Yeah! It is Friday!

Wow! Who would have thought a 3 day work week would go by so quickly. Having a 4 day weekend for President's Day was great - even better is now it is already the weekend. Wouldn't it be nice if every work week was only 3 days long, and the weekend was 4 days long? God did create the world for us to enjoy, and at times it seems we do not get to enjoy it as we work for 5 days and have 2 (maybe) off to enjoy it. Within those 2 days off we have to catch up from the 5 days of work. It is all a big circle. Oh well. I guess I will just keep working 5 and being off 2, and enjoy the time I do have off. I guess it could be worse, I could have been born in the 1700's or 1800's when work was really work. I can't even imagine how those people did it all.

Anyway, have a good weekend! We are going to go to a Sausage Supper at one of Doug's co-worker's churches. Sounds yummy. Then we will rent a movie - don't know what yet - and come home and do nothing!!!!

Vet

Angel Cake
Belle and Angel Cake


Today we took one of our birds - Angel Cake - to the vet. His beak had grown very long and we were afraid he would hurt himself and starve if it grew any longer. Well, of course the beak was a sign of some other medical problems. They took blood and came back to say that he was having liver problems. His liver enzymes were at 3500 - a healthy bird's count would be between 40 and 400. Yikes! Thus, now we have to give him medicine twice a day. His beak may grow long again, and in that case we will take him back to the Vet to have it trimmed. She also said the medicine may not work, and in that case he would not have too long to live. We spent $114 to find this out (after a $25.00 off cupon). My instincts were to just take the bird outside and let him go (it was over 50 today) and go get another yellow/green bird. Will see what happens - that may still happen if I get tired of giving him medicine twice a day. We found a new pet shop by our house and may go check on birds there.

butchering

Emily, Michael and Andrew playing in the snow - look at the cute snowman they built.
Grandma, Gene & Dad stuffing brats. Andrew is helping his daddy.
Grandpa and Justin working with the cooked sausage.
Michael and Naomi bond.
Emily and Naomi bond.

Butchering 2007 was a great experience for all. It was wonderful to have the whole family down on the farm. Dawn, Justin & Leyna came down for the day, and of course Lynn and Bonnie were there in addition to Grandma and Grandpa. We now have a freezer full of pork - mmm :) It sure smells good when I open the freezer - fresh seasonings in the bratz and beef sausage are quite aromatic. Nothing smells quite like fresh meat.

Memories of 2007 butchering include:
* Waking up to snow - enough for Emily & Michael to play in.
* Cold weather so we did not have to mess with dry ice :)
* Getting 4 hogs finished in 1 day :)
* Holly cutting her hand (and not being able to help out after that - hope she is doing better now.
* Mom making good lasagna for dinner, as well as all the desserts we had - of course would it be a trip to the farm without desserts?
* Red fleece sweatshirts was the girl attire - all three of us had red fleece sweatshirts on and none of us knew the others were going to wear them. :)
* Gene marking the meat correctly (or did he?)
* Playing psychiatrist & I'm going on a trip after getting the kids to bed. Crazy games, but we had a good time.

rain, rain, rain

Well, today it was actually above freezing :) My students were outside at recess without coming up and asking to go in because it was cold. They groaned when recess was over - just like normal:) The only problem is, now that it is warmer, the rain has started. It is supposed to rain tomorrow as well as all night :( I hope we are able to get outside for recess around the rain tomorrow.

Michael and I were both back at school today. It was almost too much for him. On the way home he said that he had gotten real tired during recess. He said he played basketball for a short while, but then got tired. He then proceeded to fall asleep. He came in and laid on the couch until dinner. He cried when I said it was time for dinner, so I let him just eat fruit salad - a whole plate full - and then he went to bed. Thus it was about 6:30 and he was down for the night. Hope he wakes up tomorrow morning with more energy. Pray for continued healing.

What's Up for the Weekend

Well, Emily went off to school today and I will not see her again until Sunday morning. She is going home with one of the Emily's in her class. Then she is going to Sydney's house for a birthday slumber party and after that she is going to spend the weekend with Sydney. Both Michael and I had planned to go to Indy with Doug for FLICKO's open house, but we are staying here since we are still under the weather. To find out more about FLICKO's, check out www.flickos.com

Michael is feeling a little better and woke up without a feaver :) Of course last night when I put him down for the night it was 101.5, so I am so glad he must have broken the feaver over night. :) Now he says his stomach still hurts, and he is not very hungry. I will have to watch it and see how he does. I am still very congested and coughing some. I also woke up a little dizzy, so I am sure glad I don't have to go to school today. :) Pray for healing and health! This is no fun! We need to be all better before next weekend when we go down to the farm for butchering time. :)

cough, cough, cough

Well, I have been out for two days with the crud. Finally today I am not coughing whenever I talk and having a sore throat. I should have been out on Tuesday, but there was already another teacher out and there was really nobody to sub. Thus, I suffered through (don't know who suffered more though, my students or myself). Yesterday I was at home and got a call from the school about 10:00 saying Michael was not feeling well. Doug picked him up (as I was on cough syrup with codine) and brought him home. He slept for 3 hours, was up for an hour, slept for two more hours, was up for about two hours, and then went down for the night. He was also running a temp of over 100.

Today I took him to the doctor, and they ruled out strep (as it was going around the school). I also had strep ruled out on Tuesday night. I am now over my feaver, but Michael is still running one. I guess we will be home again tomorrow. We had planned on going to Indy this weekend as FLICKO's is having an open house, but I guess Doug will go solo so Michael and I can continue to get over this crud. I just hope Emily and Doug do not get this crud.

The amazing thing is Michael's class had Chapel yesterday and Michael made it through Chapel. I did go to watch it (when I dropped the kids off at school I just stayed). He sang Jesus Loves Me as a duet, lead the Lord's Prayer, and had a speaking part in a litany. The kindergarten students also sang two songs. Surprising he made it through it all being as he got sick shortly after they got back from Chapel. He really did well with all his Chapel duties. We did get it on tape and hopefully can share it with family when we see you next.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Well, we woke up to about an inch of snow. Of course the big talk of the news was whether we would have school or not. We did of course, which was good as today was school supply day for teacher appreciation week. I got quite a bit of good stuff brought in from my first graders.

The kids now are playing outside in what little snow is on the ground. We are supposed to get some more tonight. Will see if it happens or not. I hope it does, as I would like to have one good snow this year to have fun in. I know some of you are having too much snow - could you please send us a little. :)