What a nice day.

Today was such a nice day. The kids actually slept in till 6 am, which is a rarity around here. Then they happily watched PBS in the bed with me and let me lay for an hour. Yes folks We finally found the sweet spot for both sets of rabbit ears in the house so our digital converter boxes actually get PBS! This is one of the highlights of the summer. We have satellite on our main tv in the house, but the play room tv and our master bedroom tv just have over air converter boxes. Neither of them got any channels to speak of, just three channels of CBS, which is great in the evening, but the ONLY channel I wanted to get was PBS. And now after many placements and the addition of a new set of rabbit ears, BOTH tvs now get PBS, except on rainy and very overcast days. This has been a blessing, truly.

My day started with a whisper and was pretty mellow all day. I cleaned, sewed (I have a custom order from a repeat customer, I have had the fabric for weeks now and just haven't had the time to get to it, till today!), cooked and then had a lovely dinner with a cousin who lives near by. It was very nice. The kids went a bit wacky after dinner, but when don't they, and it was a very nice visit. Then Mr. T, myself and my cousin all sat out on the deck, watched the deer and ducks, and talked till the bugs got to bad to take any more. It was very relaxing and mellow. I hope tomorrow is just as pleasant.

The ducks are going into a molt. RATS! Feathers EVERYWHERE! I missed my window for culling, this kind of stinks. I should have butchered last week, but I was a bit over scheduled last week and it just didn't happen. So they all get a lease on life for another month or so, but then we will have tender delicious roast duckling, and I am super excited. The only down side is the adult duck are also in a molt and their egg production is way down. I maybe get one egg a day...which really isn't a down side, we still have 3 dozen in the fridge, so about the time we are through those they should be producing again.

RAT got his stitches out yesterday and had his post OP check. His incision is all healed and honestly I can hardly even see where it is, it is amazing! And our family practice doctor, who I am loving more and more every time we see her, is just fantastic. It literally only took 45 seconds for her to remove the stitches. RAT barely even noticed she was touching him. MAT was more bothered by the whole thing I think, he was very nervous, but in the end was in awe of how easy and fast and painless the removal was, as was I.

The only real downer of the day is our canopy has died. I woke up this morning to a crumpled mass of twisted wreckage and fabric in the back yard. It was a gift from my parents at our wedding reception, and it has been well used over the last 4 years. It was already in less than perfect shape before today, but sadly this time it is unrepairable. I am not sure of what exactly happened to bend it into the heap it is in, but it is beyond help. Too bad. We will move on and we will recycle what we can. All in all it probably outlived its life, the way we used it, a couple years ago. I think we can build something out of wood and reuse the canopy fabric, and the idea of this is actually exciting...Though I think Mr. is slightly less excited about it, since he will be doing the building.

On a super fun note Mr.T has found a big newish diesel truck, that we can afford! It seats six very comfortably, has four doors and will be great in the snow, since we live in the snow capitol of the state now, snow mobility is very important. His work is going well, we very much hope this company will be a home for him. He will officially be a journeyman in two weeks. It seems like he has been an apprentice FOREVER, and really he has, five years is a long time in our lives. All is good.

Things are looking up, no one has been to the hospital this week, we are getting strawberries, which incidentally MAT thinks are too sour and wont eat and RAT who is the anti-fruit kid eats like there is no tomorrow, so really no complaints from me this week. The squash will be ready by the weekend and we have wee little tomatoes on half the plants. I cannot wait for more fresh homegrown veggies. There is nothing like growing your own produce, it is bliss.

Oh I have a really delicious Swiss chard Ricotta cheese pie recipe I will put up tomorrow. It is great for breakfast or a light lunch/dinner.

Life is very good here, I hope it is there for all of you too!

I have been away...and busy.

Sorry about the absence. Mr. T went back to work a few weeks ago, crazy hours mind you, so my hours have been crazy as well. All good stuff but no time to type, so I have been absent. Also we had the holiday and the kids and I spent a few days with my Mom and Dad at the "Turkey Palace", their little wooded hide away where lots of wild turkeys reside.

And then we had this week which included a day trip to the surgeon last Monday to Fix an internal problem with RAT. Something that was supposed to descend on its own, decided not to, so they had to surgically go in and find, and unfortunately, remove it. The doctors assure me that he will be able to be a daddy, provided the one he has remaining functions properly. I never knew having one testicle was really all that common, turns out it is fairly common. Also turns out I know several one testicled fathers, I just never knew it, but knowing that my child is now a "one shot" as Mr. T likes to call him, seems one testicaled fathers are EVERYWHERE. It is kind of nice...in a very strange way.

Surgery went very well, RAT has no problems with anaesthesia and was climbing furniture and running about by bedtime. The hardest part of it all, aside from my rampantly running freak out of a mind, was the not eating or drinking. I mean how does one explain to a 17 month old that they aren't allowed to eat or drink. So Mr. and I decided we shouldn't eat or drink either. GREAT! Provided surgery is on time, which RAT's wasn't. It was nearly two hours late, it was far worse for Mr. and I than it was for RAT, he didn't seem to mind. He did get quite bored and annoyed about the lack of toys though. But all in all it was a success.

Then on Wednesday there was a dancing too close to the field stone fireplace incident that wound us up in the hospital for three and a half hours...oh and 4 more suchers in the 17 month old. Yeah. As if I wasn't feeling guilty enough for having made the kid wrong, I know it wasn't my fault but I cant help feel guilty.

I was cleaning the bathroom, and my wonderful sister has since reasoned this is a prime reason for me NOT to clean the bathroom and I am inclined to agree with her, with the door shut because of fumes and what not and I heard a thud and a screaming. And then MAT ran to the door meeting me as I ripped it open and dashed out. I scooped up RAT, I was worried about surgery suchers not a NEW injury. I snuggled him to me chest while MAT explained what had happened, he fell. I lifted RAT's chin to check his teeth and mouth, putting my hands on either side of his face. My hand was wet. I looked at my hand and is was drenched! I let out a very brief scream, and looked at the side of his head. His ear was GUSHING blood. So much in fact it took me a few seconds to clean it up enough to notice part of it was ripped clean through.

I ran and put on real pants, I was still wearing pajama pants and who could have taken me seriously in flame covered pj bottoms. I yelled to MAT to put his shoes on and grabbed my phone and purse to call Mr. He was on his way home but still more than a half hour away, I told him to meet me at the hospital. I don't think he even knew why we were going from the first call. We got to the hospital and were quickly whisked away into an exam room. Where we sat, for 2 hours before ANYONE came to check on the BABY bleeding profusely from the head. But whatever.

Once we were seen a lovely nurse cleaned the wound. It was deep, about 3/4 of an inch long and clean through in places. She said the doctor would be in shortly, 40 minutes and the doctor came in, asked if it had been debreeded, I said I have no idea, he huffed and left for 10 minutes. then came back with a sucher kit. He and his nurse suchered his ear, 4 suchers even though he actually put in 6 suchers but he screwed up two and had to do them again. Oh did I mention the nurse and I held him down. One of the worst experiences of my life, will NEVER happen again. And 20 minutes last he was finished. And then we got to go home shortly there after. Nearly bedtime, no dinner yet, and bored and tired to boot. It was not a good night. RAT has not slept much this week. And Mr. is working crazy hours, so he is sleeping all he can when he can and I...well I will sleep when I am dead I suppose. I actually got 5 hours last night, it was a blessing, but I desperately miss the laid off deal. He slept in till 9 one day I slept in till 9 the next, that way we each might get enough sleep at least every other night.

Oh well I have ridden this crazy sleep train before, I will adjust and function, I cant say whether the resentment will subside as of yet...we shall see, maybe if I am given the opportunity and actually get to sleep one of these days I will not be resentful about someone sleeping 9 hours during the DAY Saturday and me getting 3 hours of sleep the night before. We will see how this plays out...hopefully in a calm discussion, not the flames of fury that are stoking within me.