Recently in Angie Category

I made it through the entire day and did not put one drop of chocolate (or any type of candy) in my mouth!

 

P.S. The previous post is entirely true. No exaggerations.

If you sweep a house, and tend its fires and fill its stove, and there is love in you all the years you are doing this, then you and that house are married, that house is yours.

-Truman Capote, The Glass Harp

 

I am.

I want to write something here but the words just won't come.

I am sort of in limbo and don't really know why.

I am TIRED. My house is sort of messy.

I want to sew and make soaps and paint my eggs and do all sorts of things but clutter just gets in my way - mental and physical. I need a 3 day weekend completely alone in my house to do things and to fix things and work out whatever is blocking me in my head.

Help!

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

That's me. I asked Steve to sharpen some kitchen knives. He did. I made a nice filet of my left hand. Skin too soft for stitches to do much good. I was out at the barn working with my goats. Upon leaving I stepped in a hole and fell, twisting my ankle. It has been swollen out like I have a softball under my skin. It makes for a very long day to hobble around using one hand for chores. Gracie is back in school and loving it. She is learning to play the viola. I have made some good headway on my attempt to learn to play the autoharp this summer. Steven is trying to talk up a storm. He slept for 11 hours the other night. Ha! I was awake off and on all night listening for his little noises - that he NEVER made. I may never see a full nights sleep again. Life is good. It really is. Even with bum hand, foot and sleepless nights.

The Scent of a Goat There is a scent associated with the goats. It is a goaty smell but not a stinky smell. Goats are not dirty stinky animals. They are clean and fussy but do have a scent. Each time I go out to milk the does I bring with me in my pink bucket of supplies a warm soapy cloth and a bottle of warm water. (I cannot use the hose and wet them with cold water. That is just so not fair!) I wash and rinse their udders and dry them well. This ritual insures that my milk will be clean and the goats won't get any udder problems. The washing and drying also helps to stimulate the udders so that the ladies will let down their milk for me. Afterwards they are moisturized and sprayed with an antibacterial spray for dairy animals to help prevent mastitis and whatnot. As I sit on the milking stool next to the milking stand the does will lean into my shoulder, rub against my arms and so I am left smelling not only of goats but of sweat from the hot humid days of summer. I kid you not, milking those does always leaves me dripping in sweat. So I stink. After milking, cleaning up, bringing in the milk and properly handling it for cooling and storing in the refrigerator I take a shower. In the afternoon I put back on the goat milking clothes and when finished I hit the shower and the clothes go into the washer. The goats arrived Thursday afternoon. So each and every morning and each and every afternoon I have followed the exact same routine. The girls have learned quickly and it is also their routine. Monday morning I am standing at the sink washing up dishes when I smell something that immediately registers in my mind as the scent of goat. I kept sniffing and asking myself WTF?!? is that goat smell. I have bathed, there is nothing that should smell. The bucket is clean, the milk doesn't smell, my clothes, the wash cloths and towels are in the washer. Yet, for over thirty minutes I am smelling goat. And then I realize I am NOT actually smelling my goats. (I should hang my head in shame but will let you laugh at me!) My animal antibacterial wash for their udders is being delivered tomorrow. So in the mean time I have been using the only soap I have available to wash the girls udders with. This is what my mind immediately associates as the smell of goat. Go ahead and laugh.

Last week I did something very impulsive and entered an exhibit in the county fair at the very last minute. Afterwards I held my breath. I was embarressed to tell anyone in case I lost. The judging was thursday. We finally went to the fair saturday afternoon to see if I even made it into an honorable mention. My damson jam won 2nd place in the exhibitors choice jam catagory. (The only set catagories they had were strawberry, peach and blackberry.) I was floored. I am also sort of giddy. I have NEVER won a ribbon for anything. 2nd place. WOOT! I am thinking I will frame the ribbon, the entry tag and a photo of my damsons to hang in my kitchen.

• School is FINALLY finished - far too many end of year activities
• My mother was here for a week - explains alot of lost time
• Her fiance had a pacemaker put in the weekend they went home - He could have died in his sleep here :/
• I wired my chicken barn for eletricity - I did!!
• I have chicks - got them at 1 day old -they are 3 weeks today -all 48 of them
• 1 full week of church revival and cooking for the visiting evangalist and his family
• Gracie accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized
• Steven only had a virus. He is just fine.
• Gracie is playing the guitar after 3 months of lessons
• My garden is producing like crazy - hard work pays off!
• It took a week of cleaning but my pool is now open
• I'll try to be better at posting. I think I was needing a breif respite.
• I think my laptop is dying
• I want to learn to play the autoharp

I don't consider myself a cerebral type writer. I don't write alot of my opinions here. I don't discuss current events. I don't do politics or religion or money. I see most things in this world to be black or white, not much room for grey areas. I am a person who has a well defined sense of right and wrong. I am conservative, a fundamentalist, a republican and a christain with convictions. I do not keep this journal to win readers though having readers is awesome. I love your comments. I love you. I love knowing you are out there and check in on me to see how my life is progressing. I have found when I write my personal opinions I send readers running away. You know, click the "X" and don't come back if you don't like what I saying. In that sense I come off like some radical thinker. Which I am not. When I came out of the closet with the fact that I have weight issues that I have been struggling with all of my life I lost half my readers. This site once attracted over 800 visitors a day (not that you could ever tell it by the number of comments). Now I am barely drawing half that amount. I often think it is because no one wants to be around the fat kid on the block - perhaps that is just my insecurties that have followed me for many years and yet in some ways it must also be true. I really don't know why readers keep coming back here. I don't know what I offer to you all in any tangible way. I do know many of you like my recipes. I know some of you come every once in a while because maybe you feel obligated because I made you a new blog look. I am very sure some only come here to get a new blog look then they disappear. And that's o'kay. I hope you enjoy the new looks and feel pretty in blogland. All of you constant readers give me loving friendship. Reading your comments and answering them makes me warm and tingley inside. I do feel as if you care about me and what's going on my world. For that I can't thank you enough. Much of my posting consists of how-to's, what I am doing on this little plot of land that is in my stewardish, recipes and to brag a little on the awesomeness that is my children. I am not an all out homesteader. I don't dream of days of living off the grid or sticking it to the man. I do try to be self supporting in the ways I can. I try to give my children experiences and the knowledge that they would know how to care for themselves in many ways without having to be dependent on an electric comapny or a grocery store. A large part of my life is the influence of my childhood. I grew up with a summer garden, canning, freezing, animals and making things last a little longer and stretch a little farther. I am curious about what my limits are. I have made my own soap and loved it! I have (and will again soon) raised my own poultry and enjoyed my very own farm fresh eggs. (Badger, I wish you lived close to me. Those organic brown eggs you purchase from the market and love so much? You would covet my eggs and I would give them to you when you came over for coffee. I would also give you fresh fruit from my trees, yogurt that I made, and maybe in exchange you would help me make cheese when I get my milk goats? Yes? MMmm, fresh produce, fresh eggs, fresh milk, yogurt and cheese ... Ohhhh and if my fig trees produce like I hope can you imagine how good lunch would be with fresh figs, cheese, crusty bread, and local wine? Or desserts made from my blueberries and apples? Hahaha! I should stop here before I get carried away!) I do cook many things from scratch and have plans to try so much more over the coming spring and summer. I want to stop buying bread and learn to make really good bread. I am not a baker. It is something I haven't ever gotten the hang of. I can bake a few things but I want to make incredible breads and know that I can bake something better then I can buy in a store. It is a challenge and one I want to tackle over this summer. I like to be engaged in hands on projects. I like to look back and inspect my progress, my successes and my failures. There is something to be learned from them all. So can you imagine my surprise when I read that Badger had given me the thinking blogger award? I am completely flattered. I am also surprised to read that what I post here challenges her and gives her cause reflect on where she is in her life. Would it be conceited to ask how that occurs when I post about a plow, planting some vegetables, or having a leaking roof? The idea behind this award is to give recognition to other journalists who make me think and give me cause to reflect and examine myself. Had she not bestowed this on me I would have given it to Badger first. Here are my five: Miz S - Lives within driving distance of me although we have not met. She is someone I would love to spend a girl's weekend with. I want to taste her curry. I want to see her banter with Mizter S. I want to hear all about her girls, her trip to Italy and her classroom. Mary writes beautifully about her feelings. She also has a wicked sense of humor. Leah - Has the cutest fat cheeked baby girl. I love Leah's ability to express herself. Some people even think she is a liberal hippy. Hahahaha! I want to learn to make beer. I want her to come to my house and walk me through the process. I might even be willing to let her watch the ball games on TV while she is here. Liz - A transplant to Northern Virginia I discovered Liz when she wrote about growing up a product of divorce. I could identify with that part of her childhood. Liz loves to read and I always check her book recommendations. I love reading about her going back to school as well as how she juggles beging a mommy, a wife and a student. Liz also lives close enough we could visit if we ever found the time. Vicki - Is the landscape gardener I wish I could be. Her home in Florida is gorgeous. I love how she is able to express herself so beauifully. She always seems to have the right words that leaves you feeling peaceful even when she writes that her feelings are not always so peaceful. She has a gentle hand that knows how to sooth ruffled feathers. If I ever needed to go to therapy she would be my choice for a therapist. Pam - Has also struggled with her weight for a very long time. She has taken herself in hand and is working toward her goals of getting herself to were she wants to be. I can identify with Pam in so many ways. She has a great sense of humor, a super cute grandbaby and lives close enough I could visit. Now each of each of you need to pass it on to five people who make you think. Chop. Chop.