What I Learned Last Week

What a crazy week. I wonder sometime how it's possible to get through a week where everything went wrong; one kid was sick, everything I tried to do around the house didn't work out, there was sometimes five things going on at once........... It's a lot to grasp. Sometimes just going through the motions and taking things slow is the only way to deal. And that's extremely difficult for me.

What I learned last week:

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Being Away: I got back home from a few days away last Sunday evening. I discovered that the dog had had many accidents in our mud room where she stays. Yay, extra clean up. My husband stayed home with her while I was away except for one night when he came to stay with me and the kids. She doesn't like it when I'm away. And I guess because we weren't around the house, a skunk decided to dig holes in the lawn and in my garden; I have yet to trap it and it has been around a few nights since then.

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Forgetfulness: I went away forgetting to leave some potted flowers sitting in water and my favourite one pretty much died. And it took my whole first day back to catch up on laundry. I was only away for 3 nights!

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I can still get some great pictures of the kids, even when one was overtired and one was sick.

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Anything can Grow: I threw rotten potatoes out to the compost pile and they have sprouted. Even if I don't get a crop of potatoes, it's still pretty neat.

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I Killed Something: I'm a frog and toad person and somehow I managed to squish a toad in our back door. I was devastated. I think it was the same one that likes to sit in our mud room in the evenings and "sing."

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Hide Keys: We now must take keys out of tractors and the lawnmower. A certain little boy likes to get in things and turn the key and leave it like that and the battery dies. I discovered our lawnmower was dead and it took me quite a while to get it boosted - time that I needed to spend cutting grass because said little boy was with his dad baling hay.

That same little boy can slide down our flight of stairs in his tummy (he didn't do it on purpose) and come out unscathed. He scares me.

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Old Things Still Work: I made an amazing find at an antique market. This kerosene lantern isn't extremely old, but it still does work!

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Time Goes Quick: Wanting things to grow a certain way in my garden seemed to happen quickly, but really it has taken almost 7 years.

There's a rock under that moss! (so the fuel guy doesn't step on anything when he fills the oil tanks)

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Some Things Aren't Worth It: This climbing rose (below) is a new addition to my garden this year. It had these wonderful full blooms, but only lasted a short time. And now it's become a buffet for earwigs. I should have known a rose would be so time consuming.

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And Some Things are Worth It: I waited two years for this orchid to re-bloom after almost killing it. I have been rewarded with it in bloom for three months now.

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Bubbles = the kids play really well together

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Get Creative with Cleaning: You can give a Christmas cactus a shower to wash the dust off. Click here for a how-to.

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Water drops are incredibly serene and fun to photograph.

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Our Ag Business is Forever Changing: Spraying crops with a helicopter causes quite a stir in the community. And for some reason people don't understand it's probably not ok to be outside and watch the helicopter fly around spraying a chemical near them. Either way, it's neat to see the helicopter whip over and around trees and buildings. The kids thought it was pretty neat too.

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Jenna is occasionally interested in farm things (she's become kind of a girly-girl).

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Something I Hate: I hate having a roof done. The kids can't really play outside because there's so much sharp metal and nails laying around. I also can't cut the grass around the house until the roofers are done. They started on it on Friday and quit for the weekend, so around the house has been looking like a disaster. Day two (and hopefully the final day), started at 9 a.m. today. I expect them to be all done by the end of the day and we can get the yard back to normal. But it looks like I'm inside with the kids again all day and they're driving me crazy.

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Mosquitoes Like Me, ALOT: I ventured into our bush a little way yesterday afternoon to pin up a vine that was starting to grow up a pole I have a bird feeder on. I was only 30 seconds stapling two vines on and I was already covered, and I mean covered, in mosquito bites. I cringe just thinking about it. Ever put sunscreen on, then sweat and then get bitten by mosquitoes? Impossible to itch. What a horrible feeling. I had to shower right away and covered myself with Afterbite. The itch is mostly gone today. Lesson learned. I'm never doing that again.

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I have no idea what this box was used for or what I can use it for. It was just so interesting looking, I couldn't pass it up. I would love to know if anyone knows what it once was used for. I'm also trying to figure out what I can use it for now. It would make a good mail sorter, but I don't really sort mail - it all gets put away immediately. It could be mounted on a wall? I would love to know your thoughts.

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