Updates, news, life, and ghosts.

         As with most things in my life, this blog is fixing to be a step into the total randomness of my brain. Consider yourself warned.

        First of all, it has almost been a year since I have taken the time to write a blog. So to my faithful followers, I am sorry. In the past year, we have made some changes as a family. We decided to try to eat better for one, as well as exercise. Although we have fallen off of the exercise wagon, we are still trying to eat healthier and teach our children good nutrition. However, they are teens so if it is not pizza it is not on they radar. They still have to eat it, but aren't always the happiest to do so. All in all I can't complain about our children. They are good kids. Certainly not the hell raising teens Jamie and I were, but we aren't going to talk about that.
       Joshua turned 16 this summer. He doesn't have his license yet. The laws in NC state you have to have so many hours documented with your permit before you can even thinking of taking the driving test. He doesn't have many hours to go so he will be on the roads before long. He is not playing football this year, but has instead decided to focus on marching band, competition band, and wrestling. He plays bottom (or the biggest) bass drum in the band. He has also spent time trying to get into better shape to drop down from heavy weight to 220 weight class. This should make the wrestling season easy as he is use to dealing with guys that weight up to 285. It is looking to be a good year for him as he heads into his Junior year of high school. Some of his hardest classes, including calculus, will be faced this year. I have full confidence he can do it.
      Kaitlin is heading into her sophomore year in high school. She turned 15 over the summer. She has her driving permit and drives every chance she gets. Any time we go any where, she asks to drive. She is also in marching band and competition band. She has a love for JROTC and will be in Raiders again this year. In band, last year she was in the pit. These are the instruments that are in the front of a competition format and don't move. This year she is playing top bass drum (the smallest) so she will be marching out on the field. Having both her and Josh on the drum line has brought them closer together in some ways. It is nice to see as a parent. Normal teen siblings want to kill each other. Raiders will start right after school starts for her next week. Her only "off" day for some type of practice after school will be Wednesday. It will be a busy beginning to the year for her. She is excited to be going to the National tournament with Raiders to GA in Nov.
    Damien is 14 and in the 8th grade this year and has already made a grand entrance. He has Asperger's and this can make things a little tricky at times. Evidently he is more comfortable at school than I give him credit for. He has been helping a new student figure out the new school and the way things work. It is wonderful to see him take on a very social role for someone who is supposed to be very antisocial. As far as extra activities, Damien would just rather not. He was in Boy Scouts for a while and decided he did not want to do it anymore. He goes to his siblings functions to support them when I make him but would much rather hang out with his grandma.
      Austen is in 6th grade this year. He will be turning 13 next week. He is a little intimidated by middle school but he will be over it soon I am sure. Three days in and the teacher has already told me he was talking during class. Sounds about right. He has more trouble with school than he likes to show. Hopefully it will be something that, with his wonderful English teachers help, he will learn new skills to move forward and be successful. He likes playing basketball but doesn't want to try out for the school. So I guess it will be basketball at the YMCA again this winter. He also decided he didn't want to be in Boy Scouts any more. The politics in this particular troop were getting a bit ridicules but neither of the boys would go for trying a new troop. Normally we are the "finish what you start" type of parents but in Boy Scouts you don't have a season. Finishing is Eagle Scout at roughly age 18. It was a decision Jamie and I did not take lightly but in the end we decided to allow them to bow out.
    That about does it for the updates on the kids. On to news!!!! I have changed my major in college from Criminal Justice; latent evidence to Nursing. I know, I know big difference. Why the change you ask? Several reasons really. I realized that a career in latent evidence (AKA crime scene investigation) is not a very high paying position. In fact, you can make more money teaching about the job than you can actually doing the job. I also realized that I have spent my life taking care of people, so why not get paid for it. I jumped into a CNA class before I could change my mind and figured out that I really Do like it. In fact, I rather enjoy it. Of course, like every job and anything else in life, it has it's moments but all in all I truly enjoy being a CNA and look forward to being an RN. My classes start tomorrow and I am just as excited as I am nervous. In fact, part of me write this blog has to do with blowing the dust off my fingers and getting back into typing mode for all the papers I am going to be writing over the next few months.
     Life......life deals us difficult hands at times, but somehow Jamie and I have always found a way though them together. Somehow we seem to come out stronger on the other side. It is interesting to be able to see a path forming in front of you. As you learn from your mistakes and make changes you can see the path of life becoming a little more clearer in front of you and sometimes it even has a little arrow to help point the way so you don't get turned around. Being able to see this path isn't always the easiest thing. You have to learn to step back and actually look at the things going on around you. Life will always point you in the right direction, you just have to learn to read those directions.
    Now for the Real reason you are reading this blog, ghosts. Yes, you read that correctly, ghosts. Why in the world would I throw in something as random as ghosts? Well, they use to be people to and want to be remembered. We all have ghosts in our lives. Some people choose not to believe in them and that is fine. Then you have crazy people like me that not only believe in them but can sense them. Today is my grandmothers birthday and she is a humble soul. She doesn't expect to be remembered or thought of but it makes her happy when we do. My friend Shane "haunts" me. I can hear him laughing inside my head sometimes. It is weird but I don't mind. He watches over us. He is like my guardian angel. My grandfather visits occasionally. He stays with my grandma most of the time. She sees him and talks to him. He died 23 years ago but he still waits for her and watches over her. Why am I rambling on about all of this, I really don't know. I just feel like people need to take a moment or two and remember the loved ones that have left this world to move on to the next one. Part of them stays with us, looking out for us, helping to guide us, and them deserve our appreciation.
    Ok, I will hush now. Thank you for taking the time to read this. It don't really know what I hope it will accomplish but it feels good in a strange way to get all these thoughts out of my brain and onto paper, or um cyberspace in this case.

 Until next time.....

If you love something, set it free.

                      All of us know the old saying "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn't, it was never meant to be." Most of the times in my life, people who said this were refering to an animal or boyfriend or some other such silliness. Lately, I have found the first part of this saying to be very true. Sometimes if you love something (or in this case, someone) you have to set it free and find the inner strength to be okay with that. That is the hard part. The whole "if it comes back to you, it is yours and if not, it was never meant to be." doesn't even apply here. Everyone that I am setting free will Forever me a part of my soul.
                   So what is all this mumbo jumbo I am talking about setting stuff free? In this case it has to do with people....several of them. As most of you know, I lost my maternal grandmother to liver cancer and cirrhosis about 6 weeks ago. It was a hard loss but we all were ready for her suffering and pain to end. That is about the time all of this "set it free" stuff began. I had to learn to set her free, to be ok with her not being here anymore simply because I loved her so very much that I would rather her soul be at peace that to be tormented by all that pain. That was hard to do but I knew without a doubt that it was the right thing and that made it a tad bit easier.  My paternal grandmother is 94 years old. She is an emotional strong woman, but her physical body is starting to fail her. Her legs are becoming weak as well as her arms. She has fallen several times over the last few years. Thankfully she has only received bruises from these falls. My greatest fear is that one day she will fall and will be injured and not recover or worse! She still lives alone in the house where she raised her children and lived with her loving, devoted husband that passed away 23 years ago. My grandmother never learned to drive, she never needed to! She lives in downtown Winston so everything is within walking distance. Where ever she wanted to go that she could not walk to, my grandfather drove her. I promise that you have never met a more strong willed individual than my grandmother.
                 I was informed by my mom that my grandmother had fallen twice in the last week. My parents still see my grandmother every Sunday. It is just I, the rogue grandchild, that has not seen my grandmother for months and decided the other day that I really did need to take the time to see her. I decided that I needed to tell her some things, things that I have kept from her for years and years, to help her understand why I do some of the times I do. It was a very hard conversation to have and I cried like a baby the whole entire hour I was with her talking. I am surprised she understood Anything I said. It was a good conversation and I am glad I took the time to have it. My grandmother was my world when I was young and I needed her to understand that. I am very thankful I was able to find the strength to say the things I did. She hugged me and told me how much she loves me. I will treasure that memory all the days of my life (grandma is the type of person that when you say "Love you Granny." her response is always "Uh huh" or "You to"). My grandmother and my aunt are also the only people other than me that has seen my grandfather's ghost. (Yes I have seen him and no I don't really care whether you believe it or not.) My grandma told me years ago that she knew he was waiting for her. I have never doubted that. So I decided to visit his grave right after I left my grandma's house. It is always hard to visit him, it always makes me so sad. He died of Lung cancer when I was 11. He fought it for 3 years and refused therapy of any kind. He has always been my angel to help guide me through this life. He has all but told me his opinion on my actions at times!( Don't believe me??? Ask Jamie, he will tell you...tv's changing channels and all!!..LOL) When I visited him, I asked him to watch her, to keep her safe, not to let her fall and get hurt, or to suffer. As hard as it would be, I would much rather her pass on in her sleep than to suffer. Of course I cry when I think of this because that means I have to set her free. Do you know how hard that is???
              On that same day, the younger two boys had boy scouts. There is a weekend camping trip coming up that is out of state. After talking with the scout master, I decided to let the boys go on this trip...out of state......for the weekend....without a parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle/cousin...for the very first time. AW...my baby boys are growing up!!! I knew this day would come but I didn't expect for them Both to do it at the same time!!!! (Something about the "No more looking up porn on the computer" conversation that we had to have with BOTH boys a few months ago clued me into that this day was coming but still, you are never ready for it!) I am proud that the boys are growing up, becoming independent, handsome young men. Learning to set them free to grow up is not always so easy.
                 Joshua and Kaitlin are in high school. (enough said right...) Joshua has his drivers permit and drives us to school in the mornings. The day is very quickly coming when Kaitlin will be going through drivers ed class. Kaitlin will get her drivers permit only weeks before Josh gets his license. They are active in football and marching band. Basketball season is quickly coming up as is wrestling. They are independent young adults that really only need us to help them get from place to place.....for now. Learning to set them free to be the wonderful, smart adults that we have been helping prepare them to be is not easy.
              All of the kids have emotional highs and lows. I so very much want to fix the lows, to make it all better, but I can't. It is life and it is something they will have to learn to handle on their own. I can only be a good listener and someone to lean on, to help support them whie they figure out life on their own. That is hard to do. To not step in and be momma bear just for the sake of my childs emotions is hard.....learning to set free.
              So as the fall weather creeps in on us, the earth is moving into hibernation and some the leaves are starting to die. The earth is going through a change, a much needed change, but a change no less.  I to am going through a change. Learning to let go, balance home and family, help when I can, take care of my husband, mom-in-law, and four-legged babies, plus continue to work on my self. I am learning to grow by learning to let go.

New Challenges

                                               With a new year comes new challenges.

              Many of you know (but more of you don't know) that our middle son, Damien, was diagnosed several years ago with Asperber's Syndrome. This, in and of itself, can be a challenge at times. He thinks in a different way that most of us and searches for an explaination to Everything. Knowing this about him will either explain a lot or teach you something new about our family.
              People with Asperger's normally have tics (also known as stimming). They can be simple, using only one muscle group, or they can be complex, using more than one muscle group. Recently, Damien's tics have gotten much worse. Of course, this means I dive head first into research and of course with research you can and will find 1,000 different answers/examples/people. In my research I found out that Tourettes can run on the same spectrum as Asperger's and infact, about 50% of the people diagnosed with Aspergers are also diagnosed with Tourettes. Now Tourettes is much much more than the 5% of people we all hear about with the "screaming of random curse words" vocal tic. Tourettes can be any repetitive movement and infact most people have some form of a tic, it is just not bad enough to be classified as Tourettes. Examples would be playing with your hair or chewing on your lip while bored or thinking. Shaking your leg or foot without thinking about it is another good example. It is the brains way of focusing on one specific thought or task. People will sometimes listen to music while doing homework or paper work because it helps them focus. This is a hearing tic. All very common stuff. It is only when these actions become an extreme/ abnormal/ severe that is is falling into the Aspergers Stimming realm or Tourettes. Figuring out the difference between the diagnoses is the hard part. Even professionals have a hard time telling the difference sometimes because there is no specific list or guideline for either that doesn't fall in the gray zone.
             Every website gives different guidelines as to tics vs stimming. The one thing I do now know as fact is that whether it is stimming or tics, the need to make the movement is known to the individual before they do the action. Let me explain that one a little more. You can tell a sneeze is coming before you actually sneeze right? Tics/stimming is kind of the same thing. The individual has a feeling or a need to make certain actions before actual doing it. Knowing this is important because this means it is controlled to a degree. Damiens tics/stims in public or at school are only noticable if you are looking for them. He will usually rub his hair in one quick, short movement but he does this only 2 times per minute so it goes unnoticed. He will also rub down the side of his face or cheek like it is starting to itch. He will reposition his feet alot and somethimes he will make a very quiet grunting sound. Unless you are sitting right next to him, you will not hear it. At home is a whole different story. He is safe and comforable in his own environment. He will have facial contortions, chest slapping, hand and arm stiffening, and in some cases will jump, stomp, or something else that will involve a full body movement. The incident recently (because I am not sure what else to call it) was a full on tic meltdown with full body movement and complex tics in public. Other than in a dark movie theather during the movie, this was a first. It was boardering on totally uncontrolled. It Had been a stressfull week and day. It was the week my grandmother passed away and it was the first day of school. To top it off, we were at one of Joshua's football games and our team was winning so the excitement was in the air.
            What brings these on? Anything exciting or anything causing anxiety. A video on youtube that is funny, an exciting part in a movie, a close encounter in a video game, parts of his homework that really makes him think. Understanding this and having the other siblings understand this has been a goal for many years. His actions are second nature to the rest of the family and we normal pay him no attention during these times. In fact he doesn't want us to pay any attention to him. If he do look up at him he will stop and ask "What?" which we answer "Nothing". He knows that these actions are out of the norm for most people. We are working on getting him to understand that these are ok and not anything to be embarressed by. I'm not sure how well it will work, but we will see.
           So why am I telling all of you all of this? I guess I am putting it out there for a few reasons. 1. If you see Damien doing any of these things you will know a little back ground into what he is doing and why and will hopefully help him feel comfortable in doing so. 2. This is a public blog and getting feed back from anyone else who has done more research than I have would be great. 3. Any thoughts, feeling, or questions are welcome. If you can think of any questions I haven't, feel free to share.
         The Blog is entitled Eibhleann's World (Eibhleann is my Celtic name) for a reason. Our world is a very interesting place to be. We are always busy and never lacking in the excitement catagory. 

Hope this helps.

It seems that with this New Year, a lot of change is happening. Everything from personal lives to the weather, everything is changing everyday.
                     Today I feel the need to take the time to reflect, ground, and heal. I also feel the need to share this with all of you because I feel my friends could benefit from this. Maybe it is the Shamanic side of me.
          There has been a lot of hurt in our past. It is time to let that go. The hurt in the past was required for us to become who we are today. I like to think of it as a learning experience. Some of this hurt we had control over and some not. The part we had control over, it is time to forgive ourselves and move forward. Don't continue to do the what if's..it is in the past and can not be changed. The parts we did not have control over, we have to forgive those too. This can be harder because we want to hold on to the resentment. (I was sexual abused at a young age, just once but once was enough. I had to learn to forgive). The problem with holding on to the resentment is it seeps out of us and into the people around us. Do you Really want your dearest loves to have resentment built up inside of them to the point of physical anger? Of course not. They have enough going on in their own lives, don't add more to them by unknowingly pushing your own resentment on them. It is not something you would ever do on purpose, but energy is a funny thing.  The best way I have found that works for me to release negative energy is to close my eyes and imagine this black cloud inside of me. With each breath in I try to ball up this cloud. When I exhale I see the cloud coming out of my mouth and disappearing. The next breath in, I see the air coming into my body as a positive color and filling the space that the black cloud left. I do this over and over about 5 or 6 times until all the black cloud is gone. Sometimes I do this outside on a windy day when my negativity is pretty high. This way it makes me feel I am truly blowning the negativity away and my family can't "catch it". 
         I try to ground myself by noticing the world around me. Watching the birds eat and listening to their chatter. Do a little cloud watching just to take in the awe of what force it takes to move something so large across a the sky. I touch the earth and feel the coolness of it in my hands and see how alive it is. All of these things connect me to the world around me. I am but a very small part of this earth. My problems are minor compared to the problems of the world. 
         I heal by doing something positive. Whether it be for me or someone else. I feed the birds, I weed the garden, I hold to door for the elderly person at the store. Yes, these are all things I do normally but when I am trying to heal I pay attention to how these "good deeds" make me feel. Not like a chore I am required to do. I see the honest thankfulness of the person I helped. I allow myself to smile at the job well done when I get the curtain washed and rehung, I watch a sleeping puppy dream and smile that they are happy and healthy. I don't go pay lots of money or spend a great deal of time in doing any of these things. It is truly paying attention to the small details of life and how they can make you feel better about yourself and help the ones around you feel happier as well.
         One more thing, I think it is always always always important to remember that actions speak louder than words. You can Tell some one you love them, appreicate them, miss them, are thankful for them all day long. If you are too self absorbed to show it with a hug, a card, a phone call out of the blue, then your words will mean nothing. It is like having a vehicle and forgetting to put gas into it. You will find yourself on E on the side of the road. You thought about putting gas in the car, you even said you were going to, but if you don't actual do it all your talk is for nothing. Take that extra second and make the effort to show it. The one on the receiving end will appreciate the effort.

       Ok, lesson for the day is done....hehehe. Thank you Lady Brigid for the inspiration to write this and to my Native American elders for passing the gift of Shamanism on to me. The need to share this with you was great and I look forward to sharing more of my life with you.
  Blessed Be!

It's been a while.

      I didn't realize how long it has been since I sat down to write. It is the second of Febuary and the sun is out and shining. It is a beautiful 65 degrees. I have a limited amount of time to finish up what I wanted to get done this winter inside this house before I will be drawn outside and can be found doing yard work. There is so much to say that i am not even sure where to begin.
      I guess first of all I can be thankful that my family is finally starting to pull out of all the sickness that we have been plagued with over the last month. A couple big decisions have been made over the last several months. As some of you know by now, Jamie's mother will be moving to North Carolina from Iowa next month. We are all very excited that she will be close at hand and the kids are beside themselves with joy over spending time with grandma. Of course Jamie will be happier knowing his mom is here. She will be staying with us for a few months until things settle down and we can find the right place for her (she wants a cat so we have to make sure it is a pet friendly environment). We are hoping she will be living near Joshua's school so he can visit grandma in the afternoons if he wishes. Of course Kaitlin will be there next year so the same goes for her.
      The kids are all doing great in school. We are so very proud of them. They are involved in several different sports so we are always on the go. Overall, we could not ask for better, more well behaved kids. They are growing up so fast! I realized I have not posted recent pictures of them and need to do so. The whole point to our facebook and blog is to keep our family that is not close up to date on whats happening at the Stevens house.
      Due to everything that is going on in our super busy lives, I have decided that finishing college right now is simply not going to work. Maybe in a few years I will have the time to finish up my degree. I have thought of changing my degree when i do go back, but that will still be a while. We are simply too busy and have too much to do for me to complete that right now. it has been a hard decision for me, but a necessary one. Jamie, of course, supports me in any decision I make about school as long as I plan on finishing at some point.
       Jamie has started working on his book again. It is hard to find that quiet time he needs with so many bodies in this house...lol. And even when we are not home, the fur babies are. But it is all coming together and I am starting to get excited about the out coming and happy for him at the pure accomplishment it will bring to finish a book he has worked on for so many years.
        In all of this, we are trying to eat better and take better care of our bodies. We have a family YMCA membership and had been going regularly until "the sickness" settled in. We are hopeful that we can get back on track with our routines now. We have been helping out friends with different things and being supportive. As Jamie says, if Karma truly exists then we are in the good....lol. (Not that Karma is the reason behind any of our actions). Ok, I think I have bored you with enough of my randomness for one day. If I came up with anything structured I will let you know. Time to get kids and start evening routines. It feels good to inform all of our family as to our in and abouts....Love to All!

The craziness begins again...and I can't wait!

             The time has come and summer is almost over. For some parents, this is a happy time cause they get their children out of their hair. For me it is depressing. I love spending time with all my children. We all love sleeping past 8 am. 

             My previous blog was about all the changes coming to the Stevens house. Well evidently we have unconsciously decided to put most of those plans on hold until after the cooler weather starts. We did have a smaller box garden this year. For the most part it was great! Until the dreaded squash bugs found it and then it ended quickly. We still have a few tomato plants that are doing well and I think 1 or 2 of the 12 watermelon that were growing is still alive and kicking, but other than that it is a lost cause at this point. The bugs haven't touch the jalapeno's though...lol. 

              One thing we did do was become members on Wizard101. (For anyone who doesn't know what this is, it is a kids online wizard game...similar to D&D, but not really...lol.) This is something the young two have been playing for a while but the free version has limited access. The older two started playing it and thought it was super cool that they could all battle together and defeat the enemy. They wanted Jamie and I to join in and make it a family affair. So we did.....this prompted the membership. It is kinda fun to be in a battle and ask your son for help. He shows up and is your knight in shining armor and slays the bad guy. Makes him feel all big and bad...hehehe. 

              Of course, just like an anything else we have had our deal of issues. Car trouble is one of things at the top of the list right now. Nothing major, but enough to be annoying. Thankfully we have awesome friends with awesome abilities and who love us dearly! One of the things that has happen this summer that has affected me personal is the declining health of both of my grandmothers. This is something that I knew was coming, but is still never easy to deal with. My mother and I had a conversation at Mother's Day this year about making sure it was a good one for them because we are too afraid it will be the last year that we have them both.  Both of my grandfathers have pasted away. All I have left are grandmothers. I am very thankful and grateful to have known all of my grandparents because some people don't ever get that opportunity. I have spent my whole life surrounded by very strong women. To see those same women become older, ill, and frail is simply not an easy thing to watch. I have learned a Lot about my family health history this summer that's for sure. But as I sit  here with tear running down my cheeks, I can't help but hurt for the loss I know is coming. This month, my Gma Hoots (My mom's mom) will be 85 years old. She has fallen several times, has been in a nursing home and is now living with my aunt and my mom (joint custody...lol) due to the need for 24 hour care. She is slowly becoming weaker by the day, but her smile will still light up a room. I live for that smile! My Gma Conrad (my dad's mom) turned 93 in June. She still lives at home alone and mostly cares for herself. She has fallen as well a few times and has just had the good fortune of only receiving bruises and a hurt ego. She is one tough cookie! She is probably the strongest willed person I know! She will tell it like it is! She has told me on more than one occasion that she is just waiting for gpa to come get her and she wished he would hurry up. (He died of Lung Cancer when I was 11)I don't see them as much as I should. I know I will regret this someday. I am not sure if I am worried for them (kids carry germs you know!, and the kids are So active it wears the gmas out to be in the same room as them for 5 mins!) as much as I am trying to protect myself. This is a hard thing to admit. In addition to the declining health of my grandmothers, I have a sneaky suspicion that my mothers health is not getting any better. My mother is a take charge type women (I blame her totally for becoming this way myself ;-) ) and I have noticed lately that she asked me for help way more than I thought she ever ever would. This scares me to a degree, but I am putting it on the back burner and not gonna think about it right now. 

                   In other news, Joshua starts high school in 2 days. I know he is nervous but will do great. He is on the football team so he already has a few friends which helps me to feel a little better. Before long it will be Drivers Ed for him. He is becoming a very handsome young man that will go very far in this world! Kaitlin will be starting school next Tuesday with the younger two. She is going into 8th grade and is wanting to try out for volleyball. She is beautiful, strong willed, and intelligent. She has the world at her feet. Damien starts middle school and is a bit nervous about the whole changing class thing but with Kaitlin on the same hall it is a bit easier. Austen is in 4th grade. He is looking forward to seeing all of his friends again.

                 Jamie is still working on his book and it is coming together very nicely! I can't wait to read it in its entirety. He is my rock in these very emotional times for me. Without him I would be lost, a lamb trying to befriend the wolves. I have taken on a new venture...healthy eating..I know, but shock right?? No seriously, after all I have learned about my family health history, my health and the health of my children have become very important to me. I want to be around to enjoy playing outside with my grandbabies someday. I can't play outside with them if I am a 300 pound diabetic! It is a work in progress and a complete baby step process at that,but we are working on it. 

                   The week after Kaitlin, Damien, and Austen start back to school, I start back to school. I am taking 6 classes in the hopes that I will only have 5 left in the Spring and then I will graduate in May!!! YAY ME! With sports, classes, and what tiny bit of a personal life I have, I stay busy busy 24/7. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Our life is crazy and total ciaos sometimes but that's what pushes me to be the strong person I am... to deal with our life. All in all it has been a wonderfully lazy, relaxing summer. Even though I am not ready for them to go back to school, i am definitely ready for the sports! Bring on the craziness!!!!

I love this song and the video just sums up our goof personalities! I think this song represents our summer well.

And we grow....some more!

               Jamie and I made the decision to tie our families together (with their consent..the kids that is) in August of 2006. At that time, we (Jamie, I and all 4 kids) lived in a single wide in East Bend. It was cramped but not overly so because the kids were still little. In Feb 2008 we moved into our current home on 8 acres of land. It is an 1800sq ft double wide and it is home sweet home. Before we moved in, we spent 5 months painting and moving to prepare this house to be the first home for everyone as a family. 
          In the last 3 years we have done a lot of things to the property. We have planted a veggie garden, expanded this garden, rescued more animals, planted flowers, started a grove, moved a hill, sowed grass, transplanted grass, started a memorial garden, put in a road, and fenced in the back yard. There is so much more we want to do. Where do we begin? Well, lets see. We want to fence in the rest of the property (about 4 acres) that is behind the house. I want to build a front porch and back deck. I want a covered garage and an out building to store stuff in, plus Jamie wants an out building for lawn stuff (lawn mower, rakes, etc..). I want a cute little fence coming off the side of the house with an arch in the middle so my roses can climb it. We also want to be more self-sufficiant. This means growing a better crop, learning to can, possible digging a cellar to be able to store the canned goods with as little man made energy as possible, and having more animals. With these animals comes change and added responsiblity. So where do we even begin with all of this. I am thinking the first thing we need to do is figure out What animals we want. 
         One of the first things we did was to go on a tour at a self sustaining farm that is close by. I grew up with the daughter of this particular farmer. In fact, she was a good friend of mine and I spent many a Saturday morning at their kitchen table eating cereal with goats milk. The farmer is a retired teacher and just so happens to have been my kindergarten teacher. The tour was very informing to both of us, Jamie and Kaitlin especially. During this tour, we found out that 2 of the baby goats are for sale and they are dairy goats. Jamie jumped all over that and I will admit to being a little happy about it despite my ranting, raving, and stomping of my feet in protest to getting a goat for the last year (at the very least). Working for a large animal vet for several years, you get to see all the trouble these animals can be! Ok, so now we have a goat on hold for us....Awesome! Where the hell are we gonna put the damned thing???
         First things first, how much is the food (cause they have to be grain feed once a day for the vitamins and minerals, and have to have hay in the winter when the grass is all dead or covered in snow). This was a trip to the local LTD.The poor guy behind the counter was so very sweet in answering my endless stream of questions. I got the info I needed and figured out that the food part my not be as bad as I thought. Awesome, one problem solved, next! Where are we putting the goat? This is were I have to do a little explaining. See we have an "L" shaped garden. The long part of the "L" is where we have been (trying) to plant veggies (very unsuccessfully cause it is clay soil and sucks when trying to grow ANYTHING in it) and the short part is where we have some bushes growing (grapes, blueberry, and thornless blackberry). Since the garden has been doing horrible for the past 2 years, we decided this year to start some very small boxes in the side yard. They are doing Great!!!  We tried the boxes in the garden last year and that didnt even work. These boxes will have to be moved. I am thinking they can be put on the hill beside the driveway, near the top and all the viney stuff can be planted there next year. They will have the Whole hill to roam on. So we have decided to put the goat(s) in the fenced in area that is now the "old" garden. Now we have to figure out how to block off the short part of the "L" from the goat. We have been working in this part of the garden trying to kill all the grass to keep the bushes from being sufficated and lay down mulch. I get the bright idea to move Abby's (one of the rescue dogs that is too goofy to stay in the house without being in the kennel) lot around. I can move her dog house into the upper part of the backyard and add a small fenced in area for her and she can just stay in the main part of the back yard most of the time. The lot she is in has 12 foot tall and 12 foot long panels that connect together. There are 8 of them total. I can move one of these down to the opening of the short "L" and add a gate and that problem is solved...Awesome (now to actually move it..ugh!). The other 7 panels can be used to form new fencing to extend the garden area and section into 2 sections. Now we have to areas for the goat and for chickens (thats right, I said Chickens!). Now to come up with a shelter for this goat. It has to be a place that can be made safe at night due to the coyotes that are running around here. It can be simple for now, but by winter it needs to be shed like with plenty of room so any animals that are in it are safe and warm with access to food and water. This just keeps getting more and more complicated. The chicken side of this pen is the easy side. The chicken house is already made, we just have to go get it. Then to get some chickens (about 4) and a rooster, water pan and feed dish and we are set. The goat needs a feed area plus water area. Goats need their hooves trimmed about once a month (need to learn to do this!)
             Jamie wants bees! I think this is awesome because it will help our garden grow! Plus we get HONEY!!!!!! Yumm. The farm we went to visit had 6 hives. The health benefits of honey and bees are endless. So where do we put the bees? I honestly haven't even put any thought into this yet. I will leave that one up to Jamie...It can be his baby..totally!
             My thoughts are, if we are going through all this change for the goat, we might as well throw a cute little piggy in there too. I am not talking a farm pig that will be beefed (cause once its named, eating it is out of the question!) that gets to be 400-500 pounds and eats 10 pounds of food a day! NO! I am talking a cute little mini potbelly that gets 100 pounds full grown. 2 cups of food a day and a mud hole, weekly bath, monthly hoof trimming and your good. 
            Add ALL this on top of the normal cleaning and washing it takes to maintain a 6 person house, one adult with a full time job, one adult in full time college, and 4 kids always active in something and you have our happy little home.