The Library and Other Random Stuff

I have rediscovered the library. Lydia and I went yesterday because there was a book that I wanted to check out and I thought we could start making a weekly date with each child individually. I had a lot of errands to run yesterday and Nathan was working from home, so Lydia and I took off to the library. When we were getting our new library cards I discovered that I hadn't had library card in my hometown since 1995! By the way, same librarian. There was some guilt, however, because I currently have 2 books that I checked out under Nathan's name when we were either dating or first married. Either way, they are about 5 years overdue and that's a late charge I can't afford. I will return them, I just can't figure out whether to drop them off in the book drop with money inside the book, or to actually take them inside and be thoroughly honest. Thankfully it's under Nathan's name so I have time to figure it out.


I hosted a pampered chef party last night and we had a lot of fun. My mom rounded up my granny and Aunt Elsie and made them come with her :) It was nice to have a bunch of girls at our house and just get to eat and talk. I still don't know what I am going to get with my hosting benefits, but I need a really good knife, spatula, whisk, pastry blender, and I want the garlic press and this really pretty deep covered baker for cooking whole chickens and such. I will definitely have to narrow my choices down. Another benefit to hosting this party is that my house is clean, still/again. It's been a week or more of cleanliness around here (except when I let the dishes go over the weekend), and Nathan fixed the sink so it no longer leaks! I still have a lot of laundry (always!) and our bedroom is almost un-walk-through-able, but the rest of the house is presentable!


Isaiah is now able to take scraps out to the chickens. This is fan-tas-tic. He has also been Kung Fu-ing all over the house since Christmas. (He got the movie Kung Fu Panda) He is a Kung Fu Master by now and he bows all the time.


In other random news, we have colds. Toby is the worst right now, I'm right behind him, Lydia is getting over hers, Isaiah will probably not ever get it because his immune system is apparently the bomb (wait...are we still allowed to say that...I vaguely remember that being a saying when I was in middle school which was about 10 years ago. I wonder what the new "bomb" is...Let me know if you know so I don't sound like an old fogey.) Poor Toby and his snotty nose and sad little sick eyes. At least he's more snuggly when he's sick which I just love :) Oh and Nathan will probably be orange juicing up and vitamin c dropping so he doesn't get it.


And, I have a confession... I bought bread. I bought hot dog buns for the mini hamburgers we made for the pampered chef party last night (which I am not even counting) and I bought a store made (like by the Kroger bakery) Italian sweet loaf, AND I bought whole wheat bagels. I have missed bread. I haven't made any since I was in Texas. So I broke down at the store yesterday and went crazy. The bagels rock. And I bought doughnuts. Oh dear.
Wow, I had no idea what I was going to write about today, but I just keep going and going....I think I am going to go read my library book now since it is nap time :)

Just a couple of photos from a month or two ago. I rarely ever get them all together!

Chickens and Haircuts

Well, today Nathan killed 2 chickens. One had gotten a hurt leg and the other, I think, was crowing just a little too loudly in the mornings. So, while we were getting all our supplies together and I was putting the scalding water on to boil Isaiah asked if he could wash the chickens. Now, I'm sure he had seen part of the chicken killing process before, but certainly not the death or evisceration, but he somehow knew that Daddy gets to use the water hose to wash the blood off and he volunteered for that job. We thought since he knew so much about the process already that he should be ready to help out some. So, Isaiah helped Daddy kill two chickens today and wasn't even phased by the process. He said that he liked the blood because it looked like red paint, and then proceeded to do a song and dance about eating chicken. As Nathan and I were plucking the feathers off, Isaiah said, "It's white!", but he was not grossed out and is beyond ready to eat chicken very soon. As Isaiah was singing, his enthusiasm was contagious. I, too, cannot wait to have some delicious, home-raised chicken! What am I going to make with our chickens? I haven't had chicken at home for months! I am so excited!


In other news, I gave Lydia her first haircut this week. Her hair is so thin that in the back where her hair was longer than the front was really stringy and we thought it might thicken up if we cut off the extra that was hanging down in the back. I did not cut any around her face, just the longer part in the back and it turned out really cute!

This is the before shot. She was actually excited about getting her hair cut and wanted to use the buzzers like daddy and Isaiah use. We decided to go with scissors instead.

This is the during photo. She ate a banana to keep her still throughout the cut. It only took a few minutes. Notice how long her hair is on her back!

This is the after photo. After she got her hair blown dry and "styled" otherwise known as brushed. Isn't she a cutie?!

Finally!

Today I got the call from the guy to set up an appointment for the state people to come and make an offer on the house! Wednesday at 6:00pm!!!! I can't believe the day is almost here. We've been anticipating this day for a long while and really have no idea what they might offer us. Please pray that all goes well and that we get an offer that we can actually work with. Now I should really be cleaning the heck out of my house! I don't want those people coming over and thinking, "Hmmmm.... this place doesn't look like it's worth that much!" Also, I am considering asking my dad or some other "elder" to be present for the negotiation because we are considerably younger than most of the people the negotiators deal with. Do you think that would make us look even more inexperienced, or that it might help with the negotiations? I always like a confirmation or second opinion, but I also know we can probably do this on our own. We have never had to make offers/counteroffers on a house before so we really don't have any idea how this should work. Also, since we are dealing with the state, basically, they are going to take our house so the road can come through no matter what we get paid. We can't stop them or just not sell our house if the offer isn't enough for our liking, so really we have to approach this sensitively so as not to get kicked out of our house and have it condemned and therefore worthless.
BLAH....I don't feel like I am being coherent today! It has been such a long day of cleaning and keeping kids in line! How many time should I really have to explain to the children in the house that it's not okay to hit each other in the face with the ball, or jump on the bed, or take toys away from the others....yeah, yeah, yeah I know it's all normal mommy stuff, but, whew! I am tired! And my nephew called my daughter a dumb butt today. Yeah, really nice, and now all my kids know that word, though at this point they dare not use it.
Okay! Time to clean and fold, wash and scrub!