Fame

These photos were in the Duluth News Tribune today! They were taken last week when I went with the girls to the performance of their play at Lowell School in Duluth.

Lauren, Marissa and Megan have been in a play called Fidgety Fairy Tales through the County Seat Theater in Cloquet since early August. They were some of the lucky kids that got parts in the Teen Theater production. They are among the youngest kids in the production. Most of the kids are 13-16. Our girls are 11.

Marissa is the daughter of my friend Rena and her husband Neil, who happens to be Eric's first cousin. The girls have grown up together. I consider Marissa my niece, and she calls me Auntie Kandi. Rena and Neil and Lauren's godparents.

Megan is Judy and Neil's daughter. Judy is Eric's sister. This is the first major play for both Marissa and Megan. They did do the community play in Floodwood last year. They did a great job, and sort of on a whim decided to try out with Lauren this year. They are doing a fantastic job. I think everyone is getting a little burnt out. We travel at least twice a week to Cloquet, Carlton and/or Duluth. But, I think it's well worth it. I guess. Ha ha.

If you want to read more, go to www.duluthnewstribune.com and check out the article and more photos!

Deworming the goats

I finally broke down and dewormed the goats. I'm not sure why I've been putting it off so long. I guess for the same reason I was waiting to give Pete his vaccination. It is a little fear of the unknown. But, it was no big deal.

The best part was having Eric help. I had asked a few friends if they would help, but they all declined. I was surprised, thinking that they would agree just for the experience. Huh, guess not. Eric didn't want to help either, but since he lives here, and he's my husband, he didn't really get a choice. He didn't have to do anything, just help me hold them. He's pretty squeamish about it. He held their collars. I wanted him to get behind them and hold them for me, but that wasn't happening.

So, after I gave the stuff to Frank, and it was a bit of a disaster I got smart. I stood over them, opened their mouth, put the syringe into their throat, held their tongue over, stuck the meds in their mouth, held their mouth closed and massaged their throats. Eric was gagging every time I pulled my nasty fingers out of their mouth full of goat spit. He was thoroughly grossed out. It was really really funny.

So, that's over for a season. Eric did mention that no matter how large the herd gets, he will never ever deworm them himself. He will grab their collars and stand with me, but that's where his help ends. Thanks, Johnson.

Great Expectation

Ah, the day after. Ha ha. So, yesterday was my birthday. I am 35 years old. I remember thinking that 28 must be ancient and I couldn't fathom ever turning 30. Yet, here I am, 35. Closer today to 40 than 30. I know a lot of you that read this are laughing thinking that you only WISH you were 35 again. But hey, this is my blog, and I get to write what I want! ha.



So, I started celebrating on Thursday with some friends. It was a surprise, I had planned on staying home. So, I expected nothing, had a great time. Maybe too great! But, I digress. Friday morning I got up and found a box of wonderful gourmet chocolate covered strawberries from my friend Kris. They are so good. Shhh, don't tell the girls, I still have a few stashed in the fridge! I went to Hibbing, had lunch with Kris, then came home to get ready.



Friday night, my friends came to get me. I had no idea what was planned, but I expected a lot! I had fun, dont' get me wrong, but alas, our driver was sick; like the flu or something gross, so I ended up home by 11. Not a bad thing, let me tell you! I had already had plenty to drink!!



Saturday, my actual birthday I got to go golfing with my parents and Eric. My friends at the golf course decorated a cart with balloons and signs for my birthday. My mom ordered a sheet cake and we all had cake and about 10 different people sang to me throughout. So fun! In the mail I got a beautiful bird book from my sister (with a note saying: Happy Birthday you old geezer, I had to go find this in the senior citizen's section). She thinks my bird watching along with my love of polka and goats is very elderly. Anyway... my mail box was also filled with card from friends all over. It was so fun. I had thought I was going to go out again on Saturday night, but that didn't pan out. It worked out ok, but not as I had expected. Again.



A good friend once told me that I am destined to be disappointed a lot because I have expectations of people that they cannot possibly live up to. I expect people to be like me. I expect them to think like me, to have the same thoughtful qualities that I think I posses and to show it, at all times. That is not reasonable. I know this. I do, but sometimes, I can't remember it.



So this year, this 35th year of my life, I am going to try not to expect so much. I am going to be delighted when things surprise me. I'm going to be thrilled when I get unexpected things. I'm not going to expect people to be like me. I'm not going to be surprised if I get disappointed. In fact, I am going to try not to get disappointed! What's the point? Only I can make myself feel that way. And, most of the time, people have no idea they are doing it. This isn't directed in any one way, it's just a little bit of a deep, introspective post for a Sunday morning. I didn't go to church today, so I'm making my own sermon.

On a lighter note, I have lost 26 pounds this summer on what I am calling the goat diet. Not goat meat, but chasing goats. Being outside. Being mindful of what I'm putting in my mouth. So, perhaps I can keep that going. This might be the year!

My kids are wanting me to take them across the road to the not-s0-friendly neighbors (refer to previous post about runaway goats) today. I have cake, so maybe I'll take it over there and see if they are friendlier when I bring food. But, I am not going to EXPECT anything......



On al

Cleaning

I love when my house is clean! Is it ever clean? Ummmm, not often. Eric likes when it's clean, and he's a neat freak. Poor guy. He got stuck with me. Actually, I often wonder if my house would be cleaner if I had more room. We have a running debate about how large our house actually is. I'm sure he's right, but I always say it's 22' x 22'. He says it's 24' by 26'. Ok, does it really matter? You get the point. It is SMALL. There are 5 (FIVE) of us living in this house. our basement houses the girls. And the laundry room. And storage. And the freezer. And the tools. We have no garage. The main floor has my office, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a dining room that has a piano and a buffet and my home computer in it. For furniture we have a couch, a chaise lounge and a recliner. It's packed. Upstairs (we have a 1 1/2 story) is just our room (more storage really, with a bed in the middle) and a bathroom with a tub and toilet. That's it. It's cozy, to say the least. There are things in all spaces. We get by, we do. I don't mind the close quarters, most of the time. But there is no where for all of our stuff. The older the girls get, and the more they accumulate, the more stuff there is. EVERYWHERE.

So, today, Eric and I spent 4 hours cleaning together. I cleaned corners and dusted and cleared off all surfaces. He washed floors, walls, and bleached stains out of the carpets. I know, right? The man is amazing. Strange, but amazing. He said, and I will quote "How come I'm the only one that ever bleaches the floor and washes the walls?" I said, because you're the only that cares that much.... it's true!! Seriously. If there was visible dirt, grime, or marks on the wall, I'd totally wash it. (maybe not TOTALLY, but probably... maybe) If I catch the girls spill something, I'll clean the spot off the carpet. But, I will not take a pail of bleach water and crawl along the carpet with scissors and a rag and clean the carpet and cut out spots. He does this. The carpet is 15 years old, it's lived through 3 puppies, and 3 kids. When we redo the house next year, it's gone. But, he has pride. The man is a saint.

He made me promise not to lose the motivation when he went to work. Not to sit at the computer (oops) or take a nap (not yet) or get into some reality show (none on tonight). So, I should end this now and go find another place to declutter.... perhaps my office.

If I could have gotten away with it, I would have taken a picture of my wonderful husband on his hands and knees with the bleach and scissors trying to resurrect this carpet. Maybe next time!!

Photos

I added a bunch of photos along the side.. take a look!

Projects

My sister told me that this would be my year. I would have it made. All of my girls would be in school full time. I would finally have free time for myself. Then I had to go mess it up and buy a herd of goats. What in the world was I thinking???? She was right of course, she usually is!

But this weekend, we finished a project that will allow me a little more freedom from the beloved herd. A fence. A beautiful, well constructed, heavy duty, goat fence. Not that I am disillusioned enough to believe it will hold them in forever. But this evening, I'm pretty happy! I do NOT have to go put them away. Tomorrow, I will not have to let them out. They have a little "goat door" that they can enter and exit at will. Ah, bliss.

The goat dream has been with me for a long time, ever since my dad had goats when I was a little girl. But, Eric was never on board. This spring when we were on our way to go get my Grandma in Chicago, the dream was rekindled. We decided we'd take all back roads to get there. It took 14 hours. I know, it's really about an 8 hour drive. But there are a lot of farms, and things you can't see from the freeway! Along the way we decided that goats would be a good thing. I knew that if I didn't strike while the iron was hot, I'd be lost to the goat dream forever. So, when we got home I hurried up and did some research and some digging and I got Frank and Maggie from the Watsulas in Meadowlands. No fence, nothing really prepared. Dad bought the collars, the bells and the original tie outs for me to get started. If I had waited for a fence, we would never have gotten the goats. So, after all of that, five goats later, and now it's late September, we have a fence!!!

Luckily, Eric and I work well together. The fence took 16 hours to construct. It's not that big. My husband, to say the least, is a perfectionist. You probably won't be able to find a straighter fence line in all of St. Louis county. Or maybe the state. He has a crazy eye for this stuff. We were so very lucky to have my dad here to help. I just can't say enough about that man. He is such a trooper. He stood here with me and Eric and listened to our crazy ideas and the way that we thought things should go, and he kept his mouth shut. Dad built fences for years, and knew just how they should go, but he let Eric go on and on about how he wanted to do it. My dad is an amazing man. Dad and I sat on the pickup at one point and watched Eric tell the girls to sift through the dirt to put in the holes to pack around the corner posts. He was telling them to sift it in and pack it in gently. We were laughing that if we had built fences that way, we'd both still be on the farm building fences! I'd have never met Eric and we'd have buried all the animals... before the fences were done! haha. Even though Eric is a perfectionist, it pay off. The fence is gorgeous.

And, a big thank you to Uncle Marty (Eric's brother) for coming to help yesterday afternoon. He and I did a lot of the wrapping of wire onto the posts last night. It was a huge help to get that done quickly. Plus, he's so much fun. Eric really appreciated his help too.

On another note, last week was a tough one for me. My poor family. I had NOTHING good or nice to say, that's why you didn't see any posts from me. A really bad bout of PMS precluded me from saying a word. I bet my family and friends wish I had been silent too! haha.

I will be posting photos from the farm. New fence, new pics of the goats, pics of the girls. I let Kennedi take the camera so we'll see what that has on it.

News from the girls: Kennedi starts gymnastics this week. She's really quite good at it. She's in the top class this year. Maddie was in it the last few years, but this year she's not. She's not the most coordinated Johnson. Not as bad as me.... but.... She's holding out for ballet! ha. Lauren is still working on her play for the Fidgety Fairy Tales that will be traveling all over the Northland. Her first performance is at the Lowell School in Duluth on Friday.

I will be 35 next weekend! Gasp! I have great friends that will be taking me out on Friday night. Golf on Saturday, possibly out again Saturday night.... then who knows. I hope to make several days of it. I love that crap. Eric loves it too. Takes the pressure right off of him if my friends will do it and he can just stay home and watch kids. I'm ok with that.

Hope you're all enjoying the wonderful summer weather. I think this has been the best 3 weeks of summer.

Oh, here's a shout out (doesn't that sound stupid? I just had to say it though) to Mike of Pine Acres Fainting Goats for showing a few of his goats at a show a few weeks ago! He had some great success! Yay Mike! http://www.pineacresfainters.com/ on the opinion page. That's Tigo's original home.

Happy Sunday Night to you!!

Long Weekend

While not technically a long weekend, mine sure was!

On Friday after a day of trying to rid myself of a killer migraine, I had to chase down a rogue herd of goats. They ALL took off. That was fun. Not so much. They were about half a mile away, and I finally got them with the 6x6. They saw me and ran after me. I wonder if they were lost? At any rate, they sure seemed glad to see me! Once they were all home and tied up, we headed out to get Lauren sound-checked for the wedding. She did a good job at rehearsal and we got home at a decent time.... 9 or so.

Saturday we all got up and got ready to get to the wedding. The weather was really warm and muggy. But at least it didn't rain. The wedding was in the "red-neck" category. The bride and groom were aware of that fact. They had camouflage hats and shirts for people in the wedding party and the invites suggest cowboy attire and told you to "BYOB". Hmmmm. Lauren did a great job of singing the two songs, Mama He's Crazy by the Judds when everyone walked in, and What a Difference You've Made in My Life by Ronnie Milsap as everyone walked out. We stayed for the food and then left by 2:30. We really should have done something productive once we got home, but we got some Netflix in the mail....

We watched the movie Fireproof with Kirk Cameron in it. It was sort of a Christian marriage type movie. It was good, and it had some good points in it... but it wasn't a movie that we were expecting. So the next one Then She Found Me was supposed to be a comedy. It had Helen Hunt (LOVE HER) and Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Brodrick... star studded. Again, not so much. So that was sort of a bust. Ended the night watching Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman on the Oxygen Channel. At least we knew that was a winner!

Today I NEEDED to get something done. So we cleaned and did laundry all day. Eric did the kitchen, cooked lunch, mowed the lawn. Wonderful. I cleaned the living room, bathroom, dining room, basement, and put away all the kids' clothes. The girls cleaned the goat hut. We've found that the best bedding for them is the lawn clippings! We love using the lawn sweeper that dad gave us and cleaning up the lawn clippings and using them for goat bedding. The goats love it, and it is free and easy. All the girls like cleaning the goat hut for some insane reason, so more power to them!

Oh, and the goats took off again today. Across the road to some camping hunters.... the girls went to get them. I've found those people not so friendly. Ok, before you judge me.... I did not know where the goats went when I told the girls to go look. I also did not tell the girls to go over and talk to the not-so-friendly people and ask for our goats back. They did that all on their own. however, it was a good strategic move, because said not-so-friendly hunters were nice to the girls. They asked the names of the goats and said that the goats could go there and eat anytime. Well, if we could just get that fence up..... if Fence Posts were free, and rain was chocolate.... wait, where was I going with that?????