Oh. Joy. NOT!!!!! and the facts of life...

Annabelle (aka, SuperCow) and Willie (aka, Willie-boy) are still confined to the corral. They are permitted hour long, supervised snacking at the hay bar. Then back into the slammer they go.

The rains have not yet arrived. We've been "sproinkled" as some of my children would say...not really sprinkled...but not drizzled, either.

I'm low on caffeine, and El Husbando will have the very important, and sacred, duty, to provide such brain sustenance for me asap tomorrow. Afternoon. After work.

This will make for a very long Monday. In which we have a 90% chance of rain. Thunderstorms. All day.

Did I mention that the cows must be supervised in the pasture? And then prodded back to the corral, as they are unwilling to go on their own, back "to stir"? Yes. Someone will "get" to sit outside tomorrow, likely on the tractor, watching. And waiting...

Today it was Child #1. A good thing she had a good book with her along to read, and fortunately, the cows were not too sure about this brightly jacketed, brightly hatted "person"...so they ate, with one eye towards the tractor and lean to, and the other, on the hay.

Tomorrow, it will likely be me. I don't like the rain. Especially not when it is--again--going to prevent us from getting the needed work done in the gardens. Dang it. It was overcast today, and the Low Front coming through, sent El Husbando's back into spasms of something far less than joyous anticipation. Actually, it was well near "immobile agony". Not fun. For him, or me. It is kind of difficult, to be the "well" spouse, when the other is lying there in a pain you can really only imagine, and wish you could get rid of, forever. Unfortunately, the only 'remedies' available seem to be temporary, and pharmaceutical in nature. Not our first choice, but surgery isn't an option for his problems. Too many years carrying your own weight up and down the Himalayan foothills, jumping out of airplanes, etc, will do that.

Now that I have completely and totally depressed you, let's talk about something *F*U*N*!!!

Painting!

And no, I don't mean a pretty oil still-life (something I hope to take up "one day", when finances and timing permit, lol). I mean, painting my family room. I've known what color I wanted since before Christmas. The same yellow as in my dining room..it is a variable, almost "neutral" yellow, to me, since in some light it is a pale butter, in others, almost a parchment brown...different light sources, different angles, different times of day/year..all play a part in it...

El Husbando and the older three are going camping in another week and a half or so. Nothing too rustic, but fun nonetheless. That's a great thing about homeschooling, btw, is the ability to take advantage of the "off seasons" for various venues/activities.

However, that means it will be just the twins and I...for 4+ blessedly wonderful days...the twins still take naps. And go to bed earlier than their older siblings. It makes for a greater opportunity to get work "done".

I'd like to see about hanging some "mistreatments" a la "The Nester" at "The Nesting Place" (go check her out, she's in my sidebar). I've had the fabric since we moved in (no joke--the day after we got here, the UPS driver showed up, said, "Hi! My name is ______, and I'm your UPS driver...are you Rachel _____?" And thus started a wonderful relationship). I'd ordered the material from Fabric.com, and had it delivered to our "new" address...talk about wonderful. Shoot, I didn't want to bring the furniture in til I had things painted--glad I opted for going ahead with the move-in! (It will be 2 years April 1 since we arrived here).

A good thing about the timing of El Husbando's trip with the children, is that it occurs after my weekend in a large city north of our home, with our eldest--who will turn 10 this coming week. We are planning a day out, just the two of us, to do "girl" stuff, and have some more "grown up" type conversations...some of which is going to center around biological facts she is not 100% aware of, and the ramifications there of--you all know precisely what I am talking about...with this being the first child, well, it is going to be an interesting conversation, as I've not deliberately set down to have one of these before. We've let the questions--and the answers--come as they will...age appropriate, and specific to the question being asked. However, age, and development, requires a more "pro-active" approach now, sooooo...it shall be interesting, to say the least (wish me luck, and pray pray pray!!!).

However, we'll be able to go into genuine, bonafide, CRAFT stores. Michaels. Hobby Lobby. JoAnns. Hancocks. Oh me oh my. I've restrained myself--you have *no* idea how much I love to SHOOOOPPPP!--since we moved here. I have confined my need for the occasional expenditure to reasonable levels, and tried to do it with a plan in mind, either at a yard sale or the thrift stores. I've done pretty well, in that regard, for the most part. However, this is a once in a very rare while (one child? With me? In a BIG city? With *REAL* stores? Catch me, I think I'm going to faint). She will have her bday money. I will have a bit of the Friday paycheck. I've got a few things I know I am looking for already, but we'll have to see if I can find it all, or not. Some of that good museum level putty sticky stuff, to help some platters stick onto the walls over the windows (maybe). Some upholstery tacks (maybe, again). I need some sort of curtain rods, at least in two rooms (the dining room and family rooms are very much open to one another, so I'm taking care of both rooms at once). I've seen several ideas I'd "like" to try, but given time and budgetary constraints, well, let's just hope I get it right the first time!

I will certainly try to remember to post some pictures as I go. Right now, the walls are a very "lait" color of cafe au lait. Not tan, not beige, not white...just some weird shade in between. I prefer the yellow.

That's bringing to mind a whole 'nother train of thought (can you tell I am one of those people, whom you had better hope doesn't shut up mid-conversation, because you know I'll end up down a whole different track from you? ;-) )....

Seriously--I grew up in one of those houses. You know, the sensible ones, where the walls were white, the carpets were beige, and oh my goodness, don't go in the kitchen, you might make a mess.

Now, as an adult, I've had walls that were yellow, green (two shades, striped, and with an opalescent glaze on top of the darker stripes), purple, two shades of blue...yeaaahhhh. That was *just* in the old house! In this one, I've got yellow, and red, that I've put up, a neutralish (but workable) green in the bathrooms, and tan everywhere else. I've not decided what, if anything to do about the hallways (no natural light? needing new light fixtures? Difficult to think about right now). The master is going to eventually be painted a nice dusty shade of blue (works with the material for the windows). The boys' room is going to stay tan (it works with the cowboy theme we're going to be working on in there. The girls...it may be a soft pink, it may be some more blue, or it may go green. I've got the fabric. Just don't have my mind made up yet! LOL.

All of the rooms could use new light fixtures/ceiling fans (if you live in Oklahoma, or anywhere south of the Mason Dixon, you know why these rooms *will* have a ceiling fan to replace the older nasty "antique brass" ones that are up there now--none of that HGTV frou-frou nonsense around here! If you want to strap a chandelier underneath a ceiling fan, go right to it, but there *will* be ceiling fans in as many rooms as I can get them in, in *my* house, tyvm!).

Can you tell I feel strongly about this issue? ;-)

Anyway, there's a lot of cosmetic stuff to be done, but nothing to do, but bite it off one bit at a time...tiny bites, around here. LOL. I wanted to replace the doorknobs. There were 8 exterior doors. EIGHT. The interior doors--another 9. Yes, I said NINE. N-I-N-E. I found some lovely ones, on clearance, in the finish I liked (oil rubbed bronze), at Home Depot. They had the numbers of them I needed. But when you tally up, 9 times $21...and then another 8 times $30...that's a car payment!!! ACKKKK!!!!

So yea, it will be very teeny tiny bites. Unless I can convince El Husbando that mis-matched, pretty girly glass door knobs are the way to go. Or milk glass. Or cast iron. Or all of the above depending on what we can afford. And somehow, I doubt it.

So much work to do, so little time! And money!

Anyway, ladies, what are you house plans for this spring? Enjoying what you have? Renovating? Rehabing what you've got and repurposing things? Chucking it all and moving to a shack on the beach in Tahiti (can you take me? I tan easily, and could get used to wearing a sarong style skirt, very easily, with a linen blouse!--and I like drinks with little umbrellas in them, esp if they are the size of a fishbowl...and have cute names like "Margarita" or "Jumbo Fishbowl sized Margarita". Or "Call Your Husband to Come and Get You Sized Margarita"--Note, I have never finished a jumbo sized fishbowl margarita, although I have tried. And I wasn't driving, so I didn't have to call El Husbando to come get me.

I like raspberry by the way, in case you need to stock up!

LOL

Okay, folks, I'm out of here, I think I've given you enough to read about tonight. I do hope that you all are having a beautiful start to the week...and that *your* gardens are going better than mine is, right now...

LOL