CD Swap

Jori-O and Diane host Musical Monday, What Moves You? A while back they also took on the venture to do a Music Swap of which I signed on to do. I figured I am always looking for new music to add to my ipod for my runs and this would be a great way to get new and different music.

The music I received was both familiar and unfamiliar. Some of the songs are certainly ones I grew up listening to as I am a fan of 80's music. I love it! My CD came with 14 songs put together by Boyd. Included are Violent Femmes, Dead Milkmen, Dead Kennedys, David Bowie, Ramones, The Cure, Jimi Hendrix, Boomtown Rats, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Green Day, Soft Cell, and The Killers. I am familiar with and have listened to most on the list. The only ones I wasn't familiar with were Dead Milkmen, Dead Kennedys, and Boomtown Rats.

My hubby and I were listening to the music and sadly he didn't recognize many of the songs. The only ones he was familiar with were Jimi Hendrix and Green Day. He is not of a music buff so I am not surprised. I loved the music selected and thank Boyd for putting time and energy into the CD. This is probably one of my favorite "One Hit Wonders". How many of you remember this one? Enjoy!

Tainted love - Soft Cell

More Bloggy Love

Roxane was kind enough to send me this lovely award. It is the Lemonade Award! Fortunately I love lemons and recipes that incorporate lemons. They make tasty cookies, sauces, even lemonade (which my kids love to make from fresh squeezed lemon). Any way, enough of me and my lemon fixation. On to the good stuff........

Here are the rules for this award:

1) Put the logo on your blog or post

2) Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude

3) Link to your nominees within your post

4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award

I pass this award, in no particular order, on to:
1. Blue Violet
2. Pooba
3. Cookie Girl
4. Suburb Sanity
5. Mammatalk
6. Aunt Spicy
7. Mountain Woman
8. Frogs in my Formula
9. Tara at TMI
10. Christina at Rant, Rave, & Roll

Thank you Roxane for such a fun award! For those of you who have already received this particular award just know that you are loved by yet another person. Have a great day and enjoy sharing the love.

Friendship Award

I received this from Julia over at Our Simple Life a while back. She is a great woman with a deep respect for animals and the rest of our natural world. She is making many friends in bloggy land and a LOT of happy women with her sister site The Apron Goddesses. Now it is my turn to share this award with some people who I have become friends with.




It is the Friendship Award which means:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I would love to share this special, fun award with:

1. Cookie Girl Creations
2. Tink (I know you don't blog, but you are imortant to me!)
3. Tara at TMI
4. Aunt Spicy
5. Mrs. Mullet over at Frogs in my Formula
6. Dawn at Embracing the Ordinary Life
7. Grand Pooba
8. Roxane at It really is, all about me

Pooba, I know you have passed this one on already, so don't feel obligated to pass it again. I just wanted you to know you are loved by another...................that would be me, if you were wondering.

Splat

Last night I went outside for 2 reasons. One, to shut the chickens in their hen house, do a last egg check and two, get some firewood for the stove. Once the boys settled down for bed and the noise was at a dull roar I headed out to do my evening chores.

When I go to the hen house the birds are all roosting on their bar to sleep and keep warm. I always stand just outside the door to do a count just to be sure they all made it back inside. Fifteen, all are accounted for. Once I have the count I do a last check in the boxes for eggs. There is one last egg of the day so I proceeded to put it in the pocket of my jacket and shut the door to the hen house. All is well with the birds for the night.

Next is to fill the wood box and bring it into the house to maintain warmth. The wind was cold last night and we live in an old house. It likes to find cracks and crevices so that it can swirl its way in in an attempt to battle me and my attempts to keep the house warm. With the wood box full, I slowly work my way around the obstacles that are in my path. I get the box to the porch and proceed to put it in the living room so that I can feed the beast his nightly meal of wood.

Once I put the wood box down I notice something wet on my pants. Completely baffled I touch the wet spot and look around the box to see if there was a hidden pocket of water somewhere. Nothing. Then I put my hand in my jacket pocket and feel more wetness. Still baffled I look around to try and figure out what is going on. Why am I wet? Again I stick my hand in my jacket pocket only to find a puddle in the pocket. Why is there a puddle in my pocket? Finally my brain kicks into gear and the connection is made.

When I picked up the wood box the forgotten egg went SPLAT! Sadly it took me about 90 seconds to realize what the puddle of goo was in my pocket, the last egg of the day.

F'n Roosters....

Roosters suck! I, the one who takes good care of the birds, was attacked by not one, but two roosters today and let me tell you I was in no mood to tangle. My mood and or tolerance for any such altercation, bird or boys, was very limited indeed.


It all started with Mr. D, a Danish Leghorn, who happened to be in my personal space. He was between me and my door. I needed to get into the house and he was in my way. I calmly start to walk by and what do I get? An attack of the fowl. Well let me tell you he got an attack I hope he remembers.....he was, literally, kicked off the porch, but came back for more. I gave him another kick, a hard one and then I picked up the nearest item, which happened to be one of the boys mud boots and hucked it as hard as I could at the da** bird. Nailed him! Boy that felt good. After a good a** kickin' Mr. D decided he was done tangling with me.


Not two seconds later I am headed into the coop to collect eggs, clean water, and make sure they have some food and Rhodie follows me into the pen. Well he has had his eye on me for some time. I think he decided he had big enough balls to attack......and attack he did! Well, I gave him a good a** kickin' too! He went a** over tea kettle and slammed into the fence. That one felt good too! I could tell he wanted more, but I think he thought better of it. Instead he just watched me to see what I was going to do and where I was going to go. He eyed me all the way out of the pen. The worst part of it is that I lost an egg in my altercation with Rhodie.

If those 2 cocks think they are going to have a piece of this chick they are going to have to think again. I just may have to go in there and wrap my hands around their necks and let them know that they will be dinner if they decide to challenge me again. Da** birds! I WILL get the better of them, I will!

GRRRR....

So what is it about a child who lovingly gives something and then takes it back or destroys it when they feel they are in trouble? Anyone? Yeah, I can't answer that one either.

Yesterday is a prime example of this. We went to a place called Pump It Up for a birthday party. Great place to have parties and tires the kids out so bed time is easy peasy. Anyway, we get home and my #2 decides to GIVE me his balloon.

#2: Here mom, you can have my balloon.

Me: Thanks, that is very nice of you to share.

As the afternoon progresses he starts to antagonize his 2 brothers and they are about to lose it, big time. They tell him over and over to stop whatever it is he is doing.............he doesn't. What a surprise!

I walk over to him and take the items in his hand, his beloved dog (which he has had since the day he was born) and a soft ball with nobbies on it. As always I am deemed "The Bad Guy" and he begins his rant.

#2: Fine mom, I'm gonna take MY balloon back and POP it.

Me: Okay, if that is what you want to do.

#1 & #3: Mom he is going to pop your balloon!

Me: Yeah, that is typical! He always offers to give me something and then when he is in trouble or feels he is in trouble he takes it back and destroys it.

Who does that? Am I alone? I am at the point where I want to tell him NOT to GIVE me anything. There are always conditions with his "gifts" and I don't want them if I have to jump through hoops for the gift to be a "genuine" gift.

Rooster Alert!

My #2 can be a pill. I love him to death, but he has a knack for tormenting his brothers and cousins. He likes to stir the "proverbial" pot just to get things going. It is aggravating to all involved. He is afraid of a few things, one of them being his "beloved" roosters. He gives them great accolades, but when it comes down to it he is terrified of them.

I sort of take pleasure in the fact that he is terrified of the roosters. Here is a great example of some simple humor for a mom of a ruffian. I went next door, for what reason I cannot say as I have forgotten. At the time of my disappearance my 3 boys were winding down from school and carpool, I let them watch a 1/2 sitcom on Disney or some such thing. Well when I got back from my SIL's house I hear some whimpering coming from behind our garbage can, lo and behold there is boy #2 in a crouch squeezed between the garbage can and the fence it backs up to, more whimpering. I take one look and ask "What's the problem? Why are you sitting back there whimpering?" He is too upset to answer me so I take a look around. What do I see? The roosters. Minding their own business, scratching, crowing, pecking, looking around. They don't have a care in the world and the last thing on their mind is a 6 year old too afraid to move for fear of being spurred.

Call me cruel but when he is reduced to tears and in fear of a silly little bird it makes me laugh. Not just a giggle, but one of those laughs that come from deep in the belly, make you want to cry kind of laugh. I just can't help but laugh. This boy who struts around trying to reduce his brothers and cousins to this state has been given the hammer, so to speak, by 2 territorial roosters. Don't get me wrong, if they feel threatened they will inflict pain, but this is something only #1 has experienced. I think seeing him get the brunt of the fowl has scarred him for life.

Wordless Wednesday - Cat v. Vole

Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Gift Swap

A while back I joined Mammarazzi and her Favorite Things Gift Swap.

I have been anxiously awaiting my gift from Tammy over at Home in Virginia and the wait paid off. Today when the mail came there was a big box waiting for me a the gate. So of course I run out to retrieve my GIFT! My patience paid off, Tammy sent me some very cool things. Here have a peek. Can you see it?

No? You can't? Well let me help you out!

How about now? You can see it? Oh good. Well Tammy sent me the loot. She loves fragrances so in honor of things that smell nice and pretty she sent me some carpet freshener, potpurri, pomegranate & mango lotion, hand soap, and body wash. Other fragrant items included Krockpot Kandles that smell like fruit slices and strawberri kiwi.....these you put in the little white potpurri dish with a tea light candle in the bottom. So to go along with that was a pack of tea light candles. She also sent me some Tropical Coconut Foot Lotion (something my feet are going to love) and a bar of soap that smells like Raspberry cream Cupcakes. I can see you all imagining the great smells that are floating around my kitchen right now. That's not all either, Tamy sent me some lovely red dish towels, a notepad for jotting down the week's meal plan and a magazine called Real Rooms - 100 ideas. Wow Tammy you outdid yourself. A big thank you for sharing your favorite things and a big thank you to Mammarazzi for hosting such a fun give away!

I made an Apron......

Remember a while back I said I got a bee in my bonnet and was going to try my hand at making an apron? Well, I didn't let my taxes rule my life and I made it. Still need to finish my taxes, but that is beside the point.

Here is the fabric I chose, very cute.

Here it is cut in the shape of the apron. Now to sew it together and add some bias tape.

Well here it is. It isn't perfect, I have a few spots to fix, but I did it! Pretty darn good considering it is my first project that involved more than sewing a srtaight line.

Oddly enough, you can purchase this exact same apron, print and all, over at Cupcake Provacatuer. The crazy thing is that I chose the print and pattern before I even knew about that site.

Bloggers Beware!

Bully Alert, Bully Alert
All points bulletin:

There is a 6 year old running rampant and needs to be controlled. He is vocal beyond words, has an attitude a mile wide, can manipulate anyone into anything at will. Beware of this bully, he may lure you in and you won't even realize it......... until it is TOO late.

Description:
Height: 3' 8"
Hair: Brown, short
Eyes: Hazel
Wearing black jeans, red and black hockey type jersey and cowboy boots. Last seen tormenting kids younger than himself as well as older ones.

If you should happen to see said Bully do not approach, put your kids in the house and call the Bully Alert Hotline immediately.
1-800-888-8888

Wordless Wednesday - Frog

I won more fabric!

Look what I won!

I won more fabulous fabric! Terri over at Sew-Fantastic had a give away, so I entered. Lucky for me I won this little treasure. Thank you Terri for hosting this give away and I will be back for more. Again, decisions, decisions.......what to make with this nice little scrap pack.