Technology as an Advantage and Disadvantage in Education today

Technology has created opportunities for many which would have been nearly impossible twenty years ago. The ability to juggle family, work and education has availed many of an education today, which they likely would have missed out on, or did miss out on, twenty years ago due to obligations of family and employment.

I’m a prime example of how technology in education has changed my ability to achieve higher education. I graduated high school in 1993. When it came time to start college, I did. Just like every other classmate I graduated with. Much to my mother’s dismay, I feel in love and got married in the first semester of college. Starting a life with my husband was not easy. I had to work full time and try to go to school. Of course, this was back in the day when computers and the internet were not the mainstream. Doing school work for a college in my day required endless hours of study in the library or at school. My husband never saw me and it would eventually strain our marriage. Something had to give. Being the good faithful wife that I was raised to be, I decided to quit college.

Today I am pursuing an AAS degree as a Paralegal. All of my classes are hybrid classes, which means we only meet once a week (except math which is two days per week). Many assignments are given online and it is possible for instructors to list future assignments for those that want to work ahead.  Assignments can be turned in online. Feedback can be given and received online as well. This has allowed me to juggle the demands of my family, a part-time job, and my education.

Twenty years ago research for any thesis paper required countless hours at the library. Part of the time constraint was looking through the old Dewey Decimal system card catalogs to find books that you hoped were on the subject you were investigating. Today if you need statistics, literature, opinions, research data or any other form of information to support your thesis paper, all you have to do is Google it. Research no longer requires the gas to travel to the nearest library in the snow and rain. In a time when gas prices are still high, it’s hard to imagine a college student affording the expenses to travel for their research on top of going to school and work. It is no longer necessary to spend a myriad of hours reading books to find the one line that supports your argument. By using Google, you can navigate through multiple articles using keywords.

Technology and the internet have also opened those seeking higher education to the freedom of pursuing their degree at any time of day and any day of the week. For me, I do most of my research on the weekend.

Above are all the advantages to online learning. However, to every advantage there is always a disadvantage. In my experience, the struggle with online education is the lack of interaction and discussion that a classroom setting brings. I had originally started my education purely online at Kaplan. Within a week, I knew online learning would not work for me. There wasn’t much opportunity for interaction with my peers and questions. By the time, I would type my question or read an answer, five more would pop up on the screen. It was very confusing and not in the least productive. Now that I am going to the local junior college and taking the hybrid classes, I can now balance my life, but still have the in class discussions and interactions that are necessary for a beneficial learning environment. Especially since I am pursuing a degree in law.

I recently did a thesis paper on Citizen Vince by Jess Walter. I had the book on Kindle, which had many advantages. By using the search feature, I was able to go specifically to places in the book with the quotes I wanted to use. If I had tried to do that twenty years ago, I would have spent many hours flipping back and forth between pages frustrated with not remembering where a specific quote that I wanted to use existed.

If obtaining an education today required the time that it did twenty years ago, I cannot imagine going back to school. There is no way I would have been able to take care of my family, the farm animals, work at all, and do well with my education. Today, however, I can juggle it all and still maintain A's and B's in all of my courses. I have a full load of thirteen credits and I am doing very well.

Natural Colorants in Soap Making

So for those of you who have been following my venture to make soap, you know that I'm really focused on trying to use all natural ingredients.

 

I was contacted earlier this week by my best friend who had a soap request. She's getting married in March and I had already been thinking who can I contact about her wedding colors because I had wanted to make little soaps and surprise her. Well I guess it won't be a surprise now because it was her idea for me to make soaps for her wedding. It turns out that her wedding theme is Pi (no not pie as in edible pie, but Pi as in the mathematical symbol) and wine colors, purple and green. I found a Pi mold and ordered it this week. Can't wait for it to get here.

 

With that in mind I set out to make today's soap making session an experiment in color. I wanted to try and find something that would give me purple and green, but also a few things that I had read about and wanted to try.

 

I set up me kitchen for making soap. For color I pulled out cinnamon, Oregano leaves, carrots, ground cloves and stevia mixture, raspberry jam and grape jelly. I put the carrot in the food processor to prepare it ahead of time and I had mad a 50/50 mixture of ground cloves and stevia powder. Then I laid out scents that I thought would go with the colors I thought I was going to get.

 

So I mixed up my batch of soap and separated a small amount for the first test, the raspberry jelly. I'm thinking this would probably make a pretty purplish red color.......wrong. When I first put the jelly in the soap it turn GREEN! What, how can that be? But as I mixed it turn to an orange color. It's the one in the bottom left of the mold. So that wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it's still pretty, with raspberry seeds peppered in it adds interest as well.

 

Next I tried Grape. Now this has to turn purple, right? Wrong. I added the jelly to another batch of soap and it turned green, okay no big deal. So did the last one, so I waited and waited as I mixed. But it stayed an almost sage green. It was pretty, but not what I was expecting.

 

Next I tried the ground cloves and stevia. According to what I had read it should have been a green, once again.......NOT! Currently it's a speckled brown, but as I've seen before it can change, so I'll wait and see.

 

Next I made this beauty in my spring form cake pan. I went into this with no preconceived notions, so maybe that's why I haven't yet been disappointed. I wanted this to be layered with decorations on the top. So I mixed up a bowl with cinnamon and oh so yummy smelling Almond Cybilla for fragrance and another bowl with just the pure soap and oregano flakes mixed in. I layered those two. Then mixed another bowl of cinnamon again when that wasn't enough for the third layer.

 

The top I really didn't do until the end with what was left. A little bit of pure soap (no color) and some of the green left from the grape jelly surprise. First I laid down the cream color. Then in the center I put a mound of the green. Then with a spreading knife I dipped into the cinnamon layer and swirled the three layers in the pattern you see. I can't wait to open this one tomorrow and see how it turns out.

 

Then with what was left I added the carrot and poured into my goat mold. The problem came with how much was left, not enough. I'll have to leave it in the mold and create another small batch to layer over it in another color, but I like the color that carrot makes.

 

Check back tomorrow when I pull the soaps out and unmold them. We may be surprised as to the final color.

 

Almar Acers Natural Soap, My new venture

This is one "hobby" I never thought of. God knows I have plenty of hobbies; quilting, genealogy, photo restoration just to name the major ones. I'm a busy woman. I can't sit still. But this little hobby was not one I dreamed up, it was my mother. You know when they say "mother knows best" it's true. She had a problem and she knew I was the one that could handle the solution.

Ok so I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Let's back up to how Almar Acers got started. My husband and I and our three children moved onto the family "hobby" farm about four years ago. My parents are not getting any younger and really wanted us to join them and enjoy the farm with them. We could help them with the farm and allow them to live out their life where they loved instead of moving into town where we were at the time. Now I know that makes my parents sound really old, but honestly they are very active for their age. They were just thinking ahead for the day when they wouldn't be so active. Now they have nothing to worry about.

So the farm......I was always around farm animals. My mother just can't help herself, she just loves raising, breeding, showing and all around farm work. When we first moved out here my parents had a few head of cattle and three horses. Then she went to a fair, saw and feel in love with a the Nigerian Dwarf Goats she saw. I think it was all over from there. My mom can sure change her mind plenty, but when it's made up, it's a done deal. So she decided the big animals ate too much, didn't give back enough for what they ate, and were getting too hard for her to handle, but not these little goats. So about three years ago she started breeding Nigerian Dwarf Goats. She named her farm Almar Acres. Which is cute because it's a combination of dad's name Alvin plus her name Marilyn. It must be a thing with us. That's how I came up with my daughters name by combining James, my husband and mine, Amy to then name our girl Jamie. Ok a little side tracked there, so last year she started showing and grand championed her first goat. She's on a roll. Her herd as grown to.........I Lord let me count.......I think about six buck, about 10 or more does and now a dozen or so kids. Well when you have 10 does giving milk, some as much as a 1/2 per day, yikes my kids don't love milk that much!

So now back to the Start of Almar Acres Naturals. Mom walked in my house in early spring toting a pail of milk and said "You know Amy I think you need ANOTHER hobby!" Holly Smokes mom have you not seen all my hobbies? Where the heck am I goging to find time for ANOTHER hobby? So I asked "oh yeah, what's that." Really expecting to laugh at her and tell her she was crazy. "You need to learn how to make goat milk soap." Hmmmmm. Dang it she knows me too well. She knew I wouldn't laugh and tell her she was crazy. She had my curiosity and she knew it! So I did what I always do. I got on line and researched, read, watched videos, shopped for supplies and with in a week I was making soap. Well sort of..........

My first batch failed when I added scent and liquid color that seized my soap. I learned enough lessons in my first batch you'd think I would have given up, but no. I never give up easily. So I did more reading, watching video and learning that hey that batch didn't have to be tossed, I could rebatch it! Cool! Not bad actually. It's not how I would prefer to, or would like to again, but it worked. At least I didn't have to throw the batch away and we could still use it for the family. I did experiment with using crayons in that one, since I had to heat it up. Uhhhh I won't do that again. Pieces of crayon that don't get fully melted don't feel good on sensitive skin. YIKES! OUCH! So another lesson learned, painfully I might add.

After that I was on a roll. I began to do more reading and decided that I wanted my soaps to be all natural. Health is important to me. I'm not a fanatic about it, but I do walk and jog daily and watch what my family and I eat. So to finally find a way to provide my family with an all natural soap that is chemical free was a really cool thing. So I found out the Essential Oils were a perfect way to add fragrance to my soaps in a natural way. Not the chemical stuff I tried the first time that seized up my soap. So I made my first couple batches unscented while waiting for my essential oils to come in. Then I wanted to add color, but how can you do that naturally. For a while all I saw was Mica's which are beautiful and brilliantly colorful, but they aren't natural. Then I ran across a couple articles that introduced me to natural colorants like herbs, spices and clays. Now I had the whole plan in mind. All natural soaps. From there Almar Acers Naturals was born. After all it was my mothers idea. What would I do with out her?

Mommy - daughter fun

My daughter has be bugging me for ever to do nails with her. We do our nails every now and again, but I had been so busy lately that I kept putting her off. Then yesterday I bought some new nail kits to do creative and fun nails. This is the fun we came up with! Even my dad noticed my nails when I was petting their new goat and was wowed!

Life is good.

I have practically abandoned this blog as I have been so busy. I also have two blogs that really delve into my passions that I tend to focus on, Untangled Family Roots and Quilting Heritage. But today I was going through some of my posts on this blog and cleaning up some of those stupid posts advertising something that make you want to scream and I realized that when I began writing this blog my life was so different from what it is today.

When I began this blog I was struggling to find myself. I had just had a third baby, working part time or temporary jobs to make ends meet and trying to be a stay at home mom at the same time. It had all lead to depression. But I finally learned, life is what you make of it. It's never perfect, so you've got to stop trying for perfection. Go with the flow and make the best of every situation.

We finally sold our home last April and got out from under that burden. You know sometimes home owner ship isn't all it's cracked up to be. For some people who struggle to make ends meet it becomes a bigger burden then it is worth. Made worse by having neighbors who drove us crazy with their lack of respect for others.

We moved out here to the country to share with property with Mom and Dad. It's a lot of work for them, and I know they appreciate having us around at times to help out. But I too have learned a great appreciation for what they do on this farm. They both work so hard with these animals. I more or less just fill in when needed but otherwise just enjoy the animals. My work begins in the spring when I plant my garden. But even it's nothing in comparison to the work Mom does with the animals.

I am happier than I have ever been. My husband and I have been together 20 years, married 18, and I could never ask for a better husband. I only hope that he can say the same thing and that I full fill him the way he does me. I've learned that in our 18 years of marriage that neither of us are perfect and that I had to quit expecting perfection, but at the same time find my voice when something was truly wrong. I'm looking forward to the next 20 years in his loving arms.

We have three beautiful children. Again, not perfect, but they are good kids at heart. They are in 4H now and we are all enjoying this as a family. I can't believe my oldest is 14 already.

I have a wonderful job now that I love. I'm no longer doing sales, dressing to someone else's expectation and trying to impress people. I've learned, though I did okay in sales, that I was not being true to myself. I had to be fake, and I hate it when people are fake. I think that's why I struggled to be happy back then. Now I work at Kimball Office where my father also works. It's sometimes hard dirty work, but I can be myself. If I feel like laughing out loud (and yes my laugh is loud) I can do just that and not have to worry about a boss that gets upset because it makes a bad impression when he's or she's on the phone with a customer. If I feel like jeans and a tee shirt for the day who cares. If I feel like slacks and heels I may turn a few heads because they aren't use to seeing that, but it's alright when it's a day I'm working in the office. If I want to wear my cowboy boots and be completely myself that perfectly alright too.

My point is that I finally dealt with the depression by finding myself, being true to myself, doing what makes me happy, but with moderation so as not to tip the balance of happiness therefore keeping my family happy as well. When I found genealogy and quilting made me happy I also made things worse by only wanting to do one or both and neglecting my husband and the house. It didn't go over well with him and only made me more unhappy. When I finally learned that he truly embraces my passions as long as I keep them in balance the happiness was just naturally there all the time. When my husband is happy so am I. Life is good these days.

Mother Protests Marriage

I was at my local Family History Center yesterday looking on some films I ordered for some records, when I came across this:

Oct. 24, 1841. This day ..... Mr. George Maddocks of Hope and Miss Nancy Pease
of Appleton.

The above intentions of marriage were denied by Miss Nancy
Pease who made her personal appearance, took down the notice
and committed it to the flames of the fiery furnace.
attest Henry Meservey, Town Clerk

Source: FHL film #10405, Vital Records, Appleton, ME, 1835-1887, Publishments and Marriages November 21, 1835 to September 11, 1886, transcription of original records, original records Mr B.J. Ness, Town Clerk, Appleton, ME. Contributed to the Maine D.A.R. Genealogical records Committee.

All of us ladies got a real laugh out of this. I hope you enjoy it as well. It makes you wonder what Mr. George Maddocks did to make Miss Nancy Pease so angry. Did they ever get married? Who knows.

Cell Phone Users Beware

I was infuriated this morning. I received a text from cutyourdebts.com asking if I have debt to text back for information. I don't have any debt, but this infuriated me because I pay for those messages. Then I went to their website to discover that there is no phone number to call and give them a piece of my mind. So the next best thing was to turn them in. I have my cell number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Apparently that doesn't stop them from texting you instead.

Yes I pay the Babysitter

Well Duh. Go figure!

My husband asked me tonight as our babysitter was leaving if I had paid her yet for the last two weeks, and I said yes.

Our middle boy looks at the babysitter and said "You mean you get paid!?"

We all started laughing so hard. I couldn't help but share it. It's amazing this things kids say.

I pay the babysitter

Well Duh. Go figure!

My husband asked me tonight as our babysitter was leaving if I had paid her yet for the last two weeks, and I said yes.

Our middle boy looks at the babysitter and said "You mean you get paid!?"

We all started laughing so hard. I couldn't help but share it. It's amazing this things kids say.

To Stay or Not to Stay

About three weeks ago my husband and I were planning to sell our house, move to my parents, remodel their house to make it a two family dwelling, and split their mortgage. Well things changed. We soon realized that would not work for us. For one it would be very hard to sell our house right now. It's just stressful trying to hold on to a home right now, but just as stressful trying to sell it.

There were pluses and minuses to both scenarios. The upside of living at my parents would have been paying about half of what we are currently paying for mortgage and utilities, my children would have had the opportunity to grow up around the animals the way I did and learn from that as well as having their grandparents around all the time. Not to mention I would have had a completed house with no need for any further remodel except a wall to divide the house!!

The down side was that it would still feel like Mom and Dad's place, not ours. We would have no wright off for a mortgage every year with taxes as it would be like renting from them. And of course the major down side is since it would not be our place we would not be able to do just anything we wanted (like hubbies car projects).

So we decided to keep doing some more remodeling around here and try to hold on to our home. In the end I think it was the right decision for us, but if the economy gets worse I'm sure we will see more families be forced to move toward such living arrangements in order to make ends meet. Who knows we may still have to do that some day.

In my hast to get started moving........Half of my office and sewing room is packed up and sitting in my parents garage and the other half is here under plastic as we finish the drywall in my Office/Sewing room. It will be great when it is finally finished. I have so much room to work with. The down side is I CAN'T WORK ON ANYTHING right now.

I still have my sampler quilt sitting here in my To-Do basket, a Barn Yard quilt, that I can't wait to see finished, for my daughter and another little wall hanging for her room for starters. I have more planned, but those are the only ones in the works.

At least I can get to my computer and my genealogy files. I'm not going completely crazy yet, but I can't wait to be done with this room and get every thing set up for both of my passions.

Villiage quilt......continued

Well another week has gone by and I have gotten another two sections done to complete the main body of the quilt. Now I need to try my hand at applique for the first time, of the bushes, stars and moon, and finish it off with the border. I can't wait until I'm done. This has been so fun..... except for getting up in the morning after I got so involved that I lost track of time the night before.......lol.

Latest Quilting Project

I just thought I'd share one of my current quilting projects. It's really coming out nice. It's a Village quilt. I'm quit impressed that it is turning out this well.

Now I need to print out the rest of the pattern and finish the quilt.

Puppy Whoas and Quilting Bliss

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted here last. I guess I've done a better job of keeping up with my genealogy blog then this one. My how time flies.

Today I'm about ready to scream. My husband so badly wanted a little bull dog, so finally I gave in and we got our new addition "Rocky" a Southern White Bull Dog (Altman Bull dog). He is a sweet dog and I really like his personality, but there was one reason I wasn't to fond of getting a puppy......the house breaking! Not to mention we are still working to finish potty training our daughter! How much more do I have to take?

I think that in the next few weeks or at least by the weekend the carpet in the last two carpeted room is coming out! I can stand pet odors, especially when they aren't totally house broken. Then to make matters worse the puppy didn't want to go on the road with my hubby this time, so he was left behind. So now I have a puppy in the house that doesn't get what the heck the doggy door is for all day while I'm at work!

That little frustration aside I am having some fun. I've picked up another new hobby. One that has always interested me, but i never got into, quilting. Heck if I really get into this I may just have to create another blog where I can show my quilts. I'm still learning a lot, but having fun doing it.

My genealogy research is still a passion of mine, but I don't really have the time to stay organized and keep going on that right now. I pick up a person of interest and do a little online research when I can, but that's about it. At least with the quilting I can pick it up and put it down a lot easier and not worry about interruptions from the kids. It's not like loosing my train of thought when doing research.

Remembering 9/11

My dear Miriam Midkiff of AnceStories2 shares with us her thoughts on 9/11. She also asks a series of questions to get you thinks, so I thought I'd paste them in here and share my experience.

*How did you hear about the attacks of 9/11?

I was just getting up for work that morning and had gone over to turn on the TV while my coffee brewed just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. I was horrified. I remember just standing there with my fingers up to my mouth. My husband had already gone to work and our son was still asleep. So I just stood there in silence and watched. Wow I hadn't thought of that in a long time. But I remember it as if it were yesterday.

*What did you do that day? Did you go to work or school, or stay home?

I did go to work. I had the privilege of a big screen TV to watch the news all day. At that time I was a portrait studio consultant. So we showed the images on a big screen TV which I sometimes watched the news on when I had nothing better to do. September really starts the slow time for about a couple months till it picks up for Christmas. So I really had almost no customers that day. Instead I set at my viewing room desk with a few projects going on the computer and watched the news all day.

*What were your feelings?

Mostly sadness. Especially when we began to find out the magnitude of the lives lost that day. I was horrified as I witness the plans hit the building. I can't say I was really scared. I mostly considered myself blessed that I lived in a part of the US that I didn't think they would really be interested in destroying. There isn't much significant that would affect the whole country on that magnitude her in Idaho.

*How has what happened that day changed your life in some way?

I'm not sure my life has really changed too much. Expect that maybe now I realize how important it is to write about my life and chronicle my story and that of my family just in case, God forbid, that some tragedy takes me away from my children. I really realized that tonight when I watched the children on Oprah today talking about the parents they lost and in some cases barely knew because they were so young. Even if I'm not here someday and my children are young, I at least have the peace of mind that they will know me and their father because of the stories I have done and the ones I'm still working on.

*What are your hopes for the future, in connection with this tragedy?

You know these days I'm just focusing on keeping my head above water with my own life and family. I don't think much about the future of the world. My life is enough to worry about. However, I will say that I would like to see our military men and women begin to come home. I feel they are fighting a loosing battle over there. They've have done a noble job and deserve all of our support, but I feel it is a loosing battle they are being forced to fight. It's time they come home.

Well there are my thought to Miriam's questions. So what are yours. Share with us how you felt, what you still feel, and what your future hopes and prayers are in relation to the 9/11 tragedy.

Tibetan Personality Test

This is amazing. Take this Personality Test you will be amazed at what it tells you about your personality. I was really amazed about what it told me about myself. It all fit right in place with my life.

I don't want to give any of it away, so with out doing that I can tell you that I found out the Family is the most important thing in my life, I have a Buddy personality, my hubby is cuddly (usually when he wants something....hehehe), my life is relaxing (usually the case except for right now), my true life friend is my best friend Dez, someone i really love is my mom, someone I will never forget is my brother, the person who is my twin soul is my mother-in-law and I can really see that, someone I will always remember for the rest of my life is my dad, now all of that about made me cry.

So go take your test and see what it tells you about your life and personality. Then please let us know (with out revealing the questions).

Picutres from the farm

Here are photos that I took on my parents farm related to my post about Bucking Hay. I of course am behind the camera all the time, but really who wants to see pictures of my big butt bucking hay.......hehehe. The kids are so much cuter to see in photos.

Bucking Hay

Well I got out of my office and got some fresh air today. My parents have a little farm out in Rathdrum. We often go out there and ride the horses and enjoy the fresh air with them.

My parents aren't to terribly old, but they are getting up there to the point that they are feeling their age. My mother though is living out her passion and dream. She has her own little farm. She has always loved to be outside getting dirty and taking care of animals. Growing up I was always surrounded by animals. I do enjoy them, and I would love to have my children raised with animals. But I just can't afford to give that to my children, and now that I have found my own passion (genealogy) in life I don't think I would have the time or energy to give them that, even if I could afford it. So taking my children out to my parents farm and exposing them to the responsibilities and labor of raising animals is the next best thing.

Our oldest has taken a real interest in the farm and especially the horses, so I really try to encourage that and I take him out there when I get the chance. I really need to find a 4-H Horse club in the area and see if I can afford to enroll him in that as I know he would love it. Our daughter has also become very attached to the horses. We have to watch her because at two years old she has no fear and does not understand the danger of a horse. All she knows is that she wants to ride. Or in her on words "wonna wide!"

Anyway I truly appreciate the fact that my parents bought this place and the animals so that I can expose my children to that experience which is so rare for children today. So many parents just let their children veg out in front of the TV playing video games and eating all day rather that getting out and getting some sunshine and other outdoor activities, just because it's the easy thing to do. Hey no one said it was easy to load up three kids and take them to Grandma and Grandpa's on my own, but once we get their and my daughter starts clapping at the beginning of their long drive say "ya Papa!" and then they all pile out of the car and plow Grandma and Grandpa down with hugs and kisses and then turn and run for the horses the first chance they get.,........ It make it worth every minute of getting them dressed, cleaning rooms, making beds, brushing teeth and hair and after an hour finally getting out the door. I would never trade those times for the easier alternative of popping in a movie and letting them veg out in front of the TV.

Anyway like I was saying before I got side tracked on that last thought. I appreciate that farm more than my parents may ever know (that is unless mom reads my blog again....Love you Mom). When I was there yesterday they mentioned that they had to bring in hay again. I knew with Mom's left shoulder in bad shape that it almost impossible for her to lift those bails of hay. So I told them we'd be over today. They said it was a great help especially for mom when we had finally finished five tons of hay, unloading and stacking. It wasn't too bad really. Dad did the hardest part, but mom rolled them off the top, I picked up or scooted the bails over to Dad and he lifted and put them on the stacks. It was good hard work. I enjoyed it for a change. I look forward to the next time I can help them. But for now I'm pooped and ready for bed. Between my asthma acting up a bit and my tired body, I'm done for the night.

Well here is a little preview of the wonderful weekend we had this past weekend. My parents only live about 15 minutes from me, but it was so nice to pack up for a weekend and take the kids to spend the night there.

Saturday we got to ride the horses and have fun, and celebrate the 10 year olds birthday. Then Sunday we were up and off to Greenbluff for the Cherry festival. We only visited a couple farms, but we had a lot of fun. I really love the pictures of the kids riding the ponies. I just hope some day we can get our middle boy over the fear of riding horses.

He came off of a horse that spooked with him last summer and since then he is so afraid to ride them. To say the least grandma and grandpa got rid of that horse and now they have another one. Cooper is a great horse. Our middle boy did finally agree to ride him. So we put a bareback pad on him and Grandpa started walking the horse. Well our boy began to slide down because the bareback pad wasn't tight enough. Cooper just stopped and looked back at him like "what on earth you doing down there?" Our poor boy was just holding on and not letting go, but that horse never flinched.

I'll have to go do that again soon. It's fun to get up early in the morning and go horse back riding with the kids. At least my oldest and my daughter love to ride the horses with a passion. Our daughter is always pointing at them say, "wanna ry, wanna ry" She's just so cute about it.

A Young Cowboy's Birthday

Well I'm really starting to feel old. As of tomorrow my son will be 10 years old. It's hard to believe that he is ten. It seems like just yesterday he was learning to talk and of course hasn't stopped since, lol.

I've been very busy working on some genealogy for a family for their family reunion. So I called up my mom earlier in the week and told her that by this weekend I would be so ready to get out of the house and do something and since my son's birthday was that Monday, why not we come over, spend the weekend with them, ride the horses and see what else we do.

So we showed up her Saturday morning. We all then went out to Rathdrum Days. It's a small little town and a small little celebration, but it was nice to get out of the house and go shop Crafter's booths at the local high school and park.

Saturday afternoon we came back and watched a movie while we waited for it to cool down. Then Mom and I decided to take the boys to the ranching store so I could get the 10 year old a pair of boots for his birthday. The prices of the boots weren't as bad as I expected so I also had room in the budget for a belt too. But of course the middle boy saw his older brother getting boots and he just had to have some. If Grandma hadn't been there he wouldn't have gotten any. He would have just had to wait to get any. But Grandma's always have a soft spot and she couldn't stand it. She bought him a pair of boots too, and told him the were an early birthday gift ( his birthday isn't until December), we'll see if that lasts.

Earlier that day the 10 year old also got an Aussie Cowboy hat from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday. Now he was all set. Our Cowboy. I told my mom that I am glad that he chose to be a cowboy because he sure wouldn't like me too much if he decided on a Gothic , gangster, or any of those other looks that I don't approve of. I'm just not one of those parents that believe in letting their kids make all the choices. I am the parent and I will be the parent. I'm not their friend. But I am happy that we agree on the path he has chosen.

Later when it finally cooled off we did get out there and saddle of the horses. We all got to do a little riding. I'm so proud of my oldest. He is learning to take care of the horses and rides so well. I think I am going to look into a 4H horse riding group for him. I know he will love it.

Then today we all got up and went to Greenbluff in Washington for the Cherry Festival. It was nice to browse around the gift shops, but I didn't buy anything. When you live on a very limited budget, little shops like that are just so expensive for their crafts and food items. I know then can and prepare food products on a small scale, so the manufacturing cost for them are probably much higher than what it is for a big company like Kraft, Smuckers, and other big name brands. But gee $13 for a pound of coffee beans or $5 for a small little bag of pasta.

On the other hand it was fun and a great buy to pick our own Cherries. We went out on this big wagon pulled by this ancient tractor. We spent a good while picking cherries. When we were done we had twelve pounds of cherries.

Boy did that bring back old memories. Growing up in California my parents had a huge lot that had many fruit trees and farm animals like goats, chicken, rabbits, geese and my FFA lamb for the fair. One of the trees we had that I think all of us loved the most was a cherry tree. God I remember eating so man cherries that the next day I'd spent more time in the bathroom then I would back out in the cherry tree. Of course Mom would warn us that we were going to give ourselves a tummy ache. But do you think we listened, or course not. My brother and I had to have at least one tummy ache from the cherries every year to refresh our memory and remember that Mom did indeed know what she was talking about. I'll never forget that cherry tree as long as I live. It had so many great memories.

Well the 10 year old is one happy boy. The only thing that could have made his birthday better, is to have his dad home for it. But hopefully he'll be home in a few days.

What Are Men Good For?

Where I live, unfortunately, we have one open lot that they never built a home on to the back south side of us, then to the back east side of us are some storage units. My house sits and a strangle angle with five sides to the lot. If you have ever lived near either one you know what little pesky vermin can come out of them. That's right mice! Well for the most part I never had trouble with them in my home. But my neighbor did. That was until they tore down the old green house at the back half of the lot and started working on my yard. Now I have the little buggers visiting me in my home.

So I went and bought the good old fashion traps. Put cheese, bread, peanut butter or even a piece of a doggy biscuits (they ate up most of the small bag I had, so I knew they liked them). I'll be darned if the darn things didn't clean me off every stinkin' time and leave my traps empty. Well forget that. These guys are too smart, or I'm too stupid to get these traps to work.

So on one of my hubby's trips home he went to the store since he wanted some hearty meals while he was home to satisfy his craving for real home cooking. While he was there he picked up some of those trays with the real sticky stuff on them. I'll be darned if I didn't catch one the first night, then one the next and then ANOTHER a few nights later! No wonder they were driving me crazy. I thought I only had one of two in here.

At this point I know I have at least one more. I've seen it once and certainly heard it. Well this night I sure as heck heard it. I had reset the trap to be between the refrigerator and the cabinet, where I had caught two of the others.

I'm sitting down here talking to my friends and all the sudden i heard this loud, eerie screech and scratching. I thought maybe some wild cat (since we have some of those who use to like the greenhouse too) was being eaten by a coyote at my sliding glass door. At least that's what it sounded like. I had no clue!

I carefully crept up stairs to see what the commotion is all about. As I come up the stairs, turn the corner and turn on the kitchen light I heard it again and looked ahead and saw it. Oh my God the mouse had three of it's four feet caught, but he was still very much alive. He was using the free leg to brace on the floor and pull the other three legs. I didn't want to touch it since he was standing up and alive.

This was the moment that I wondered "Why the heck couldn't James be home tonight" He had taken a live one out for me when he was home. So I left it. What else was I going to do? I sure wasn't going to reach my hand between the cabinet and risk being bitten by a mouse!

I get up the next morning and that darn thing had freed himself and was gone. Now I'm probably going to have to buy a different kind of trap because I doubt he will fall for that one again.

With James gone I have been capable of doing a lot of things on my own. I've dealt with my own plugged up over flowing toilet that one of the kids blessed me with, I've done more little remodel projects around the house, selling the car by myself, take out my own trash and so many other things that are easy to leave up to the man to do. But that was one thing I was not going to do. I'll catch the little bugger later, but I was not going to retrieve that trap with a live mouse on it. Give me another toilet to plunge before I do that.