I was wondering about this the other day when I went to the pool. I am a conservative. I am modest. I am a christian. I don't wear shorts or dresses shorter than my knees. Don't wear spaghetti straps or thin tank tops. My daughter is not allowed to wear spaghetti straps or tank tops or shorts shorter than her knees. (She does wear tank tops to work outside but we live in the middle of nowhere and no one sees her) But..I wore a bikini to the pool because, well, it is the pool and that is what I am comfortable in. I never thought other women would think those things you posted about me just because I am a mom. I weigh 105, am 5'4 and I have a lot of muscles and am pretty toned up. I work hard to stay in shape and I am not ashamed of my body. (and, I have had 3 kids) But, I noticed that every time I go to the pool, I get dirty looks from other moms. I want to think that they are not judging me based on what I am wearing but now, based on your post, I have a whole new idea of what they are thinking. They are judgmental and one-sided and have pre-conceived notions on what is a good role model or what a good mom should look like. No wonder I can not make friends there. They are too busy judging me and hating me and shooting dirty looks. I don't hang out all over and do not look like a tramp but I guess that would be beside the point. I guess all bikinis are immoral.

My Wal Mart is already putting out school supplies at a DEEP discount. I hate going there but I will to stock up. They have two packs of glue for a quarter, pencil packs for under a dollar etc... Might want to check.

Vinegar.

OOOOH! I have to say the most useful thing for me are my rain boots! I use them when I feed the animals and work in the garden. That way, the um, shall we say "refuse" can just be sprayed away with the water hose. I, personally, would not use Crocs, because the dirt and dust and you know what may get trapped in the holes. They may be fine to just run out to the barn real quick though. Don't forget to put the boots away up side down because you don't want a spider or some creepy crawly crawling up in there. We have Tons of black widows, I would not want to step on one in my boots.

Welcome to the Country Club! Once you go country, you won't ever want to go back to suburbia. I can not wait to see your updates and PICTURES of your new life. I love seeing the conversion. I am a recent convert. My DH grew up in the country and is very knowledgeable about this kind of life but it is all new to me. We went from living on a military base living like sardines to having a hobby farm. We have 40 chickens, 4 goats, 4 pigs, 6 cats and two dogs. (And we have only been here since November) We are getting 2 horses in the fall. I can't wait until we have a milk cow. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new life and find lots of peace and happiness. The hardest thing for me to get use to was the dark and the quiet.:lol:

That is awsome! Good job with him.:001_smile:

You guys are so sweet. Thanks for all the hugs. I felt like I could have done something to save her, like I didn't do enough. I'm sure she was just too sick though.

Make a fly trap. If you google them you will come up with some for fruit flies, house flies etc. The idea is to attract them to a jar they can not climb out of and they will drown in liquid. They also sell some at the box stores but it will probably be cheaper to make your own. House flies will need a trap they can not climb out of. Fruit flies are a little easier. You can just put out mason jars with apple cider vinegar and water in them. They are attracted to it and will drown.

Thank you both. It was really hard watching her deteriorate. I put some pic.'s up on my blog of taking care of her. She looks so fragile.

Our kitten, the runt who has had problem after problem died last night. We were bottle feeding her every 3 hours, giving medicine, and doing our best to take care of her. She was just too weak and sick. It was heartbreaking.

I'm right behind you Tracy. I have 6 roosters to butcher this weekend (if we have the time, if not next weekend) Then, I will have around 20 or so in several weeks. 15 or so more in two months. Can I ask how many times a week you eat chicken and how large your family is? I figure that around 40 would be a good number for us. We have a family of 5 and eat it 3-4 times per week. This is our first year and I'm not real confident in that number though.

Maybe it could be a heat/AC issue? We had something similar happen. We thought maybe it was the heat from outside beating on the glass and the inside temperature from the AC causing it to shatter. Is glass that is put in doors like that usually tempered?

Good grief.

Do not come to my house unannounced. I will refuse to answer the door. If you touch my feet I will punch you in the face (just kidding...kind of) I do not like morning people, or talking in the morning or anyone slightly looking my direction before I have had coffee. (I'm getting better, it was much worse 13 years ago) I am not as grumpy and mean as I sound. :lol:

Oh, oooh, ooooh... I have been waiting and waiting to get my new camera. It is the Nikon D-80. I can not wait for my current camera to die so I have a good reason to get one. The Nikon is awsome but expensive. A good all around cheaper camera is the one I have. It is a Kodak easy share. It is very simple and it really does take great pictures. I have been able to take great shots of the Northern Lights, low light pictures, close up pictures etc. It has different modes you can set for your personal preference. Great all around camera but can't wait to do more with a Nikon d-80. *salivating*

:lurk5:

She IS self nursing! I saw her do it this morning. There is creamy white milk coming out!! What to do?????

This is the first time I have noticed. My son said he saw her udder full last night and I saw this morning. She usually looks just like our other one. We are going to check her daily and see if it gets bigger or smaller. I have not noticed the baby nursing on her or her self nursing. hmmm. I am so confused. :confused:

It is possible she could be pregnant but if she is she would only be 3-4 weeks along. Usually, they don't fill their bag until the last 4-5 weeks of pregnancy. Unless she is just a weird goat? She has kidded once before I bought her. Does that make her more likely to fill her bag early?

Thanks Soph. That is an interesting article. She really has me guessing. Her udder/teats are a normal temperature. No discharge. It seems one teet is more full than the other. I have been trying to find a local vet that works with goats with no luck. There may be one an hour and a half away. I'll have to keep researching.

Bump... Anyone?

I have asked this over at Dairy Goat Info but no response yet and I'm getting impatient. What is going on with my Nigerian Dwarf goat?? Her udders filled up completely like she is in milk but has no reason to be. They are huge! I have not noticed any signs of infection. She is not acting differently. Being pregnant does not make a whole lot of sense. I bought her 7 months ago. She was exposed to a buck when I bought her but a goats gestation period is 5 months, so she would have had it by now. We did move her in with our 4 month old pygmy buck about a month ago but even if they did mate (which I am really doubting) she would not already be filled with milk. Right?? What in the world is going on? I am going to post some pictures. They are graphic goat part pic.'s so don't scroll down if you don't want to see. The first two are of May, the goat in question, the last is of my other goat Ellie with normal udders to compare.

:lol: Facebook. Now, that's funny. No, I don't expect that at all. The churches we have visited before had lots of potlucks, kids activities Womens groups, Youth groups, and missions that we could join in on. We had a wonderful time with fellowship when we chose to participate. We had a choice though. Coming to my home is a bit of an invasion to me. It is not that we are not friendly, just really do not like unexpected guests. I am beginning to think this could be a Southern Baptist thing. The strange thing is, we had a visit on a Saturday morning at 9:00, Wednesday at 8:00 and yet another Saturday afternoon visit. I thought those times were a little strange. We go to bed at 8-8:30 most evenings. I really do not like visitors while I'm in my pajamas.

We have been visiting various churches in the area, trying to find a church home. Three of the pastors from various churches have come to our house unannounced. We have only been to each church once or twice. We live WAAAAY out in the country. Down a long drive on several acres. With no trespassing signs all over. We are very private people and do not like unannounced visitors at all. I could understand if we were members and needed something or if they arranged a visit but just show up like that? It is very off-putting. Enough to make us not want to go to that church b/c it is very pushy. A pastor came last night at 8:00 at night, unannounced. I met him in our front drive b/c our dogs were trying to jump in his car and lick him to death. He started walking toward the house like he was just going to walk in.:001_huh: I stopped in the yard and when he realized I was not walking toward the door he finally stopped. Said he just wanted to stop and say hi. We were in the middle of fixing a water line I broke earlier in the day and really had no time to chat. We were not rude to him but he got the message we were involved in repairs and left. We have stopped leaving visitor information at the churches we visit because of this. How normal is this? I have never had it happen before. Should I put a no soliciting/no church visit sign up? The beware of dogs and No trespassing signs don't seem to be working.:D

It was funny. I can laugh now but all I wanted to do at the time was cry. :lol: Dealing with the water yesterday was not fun either. Maybe I'll laugh about it later too. No one should let me anywhere near a water line or spigot or faucet.