The Good, the Bad, and the Unsettling

Hiho and Happy Summer to all of you.

Here in Groovyville, things have been extremely busy.  We've got it all going on - the good, the bad, and the unsettling.

Let's start with the GOOD:
     -God has blessed us all with good health.
     -Both the girls placed super well in their 4-H Dairy Goat shows!  Silly-Head got 2 firsts as a "Junior" and Girly-Girl got 2 seconds against some steep competition.  They both worked very hard, jumped in whenever anyone else needed help and had wonderful attitudes.  I am a VERY proud Groovy 4-H mom!
     -There are still 2 exciting fairs for us to show dairy goats at!  We are all looking forward to the shows!
     -The weather has been lovely thus far with very few "Too hot" days.   We've had rain interspersed at perfect intervals, so there has been no need to water the garden at all.  I must say that our part of Podunk, Maine is lush and beautiful right now!
     -Speaking of my garden; it's doing quite well except for the returning tomato blight.  We've harvested garlic and carrots and the onions are almost ready.  I'm drying parsley and basil now.  And a friend gave us many strawberry plants to plant.  FUN!
     -All the goaties are healthy and full of vinegar.  They keep us very entertained with all their antics.  *sigh*  I love my goaties!  We are praying earnestly for success in getting them all pregnant this fall...with multiple doe kids...It's our turn!  Please!!!
     -I actually wrote and submitted an article to an online goat related website!
     -I've got another fun idea for a short story that I need to crank out.
     -My long, thin, straight and stringy hair has started to curl more and more as I've aged.  Totally GROOVY!
     -Both the girls were able to attend a 2-day horse camp in June.  It was extremely affordable and they had a blast!
     -I feel like our homeschool time has gone really well this year.  I am very laid back - in fact, we almost "unschool" - but the girls have flourished and learned and grown by leaps and bounds.

Now the BAD:
     -Um, OK....so I can only think of 2 things.  And I can't really elaborate on either one since they involve personal family details.  Suffice it to say that caring for aging parents can be difficult at times.  And that being the parent of an adult child can also have its unpleasant challenges.

Then there's the UNSETTLING:
      -Girly-Girl starts highschool this year!!!!!!!  That means A. she's growing up! and B. I gotta start keeping more serious and permanent school records!
 
      -The Best Hubby Ever has his sights set on taking another month long, cross-country camping trip in September.  Wait...September?????  That's less than 4 weeks away!!!!!!!!!!  This is exciting (At least, that's what I keep telling myself...)  And I'm sure it will be fun once we actually get on the road.  However, the planning process stresses me considerably and the thought of being away from all our needy elderly parents concerns me.  But the BHE is right that this seems like the best year to load up and go.  The needy elderly folks are only going to get needier and elderlier.  (Elderlier IS a word, right?) The next two years (possibly three) I plan to be teaching high school sciences, so I'll need to be here in September to start classes .  We also have no goats in milk right now, so their care should be minimal.  Next year I'm hoping and praying for THREE does to kid and be milked.

At any rate, the scramble is on to find someone who can sit with Grampy so Grammy can get out of the house and someone to take GrammaJ out shopping once a week and maybe help her with housework AND someone to back-up Grammy if goat care gets overwhelming for her.

And that's about all for now.  I have a bit of a stomach bug and my energy is flagging fast.  But before I go, let me point you to these hilarious and sweet goat comedy videos.  VERY creative!  In fact, they've inspired us to write out some plot lines for OUR goats!  So please enjoy The Goat.  We sure did!

A Quick Caprine Update

Oh Mercy, It's been a busy summer! So for now, you'll have to be satisfied with with a few short words of update.

First of all, remember how we were going to breed Annika this Fall? Well, that sounded like a good plan, but God has a REAL sense of humor. As we were preparing her for a local 4-H show we noticed that she was a little on the chubby side. AND where she had been flat before, she now seemed to have a bit of an udder, AND she was dripping milk.

Hmmmmm.

After talking to her former owner (we bought her 3 weeks ago), it seems that she and the buck may have already had a tryst around the end of April.

Yep, we're having goat babies after all! Looks like I'll be milking this winter. In the basement! Where it's WARM!

She's actually due within a day or 5 of our next goat show in late September, so this could get interesting.

In the meantime I'm trying to get together a birthing kit, locating milking supplies, and "kid proof" our fencing. None of which I was planning to do until next Spring!

Nigerians usually have 2 or more kids. We're hoping for 2 does! Then I'll sign them over to the girls as their own goats and Annie will be mine.

Mindy, the larger, older doe, had a cough when we got her and several other health issues. We were able to deal with some of the problems by switching her feed and giving her some supplements (she had a copper deficiency), but the cough has gotten worse.

I finally called the vet on Monday and now we've got her on nose drops and antibiotics. Yes, folks, Groovy can now give shots!

I'm happy to report that she finally seems to be improving.

By the way, both the girls and the goats did a super job in our last fair. Girly-Girl got a 2nd for showmanship and fitting, Silly-Head got a 6th in the same age division and got a 1st (with a trophy!) in the Novice class. Mindy got a blue ribbon - even with her health issues, and Annika took a 1st AND made Junior Grand Champion!!!

Do You Measure Up?

I just came back from helping to dismantle our 4-H club display at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. EarlyBird met me there and one by one we took down each child's craft item, removed their prize ribbon and then retagged the item for next weekend's fair.

The pile of ribbons was pretty amazing. 4-H is really geared toward encouraging kids. The younger bunch (ages 5-8) all get green ribbons and small premiums for every entry because they're not allowed to compete. The older kiddos (9-11) can earn blue, red, or...Hmmm. I only saw blue and red. At any rate, the older children are competing and earn higher money premiums and fancier ribbons for a well done project.

But there's a catch, while the older 4-H members do compete, their competition is not against each other. Instead, each judge is encouraged to look at the child's project in light of a standard set by the 4-H Powers-That-Be. They look at the child's age and experience level in that particular project area, then try to decide if the child measured up (blue ribbon) or if there is room for improvement (red or whatever else they have). Thankfully, the judges take time to write comments on the kids' entries letting them know both what they did well and what they could do better.

The hope is that the child will tweak their entry for the next fair and make it just a little bit better. (One of 4-H's themes is To Make The Best Better.)

As I've gone through this process twice this year with my co-leader and 12 kids, the Lord has shown me something; 4-H operates alot like He does.

God wants to take my best and make it better. He does not compare me to my best friend, to my next door neighbor, the cashier at the Mart, or "that lady" I admire. He does not place me in competition with Mother Theresa or Hillary Clinton or Meryl Streep, or Oprah, or Martha Stewart, or the ever intimidating Proverbs 31 Woman .

God only compares me (and you, as well) to a standard. Not an imperfect, subjective standard set by a committee, but by the highest standard of all - Himself.

I am to be perfect as He is perfect. Sadly, on my own that's impossible. I am like 3 year-old trying to build a 3 story house that will WOW the folks on TV - It ain't gonna happen. I'm gonna stack together some Duplo blocks and then wet myself on my way to steal a cookie.

So God steps in and helps. Not even once does he shake His head in despair and roll His eyes at my ineptitude and foolishness. Instead, He teaches me, He guides me, He writes His comments on my heart through the Bible and through His Spirit speaking through others. Sometimes His chastening is painful, but always, ALWAYS it shows me the way to be better, to be more like Him.

He is so Groovy!

You know, I don't care how many ribbons I get or how many pats on the back from others. What I really long to hear is from Him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest."

In Which Groovy Waxes on and on About Goats and Kids

*whack*whack*whack*

Is this thing ON?

I guess so...

Hi All. I am back from the nether reaches of goatdom - at least until Friday. On Friday I start farm sitting again. That's right, my groovy self milking 9 (count 'em, NINE) does and choring about a dozen others - not to mention adorable barn kittens and 2 herding dogs (one of which I love and the other of which I hope gets sucked up in a passing tornado). Happily, this time I will be milking by machine instead of by (*OUCH!*) hand. I'm also going to make a social event of it by inviting several other ladies over to learn how to make goat cheese.

Mmmmmmm!

We just returned from our yearly adventure in 4-H at a local fairground. We camp in our tent beside the goat barn for 3 nights and lie awake listening to all the Nubians scream because they are in a strange place. If the Nubians aren't screaming, then kids are - human kids AND goat kids. Apparently the "Lights out at 10pm" rule is interpreted by many as a "suggestion".

Other than an extreme bout of insomnia, the weekend went quite well. The girls made tons of crafts and both of them learned to knit on circular knitters.

They also worked with goats. Of course. Naturally.

Silly-Head has no interest in showing at the fairs, but she still spent a little time working with and walking goats. Here, she is participating in a VERY small parade:

And here she is shaving one of our club's does to get her show ready.
Girly-Girl IS planning to show and compete. She worked on a 4 person "fitting team" where they have 45 minutes to completely shave a goat for showing. Her team didn't win (their doe still had a few rough spots on her armpits. I know, I know...ghastly, eh?), but they had a great time!

Later she did get to participate in a "mock show" as a practice for the fairs and SHE WON FIRST PLACE! Woooot! The win was made especially sweet by the fact that her goat was extremely unruly and difficult to handle. In fact, she was almost in tears and was ready to quit. Thankfully, the woman in charge of the mock show was graced with knowing exactly what to do and say to give Girly-Girl the determination to get back in the ring and handle her goat with confidence and skill. Her big turn around and subsequent win were the highlight of the weekend for all of us!

I was also quite busy during the weekend being the resident "Bike Nazi": Please, DON'T ride your bike in the barns! and by being an all purpose volunteer for the event. I even got suckered into asked to lead a workshop on shelter building in the woods. It was a little stressful getting ready on such short notice, but the class went well and I think all the kids had fun. Well, all except for Languid-Child who had no use for the woods or for shelters or for doing anything that resembled work. He just lay about and complained. He finally figured he'd get off the hook and go back to camp if he told me he had to poop. He was horrified when I handed him a couple of tissues and told him to find a bush! ;-)

OK, time for me to be on my Groovy way. Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day involving 4-H, grandkiddos and itty-bitty kittens!

What? Why Didn't Somebody Tell Me That Today Was/Is a Holiday???

Several days ago I decided that today was absolutely going to be a complete down day for me. I've been too busy and overloaded lately (I know, I know...) and I've had a painful neck/shoulder condition going on for almost a month now.

Those of you who live with chronic pain have my deepest sympathy; A busy schedule coupled with pain that limits my activity has made me just a wee bit CRANKY. I had x-rays taken a week ago, but haven't heard back yet as to whether I am dead or alive. That's one situation that I will take care of today. You know, the ole "What'd-you-people-do-with-my-x-rays-and-WHAT-did-they-show?" routine.

In the meantime, nothing was on the calender for today so I decided to take today off. No school (to speak of, though we've already done art, practiced piano, discussed migration, molds and fungi, forensic science, and international holidays), no housework (laundry doesn't count, does it?), no errands or car trips or outings, no yard work, and no GrammaJ - not even on the phone (bless her heart).

So here I am, just goofing off in between ibuprofen doses and haunting Facebook when I see that Person A is taking today off. Hey, what a coincidence, I'm taking today off too! Then I notice that Person B is also taking today off. So is Person C. Person D is complaining because she's working when everyone else is off and Person E states that he's probably attending the only college in the nation that has classes today.

Hmmmmm. What's going on? Did I miss a memo somewhere that said I was supposed to be off today? I looked more carefully at my calender. Lo and behold, today is Columbus Day.

Whatever that means. (and whoever cares...)

It also says that today is the day for all my Canadian friends (Hi Pea!) to celebrate Thanksgiving.

At least I have an inkling of what to do with THAT holiday! Looks like the girlies and I will add pumpkin pie baking to our non-school activites for the day. Wait. Is there any whipped cream in the fridge? We can't have pumpkin pie without whipped cream and I am NOT going to the store!

[Groovy takes a break to go see.]

Yessssss! Score! and it doesn't even go bad until December!!

[Groovy does the pumpkin-pie-with-whipped-cream-Thanksgiving-Day-dance-of-joy... and hurts her stupid neck again. Owwww. Where's that ice pack?]



Disclaimer: That is not a picture of my pie. It's a photo I lifted from google images, but my pie will look quite similar, though the crust will be a wee bit higher. I will make it with real pumpkin that the girls grew in their 4-H garden. Yum!

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I got an email about NaNoWriMo a week or two ago. For a few insane moments, I even actually thought of trying to do it again. Alas, between biology, 4-H, the nursing home, the grandkids, my own home and GrammaJ, I really can't commit to 50,000 words in a month. Instead, I am going to try to focus much of my spare time into adding to one or the other of my two Y.A. W.I.P.s.

That's Young Adult Works in Progress for those of you unfamiliar with the lingo.

I love both of my stories and I desperately want to finish them and submit them for publication.

Speaking of "finishing", that's my life theme right now: "Finish What You Start". I am working quite hard at either ditching projects permanently or FINISHing them. This is so foreign to my nature that Mulletman has so far remained a silent and skeptical watcher. I have been so bad at sticking with anything that he's waiting to see if I stick with my resolution to stick with things to the end.

What did I just say? I'm not sure either.

So far, so good. I started AND finished clearing the weeds from the veggie garden (that would be the veggie garden that never grows veggies because it's always full of dandelions - until now) AND mulched it with newspaper and straw. DONE! I pruned all the blueberry bushes and weeded underneath them. DONE! I painted all the portions of the house Mm asked me to paint. DONE! I've started little projects as gifts and not stopped until they were finished. DONE!

I'm even applying the concept to smaller chores by not letting myself (well, trying to not let myself) get distracted from a task until it's completed. NO. MORE. MULTI. TASKING.

At least, not in theory. ;)

I still have some work to do (let's not discuss the pile of undone mending upstairs), but I'll get there eventually.

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Wow. I'm getting sleepy all of a sudden. Could it be that I'm relaxed?

Groovy...

But before I go I have to share with you that Girly-Girl was just elected secretary of our 4-H club. She was nominated for president AND for treasurer, but declined both of those positions. I think secretary is a good fit for her skills and talents. :D

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Ok...Nap is calling, so off I go. Because I can. Because it's a holiday!

I am so thankful for a day off!!!!

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Bloggy Update: The pie was fabulous!

And...the verdict is out on my neck: Apparently I have some bone spurs and narrowing. Eeeewww. Off the "real" doc on Wednesday so she can refer me out...

You Probably Thought Groovy Was on Vacation, But She Wasn't...

Only my typing was on vacation. The rest of me has just been caught up in a whirlwind of spring craziness.

Let's see if I can make a random list in no particular order of all that we've been doing so that you'll be impressed and will say, "Oh my! You are SO busy!", which is what folks usually say when I make posts like this which kinda makes me think so what's the point ? but I'll do it anyway because it gives me something to say and my, oh my, isn't this an intolerably long sentence?

Whew.

- Rode my bike somewhere between 52-55 miles in 7 days. That's a good start, but I'd like to get in 70 miles this week and 80-100 miles every week thereafter. You can read more about my progress, roadblocks, and a special blessing from God HERE. You can donate to the American Lung Association there as well, or in my sidebar on this blog. Thanks for all your moral and financial support!

- Mulletman and I led worship and gave a concert yesterday at a small local church. We have an old Dylan song called "Satisfied Mind" that always gets a tremendous response.

No, I DON'T sing it like Dylan! Our style is old time, hard core blues - 'cause that's what you get when you put your trust in your bank account instead of in the God of the universe!

- We practiced and PRACTICED for the afore mentioned concert/worship service.

- We had 4-H:

Girly-Girl is working on her leadership skills, so she made a poster of how to prepare for a 4-H goat show. Then she and Silly-Head and another friend taught the info to the other children.



Here are the girls with their new goatlings. These little buggers are Nigerian Dwarfs - not my favorite breed, but they are, of course, adorable when they're kids.

Silly-Head with Zoe.


Girly-Girl with Zemmaline.


-We had the requisite Easter family gathering. After a lovely Easter church service where Girly-Girl sang in the kids' choir (sorry no pics, stupid camera!), I baked a ham and some awesome herb rolls and coleslaw and GrammaJ made dessert and Grammy cooked up lots of veggies. The guest list included the four of us (duh!), all 3 folks, Uncle Grumpy-Pants, Pretty Mom and my 3 adorable and never annoying grandchildren.

It was wonderful day!

Here's Ji-Ji. He looks a maniacal, but it's the best picture I mananged to get of him during the playing-in-Gramma's-basement chaos.

This is Cookie trying out the disgustingly dusty school desk that will be refurbished for her in a year or two.


And here's Fireball in one of her quieter moods.


Oh...and Easter? That's usually when the girlies beg me to make them Easter dresses and I wimp out, BUY them shirts, and sew them skirts instead.


-This week we also went to the nursing home and had a fabulous time leading walker aerobics.

Just kidding!

We sang to the residents and doled out numerous hugs. To tell the truth, I don't think the folks there give a rat's whisker whether Early-Bird and I come, but OH how they love all the little girls we bring; my two, Early-Bird's Peanut, and two other little homeschooled sweeties. The girls make cards and tissue paper flowers. They sing and talk childish talk and hug the residents. My girl always bring a doll or stuffed animal to show off. It's great fun! I'm starting to think of it as one of my favorite activities!

-We worked on quilts for the orphans in Swaziland. We have dear friends there who run an orphanage and work with a local church. Two other friends are planning an excursion there in June, so the rush is on to get quilts made before they leave so they can take them in their luggage. This quilt is almost finished:


-This week I also did a slew of chored for GrammaJ and took her on a marathon shopping trip and had her over here to visit on both Easter and yesterday.

-I manage to contract a stupid cold. I am fighting said cold for all I am worth with vitamin C, elderberry syrup, and zinc gluconate!

-I cleaned my house.

- I had school with the girlies.

- I wrote a song.

- I prayed for North Africa.

- I researched language programs; Mulletman and I are considering studying Arabic. Anybody have any recommendations?

- Somewhere in there I cooked and planned and talked to people, bathed, brushed my teeth, lifted weights, greeted "Aunt Flo", delivered Pampered Chef from that party I may or may not have had, and slept. Happily for me, Mulletman did all the laundry!

-I noticed that Girly-Girl had a harvest to reap! (We shall eat that WHOLE green bean for lunch today!)





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Things that I did not do this past week but hope to do soon:

- I did NOT hear from Scout. I miss him!


-I did not spruce up and refine the song I wrote.

-I did not write to Misti in China or Pinky in India.

-I did not write on either of my novels.

-I didn't take a day to just "goof off".

-I didn't dig up the veggie garden.

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OK...enough about my groovy self. In between today's to-do list I'll be by to see what YOU've been doing!
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Lastly - a take away from yesterday's sermon at the church we sang at:

Every morning when you get up, ask the Lord W. H. A. T. He wants you to do that day; ask Him to be Lord of your Words, your Heart, your Actions, and your Thoughts.

Grab a Hula Skirt and Join Me...

Well, no. I'm not going to Hawaii - at least not personally. But my blog is already there on the beach sipping tropical beverages and relaxing and reminiscing.

Or something like that.

Slip on over to Kailani's An Island Life where I am guest blogging...

Some Groovy Romance

Here it is. The late breaking Valentine's news from Groovy.

Because I know your life won't be complete unless you know how my Valentine's Day went.

First of all, our pastor decided to show this video in church last Sunday as a "public service announcement" to all our menfolk.



Because my husband refuses to be manipulated by the media and by commercialism, he absolutely did NOT buy me any jewelry from J.C Penny's for Valentine's Day.

No, he bought it and gave it to me on February 11th. Which, as you can totally see, had NOTHING to do with his viewing of the aforeposted video. Nothing. at. all.

What did he give me? Some lovely sterling silver earrings. See?




They're pretty and they're sparkly and they're dangly - all the things Groovy likes in an earring!

Mulletman didn't forget the girls either. He got them each a lovely silver cross with footprints on it and they were accompnied by a copy of the Footprints poem. Then he took us all out for a nice lunch and (unheard of!) we all had dessert!

The girls and I weren't remiss either. With their help I made one of Mulletman's favorite desserts - this lovely Boston Cream Pie:


I also gave him one big, mushy card and then hid 32 individual "Hello Kitty" valentine cards all over the house and car and garage. He still hasn't found them all!

:-D

On Valentine's day itself, Mulletman had to work. Besides that, his dad had a bad spell following gall bladder surgery and was taken to the hospital. (Fortunately, he's doing much better now and is back home.) Nonetheless, the girls and I had a nice day. In the morning we picked up Gramma and went to the local Chocolate Festival where we scored much chocolate and this adorable homemade apron for only $7!!



The girls found cute little outfits for their teddy bears too.

After the festival we ate lunch out. Then it was party time. We went over to EarlyBird's house for the first annual Bluebird Pond 4-H Valentine Party. There were crafts, there games, there was food, there was laughter, and there were Valentines. It was a very fun and festive fete!

After that we stopped by Goat-Lady's house to drop off some Valentines. We hadn't been there for a looooong time, so we ended up staying and visiting and petting goat babies (so cute!) and getting all caught up. It was awesome!

By the time we got home we were exhausted, but it was worth it all! I think, excepting Grampy's emergency run, it was a very satisfying celebration!

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Sleeping With Goats and Other Hairy Tales

The folks insisted that we bring their computer over here and use it whilst ours is being repaired. This is probably because they pretty much never use their computer and because every time one of them pops in for a visit, ole Groovy is typing away on hers. Their generosity could also be attributed to the fact that they are a couple of sweeties!

So...Goat Camp. I don't want to bore you with a blow-by-blow. This 4-H stuff can send you to snooze land pretty fast if you aren't involved yourself. Just ask my dear freind Notcon4med who actually sat through the girlies' goat show last summer at one of the fairs. She claimed she was enjoying herself, but I distinctly recall glazed eyes and drool gracing her demeanor. Good friends like that are hard to come by!

Instead, I shall give you advice so you shall be prepared should you ever have the opportunity to attend a weekend long 4-H camp.

1. Segregation is mandatory in 4-H. Goat people DO NOT associate with sheep people or dog people. Steer folks are completely ignored. Horse people are especially anathema.

2. All segregational boundaries are erased during the famous Saturday night potluck supper and during Zumba dancing.

3. Zumba dancing is a surefire way to burn off all the many desserts that you WILL eat at the potluck supper!

4. Girls and boys will self segregate of their own accord when it comes to craft time. Girls = flower faeries and friendship bracelets. Boys equal very cool and fun stilts made out of large coffee cans.

5. Be prepared for complete sleep deprivation. Campers are loud and Nubian goats are even louder. All night. Loud. Noisy. Irritating. Maaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa. Some Nubians even sound like elephants in heat. So did some of the teens...

6. The midnight storm that brings only rain to the fairgrounds (blissfull rain that shut-up the aggravating goats AND the excessively loud campers) will bring thunder and lightning to your house. Said lightning will blow the bathroom nightlight right out of the socket and across the room to shatter. It will splinter a glass lamp shade. It will fry two microwave ovens and a window air conditioner. It will blow the computer modem and router and sizzle your ethernet drive. You won't be concerned about these things because you are going to immediately repack and take off on vacation; the folks will take care of all the repairs. Except, when you finally get home from NY, you will discover that they got the modem replaced and let the electrician in to check the circuits and that's it. It is 96º F with 90% humidity and the folks are sitting there miserably sweltering because they never called anyone about the AC.

7. Serving spaghetti with meatballs whilst standing next to a vegan serving noodles is an endless source of fun!

8. Taking a shower at the fairgrounds facility is a risky endeavor. The floor is slimy wet concrete and your naked body will provide an ample feast for the plethora of starving Maine mosquitoes. AND, unless you time your shower just right, there will be no hot water.

9. The shower situation will especially laughable if the weather is hot and humid and people are handling many hairy livestock. Even more so if they are shaving said livestock and the goat hair is sticking to their sweaty bodies.

10. Plugging 8 small appliances into one outlet in an effort to cook hotdogs and popcorn and coffee etc. for your club's snack bar? Not a good idea.

11. Giving your animal hating husband a goat kid and having him run the agility obstacle course with your 7 year-old provides wonderful entertainment!

12. Goatmilk ice cream is surprisingly yummy!

13. Washing an aggravated goat with cold water from a garden hose requires an amazing amount of brawn and persistence.

14. Just because the large tent shelter (There are two of these huge structures where campers can set up their tents to help protect them from the weather) LOOKS high enough to drive your van under doeasn't mean it is. You might lose that nice roof rack...

15. Maine's 4-H Days at the Windsor Fairgrounds is probably the funnest 4-H event available. So if you get the chance to attend, please do so (unless you are one of the loathesome horse people!) and...BRING EARLPUGS!

A DISCLAIMER: Shhhh, don't tell the goat tribe, but personally, Groovy thinks dog people are fun and sheep owners are hilarious (Whaddya mean their loose AGAIN?????). She even met some very nice steer folks. She also has absolutely nothing against the horse group and secretly wishes she could be counted among them.

Friday's Feast...on Saturday

I'd love to write something marvelous right now, but I am so consumed with mulling over last night's dream and it's potential deep-seated meaning for my life, that I just can't move on.

The dream? Basically, I saved a Holstein/Jersey/Guernsey dairy cow that was drowning in a culvert that was really part of a swimming pool, yet wasn't. There were three other bovines, but I could only save the one. Fortunately, some cowpoke in chaps saved another one just as it was swept under a road. I don't know what happened to the other two.

Happily, I was able to revive and save the beast because I had my trusty "Cow Care" guide in my back pocket.

Lucky cow!

Anyhoo, whilst I am pondering away, I offer you this meme stolen from Marianne who got it from HERE.

Appetizer

What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child?

Oh my...Was I ever a child?

I hate to admit it - no, REALLY, I HATE to admit it - but I was a (gulp) Scooby-Doo fan.


And I confess that I now find the show totally insipid and inane, yet it still evokes happy memories. How weird is that?



Soup

Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it?

DAIRY GOATS! !!!!! I still haven't persuaded Mulletman to become a livestock owner, but the girlies DO have new babies that they are leasing for 4-H.

Here's Girly-Girl with Mandolin's Drift (aka "Mandy")


And this is Silly-Head with Spring Thaw (aka "Spring")


The kids are Saanens. They have very sweet, docile personalities and should grow up to become awesome milkers.

And, if Mulletman and Silly-Head weren't allergic to cats, I'd be very tempted to get one or three.



Salad

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy getting all dressed up for a special occasion?

It depends on how excited I am about the occasion!

Main Course

What kind of music do you listen to while you drive?

Usually it's the sweet sounds of two little girls singing in the backseat. Sometimes it's contemporary Christian music and if Mulletman is behind the wheel it's something odd like Yes or the Rippingtons.

Dessert

When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it?

I bought a cheap little $6 alarm clock for our guest room. I had to buy it to replace the one Scout took with him when he was going through his "homeless" stage and needed a clock in order to wake up in time for work.

That Daily Quandry

Hi Folks, This is not a real post. I am not going to say anything important or clever or witty. I'm just killing time while I wait oh-so-paitiently to find out who won a new header design from Big Mama for their Fashion Fiesta entry.

Clearly Groovy's pink, yet bland blog could use some help...

I need to workout today. Really, I do. But I gotta go pick up GrammaJ around 8am and I don't have enough oomph to exercise right now - I'm a late oompher. I'll feel guilty exercising while she's here.

"Oh hi Mom, have some tea. I'm leaving you now for a very long run/walk/bike ride! You can just stare at a wall while I'm gone."

As soon as we take her home we'll be off to 4-H and Goat Heaven where the girlies will pick their new babies to lease for the year and we will all wade in hip deep mud (ah, spring in Maine on the farm!) and drink coffee and eat junk food and hold goat kids and trim hoofs and talk non-stop until past supper time.

Exercising after supper does NOT sound appealing; I'll be tired after all that mud wallering.

Hmmm. OK. sigh. I guess I'd better buck up (whatever that means) and go sweat it out now.

In the meantime, if Big Mama stops by, put in a good word for me!

The Big "E"

Lots to do today. Gotta buckle down and get my stuff done, just like This Guy.

Because tomorrow the girlies and I will be up BEFORE dawn so we can board one of These at 6am to make a 5 hour trip to Here. We will have 7 hours of unbridled fun and excitement (and mark off another school day - Woot!) and then reboard the amazing vehicle of comfort for the return to Maine. Projected arrival time at the ole homestead? Around 1am.

Best of all, the State of Maine University Cooperative Extension is paying for the bus, for our entrance to the Fair and for our lunch. They want to make sure we podunk Maine 4-Hers get a chance to see a REAL fair. Now THAT's what I call a field trip!


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Edit
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Welcome to today's edition of:

Groovy and Mr.Epson

Yesterday...

Groovy: OK Mr. Epson, I need to get these forms copied and filled out for 4-H so I can mail them tomorrow.

Mr. Epson: I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Groovy, but no can do. You are low on blue ink.

Groovy: I don't need any blue ink. The copies are black and white.

Mr. Epson: Oh well, it's against company policy, but I suppose I can eke out one page for you in black and white.

Groovy: I need EIGHT pages and I need them NOW!

Mr. Epson: Oh dear, now you've done it. You're completely OUT of blue ink. Tsk. Tsk!

Groovy: Whaddya mean I'm OUT of blue ink? I didn't even USE any blue ink! I just want these few little ole black and white copies so I can finish this paperwork and get them in the mail BEFORE THE STINKING DEADLINE!

Mr. Epson: Hey, it's not my fault you put this project off until the last minute....Oh look, now you're low on BLACK ink too!

Groovy: *(*^%#@$$&^%%(*&(*_)!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, Lord!)

Mr. Epson: Oh look, Now you're completely OUT of black ink. HA!

Groovy: GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

(Groovy goes to store and buys printer ink. She cries when she sees the price, but she's gotta do what she's gotta do. She runs several other errands and gets home too tired and frazzled to continue her project. She will rise early in the morning to get it all done.)

Today

Groovy: OK, I've paid the bills and finished scrapbooking the photos for 4-H, now all I have to do is copy these forms and fill them out and we're good to go.

Mr. Epson: I will give you one measly black and white copy and no more. (blink, blink, blink)

Groovy: AAAaaaaack! What now????

Mr. Epson: Now you're OUT of yellow.

Groovy: I NEVER USED ANY YELLOW!!!!!!! And you're supposed to tell me the ink is LOW before you tell me it's OUT. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME I NEEDN'T YELLOW YESTERDAY????????? AAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK! I HATE YOU!! ##^%$&^%^*&^(*&)(())(*)(&)*&%%# (Sorry, Lord.)

Mr. Epson: Heh-heh-heh! I'm not even going to mention the red...

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Edit AGAIN!
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(Groovy makes the run to Staples. Not only do the clerks there cheer her by singing and dancing to the tunes on the overhead speakers with her, but they vow to outdo Walmart by matching their prices. Serenades AND monetary savings; Groovy will be shopping there more often!

Relieved and happy, Groovy gets a partial refund on her blue cartridge and purchases both yellow AND red cartridges as well as a nifty envelope to mail the project in. She returns home feeling triumphant and prepared. Just let Mr. Epson TRY to get her goat this time. Groovy is ready for him!)

Groovy: There. Now I've replaced the yellow cartridge. Let's try printing that stupid black and white form again...

Mr. Epson: You should know the drill by now, Mrs. G. Only ONE black and white copy and then...heh-heh-heh...YOU NEED RED!

Groovy: Mr. Epson, I HAVE red...so THERE!

Because You REALLY Want to Know (well, maybe not...)

Oh Good Heavens.

Sorry I haven't been making the rounds to read and say "Yo!", I've been insanely engaged in 15 projects all at once.

So I'm going to give a quick bullet update and catch up with you all when this roller coaster comes to a complete stop.

Right after I throw up.

So, what am I doing that is keeping me spinning so fast that I'm seeing lots of pretty colors and not much else?

- I'm working on a Squidoo project that I promised to have done by TOMORROW!

- I'm helping to host a BBQ for 50 folks this very afternoon at a friend's house/pond. The lady in charge usually organizes fancy tea parties, so a large scale BBQ is stretching and streassing her to no end. Before I leave I need to pack my grill, 2 tables, duct tape, paper, and a sharpie. I have to retrieve my favorite sneakers from the goat farm, make sure the girlies have their swimming apparel and sunscreen, and buy watermelon. The group coming is a youth/missionary group from South Carolina. I will have to carefully watch those southern renegades to make sure they don't toss any soda cans or bottles. I can get 5¢ for each one and I get a little tense when people just THROW THEM AWAY! I will be making "Trash Only" and "Redeem the Cans for the days are Evil signs" for the occasion.

(My recycling/redeeming dna gets touchy sometimes. In case you don't know it, the Groovy family is obnoxiously green! Recycle, Redeem, Reduce, Reuse, and all that!)

-Tomorrow will be the mad house cleaning binge because a dear, sweet 70 year-old missionary from Camaroon, Dorothy Erickson, will be arriving for dinner and spending the night. I'll tell you more about her next week (maybe...God Willing!) Happily, Mulletman and the girls did all the dusting yesterday AND Mm already made the guest bed and spiffied up that room, so I only need to vacuum, mop, and scrub, and fix a nice, but light supper - I'm thinking quiche and salad - to refresh her after her 7 hour drive. I guess I'd better inform Mr. Hoover of the upcoming workload. He's getting old and acts a bit cranky if I don't give him time to warm up. Mr. Hoover is such a character that my muse is plotting a facinating (I promise!) blog entry in his honor.

-Sunday we'll be up early with Dorothy and heading to first service (8:30am) where we'll get to hear from her AND then from our own youth group seniors who went to Mexico a few weeks ago.

-Right after first service we'll book it on home to change into goating gear and head to the Skowhegan Fair where we will dress poor, unsuspecting Emma and Midnight in hula skirts and leis. Then they and their lovely handlers will march in the 4-H parade. Yes, there will be pictures!

-Later in the day is the actual goat show. Which brings up the fact that Girly-Girl and I have some project records to work on and maneuvers to practice and goat body parts to review...sometime... This is also the one fair where we told them they could ride one or two rides if they so desire since we'll have our SC friends (Notcon4med and her two lovely teen daughters) with us. Oooooo. I hope they have caramel apples! (The fair, not my friends, although my friends are welcome to have caramel apples if they so desire!)

-Notcon4med and Co. will come home with us and THEY will take over the guest room (and the music room - which needs to be cleaned and vacuumed too...I am making a note of that right now! And air matresses...Where are the air matresses!?) for a few days while they debrief a bit from all their ministry work in Southern Maine and visit old friends and hang with us Groovies and we all eat alot and talk more and mess with her new Macintosh and various other fun activities yet to be determined.

- A generous friend just gave us a wonderful bag of hand-me-downs for the girlies. This means that we need to go through their old clothes and clean out the drawers and wardrobe to make room for the new goodies. That's assuming I can get them to stop changing clothes every ten minutes and leaving little "outfit" piles all over their room. That's assuming ALOT!

-Wednesday Mm and I have Worship practice in the evening. He's also wanting to work on some music (sometime) to play/sing at the farmer's market on Thursdays...hopefully not on THIS Thursday!

NEWS FLASH: This just in...There also may be a parade on Wednesday and we may or may not enter a firefighting 4-H goat float. Will the fun never end???

-Thursday we'll for sure be hitting the big, exciting, NEVER to be missed New Balance shoe tent sale. I always get two pair of discounted, totally awesome sneakers there every August. Afterwards we'll go back to the Fair Grounds for the much anticipated and trained for Fry Pan Toss which I aim to win. Arr-arr-arr!

-Somewhere in the next 2 weeks I need to completely overhaul Girly-Girl's school portfolio, have a friendly teacher over for tea to review it, AND fill out and mail our "notice of intent" for homeschooling next year.

-The garden needs some serious weeding.

-There's a 60 mile bike ride on August 25 which I will only do if Mm is physically up to it. He's still working his way up to full power after his surgery 4+ weeks ago. In fact he just came BACK HOME after leaving for work because he's sick - nausea and vertigo. Poor guy! So let's add him to the list! (Why do I sense a monkey-wrench in my planned achedule for the day?)

-Still looking over the travel options for Scout's Army graduation in September and for my Mom's possible move to Maine (from SC) in October.

-Looking for jobs and apartments for my Mom also, just in case!

-Trying to work out every day because once or twice a week ain't cutting it.

-Trying to be very faithful in spending time with the Lord every day so I don't lose my mind in the midst of all this STUFF.

-Taking the girlies to various fun functions that DON'T involve goats.

-Making reprints of pics Mm wants framed in the living room.

-Blogging, because we all know that the world would stop spinning if I didn't squeeze that in!

-Mulling over the absolutely insane "true" story about PEA's fairy garden...Oh yes, it IS coming. I have NOT forgotten!

-Ah, and the very fun and cool fair in Blue Hill happens over Labor Day weekend. I sense a camping trip in there somewhere.

There's more i"m sure...I can FEEL it, but now I've got to actually go DO some of it. Hugs to you all! I'm gonna go baby my hubby.

Another News Flash! because I KNOW you wouldn't want to miss even one exciting detail in my groovy life! Mulletman took anap and a walk and feels much improved. Our doctor's office is closed for repaving (go figure...) so he's headed BACK to work to help out AND to get into employee health.

Schedule: back on track. Thank You, Lord!

-Did I mention the state of the homeschooling cupboard and the girls' desks? And they say we don't have tornados in Maine!

-It was good that Mm came home, even if only for a brief time because I would have NEVER gotten the BBQ grill in the van without his help!

-I am high from marker fumes right now. Wheeeeeeee.

-Hoo Boy. Back to Squidoo!

Cleaning Report: Mr. Hoover was quite cantakerous today. Maybe his tummy is upset from all the Polly Pocket shoes he ate...

Whew....Now That Groovy is Past That Momentous Milestone and the Pressure is off, She Has PLENTY to Say!

Hiho to all my internet friendlies!

I am supposed to be working on someone's Squidoo Lens right now which totally explains why I am here instead; Procrastinators of the World (of whom I am queen), take a break!

Seriously, I can't focus on html codes and punctuation and links and very confusing internetty stuff that I don't fully understand (but pretend I do) until I get the big Saturday report up here for all of you. After all, I'd feel ever so guilty if any of you were losing sleep over our latest goating adventure.

You are all losing sleep over this, aren't you? I mean, how could you possibly relax until you know how well Girly-Girl did in her goat show? Hmmmmm?

Saturday was insane. We had to leave here by 6:45 am to make it to Bangor by 8am which is when we are supposed to check in. There were some paperwork snafus at the check-in, but we eventually got everything worked out. Then we went to check on our goats and THEY WEREN'T THERE YET! Aaaaaaaack! Panic!

Fortunately they arrived around 9am, which gave Girly-Girl some time to work on Emma before the show at 10am. Poor Emma and Midnight were the only goatlings from the farm who were coming to this fair. Our fearless 4-H leaders had just brought them in the back of the truck. One happy, crazy Nubian (all nubians are crazy) and a poor, terrified, unhappy, stressed-out, underweight, badly clipped LaMancha.

Our usually lovely Emma had diarrhea from the stress and she looked awful. The owners had been out of town for a week or so and the farm sitter had underfed the goats. They had all lost weight and poor Emma looked emaciated. If you add that to a choppy job with a shaver (an unsupervised 8 year-old "helped" Girly-Girl shave her), and the hung dog look of a stressed out goat, you will understand why Emma placed sixth out of 6 goats for "fitting". Fitting = grooming.

Then I, groovy but unexperienced 4-H mom that I am, entered Girly-Girl in the wrong showing class. They were all 7 year-olds like Girly-Girl, but they had all shown before and had some experience. She had next to none since this was her very first show. She was SO adorably cute and oblivious while she was showing. She just put on her charming smile and beamed and paid no attention whatsoever to where the judge was. She was so precious! I know if that judge had taken one look at that beautiful, proud face she'd have gotten an immediate first place. Unfortunately, he was more concerned with her goat handling and maneuvering abilities; She also got a sixth out of 6.

We were momentarily concerned that she would be discouraged by taking last place in both events, but our fears were unfounded because sixth place participants get large PINK RIBBONS!!!!!!

Do you understand that? They are PINK!!!!!!!!!!

Even better, she got $13 for EACH sixth place. Three cheers for 4-H events!

Girly-Girl LOVED the whole experience and is pushing us to go to every fair in a 2,000 mile radius. She is also scoffing at my attempt to register for an easier class in the next show. In fact, I think she's completely oblivious to the fact that she and Emma "lost". She loves her Emma and was very proud of her kid for walking so well and not misbehaving. She is also proud that she (Girly-Girl) wore white clothes for over 2 hours at a muddy fair ground and stayed reasonably clean!

As for Silly-Head and Midnight, they had a great time too. Silly-Head ran around and ate candy and played with her goat. Midnight kept escaping her stall and running out to find us. She's a clever goat! She also had an even WORSE shave job than Emma, so I'm kinda glad Silly-Head didn't want to show!

We have 4-H today and we're going early to do some SUPERVISED shaving so Em looks a little smoother for the show next Sunday.

Here's Girly-Girl working to get Emma ready for the show ring. See how Emma's head is down? Note how bony she looks and how choppy her fur is? Not good.



Here's Silly-Head with Midnight. See that near bald strip on Midnight's back? Hahahahaha!


Ready to show!


Here's Silly-Head with Midnight who persisted in escaping from her stall no matter what we did to block her in.



Girly-Girl and Emma in the show ring.



PINK RIBBONS!!!!!

Darn!

I just had to toss out a pair of my most favoritist socks because they have an irrepairable hole.

Bummer.

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That reminds me.

I also have a favorite pair of panties.

No. I will not show them to you.

Suffice it to say they are a pretty cranberry color and are made of a soothing silk/spandex sort of mix. When I am stressed or depressed or hormonal, I always dig through the drawer to find them so I can wear them. They never fail to cheer me up, at least for a little while. It's immensely tragic if I want them and they are in the hamper.

Immensely. I don't even want to think about them getting an irrepairable hole.

Sigh.

I'm weird.

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UPDATE:

Mulletman is doing fairly well, but as predicted, he is bored. He tried to volunteer to work at the VBS registration table next week, but we actually have TOO MANY volunteers. How often does that happen?! That means he'll be doing alot of dusting at home to fill in the hours that the girls and I will be gone.

Silly-Head is much better. The word is that several kids in one of the 4-H groups were barfing over the weekend. She and her friend Peanut are the only ones out of our group to succumb to the bug. We're praying that no one else gets ill because (in case you didn't figure this out yet) VBS is next week.

We're expected 200+ children to be involved. I am in charge of Bible/Drama. My two side-kicks and I are responsible for building the sets and then out acting out the required Bible stories 5 times each day. It's all coming together beautifully and I'm very psyched!

Here's some pics from our goaty weekend:

Who needs Puppy love when you can have Goaty love?




Practicing in the show ring.



Oh Look! They got to make crafts too!! My favorite was the hoola hoop class. They made hoola hoops and decorated them and then practiced all weekend. EVERYONE was hoola-hooping. Even Mulletman found his inner funk. Unfortunately, I could not master the technique. Nor did I manange to get any photos to amaze you. I DID get some hoolahooping videos, but there are other folks on them and I wouldn't want to humiliate them by posting their, um, talents on the WWW. ;-)

Oh well, here are the girls "crafting". Silly-Head made a punched aluminum Christmas ornament and Girly-Girl made a "jewelry tree".

Random Ruminations

First of all, we went to 4-H today, so I was sure to get some pics of Silly-Head with her new charge, Midnight Eclipse. Isn't she a beauty? It was a little hotter day than we're used to, so the kids (human ones) were a bit wilted!





Naturally justice and sibling equality demand that if I post photos of Silly-Head and Midnight, I must also post photos of Girly-Girl and Emma so you can exclaim over how she has grown (Emma, that is. Girly-Girl is no bigger than she was in the last pics!)





School Dilemmas Well, I bought all three volumes of KONOS. The seller shipped them to me and they fell out of the box and it was delivered to me empty. Not a happy story!

Then the P.O. in Texas found most of the books, but we're still missing the timeline figures. I now have the 3 main volumes, the timeline wall poster and 2 extra books that she threw in. We're still hoping the timeline dudes show up...somewhere.

In the meantime, I'm loving these books. I am SO a unit study kind of gal. I used KONOS Vol. 1 and part of 2 with the older two kiddos and it was so much fun. The only glitch this time is that I am older now. Older and slower. Older and slower and WAY more laid back. These are fine traits when dealing with spilt milk. They are not, however, a catalyst for accomplishment.

To use KONOS I am going to have to get off my ever widening tushy and tackle 2 of my least favorite things: scheduling and (gulp) discipline.

Yep. Me and planning will be A-OK. Me and follow-thru...that remains to be seen!

Oh wait, that's the discipline part. Self-discipline is a fruit (or part of THE fruit, depending on your doctrinal pickiness level) of God's Spirit. If I abide in Him, I'll do fine. Right? (Please say, "RIGHT!")

Schedules aren't quite so bad if you give it that lovely British pronounciation of "Sheh-dyule". It sounds almost tasty thataway! The hard part is that I hate being boxed into a timeframe. Oh well, such is life. I'll get used to it. If I don't, we'll never get past our first unit! I will also never exercise AND my house will never get clean.

So, let's see:

4am Get-up and pray

4:05am Go back to sleep (after getting up to pee) because real people do NOT get up at 4am (unless they are my Mother!)

6am Struggle out of bed

Somewhere between 6 and 7:30 pray, read Bible, drink lots of coffee, check blogs...

NO, You will not check blogs or Squidoo in the morning. Blogs are for AFTER your work is done!
(Grumble, grumble, grumble)

Um, get dressed, etc., lay out school materials/books and go over lesson plan. (I WILL have a lesson plan. If I put it in bold caps like that it's just bound to happen!)

7:30 awaken the sleeping beauties so they can do chores and get ready for the day

9am start school
-Memory Verses
-Piano
-Language arts
-Math

Then a play break while Mom, ever that bastion of virtuous acheivement, works-out and showers. Groovy mom used to be able to get up at 6am and work-out, but now she can't even see until 7:30am. This does make Bible reading a challenge, but she manages!)

12:00 lunch

12:30 until whenever
-Reading and scheduled KONOS activities

Whenever - Bedtime
-Do all the other stuff I didn't do yet.

Sheesh. That was EASY! Painless too! And to think I was all worked up about this sheh-dyule thing.

Now all I have to do is figure out when to clean the house, practice my bass, shop, 4-H, swimming, homeschool group, blog, scrapbook, cook, read, and sleep...

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Trekki News


We'll be heading off to the Trek on Thursday. I was just informed that I should wear a costume to make the bikers smile. I'm thinking Pirate. AAaaaaaaar. I can direct those scurvy dogs to the port with me saber!!!

Then again, I REALLY need to wear a hat for sun protection and my black one is way too hot.

Any ideas?

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Fear not, I have not forgotten my assignments.

I will tackle them with all gusto after the Trek.

I PROMISE!!!

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Got this meme idea from Sprittibee.

161 & 5 Book Meme
Rules:

1. Grab the book closest to you
2. Open it to page 161
3. Find the fifth full sentence
4. Post the text of the sentence to your blog
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you have, use the one that is really next to you.
6. Tag five people to do this meme.

OK

1. It's Breath Prayers for Mothers (Which I am considering giving away...)
2. It ends on page 159

Uh-Oh, Try again.

1. Ok. This one is a children's workbook.
2. page 161. Got it.
3. It only has 4 full sentences.

Uh-oh, Try AGAIN!

1. Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems (Benge)
2. Page 161. So far, so good.
3. Sentence #5: "Usually they were given to the temple by their parents to gain favor with the Hindu gods."
4. Done.
5. I was good! (as evidenced by the first two meme duds!)
6. I tag anyone who wants to give it a shot.

A Weary Week

Well, well, well. It's seems I've won the Blarney contest for THIS LINK and now sweet Kathleen is mailing me a prize. Whoo-hoo!

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So why haven't I written much this past week? Hmmmm, here's a brief synopsis:

We took Grampy to the hospital in the middle of the night last...um...Friday night. He had pneumonia with a fever and was confused. He's much better now and home again.



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The girlies and I went to 4-H where the kids ran around with the kids and I spent 2+ hours running back and forth through calf deep mud hauling goat babies to and from the barn to be disbudded, tatooed, castrated, and innoculated against tetanus. When we were through I was covered with mud, blood, green tatoo dye, and yellow disinfectant. It was wonderfully fun (yes, I AM serious!), but I was exhausted afterwards.



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I was working on a 50th wedding anniversary cake. In its early stages it looked something like a fat frog:



Here's the finished product:



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I've been researching Thumbsucking and building a Squidoo Lens on the topic. It's not finished yet because I'm having some technical difficulties with YouTube (and because I keep getting distracted!).



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I've been rehearsing for a skit that I was supposed to be doing today at a women's conference in Bangor. However, the conference was postponed until May because of this icky, icy storm that started last night and is still going full force.

This is especially sad, because yesterday we located the perfect extra actor for our skit. His name is Steven and we get to keep him. You might say that he's the new head of our home:



Last night, Mulletman spent the night in Bangor so he wouldn't have to drive to work in the storm this morning. He didn't want me to be lonely so...



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Naturally I had school with the girlies. We did all the usual studies plus we also made these handy-dandy Spring noteholders. Truly March HAS come in like a Lion, but only time will tell if it goes out like a Lamb. After we made them Girly-Girl said, "These remind me of Jesus because He is brave and powerful like a lion, but He is gentle and snuggly like a lamb!"




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On Wednesday we spent the entire day in Bangor at the Children's Discovery Museum. Then we went out to supper at Bugaboo Creek Steak House. Many thanks to my mom for supplying us with the funds for this fun outing! Unfortunately, I forgot the camera!

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What else?

Well, I got 2 writing job offers. One I was quite excited about, but it hasn't yet panned out. The other was for a slimeball who wanted me to write manipulative sales copy for his website. His product? An ebook that will teach you how to sidestep research and "steal" other writer's work to tweak and publish as your own. I sent him a scathing, but professional reply; Something along the lines of, "NO WAY, YOU DIRTBALL!"

I also managed to get some housework done somewhere during the week AND I managed to check in on everyone else's blogs.

I spent alot of time looking up Scriptures to use in a counseling situation.

Oh yeah, and my period started. (Oh joy.)

And I just spent 2+ hours clearing the driveway so that Mulletman can actually get into the driveway when he comes home tonight.

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I think it's naptime now.

Move over, Steve! ;-)