Have you ever visited the Build-A-Bears Workshop? Whoa! These people are serious about their store! and their outfits! I had told Makayla that I would get her "some things" from there for her graduation gift and her dance recital gift. Well, today I made my first visit and was correctly initiated into the "grandmothers horror hour". (not really) Anyway, what I thought was going to be a nice little shopping tour turned out to be such a hard decision-making time. Oh, the things are very cute -- and very expensive. (Sorry, I'm old-school, where Barbie outfits did not cost half that much, even though if only I had all my old ones, I'd be set for life and retirement!)

So, I sprung for one outfit and have plans to make others.

Concerning my incubator, I did not ever get a chicken egg to hatch, although they did "make" up to a certain point. I think it had a lot to do with the moisture. So now, I am trying to hatch some duck eggs. We only have one female to four males. Grossly outnumbered. I'm trying to hatch more females. So, my first duck egg went past his day of hatching, and I opened it. I couldn't believe it! There was a duck, black, heart beating and all. But when you crack one open they don't make it. It did peep once, and then died. It was so sad. But now, I have two left. I'll let them go a little past. Let you know.

Whew! We have been battling mastitis in our doe, Lucille, a first freshener. She developed it when my knee was injured and my DH milked her for a while. She's doing good now. I am no longer blaming him, although he says he now knows the importance of massaging the udder. He didn't want to even milk before, but he is doing great now. Good thing, because today I blew my back out!

I was gathering sawdust for the pens, had such visions of a clean stall for my goats, and BAM! My lower back blew out. Ruptured. No doubt. This was far worse than any time before. I'm now in bed and have all the time to post on my blog...

I am really hating this, and don't know what to do. Guess I'll be going to the doctor in the morning.

I had such a good Mother's Day. Saw all three of my children and almost all of my grandchildren. Jayce stayed home with her sitter, but I'll see her soon, hopefully.

I have three duck eggs in the incubator and one is scheduled to hatch this week. I have been turning them regularly, and spraying them with water, so we will see. I need another female duck, because I only have one female and four males. And one goose.

We've had WAY TOO MUCH RAIN! We need some sun! The goat pen is a pond. I can't let them graze, because they'd go straight for my roses.

I am REALLY enjoying my Melaleuca products. No pesticides for me, now. And very effective essential oil products. For my own "diary" of how this Florify is working, I am going to post daily on what it is doing. Two days ago I started taking it. (It's a "pro-biotic" pill for your digestive system. It's supposed to be adding good bacteria to your system, kind of like using yogurt.) The first day, I didn't notice anything. The second day I started taking it with food; and I noticed about 30 minutes after, feeling kind of "light-headed", or something. Then, all day long I noticed my digestive system was "working" better. (Don't mean to be graffic.) Today, I'll post later what it's doing today. I'm not taking my anti-acid pill now, as I have had to for a couple of months. So far, no acid reflux, which had gotten very, very painful. Hope this works.

I know my posts are getting fewer and fewer. But this is planting season! I've been tilling my garden. Now, I am trying to get the rows put in. (Such hard work!) Maybe I'll lose some of the winter weight! I hope so. I am currently trying to hatch a duck egg. None of my chicken eggs hatched, but I got close. We'll see in May. My Valentino is getting big. He is probably going to need to be separated soon from the other goats.

I joined the Melaleuca family of products again. I have really been missing those products, wanting to use less poisons on my animals and family. I going to use it to spray the goat pen for flies and pests, as well as use the products in my house. I can't wait for them to arrive!

Hello! I've been making cheese! It has turned out well. Also, the weather is turning so nice. I've been trying to work in my yard, but my wrists are giving me trouble with carpal tunnel problems. I'm really enjoying my goats. I've also been keeping my grandkids a lot and enjoying that. I have so many eggs, I'm planning on making pickled eggs.

The days are warming up! It's been so nice. We had a new baby goat born last night. I was in West Monroe at the time. It was so aggravating to have to leave it all up to my DH to take care of the delivery. Our friend, Jimmy, came by to help, though. It was a boy. He is just beautiful! A black Nubian with two bright white triangles of white on each side! I can't believe he was the only one in her, because she was so big. Here is a pic:

I also had a new grandson born: Chandler Jase Bradshaw! Here he is:

Believe me when I tell you he is wonderful, beautiful, great, adorable, cute, ... did I say beautiful? Anyway, we all love him very much. And Jayce loves him, too. She knows her little brother and smiles and coos to him.

I'm back!

Soooo, it's January. Yes, I've been away from my computer for a while. I am really enjoying having this blog, and I know I have a couple of readers, so here is an update: My youngest daughter, Mandy, has moved back here from Tenn. I found her rent house, but it was in bad shape. So, of course, mom offered to paint it. The whole week before she came, I was painting. My other daughter helped, though. Then, the day after she got here, with her baby, the baby ended up in the hopsital with pneumonia. Now he is doing well, and I've been there at the hospital with them when I'm not working. It seems strange that I am even able to type this tonight.

I was supposed to take my Maltese, Rosie, to obedience and beginning training this week, but that got cancelled. We will do that next month.

We did get a Great Pyrenese last week, but sadly he died the night my DH brought him home. I did not even get to see him because I stayed at my daughter's house that night painting. It was such a sad accident: he fell between the wall of the barn and a hay stack. He couldn't get out and died. My DH really took it hard. He was really cute. Our friend, Jimmy, got the sister to him and she is darling. I am thinking about getting a Komondore, though, instead of another Pyrenese. We know one day we will get one of them to guard our stock.

That's all for now. Happy January all!