We're holding our breath over the lay-offs at Micron. With 10 to 15% going, some productive people are going to lose their jobs. Noel's pretty new to his department so we're crossing our fingers. We've already been talking about him looking for another job in the area if he loses his job and the possibility of us having to move to another state for work. Washington is high on the list since it has a good tech industry. But it's restrictions on homeschooling are stricter, so that would be a downside. It would be cool to be closer to Ashley, but then we'd be farther from our friends Patty and Joe and their kids, whom McKenna has become close with. Noel's group is supposed to start cuts tomorrow, Monday, so we're thinking we may know tomorrow morning after he gets to work. He's currently shaving up in case he needs to go out tomorrow looking for a job! Wish us luck!

McKenna did her first poo in the potty yesterday! We are so excited for her! And another one today, although she asked me for the first time to put a pull-up on her (after the poo) so who knows whats going on with that!

We had a great 4th of July party and I'll get pictures posted soon. Our friends Patty and Joe and their kids made it, although the others invited didn't, for various reasons! The kids did their sparklers and McKenna liked most of that. We'd put one in her hand and she'd start walking towards the street while watching her sparkler... we kept having to herd her back. On the cul-de-sac towards the front of our subdivision they had a few really big ones that went up. Those were nice, too. I think next year I want to go to the big show at the Idaho center a few days before the 4th, as well as do our party the night of.........I miss the big shows!

Well, we visited a herdshare in Caldwell to see about raw milk. It looks promising! Laura has 3 cows right now. One is dry, due to calve on the 5th of this month, one is a heifer and the other is currently giving out a couple of gallons of milk. She does lack pasture right now, but has the irrigation all set to flood her pasture area and has seed ready to go, so by the time we find out if Noel will keep his job, she may even have some grass started.

Speaking of jobs, Micron is going through a lay-off period right now and Noel is waiting to find out if he'll retain his job. I have a good feeling, as I expect he's pretty much in demand by his boss... he's the one who's asked to do lots of special projects so that can only be good, right? We'll know within the next two weeks if we need to make a major life-style change! Although we're determined that I stay at home with McKenna and not have to go get a job. I'm thinking if we did need extra money I could always start teaching piano again. 5 kids each week would get me about $200. a month, which could only help if Noel had to take a lower-paying job.

So enough of this depressing talk. I made my first sourdough loaf of bread from the 170 year old starter that Noel brought home for me and it is quite yummy. With a little artichoke and parmesan cheese dip it's to die for! I'm going to cut up some of the bread and serve it with the dip for tomorrows party. Now I need to try a loaf with my own starter that will be a year old in a couple of months. I know it makes fantastic pancakes, but haven't used it in anything else! Oh, and McKenna had some of the sourdough loaf and ate a little and spit the rest out. The sour flavour might have to grow on her! LOL

I hit the Boise Co-op today and picked up the dip I mentioned as well as some duck eggs to try and some pasture-fed, free range chicken breasts...........EXPENSIVE!! Four breasts cost me almost $25.00!! I also picked up some free range ground lamb to try. I've never had it so we'll give it a whirl. Also got some artisan cheese that was hand-made locally called flagship cheese. I had a sliver and it was really tangy, not really sharp though. Very nice, but again, a bit too much for McKenna... I would love to try making cheese, but I think I'd need to pick up a humidor for cigars and rig it to accept cheese at the right temp and humidity. Who knows......it'll make for some fun experiments!