Cheese anyone?

Who has time to blog when they are milking goats and pouring over carpet samples? Okay, no excuse, but a short update. We are moving back into our house this weekend. Just in time to leave for 10 days. Maddie has a clogging competition in Ohio, then off to Illinois for a graduation and art show. Not exactly the best time to be gone with the fields being taken over by weeds and a greenhouse full of transplants that need to get into the ground, not to mention MOVING our entire house!

On to the fun stuff: GOATS! If you have the chance to be around or own goats - do it. I know, I know, goats have a bad wrap a lot of the time, but I'm telling you, I am completely in love. We are getting a gallon of milk a day! Hence, the title of this post. Anyone have any good recipes for goat cheese? I'm particularly interested in feta. We are having a ball with the babies, they are a constant source of entertainment. Many, many pictures to post, but hell, I can't even find the time to blog so the pics will take a bit.

Enjoy!

Presenting......Edward, Bella and Rosalee

These are our babies.....2 girls and a boy. Unfortunately, we lost our 2nd little boy - he was stillborn. It was sad and hard for Brenna, but it's hard to be sad for long with these little fuzzy faces.

There's nothing that says Spring like baby lambs.....other than baby chicks - which are arriving next week:)

Where the Hell has this girl gone now??

Where, you ask? I'm up to may ass in paint chips, carpet samples, light fixtures and oh yeah....baby lambs. Of course, the latter being waaaaaay more fun than the former.

I've taken literally 5 gazillion pictures of these adorable little devils - 2 girls and a boy, btw - however, the paint chips and carpet samples and light fixtures are taking up so much of my time.......okay, that was bull.....every spare moment I have is being spent watching the hours upon hours of TV/movies I have recorded on our new DVR. Why hadn't anyone told me these things existed? I feel like such a dinosaur.

You can actually pause live TV? Who the hell knew that? You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. I wish I was, because since making this discovery? Much.wasted.time. As soon as I come out of this TV coma? I'll get right on posting the pictures of the baby lambs, but I'm warning you, get ready to melt like a stick of butter on a 100 degree day - nothing cuter in the entire world, not even my own babies:)

Smokey the Bear says, "Never Play with Fire"

Here are a few pictures of our house as it is being completely gutted and rebuilt. Although in these pictures the insulation hasn't been removed yet, so it got worse before it got better. It's funny, we just moved into this house 5 years ago after spending 1 year building it ourselves. Now, here we are, picking out light fixtures, ceiling fans, new paint colors, carpet, kitchen cupboards, and boy, are we having a huge case of deja vu!







On the bright side, why not change a few things that you wish you would have done differently five years ago? A new light here, a phone jack there and some new carpet in the kids' room (who in their right mind puts off-white carpet in a kids room?)

At first blush, this seems like it might be fun to change things up a bit, unless you are me. Anyone that knows me, knows that shopping is my least favorite thing to do and making decisions about design, color and style is my second least favorite. Don't get me wrong, I love design, color and style, but I'm one of those people that likes to 'chew' on things for awhile, someone who needs to 'live' in a space for awhile before I can decide if I like the room arrangement. So, when you have a contractor who tells you that you have exactly 2 days to make 3 major decisions, that's not fun for me, that is stressful and pisses me off.

But in the spirit of being a team player, I hauled my ass to the lighting store, the tile shop and IKEA all in one day and made all 3 of those damn decisions - so there!

Come to think of it, this is kind of fun:)

3 months in bullet points

There have been quite a few happenings around our place during my 3 month hiatus, most of which are depressing and one in particular was beyond tragic, so I will give a quick synopsis and get it out of the way so we can move on to happier things.

- John and I separated and were living in different residences
- my grandmother was in a car accident - broke both wrists and shattered her ankle and is still recovering in a rehabilitation center
- my dad had a mild heart attack that required me to go to Branson, Missouri and be with him (no, having to stay in Branson is not the tragic part:)
- my friend that I golf with in the summer - her son who was 18 years old and friends with my oldest daughter - hung himself. We are still reeling from this, as you can imagine.
- Kino (remember Kino? My 85 year old Japanese buddy?) also went into the hospital with chest pain and a suspected heart attack - which turned out not to be - so some good news.
- the same day Kino got out of the hospital - our house caught on fire with a chimney fire.
- we are currently displaced to a rental farm house while the gutting and rebuilding of our home is being done which will take roughly 10-12 weeks.
- John and I are now living in the same house again because he moved into the house I was renting while we were separated. We figured this would be best for the kids as they were already having a tough time with the separation and now their house burning - how much can they take at once, right?

There. Now in case some of you are afraid to even come to my blog for fear that my bad luck might jump through the screen and 'get' you, have no fear. Don't they say bad luck comes in 3's? Yeah, about that - I should be good for at least 2 years, right? So, you're safe.....I hope.

Now on a happier note, we feel we are coming through it all and we are all still standing. We are also realizing we are fairly resilient and helping the kids to understand that no matter how bleak things look, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Having Winter on its way out and Spring on her way in is very helpful. Aside from the melting snow and the mud & muck, there are some sure signs of Spring. We are currently planting seeds in the greenhouse; lettuce & onions in the hoophouse and are anxiously awaiting baby lambs and baby chicks. All signs of new life and hope.

What's that saying people are always saying when they are trying to be helpful? "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger?" I feel like the fucking Incredible Hulk.