Choices

Choice, not chance, determines destiny. (Forgot I still had the image on my computer...)

This is the saying posted on the wall in front of my treadmill. There's a picture of a road sign that has two arrows, each pointing a different direction; it's the time to choose which path to take, because behind the sign is a dense cornfield. (I HAVE thought that sometimes I've ignored the sign and plowed right into the cornfield...that's pretty typical of my choices.)

Lately, I've been spending about 45 minutes a night on the treadmill and consider the sign a lot while I'm trying to conquer the inclines and the intervals. It kind of runs through my mind all day and is causing me to be more thoughtful about my direction in life.

I believe that nothing happens by chance, that God has a plan and someday we'll understand why things shook out the way they did. I also believe that my choices, good and bad, determine what the path will be like on my way home to Him. I realize things happen that I have no control over...(and believe me, I like control!)...but what I DO have the choice in, is how to respond to those events.

Some things I DO have a choice to make; such as getting on that darned treadmill every night, getting to church even though it's 81 miles away, doing laundry instead of reading, etc. It's getting a little easier to make the right choices, knowing that I'm being watched by two little sponges that mimic me!

So this week, as I think about all the blessings in my life, as well as the challenges, I'm going to keep that saying in mind. I'm also going to choose pie tomorrow. Followed by an additional 20 minutes on the treadmill!

Go Fish

We cut a deal with the four year-old this week. Actually, we cut a deal with the four year-old this week AFTER a uniformed friend visited our house and took possession of "Sassie". Yes, she still had a sassie. Only for bed, every other night, but it was still here and had taken a life of it's own on, if you know what I mean.

We told her if she could make it through the week with no fits or tantrums, that she would be a big enough girl to have a fish of her own. She informed me that she didn't want to grow up and maybe she would like her own puppy instead. I think she has a future in contract negotiations for unions. (I can't stand the thought!!!)

Today, we filled our end of the bargain because she's been good about her end. Angus is trying to horn in on the pets....he remembers Nemo, the movie, and is much like the naughty girl tapping the tank! Maggie is pretty sure the fish are starving and need fed about every 45 minutes. Wayland thinks the fish have a short life expectancy in this house and about 15 minutes ago I nearly dropped a large bottle of Moscato wine on them.....not cool! (For the record, I was trying to hang the wine in the caddy, and NO, I hadn't been imbibing!)

Here are some pictures with the kids and the fish, both parties looking fairly healthy! (The photo of the betta is not the actual fish...just the same type and color we got....that, and some little neons.)

I Wear My Own Kind Of Hat...

Okay, here it is: I LOVE HATS! The Kentucky Derby, garden tea party, wear them for Easter kind of hats. They are hugely impractical, expensive, poofy, girly, Southern belle sorts of things that would make Scarlett O'Hara absolutely green with envy.....and if worn to church in Eastern Montana, would provoke stares and snickers. But, heaven help me, I love them.

I watch Maggie play dress up and twirl in her dresses and simper in her crown, and I dream that I have a hat and eyelet dress that twirls. And when I look at the hats on the web, I see people in them. Ooh, there's a classy lime green number for Clara, a scarlett toque with a black feather for Anne, a navy Kentucky derby (classic of course) for Traci, a straw with roses for Marisa, a mysterious black hat with an audacious dotted sash for Celestia, a dark green felt with white feathers for Thelma, a pink hat with bow for Beth (although she'd take it right off!)....can't you just see us, gathered in the park with our picnic baskets, laughing and enjoying the sun? Lemonade and tarts, vintage lace tablecloths spread with books and goodies.

Other photos from the palace...

He wants to be a princess, too, but just can't quite carry the look off.


Bling!

Your Royal Highness

House Fairy

This is the House Fairy. She visits the houses of good wives and mothers during the time children nap, waves her wand full of 409 and "Tra-la-la-la-lee!", the house is sparkling and your hair is done, too!

She hasn't been to my house for a couple of years, I calculate. Okay, maybe 5 years. But she seems to be hitting my mother-in-law's house with regularity. Hmm. I have high hopes for the Tooth Fairy; she can either do a little mop up or send a message to the House Fairy that things are at a critical stage at 626 Two Furrow Rd!

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The Pomegranate Kid

I may have the strangest child in the county. (I would say the world, but that's a pretty broad statement and I don't have the time or inclination to verify it.)

Maggie prefers vegetables to cake or cookies, grapes to candy, and salad to fries. Last night, I thought I'd give her a treat and she could have pop with her pizza....woohoo! She took a little taste, inquired of the flavor and requested milk, please. It doesn't come from my side of the family, I can tell you that much.

A week ago, we gave her some pomegranate, just for fun. Pomegranate, as it turns out, is the perfect fruit for four year olds because they have to excavate it to get anything to eat. It kept her busy for a solid 20 minutes and THAT was a blessing! She loved it, of course.

Angus, on the other hand, shows distinct preference for anything sweet, starch-y, junk-y or forbidden. He disdained the pom as entirely too much work. And he can sense a trap...."Hmmm, they aren't grabbing it out of my hands; must be good for me and something to avoid. "

Cows

It's inevitable, you're going to hear about cows on this blog. I am, after all, the farmer's wife! (They call themselves ranchers, but I was raised on a ranch with real live horses and everything, and this is more of a farm. Don't tell Pluhars.)

We've been moving cows every week, weaning calves, rotating pastures. Yesterday we moved our old cows from Thelma's closer to home so we could either wean or sell the calves. It's a LONG ways home, so there's a lot of time to look at the condition of the cows and calves, think about them, sing to them, talk to them. The guys usually give me lots of space, so I can just be in my own little world for a while. That and I think they don't really understand why I sing the Oscar Mayer weiner song to them. It seems obvious, and gets the cows going.

Okay, here's the funny part. Maybe not funny, but weird. (You saw weird coming, didn't you?) I really think cows are beautiful. See the attached picture and judge for yourself. I think they have pretty heads, nice lines in their bodies....every cow has it's own personality and look. And sometimes they look like someone I know. After having babies, I relate a lot better to them, too. Now, in the fall, with 570 lb calves on them, they are looking a little weary. They make a big show for weaning, but the old cows usually only holler for a couple of hours, then saunter off with a distict air of relief to graze unencumbered until next spring. Not unlike parents of teenagers going to college, I would imagine. You've done all you can, now it's time to send them off to seek thier fortune. Or misfortune, as the steers will have...

A sad note to end a blog on....

On a positive note, Wayland took both kids to feed those pretty, personable cows this morning! I'm going to amble into the kitchen for a little unencumbered grazing....

(Oh, and the photo included is an actual unretouched image of a pair from this summer. It's a two-year old with her first calf. Because I know you wanted to know.)

Weight Watcher Dropout

Today is the day I look forward to most every week. I have a babysitter on Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 pm until I show back up to get the kids. (Yes, I've contemplated leaving them overnight, but my babysitter has school the next day...bummer.) Originally, I hired the babysitter so I could go to Weight Watchers, a noble idea and cause. That was last year.

This year, I hire her so I can go to the library and have tea, go to Marisa's house and have coffee, (you see a trend?), go to the grocery store or just sit in the car and work on the W.U.H. (World's Ugliest Hat). I am a Weight Watcher's drop out.

The tricky part is that WW's still meets down the hall from the library on Wednesdays, so I have to sort of lurk in the books until they all go down to weigh in. If you've been to Garfield County Public Library, you know there aren't a lot of places to lurk....there are only about 6 rows of books in one room and in the other room, they pretty much just line the walls. No lurking spots there. And I'm NOT hiding in the Harlequin Closet! I mean, really!

The other tricky thing is that I've lost a lot of weight since quitting Weight Watchers. Not that there's anything wrong with the program, mind you; it turns out that thier philosophy of writing things down just caused me to want to eat more and obsess over what I DID eat. Actually, they were sort of encouraging me to eat, in a way. And I was paying them. Not thier fault, that's just the way it was.

So, if you are coming to town on Wednesdays after 3:30 pm and want to have a hot beverage and check on the progress of the W.U.H., check the library first. I'll be back by the Non-Fictions, probably looking for Knitting For Complete Morons. We'll have to wait until we hear Sandy start the meeting, then we can go find some French Roast coffee and (this is really naughty) Half and Half cream.....

Woohoo!

It would seem I'm the only Red Raider's fan north of Denver. Most everyone I know, with the exception of Scott and Traci Glasscock, missed Saturday's game.... Someone said they'd probably see the highlights, but that would be tough because the whole stinking game was a highlight reel!
And because you probably missed it, I'm going to let you know that #7 Texas Tech took down #1 Texas Longhorns! And that's the last I'm going to talk about it, because I value the Glasscock family friendship. But it was a beautiful moment in college football history....
Alright, I got that out of my system. Go Red Raiders!

Halloween Report

Here are some pictures of the little monsters in thier costumes. Maggie was "Tinkerbell's best fairy friend" and Angus was a ferocious dragon. The fairy was an old pro at the trick or treating but the dragon appeared a little bewildered at the permissivness of his parents with the neighbor's candy!
And here's something funny; when you trick or treat in the country, it takes 4 hours to go to 6 houses. Can you believe that? It's so much fun, though! We'd go in and visit for 15 or 20 minutes, drive 15 minutes, next house, unload the trick or treaters, adjust wings and dragon heads, trick or treat, visit, etc. And the treats are amazing. We had homemade popcorn balls, sugar ghost cookies, FULL size candy bars, all the candy we (I mean, they) could haul, because we were the only trick or treaters in the Cohagen area!
Today we're just laying around like fat sugar-coma lizards. We left the candy in the car, last night, and so far no one has missed it. And that's good, because I've been running out to check the tires, dust the dash, find my purse, all morning.

Confessions of a lousy gardener

I've been cleaning out flower beds, these last few gorgeous days of fall....and that should make some of my friends swoon right there. I'm not really known for my horticultural housekeeping, shall we say. I SAY it's an ethical dilemma; leave the dead foliage to catch snow or clean up the beds to rid the perennials of disease. Who's right, who's wrong on this issue? Is it an issue? (According to Sunset magazine, it is!)

Here's the sad cofession....I've found some of the plants I bought this spring and planted and tended with all my heart until August when I just couldn't take it anymore, heat-wise. At least I found thier remains. With thier little headstone markers from the greenhouse. Here lies Lavendula angustifolia. Born February 2008, Died August 2008. She will be missed. (Obviously, not THAT much, as the person who was to tend and love her didn't discover the untimely demise for three months!!!)

So now you know. Confession is good for the soul, don't you think? And just know, if you pass along any flower babies, make sure they are tough and don't inquire of thier health if they are not.

Knitwit...

Okay, so I think I can knit, I say I can knit, but I've only ever knit scarves. About 30 of them. If you don't have one, count yourself lucky and lay low until after Christmas. And the reason I knit scarves is that I don't have to really count, beyond casting on, and I don't have to read knitting instructions which are written in secret code and read something like this: (Taken from an actual knitting pattern) Work in K3,P3 ribbing for 4 rows then K3*(P3K3)* to end, ending with WS row. By the time I get done looking up all the values and meanings of K3, WS and so forth, I've lost the desire to knit, and worse, I've forgotten what I was going to knit in the first place.

All that to let you know (drum roll) that I'm moving on and knitting the World's Ugliest Hat. And right now, I will put your minds at ease and let you know I'm going to give it to my son on his 18th birthday, which is approximately when it will be finished and will inflict the most embarrassment. I let his sister pick out the yarn and she chose a charming variegated skein called "Mexicali", (I'm NOT making this up!) which I would describe as "Day after the Fiesta, Heavy on the Tequila." We bought two skeins, just in case.

I'm about 1/2 inch into the cap and at this point it could be anything....afghan, shawl, tent, armless sweater....(After about 30 of these hats, that's what I'm moving on to.) When it gets long enough to photograph, I'll post a picture. I'll take orders if you decide you want one, and Maggie will pick out the yarn. Just leave your name in the comment box. Your REAL name. And not in knitting code either.

Let's pretend...

This woman has been drinking, wouldn't you say?

I'm guessing she hasn't had a toddler washing his sister's toy dishes in the toilet, a sister who MUST color and cut RIGHT NOW, and 8 cats in her porch. And a sister in law who wants SIL's husband to see the house for the first time....just for a leetle, tiny visit.....today. The same house that has toilet water all over the bathroom, apple juice and doghair by the couch, snips of paper covering the kitchen floor like so many snowflakes. I'm NOT entirely sure the dog didn't get a haircut, judging by her reluctance to be in the same room with "Shark". (Maggie takes off all her clothes and pretends she's a boy without a family and wants to live with us, only would we please call her Shark. We need to get out more, I'm thinking.)

I think I'll join her in her imaginary world, as this little housewife. Now where DID I put that starched, ruffly apron......? Oh, here it is, right beside my Kahlua in the coffee cup!

Blackmail 101

APPARENTLY when I sent out the email announcing the blog and referrenced a Spirit Week photo, quite a few of you thought I had goods on you. I'm flattered you think my resources are that far reaching! And Jordan Mustang Spirit Week 1987 must've been a little more "spirited" than I remember....! (Did we have a "Cyndi Lauper" Day?)

I really do have a Spirit Week photo, but am saving it for a REALLY special reveal. You know, like those "What Not To Wear" shows, only in reverse. And for anyone who went to high school in the 80's, pretty much any picture taken at that point in time, Spirit Week or not, is blackmail stuff. I really never want to revisit my fashion sense-lessness from that portion of my life.

So to the Mikes (G. and W.), you can't stop being kind and sensitive, or at the very least, polite.

Clerkie

Today is School Board day, and thus a rather frantic day in the Pluhar house. It's a little teeny weeny job that I can do from home, this school clerk thing. Most people could do it with thier eyes half closed, sitting on the couch watching the Dallas Cowboys get their butts whipped on a Sunday afternoon....(YES!!!) But for me, the business impaired, the technologically challenged soul, it's a little more demanding.

I love the stretching of my brain and the feeling that I'm involved in something that will affect the future of this little school, and I really like the people I've met through the job. And I like the paycheck. I always have the nagging feeling, though, that I'm really messing up a lot of records for the next clerk down the line and that my name will be muttered in the TRS and OPI offices in a not-so-complimentary way for the next 10 years!

SO, if you try to contact me on the third Monday of every month, there will be Disney movies playing in the background, a slightly jittery edge to my voice due to the extra cups of coffee, and I may answer you in code...100xx210xx1900 or something like that! (It still doesn't make much sense to me either, 4 years later. Even with the Lord Master of the Universe coaching me.)

Cabin Fever Part I

SO....
We aren't even into winter yet.
We are TWO months AWAY from winter.
We are out of tricks.

We've made all the Halloween crafty things we know how AND read most of our books AND watched all the "new" movies.
It's looking dire.

Daddy has had all the family bonding time he can stand, and he's only about 9 hours in!

I need a plan, I need a plan!!!

I'm a lot better off than my dear husband because I spend a lot of time here in the house with the kids and can tune them out a little easier. I know what sounds mean everything is alright and what sounds mean the kittens are being bathed in the dog dish. I know that I can't leave them alone at the table with any sort of art supplies for any reason...no matter how badly I have to use the bathroom! I know that even if I give them the exact same toy at the exact same time with the exact same words, someone will grab the more desirable toy (?) and run in order to start a rumble.

Tomorrow (Cabin Fever Part Deux) will be better! Enjoy the pictures of some of the fruits of our labors.....I think I figured out how to put pictures in the post, finally!!! Wooohooo!!!

Sprinkler Tales

Completely jumped over branding and all that fun stuff, and here we are haying, all of a sudden! The days are really, really, really, really long, with two preschoolers, two kittens, and haying going full force so Daddy doesn't make it home before 10 p.m. We spend a lot of time in the wading pool....yes, ALL of us.....and Mommy has fruity beverages around 7, that no-one can share.
I'm putting in some pictures of life at our house in the summer. The kids spurn clothing....it just gets in the way when you're climbing through barb wire or swimming or fixing Grandma's brand new lawnmower. So they are lean, mean, tanned, blonde kids, running amok on the prairie. We've lost Angus a couple of times....yep, headed to Pop-pop's house!

Montana Easter Eggs

We're calving, here in Eastern Montana. We tag the calves with thier mother's tag number, and in order to do this, we drive through each pasture on four wheelers, looking in coullees and draws, hoping to find them before they get too old and frisky. Most days, the spring sun shines warm on our faces, with the smell of wet dirt and sagebrush, and it's great fun to look for babies. Usually, we find them curled up in a shiny, black bundle behind a sagebrush, soaking up the sun. I've always wondered how thier mommas get them SO clean, with those slobbery, grassy tongues!
The search for calves reminds me of looking for Easter eggs. What a delight to find the calf! It's good to get out, to see the land waking up from winter dormancy, hear the geese returning to the reservoirs in big noisy bunches. How do people in town celebrate the changing of the seasons? Do they wait for the signs at Walmart, yelling at them to buy their spring wardrobe or plastic eggs?
Give me Angus calves!

Let's PLANT something!!!

I've been squelching my inner garden maniac for several months now. The seed catalogs came in the mail and I gave them a cursory, dismissive glance and tossed them in the bookcase. The snow melted, revealing lonesome little flower beds and garden boxes and I breezily passed them on my way to the slide with the kids. My garden gloves sat neatly washed and folded in the porch, awaiting the first thrashing of the season, and I glanced at them and sniffed.

Then, for some reason, this morning, the Garden Fairy flew my way and sprinkled me with Miracle Gro dust......shazzam!!! I smell the humus in the spring breeze!!! So, out came the seed catalogs and the orders were placed; post them tomorrow! The wheelbarrow has been dusted off, and oiled, ready to clean up the poor dead little plants from last fall. The garden gloves, I imagine, are fairly quivering with excitement at touching the soil again, when the kids go down for their nap.

Spring is HERE, NOW!!! Let's plant something!

Prayer partner

My friend Traci is also my prayer partner. We've only been friends for about 4 years, but somehow it seems like we've known one another for much longer than that. She was a perfectly normal, happy human being before I started calling her and trying to recruit her for my friend. She was very polite, at first, and chitchatted about the weather and clothes, and how crazy it was to be pregnant.....we both were expecting our first child at the time. Now, it's embarrassing to me that I just kept calling her, but it was like I HAD to be friends with her!!! I still think it must've been God's hand, shoving me along, because I had plenty of good friends that I could share things with, but for some reason this person was supposed to be in my life and I by golly wasn't going to let her get away!

We both laugh about that, now, and can't imagine this crazy ranch wife/parenting/education existance without one another. I called her this morning and found out her son flushed the equivilant of 1 entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet....and it MADE it!!! Last week, she called me and recieved a wailing story of the toddler who turned on all the faucets in the kitchen, played with knives and the coffee pot while I was dumping mop water out in the porch sink.

We've prayed through two pregnancies, breast cancer, bagpipe blues, trying husbands, two post-pregnancy poundages, friends in crisis, chocolate shortages, coffee pot breakdowns, elections, wars, kitchen remodels, small house frustrations and attitude, attitude, attitude! We've rejoiced over healthy babies, healthy breasts (finally), weight loss, found candy bars, red shoes, new coffee pots, safe travel, books, dear friends, paint colors that turned out to be just right, and attitude, attitude, attitude.

I often wonder what people do who don't have someone to pray with. I can pray by myself, but there's power in partnership. There's fullness in fellowship that cannot be found alone.