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!

Did a bit more research on buying locally. I have a number for a family farm in Caldwell that has chickens......I'm going to see them in a couple days to see if the chickens are free range, with proper housing and all, but I'm thinking they will be fine. And they might have eggs too, although the ones we've been getting at the Karcher Ranch Market are great and also from a family farm.

I've looked into CSA's, which are Community Supported Agriculture and you basically buy a share of a farm and get a portion of whatever they produce (eggs, fruits/vegetables, etc) and it's fresh and in season. If I can't get my vegetable garden to produce much we might do that. We'd also get more variety than I could get from mine. It's interesting what's out there when you look. I hate factory farming and CAFO's and although a lot of vegetarians and vegans use them as excuses to not eat meat and dairy, I'd be happy eating meat and dairy as long as it came from TRULY happy cows, chickens, beef, etc......

If anyones interested www.localharvest.org has links to local farmers where you can get lots of fresh stuff.

The more I think about it, the less I want big corporate farming groups to control what I eat. That may sound a bit radical to some people, but with all the loss of topsoil and the pesticides I think it's a good cause to take up. Course it won't happen overnight. We probably won't get our grass-finished beef until next year due to lack of funds, but that won't stop me from getting our chicken and milk now.

We saw Sawyer Brown in concert last night at the Idaho Center. For those of you who don't know, he's a country singer and I'd never heard of him or seen him... the groups been together since the mid-eighties, I guess. So, it was an outdoor concert and we were invited by a co-worker of Noel's... I was sitting on the grass (we arrived early) in the HOT sun, and the whole time I guess we were keeping an eye out for them (actually, Noel was because I'd only met them once) and they ended up sitting down right in front of us, only half-recognizing me (Noel was getting food) and I only half recognized them, so it wasn't until Noel got back that I realized who they were.......ANYWAY! Sawyer Brown came out and I, having no clue who he was saw a kid in army fatigues and a blue t-shirt and a kind of cowboy hat and really thought he was like early 20's tops. He moved his feet and legs like only a really flexible kid could, I thought! So then he says that his groups been together 25 years and I had to go home and look him up on the internet because I needed to see what this really energetic guy looked like. From his photos, he looks like he's early 30's, but he's 43. Lucky guy. Anyway, great energy and everyone loved him. His songs were really good. Rodney Atkins also sang and I did recognize one of his songs...... both were really good performers. We had a really good time......could've taken McKenna, I guess but it was really loud and hot for most of the time and I think she would've been pretty grouchy the whole time.

An excellent link on raw and pasteurized milk for those interested!

http://www.westonaprice.org/transition/dairy.html

So, we finally got our raw milk and it's really good! Thicker, and a little sweeter. I haven't given any to McKenna yet - guess it will take awhile to work through that fear that she'll drop dead the instant she has some. I'm not planning to give her any of this batch, anyway. I probably won't get anymore milk from this girl at the Karcher ranch market, either. Her mom has their cows on hay year round and I'm really looking for cows that are on pasture a good part of the time. I may have been given incorrect information about cows milk being legal to sell in Idaho. Another source I've found says it's actually illegal to sell and only people that own their owns cows can drink the milk. Although, I've yet to find any info anywhere that says I'd be arrested for being caught red-handed with a raw milk mustache! lol

Anyway, I've found a herdshare in Caldwell that looks affordable and sounds as though it may be what we're looking for. The Jersey cows are on pasture part of the time and get good hay in the winter months. There's 3 of them right now and the owner is a home-schooling mom who's interests (according to her web page) seem to be aligned with mine. It costs $25. for start-up and then $10.76 a month for milk (which is about what we pay now) ranging from a quart to a gallon per week depending on production.

I am interested in possibly making my own cheese, butter and yogurt if we sign up for this. I recently read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and it was basically about subsistence farming... the family tried an experiment to eat only what they could produce on their farm for one year, or to buy locally if they absolutely had to. The book really opened my eyes to whats happening with our food supply in this country, from the billions of dollars spent on pesticides to the loss of top soil. I came across a statistic that said that currently the typical 4 person family needs about 4 acres of land in order to survive, and that by 2020 there will only be about .6 acres per family. In my opinion, the more I can do to buy locally from farmers that are using organic practices, the better! The foods yummier, too!

Another thing I came across is a study that showed that currently our milk, pre-pasteurization has lots of bacteria in it, including salmonella, listeria and e-coli, but because we pasteurize the milk, the corporations running these huge dairy operations don't bother with cleanliness. They also give their cows antibiotics on a regular basis so that they don't get sick in these conditions. On the other end of the spectrum, an organic dairy farm in California, I believe (I'll have to find the link to the article!) tested their milk, every batch that went through, and found no traces of these harmful bacteria in their milk. Their cows were fed properly, got lots of sunshine and fresh air and green grass and the people milking were careful to keep everything very clean and the milk properly stored at the right temperature. From what I understand raw milk does contain e.coli, but it's normally a benign microorganism. The most likely source of the new strains of virulent E. coli is genetically engineered soy, fed to cows in large commercial dairies. If there is any type of milk likely to harbor these virulent breeds, it is commercial pasteurized milk.

Time to go... McKenna's down for quiet time and I think I'll take a nap too!

I've been into buying locally now for awhile... since it's summertime I'm visiting the farmers market every saturday and buying local, healthy, yummy stuff from the farmers. Since I didn't get a lot of peas this year in my garden I'll probably buy a bunch and can/freeze them. I also looked into raw milk and found it's legal to sell but not advertise in this state. A girl I met at the Karcher ranch market is bringing me some milk from her family's small operation tomorrow. Sounds like a good farm from everything she told me and they've all drank the milk since she remembers. Found a lot of pro and con info out there on it, but I'm particularly interested in the possibility that it could help reduce the histimine levels in my blood that cause my allergies. I'd like to avoid allergy shots or a steroid shot this year! Cheers!

McKenna is doing very well with potty training! She's been going every day, some days only once and some days more. In addition to her star chart, she gets to wash her hands with "Nemo" soap that are pretty colors of the rainbow. She's feeling very proud of herself. She'll come get me when she pees and will say "PEE"!! And we go in and I give her some toilet paper to wipe with and then she helps me empty the potty into the big toilet. We then wash our hands with Nemo and she gets a star for her chart. Did I mention that she's really proud of herself!? :D And we are VERY proud of her! She would love calls from friends and family to tell them all about it!

WOOHOO!!! McKenna peed in the potty (for real) for the first time today!! She was running around naked and started squirming and hand her hands down there so I said, 'do you have to pee? Go sit on the potty" so she went in and next thing I know, I hear running water so I run in and she's got a big smile on her face and I said, 'did you pee-pee?' and she stood up and there was like a cup of pee in the potty!!!! She got to wipe with toilet paper and got a sticker on her chart! We were all on a high for like half and hour!

Why is it that whenever I want to do anything on the laptop I end up with a kid and a cat in my lap? I've yet to figure it out, but I'm open to suggestions! LOL

Well, I ordered a kentia palm off of ebay. I've been wanting something to put next to my piano ever since I moved McKenna's little bookshelf into the other room. I'd also like to get a corn plant, also known as Draceana. They are nice upright, tall plants that work well in a narrow space. Ever since I've started having luck getting things to grow, I just can't seem to stop picking up plants! At least, after summers over I won't have a lack of things to do! I've already rooted some epicsia suckers and will soon (hopefully) have 3 new "Chocolate Velour" epicsia's hanging around! Also picked up a spider plant, one of the hardier looking varieties and it gets morning and evening sun and seems to be doing really well..........I've added a compact fluorescent to my nepenthes miranda as it still has only the pitcher it made while in my terrarium. It's getting 16 hours of light a day, which is a healthy amount for that plant. I've placed my wandering jew outside because the stems and leaves are looking a little lank. I think it'll beef up with more sun.

Noel and I took McKenna to Boondocks yesterday. We played a round of miniature golf with her, which was really interesting! She liked to go grab the balls and throw them in the holes. Needless to say we didn't keep score! After that we did the bumber boats. Noel had McKenna and it's a good thing because he got me soaked with those squirters and his aim was deadly. McKenna would have gotten really wet and mad, but she was safe with him. I couldn't seem to get the stream of water low enough to hit him! Anyway, that was fun and then we went back in the the kids area where she could go in and play... it's a maze almost with swings and slides and ladders and trap doors and tunnels. And it's free! You just come in and set the kids loose and there's netting everywhere so that they can't really fall and hurt themselves. She had a blast in there. Afterwards, it was back home and lunch and a nap. She was falling asleep in her pb&j!!

Today, if it warms up a little and the wind quits, we may go to the Boise Botanical Gardens. I'll post again if we go. It should be a good time of year to go. Noel finished homework and a test yesterday after Boondocks (on leadership skills) so he shouldn't have any excuses for not going! :)

Our gate blew off in the wind a couple of days ago, so Noel's trying to get it fixed. Didn't seem all that windy, but there were some good gusts. He's off to home depot. I just listed our king mattress on craigslist with a pic so hope to get some nibbles. I've been wanting to clear that room out a little. If the king sells, we'll put the single in there. I found the cat beds in the garage and cleaned them up and set them in on the bed, and they're actually sleeping in them! So I'll move them to the twin when we get it in there. Luckily the mattress looks in good condition. No smells, stains or anything gross like that. And we only slept on it a few years before we got our other bed, so for being 8 years old, it's in good shape.

I purchased a kohleria http://www.robsviolet.com/koh_manchu.htm and it's now blooming! Beautiful orangey-red blooms to brighten up my terrarium alongside the orchid. Noel and I also purchased a gorgeous rocking chair for $10. that we saw on craigslist. It's really old-fashioned looking and only needed some screws tightened and added. We have it in the living room for the moment, but when the next kiddo comes we'll probably put our glider-rocker up in the bedroom for him/her and just keep this new one down here. It's a medium wood color with burgandy cushions. I'm really pleased with it. It fits in with the decor nicely. Well, got a new pic of McKenna up on the main page of my blog, but so far having problems getting the others on my webshots so I'll keep trying. Well, gotta come up with something for dinner. Later!

Ok, this is kind of gross, but McKenna's been constipated. I gave her a little bit of mineral oil and some dried apricots and we're just now in the bath... I was reading and heard her say 'poo-poo' and looked and saw a nice big turd floating in the water with her. She almost freaked out, but I calmed her down and fished it out. (Not with my hands, thank you!) Anyway, I have a feeling she'll be feeling much better now! LOL Ah, the joys of mommy-hood! :)

Looks like my nasturtiums are poking their heads up out of the soil around the tree in the front yard. McKenna helped me pick grass from around them. Unfortunately the tree roots are really shallow and I can't really dig the grass up too well without damaging them. So I dumped some potting soil around the tree (not too deep) and planted the seeds and of course the grass is poking up through. Don't know what I'll do... anyone have any good ideas? :)

Got a guy coming by to look at our dryer. We really wanted to sell them as a set, but I said he could take the dryer by itself, so of course we need to get at least $100. for it. Crossing my fingers! After he's gone, it's back to the garden I go. I've got a few bucks set aside - I'm tempted to go pick up some plants at Zamzows. I'm so impatient for everything else I have to start growing! My larkspur and delphinium are just coming up out of the soil. Don't know if I'll get any blooms from them, but the delphinium are perennials, so I can always mulch and divide next spring and hopefully get some good healthy plants. I've got cosmos, bachelor buttons and four o'clocks started from seed and they are looking good so far. The four o'clocks are almost ready for hardening off, but only two seeds sprouted, so I might have to plant some more. I did divide my chrysanthemums (sp?) and put them in my new flower bed, and that's where I'll probably try my four o'clocks and my cosmos. The bachelor buttons I'll save for my main bed and they'll be in the front, with my established yellow snapdragons behind. Okay, everyones probably sick of hearing of plants already. Oh!! My iris are in bloom... I'll have to try to take a pic and get it on my blog. My white ones in back and the purple/white ones in the front that my neighbor Shirley gave me. They are looking fantastic! And my sweet william is starting to bloom. I also bought 3 pink geraniums to put in pots and hang on my front porch rail. It sound like a lot, but my flower beds are really bare looking since I'm waiting for plants from seed to be ready to go. Ah well, I'm loving it and McKenna is loving helping me, and we're getting sun so we're happy!

Well, the weather has been most excellent around here..... 70's low 80's... I've been outside in my garden most of the time. I've got plants started from seed that I'm going to plant in another week or so and I got a new flower bed added onto the end of my porch. I plan to put in another one across from it on the other side of my gate. McKenna has been a big help. She'll hold a bag while I dump old mulch in it, or help me rake the leaves out of the beds. We've got the pool up in the backyard and she went in for a swim yesterday for the first time.

I was saying goodbye to Noel yesterday as he was leaving for work and I said 'have a good day' and she mimicked me! Sounded darn good, too. It had Noel turning around and praising her. We're still working of potty training. She'll sit on the potty but not do anything. Ah well, it'll come.

Noel has been experiencing tired eyes and headaches more often, so went into the eye doctor. Turns out he needed a prescription for glasses. He picked them up a couple of days ago and they look really good on him. He says he's still getting used to them, but his eye-strain at work has disappeared.

Today is overcast with rain expected so I'm doing laundry and baking. Made breakfast muffins (cheese, onion, bacon) banana bread, and a loaf of regular sandwich bread. Read up on some ways to save money. Noel just got a raise, which is nice (over $2.00 extra an hour) but if gas prices keep climbing, we're not going to see any of it! I've lost my last piano student (temporarily, it sounds like) so no extra cash for spending money, but if we can save some money on groceries, I might get a little for my garden. We've also put up our old washer and dryer as well as a birdcage for sale. If we sell both for what we want, we'll get almost $500. which will help out. Anyway, life is pretty good at the moment. McKenna and I are enjoying being outside more often and I'm enjoying the nice tan I'm developing! Still working on the next kiddo, but a lot more relaxed about it. Stress-wise, anyway! That's it for now, time to play with the kiddo.

Well, I saw McKenna on the sofa the other day opening and shutting her hands, and she was saying 'open' , 'shut' (we do a song about this!) and it was so neat! Her vocab is expanding so rapidly now!

Unfortunately, she's picked up a bug again. Just a cold, I think. We were at the library lap-sit on Thursday and I heard a wet cough while I was there and remember thinking, 'uh-oh'........ looks like she might have picked it up! I'm hoping it passes off quickly!

We went looking at yard sales yesterday. There was a community yardsale (over 10) in the subdivision next door to us. I went to a few, but Noel dropped us off because McKenna had spilled orange juice all down her front. (We were coming from Elmers) We ended up with a nice 3-tiered plant shelf for me, and Noel brought home a very nice area rug (6' by 9' I'm thinking) that we now have down in the living room. Got it for $30. bucks.

Today we're working on the garden. We brought in a bunch of compost and that's been dumped in the garden plot. Noel's going to rototill it into the soil and he also picked up some wood to edge the garden with so we can increase it's height. If the weathers nice he may get the rebar on the wood and get the border set up. Who knows how it'll work out. Okay, time to go - McKenna wants to paint or do a craft.

Oh, last night right before going up to bed she said, Bye Bye Diablo! Cute... but Diablo could've cared less!! :)

McKenna and I sowed some seeds out front in the front flowerbed today. It's a little early, but the warm weather has me optimistic. We did delphinium and some other tall variety like that as well. Larkspur, I think. Also dug up some orange flowers my neighbor Carolyn said I could have. They're a perennial and will bloom this summer. This weekend I think we'll rototill the garden in back and get it prepped for planting. We want it to be a raised bed. I have peppers and tomatoes in my windowsill gaining height every day and will need to go in the ground in the next couple of weeks. I picked up an orchid and ordered some gesneriads (african violet family) and they are now in my terrarium battling for prime position. LOL

McKenna can say "I see you" and "Diablo" Probably some more, but I can't think of them right now. She's been on nap strike for the last week, but I still take her upstairs for "quiet time". It saves on mommy's sanity! :D Mommy and Daddy are still working on making her a little brother or sister but still no luck. I've totally chilled this month and am much less stressed. I figure it'll happen when it's meant to, and all my worrying about it will just give me an ulcer! Enough for now. :)

Well, I figured out that McKenna's allergy was due to peanut butter, because the red patches totally faded after about 5 days. So, I'm thinking that that was the issue.

I mentioned that McKenna can blow her nose, but for the first time today she asked for a napkin and then blew her nose herself! Not very neatly, as I had to wipe snot off her eyebrow, but still she did it herself without me helping! We're both feeling better now, and it appears that Noel has missed the sick boat completely.

Nothing new, except I'm still reading up on scam baits on www.419eater.com and loving the stories! Noel can't wait for my fascination to end and the home-cooked meals to begin again! LOL

Gotta go!