Menu Plan Monday

There are times when I am really good at planning my meals and then there are times that I want nothing to do with dinner or grocery shopping. Hopefully starting this will keep me more on top of it.

Monday - Chorizo Chili - This is a Batman special and it means I don't have to cook! He is actually cooking as we speak and boy does it smell good.

Tuesday - Pizza - Kids don't have school due to snow so I will probably have some extra littles tomorrow. I will be exhausted by the end of the day so I am going to be lazy.

Wednesday - White Bean and Chicken Chili - Yea, we are doing Chili two days this week but that is what I have.

Thursday - Pepper Crusted Pork Tenderloin and Root Vegetables

Friday - Meal out of the Freezer

Saturday - Buffalo Chicken, Green Bean Fries, Sweet Potato Tots

Sunday - YOYO (your on your own)

Chorizo Chili

This is one of Batman's specialties and it is tasty. I bet you didn't know Batman could cook!

Chorizo Chili
1 chorizo sausage
1 can tomatoes with chilis
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can white hominy
1 tsp cumin
chips
sour cream
shredded cheddar
avocado

1. Brown the chorizo sausage in a large pot. Drain the grease.
2. Drain the beans and hominy. Add beans, hominy, and tomatoes
3. Add the cumin.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes
5. Top with crushed chips, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and avocado.

Not the relaxing morning I wanted!

Yesterday was a really productive day. We got the chicken brooder built, baby chicks bought, a lid on the turtle enclosure, and a new wifi thermostat I put in all by myself. I felt very accomplished until this morning.

Sundays we usually sleep in, especially when the kids are at  the other parents house. My goats are never thrilled when I finally get out to feed them around 10am instead of their usual 7am feeding. This morning I woke up with a feeling of dread. I had a dream that all 5 of our baby chicks we picked up were dying. I woke up threw, off the covers and ran to check on them.

Wait... Why is the house freezing. Oh shit! It is only 56 degrees in here. We have 3 cold blooded animals in our house as well as the 5 baby chicks that are suppose to be at 95 degrees with their lamp. THIS IS NOT GOOD! I check on the chicks, all are alive. I check on Cynder and turn on her light, not looking sooo good but I have to give her a little time after turning on her light. I will come back. Same for the turtles. Now what the hell did I break?

Every computer person knows try turning it off and back on again. Well that didn't work.

Time to face the elements and go under the house. It is 7 degrees, feels like -11. UGH! Get under the house and flip the furnace on and off. Smack my head on the light down there and break it. Pieces of glass are now in my hair. Great! And that didn't work either. I pass the goat pen and Daisy and Luigi remind me I have farm chores. I let the goats out and give them some hay. Grab the water bucket so I can give them some warm water from in the house. The bucket handle freezes to my palm. Wonderful! Goats are taken care of. Rabbits are going to have to wait till I fix the heat issue.

Time to call my ex-husband. He isn't going to be happy, it is too early for him on a Saturday but he works on HVAC systems and I am at a loss. After rubber ducking over the phone a bit I realize we have a two part heating system and I don't have the thermostat programmed as such. Fix that and go feel the vent again. SWEET! The air is semi warm. Hopefully it just needs some time to warm up. The thermostat is reading 2 degrees more than it was this morning. 59 degrees is still cold but it isn't as cold.

Now to finish the farm chores and go get some breakfast! Oh and some coffee. I have done all this without coffee.

Thermostat is wifi now so I can check to make sure it is continuing to climb. Awesome! On with the rest of my day.

Our Suburban Farm/Zoo - Part 1

I have a rabbit addiction. I admit it. Those cute fuzzy little things won my heart. Little did we know they were really the beginning of our suburban farm/zoo.

Catwoman walked in to the pet store one day and saw these fuzzy little Lionhead bunnies and fell in love. She gets this from me; sees a cute little baby critter and has to have it. She even takes it a step further and wants to be a vet one day. She isn't a huge fan of people but makes up for it with her love of animals. So she sees these bunnies and has to have one. She begs me for weeks. Said she will pay for it with her own money, etc.... etc... Finally after some talk with Batman we give in.

She saved her money all summer and bought her first bunny and Figaro comes home with us. I built him an awesome cage using these directions. I rarely do anything half way and always think if I do it myself I will save money (usually not the case). He lived in the sunroom that was off our apartment. Over time I too fell in love with him so we bought another one, Butterscotch. We made this cage into two cages. We started looking in to breeding them so we decided to start getting pedigree lionheads. We went to our first bunny show and brought home Black Knight. Yet another bunny in our sunroom. Unfortunately Black Knight got sick and passed away. This is always hard but one of the lessons I think it is important for Catwoman to learn if she is going to be a vet. Sometimes they get sick and some of them don't make it.

By this point we knew that we would be moving. It was only a matter of when. When we started looking for houses we made sure they allowed bunnies and having a shed with plenty of land was a plus. We were looking to rent at first. I passed up on a couple great houses because we couldn't have bunnies. Then one day after many places had fallen through we found a nice house with a little under an acre of land that was rent with option to buy. It was perfect for us and while I hadn't been thinking about buying I started to dream. There was a place to put a shed. I could add a fence. My mind started spinning at this point. I could have a small farm with chickens and our bunnies. We moved in shortly after.

Bunnies temporarily moved to the basement of our new house. We then brought home two more that were full bred pedigree lionheads, a male, Nerd and a female, Prim. About a month later we had our first litter of bunnies. One morning I went down to check on the rabbits and Figaro had pulled out half his hair. What the hell? Then the big ball of fur started moving. I peeked in and there were four little baby rabbits. Ahhh! Figaro wasn't a boy, she was a girl. Rabbits pull their hair to create a warm nest for their kits. She was renamed Figgy and continues to be our best momma bunny.


Shortly after we had a bad storm and the basement flooded. If it had gotten much higher we would have lost Butterscotch who was on the bottom part of the cage. After that the bunnies move to the laundry room. NOT IDEAL! Prim then had her first litter of kits. I started working hard on getting our shed ordered once the house started to smell like 11 bunnies.

 Finally our shed came! Thus Geeky Bunny Rabbitry was born as well the beginning of our farm.

To Do Lists

A symptom of adult ADD is an ever growing number of to do lists. I have them everywhere. I mean every where. I have them in piles, in folders, on my computer, on my phone, on my tablet, on my hand, you get the point. Sometimes when I am rummaging through old notebooks or my piles of paperwork I find lists from years ago. I still haven't done half the things on those lists. All this doesn't keep me from continue to find the perfect app or the perfect system. Eventually something has to work, right? My life is hectic. I need to have something that works.

As far as apps go I have downloaded them all. First for Android then for iPhones. This is one of the things that I miss about Android. I had my to do list right there when I woke up my phone. Unfortunately android phones aren't sturdy enough for me. After going through 5 of them, the last one breaking in the pocket of my jacket I was done! So iPhone it is.

So what have I tried?
Paper Lists - It doesn't work. Like I said I have lists everywhere. They get lost, I don't like my handwriting, the page gets to messy, you get the point. They don't work.

So I started download apps. I have downloaded them all. I will tell you about the ones that I actually spent time using. Some immediately got the boot for one reason or another and for most of them I couldn't even tell you why now.

Evernote - Everyone goes on and on about this app. You can use it anywhere. This is why I have tried it 4 different times. Every time I download it I remember why I don't like it. I want simple. I need simple. I just want to add my items to a list and check them off. It would be great to add pictures and what not but I need them in a simple, check it off list. This is not Evernote.

Wunderlist - I downloaded this because there is an option to add it to the "Today" page on iPhone. The "Today" page is the closest that I am going to get to Androids customizing screens. If you are unaware on how to get to this page you swipe down on the top of our iPhone. Here is my problem with Wunderlist, when I add a task I want to just be able to add it. Not have to go to a second screen and select that I want it to be listed on my today to do list. Of course I want to add it to today's to do list, duh, I want it to come up on my iPhone's "Today" page. So this too gets the boot.

AmazingNotes - This one actually worked... for a while. I had all my folder organized, in ROYGB of course. I used it regularly for about two weeks. I still use it occasionally and for a lot of people I think it is a good option. I didn't like that I wasn't able to add it to my "Today" page but I am finding this isn't an option for most iPhone apps. I also started making to do list for too many separate projects. I need one list! This isn't the issue of app but my issue. I have this strong desire to be this overly organized person and I AM NOT! I do good to remember to brush my hair everyday. This also doesn't have a desktop component which I find useful.

And just to show I was joke about needing to organize everything by ROYGBP. Maybe I got tired of the program because I ran out of colors.

So as usually my ADD and my need for some sort of organization in my life got me started on this blog and again on the search for a better app. So far I sound really picky but I really need something that will keep me on track.

I downloaded Any.do first thing this morning. I like it. It is simple. There is a desktop component and a chrome addon! This is a big plus. I added a couple of things to it. I really like how well it works. So far I think it looks good and would be a good options for someone needing a simple to do list. There are two apps for the phone, one is a to list and the other is a calendar. I think I will use the calendar app, for right now; the to do list is getting the boot for right now but only because I found something better.

So in my search for the perfect app this morning I came across a Lifehack article Five Best To Do List Managers. This site usually has some good advice. It listed Google Keep, Any.do, Wunderlist, Todoist, and HabitRPG. I stopped when I got to Any.do because I hadn't tried it yet. I downloaded it on my phone and on my computer. Added a couple things that needed to get done to my to do list. Started this blog. Then kids started showing up for child care and it was time to work. Came back to my computer during nap and finished scrolling through the article. Got to HabitRPG and knew immediately that was the one that would work (at least for a little while).

HabitRPG makes your to do list a game. Kind of like one of those facebook games where you level up your player. This is right up my alley. I can get sucked in to one of those for hours. Complete this task and you will be at the next level. I swear the person who wrote this app must know me somehow. I am always telling my kids to make it a game when they are thrilled about doing something. Now I can take my own advice. Time to play!

Weekend Project Rundown 1/30

Weekends without kids mean a list of items to check off. Not sure I checked off a single thing that was actually on my list but I did get some things accomplished.

We finally put shelves in the closet. We have a long closet with doors on either side. The middle was basically useless. It had become this pile of stuff I didn't feel like I would need anytime soon so I threw it it the middle. This was originally Batman's project but due to my need to control everything I ended up in the cramped closet with him. It probably went a lot faster because of I helped so hopefully he appreciated it. While they aren't exactly pretty (who is going to see them), they are functional and cost under $30. During a quick trip to Home Depot we bought a 4'x8' and had them cut it down into 4-2'x4' boards (love that Lowe's or Home Depot will do this for you). Then bought 4-2"x2"s and cut them each in half. Drilled them to either side of the wall. Then put the 2'x4' boards over them. Voila! Storage! Wonder Woman has a place to put her boots.

Two quick random projects this weekend. I was tired of my plugs getting tangled on the floor beside my bed so I screwed the powerstrip. I now don't have to fumble around in the dark on the floor when I need to plug my phone in either. Then we bought Light Angel as in impulse buy standing in line at Hancock fabrics. I have to get up at 6:00 to get the kids read and tend to the animals. I don't want to wake up Batman (he was out late fighting crime the night before) so this works perfect. It only comes on when it is dark, it relies on motion to turn on, and it is dim enough that I can see what is in my closet but doesn't disturb the person laying in bed. We will see how long the batteries last but so far it works well. I was pleasantly surprised since I think most of the "As seen on TV products are good ideas but poorly executed and it didn't get great reviews on Amazon.

Another project I had not planned on completing was my filing cabinet. Since we moved I haven't had one that was easy accessible. I was in desperate need because my to be filed piles are all over the place! We also needed a second side table so I decided I would just use the filing cabinet as my side table since we don't have an office space. I have some odd OCD tendencies. My house is usually a wreck, my car is worse, but hand me a filing cabinet and some file folders and I go crazy. They have to be "pretty" and in order by color, ROYGB is the only way to go. Weird I know. Based on this guess which My Little Pony is my favorite.

What didn't I get done? The damn chairs! They are all over the place. Three kinds of chairs. I did buy the vinyl but then decided once I tore off the old vinyl that maybe I wanted to do something a little different than I originally thought. Thanks youtube!

Fresh Start

I have been interested in blogging again. I started using my old blog but realized that I am not the same person I was when I first started that blog so it is time to start a new one so here it goes. A couple warnings. I am not a great writer. This is more for me than anyone else. If someone gets some good information from this blog then that is great. If not then I have at least had a place to document my everyday stories of kids, our hobby farm, a craft obsession, business ventures, ADD misshapes, and whatever else I feel like writing about. I also can't spell, my grammar (I can even spell this word) is shoddy (this word either) and my mind thinks much faster than my fingers type so this may all sound like a bunch of jumbled mess.

A little about us. We are a blended family. My husband and I married three years ago joining together not only ourselves but our 4 awesome but very different children. I have given them each nicknames partly because as they get older they are due their privacy and partly because it goes along with the theme of this blog and my life. These are characters that each of them identify with in one way or another. 

First came "Harley Quinn" or "HQ" who is my oldest. She is 15, almost 16. She is creative, gorgeous, kindhearted, and very emotional (what teenager isn't). As I was writing this I realized she is only a year away from the age I was when I got pregnant with her. Scary thought! She came along when I was 17 and she was my life saver. I went from a surly teenager to a mother in love with this perfect little thing I couldn't take my eyes off of. She went everywhere with me. I talked to her from the time we got up till the time I put her in bed. I think this is the reason she started talking at 9 months and hasn't shut up since.

Then came "Catwoman" claws and all, she was born a middle child. She just turned 13 and so far her entry to teens hasn't been nearly as rough as her first eight years. In ways my hardest child has become my easiest. As a child this strong willed child was more than difficult. She challenged me at every turn. Now the strong will child has turned it to a young woman that knows what she wants and goes after it. She is not too fond of most people but she loves animals. She has her own rabbitry called Geeky Bunny Rabbitry. She is also incredibly beautiful!

"Sheldon" came into my life when he was 6, he is now 12. Prior to his dad and I he was an only child. Coming in to a house that is this full is always an adjustment but he has done pretty well. He is creative, funny, and stubborn, he always has to be right. Right now his obsession, and I mean obsession is Nerf Guns. If I never heard another thing about nerf guns I would be good. Check out  The Ominous Nerf Gun.

Then there is "Deadpool", not quite as mean or insane as the character that his nickname derived from but definitely as funny and obnoxious (and he knows it). It may have something to do with his age, he is 11. He is also the most kindhearted boy I have ever met, always ready to pick up one of the babies in my daycare, give you a hug, or a great shoulder massage. He is brilliant when it comes to engineering things. One of my favorite things he created was this apparatus to turn off his light from his bunk bed. Using Wall Coasters  he made it so if you dropped a marble down the run it would hit the switch and turn his light off. He was only 8 at the time. This also means there are no battery hatches on any of our electronics or remotes!

Then there is my partner in crime (fighting), "Batman". He was the missing piece to my puzzle. My best friend in every way. I gush but I finally realized after we met that I really was okay being who I was, flaws and all. He can live with my ADD and my brain that doesn't always function the way it should. We enjoy doing geeky things together which most people just don't get. I can have a totally off the wall conversation with him and he keeps up. He doesn't make fun of my crazy ideas (ok sometimes he does but it is in the most lovey way). He gives me time to work on what ever project I happen to be obsessing about and doesn't make me feel guilty that I forgot dinner because I was too busy crocheting 25 Christmas presents. I restarted my blog because my previous blog was "The Way I Am" and while I still am who I am I don't feel the need to make as much of a stand on it as I once did. It was a difficult time in my life and I often felt like someone was always expecting me to be better than I was. Sometimes I still do need to apologize for the way I am because I can be a pain but my apology is enough. And sometimes he needs to apologize to me because he can be a pain too but his apology is enough. We are who we are and that is okay. Some will ask why I needed a man to make me feel better about who I was but it isn't the man but the best friend that help me be okay with the way I am.

Along with our 4 kids we have somewhere between 18-22 animals. It varies based on the number of baby bunnies we have in the bunny barn. They range from a Chinese Water Dragon (lizard) to a small herd of goats.

On top of all that is the additional 2-3 children in my daycare. I watch two 1-year-olds and occasionally have a three year old or a five year old. I love what I do. My day is full of snuggles, giggles, and learning. It is also full of poop, snot and sometimes crying but all the other stuff makes up for it. I also get to be home with my kids in the afternoon and during the summer while still making an income.

To say our house is crazy sometimes is an understatement. Our house is always in motion, I love it and I think for the most part the kids do to. Except when they don't. A couple weeks ago I had two goats in the back of my Honda Pilot. I was dropping HQ off at a friends on the way home. She said please don't park too close. I don't want my girlfriend to see that there are goats in the back of the car. Then she said "Why can't our family just be normal?"

"Because what fun would that be?"