I got Len a kilt for his birthday in January… it finally arrived.
Surely, surely, you must click to see more of the same!!
We went to Mom’s for dinner after school tonight. Now tell me, why are Sloppy Joe’s soooo good?! Anyway, Duska and family were there too, and as usual “the cousins” had a wonderful time together. Daniel and Calder were getting a bit rowdy in the front hall and Mammy went through to check on them, she came back with this little gem that couldn’t be left untold.
Calder & Daniel: *giggle*
Mammy: What’s so funny boys?
Calder: This… *sticking bum out* “FART FORCE!!” and *turning and thrusting hips forward* “WILLY SABER!!”
C & D: HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
Calder: Well, was it funny Mammy!!?
Len’s back tomorrow morning from a week away in Belgium but is only home for the weekend. That’s a yay! and a boo! all in one sentence there… The chicken is still alive and although she can’t lift her head, she has been sitting and was able to drink water… Let’s hope tomorrow morning doesn’t start with slaughtering a hen. Molly is still in the dog house…
Our friends on a neighbouring farm, Howard and Amanda, have been plagued by another neighbour’s loose pig. The pig keeps getting into their barn and eating the chicken food, knocking over and rummaging through the rubbish bins and he’s rooting up their horses’ grazing fields. The “keeper of the pig” seems not to care that his little oinking beast of a pig has free range of all the neighbourhood farms so we decided to go pig hunting last night after swimming lessons.
With five kids, three adults, a Land Rover and a handful of red rope we were prepared to herd him into submission. We set off into the field he was last seen in and quickly spotted him nestled in the tall grasses. The hunt began.
...We chased the blinkin’ pig for over 2 hours. We realised if we could get him out of the field and onto the fence lined lane we could use the two vehicles to block him in. I never realised just how fast (and scary) pigs really are! On our last ‘lane attempt’ the sly little bugger escaped under one of the fences into another field…
I should have had my 70-300mm lens with me so I could zoom in for better shots but I did manage to photograph the first half of the chase up until the point that Amanda (well Amanda’s Land Rover) got stuck in the mud and I had to go get mine to pull her out. After that, I abandoned my stint of photojournalism and joined the chase with my Land Rover. I can’t remember having quite as much fun in a long time as I had speeding through the fields in my 4x4 in hot pursuit of that hog!
The poor wee pig was so tired (as were we) by the time the sun was going down that he was foaming at the mouth (we were not). Howard managed to herd him down nearer to the owner-of-said-pig’s house (to tear up his fields and knock over his rubbish bins and eat his chicken feed!!)
I had to rush home at 9pm (well past bed time and we hadn’t eaten yet) as a phone call alerted me to the fact that my puppy had gotten free and had caught a chicken and had been using her neck as a new chew toy. The chicken lives, but seems to be suffering a great deal of stress (but that’s a story for another day.)
...the pig runs free.
click picture for piggy shots
Nothing says “I love me again” like a new do and nails! I positively sparkle now (just agree with me, ok?)!!
I’ve been on antibiotics for three days now and I have to say I am feeling much better but… I am still in pain. I was chatting with an orally connected friend and he explained ‘dry socket’ to me, which the cure for sound absolutely horrid!
A dry socket occurs usually about 2-3 days after an extraction. If it happens it is because the initial clot has been dislodged for some reason. When it hapens it leaves a bare, dry socket, with exposed bone and nerve endings. It causes a nasty ache in the jaw… If one does occur, the dentist/surgeon will shoot you up with a local, then scrape the inside of the socket to get it bleeding again . He or she will then pack the socket with a strip of gauze soaked with iodoform… The bleeding will allow a new clot to form, and the packing will promote clot formation from the bottom of the socket up. Sometimes a clot forms above but leaves the bottom part empty....
Sounds pretty nasty, huh?
Anyway, on a happier, less painful note… I got my hair and nails done!! Yay me!! And, after I order up a couple amazon vouchers online tonight I am totally finished with my Christmas shopping!! Double Yay Me!! I had lunch with my mom and Mary Jill ( Hi Mary Jill *waves*) in Glasgow today and I managed to knock out the last of the shopping list. I ‘did’ Costco on the way home and thanks to rotisserie chickens and rama noodles the kids are fed and in bed!
I will spend the next 2 hours alternating between wrapping presents and doing laundry. Tomorrow I will go to the grocery store and and finish cleaning the house. I have a dear friend coming to dinner tomorrow night with his family (who I’ve yet to meet). Simon and I hung, back in the day, and the last time I saw him was at my wedding… he was my photographer. It will be fun to catch up again and to meet his wife and children and to pick his brains about starting out as a freelance photographer.
Friday will be my day to finish wrapping gifts and to catch the things that slipped through my ‘List of Everything That Needs Done Before Christmas’. After the kids get home from school, we’ll pick Len up at the airport and go to the movies. Saturday is the day before the day before Christmas *happy dance*… Let’s hope I won’t be spending it at the dentist getting the inside of my socket scraped and packed!!
Question: How can you be so organised and ready for Christmas at the beginning of one week and seven days later feel so totally unprepared for the whole event?
Answer: Simply have your wisdom tooth extracted on a Wednesday morning and spend the best part of the next 6 days flat on your back fighting the pain and infection!
I made it to the doctor today and was given a course of antibiotics and was reassured I would feel better by tomorrow, but man, I’m a mess right now! I don’t have what I would consider classic signs of infections (heat and fever) but the fact that I am ready for more pain killers every 3 hours, the bitter taste in my mouth and the smell, dear Lord, the smell of something having crawled in my mouth and died (Yes, I’m just a peach to live with...) and the pain in my ear and throat convinced me all was not well.
The kids school and church Christmas plays are over along with all Moma’s costume design responsibilities, the Christmas cookies are made and now eaten but none of the traditional Christmas candy has been attempted. The last few presents I needed to organise online… not done. A weeks worth of laundry… not done. A weeks worth of tiding in the house… not done. Christmas dinner organised and planned… not done. Christmas gifts wrapped… not done.
I am going to try and tidy the house a little tonight and attempt to get my head around what still needs done… Make lists, Amber, make lists. I might even make myself a cup of cinnamon and orange tea, find a lump of chocolate and try and stuff it into the good side of my mouth.
Yesterday I delivered my first order to my first client. She was overjoyed and, even better, she paid me AND she placed a further order!! She had commissioned me to do portraits of her three babies (twins at 15 months and her 4 month old). I have sourced a fabulous place for professional portrait printing and the end product of my work was wonderful (if I’m allowed to say that myself?). The money I made on the photoshoot was certainly worth my effort and as part of her order included 15 small prints to slide into Christmas cards for family, she and I are both sure more orders will follow from proud grandparents and aunts and uncles.
After that I picked up my friend and her baby, ran a few errands and headed out for lunch and another big push on the ol’ Christmas shopping front. We both shopped ‘like it was Christmas Eve’, forcing ourselves to make decisions and the end result is, I think I have almost all my gifts bought except for the few things I need to order online.
I was whacked by the time I got home, my heels were killing me and I let the kids vegetate for a while in front of the Disney Channel. When the cries of “I’m hungry” started flowing fast and thick and my pleas of “Two more minutes” wouldn’t hold them off any longer, Hannah suggested a “Root Hog, or Die” night. This practice happens only once in a blue moon and could possibly constitute child neglect if it were carried out regularly but, for me, after a busy week of being a good mommy on my own with the kids (Len’s been in Brussels) it was my sanity ticket.
Until this morning, I thought ‘Root Hog, or Die’ was another of our invented family phrases, passed down from mother to daughter over at least the last 4 generations. A phrase that means “find yourself something for dinner… anything your want… or die of hunger”. While feeling guilty for not providing a proper meal last night and cleaning up the aftermath of 4 kids’ Root, Hog or Dyin’ this morning (yes, the mess was left all night) I started getting curious about the origins of the saying. When the hot chocolate spills were wiped up, the cheese string packets were all gathered, the crisp (chips) crumbs were swept up, the apple cores were binned, the cereal was put away and the clementine peels were shoved into the overflowing trash, I googled it.
My friend Susan was cleaning out her inbox - the girl made me giggle:
Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.
“In honor of this holy season,” Saint Peter said, “you must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.”
The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. “It represents a candle,” he said.
“You may pass through the pearly gates,” Saint Peter said.
The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.
He shook them and said, “They’re bells.”
Saint Peter allowed him to pass through the pearly gates.
Ali sent me this list of questions with all her answers and these directions:
Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your
friends. Okay, here’s what you’re supposed to do, and
try not to be lame and spoil the fun! Just copy (do
not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new
e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so
that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole
bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that
sent it to you. Some of you may get this several
times, which means you have lots of friends.
Me, being the rebel and always on the lookout for good any blog fodder, am going to change this from an email quiz to a blog meme. Feel free to play along on your own blog or copy, paste and answer in the comments or in an email to me.
1. What is your occupation? Stay at home mom & wanna be freelance photographer.
2. What color are your socks right now? I’m barefoot, my heels are dry and cracked, my toe nail polish is almost completely warn away (yes Ali, it’s the same toe nail polish experiment I was working on when you were here.)
3. What are you listening to right now? My kids having a mad half hour in the kitchen.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? A BLT at lunch.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Like a pro!
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? RED
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Len
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes. How could I not?
9. How old are you today? 36 years and 10.5 months.
10. Favorite drink: I should say water, but I would rather dink Diet Coke.
The moon is rising… a huge orange ball popping up over the horizon. I can actually see The Man in it smiling at me like a silly, lop-sided jack-o-lantern. The kids have no homework tonight and all the chores are done so they are snuggled up on the couch, wrapped in fluffy throws, bellies full of homemade chocolate chip cookies and cold milk, watching Over the Hedge.
I spent the day at my friend’s playing with Elidh, making cookies and helping her over the mid-week hump. We scrubbed her kitchen from top to bottom and gave the living room a quick tidy. I remember the days when my kids were babies and I would just turn my back for five minutes and the house was totally wrecked. Then, a friend would stop by and keep me company while I got back on top of it all again. It was often the difference between insanity and… not.
My broadband has been acting very, well, narrow again, conspiring against me and my picture uploading endeavours. But last night, with no warning, it decided to co-operate. I have now put up my “The chickens have arrived” pictures and some from Guy Fawkes Night. (see, I’m a month behind!!) Your requests for pictures of the The Barn are duly noted and I will get right onto it, providing the ol’ broadband continues to be my friend.
Guy Fawkes Night
As usual, click the pics for slide show
There are candles twinkling around the living room, but no Christmas tree, as I hoped there would be by this time tonight. The builders have been in the house all week, so despite the fact that the house was very organised, tidy and clean this time last week, it is upside down again.
As you may (or may not) know, we are renting here, at The Farm. We live in “The Barn”, as we have affectionally named it. It is a traditional Scottish stone barn. The structure is at least 200 years old, but some features that were in the building (like the original Caledonian pine flooring, which would have only been used in barns when Caledonian Pines were so plentiful that they could be used for barn flooring, and the little slit-like windows) lead some to suspect it is much older. The structure is approximatly 17 meters long and 5 meters wide with upstairs and down. Length-wise, it is split. The first half houses a very generous kitchen/dining area, a small shower room and my laundry closet. We also have a futon and tv/xbox at one end of this room. This room is where the heart of my home beats. A stair well cuts up through the kitchen and leads to the kids’ rooms and a bathroom. Currently, we have 4 children in 2 bedrooms.
The other half of the house is our living room/office area. The stone walls in the living room were pointed but left rugged. The loose limewash was chipped away but, where it held firm, it was left on the walls. Several coats of cream-tinted lime wash were applied to the old walls - the effect, in my opinion is stunning. When it was found to be in near perfect condition, the antique pine floor, already mentioned, was lifted for the underfloor heating to be layed (laid?) then replaced, sanded and waxed. Above the living room there is a very cleverly designed mezzanine which is used as Len’s office. It overhangs the living room but leaves about one third of the room open to a view of the vaulted ceiling.
There is an additional area below the living room that most old barns do not have. Don’t quote me on it but I believe, at its conception, the room was a mill. It is very much a basement area in that windows are scarce, but as The Barn sits on a slight slope, there is a quaint, arched, stone opening in which french doors have been installed. This is Moma’s room (which she happily shares with daddy). We have a small hall, a coat closet, a bathroom area, a walk-in closet and a spacious bedroom.
