For the Love of Tuesdays!

A while back I posted on facebook that I hate Saturdays. I received a lot of comments, none that were bad, just a lot. You know what I LOVE? Tuesdays! Mr. Smash has Mondays off, so the day is normally filled with projects around the farm. Starting Friday afternoon I stop cleaning. <----- Yep! I do the normal stuff like dishes and laundry (if needed), but I very rarely pick up the living room or clean the bathrooms. Friday nights are typically movie nights and the weekends are "work days".

For a mom with littles, weekends are no different than any other day. And spring break and Christmas break and summer break is all the same as well. With littles there's no "FRIDAY! It's the weekend! Yea! We get to sleep in!" Yeah, no. Littles still wake up early and expect to eat and what-not.

For a homeschooling mom it sometimes looks a little different as well. It's not like the family whose kids are in school and Dad or/and Mom work 8-5. I'm not sure how the weekend goes for my fellow HS friends, but I know that Mondays for mom's like myself are FAB-U-LOUS! That's right! You read that correctly! Many homeschooling moms I know love Mondays!

Since Mr. Smash is home on Mondays, I'm a Tuesday kinda gal. (Let me emphasize that I LOVE my husband and I LOVE when he is home. Just here me out.) Wanna know what this "1st day of the week" love is all about. Listen up. I am back to my regular schedule, PLUS some good ideas topped with motivation. My early morning quiet time is in full effect on Tuesdays. Mr. Smash gets an outstanding lunchbox full of healthy stuff. I'm smiling very similar to the always punctual Mrs. Cleaver, and I welcome my sweet little ones with a morning hug and kiss.

Our morning chores are normally done close to perfect because "I won't let mediocre slide anymore"! Breakfast is healthy and table work is on-time. We craft and do "pintrest-y" things. We read and everyone listens. We play outside, and do nature walks and swing. Our schedule is working! It's flowing! I got this!

Naptime still sucks, but you know.

Afternoon chores are moving right along because I am smiling and cheerful and playing music to help us all work together. Daddy is greeted with happy hugs, and dinner is prepared with little complaining. That's usually where it ends because after dinner and bedtime routines might as well be Wednesday.

For homeschooling moms that 1st day of the week is wonderful because our high hopes and "keeping me up at night" thoughts are put into play. We are motivated! I wish everyone could love that 1st day of the wee,k and not dread it like so many do.

The Inevitable Dirty Truth

We had our first vet trip yesterday. It was a good experience for my little farm kids. Every other problem we've dealt with we've treated ourselves or a good friend of ours made a house-call. This one pulled on my heart strings a bit. We love our sweet girl Stripe. Hears the back story.





A1 is almost 7 years old. Yep! For almost 7 years I've dealt with poop. A lot of poop. And most of it hasn't even been my own. As moms we know that it is inevitable. Well, after the 2nd child we know it's inevitable. Moms get pooped on. Mom's clean up poop in places other than a bottom. It smells, of course, but who else is gonna do it? You clean it up and move on.

If you cloth diaper then you deal with poop in a different way than if you use disposable. I've done both, and the money I save using cloth FAR outweighs the poop factor. Moms also know that poop can tell a lot about the health of your baby who can't communicate yet. Raise your hand if you've ever been worried about the color of poop or lack of poop. ME!!!

And then there's the tummy bugs. Nevermind. We'll pass on that one.

But in the past 9 months the poop has multiplied by close to 200. With all the animals here, we have all learned to "bask" in the poop. BASK not BATH! When we have visitors I will prepare them by saying, "there is a lot of poop! only dog poop in the immediate yard, but everywhere else there is lots. don't wear nice shoes if you're worried about it. and no shoes in my house. <<< PERIOD!"  They laugh. And then their kids have poop on their shoes.

I've soaked and wiped poop off of a chick that had major "pasty butt". Every morning when I scrape the droppings board I observe and investigate all chicken poop for problems. We muck both stalls for our hoofed animals because no one likes to sleep in poop, including cows and goats. The poop we muck goes into a cart that gets dumped into the compost pile; which our chicken will scratch around and dust in (that's actually pretty gross). We mow over the stuff in our close yard and pastures because poop is fertilizer and we are hoping to be able to re-seed this way (an experiment that seems to be working well).

My children know about poop. We get it on our hands and wipe it on overalls. A1 is now very knowledgeable about poop. She has pointed out funny looking chicken poop and hunted out the one it belonged to. We treated that bird and now she's well. When we were bottle feeding Bella, Cassie, and Dartanian we were constantly trying to catch them in the act. 2 had scours, which is diarrhea (to keep it simple). It can be treated but the outcome isn't always good. Bella beat scours, Dartanian wasn't so lucky. RIP buddy.

Now back to Stripe. We went out to feed them and she didn't eat. She stood in the stall. She didn't even want her own bucket food. Goats will ALWAYS eat. I knew something was up. I put her in the yard and texted my good friend who "knows" goats. When I came back A1 says, "mom! this isn't good. this is NOT normal goat poop. It came from Stripe." Smart girl. We scraped it up, put it in a tupperware bowl, and hauled all of my human kids to the vet. The did a fecal float test to see what we were dealing with. WORMS. Well, shoot a high strength wormer down her and I'll tell you what, almost back to her old self in a matter of hours.

So if you have the desire to homestead and have animals, be ready. You will step in it, lay in it, touch it with more than a finger tip, and if you know how helpful it can be, you will be happy to be in close proximity to poop.

And that's the dirty truth.

A Message to City Folk

We didn't quite live in the "city" before we moved to our little farm. But HOA said we definitely weren't "country". I grew up in a small town, but not farm town. There were a lot of things I assumed until 9 months ago when we started our homestead/farming journey. I want to share some of these things with you because I know most of my peeps are city folk.

1. Chickens and eggs- All hens lay a daily egg. Not all of those eggs will hatch a chick. You must have a male and female to have a baby; therefore, you must have a rooster to have an egg that will hatch a chick. So, the eggs you get from the grocery store are most likely NOT fertilized (depending on your chosen grocery store I suppose). The farm fresh eggs you get from a neighbor or friend, there's a possibility that you are eating a fertilized egg. If they have a rooster of course. And yes, chickens "do it". There is an actual mating process that takes place, and a rooster sperm will fertilize a hen's girly parts. If you want to know more click here.

2. Animals tied up in the front yard- I used to drive by a house with their horse or cow tied in the front yard. I thought it was cruel. I thought they obviously don't have the space for a large animal. BUT, horses and cows are lawn mowers. I can't tell you how many times we've let our cows in a certain area because we just didn't feel like mowing. Or didn't have time. This may not always be the case, but I now get it.

3. The "junk" in the yard- We have so much stuff in our yard right now. Here's the thing, we don't get complimentary city bulk trash pick-up. We must wait until the 1st weekend of the month to load up a trailer and go to the county dump. Sometimes we are busy that 1 weekend. And, guess what, no HOA. So, who cares. Ha! I said it. The junk that's waiting to go to trash eternity does bother me some, but knowing some association isn't going to come fine me for it makes it not so bad.

4. Skinny Livestock- Driving the back roads I would witness skin and bones on horses and cattle. It made me sad that the owners couldn't afford to feed them. Well, I know now that some cows look skinny. Dairy cows specifically have very little rump meat. Here's more on that at Green Eggs and Goats
I also know that some livestock owners have trouble putting weight on certain animals. Whether they are sick or have some sort of parasite they are battling, it has nothing to do with negligence. SOME horse owners are trying their hardest to figure out why their horse isn't gaining weight. I've met a lot of rescue owners too. They bring in the horses and cattle that are underweight and starving and they're in the process of fattening them up.

5. Clothing- I always wondered why the hideous fashion statement of "overalls". Now, I get it! You put them on over your regular clothes. Go do your messy jobs outside. Then come back in and take them off. Hang em up (cause you'll just be putting them back on later). And you still have clean clothes on. ALL HAIL TO OVERALLS!

6. Goats- I never understood the love for goats. They climb and escape. I would often see goats outside of a fenced in residence and it baffled me. Why would they let their goats out there? Why would they let them climb on stuff? Goats have the climbing and escaping instinct. Just like cats scratch and babies put things in their mouths. Feed the instinct or put away the desire. Our goats have giant cable spools they climb on and they love it. Tip to goat owners- make a climbing castle out of cinderblocks and it helps file their hooves down. Our goats have never gotten out of our fenced in area. I believe the reason is because they run the pasture with the cows, and they have about 15 acres to eat on. The desire to go anywhere else is diminished when they have this much area (and now that i said this I'll be chasing goats down this afternoon). I know some don't have that option, and that's okay. Just have good fencing! But really, I LOVE our goats. Another post on that later.

7. Structure- Why the need for structures? Barns and shops and extra houses. I didn't get it. I know you need a barn for animals, but why 3? Well, it's not just feed you need to store. Fencing, buckets, tools, heavy machinery, extra supplies, and always the "what if's" (like brooder boxes, calf pullers, heat lamps, extra lumber). Most homesteaders and farmers like to DIY. Therefore they need space and tools to DIY. 

8. Hermits- Then notion and thought that farmers and homesteaders are "home-bodies" is quite the assumption. People are different, but for us it's true! I'm a really social person so it's not the introvert in me. We just have so much to do at home and we enjoy it so much that there is no need to go elsewhere. I actually HATE going anywhere away from my home. It's awesome that the Lord has provided us with a living environment that lines up with our desire to be at home. I wish all people wanted to be home. It would alleviate the need for vacations.


And there ya have it. Everyone is different, so this isn't always the case in every circumstance. Anything you've wondered or assumed about country living? Comment below and I can help you out or find someone who can.

The "Good Morning" That Wasn't

My alarm goes off at 5:20am on a regular day. Yesterday I decided to not get up until 5:45am. I knew better.

I woke up at 5:30am to A4 talking in her bed. Fabulous! My little baby usually doesn't wake up until close to 8. I was getting Mr. Smash out the door and spilled coconut oil. Crap is expensive! But, trying to stay positive i moisturize my entire body and put a smile on my face because it was an opportunity to clean a spot on the counter and floor that normally gets the shaft.

Moving forward. A1 and A2 cheerfully wake up and get ready for morning chores. A3 wakes up crying and soaked from head to toe with pee. That lovely smell prompts me to wash a load of sheets. (Been 2 months, probably time to do it anyway). Into the shower she goes while I finally get A4 out of her crib. We all head out to take care of farmer business. I set A4 in the compost pile since I know she'll be happy there... just kidding, I didn't do that ;) But she did decide she wanted to take up permanent residence on my hip. Fun times mucking stalls with a 25lb leech on ya.

Back inside to wash hands and make that 2nd cup of coffee. Ah! Love some coffee. Preparing a fun morning of baking with the crew. Find out A4 had plans to eat dog food instead. We get it from Wells Brothers,so I know it's much healthier than what's on America's dinner table. A3 chooses to draw pictures on the bathroom counter in toothpaste. Art class. A2 can't decide what to wear. Logic.

Mommy gets stuff back in order and herds everyone to the kitchen for cooking fun. I take a big gulp of my now luke warm coffee and get surprised by a fly. In my mouth. And when it go to spit it out it sticks to my tongue. After i squirt hand sanitizer in my mouth I stare at my almost full cup of coffee. I don't want to pour it out. But I do. And tears filled my eyes.

I should go back to bed and reset my alarm and start the day over. BUT I CAN'T. It's totally not feasible.

I complain! Why? Because I had a plan for the day. This plan is not happening. I'm trying to make it work. We have a routine! A schedule! Kids thrive on routine. I thrive on routine! And that's why we homeschool. So we can have a schedule. Wait, no. That's not why we homeschool. The cool thing about homeschool is we are flexible. We can make a last minute trip to the library or to go see Mr. Smash at work. We can go for a nature walk or spend the day in PJ's in front of the t.v. (educational shows of course).

So, why am I complaining? I'm a planning, scheduling, like to know what's gonna happen kind of gal. I come by it honestly. My mom and I planned my last c-section. We also had a plan B and plan C if the said plan A didn't work. I need to have a plan when my plans don't work, and this day totally caught me off guard.

 So I take a deep breath and put my big girl panties on and figure out a way to get this day in check. A4 takes an early nap so we take art and all it's messy glory outside. Did it turn out to be a good day? We had great moments. A4 and A3 still had their toddler/3 yr old fits. A4 still complained about table work. A3 continued to doddle while doing chores. But the Lord has been working on scaling back my Type-A perfectionist attitude, and this morning was one such day. I'm still a work in progress.


I know He'll have some words to say to me when I get home though. My murder instinct that goes into effect when I see these hideous flies is probably not healthy.