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!

Groovy Snippets

Oy...Is it January yet?

*****************************
Obviously I have not been here lately. Today is a "rest" day for me - no traveling, no extra chores, no school. I should have school with the girls, but schooling has rather gone to pot (whatever that means!) since Scout got home. His kiddos have come over here almost every day to hang with him. Needless to say, it's hard for us to focus on past participles when many little people WANT your attention! Now! Please!

I am not even remotely complaining though. It's been a good visit thus far and I am treasuring this time together!

Here's Scout with 4 year-old Ji-Ji.



Grampa Mulletman with 2 year-old Cookie:



And here's beautiful almost 6 year-old Fireball busy making a card for Aunt Funsocksgirl and Uncle J-Man:



In addition to much visiting and playing, there has been much ado over music at our house.

I sang a couple of bluesy songs in a Groovy concert (and got to wear a fun outfit! and make-up!) This is a pretty lame photo because, well, that's how we Groovies DO photography! There's a wicked nice professional photo of me belting it out, but it's copyrighted, so I can't post it. If you just desperately want to see it, you can find it and a few others HERE. I'm in photos #41 (my fave!), 46 and 47, 81, and 83. Enjoy!



Speaking of photos - My regular readers will recall my past whining about my current camera. (This is where Groovy would post a link to her past whining posts if she weren't such a mediocre blogger and could actually find any of them!) Long story short; I hate it. It's a sad excuse for a camera and has horribly wounded my self esteem by making my mediocre photography skills appear even worse than they actually are.

Want my advice? DON'T buy a Sony Cyber-Shot! *shudder*

At any rate, I was failing miserably at having a properly thankful attitude - after all, some folks don't have a camera at all. At least I have one and it works (sort of). I should be thankful. Yet in spite of my bad attitude, God chose to bless us with a barely used fancy-pants camera of a magnitude we'd never even consider purchasing. My brother-in-law bought it a few years back and then sweetly gave it to the Folks when their camera broke. The problem? It IS a more elaborate camera and requires, you know, reading the manual and all. Consequently, it has sent the past year sitting on a closet shelf.

Since we'll have mos tof the fam here this Christmas, the Folks want an easy to use point-and-shoot type camera and passed the big one on to us!!!!!!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it and I'm positive that my photographs will move from the sad side of mediocre to fabulous! (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

Hmmm. Back to music...

The girlies have been taking piano lessons this year and were slated to perform in a Christmas recital last week. They opted to play in a trio to hopefully bring down the fear factor. They practiced faithfully and really had the piece nailed. However, they're both quite shy and I wasn't sure how they'd fare at the performance. We got there quite early so they could practice on the grand piano before the crowd arrived. Silly-Head climbed right onto the piano bench, but Girly-Girl froze. She was absolutely, positively NOT going to sit at that piano and play! end. of. story.

So I did the Mom thing. I pleaded, I coaxed, I comforted, I identified. No progress.

Suddenly I had a flash back to her first dance classes where she froze up. It was truly an "AHA!" moment. I went from NiceMom to MeanMom and used guilt and threats.

It worked like a charm. ;-)

She played perfectly and was SO HAPPY with herself that she couldn't wait for her turn to play in front of the completely packed church. She and Siilly-Head and good friend, Peanut, did a fabulous job. It was awesome! Now Girly-Girl and Silly-Head have agreed to play another trio song for part of the prelude at church on Christmas Sunday. Woot!



Hmmmm. I wrote way more than I meant to, so I'll condense the remainder into bullets.

* I have instigated a family rebellion by insisting that we follow our Groovy tradition of eating seafood for Christmas. The seafood haters can lump it or leave it (whatever that means!).

Here's the menu:
-Potato leek soup
-garlic herb rolls
-fried shrimp
-broiled scallops
-baked haddock
-coleslaw
-greenbean casserole
-homemade applesauce
-any stuff the rebels bring

*Mulletman and I are doing a nice rendition of "I Wonder as I Wander" for Christmas Sunday. He's playing guitar, I'm singing and playing the soprano recorder.

*In addition to playing her piano piece, Girly-Girl is singing in the kids' choir and gets to be one of 4 young ladies singing a soprano descant. :-) That girl has gone from hermit to show gal in .2 seconds!

*I bought a mystery gift for the Folks and accidentally left it in the car. It was so mysterious that Mulletman thought it was trash and threw it out. Good thing it only cost 89¢!!!

*You can burn a heck of a lot of calories shoveling/scooping snow!

*I miss Funsocksgirl and J-Man. :-( *sigh*

*Noisy toys with batteries should be illegal.

(I'm just saying...)

*I'm STILL in physical therapy. I wish they made housecalls because I need extra appointments in December about like I need a pain in the neck.

*GrammaJ is trying to kill us with cookie kindness. She made gingerbread houses with the girls and then came over to our bigger kitchen for a day of baking/decorating. THEN she's made something like 16,000 MORE cookies of varying types for our enjoyment.

Bless her heart.





So, as you can see, our December has been quite suh-weet thus far. Hope yours is the same!

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!)





**************************************
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.

***************************************
OK...enough about my groovy self. In between today's to-do list I'll be by to see what YOU've been doing!
***************************************

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.

A Happy, Cutesy, Cheerful Spring Post

The plans for today? Hot Cross Buns (yummy!), "fluffing" my front perennial garden, making an Easter skirt for Girly-Girl (Silly-Head's is done...), lifting weights (no aerobics; my shins need a rest), and teaching school later when the next batch of April showers kick in - Because, ya know, it MUST be a crime to keep children inside doing math when it's gorgeous outside!

I'm feeling better now. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
******************************************
Saturday was our little Cookie's second birthday. Ain't she a cutie???



Ji-Ji was in rare form too. He was very silly and giggly! (Sorry he's so "white" looking. My camera and I are NOT friends.)


And here's big-sister, Fireball, torturing her Grampa!


*******************************************

This week also found us coloring Easter eggs. We decided to use all natural dyes. I'd read some discouraging reports about dull and listless results, but we were not deterred. See, here are all our concoctions, steaming on the stove and counter...



The girls wrapped some of the hard boiled eggs in rubber bands, colored a few with crayons, and left a couple plain. We selected our dyes: turmeric powder, purple cabbage, grape juice, blueberries, onion skins, orange zest, redbush tea, and beets. We simmered the veggies and heated the juice and poured boiling water over the rest. I added 1 tsp vinegar to each bowl, then the girls dropped in their eggs. We made sure they were completely immersed and then let them sit in the dyes overnight. We're not going to eat them, so we didn't worry about refrigeration.

The next morning when we got them out, we were very pleasantly surprised; They were beautiful!!!





Our favorites were probably the spotted beet eggs. The biggest surprise was the redbush tea. Even though the tea is a fabulous golden red, it dyed the egg GREEN! Another shocker were the grape juice eggs. The acid in the juice ate 1/2 way through the shells and rewarded us with sparkly crystals all over the egg! Here are the egg by egg results (You can double-click the pics to see them more clearly):










And finally, here they are displayed in our best Easter fashion.


*******************************************
Ok folks, that's all for now...I've got to get in the mud and dig before the clouds move in!!!!!

Mercy! It's a Groovy Ramble That Has Nothing to do With ADHD

HiHo.

Groovy Here...Again. Actually, I haven't been here much, have I? It's been a weird 2009 thus far. Not bad, just weird. I seem to be running in 20 different directions and am unable to settle down.

No, I don't have ADHD.

Speaking of which, why do people say "She is ADHD." when they mean "She has ADHD."?

Mulletman and I have been working on music and finally got up the courage to start contacting local restaurants to line up gigs.

OK...so we only called ONE restaurant to try to line up ONE gig and they were noncommital. Cut us some slack, will ya? After all, they almost signed us up when I said we'd sing for FREE. But wait! There's MORE! I also told them we'd do the advertising AND (hold on to your hat...) we'd bring all our fans with us AND we'd convince them all to buy food and a snack.

They're going to call me back. Sometime.

*************************************

Some of you have sweetly supposed that I've been busy writing on my novel(s). I <3 You! However, all the writing thus far has taken place in my brain and not on my word processor. Nonetheless, I AM going to type actual words today as soon as I finish my taxes. And they're almost done. In fact right now pages of numbers and accounts and earnings and interest and dividends, etc. are scattered all over my table.

Side note: I don't know whether to call it a dining room table or a kitchen table because it's in the extended area of the kitchen.

No, I am NOT ADHD!

**************************************

I finally found some pants for my two little exceedingly picky little girls; clearance for $3 and/or $5 each. Whoo-Hoo! Of course, I have to take in the waists on all of Girly-Girl's and I have to hem all of Silly-Head's. It is amazing to me how very different my girlies are built. Girly-Girl is tall, slender, graceful and has a Barbie doll waist. Silly-head is plump and snuggly and warm and cozy and shorter and chunkier. They weigh exactly the same, but Silly-Head is almost a head shorter. It makes buying clothes a challenge!

So there's a pile of mending/altering staring at me from the kitchen bar. I'll need to get to that later today...AFTER I write.

By the way, any advice on how to help Silly-Head lose weight without making her feel singled out or self conscious? She really doesn't eat any more than her sister and she's reasonably active. She has developed the GOOD habit of stopping eating when she is full (and we praise her!). I don't deny her sweets, but she doesn't get an overabundance of them either. Most of her snacks are whole fruit or baby carrots or a whole grain bread product. However, at 7 years-old she's chubby enough to have a double chin, plump arms and a jiggly belly. Ideas?

My own weight loss seems to have stalled a bit, but I am clearly gaining muscle and...sad to say, I am bloated too. I know, I know, TMI, But wanna know something groovy? I am thinner while bloated than I was unbloated before the diet! I mean, I'm bloated and I CAN STILL SEE MY FEET!

**************************************

My daughter-in-law moved into the area last Monday. I had the pleasure of babysitting all day. FireBall and Cookie kept the girls and I VERY busy! It was Groundhog Day, so I planned some activities and crafts. We had a lovely time!

Then Ji-Ji got out of school. He fell asleep on the way here and PrettyMom had to wake him up to bring him in. He tried to play and be a good boy, but he was SO tired. Finally he started getting unusually cranky. He hasn't slept here, so I wasn't how he'd act if I laid him down. I tried the couch, but he popped right back up, so I carried him into my room and laid him on my bed. I put a blanket on him and he grabbed it, turned away from me and said, "OK, OK...Good-Bye! Good-Bye! I LOVE you!" That was his autistic way of saying This is EXACTLY what I wanted. Now go away and let me SLEEP! And sleep he did until Pretty Mom picked him up at bedtime!

When she finally picked the kids up to put them in bed at home, the girls and I mumbled through one chapter of The Borrowers to unwind and went to bed ourselves, exhausted.

Yesterday Ji-Ji turned 4. We get to go see the new apartment tomorrow and celebrate with him.
:-D

*************************************

We interrupt this blog post with this late breaking news:

The taxes have been completed and mailed and the table has been cleared. I also managed to wash the dish that was soaking in the sink, put the clothes in the dryer, and make a cuppa tea.

Thank You.

End of interruption.

*************************************
No, I am NOT ADHD!!!!!

Dang, the hamster cage. For two weeks now I've been saying, "We need to clean that cage tomorrow!" Tomorrow never seems to come...

************************************

Training for the Trek Across Maine is going well. Or, it was. Yesterday we all decided to go sledding. (In Maine it is also called "sliding") I haven't sledded in YEARS. This is mostly due to a bad memory involving a tree root, being airborne, flying glasses and an out-of-body experience. But there were no trees on this particular hill and I was assured by Mulletman and the girlies that it was smooth sailing.

They lied. Too bad there's no video of my stunning face slide up to the wooden and concrete jump ramp. That would be the small man made ramp that was the ONLY obstacle on the entire slope.

My tail bone is now connected to my ribs. I think this will somewhat curtail my workouts until Dr. Bob the chiropractor can untangle my body.

**************************************

I'm starting to hate Facebook. I really don't get invlved in any of the "fluff" there, but it still sucks up waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much of my time. Sigh. I need to make a Procrastination Lens totally devoted to FaceBook!

*************************************

OK...I just interrupted this post AGAIN to put up the donation links for the American Lung Association of Maine. Please donate money ASAP so Mulletman and I can ride in the Trek Across Maine. You can read more about it in my Groovy Trekkers blog. Be prepared; More eloquent pleas for money shall ensue forthwith!

**************************************

(((((HUGS))))) to my my dear internet friends in Oz. Wait, maybe I should give you ice water instead. And an O2 mask. The fires there look awful and the heat sounds atrocious! I''m praying for you, mates!

*************************************
I need to find a more efficient way to check up on all your blogs. I've been so hit and miss and I hate that. I LOVE to read all your posts. I miss the newsiness and the silliness and the inspiration and that amazing prose/poetry you all throw out there.

Note to Self: Organize your bloggy stuff, gal!

**************************************

Uh-oh...screeching girl fight in the basement...

Two apologies. Two hugs. All better.

Seriously, my girls are BEST friends, so they rarely fight at all. Their relationship is amazing!

************************************

I love salsa and guacamole.

Yes, I can have it on my diet.

Hurray!

************************************

Well, I s'pose that's it for this post - a post which, I'm sure you'll agree - has been a prime example of mediocrity. Now I'm off to write (and sew and read and reorganize).

Mwa!

***********************************