Odd conversations

I'm astounded by the things I find myself discussing with Annie.   This morning she was running around the house yelling "it's everywhere, it's everywhere" and when I asked her what was everywhere she says "the snow mommy, you no see it?"  subtly implying "what a stupid question to ask."

Later today after church she's in the potty all by herself (bad idea I know) and starts screaming "no! no! no! no!"  I run in thinking somethings terribly wrong and there she is standing next the potty naked from the belly down.  I don't see anything wrong.  This looks great!  She went potty all by herself!  Only she's crying and yelling "NO".  I get her to calm down and ask her what's wrong and through her sobs she says "I want my poop pink not brown."  Breathe and stay calm, NO laughing  I tell myself.    Annie sees this as a big deal.  So we sit in the bathroom and talk about how everyone has brown poop.  And then she starts to ask me "is Sadie poop brown?" "Ruby? Greta?" and we go trough the list of everyone she knows, including "God have brown poop too?"   I think she gets it after that when she says "I ask God make your poop pink"  Well, why not ask him to make your poop pink?  "cause I want be like Sadie"

  

Day one

Well it was cold and wet out, so I cancelled all the help I had lined up.  Mark and I just worked in my garage and got lots done.  He already had most of the roof assembled, but I got to help put on the finishing edges.  We did the floor frame too.  It was so much fun.  Even loading everything in the cold rain didn't bother me.  I should have been a chicken coop builder instead of a massage therapist.  

My girls with their girls

Annie with Lightning McQueen

I'm not really clear on which bird is Lightning McQueen (it seems to be which ever one she's holding), but this girl here really loves to snuggle up to Annie's cheek.

Space where I would have a photo of Ruby with Harold, but Ruby is currently scared of Harold.

Ms. Sadie with her bird Puff

Sadie has really taken to her baby bird.  She spent two hours outside with Puff today, singing and dancing with her.  I'm afraid Puff may now be suffering from a mild case of vertigo, but otherwise they get along great.

My daughter the Head snatcher

"We have buckle her up! she not have these hands." 

I do believe my daughter is quite possibly the strangest child I've ever met.  She is very concerned about people's feeling and wether they are taken care of properly.  A few days ago Sadie brought a head over to Gigi's to play with and Annie immediately began to care for her.  In a more protective way than play way.  The doll has been with us for two days now, and when we got in the car today Annie screams "We have buckle her up!" followed in a low whisper (so the doll doesn't overhear us), "she not have these hands" so not to upset the doll.

Annie's insight

"God put his arm out the window to paint me colors.  He make it blue tomorrow."  After much discussion I am able to decipher that God is putting his arm out the window of Annie's pink airplane to paint the sky and that she asked him to make it blue tomorrow.  Oh, and rain clouds "that God washing his paper."

Growing up fast

As with all things mom vs. child, I get the dirty work and all Annie has to do is play.  The birds have been great, but I'm not sure I have enough newspaper to keep these girls in clean trappings for much longer.  You wouldn't believe how quickly they can soil their bedding.  Yuck! 

They also have completely outgrown their swimming pool and can not be left alone in there. Luckily, I have mastered the art of cardboard construction and have built them a deluxe cardboard chicken shack with skylights and a secluded south wing for privacy.  

On a completely different note, Annie informed me last night that "God up in sky working on my pink air plane for me."

 

Day two of the chicken crusade

Well, we made it through the night with no casualties, which after Annie bringing me chickens telling me "they just want say hi," several times, I was more than worried.  She hasn't quite grasped the "don't squeeze" mantra I've been chanting. 

I fear they have become a bigger part of our daily life than I had anticipated.  Annie now insists on eating all her meals next to her babies.  And 

if you were wondering, the chickens favorite movie is Shrek 3.    Annie, even insisted on rushing straight home after church to check on her girls, and doesn't want to go anywhere.  I'm afraid we may never leave the house again.    On the flip side, she loves them, and since I can't have a dog or cat I guess chickens are the next best thing.

       They are quickly outgrowing their kiddy pool and have taken to charging the sides, in what can only be an attempt to fly over the edge, but in reality is only a wing flapping charge into a head-butt with the wall.   On several occasions now they have even gotten together on a group effort to escape by all pecking at the wall as a group.   

Annie loves to have them perch on her shoulder.  

Breakfast with the girls (please note I do make her wash her hands constantly).   

She wanted to

bring this one to church this morning.

Mother Hen

My little Annie become a mommy today.   Perhaps last night's breast feeding frenzy was some sort of maternal instinct switching on.  We didn't even know that today was the big day, but it ended up that they were a little early.    We went to the feed store and picked up our babies today after lunch and Annie has been the doting mother ever since.  She has six baby chicks all with the same name evidently, but I'll work on that.  For now they are each named, Rooster, and Annie is unwilling to budge on the singular name for all idea.   Did I mention they are all currently in the middle of my living room in a swimming pool?   Yep, at least till tonight when they will promptly be moved to the basement after Annie goes to bed.  No offense, but the living room is even a little to crazy for me.   They make the cutest little chirping, and are hysterical when they fall asleep. 

Don't worry he's not dead,

 just sleeping.

 

                      

                                                   

This is Rooster

And this would be 

her sister, Rooster.

  

And this is Roosters cousin,

Rooster.

Breast milk or Tea?

I really think posting about Annie is the best part of being a blogging mommy, and now I get to share pictures. 

 Today I caught my little girl in the middle of a tea party with her "Girls," which was promptly followed by a round of breast feeding for all.  Yes, Annie comes running into the kitchen yelling "get it off now, mommy," tugging at the shirt tangled in her arms over her head, followed by an exasperated, "Please?".  Obviously the idea struck her in the middle of the tea party, that breast milk is better.   So I remove her shirt and she runs back to her babies and begins breast feeding them one at a time.  I had to suppress the giggles when it was time to feed the elephant and she couldn't find his mouth.  Then her struggle to hold his unruly trunk in place.    I'm not sure she'd appreciate me posting such intimate moments of her with her babies (but how could I resist?), so please don't mention this to her.  And PLEASE, ignore the background, I've been sick so the house is a little unkept.

Leaks

For the few that have seen me out in the last couple of weeks you may have noticed the constant sneezing, watery eyes and the trail of tissue that follows in my wake.  I seem to have developed a severe case of Allergies to St. Louis. Allergies are not new to me, but this is the first time my allergy medicine hasn't worked.  If anyone has any advice please post a comment.  It's 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep simply because the sneezing won't let up long enough for me to lay my sneezy head down.   Oh and the biggest challenge is,  I can't take pharmaceuticals of any kind.  Yep, to let you in on a little Maddie info,  I'm super allergic to that as well.  Something as simple as tylenol could land me in bed with a migraine for three to four days.   So, with that noted please post anything helpful.  My eyes are starting to take on this dark swollen leaky look, that's more likely found on the cover of raccoon weekly than vogue.

My kitchen and men

Today was all about me and the kitchen. There's been this strange amount of stress hovering around me and this whole Chicken Coop Crusade, so today I buckled down and spent a good four hours in the kitchen. It only took two batches of pasta, a few loaves of bread, an angel food cake and an Alfredo sauce that I made with fresh garlic and basil to help me figure things out. Yes, strange, but through cooking comes clarity in my screwed up head. The realization hit me sometime after the bread kneading.
I've had to ask for a lot of help with this project, mostly from guys at my church. Probably not a big deal to most, but for me it is. I do not have a husband, a boyfriend, or a brother around. My dad is not a builder and we don't really have the type of relationship where we do things together. We lived in the same house for 20 years and I have no idea who he is, but no worries, I'm in counseling with him, too. Things are getting there (I hope), but it's slow and my chickens can't wait the 8 plus years it may take for me to get through counseling with all the failed male relationships in my life.
Enter church men. The church seems to have a hardy crop of strangely nice, helpful, generous men, a variety I'm not used to. I can't tell you how strange it feels to have men offer to help me. With really nothing in return. They aren't single guys just trying to hook up, oh no these are married men with lives of their own. Busy with children, work and their own wives, yet they somehow find the time to fix the stair railing, help me move, build a planter box with me, help me move again, walk me through a busted fuse box through text messaging, make me a counter top and now building a chicken coop. I can't stand all this niceness. Where do these men come from? And as incredible as they are, it hurts to realize I have gone my entire life not knowing that such men existed. Did you know men can fix things?
So all of my stress has been over the generosity of these men and my inability to pay them or help them in return. And all though realizing this has helped lift the stress it hasn't quite calmed my heart, or answered the question as to why I haven't been able to meet a great single Christian man, who loves kids, gardening, chickens, cooking, whiskey, building, bicycle riding, camping, music and possibly goats sometime down the road. Though, perhaps I'm looking at the wrong things and instead should focus not on what they like, but who they are. Are they the kind of man who would set aside time to help a women they aren't dating, just because she needs the help? Are they generous with their time and abilities? Would they be willing to let me loan them out to a single mom in need?

Annie, it's time to wash your hair

My daughter has been avoiding the evil shampoo for three days now. I woke her up this morning by informing her that today we are going to wash her hair. Imagine your own two year old springing to life from a deep sleep instantly at the words "wash your hair." That is my daughter. She jumps up from bed grabs her head in her little hands and shouts, "my hair not fell on floor!" Breathing heavily I fear hyperventilation, and immediately switch to soothing tactics. "Annie, your right, your hair not fell on floor, maybe we'll wait till later and see if it does." What was I thinking? Can I just say worst mommy move ever. All morning now she's been patting her head saying "my hair not touch floor yet," smiling contently, she's won the battle. I fear my only options are to hold her upside down and drag her hair along the floor.

Thunder Road

Those of you who have happened to stop by when I'm not at my best have probably witnessed the insanely loud blasting of Thunder Road and me with a bottle of wine sewing in and out of tears. Thinking, if my life could at least be as good as that it'd be an improvement.   Please note this song is about a poor jobless guy, with nothing but a car to his name telling his girl she's no beauty but he'll take her anyway.   Preying on the lonely girl with a "history" in exchange for..... (I'll let you fill that in yourself).   Yeah, I'm in counseling, I know.   But still this is my favorite Springsteen song.   And I remember clearly believing that's probably as good as it will ever get for me.   You may now understand why I hide my obsession with Bruce from Annie.  

So why am I telling you all this?   Well today two dreams I never thought I would have came true, and the hopes for my own thunder road have been fully crushed under the foot of what could only be God's work.   Now no laughing, but today I got a new computer straight from a store (this is no hand me down baby), and I'm getting Chickens!   CHICKENS!   egg laying, pooping, pecking live chickens!   From a Store!

God through his infinite knowledge knew that for me its chickens, and I will no longer hold onto the hope for a thunder road romance, but look forward to God knowing what romance would be best.   If he can get me chickens I have no doubt he can get me a date.

I can only pray that Annie doesn't have the same reaction to the chickens as she did to the computer.    In all my excitement of todays events I didn't think of how Annie would react and never did I think she would be concerned.  After setting up (with the old computer still set up on the other kitchen counter) Annie walks in with her eyebrows crossed looking very unhappy.  I ask her what she thinks of mommy's new computer and she informs me that she doesn't like it and that "it to dangerous to have two computers."

So I shamelessly let Annie body paint with sour cream to ease her concern and keep her busy while I type my first blog on my new computer.

Oh yeah, and I can take pictures and put them on my blog now without going to my mothers house.  Sorry mom, I know you'll miss me.

Falling for Rapunzel

Lately I've felt like I've been getting everything wrong. That people are telling me things, only I hear it all wrong. I was told by my loving sister that a boy was trying to flirt with me, a single Christian man, at church last Sunday and I totally blew him off. Had I only known. I'm so lost in my own tower that I never see these things. How exactly am I supposed to ever meet a guy if I'm to exhausted to notice them, or in the case of Rapunzel throwing him pancake batter, or the maid. Please, everyone Pray for a blindingly determined man who will get through my hazy foggy bubble of existence, and see that even though I don't pay them attention I'm worth pursuing. At least I hope I'm worth it.
Aside from failure at noticing mild flirtation, Annie and I had a good day. I worked and she played, and we now have a bug named jimmy in a jar on my kitchen counter. It's actually only the shell to a cicada, but Annie said he's just out shopping, we expect him home by 9.

Is dirt, dirty?

I'm not sure I can even remember what I did today. There were children involved and grownups at one point, then there was dirt. A lot of dirt. I distinctly remember the dirt because, Annie, dressed in her garden boots and pink flowing gown is outside and I tell her not to get dirty. She looks at the garden and then looks at me and asks, "is dirt, dirty?" I wish I had a picture to show you of her standing the middle of a pile of dirt with her long pink dress on, asking me about dirt. I tell her yes, that dirt is actually what gets us dirty, and so for 45 minutes after that we talk about the "why"s of dirt.

The best part is, she was so busy talking about the dirt that I managed to get all the seed potatoes in the ground.

When mom tries to make dinner

So, I've been wanting to make Lasagna for dinner all week and today I finally had the time and the energy. After spending two hours patching together what I have in the kitchen, I get dinner in the oven and then take Annie on a walk while it's baking. Perfect we'll get home in time to pull it out and then we'll sit together and eat. Well here's one of the worst parts of being a single mother. We get home, Annie doesn't want to eat and starts to throw a fit about wanting to keep walking and is screaming "I no like lananga" Great! So this brings me the decision of time out and eat alone or ignore and some how patch together a somewhat civil dinner. Of course, I had to do time out. So I spent three hours making a lasagna from scratch only to end up eating alone at the table. If God ever does bless me with a husband I hope he realizes I expect lots of kids, because I hate eating alone.
And it was such a good lasagna. I made a carrot tomato sauce and used ground turkey that I seasoned with fennel seeds, oregano and garlic. Layered that with marinated grilled zucchini and green bell peppers, between the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Grrrr.....I need people to cook for.

When Ruby Tries to Grow Candy

Today, Annie and I, went back to the dirt doctor. WARNING, they don't normally give the dirt back. Poor Annie looked so pathetic; the man went and found our coffee can and filled it with dirt from the back. She then talked in length about her dirt to two little ceramic bunnies she met at the store, picked out some seeds and then we headed for home for nap time.

As with all moms, nap time, is get stuff done time, so I take this opportunity to get the lime and cottonseed mixed into the dirt. When Ruby Tries to Grow Candy, I don't remember her complaining about her back aching or sweat dripping down her forehead. Yet when I try to till (by shovel, no tills here) our garden bed for the second time I can barely make it. Believe it or not our 12x8 bed is fully tilled, fed and ready to go. My back may not work for a while, but our soil is in great shape. I'm not sure that I'm going about this the right way. So far, gardening for Annie has meant we read books, buy stuff and poke at dirt every once in a while. Everything is lolly pops and gum drops, right? Little does she know that every day at nap time I'm out there shoveling and weeding. Where are the children's books about the reality of gardening? Where the kids shovel while the mom sits drinking iced tea or perhaps a whiskey sour?

Dinner Time

Tonight, Annie and I, got to have our old neighbors over to dinner. I will miss having them right upstairs, our spur of the moment get together's and last minute dinner potlucks. Believe me, no one can throw together two empty pantries like Lauren and I.

Frog Belly Rat Bone

Well it's March and that means it's time for me to get going in this new yard Annie and I have been blessed with for the year. In order to get Annie a little excited about gardening we have been reading books about Flowers, planting and such. Annie has become somewhat infatuated with the book, Frog Belly Rat Bone. Don't ask me why. It's about a monster with damp socks and picky underwear, but he plants seeds and says a little song while he does it and Annie is in love with him.
Anyways, today being our first warm day in March we went outside this morning to get started. Singing, of coarse, the Frog Belly Rat Bone song as we did so. Imagine going outside and seeing your new neighbors singing loudly "Frog Belly Rat Bone, one two three, the specks in the earth are guarded by me....." over and over again, while carrying shovels and pulling weeds. No one said hi. I'm sure they think we're from some sort of cult.
We did make progress. I got the bad weeds out, folded in the cover grass, and dug up a slip n' slid and a huge old root system. We then had to take a soil sample into the "Dirt Doctor." Annie was very concerned when I told where we were going to take the dirt and insisted on carrying the can all the way there. She sang to the can of dirt on the car ride there and had to kiss the dirt goodbye when we left it at the garden center. I then spent the entire ride home answering why questions about the dirt doctor and if she'll have to share her medicine with the dirt. If she asks you, all dirt has to go to the doctor every once in a while for check ups, and no we don't give the dirt our medicine (it has it's own).

Ok so this went on longer than I thought it would.


Yes this really is a Slip n' slid. How it got buried in a raised garden bed I have no idea. Maybe it was some sort of irrigation system?