Catch Up!

Well, I feel like I haven't updated the blog in a while, so here goes!

I recently wrote about struggles with bathtime and bedtime - no more! We purchased a "shampoo rinse cup" from One Step Ahead, which has a flexible side that molds around our daughter's head and keeps the water from going on her face - no more crying when we have to wet, lather, and rinse! Yay! She LOVES bathtime now. Often, now that it's summertime, we incorporate bathtime right before bedtime, and once she turned 18 months old, she no longer gets to have her "special" blanket all day - only in her crib at naptime or bedtime, so that gives her extra incentive to head to bed. So, a relaxing routine + getting to see blanket helps!

Cora's "Aunt" Louise brought her this rocking horse, which she loves! She "feeds" him crackers, and makes sure he gets plenty of water to drink, as she holds up her sippy cup to his muzzle. What a good horse owner she is!

Cora and I headed to visit her aunt Jill, where we had a very fun time getting to visit her and play on the playground. It was a really nice spot that was just for younger kids, many had babies smaller than Cora, but the majority were her size, a few were a little bigger. She LOVED watching the other children play. We also got to go to Barefoot Kids while there, which sells cloth diapers, and purchased some DreamEaze all-in-ones, which so far are GREAT, and a couple of pairs of training pants, though she's not really quite ready for that yet.

Then in mid-June we had the annual extended family gathering where nearly all of Matt's side of the family gets together here at the farm. His dad was one of 9 children, so all of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children assemble here at the farm. Many of the aunts and uncles live within a few miles of the "homeplace" which is just 1/4 mile north of our house. The kids get to play in the barn, go on hayrides to check the cows and calves, go along and do chores, play with the kittens, and just do all kinds of outdoor/farm things. The adults get to visit, enjoy plenty of good pitch-in cooking, and enjoy getting together again. It's always a fun time! Cora was one of 3 babies born within about a month of each other, and the littler ones got the first chance of sorting through the sunflower seeds to look for coins.

We had a taco buffet at our home on the Saturday of that weekend, and as we waited for everyone to arrive, the girls blew bubbles in the garage for Cora to watch and try to pop. If you haven't played with bubbles in a while - it's surprisingly fun even when you're not a kid anymore!

Then the next weekend was Father's Day, and we took this picture in our front yard early the morning before we headed to church. ((Isn't that girl and her daddy cute together????))

Then after church for Father's Day we headed to the lake where we met up with my parents and sister who had camped the night before. Cora got to go on a few bike rides, Dad grilled steaks, we had a delicious lunch, then headed down to the lake where amazingly we were the only ones swimming at that spot. Cora had fun playing in the sand, and we all enjoyed cooling off in the water.

And this week was our county fair. We went as a family on Tuesday, and then worked the Farm Bureau booth last night, giving out free popcorn, while Cora wandered the fair with her grandparents, and had fun collecting stickers (she didn't wear them, grandma and grandpa did!) and seeing the sights. The picture is of her in the car seat (I took the picture, Matt was driving). She has just been jabbering away a lot more lately....no clue what she's saying, but she even speaks with her hands for emphasis! It may be time to get some regular Signing Time videos, since we only have Baby Signing Time. I know we've avoided a few tantrums because she's been able to tell us what she needs/wants without being able to speak clearly yet. She's close, but the sentences she rattles off now are nowhere near coherent, but you can sure tell she thinks they are!

Of course we've been busy doing other things too, and don't feel bad if I didn't mention a specific activity, but I just included the ones I had pictures for!

We Had a Rough Beginning . . .

. . . to this week! On Monday afternoon Cora was a mess - she vomited off and on all afternoon for about 6 hours! Poor baby - luckily she was able to sleep through the night and after that showed no further symptoms.

Then Tuesday evening I started feeling nauseous and after going to bed was up every hour or every half hour going to the bathroom, starting at 10pm lasting til 3:30am - talk about a rough night!!

Before the alarm went off Wednesday morning (pre-5:30am!) Matt had to get up and was having the same thing - stomach flu nasty stuff.

We both were very pitiful all day Wednesday, slept for most of it.

Did I mention the snow storm? Oh yes, we also had a LOT of snow and ice and then more snow, making it necessary to plow our driveway Tuesday (should've done it Wednesday, but were way to sick to do more than just the necessary chores). Doing chores was no picnic between having to brave the precipitation as it was still snowing at the time and feeling so sick (Thank you, Matt - you're so brave and tough!).

You might say it was bad timing to have the snow and sickness at the same time, but I say our God was watching out for us. If it hadn't have been for the snow, Matt's mom would've been at work and wouldn't have been able to take Cora for us on Wednesday - that was a huge help - we were able to rest and puke all day without having to worry about caring for Cora too!

So this week has started out rough - but over Tuesday night I couldn't help but be grateful that while I felt TERRIBLE at the time, at least I wasn't a cancer patient dealing with chemo that got sick with every treatment (or some other health problem that is way worse than short term stomach flu!). What I was dealing with was just temporary, but a great reminder (thanks, God?!) to be thankful for the good health I do have most of the time.

After a good night's rest, Matt's back at work, and Cora and I are doing fine at home today.

Last weekend my family attended the Indiana Young Farmer Conference. This is a great experience for anyone interested in Agriculture (who lives in Indiana, who is a Farm Bureau member, who is 18-35 years old). Farm Bureau covers the hotel (one night) and all your meals and snacks, and provides great entertainment as well as educational and networking opportunities. There is actually now a website network for Indiana Young Farmers, which is great!

I found this link on there, which shows some interesting 2-4 minute videos on YouTube about the pork industry in Ohio. Very informative. Be sure to check it out. There is a lot of false information put out there by various groups (PETA in particular) that is simply not true and is sadly tarnishing the reputation of animal agriculture without cause. The videos in the link help show the facts about what really goes on with people who raise livestock for a living. Raising animals is hard work, and if someone didn't like the animals and enjoy being around them, they wouldn't have them in the first place.

If you have considered donating money to an organization that claims it stands for animal welfare, please be sure you know to what cause you are really donating. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is largely a political action group that lobbies towards the goal of vegan lifestyles for all. Nothing wrong with being vegan if that is a choice you have made, but that certainly isn't a choice I want forced upon me by legistlature! PETA even states on their website that they want to eradicate the use of animals for human gain, which even includes (according to them) keeping pet dogs and cats - they want to stop people from having pets! Many animal welfare charities claim they stand for animal welfare, but in reality they are pushing to have laws made based on wrong information, or misinformation.

I myself very much love animals! I have two horses, one of which is 29 years old and can no longer be ridden, he is retired but he will have a home with me as long as he lives. We have adopted a Great Pyrenees from Indy Great Pyrenees Rescue, and currently are fostering 4 of their other livestock guardian dogs until they are able to find forever homes for them as well. But, I firmly believe that donating money to the HSUS or PETA does not help animals, it just lines the pockets of those at the top of those organizations. If you are interested in helping animals, consider donating to a breed rescue, such as IGPR, or your favorite dog or cat breed. These people (often volunteers) really do seek out animals who are in bad situations and help them, whereas HSUS pretty much just lobbies Washington and never actually helps individual animals in need of rescue.

Want to learn more about where I stand on animal welfare? Ask me! I'd love to talk about it.

Three Blogs?!?

Am I nuts?

well, probably, but the reason behind me writing three blogs is because I just have too much variation. I don't want to bore people with stuff they don't want to read about, so I will need to be more specific in each blog.

This one, A Day in the Life http://adayinthelifeofnicoleblog.blogspot.com/, will mostly focus on family and home-related stuff.

Then there's Adventures on Arabee http://www.adventuresonarabee.blogspot.com/ which covers all things horse-related. Read about my venture into Endurance Riding, my dream for driving carriage, training, riding bitless and barefoot, and other horse things.

My newest venture into blogland is My Indiana Home http://www.formyindianahome.blogspot.com/ No "real" posts yet, but I plan to use it to talk about farm-related things. Raising livestock, why I think it is totally moral thing to eat meat, and why farmers (in my opinion) both crop and livestock are some of the more misunderstood people in our country, and probably worldwide.

Of course, each blog will likely include things from the other two, because really it is all so intrinsically related in my life that I won't be able to help but have some drift.

Just FYI

2009

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, my family certainly didn't stay up to see the new year in....we were all in bed by 9! Between Cora's teeth coming in (all of them at once, it seems...she is miserable) and me just coming up from being sick, and Matt running around taking care of the both of us, we were all so tired!

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I think this year calls for at least one.

A little background first: There's a place called Stream Cliff Farm nearby our home, that I love to visit with friends and family (mostly women....it's almost too girly for the guys, but not quite). Everyone always says it's so relaxing to come there and dine in the tea room, and wander through the gardens, check out the gift shops, and it IS lovely place. I try to go as often as I can, they are only open in the gardening months, and I usually make it three or four times per year. A visit to Stream Cliff leaves a refreshing feeling.

My little family lives on the farm that was built by my husband's great-great-grandparents, on top of a hill, with a beautiful view all around of pastures with the charolais/angus beef herd, the goats and horses, the pond, and the river. There's a creek that runs through one of the pastures at the bottom of the hill, and when it's not too dry you can hear the water running peacefully into it. Since I started staying at home (and after we had done quite a bit of landscaping work around the house) my Dad began marveling each time my parents would come for a visit how nice it is to be at our home, that it's a peaceful place. (below is a photo Matt's uncle took from his paraplane of our homeplace)

Anyway, at a recent visit to Stream Cliff, a friend of mine remarked that she'd love to be able to come there all the time, it was so relaxing, and what was it about the place that made it that way? It got me thinking, and I can't really think of a good reason why our homes can't be that place. Can't we make our homes peaceful havens of rest from a busy and hectic world? I think we can, and that is part of my New Year's Resolution for 2009.

This has been a goal of mine for quite some time, but I think that now with things in our world being so crazy it seems, that 2009 is a great time to pounce on that opportunity. I actually wrote out a list of 6 goals I had (on january 31, 2007) and it's posted on my bulletin board by the computer, it's full of good stuff, and I may share the entirety of it some day, but here is #3 and 4 on that list:

• Make our home a pleasant place to be. Keep it clean and tidy, decorate it so that our surroundings are pleasing to the eye, all without spending too much money.
• Grow a flower garden around our home and landscape it in a pleasing way, so that we can enjoy our yard and feel proud of it, and eat produce from our vegetable garden.

I've already got a good start on some of these things, but there is always more that could be done. I think this is something that really starts in the heart. Somewhere in Proverbs it says that it is better to live on the corner of the rooftop than to live in a house with a quarrelsome wife. (imo the same is true of the rest of the family members, but I know it seems women can be more.....irritable, and mouthy!) So, I will start with attitudes, then work from the inside of the home out.

What ideas do you have for creating a "homey" "peaceful" "resting" feeling at home?

What New Year's Resolutions are you working on in 2009?

looking forward to your comments :-)

New Truck

So, on Labor Day weekend, 2008, my family loaded up and headed for Shakamak Park in Indiana. Shakamak is coincidentally quite nearby Redbird, which is an OHV (off-highway vehicle) Recreational Area.


My husband is into horsepower. It used to be 4-wheelers, now that he is married, has a family, has settled down into off-roading with Jeeps. Reality is that Jeeping is much safer than 4-wheeling, but it is TERRIFYING to me, and while I gave it a fair try, I will never be inside of that Jeep again on a trail. Ever. (picture is of the Labor Day Redbird weekend. We had 3 Jeeps and 2 Suzukis in our group. Matt's Jeep is the black Cherokee at right.)


Well, Shakamak is about 2 1/2 hours away from our home, and we loaded up the Chevy truck with our tent and camping gear, hitched up his cousin's trailer, loaded the Jeep onto it, and away we went. The bench seat was so cozy, my husband at the wheel, sleeping baby in the rear-facing car seat in the middle, me in the passenger seat. Lovely weather, windows down the whole way.

This is a nice arrangement....if our family was never to grow, if we never wanted to go around the farm with anyone else, etc., etc. What we decided was that while the Chevy worked, it wasn't going to work forever. What we needed was a 4 door heavy-duty pickup truck. Of course, other factors went in to deciding we needed a new truck. The Chevy just couldn't handle the full load of 6 fat cattle on the stock trailer. Around the farm with a baby there's just not enough room for the driver, the car seat, plus 2 or 3 tractor, combine, and grain truck drivers to get back and forth from the field. So we began the search for a heavier truck, with four doors, plenty of room for easy access for multiple riders, plus all of my husband's specific requirements (weight, transmission, engine...etc).

Matt was the one who did 99.9% of the searching. He made calls, he checked the web, we drove through dealer lots. We actually ended up buying the first truck we test drove, but not until a month or so after we drove it, and they lowered the asking price significantly. It's got a ton of miles, it's been used, but the price was right and it should work great for us. Plus it fits in the garage! It's a dark green Ford F-250 4x4 crew cab with a diesel engine, and a short bed. Tan leather interior. Very roomy!

**Here's a photo of the truck, as promised. Look closely at the bed - it doubles nicely as a play yard! (under close supervision, of course!)**

first ever blog post

So I have set up a blog.

The purpose of this blog is to share my ideas about the things that I do, because I think that what I do collectively is unique from what others are doing.

I don't know how many people out there is a wife, mother, farmer, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, home-canner, horse owner, goat owner, livestock guardian dog owner, seamstress, gardener, Christian, cloth diaperer, breastfeeding supporter, meat eater, coupon clipper, cook, baker, and so on....ALL at the same time. I think many many people do several of the above, but there don't seem to be too many people I know of that are doing EVERYTHING on that list.

Of course, there is no reason for everyone to do everything, but I do like to think that I know a little bit about a lot of things that could help others. And why else are we put on this earth, if not to help others in this life and direct them to Jesus for the next?

You can expect to see some interesting posts from me forthwith, perhaps a few tutorials, that hopefully you will find useful for you in your life.

It's a big part of mine!