstery work too just so I stay humble.  This is a summer project I hope to complete and share later this summer.  For now it is proudly displayed in my entry for all to see... and wonder... why would I have a ratty tat tat chair with holes in it and buttons barely holding on for dear life , on display right in my entry.  I like to keep folks guessing.

 And for your reading pleasure... I just finished the best book!  I loved it dearly.  Challenging read because of its subject matter but so beautifully written.  I love creative metaphors... the realization of the title took my breath away.  A must read in my opinion.

 And I am now reading this one... I am a few pages in and my heart is already aching, but in a good way. We now press forward for the rest of this week... sure to be an adventure!

The yuckiest job...

This weekend, Savannah had the joy of doing the absolutely nastiest job on the farm... cleaning the chicken coop!  Lucky girl.  Truth is, she is a 'getter done' kinda gal and just dives into tasks like this and it was me being dramatic about all.that.poop! 

 As she explains it... the task is rather straight forward: shovel out old nesting straw and wood chips, pressure wash from top to bottom, let it dry completely, and add fresh bedding.  Done.

The coop gets the hose down once a year, at least, and this year we had some added incentive to get it done... quick!  Cause we were expecting a call from the Post Office early Monday morning.  "Come get your birds," the post man, not so happily, announces at 6:05a.m.  I guess they see no charm in the constant chirping of baby chicks. 

In the past, we have gotten chicks in the early, EARLY spring.  A big pain to keep them warm until the natural temps heat up.  So we took the easier route and waited till our temps were hanging out in the high 90s... humans don't like... but baby chicks do!

We also have a good core group of egg layers for now... so we wanted to get some chicks that were fun!  So ugly their cute would be Savannah's description... I think she has a point.  That little puff ball on the top of the little chicks head above is what is called a 'top hat'.

Common name for these chickens is Top Hatters (photo from catalog).  I think they look like rock stars... see my point?!

We MUST name one of them 'Bowie' as a nod to the amazingly fun 80s!  Ahhhhh, good times, bad hair.

So our plan is to keep them in a smaller cage right in the coop.  Plenty hot enough out there.  Savannah is introducing the new accommodations to the chicks by dipping their beaks into the sugar water... so important they drink TONS in first days of life... and make sure they are eating too.

 My favorite coloring thus far is this little one below... love the shades of grey.  So cute.

Market Monday

Its Monday... go here.. to see some of the items I took to Market this week.   

Formal introduction...

So, the hot topic around the farm yesterday was the new baby donkey.  We have determined that it is a... HE!  Which we figured since we had a cute girl name already picked out and no boy name, tee-hee.  We have such a love for the 'mom and dad' donkeys.  They are such a sweet couple.  Bart is gorgeously marked, very timid, and needs Jenne.  If we ever have to separate them, Bart is so very pained and stands at the fence calling to her until they are reunited. When we first rescued them, we always knew if Jenne was struggling because Bart would call out repeatedly to let us know she had collapsed.  He helped us save her that first winter.   Jenne is just down right lovable, affectionate, and devoted to Bart.  This photo is so 'them'.  Bart in the background, painfully shy, but ever close to Jenne... who quite enjoys her photo ops!  They both have a forever home with us, we are quite smitten with them!

We tend to labor over perfect names, we can be silly like that.  We had several angles to come from for a name... his gray color, tiger striped legs, his ears ;)  Grayson, JB (initals of Jenne and Bart), Ash (which we laughed at because originally I thought of the color of Ash... but as we tossed it around it sounded more and more like the 'biblical' name for donkey... a**).  We liked them all... but then I took a new spin on the 'love' theme of Jenne and Bart.  I tossed out a name... and it stuck!

Since he looks so much like his dad.  Since he already is so tender to us and is so very loving like his mom.  Since his dad has always been such a sweet partner for Jenne... we decided to name him...

Romeo.

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled lives as I am sure you have been waiting, breathless, for this very important matter to be decided.

THE cutest farm baby EVER!!!

Two posts in one day must mean something spectacular has happened, right?  RIGHT!!  Savannah just ran back from the barn to tell us that our miniature donkey, Jenne, just had her baby.  Funny thing is that we had our miniature Jack fixed but he managed to get our neighbors donkey and ours pregnant first... he made the most of his last fertile days, hee-hee!!

 Not sure if its a boy or girl yet... it is still very skittish.  If it is a girl... we will name her Grayce.  We don't have a boy name yet... which means it is probably a boy... isn't that the way it always is?  Any suggestions for a boy name?  Hands down... I say this is the cutest babe we have had on the farm... I am smitten, completely!

Ty is usually able to easily get close to the babies.  I guess because of his smaller size the babies tend to be drawn to him and not fearful.  So when I told Ty to take a peak in the 'bottom area' to see if it was a boy or girl... Ty was a tad offended to say the least.  I am dying to know though....

 We rescued Jenne and her partner, Bart.  Jenne almost did not make it through the first winter here on the farm because she was so sick.  We got Bart fixed because we feared that if Jenne got pregnant it would harm/kill her.  But all seems to have gone beautifully.  Jenne is very happy with her little one... and so are we.