Wednesday, July 23, 2008

This is my project today...to clean all of THIS

Yesterday's adventure in cleaning

Here is a lovely slide show of what I was up against yesterday. I forgot to take the after pics but I'll do that today, promise. Enjoy!

Whew made progress yesterday! YAY!!! Sorry this post is a lil late, but goodness, I was tired last night and had a family situation to deal with. I'll tell ya'll about that in another post, I promise.

In the wonderful wording of my friend, Fiesty Irish Wench, I worked my blessed assurance off yesterday. I can still smell the ammonia on my hands (not to mention the shrivels they caused). Well worth it because I finished 3 walls yesterday. Yes only 3, and no they weren't big walls. Oh and a set of cabinets, that was a doozy of a job considering how short I am. Thank goodness for my 7-8 ft painters ladder and the counter top directly below the cabinets. I also took the handle off my fridge and stove to degrease/degunk them. Yup they were that nasty. I just poured some engine degreaser cleaner in the sink and poured boiling water in there and plopped them in and let them puppies soak. I also got the interior of my back door cleaned also. Ended up taking the window frame off of the inside to have D scrub it down. I have to admit, she did a really good job. T got the job of taking all the storm windows out, and degunking them outside. He also got the job of doing the outer furnace doors. Poor kids, they think I'm working them half to death LOL. Oh and since D wasn't feeling so hot, T got to vacuum the bathroom and other two bedrooms. D went over and helped with the grandson though in the mobile we're gonna rent to my oldest sd. Well that's IF Daniel doesn't get fed up with her crap and tells her we're not renting it to her. As I mentioned before, that's another post (ya the same one I referred to above).

Monday, July 21, 2008

Today wasn't too bad on the productivity end once I finally dragged my arse out there. I worked this morning at DG and I had a blaring backache so I took a nap when I got home. Then about 3:30 this afternoon E and I headed out there.

I had intended on cleaning carpets but my stepmom's carpet cleaner is a POS and I'm not sure I can do the job with that machine. I quickly gave up on that idea, and moved on to bigger and not so much better things. Since I had E with me, I had to kind of be careful what I endeavored to do. We swept the floors (I finally remembered to take the broom and dustpan out there with me), took down the two sets of mini blinds they left behind put them to soak in the bathtub and then Daniel showed up. After he showed up, we moved the fridge out and EWWWWW. Now the whole kitchen is BAD. I've worked in restaurants the greater part of my 32 years and this doesn't even start to compare. Grease and whatever else looks like it's been splashed on the walls for pity's sake. This is gonna take awhile and a whole lotta degreaser. I did manage to get the wall behind the fridge looking pretty good, even considering a lack of hot water. The hot water heater has shot craps on me. Tomorrow I'll get the parts to fix that, it's a relatively easy job (so easy even a blond can do it *wink wink*). So I had already taken a pretty good sized pot out there to heat water while I was waiting on the water heater to heat up once we turned it on so I do have hot water, just in small quantities. We took down the rest of the curtains, washed the ones that were already down, and swept all the cobwebs off the walls and ceilings in the master bedroom. Then I took the mini blinds outside and hosed and scrubbed them off the rest of the way. They still look kind of grungy but I'm waiting to buy new ones until I decide what color I'm going to paint the rooms and such. I got the refrigerator cleaned inside and out and it's now the color it was supposed to be which is white. Before it's "bath" it was a not so lovely shade of greasy beige. BLECK. Daniel did some mowing but not much as he's still feeling pretty drained from his flu bug. He did manage to find a yellow jacket's nest in a love seat sitting on the back deck. That scared the shit outta me as I was sitting on it at the time. The seat he wanted to sit on had a bunch of leaves and such on it and I told him to just pull it off and sweep it off over the deck rail. Well he did and in doing so, found a yellow jacket's nest. He only got stung once, and thankfully me and E didn't get stung. He went to his truck and found his trusty BeeBopper spray and the yellow jackets didn't live long after that. The downside is, you walk out my back door and the overpowering smell of bug spray about drives you back in. That is about the extent of today's progress. Not too shabby considering the grease buildup I was contending with.

Tomorrow will be much more productive as my children want to go to the pool so I'm going to make them come help me all morning. After spending 5 hrs straight with them, I'll be ready for a break so then they can go to the pool. Good way to get things done and still keep some sanity LOL.

Ok it's almost midnight and I'm feeling it. I shall see all of you tomorrow with another update.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Lack of productivity

Today was NOT as productive as I had hoped. Then again with a sick man in the house and a bunch of kids that are afraid that they might accidentally expend 15 more calories than the other in the name of WORK, I shouldn't have had such high expectations. Yes I am seriously ready to wring all their damned necks but I regress.

First of all I woke up at almost 10am. Not conducive to getting an early start in Southern Missouri heat in mid-July. Then my Dad called, spent an hour on the phone with him over nothing basically but that's ok. After that I had to run and get cleaning supplies. Then home to pickup my vacuum cleaner and carpet cleaner. After it was all said and done, it was almost 3 pm when I got out there. Got some stuff pitched, got interrupted a bazillion times by the sickly one and the teenager that ventured out there with us, and finally the floors (part of them anyways) vacuumed and the living room walls washed (kind of, the teenager helped...need I say more?), and then went to do what I had intended to do in the first place, clean the carpets. Murphy (hey why does THAT name sound familiar?) struck again and the damned carpet cleaner is screwed up. I think it will be a simple fix, but I need the user manual to take out there with me. Of course J has lost that (go figure), so I find it online. Mr Murphy figured out his way home and now I can't get it to print out. ARGH

Tomorrow has GOT to be better....

Main and TLC houses slideshow

Saturday, July 19, 2008

FINALLY!

We closed on our new place today WOOOOO HOOOOOO! Fourty one acres, two livable mobile homes, one mobile that needs some serious TLC, and various and assorted other structures. I'm so SO sick of being in town. I really need this before I start taking potshots at vehicles driving by my house.

Of course Murphy couldn't leave this wonderful time alone for us, Daniel has came down with the flu. Sick as a dog, sounds like he's hacking up a lung, entire body hurting like he's been hit by a Mack truck (which if he doesn't quit whining CONSTANTLY could be arranged), and belly area feeling like it's being used to crochet mittens with (WTH he EVER came up with that analogy I'll never EVER know, nor do I think I want to). Oh I left out the part about him sounding like a toad when he talks but I find that kind of cute heehee (shhh don't tell him that tho). Anyways, he's pretty much useless and since this place has sat empty for the last few years, there is a shitwad of work to do. The renters left the main mobile pretty nasty as well, but nothing a box of trash bags and ALOT of scrubbing won't take care of. The smaller one isn't too awful, but since Daniel's daughter is going to be renting that, I'm NOT cleaning it. She can do it, but I'll step off that soapbox now before I get going on it. Ok have to say this much about it, if she helps me clean the main mobile, I'll help her clean the smaller one, 'nuff said.

So what that means for all 6 of you who read my blog, you get a first hand seat to all of this. From building fence, mowing, cleaning up the yard, to cleaning the interior of the mobiles. Should be an interesting ride for ya'll. Well except for Nat *giggle*, she'll be here next week to help me move. WAHOOOOO, really psyched about that :D! Anyone else that would like to come and help, or just hang out with us, feel free :D!

Hope you enjoy the before pics. This is definately going to be a work in progress and ya'll get a front row seat!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Little Miss Rodeo















Ok it's a few weeks late, but here's my Lil Miss Rodeo contestant :D



Oh, that cowboy pic...opps that must have just slipped in there somehow ;)

Horsebites and closing on a new farm...and just a little bitching


What an interesting week this has been! Exhausting, painful, surprising, and amusing all at the same time. The picture above was taken 15 minutes ago, but happened last Sunday. Ya it looks good now...be thankful I didn't take before photos. And due to the crappy lighting in here, it looks better in the picture than it does on my right arm. :-\


I'll start with the painful part since that happened on Sunday. While out feeding my yearling stud colt, he was apparently feeling pretty feisty or I did something to seriously piss him off. I turned my head for a split second while I was scratching his neck and WHAM, the lil bastard nipped me. Luckily I was wearing a shirt with sleeves or he'd taken a chunk out of my upper right arm. I'm not sure if I hurt him when I knocked the hell out of him, but he didn't come around me anymore so hopefully he figured out who's the boss of that pasture. I should have know at that point, this week was going to turn into a circus that I was the ringmaster of.
Monday and Tuesday I seriously at this point don't remember what I did. Honestly.
Wednesday I did some housework and a great friend of mine from Michigan told me she's coming down for a week to help me move to the new farm YAY!!!!! I'm too excited :D!
Thursday the downfall began...Daniel came down with the flu of all stupid things. Sick as a damned dog. Not usually THAT big of a deal but almost a tragedy this week. We close on our new farm Saturday at 9am I find out TODAY and he's sick and can't crawl out of bed. I also go back to work tonight. So in the next TWO days I have to finish the bank paperwork, get the utility stuff done, arrange to meet the seller out at the new farm, get insurance, take care of the kids, and find time to sleep for work. There was more stuff on the to do list there but compared to the rest, it was small potatoes. I managed to get 6 hrs of sleep in there, get all the stuff I needed to proceed to the final step of setting up the new utility accounts, info for the insurance guy, and whatever it was the bank wanted that I had totally spaced off. Then I got home, took a shower, went and picked up the 5 yr old from daycare, and came to work and worked all night.
This morning (Friday): Went home and collapsed in the recliner till 9:48am when the 5 yr old woke me up "It's time for school MOM!" so outta the chair I came, fed her, took her to school (aka daycare) and started running again. First to do the utilities which while it doesn't sound like a big deal, it's a 30 minute drive to the office one way from here, then an hour doing everything, then another 30 minute drive back. No more than walk in the house and Daniel can't find his Dr's office number so I have to find it and call them for him. The nurse has to talk to the Dr so they have to call me back. No problem, give them my cell number and off to the bank I go. Sign my part of the loan paperwork and the Dr's office calls. They want lab work. Well just hunky frickin dory....this particular Dr's office is 40 minutes away and Daniel is too sick to drive himself. Oh not to mention that I had to be to the insurance office in 45 minutes. I go home, check my email for some info for the insurance agent that the realtor was supposed to send me and I inform his daughter that she's going to have to take Dad to the Dr. Then off to the insurance office to spend 2 hrs getting a new farm policy set up. I drag in the door home again at 4:48 pm and have to be to work by 6 and pick up our 5 yr old at 5:30. I manage to get all of it done on just under 4 hrs of sleep but Lord have mercy, I'm tired now and I have 7 hrs of work to go.
Luckily I had the presence of mind to take tomorrow night off since we have to be to the bank at 9am to close on the new farm. My plans after that? Find a corner someplace where they won't look for me, curl up in my favorite blankie and with my favorite pillow and pass out until I wake up.
Heavens help them if they wake me, the damage will make that love nip my colt gave me look like a walk in the park.
Ok I'll quit whining now..I just had to get some of that out of my system before I took it out on some poor unsuspecting subject here at work.
I'll try to be cheerier tomorrow night I promise.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

OBITUARY OF THE LATE MR. COMMON SENSE‏

OBITUARY OF THE LATE MR. COMMON SENSE

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies: (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies: (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 -year- old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Tylenol, sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband and criminals received better treatment than the homeless.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing... He will be missed...

My uncle sent me this email awhile back...I see the truth of this everyday all around me, and it's really really discouraging to say the least

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Lil Miss Rodeo contestant and the new cowgirl boots

First I want to apologize to everyone that I've already told these stories too for making you sit through them yet AGAIN. I just think it's too damn funny to pass up for blog material though. Look at the bright side, whatever your shortcomings as a parent, this is bound to make you feel a tad better about your up bringing of your child(ren).

A few weeks ago our town had it's annual rodeo. Now every year they have a Lil Miss Rodeo and a Lil Mr Rodeo contest for the 0-5 yr age range. Being the scatterbrain, over scheduled Mom that I am, I had missed signing up my 5 yr old daughter the previous 4 yrs. This year though, I actually read about it and promptly signed my 5 yr daughter up. Woooo Hooo score one for me, but I was soon to be trumped by the 5 yr old. This is the actual conversation that transpired between me and her when I told her the news:

Me: "Hey E, I signed you up for Lil Miss Rodeo contest today"

E: "You did?!? COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL

Me: "Yep sure did"

E: "Do I get to ride my horse?"

Me: "No sweetie, you don't. That's next year's competition. You do get to ride in the back of a sweet Kabota around the rodeo arena though."

E: "How the hell am I supposed to be Lil Miss Rodeo if I can't ride my horse? *HUFF*

Ok I did scold her over her choice of language (between having to turn around a giggle silently), but how can a Mom argue with that question?

Flash forward a week or so later.....

I had found a sweet pair of pink & brown Justin cowgirl boots for E on ebay. She had been pestering me for a year or better to get her some boots, but I had serious issues parting with $75 for boots she will outgrow in the matter of a few months. I didn't tell her I ordered them but when they came in I had to give them to her. She was ecstatic. She tried them on and the squeals and ooohhhh and ahhhh's ensued. After about an hour she decided to take them off and put them back in the box. She carried the box to her closet and put them in the corner for "safekeeping". Me and her father were fixing to go out to the farm and I asked her why she wasn't wearing them. I got informed that she didn't want to mess them up. She had a point but I wanted to see how they worked out for her so I told her they weren't real cowgirl boots until she wore them and broke them in. She saw the logic in that and promptly ran to her room and put them back on.

Well we get out to the farm and me and E went about doing chores. While in the horse corral to feed E was very careful not to step in the area of anything that looked remotely gooey. After all the chores were done, E wanted to go down to the pond so I took her down there. Our pond is in a pasture that has some of our goats and their guard mule, Joey, in there. E promptly went to the pond to throw handfuls of grain out for the ducks and throw rocks in the pond. I fed the goats and Joey and checked on the walnut trees that are scattered throughout the pasture. A bit later I heard hollering, so I told E I was going up to see what Dad and the boys were doing. After I figured out they were being boneheads, I grabbed my curry comb to comb Joey since he still has much of his winter coat on and it's getting way to hot for that. When I got up to the gate, E was in the middle of the area that Joey uses for his "toilet" just stomping to beat the band. "E WHAT are you doing?!? Get out of there!"

E: "Mom, they aren't REAL cowgirl boots till they have horseshit on them"

I about collapsed from lack of oxygen because I was trying to keep from breaking out in hysterical laughter while I was scolding her yet again. As I was scolding her, she was heading towards the pond with me and Joey right behind her. Then she walks in the pond till she has about 4 inches of pond water over the top of her boots....

Me: "NOW what are you doing? Get outta there E!"

E: "I'm washing off my boots. I can't track this into the pickup, it'll stink. Besides you wash your boots off with the garden hose Mom."

How can I argue with that kind of logic? I swear this child will be the end of me and what the other kids left of my sanity.

After too long a hiatus...

I think I've returned to the blogging world. Not sure if that's a threat, promise, warning, disclaimer or temptation to fate to throw us another curve ball, but I'm back. I have a whole buncha "stuff" to blog about, and not really sure where to start to be honest. I just thought I'd give everyone a heads up to my return.

I am going to try to do at least one blog entry every night I'm at work. I'd like to do it everyday, but given the chaos things have been around my house lately, I just don't see that happening.

If there is anything specific that you would like to know about (like the 4 people that actually read this don't already know it), drop me a comment and I'll do my best to oblige your inquisitive minds.

I'll see ya in a few minutes with a new entry :)