The innate desire to serve our children and fulfil their wishes is not lost on me, I enjoy the indulgence of being "the bestest Mommy in the world" if only momentarily. To have a "puppy shaped pinata stuffed with yummy, yummy candy" was the small request Grace made for her 5th birthday party, and one I wholeheartedly intended to fulfil, until my helplessly frugal mind processed the $10.00 price tag on the tiny Poodle sized Paper Mache creation and considered the additional total of filling the thing "with yummy, yummy candy". So, inspired by creativity and motivated by the prospect of saving a buck, I roamed the isles looking for the supplies needed to make our own pinata, and I as I paid the $6.00 total and silently congratulated myself on saving $4.00, I headed home to share my brilliance with Grace.
As I explained that our pinata would be balloon shaped instead of puppy shaped, but it would hold loads of yummy, yummy candy, I was pleasantly surprised to find Grace completely on board with the idea and she couldn't wait to get started. It doesn't take a Paper Mache Genius to recognise it's potential for sticky disaster, however, unforeseen circumstances can arise with even the best laid plans, and as I washed my hands, after Grace and I spent an hour smoothing wet and sticky blue tissue paper over an inflated balloon, it quickly became apparent that I had failed to consider the potential for Smurf Hands. I alternated in shifts of scrubbing fervently and adding more soap, as Grace (who for whatever reason was able to wash her Smurf Hands back to their typical shade without effort), coached me on how much soap I should be using, but to no avail. Somewhat disconcerted and confused, I've had almost 2 days to accept myself as a human/smurf anomaly, and while I would never have chosen this path for myself, I can only hope the off handed remarks and sideways glances will simmer down one day, and people will accept my partial Smurfy Metamorphosis.
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DON'T LOOK AT ME, I'M HIDEOUS.....BUT I'M OK WITH THAT.......
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
(The blue is hidden under the final red layer)
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It's at this point I feel I must apologise to you, my readers, for my laxy daisy posts of lately, Spring has hit the farm, and of course from now until about November is our busy season, it is still my intention to post every Monday, however when or if something comes up that stops me from doing so, I will post a note as to when an update will be available.
This past week we've focused on fencing the first of our pastures and getting all of our cattle with small calves on them, to grass. This will hopefully reduce the amount of sickness in our calves due to a Parasitic illness in our barns, and will allow us to clean out and disinfect the pens, while we've lost no other calves since I last posted, we've had a couple more young ones come down with the illness and require a great deal of care. Our results from the vet's testing thankfully came back negative for all of the issues we assumed we were dealing with, but with a positive result for Criptosporidia, a nasty sickness, which is virtually untreatable due to it's solitary nature, being it's own organism which there has yet to be found a treatment. The good news, is while it is particularly aggressive, if all secondary illnesses are treated and the calves are kept hydrated, the mortality rate is low. It is always an exciting and rewarding time to see the animals make there way to summer pastures, not only does it lighten the workload, but we find so much enjoyment in watching them all, young calves to old stock cows, running, bucking and playing until they've had their fill, then contentedly grazing on their first feeds of new grass.
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| READY TO GO |
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| A BREAK FROM FENCING FOR A PICNIC |
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| HORSES ON NEW PASTURE |
This week is our birthday week, Bethany turned 1yr old last Monday, and Grace will be turning 5 this coming Monday. While Bethany's celebration was relatively small and simple, Grace has evolved beyond the "cake with the family" stage, and has planned a party with about 12 of her friends. After she helped me fill treat bags and do some other preparations, Grace decided to head out and play in the yard, with all the rain we've had, any play in the yard will typically generate yet another change of cloths, and as she was on her third set today, I warned her against anymore playing without splash pants on. Heeding my warning for the nano second it took her to run past me and out the door, I was not surprised to see her sitting in the mud digging holes in my old riding ring, where she's been digging for "underground springs" (something she learned on T.V.) for weeks, later, however, I was mildly surprised to find her in the yard, shirtless and filling a beach bucket with the water that gathered in the holes, then dumping it on her Little Tike's slide and careening down it and back into the hole she'd dug. Aware that it was more the fact she was shirtless, then unrecognisable through the mud, that astonished me, I called out an enquiry as to her lack of wardrobe, to which she calmly replied "I'm not supposed to get my cloths wet, remember?" Convincing her to put on some cloths that were destined for the garbage anyway, I geared Bethany up and we headed out to watch the fun.
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| BIRTHDAY GIRL IN HER NEW BIKE HELMET |
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| MUD BATH?? |
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| TRYING BIG SIS'S TRICKS |
My weight loss adventure, while commencing, tends to be a slow journey, between weather and having difficulties getting out for runs and exercise while Jamie is working off the farm. This week has been a particularly difficult week in this respect, so this morning I decided to jump in with both guns blazing and ran my first 4km run since Bethany was born. I don't particularly enjoy running, but found it extremely productive in my past weight loss efforts, that being said, considering I am barely able to move this evening, has me questioning my theory of accomplishing a weeks worth of exercise in one go. Since beginning I've lost about 12lbs, which in all honesty I estimated would be more by now, however, I'm still motivated and determined to lose the remaining 50lbs to reach my goal. I am hoping to get back out tomorrow and look forward to possibly having a bit more time for fitness in the coming months.
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| BETHANY'S BIRTHDAY CAKE WHICH GRACE DECORATED |
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