Life in the Big Cedars

List Love

2010-01-01T13:53:00.006-06:00

I love lists.

This year I've started two ongoing LISTS. One is a compilation of things I want to do, big and small. I keep adding to it and drawing a line through the things I've accomplished. It's already got 44 things or activities on it. Some of them, even though I've "accomplished" them will continue to need to be done again and again, like making meatballs and bread. I'm conflicted as to whether to draw a line through those things after they are done or just leave them on list because in a day, a week or a month, I'll be doing them again. Oh, the curse of the Type A personality.

The other list is a little price book to carry around. I'm cursed with the Rice Frugality Gene and the thrill of a good deal. Now, I'm also and occasionally impulsive shopper so this is a bit of problem, but trying to find the best deal (especially on organic food) is part of my mission this year so I've started using my receipts and taking my little black price book to the grocery store to write down prices of the things I buy regularly and where I buy them so I can figure out the best shopping strategy. I've already discovered that SOMETIMES organic is NOT the most expensive choice and is in fact very comparable.

Of course I can't forget what the proprietor of Madewell Meats in Mt. Vernon told me one day when I visited his store. "You'll pay more now in money or later in your health" I'm pretty sure he's right. You can always make more money, but you can't always restore your health as easily.

I also made a "list" of all the meals, snacks and recipes we like to eat regularly so I can use it for better meal planning. Bryon doesn't want to be limited to my list though, so I'll throw in some curve balls and new recipes from time to time. He likes to cook too and already has a new soup prepped in the fridge for us to try. Some new recipes like the Zuppa Toscana are keepers, others like the Easy Veggie soup Grace helped me make that had a cup of orange juice in it... not so much.

The soup above was the Easy Veggie Soup. It was sort of yuck actually. Grace claimed to LOVE it (mostly because she cooked it) then wouldn't finish her bowl or eat it another day. It was sort of weird. The chickens enjoyed it though.

Now this... was swell...

Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana

Makes: 6-8 servings
INGREDIENTS

* 1 lb ground Italian sausage
* 1½ tsp crushed red peppers (I left this out)
* 1 large diced white onion (left this out too)
* 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
* 2 tsp garlic puree
* 10 cups water
* 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
* 1 cup heavy cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2)
* 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
* ¼ of a bunch of kale

1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!

Buon appetito!

As for our meal planning list, I actually came up with quite a few things we like to eat regularly:

Main Dishes:

* roast, potatoes and carrots
* chili
* spaghetti and meatballs
* baked ziti
* balsamic pork chops and broiled peaches
* quiche
* weight watchers mini meat loaves
* salmon bake
* goulash
* enchiladas
* quesidillas
* shells and milk with cornbread
* mushroom chicken & rice
* potato soup and cornbread
* chicken noodle soup and mashed potatoes
* soupy potpie stuff
* lasagna
* homemade pizzas
* salsa chicken
* breakfast for dinner
* shepherd's pie
* spaghetti carbonara
* tilapia and pasta with stewed tomatoes

sides and desserts

* mac and cheese
* cream cheese mexicorn
* mashed potatoes
* zucchini muffins
* peachy stuff
* salad
* artisan bread rolls

Things to try:
* more soups
* more fish dishes
* calzones

So what's on my ongoing To Do List? Things big and small and every time something new pops into my head I just add it on.

Here's what I have so far:

* consider buying a bread machine
* consider buying a rice cooker? do I need it?
* bike the Willard trail
* buy the Root Cellar book and make some sort of root cellar
* organize the pantry
* organize the freezer
* organize the garage fridge
* make sure the cabin fridge is turned off
* clean out and empty all the plastic containers from my cabinet
* clean my desk drawer
* clean out my dresser drawers
* mix up the natural cleaners
* make homemade cocoa mix
* plan a January scrap night at church
* have another trivia party here
* invite the Butler's over
* invite the Craig's over
* invite the Hicks' over
* plan our meals
* refill Mom and Dad's digital photo frames
* do the Shamrock Shuffle
* come up with something to do as a family for a One Year Challenge
* call the Nature Girls Coop
* make more meatballs
* search for eco-friendly lids and flats for canning
* build a greenhouse
* build cold frames
* wash our pillows in hot water at the laundry mat
* find green power strips
* test our well water
* fill water bottles and place in out toilet tanks
* install the window screen upstairs
* install the screen door upstairs
* fix the kitchen faucet
* combine the compost piles
* get mulch from Springfield
* can tomatoes
* can peaches
* make zucchini relish
* visit the Rockin H Ranch in Norwood
* go to Baker Seed plant sale
* raise more pigs
* borrow Liz's Gene Logsdon book on grains
* grow wheat
* buy a grinding mill
* get new bees

This of course doesn't include my ongoing list for WORK. I keep a separate notebook for work and keep that list going too.

On my Blackberry and in my Outlook Notes, I also keep a list of books I want to read, online passwords, websites I want to visit, book club books for the past five years,my ever changing grocery list, this year's resolutions, blog ideas, who get's school photos and what sizes, garden ideas for 2010 of things I want to plant, good ideas in general, things to Google, music or artists I want to check out on Napster, random thoughts, things to buy, writing ideas for the perfect book, my coop order and basically anything else that pops into my mind.

Those are a LOT of lists.

It's just good to have a plan :)

A new YEAR, A new RESOLUTION, A new BEGINNING

2010-01-01T11:07:00.008-06:00

I'm still working on this list for 2010 but here's what I have so far. Hmmm, looks like a lot of FOOD projects...I wonder why that is?

* Eat more organic and clean food
* Eat more local and US foods
* Take my lunch more when I work & eat less fast food
* Drink NO soda, at all, anymore
* Do more long term meal planning
* Lose 20 pounds...again.
* Buy more things Made in the USA when we have to make new purchases
* Pray daily
* Do more bible studies
* Finish the Old Testament (I only have 4 or 5 little books left)
* Read ALL the book club books this year.
* Learn to play my guitar
* Have a kick ass garden
* Finish the last 12 mile section of the OHT
* Have more PEACE and QUIET in 2010

* Eat more organic and clean food = I have a pretty good start on this one. I've tried to replace most of the prepackaged foods with homemade versions but sometimes it's still hard to make it all happen. For example, NY Eve last night we had Velveeta and Rotel, Little Smokies with Bronco Bob's Raspberry Chipolte sauce and Betty Crocker Brownies ...ain't nothing CLEAN about that my friend. Some meals are diamonds, some meals are rocks.

My first choice is organic, but sometimes when I'm at the grocery store or Walmart they just don't have an organic option. So when that happens, I chose the next best thing I can and ferret out... no high fructose corn syrup, fewest ingredients, stuff I can pronounce and have some sort of idea that it is actually a recognizable FOOD product. My weakness for which I still haven't replaced is Pop Tarts and Betty Crocker brownies... I'm not saying I'm Super Man or even Super Woman, but if I were, they would be my kryptonite.

My new food cult leader is Michael Pollan... he professes "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". I like the simplicity of it. Now I just have to work on LIKING more plants. I did Google the recipe for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup which has KALE in it that I usually pick out. I made it from scratch last week and it was a big hit with everyone. I didn't even pick out the kale but ate the whole thing. Baby steps.

* Eat more local and US foods = I have really been trying to pay attention to where food is from this past year and want to do even more of it this year. Of course when you eat out, all bets are pretty much off. Panera at least has some organic choices and proclaims to have hormone and antibiotic free chicken. I like that. I even ordered a SALAD last week, which was WAY intimidating and stressful. Stupid I know but seriously I had NEVER actually eaten a bowl of salad until THIS YEAR. Yeah, I'm 41. I got out of line twice while I was trying to decide which one to order because I'm so picky. I do NOT like ice burg lettuce, can't eat onions and ONLY like regular balsamic vinaigrette. Let me tell you something you already know, people like to pile on all sorts of weird things onto salad. I finally picked the Fuji Apple Chicken Tossed Salad with All-natural citrus-herb chicken, mixed field greens, romaine lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes, NO red onions, pecans, Gorgonzola, apple chips & regular balsamic vinaigrette along with a bowl of their YUMMY tomato soup. I ate all but the big chunky pieces at the bottom. I hate those thick chunky pieces of lettuce too. I was feeling pretty self-rightously happy about my meal choice THAT day. Now only 365 x 3 more to go in this new year.

It's amazing when you start really looking at the labels on your food and start noticing where it all comes from. Of the various canned salmon on the shelf at Walmart, only one, their generic brand was caught and packed in Alaska, the rest was from Thailand. Now Alaska isn't very local, but it's at least in the US AND under US restrictions for food safety. I'll put my bets on the US over Thailand any day. Even though we seem to have recall after recall even here.

I can barely stand to buy and cook hamburger meat from Walmart or the grocery store anymore. I've been buying it from the Rockin H in Norwood. Local raised, grass fed, all natural beef. I trust those guys a lot more than the feed lots mega "farms" in Kansas. So see, sometimes even Made in the USA isn't enough, the more LOCAL, the better. Still you have to be careful because if you visit a few farms you'll quickly see that all farms are not equal as far as cleanliness and consistency.

* Take my lunch more when I work & eat less fast food = I really do want us all to eat less fast food. We, as a family, like eating out. Before Bryon and I moved here to the Big Cedars, we ate out 3 or four times a weekend in Springfield. Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday lunch sometimes, Saturday night, Sunday morning. Since moving to the nether regions, eating out on the weekend is much less convenient and we just don't want to trek back to town for it after spending most of the week in Springfield for Bryon or across five counties for me. Bryon eats every day at the hospital and they actually have some pretty good food choice for him. I eat out most days for lunch. Grace eats at school. I have ALWAYS been one to be thinking about my next meal even as I'm eating the current one. Bryon is more fly by the seat of his pants usually. Grace seems to have adopted my eating strategies for planning ahead.

I cook something at home almost every week night or we eat leftovers unless one of us has a meeting to attend or we have to be away from home for some reason. We eat as a family at the kitchen table together nearly every night. I like that.

We do have a weakness for Freda's cafe in Marshfield where we frequent most Saturday mornings and many Sunday's for lunch after church. Not only do we love Freda and our little small town cafe and want to support her but we just like eating there. I don't plan to give that up anytime soon :)

I can do better about taking my lunch with leftovers though. It will save calories, money and give me some healthier choices to help make that other resolution of losing 20 pounds again more possible.

* Drink NO soda, at all, anymore = seriously, I don't drink very much soda anymore but my goal this year is to drink NONE. I tried to get Bryon and Grace to do this but Bryon only drinks one a day and doesn't want to give it up. He suggested I give up tea if he had to give up soda, but tea isn't bad for me and I didn't like the trade. Grace doesn't drink much soda either, but that girl likes her Bug Juice. She pretty much only gets it on vacation, trips to Hannah's with Grandpa or Daddy and occasionally when we have fast food. Hopefully by eating even less fast food, that will also mean less crappy drinks.

* Do more long term meal planning = this is still an ongoing mission. I do so much "planning" in my job, it's hard to want to keep up that level of preparation at home. Of course, being the TYPE A that I am, it's also hard not to.

* Lose 20 pounds...again = I've GOT to do this. I CAN do this. I hope with the changes above, losing weight will be easier.

* Buy more things Made in the USA when we have to make new purchases = this is harder than you think. Start looking at the country of origin on your foods and products. Nearly EVERYTHING at Walmart will say Made in China which is code for Will Break Soon by the way. Lots of our food comes from China, Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia too. You'll be surprised once you start looking.

* Pray daily = seems easy but it's hard to remember. I made a little post it note and put onto the dash of my car. When I was having a rough year at work after Grace was born, I prayed every morning in the quiet of the car on the way to work. It really made a tangible and visible difference in my day and helped turn things around for me. Even though things are going well now, it never hurts to have the most powerful entity in the Universe on your side. Thanks God.

* Do more bible studies = I'd like to do more of this. Our church has a women's group who have started some ongoing bible studies. It's just hard to fit it into the schedule. I can do them on my own, but have to muster up the discipline to make it happen. Surely I can complete at least ONE this year.

* Finish the Old Testament (I only have 4 or 5 little books left) =two years ago my resolution was to read through the entire bible. I made it to the last few books of the Old Testament only and then got side tracked with book club books and tired of the project. Let me tell you, the Old Testament is surprisingly VIOLENT. Not that I mind, I mean I read 27 VAMPIRE books this year. But it's THE BIBLE. People sending the heads of the enemies to others, lots of smoting and smiting etc. I'm glad I've read it even though I don't remember many details. When I'm reading other things it's surprising how many biblical references there are in ALL literature and everyday sayings. I just think it's good to have it in your heart and mind. You never know when you might need it and when something will pop back into your forgetful brain.

* Read ALL the book club books this year = last year was a tough year (the tenth!) for our book club. Many of us were experiencing some book club apathy and several of the books were less than discussion worthy. Some months only ONE of us (there are 8-12 regulars in the club) even READ the book. We had a come to Jesus meeting in November and I think we are ready (at least I am) to recommit to the book club. Our first book is The Red Tent which I started yesterday for our January 20 meeting. I've already been procrastinating because of it's churchy content (which of course probably seems ridiculous in light of the last few resolutions) but there you go. I fear it will be slow and painful but I'm going to read it... every word... so I'll have SOMETHING to contribute to the meeting. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone, read the book club book AND a bible study all in one.

* Learn to play my guitar = I took Grace up to the music store in Marshfield this week and bought her a REAL guitar. She picked blue. I dusted off my Taylor Big Baby and we spent a few minutes plucking on some guitar strings at home in preparation for our first real guitar lesson together next Sat. Jan. 9. Grace had to practice on the little Walmart guitar she got for her birthday last year. It's so crappy it won't hold tune. She already has a little blister and was complaining but she also said she wanted to learn to play ALL the instruments. I told her we were starting with the guitar and THEN she could learn something else. I'll be steering her clear of the drums however.

* Have a kick ass garden = I STILL don't have my 2010 Baker Seed catalog and I'm feeling a little pissy about it. I'm going to try to resist buying seeds except for the things the must be grown by seed until we have a suitable greenhouse someday. Last year's seed starting turned into a real fiasco and I ended up buying plants at the May festival and sale at Bakers for EVERYTHING I had tried and failed to start from seed anyway. Lesson learned. Now I just have to remember that as my willpower wanes and the days get warmer and sunnier.

Go if you can, it's great! Baker's Seed Spring Planting Festival 10th Annual Spring Garden Event Sunday and Monday, May 2 & 3, (Sunday & Monday) 2010 – 10am – 7pm http://rareseeds.com/bakersville/festivals/spring-planting-festival/

Jere had to help push my car out of the mud last year. Sorry about covering you with muddy gumbo Jere and THANKS!

I want us to only grow heirloom foods this year. Do you hear that Bryon? I even have a couple of plans for the squash bugs. Darrel, if you are reading this, NEEM PY. Les in Strafford says that's the magic solution. I also read in this month's Organic Gardening letters that planting a couple of onions by each plant and cutting up onion tops and sprinkling on and around each plant will keep the dang pests at bay. It's worth a try because those squash bugs are the bane of my existence!

* Finish the last 12 mile section of the OHT = I really want to do this in 2010. I have all the info for shuttling and everything. I just need to get my hiking mojo and confidence back and do it. I'm thinking of trying to do it all in one day and alone. I think I can if I start working up to it now. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

* Have more PEACE and QUIET in 2010 = I forget sometimes how much NOISE there there is in my life. Most of it is my own fault. I leave that damn television on way too much. When I'm deep into the tv season and every show in the series I watch are new, it's hard for me to turn it off. I find I leave it on even when I'm not in the room for the NOISE. What is up with that? I don't know why I do that. It makes me scatter brained and keeps me from being able to concentrate on the task at hand. Last year I went 40 days without watching it in the summer time. When I turn it off, time goes slower. I think I need that. It's just hard to get used to it.

I drive around most days in my car without the radio on. I listen NPR in the morning and evening but nothing during the day. Man, I have some GREAT ideas and come up with all sorts of plans in my brain during those quiet times. Now I just need to translate all of that to action and turn off the noise.

Here's a toast to a new year, new resolutions and new beginnings. Salute!

Bitten

2009-12-30T22:52:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to share a quick and easy breakfast that we found on Mark Bittman's blog at http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com . I watch his blog thanks to my friend Liz turning me onto him and this came up the other day. Just so happens I had all this in the fridge (not much really and I used canadian bacon) but it is swell.

I've had it three mornings this week and it was easy to let cook while I was getting ready for the day. Grace wouldn't even try it but she'll warm up to it soon :0

Baked Egg with Prosciutto and Tomato

Yield 1 serving

Time 15 minutes

Mark Bittman
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Summary

The advantages of the baked egg are many: you can use one ramekin or 20; you can bake the eggs with oil or butter; and you can add whatever else you want -- for example, as I do here, butter, tomato and prosciutto.
Ingredients

* Butter or oil as needed
* 1 slice tomato
* 1 small slice prosciutto
* 1 egg
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method

* 1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Smear a bit of butter or oil in ramekin; line with tomato and prosciutto. Break egg into ramekin, then put on a baking sheet.
* 2. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until egg is set and white has solidified. Because the cup retains heat, egg will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven, so it is best to undercook it slightly. Precise time, in a good oven on a middle rack, is 12 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

Variations

* You could put chopped cooked spinach or cooked asparagus in bottom of cup, with a little cream. Or place the egg on a bed of chopped ham, bacon or sausage. Sprinkle with Parmesan if you like.

I cooked mine for 20 minutes because I just don't like my egg whites runny AT ALL. I do like the yolk runny so you'll have to experiment with the time.

Try it! It's easy and yum!

Vacation Days

2009-12-30T11:22:00.001-06:00

I'm thinking our cat Pansy will be glad when Christmas vacation is over. I found her in Grace's room this morning stuffed into a Barbie tote with Grace's stocking cap on her head and meowing. She was fine, but boy was she glad to get out of that tote! I can only imagine what was coming next, Grace had all her "doctor" tools out. Eeek!

Socks for Christmas Video

2009-12-27T23:12:00.004-06:00

Here it is. It's a little long, 7 minutes but you'll get the point pretty quickly :) Fun pranks on the kiddo. What else are kids for right?

Christmas Past

2009-12-27T21:46:00.004-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year. This was the second year we didn't exchange gifts with anyone including family with the Grace exemption of course. Grace was all over Christmas this year. She really knew what was going on and was into it. Of course she got A LOT OF SOCKS!

I'd mentioned earlier that I hoped Santa brought her some socks and she wasn't going to mention it to him because she didn't want to waste any Barbie gift giving potential on measly SOCKS.

Well, Dad, Susan, Mom, Bryon and I AND Santa...thought differently. We opened up gifts early Christmas Eve so Dad and Susan could get home before the imminent snow storm which turned out to be pretty dismal really. Still it was a white Christmas so you can't complain about that too much.

We secretly stacked the deck ahead of time and presented Grace with ALL the socks boxes (mostly wrapped separately) first. She was NOT impressed and actually started to get a little pissy about it. I thought Dad was going to pop a gasket laughing. She ended up with 42 pairs of socks! That was a LOT of socks! This included what Santa brought but he just hung them on the tree along with lots of other little "stocking stuffer" toys.

She got a little happier after the socks turned into more fun looking gifts. Of course Santa brought her four barbies the next morning so all was right with the world again. She even seemed a little happier about all the socks with the light of day.

Bryon made spaghetti carbonara Christmas Eve and it was scrumptious. It's pretty much his Christmas Eve specialty now since this makes two years in a row. It's the bomb.

Gary and Mom spent the night Christmas Eve and Mike came over Christmas morning for breakfast. Grace actually made it until 7:30 am before getting us all up so I thought that was pretty good really.

Christmas Day we pretty much spent eating and playing games, eating and playing games.

Grace and Bryon went out and she sledded behind the four wheeler until the snow turned to mud. Ruger pounced on and off of her and the sled and got a few good rides in too. It was his first snowfall and he was a nut. He really liked the snow.

Even though we didn't officially give or get gifts, Bryon ended up buying a new tv for the bedroom and I ordered my blog made into a book from Blog2Print.

Grace went home with Nana Friday night and comes home tomorrow and I spent the past two days undecorating the house. Christmas is like vacation...it's always fun to go, but it sure is good to be back home...and undecorated again.

Send it to Dr. Good!

2009-12-23T13:43:00.003-06:00

Grace LOVES candy so much! Of course she gets that sweet tooth from me. Luckily for me she could take or leave the chocolate and likes the sour stuff best so she keeps me in good supply of chocolate.

Every day after school, she gets to pick three pieces out of her ongoing stash of various holiday candy, so the other day when she said she wanted a healthy snack of bananas and carrots I was really excited and told her how healthy and good for her that was.

She insisted I take this picture of her and her healthy snack and send it to her doctor, Dr. Good.

I haven't send it yet, but probably should. He'd appreciate it I'm sure :)

A Good Egg?

2009-12-23T13:36:00.003-06:00

You never know what wonders are going to come out of those hens. I found this egg the other day. It looks like an unformed egg was still attached. We didn't eat it. It was probably okay, but it was just too weird.

The hens have really slowed down this fall and winter. I went from getting five or six eggs a day to two, one and some days none as they finally all molted for the first time. Crazy enough, the 21st of course was the shortest day of the year and they lay more or less according to the amount of daylight from what I've read. Well on the 21st and the 22nd I got four eggs each day!

I guess I'll probably raise some more layers this spring so we can keep up the egg production. We've been selling enough each month to at least pay for their feed and keep us in all the eggs we could want. You gotta love that!

The past month we haven't sold any though because one or zero eggs a day don't add up very fast. I'm hopeful they are ready to get back into production :)

Rats!

2009-12-23T12:58:00.003-06:00

Okay, so they aren't exactly RATS but it is sort of crazy considering how much I try to keep mice OUT of the house or on a glue trap.

I found this cage and accessories at my favorite humane society thrift store in Camdenton for $20. I was going to give it to Grace for her birthday but after the fish debacle (we couldn't keep them alive for anything) I figured we'd be better off donating it AND the fish aquarium to the Niangua Preschool where Grace attends.

The kids have LOVED them both. Mrs. D is awesome with them and has managed to keep the fish AND the gerbils alive. We volunteered to bring the gerbils home to care for them over the long Christmas vacation. Grace is THRILLED and wants to get them out and play with them about every five minutes. I finally let her get them out a few hours ago and put her in the bathtub with them. I figured that was the safest place to avoid escape! Pansy can't hunt worth a damn, but I don't think pet gerbils are very predator savvy. Preschooler savvy yes, predators, not so much. AND I didn't want to have to hunt over all four thousand square feet of the house for them!!

So far so good. After one day they are still alive and well.

I had a horrible sick headache last night and into this morning (actually it only went away a few hours ago) and at 5 am Grace was awake on our first day of Christmas vacation and came in to ask if she could turn her light on and check on the gerbils. I told her yes, but then she had to go BACK TO BED!

I don't think she ever went back to sleep but mercifully she was kind enough to close her door and play quietly until 9 am.

Yes, I know how lucky I am.

The gerbils names are Spunky and Sissy. Boy and girl. So that likely means babies at some point. I'm thinking if they reproduce and the babies survive, maybe we'll get a cage for Grace. She's so sweet with them and they don't seem to be too much trouble so far.

We'll just have to add GERBILS to the chicken, cat, dog sitting routine when we go away for the House Sitter. Are you reading this Austin? :)

You Might Be a Redneck...

2009-12-17T22:50:00.005-06:00

Lest you think nothing has been happening around the Medley household, fear not.

Tuesday night Bryon was helping me frantically clean the house for my work Christmas party coming up on Friday, when he ran across some old flares we had bought when we went to Alaska in 2002. You know, flares, to signal for help in case a giant grizzly bear appeared in our roadside camp and proceeded to eat one of us.

Well the flares had also EXPIRED in 2002. Being a MAN, he decided to shoot them off our back deck about 8:30 pm just to see what they would do.

He ripped the cord on the first one and it pulled all the way out the back of the flare. A dud. He started to bring it back into the house and I told him no way, he should leave it out there in case it had a delayed reaction. As he spun around the thing just broke in half and fell to the deck. No big boom. No problem.

Not satisfied with the results, he picked up the next flare. Did I mention there were four in the pack? He ripped the cord and shazam, the thing zoomed out and arced over the pond in a red blaze of glory. Okay, I'll admit it was pretty cool.

Then, feeling cocky, he got the third flare, ripped the cord and it zoomed straight up into the air and then landed smack in the middle of our trampoline and proceeded to burn a two foot hole in the middle of the jump mat and then set the leaves UNDER the trampoline on fire.

Yes. A two foot hole.

I just could not believe it.

He took the other flare into the garage I guess and I walked out with a flashlight to see the damage. The thing AND the grass was still on fire so I yelled at him to come put it out before it burned the whole dang house down.

So now, I'm trying to figure out if we can buy a new jump mat. I sent an email to the company minutes after the event and a totally humorless drone replied to order it from their website. Seriously, could you not even COMMENT on the fact someone burned a hole in the thing with a flare?

The search continues for a new trampoline mat because I just haven't had time to pursue it.

I'm pretty sure this secures his place in the Niangua Redneck Community...as if it wasn't already.

Books I've Read in 2009

2009-12-06T14:08:00.011-06:00

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine

The Shack by William P. Young

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Grace (Eventually)by Anne Lamott

A Year Without "Made in China"

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss

Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

$64 Tomato by William Alexander

Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer by Tim Stark

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

The Eight by Katherine Neville

Fieldwork: A Novel by Mischa Berlinski

Sleeping Naked Is Green by Vanessa Farquharson

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman

Sharing the Harvest by Elizabeth Henderson

The End of Food by Paul Roberts

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton

Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton

Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton

Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton

Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton, Cynthia Holloway

1984 by George Orwell

You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton

Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende

Resolutions Resolved for 2009

2009-12-06T13:32:00.009-06:00

Another year nearly gone. I can't believe how fast time goes. Luckily, since I plan to live to be 100 years old, I'm not even halfway there yet. The balance of my life is still before me. It's a good thing too, cause baby I've got PLANS!

As I look over my resolutions and goals for this last year, I can say I've had some successes. Even though I didn't reach or complete all my goals, I've made progress towards them or just decided to change course.

Here's the recap:

Resolutions, Goals and Life Lists
1. Watch less television (really hard for me because I'm a total addict, there should be a 12 step program or a patch).

Check! I made it 40 days this summer without watching television. It was nice but I also realized I REALLY like watching my "Mama shows" as Grace calls them. Basically any show she isn't allowed to watch she calls a "Mama show". You can read the full report if you missed it at http://medley3.blogspot.com/2009/06/true-end-of-tv-drought.html

2. Read 52 books in a year (which would be a lot easier if I watched less television).

Check! as of today, I'm on book number 57! That does not count the dozens of library books I've also read to Grace and numerous magazines. I can't believe I read that many books and should be able to get in one or maybe two more before the end of the year.

3. Eat no fast food for a year (I'm not sure that's even possible).

Nope. Didn't even really try this one. I did manage long stretches between trips to McDonalds, but working out most days of the week made this feel like an impossible task to me. I consider fast food any restaurant with a drive-thru. Something to work on in the future.

4. Plan our family meals a week/month at a time and shop for them accordingly.

Nope, didn't get this accomplished either, however, I am carrying it over to next year and hope to get things organized for a full scale attempt over the Christmas break!

5. Lose 20 pounds...again.

Nope. This is goal number one for me AND Bryon in the coming year. Grace said we should all do pushups together in a line upstairs so we can all be skinny in the middle. Bryon told her that we didn't want to be too skinny or too fat that we should be in the middle. She's going to be a real Drill Sergeant I can already tell.

6. Cut my hair (childhood hair trauma has kept my hair long for the past 25 years, again, I probably need a patch or 12 step program for this one too).

I did get it cut. Nothing drastic. It basically looks the same only shorter but still I got about 4+ inches cut off the back. I like it.

I waited until the end of the year, but it is finally accomplished!

7. Learn some Italian.

Nope.

8. Go to Italy (obviously learning some Italian would help this cause and Dawn and I are going to try to save enough money to go together the summer of 2010)

Nope. We are not going to Italy this summer after all. The economy conspired against Dawn and I. We still hope to go sometime in the future. Hopefully before 2012 when my passport expires!

9. Learn to play my really spectacular Taylor Big Baby guitar (or at least a few recognizable campfire worthy songs).

Nope. I think Grace and I can start taking some lessons together in 2010 because now she knows her LETTERS so she can start learning to read music. I'm hoping we can take lessons together one night a week and plan to go the music store in Marshfield to set things up for us over Christmas break.

10. Raise all of our own meat on the farm.

We were successful in raising all our chicken, eating the pork we raised last year and butchering deer Bryon killed. We still don't have any fencing to raise beef, so I've been buying grass fed burger from The Rockin H Ranch in Norwood. I'm hopeful once again for 2010 and we'll definitely raise meat chickens again and a pig if Bryon doesn't go hog hunting soon!

11. Learn to make cheese and bread.

Check on both. I can make rolls, ricotta and mozzerella now. I don't make cheese very often because it's so time consuming but we eat my homemade rolls weekly. Loaf bread is next on list.

12. Finish the last 12 mile section of the Ozarks Highland Trail in Arkansas (I have already hiked 153 miles of it).

Nope. I keep wimping out. Turns out I'm in terrible shape, I don't like the rain or cold and I just can't find the motivation to get this done....maybe next year.

13. Print last year's photos so I can scrapbook them.

Check! I printed them all out and now they are in a nice pile upstairs and suddenly I'm a year behind again. Oh well.

14. Scrapbook them.

Nope. I haven't "scrapbooked" in months. It seems the blog has become my scrapbook. I do have a nice pdf file of all my blogs to date that I hope to make into a book at some point if I can figure out how to make all the photos download correctly. So I figure that's better than nothing.

For 2010 I already have some things on my list that I'd like to accomplish and a few will carry over from last year of course. I just can't help myself.

A girl's just got to have a plan.

O' Organic!

2009-12-03T11:10:00.003-06:00

I am an Organic adulterer. I want to be married to Organic, but it's just too big a commitment. Organic is an expensive date. He's hard to find sometimes and keep track of. He's not always what he seems. So when he's feeling easy and available, I'm all over him. The other times...not so much.

I've had affairs on him with McDonalds and several, okay, EVERY other restaurant I've ever eaten at. I want to do better, but I just don't have the will power.

I've been trying to buy more organic foods for our family and incorporate them into out diet. It's not easy. There aren't very many choices in our little town, although the local Summer Fresh grocery store IS trying with a small little dedicated section. I try to buy SOMETHING from that section every time I go in the store, but I feel sorry for them because several of their dairy items have already expired by the time I'm there to consider buying them. I know that is not encouraging to them and they are likely losing money.

Walmart makes me mad too. They do have some organic products and produce but they are interspersed around the store and not easy to find. AND when I do find something I like, for example Del Monte organic tomato sauce, then the next time I go to stock up, it's not on the shelf anymore.

I can't, or more, WON'T go to the only "natural foods" store in Springfield to buy my groceries on a regular basis. I know it would be at LEAST twice as much, not to mention a HUGE inconvenience. My friend Liz kindly picks up the things I order from the Mt. Vernon Coop and delivers them to me on a regular basis. This is WONDERFUL! Especially for dry goods, health and body products etc. but I'm hesitant to buy dairy, refrigerated or frozen goods with close expiration dates because I KNOW I won't and can't make that hour trip to pick them up in a timely manner.

One of my goals for this year was to raise all our own meat on the farm. That still hasn't happened and since it's only 28 days until 2010, it's not looking hopeful. We did, however, raise all our own chicken this year, and have eaten almost all of the pig we butchered last January. Our sausage has been gone for months. Next time, more sausage!

Since we weren't able to get our fencing in AGAIN this year, I bought grass fed burger from the Rocking H Ranch in Norwood all summer. I plan to keep doing that until we have our OWN beef.

We supplement with deer as well. Bryon got two this year and our friends bought one of them (paid for the processing). We had it made into breakfast sausage this time which has turned out suprisingly well. It could have been a bit spicier but we'll know next time. We were eating it in ziti the other night and Bryon pointed out that our deer was most likely NOT organic.

I hadn't even thought about that but he's right. The WILD deer he killed that has foraged off the land for the past two to five years has more than likely eaten a goodly quantity of Monsanto genetically modified and Roundup Ready corn and soybeans from our neighbors fields. In fact, our closest neighbor is BEGGING hunters to come and kill his deer. He figures they've eaten close to four entire rows from one field which accounts for several bushels of corn which to a small farmer translates into dollars lost.

I think that's just nuts. A WILD and NATURAL animal that could not even be stamped organic because it's diet has been corrupted by Monsanto.

What's next?

Goodbye Turkey, Hello Ham!

2009-11-29T20:53:00.006-06:00

We had a great trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year. Grace was the best traveler the whole trip and Gary and Norma Jean went along as well. Gary hadn't been back since he moved here last February and was glad to see the family again.

Grace got spoiled by Aunt Jan and Uncle Kelly and I did some shopping on Black Friday (AFTER the craziness calmed down) and the Huskers beat Colorado so all was right with the world.

We got home Sat. night about 6 pm and I'd been telling Grace we would put up our Christmas stuff when we got home. Of course by the time we actually GOT home, my ambition had waned. Hers, however, had not!

I dug out her little tree and ornaments and she decorated it up last night.

Today I got out EVERY DECORATION WE OWN and went to putting them all up and out and around the house. We skipped church, slept in, fixed breakfast and then just messed around all day. It was GREAT! I wish I had another week to keep doing it!

I got everything up except for some outside decorations around the porch. Grace has been asking for outside Christmas lights and Bryon decided he'd do some for her. He couldn't find what he wanted at Walmart today so he'll have to go on the great light hunt this week. He wants those old fashioned, fat colored bulbs.

I finally got him to put up icicle lights the first year we were in the house and had the big FAMILY Christmas gathering. He cussed and grumbled the whole time, finally got them up, plugged them in and then only half of them worked. He was NOT happy. Then to top it off, squirrels ate the plugs off the ends. Hopefully we'll have better luck this time. Of course now it will probably just be Ruger eating the lights.

I have SEVEN Christmas trees up in the house! Last year we got four topiary trees with lights on them the day after Christmas and we thought we could put out on the front porch instead of lights on the house. Good idea, but NOW we have Ruger who is a one dog destruction crew. He'd destroy those trees in no time I'm sure. So I put them up around the house instead. I decided anything that's NOT used this year, goes to the garage sale pile.

It pretty much looks like Christmas exploded at the Medley house right now, but I figure this will be one of Grace's best years for remembering Christmas.

I told her the other day, I sure hope Santa brings her some new socks for Christmas. She asked me why and I told her because she REALLY needs some. She said, "Well I'm not going to tell him!" I guess she didn't want to use up her gift luck on socks! Oh well, Santa already found a few. I think I'll have her open that box first!

Bruuuhaaahahahahahaha!

Deer Season 2009

2009-11-29T20:45:00.005-06:00

I just realized I didn't get any mention in about Bryon's deer season this year. He and his Dad both got button bucks (which didn't even count as bucks because the only thing that proved they were boys were testicles!) opening morning, then on Sunday of the first weekend he got a nice 8 point.

His friend Chris got a huge 11 point that same weekend.

Vamped Out

2009-11-24T20:30:00.003-06:00

First of all, sorry I've been delinquent in blogging. I spent a week in Rolla working and staying at the Hampton Inn, then that SATURDAY at an all day mandatory meeting for work as well. NOT FUN! Last week I pretty much spent catching up on everything.

Bryon and Grace did a great job keeping the house clean and all the animals alive, so I suppose they CAN live without me after all :) But I still don't like being gone. The next big college drive is February 2-5 so I've already got my reservation made.

I have to admit it WAS nice sleeping in a king sized bed, and having my evening snackage ready and waiting for me when I got back to the hotel. The staff at the Hampton is AWESOME and they had breakfast every morning which was GREAT and FREE! I certainly am NOT complaining about that.

I also got the rest of the Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series read. Yeah, there were 17 books in the series. It was the longest series of books I've ever read. The next book is Flirt and it comes out in February (AFTER the blood drive unfortunately) and then another this summer. I'll read them because I'm in too deep now to quit, but I think I'm pretty vamped out for now.

I'm looking forward to getting through some of my tower of texts in the next few weeks that have been piling up while I gave my attention to the vampires.

So many books, so little time.

No Gift Christmas ... Too Much Stuff .. and Fun with Nature

2009-11-07T10:37:00.005-06:00

The family is all in. No gifts are being exchanged again this year. I'm VERY happy about that! That means...NO SHOPPING! NO fighting the crowds in the brain sucking flourescent lights. No Made in China, lead based crap that's going to break and fall apart in ten minutes. No lame junk that people don't really want and NOT spending $1200 on all that STUFF.

Of course, there is the Grace exemption. Bryon and I and the rest of the family are allowed to buy gifts for Grace, but honestly, after her birthday and having SEVENTEEN guests who brought gifts... I just can't really think of much she needs.

I finally cleaned off her desk in her room last week and organized all her art supplies into a container and she has A LOT of stuff! Seriously. We are one box away from a Dateline episode on HOARDING.

I'm afraid she has some of that RICE HOARDING in her genes because she wants to keep every little piece of EVERYTHING. I have to hide things and wait until she forgets about them then throw them out. Same thing with artwork from school. She wants to keep everything including empty Kleenex boxes (with pretty designs) etc. No, I say, NO!

Do NOT however, look at my own little collection of scrapbooking and crafting paraphenallia upstairs. Mine of course is much more sophisticated. It is. Really.

She also collects TONS of rocks. And leaves. And sticks. And pine cones. And shells. And nuts. And berries. And EVERYTHING. I finally cleaned up all her little piles and stashes and put them into a bucket.

It was a LOT of stuff. Of course, it's hard to argue with collecting "stuff" from nature. It costs nothing and gives her lots of pleasure.

On vacation she picked up a TON of rocks and stuff. We stuffed them into the Pacifica under the tire and forgot all about them until I vacuumed out Bryon's car last weekend and found them again. She had a whole gallon ziplock full of things. She sat out on the back deck organizing them into a pencil box and came in asking for more containers. I had just bought two little containers for the art supplies reorganization so I gave those to her... here is what she came up with... all on her own.

I'm thinking she's a naturalist in the making.

Candy Negotiations

2009-11-07T10:25:00.003-06:00

Grace turned 5 on Oct. 23 and of course immediately started collecting more candy. It is so the Candy Season. I'm afraid she totally has my sweet tooth. Fortunately for me she's EXTREMELY generous AND prefers the hard, sweet and sour candies to the gooey chocolate that I love.

She also knows I like the "YELLOW" candies (not banana though). She constantly scours through her birthday and Halloween stash to trick or treat me with chocolate. Is that a good deal or WHAT!

I've always told her she can have TWO pieces of candy a day and many mornings she'll go to her stash and pick out what she's going to have after school and lay it out on the counter. We Medley girls don't miss many meals OR snacks and like to plan ahead!

A few days after her birthday I was on the computer and she came in and said, "Mama, I have a good idea, how about now since I'm FIVE, I get THREE pieces of candy a day...since now I'M FIVE!?!"

How can you argue with that logic?

I said yes. Daddy says he would have said NO but I figure for one thing she's using good negotiation skills and for two, the candy will just be gone that much faster. It's the same logic that allows me to justify eating an entire box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies in a day. I asked Bryon one time if it was bad if I just ate the entire row of cookies. He said, "You're going to eat them sometime right?".

Yes, Yes I am.

Naked Day

2009-11-05T18:32:00.003-06:00

Grace has really been playing with all her birthday Barbies and accessories. We moved her Barbie Dream House upstairs to the playroom so she wouldn't have to pick it all up every night... you can probably see why...

Of course, like all Barbies, they are mostly naked. She has trouble getting their little clothes on and off still.

I went upstairs to check on her and she had almost ALL of them naked and I asked her why. She said Barbie was going to school naked... because it was Naked Day. I told her I hope we never have that at my work :)

ABC Song Gets 10 Toes Up!

2009-10-27T19:07:00.008-05:00

Grace wanted to show off her new official preschool skills the other night and regaled us with the ABC Song AND her new nursery rhymes she just learned.

We went to her first ever parent teacher night last week too and of course we were told she was wonderful :) As if it could be any other way! She got "G's" for Good on everything except for two for which she got "W's" for Working On. Well her W's were for a forward somersault and tying her shoes which of course she can TOTALLY do! Hello, two years of gymnastics already AND video proof of shoe tying!

We just let it slide...it is only preschool right!

53 Books!

2009-10-26T22:42:00.002-05:00

I just counted the books I've read this year so far (you can see them all on my Shelfari book shelf on the right side of the page if you want. You'll have to flip through and keep hitting "next" to see them all)and I'm currently on book number

53!

Let me tell you, it was the two series of vampire books (Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake) that put me over the top! What can I say, I like books with bite I guess :)

I only have three more books in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and I'm through until Laurell K. Hamilton publishes a new one! I gotta say I'm ready to read something else even though I've loved them.

Woo hoo!

Scooby Dooby Doo

2009-10-26T21:58:00.012-05:00

The birthday party was a big hit Saturday. I worked on the cake for 4 1/2 hours on Friday and it turned out pretty good. I did have a few problems... mainly that you should definitely put ALL three ingredients into the cake. If you leave one out (namely oil) it will STILL be a cake but it will NOT be the same. Good thing I had THREE cake mixes on hand. The second time around turned out much better and I used the last mix to make cupcakes.

The other thing I learned is you should mix up twice as much icing in every color as you think you MIGHT need because you CAN NOT match BROWN again. I had enough of the first batch of brown to do the entire top of the cake but had to mix more for the sides and it was just not right.

This cake seemed much more difficult than the school bus or the cow cake. I'm hoping next year's theme is just chocolate sheet cake :)

I'll probably have euphoric recall by then though :)

We ended up with 17 kids plus one parent for each child and the grand parents. It was a gang of folks. We had a whole Scooby Doo mystery planned with clues and everything. The gist was that a sneak thief (Bryon in disguise) had stolen the presents

and the kids had to look for clues, play games and solve the mystery. We had six clues and 5 games which included pin the tail on the Scooby...

A Mummy Wrap...

Musical Chairs...

A Ghost Stomp...

And a pinata break...

The last clue led them into the cabin to catch the thief and find the presents!

When he let them pull off his disguise, he said, "And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

At one point, Bryon was sneaking through the woods so the kids could catch glimpses of him and about half of them took off chasing him! He had to turn it on to outrun them! They loved it.

After the bulk of the kids had left, the rest of us had chili cheese dogs for supper and we were all in bed by 9 pm. We lucked out with absolutely PERFECT weather. I don't know HOW we could have done it all inside...

Life is good.

Cleaning up is hard work!

2009-10-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

First Flowers

2009-10-26T19:15:00.002-05:00

Friday was Grace's FIFTH Birthday and they were out of school for teacher work day. So Bryon had flowers delivered to her on Thursday before she left for the day. He sent her 5 yellow carnations with pink tinges. They were really pretty and she really liked them. She was a little confused though because one of her classmates mother's brought them over from the office so she thought they were from her.

Her teacher read the card to her that said Love Dad but she still had some confusion. She told Bryon that Kyla's Mom got them for her and Bryon was the person who paid for them.

Ouch!

Somethings are just hard to explain to a five year old.

She did like them though :)

She told her teacher her Mama hadn't gotten her ANYTHING yet.

Geeez!

Drama Queen

2009-10-17T14:14:00.003-05:00

Grace is the Queen of Drama and Hypochondria at our house lately. It's hard to know when she's really sick or hurt because EVERY LITTLE THING requires a band aid or medicine of some sort. I've tried to use some placebos when I can and honey instead of cough syrup but most of the time she's too clever to let that slide.

She's pretty sure if it doesn't come out of a bottle it's NOT medicine. Every day she comes home with one or more band aids from school. I've already bought two boxes and sent them to her class the first month because I knew where we were headed.

I told her she was going to have to be a doctor when she grows up so she can tend to all her ailments. Seriously, I don't know where she gets this from. WE are not that way. At least I don't think we are. Are we?

She's defiantly got her own little mind.

Thursday night she said her back itched and I looked and didn't see anything. I tried to just put lotion on it and make her think that would solve the problem. She wouldn't let me and it didn't so I finally had to put a little bit of Cortaid on it. Honestly, I didn't see ANYTHING! Not even a red spot.

Another day last week she came home and said she had a fever and that she was sick. Well, Bryon had sent her to school in a sweater (mercifully he dresses her every morning for me so at least THAT drama is reduced). It had turned out to be a warm day. I was warm too. I took her temperature twice and told her she did NOT have a fever. She still said she was sick. So I told her at 5 pm that if she was so sick she should go put her jammies on and lay down. She did and laid down on out bed and watch Scooby Doo. Then later, after she harassed me until I took her temperature again, she was digging around the candy dish for candy corns. I told her if she was sick she couldn't eat candy.

Curiously, she suddenly became well enough to eat some candy.

When Daddy got home she played up her sad little condition to him and he basically told her the same things. A little later she wanted to wrestle with him and he told her if she was sick they couldn't wrestle. Well let's just say she had a miraculous recovery and wasn't "sick" any more. I think she's down at Nurse Cheryl's office several times a week for various ailments.

She did develop a cough last week and we finally broke down and gave her some cough drops and cough syrup. Then yesterday when Mom picked her up from school to stay with her for the weekend, she had some red bumps on her belly and back.

Chicken pox? Allergy? Who knows. Mom asked her if they itched and of course then they did. You have to be VERY careful not to ask leading questions because she knows what the answers SHOULD be if she's sick.

Mom didn't know if she had a fever or not but she felt warm and of course became more pathetic with the more sympathy she received. Mom gave her some Tylenol just in case before bed and she slept the entire night with no coughs or problems. Mom said she had about 17 little red "spots" on her but wasn't trying to itch them so I don't know what's going on.

Red spots are hard to fake though.

Her 5th birthday party is next Saturday, so hopefully all will be well by then either way.

It's hard to believe the sky is falling when it falls so frequently.