Audra Coldiron

So, how did Irene treat you? My mom who lives a couple hours north west of us in PA called me several times a day for a week trying to get us to come up there during the storm. I don't know if "ironic" is the right word here but they got it worse than we did... lol... We had no damage and our power didn't even go out. What's more, our internet (which regularly goes out it seems) only went out as I was heading to sleep anyway and was back on by morning. Totally boring! ;-) It did motivate us to tie up loose ends like put the rest of the roof on, screw down all the metal on the rooves, etc., that we've been meaning to do for what seems like forever.

The garden is still producing tomatoes and peppers and we have our fall crops going strong. I think it's about time to start picking the kale and collards. We've also planted broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts. The goats are still giving milk and Quinn and Irie have learned to milk the beginner with the small teats. I have pics. It is adorable. As for the chickens - they haven't given us eggs in almost 2 months! Mike gave or sold a lot of them in spring when we had a ridiculous excess and then decided to shoot any chicken that got in the garden <sigh />. Now we either have no egg layers or they are laying where we can't find them.

We're still working on these additions to the house. If there's one thing that stays the same around here its that things change around here. The kitchen and the laundry room is moving. We've added a laundry room, a storage room, a pantry/cold storage, and a bonus room off our bedroom in addition to closing in the walkway between the two buildings. As of yesterday Mike has now started on the porch that will go on the other side in the direction of the animals. Of course, nothing is finished or even close to being finished. I will be working on "finishing" everything until next summer, I imagine.

We started with homeschooling yesterday too. First days are easy since it's just a bunch of looking through the text books. Hopefully this year will be easier on both of us than last though with Irie being a year older and a year ornerier it is not likely <sigh />. I'm starting a club/team for the kids and their friends in conjunction with Destination Imagination. It encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and team work. You can compete with other teams but I don't think we will this year since I really only have a vague idea of what to do. We'll all just get used to it this year and if they like it we'll do it again next and compete.

I'm going to Philly in a couple weeks for a couple days 'cause my BBF (since birth) is getting remarried to a really great guy. Just so happens he's pretty well off too. She totally is getting an upgrade. I'm happy for her.

I don't know if we'll have bonfires here this fall or not with all this disarray. We'll see. Next holiday is halloween but Quinn hasn't decided what he wants to be yet. Hopefully it is something easy. I never do things the easy way though. I guess that keeps life interesting.

I have to go now and do my stretches before the kids wake up. Did I mention I got my giant back at gymnastics? I'm very encouraged by that. :-)