Gamer

And by the way, she totally dominated Bubble Shooter.  With that pose, how could she not?

Another Day, Another Ear Infection

Sorry, no Wardrobe Wednesday today.  Read on to find out why.

So yeah, Mae's sore ear was confirmed to be infected as we suspected and she's now on 10 days of bubble gum flavored antibiotic.  By this morning she felt well enough to go back to school and actually wanted to go back.  I was happy to have both girls back in school for the day as I had some major house work to do before our brand new bed arrived this afternoon. 

The mountain of clean laundry in our bedroom needed to be sorted, folded and put away.  I had to disassemble our old bed, remove it from the room and vacuum up 6 months worth of dust bunnies that were collecting under it.  All for the delivery men to arrive an hour before they said they would, after them telling me there was no way they could get here before I had to leave for work.  Apparently they forgot how to use a phone!  So they arrived before I was finished hauling furniture around and running the vacuum across the floor only to discover that the new box spring would not fit up our stairwell.  Perfect.  I actually think it could have fit, especially if the Gardener was home (he never takes no for an answer) but he wasn't considering they showed up nowhere near the 2 hour window I was promised on the phone, plus these guys were complete weenies and gave me a look that insinuated I was the craziest woman they had ever come across when I offered to grab a crow bar to start disassembling the problem door frame.  They insisted they couldn't make it fit and said they would be back maybe by the end of the week, probably next, with a thinner box spring thing that would probably, most likely fit.  So now we're sleeping on the brand new mattress (I refuse to sleep on that old lumpy mattress one more night!) directly on the floor.  I guess that's what you get when you shell over big money plus a delivery fee and also happen to live in an ancient farmhouse. Lucky for us.

As if the fun would stop there, on the one day of the week I actually have to be somewhere to earn my meager paycheck, Binny slinked off the bus this afternoon, in tears, holding her right ear.  Thank goodness the Gardener has a current insurance card in his wallet and the patience to deal with another sick kid and her sore ear.  Time to restart the 10 day antibiotic countdown.

Why I Do What I Do

So, if you've been reading this blog for some time, you know I don't work.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I milk cows at a local dairy farm (Moooooo!) once a week and I do photography as often as I can but other than that, I'm home.  Almost every day I can be found here at the house washing clothes, making meals, making sure everybody has their necessary prescription medications and favorite cereals, waking up early with the Gardener and getting the kids on the bus in time for school.  Most of what I do goes unnoticed by my family but they don't seem to mind coming home to a relatively clean house and  a hot meal on the table every evening.  And it's days like today that I don't regret our family's decision to do with a little less income in exchange for flexibility.

Last night shortly after we tucked Mae into her bed, she came downstairs holding her hand to her ear and whimpering about it hurting.  She was up off and on most of the night holding a warm compress against her ear and occupying the big recliner in our living room.  This morning when there was no improvement to her ouchy ear, I called school to say she would not be there today and made an appointment at the pediatrician's office.  I didn't have to find somebody to fill in for me for the day or rush around to find a sitter and rearrange my whole schedule. Nope, this is what I'm here for. 

Monday Garden Club

We spent most of the beautiful day yesterday about 20 minutes west of where we live, enjoying the unseasonably warm the 80+ degree day celebrating the Gardener's grandmother's birthday.  On the way home, we watched the temperature on the digital readout in the car plummet all the way from 83 to 72.  Still, 72 was nice so while the Gardener raked the gravel out of the ditches along the road, I hauled all of the flats of seedlings out of the basement and outside into the greenhouse.

Yes, that's my Oreo cookie in the bottom right hand corner of the greenhouse.  Thanks, Binny!

While I was moving everything around,  I decided to transplant some of the duplicate seeds that popped up (I hate to throw away perfectly good plants just for the sake of thinning them out!) into that little half tray on the right.

About an hour after I hauled everything outside, the sky turned dark and I chickened out and moved everything back down to the basement and back under the lights.  But it was nice to be outside moving the seedlings and enjoying the fresh spring air even if it was only an hour.

I also walked around the yard to check on the progress in the flower gardens since I cleaned them out last week.  They seem to like it!

Lilies

Lupines I started from seed last year!

Sedum

Tulips

I can't remember what this one is.  Maybe more lilies, maybe irises. 

Anybody else gardening this week? If so, grab the Monday Garden Club button on my sidebar, paste it to your blog entry and link up below with Mr. Linky.

For One Day Only!

Saturday

My Landscaping Crew

So, the bucket full of frozen veggie scraps finally thawed out and the weather actually warmed up enough today to do some yard work.  The flower beds were still full of leaves and old growth from last year along with some shingles that blew off the house, or the barn, or both over the winter that all needed to be raked out.

Flash kept me company until the girls came home from school to give me a hand.

They collected and hauled 2 wagon loads to the brush pile for me!

And no, I won't rent them out.  We have more than enough work for them here. Ha!