Work day

My parents were kind enough to come back again this past weekend to help us get some more stuff done around here.  Chris & I decided that we either need to get rid of a bunch of sheep or get to working on the fencing around the soon-to-be pasture because these ladies are just plains expensive to feed with the cost of hay being so ridiculously high.

Fencing it is!

This past Sunday we (meaning the men) pulled out all the old railroad tie fence posts that were rotten and/or not inline.  Which meant all of them came out.  Chris & my dad sunk two corner posts and hopefully we will have more time this weekend to work on it again.  We've already bought the seed for the pasture, and it just needs to be gone over with the disc again and it should be about ready to plant.  Can't wait for it to be all lush and green out in front of the barn!!

While the boys were busy pulling fence posts, my mom & I had a massive burn barrel going on.  We got a huge pile of old wood burned up and the junk piles behind the barn are starting to diminish.  I have been slowing burning more and more each day & today is the first day since Sunday that I've had to use the lighter to get the fire started back up.

Me discing one evening last week

Lovely friend in the wood pile.  When I smashed her about a bajillion eggs came out, so I'm glad I got to her before those suckers hatched!

FREE railroad ties.
The previous owners left us with this wonderful pile.  We are going to use a few for fence posts but have no idea what we are going to do with the rest.

All the posts are gone along the front.  Can't wait to get the grass growing and the new fence up!

Funny Friday

I leave you with this for the weekend...

Garden time!

I was al Wal-Mart the other day picking up some stuff and decided to check out what they had in terms of vegetable seeds.  

Found these nifty things.  Pretty much paper or some type of biodegradable material that you start your seeds in, then just rip the pots apart and put them straight into the ground.  40 little pot for $2.  Couldn't pass that up! SO I bought 2.

Went outside today during Caylob's nap time and planted the seeds that I had purchased: corn, 4 types of squash, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, green beans & cucumbers.

There are still a few different ones that I want to get: another variety of tomatoes, okra & onions.

The strawberries are still going from last year and already have a couple blooms, so I just need to transplant them to the new garden site.

I was trying to think of a way to label the seeds so I wouldn't just be guessing when they came up.  It's pretty easy to tell the difference between corn and squash, but not so easy with crookneck & zucchini.

My handy dandy label maker and skewers broken in half.

This weekend we are supposed to drop down into the 50's but by the middle of next week we'll be back in the 70's.

By this time next month, I should be able to transplant them into the big garden.

No survivors

Chris brought this home from Home Depot yesterday.  Just for me.  

My husband is so sweet :)

3 gallons of some pretty great weed killer.  Gone.  Took me about an hour to mix it and spray everything I could find that would be hard for Chris to get with the tank sprayer.  Flower beds, cracks in sidewalks and cement driveway, the two dirt driveways, the perimeter of the sheep pen.  Pretty much everything that was green that wasn't planted by me or the previous owners.

I hate weeds, but hate pulling them even more.  

Thanks, Honey!

#85 & #93...CHECK!

85. Get rid of car payment

Halle-freakin-lujah!!!!

I bought my lovely little Korean car in August of 2008.  I then owned two vehicles.  Well, I owned one and the bank owned the other and was letting me borrow it.  My other vehicle, that I bought right before I moved here and started college, is a 1997 Ford F-250 4x4 with the turbo diesel.  Polar opposites!  I bought the car when diesel was almost $5 a gallon. As a poor college student, it was cheaper for me to make a car payment on a car that got 35 mpg, and park the truck until it was needed, than for me to pay for a crap-ton of diesel.  Anyways, we still have the truck.  Love that thing even though we have been having a lot of problems with it lately.  

We decided that it was time to pay off the car, so we could have a little extra money each month, so that is what I did last week.  I should frame the receipt.  Paid off 2 1/2 years early!!

93. Throw a party

We had to celebrate me being married to an old fart now! :)  We had a party the week after his birthday because we were supposed to be at a jackpot show the weekend of his birthday.  I'm kind of bummed that I didn't really take any pictures.  It was a ton of fun tho.  We had a bunch of our friends over for a BBQ and drinks...and CUPCAKES!

68 to be exact.  I think there were more than that, but I couldn't get Chris & James to stop eating them while I was trying to frost them.

I stayed up till 11 frosting cupcakes the night before.  All. made. from. scratch.  Including the buttercream frosting! Red velvet and chocolate.  All from PW.  Love her!

It was fun to hang out with everyone.  We hadn't been together with everyone since the wedding, so it was great to see everyone again.  

After most people left, there was some of us that just hung around the fire pit and drank some more margaritas!

I was exhausted the next day, but it was sooo worth it.

I love lists!

The more things I get to check off this list the happier I get!  

#61.  Teach Caylob 5 signs

Done!!

Having a child learn sign language is amazing.  Not only is it so cool to teach it to them, but it allows them to be able to communicate before they are able to talk.  It teaches them to use their words instead of screaming or screeching for what they want.  He doesn't get to eat by just screaming.  He needs to use the words that the knows.  "Eat, please"  He doesn't get to scream or throw things on the floor when he is done eating.  He uses his words, "all done".  Not only does it help him communicate, but it sets boundaries.  He knows what he can and can't do.

This kid is so fun and so smart!  It takes him about 5 minutes of repeatedly doing a sign with him for him to learn it!  His mom taught him 'thank you'.  One day when he went home, he didn't know it.  He came back the next day signing 'thank you' when you ask him to.  

Smart. I tell ya!

I was finally able to get a video of him doing all his signs.  He knows 6 now and uses them regularly.  He was sitting on my lap yesterday after he woke up from his nap.  Started signing 'eat' with one hand, and evidently I didn't get up quick enough because he started signing it with both hands at the same time.  In other words "woman, get off your butt and get be something to eat!" :)

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Well, either blogger won't let me upload a video right now or our $69.95/month internet isn't working correctly...once again.

But, Caylob knows these signs: "please", "thank you", "more", "all done", "eat", and "help"

He uses most of them correctly 90% of the time.  When he is really excited or really wants something he either uses both hands or just signs everything hoping to get his point across.

Here he is in all of his glory after his nap a couple days ago.

Spring is in the air!

Been super busy, but I promise to get more posts in this week.

My parents came to visit this past Saturday (they live about 2 hrs north) and they helped us get some stuff cleaned up around the yards.  We had a serious burn barrel going and got a lot cleaned up.  It looks a little better around here.  Thanks dad & mom!!

Chris spent most of the day saturday on the tractor doing field work.  Trying to get caught up.  He would have got a lot farther if the disc hadn't broke down.  Something always happens.

He texted me this picture tonight.  From the couch.  Spring is definitely here!  Not that we really had much of a winter, unfortunately.

It took me a minute to figure out what is was.  I guess I've never seen a budding grapevine this up close and personal :)

Let's just pray it doesn't freeze now.