Down to 5

As sad as is it is, my last blog was about chickens and this one will be too! Our little town was hit by some pretty ferocious storms Saturday night. We left the house and went to my Grandma's because she has a basement. I'm petrified of tornadoes and that's pretty much what they said we were about to get so we hightailed it out of here. We got there before the storm cut loose and I must say I have never seen hail like that before. It damaged the truck, not real bad or anything, and it damaged Mom and Dad's house with about 20-30 holes in the siding. It also picked up the chicken coop, flipped it, and turned it on it's roof! In the process it killed one of our hens. It was so sad. They are getting so big and yet when she was laying there dead she seemed so tiny. Cody is super upset about it. I mean to the effect that every time we go out the door he says no one mention the chicken. He is totally not realizing he's the only one mentioning it.

Well it's going to get out one way or the other so I might as well just put it out there. My mom is not going to get better. She will always have good days and bad days, but, it will never really be any better than this. That being said, we had a sit down and talked things out and we are just going to stay here forever. We would eventually end up with the house and things one day anyway. We might as well just start living in here too. Therefore, HUGE yard sale soon.

Speaking of yard sales!!! This weekend we accidentally found a community rummage sale that benefited the youth league! Um, hello!!!! They gave you bags and you filled them with whatever you wanted for $1!!! I found a ton of stuff for Cody, nothing for Austin or Eric, and me a few things. I was so excited. I got a Bass sweater with the tags still on it and a brand new pair of swim trunks for Cody! Those two items just by themselves I would have paid over $1 for. Then we stopped at a yard sale on our way home and I hit the jackpot for Mom. I wanted to go back today but I didn't make it there.

The whole house is cleaned and I did 3 loads of laundry today. We went to Giovanni's for supper and then drove around the lake and campgrounds. It was a nice day. I had a splendid day with Eric yesterday and he went fourwheeling today and had a blast. I love him so much. He always knows exactly what to say and do to make me feel better, he always knows how to make me laugh, and he is a wonderful father.

Sorry no pictures again the stinking camera is on the fritz again.

we are now chicken farmers....yeaaahh

Today started just like any other day. I hit the snooze button twice because somehow that makes me having to get out of bed okay 12 minutes later...lol. Then I commenced to getting Cody ready for his tedious day at school. Eric called me and said that they had no work and he was on his way home...boo (need money)...yay (Eric was coming home). I have missed him terribly the past week and a half. I loved him being on layoff. I didn't love the financial hardship of it but I loved spending all day everyday with him. By everyday, I mean when he wasn't working on something. lol. Anyway so we decide to go do our Mother's Day shopping and some running around town. We made a grocery list, and a list of everything we wanted to do. Suffice it to say it all got done, but, we went to 4 of the 5 places twice, and one of them, three times....lol. We started off by going to storage to pay this months rent, then we went to gas station. Someone has nicotine issues (that's me). Then we went back home because we forgot his paycheck from last week...lol. Then we went to the bank and deposited it and paid our rent at the same time. Then we headed to TSC. Okay, this is how this went down. Austin was a little fussy (didn't want to sit in the cart) and Eric takes him towards these heat lamps. Yep it was Chick Days at TSC and we are oohing and ahhing over these baby chickens and baby ducks. And I say (half joking) let's get them a chick. And Eric says okay but you have to call your parents and ask them...lol. I get out the old cellular and make the call and Mom says okay get 2....lol. So we talk to the sales associate and she says you have to buy 4 to get them to survive. So we decide we'll come back later. She also told us that out of this one tub they were all females and would lay good eggs. So, that's what we do. We leave there and hit up Menard's. Mom wanted hanging baskets and Cathy wanted a bathtub (she got a gift card towards her bath tub...lol). So we leave Menard's and go to the Sprint (it is important that you know that it is 11 am). Oh yeah, by the way, we let Cody skip school today...shame on us. I pay the cell phone bill to the tune of $180. Yeah it was a little behind by the way. That pays the entire bill though...so whatever. Then we decide to go to IHOP. We ate and blah blah...that's all I can say cause it was neither good nor bad. We went to Wal-Mart next and got everything on the list and then some. It wasn't my fault. They had reduced ALOT of their infants and kids clothing to $1. I mean this is summer clothing to people. So I bought a ton of stuff for Austin. They only had 2 shirts left for Cody so I snagged those and I bought Miss Kylie McCoy Hatfield 4 things. Anyway we ran into Jessi and Sophie and hung out a little bit. Then we had to go back to Menards. Mom and Dad called and sent us to buy a screen door for the back porch. The one on there now is a piece of crap that is over 12 years old. So Eric runs in cause Austin fell asleep in line at Wal-Mart. Then we went BACK to TSC and bought these chicks. Eric's Mom said we needed 6. Now why she would tell Eric that I'll never know....she should have known what was going to happen next. Yep you guessed it. We ended up with 6 chickens....lol. Oh well, the more the merrier I suppose. So we got the feeder, the feed, the bedding, the chickens, the waterer, and an info sheet on how to raise these chicks. We know for a fact that we got 2 girls no matter what, we're pretty sure the loud one is going to be a rooster. They are cute though. Anyway, so we leave there and go BACK to Menard's for the third time for a tub and a heat lamp (stupid TSC was out). Anyway, we go trekking back in there and when it was all said and done we spent about $80 getting things set up for freakin chickens. So much for saving money this week. lol. Oh well it was worth it, to see Cody THAT happy. We head home.

This whole time I think I receive 5 phone calls from Sprint and a stupid company that keeps calling me about a vehicle warranty....don't have a vehicle in my name STOP calling me. Any vehicle that we do have is SO NOT under warranty anymore...lmao. So we finally make it home and are sitting on the back porch eating supper and my stupid cell phone goes off again and it is sprint again saying that they are going to shut off our phones. It's 7 o'clock now and there is no reason why they haven't posted my payment when I went into the store to pay it and had to pay an extra $5 just because I gave their EMPLOYEES something to do other than talk about employees that were off today. Anyway, I'm mad by now and I call the number back and they told me to call this other number, it's out of service and I'm screaming pay your own phone bill and leave me the hell alone at this point....lol. So I finally get ahold of someone and it's all I can do to understand him. I'm not convinced that he was even in the United States. Anyway I told him to make the phone calls stop and he says but you just pay a little while ago right and I say Uh NO, that was at 11 o'clock this morning it's now 7 p.m. Plenty of time to post the stupid payment. He says blah blah is that all I can help you with and I say NO as a matter of fact I have blocked all text messages from my phone yet Sprint keeps sending them to me and then when I receive them you guys keep charging me for standard text messaging rates. Block the freaking texts from EVERYONE, not just everyone besides Sprint. Ugh I was so mad. He said they shouldn't charge me for it but if it's on my next bill to call back. Yay!!!!! lol

Anyway so that was how my day was. Very busy and eventful. Did I mention that I am going on the second real vacation in my life this summer? Nope I didn't I just checked. We are going to North Myrtle Beach. We are staying at the Baywatch. I am so excited. Eric and Dad are not going to go. Eric has NO desire to go to a beach. So they are going to work and me and Mom and the boys are going to go with my Aunt Renee, Uncle Rob, and Nathan!!!! I'm soo super stoked. MY mother's day present is going to be a tanning package....can't wait for that. Then at least I will have a honey glow by July. I hope.....lol. That also gives me time to lose weight and save up enough money to really enjoy ourselves. WOOOO HOOOO

Austin's 1st party etc......

So my BABY turned one year old today!!! I'm on a roller coaster of emotions. I'm mostly sad and reminiscent. Last year at this time I was feeding my baby in the hospital from a teeny tiny bottle and holding his little 7 lb. 2 oz. body. He's now in the upwards of 20 lbs. and walking everywhere. He can tell us what a cow and a dog says. He knows what he wants and how he can get it. He climbs and climbs and climbs. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was part monkey.

I practiced all last week to get him to blow out his candles. I had him blowing food, toys, fingers, anything I could get my hands on. It paid off too!! I had to eventually take the candle off the cake BUT he blew out his own candle!!! Yay for him and me...lol. Isn't it funny how his accomplishment just became my own? All mothers do this and as a teenager that was SO not going to be me yet here I am blogging my story and there it is. I'm something I never wanted to become. lol. So sue me.

So he got a ton of clothes and toys. He was thrilled to be the center of attention as usual....lol. Everyone was so nice to have come. He really enjoyed himself and Talon! Talon is so awesome with Austin. They were playing in the living room and all of the sudden Talon leans over and gives Austin a kiss on the forehead. So adorable!!!

Today I did the Dingus tradition....by Dingus tradition I mean that my Mom did it to Me, Jake, and I had Eric do it to Cody while I was in Iraq. The tradition is that you give the child a bowl of spaghettio's and let them feed themselves. DISASTER!! It was so funny. Austin didn't use the spoon at all. He decided fingers was better. He dumped his bowl on the tray of his high chair and ate with his fingers. It was hysterical. He had it in his hair, in his ears, up his nose, in his armpits, between his toes, in his belly button and everywhere in general. I even found a noodle down his diaper....lol. It was hysterical he thought it was the best thing in the world. He was screaming his fun scream the whole time. Eric and I couldn't stop laughing...still chuckling actually. lol.

When the bee stings and the dog bites and I'm feeling blue.....

Ahaha that song is so awesome. If you didn't recognize it, it came from the Sound of Music. So cute. Anyway, Austin DID get stung by a wasp today. TWICE!!!! Once by his right eye and then again right under his eye/high cheek bone. He only cried for a couple of minutes and then he was cool. Although really really crabby today. We went and got his birthday cake and gifts today. I think he will be pleased. Wal-Mart just keeps getting further and further on my "I won't shop there again list". They first appeared on my list and have remained on probation for almost 2-3 years, I'd say. The first time was because they took layaway away. The second time was for two times in a row when I scheduled cakes to be picked up they weren't ready. Nothing makes me madder. One way to solve this problem is to make my own cakes but not this year. Maybe next. I doubt it though.

Cody went to the OSU Spring game last weekend. Here's a pic of him there. Had a blast. I didn't go this year. I didn't want to have to deal with an infant in the heat etc.. My very brave sister-in-law took Kylie. I just don't have the nerves for it I guess.

I prayed last night that Eric's incentive check be enough to get us through the next couple of weeks. He was called back to work off of layoff on Monday and that will mess up his checks for awhile so I put in a word with God for it. We got the check and it was $441 more than what we expected!!!! WOOHOO! God works when we work for and through him.

The garden looks good with all this rain we have gotten. We planted (by we I mean Dad) 1 row of onions, 2 rows of potatoes, and 2 rows of green beans so far.

Now to the big thing that has been taken alot of my thoughts and work. Austin (I'm sad to say) is turning 1 on Tuesday. His party is tomorrow. I went and got the decorations and ordered the cake on Wednesday. Cody was at school, he would have been so bored I'm afraid. I hit up the dollar tree for the plates/napkins, and some other decorations. Then I headed over to Wal-Mart. I left Wal-Mart pretty much empty handed. I think I bought a tablecloth there and the rest of the stuff didn't really have anything to do with the party. Then we went to McD's for lunch and my son ate and ate. He had such a big appetite. We left there and then went to Kohl's and meandered around and I don't think I bought a thing. It was really fun even if I did order the wrong cake. I went today and picked it up and was a little disappointed. Mostly in the fact that they put 8 candles on the cake and then wrote Happy 1st birthday Austin....hello did the 1st mean that he was really 8???? Geesh. I'm going to take them off and try to fix the holes I think. It looks ridiculous.

Yesterday I got up and got Cody ready for school and Mom and Dad took him. So that left my morning open. So Austin and I got ready and went up to the Amish store for their anniversary sale and got some awesome deals on our lunch meat. I also got 2 free gifts. A coffee cup and a yard stick. We already have too many coffee cups but you can NEVER have to many yard sticks...lol.

I will post pics of Austin's party tomorrow or Monday.