Welcome to another exciting edition of: Questions. And their answers.
Thank you to everyone who asked a question.
Here we go!
1) From Rachel Spin:
Do you have any large ferocious beasts in you woods? Like bears or mountain lions or coyotes? Have you come across any signs of these beasts? or had any encounters with them? I’m a little worried about your bunnies.
Hmmm. I have seen deer, turkeys, mice, various species of birds, and one moose, who I suspect was pregnant. I have heard coyotes and owls at night.
One night last summer, I opened the back door to take out the trash. It was late and very dark. I heard a large animal crashing through the woods, running away from me. That was terrifying and gave me the peepee shivers.
I fear the only ferocious beast that the bunnies must worry about is this one:
Fun Fact: Lucy will oft jump up on the rabbit hutches and steal their water bottles.
LucyFur.
2) From Mindee at Our Front Door:
If you won the lottery, would you move or just fix up the house you’re in now?
If it were up to me, we probably wouldn’t live here in the first place.
No. We would probably be living in a house in the city, visiting museums on the weekends whilst sipping lattes, shopping at malls instead of Farm and Home, and contemplating eating a vegetarian diet.
But, alas. I don’t always get what I want. Sir Lumberjack L-O-V-E-S this place with all of his being and has no plans of ever moving.
Therefore, if Iwere to win the lottery, I would try to lure him away from Ruralville with other properties that are closer to civilization, yet still redneckish enough for him to feel at home.
3) From Debra
How can you stand being in the house at such a low temperature? I’d be an ice burg.
(Lest any of you are confused, my Lumberjack likes to keep the house at 62)
Well, Debra, it isn’t easy.
My first tip would be to layer. Start off with an undershirt of your choosing. Next, add a long-sleeved shirt. Then I have a thick, albeit hideous, wool sweater I put on.
This sweater is not attractive. Yet it gets the job done.
Perhaps if you are lucky, dear readers, one day I shall show it to you.
Next, I find two pairs of socks really do help. And I always wear slippers. If I am still chilly, I will make a cup of tea.
I have also found that washing my hands with hot water is a fun, mid-morning warm-up.
And, finally, if I am just too cold, I go to the thermostat and turn the heat up to about 67 or 68 and figure what the Lumberjack don’t know won’t hurt him.
I am scandalous, am I not?
4) From Amy V
How do you discipline your naughtypants boys when timeouts and spankings (or maybe that just is me…don’t report me) do not work. My soon-to-be 2 year old is making me CRAZY!!! (and I didn’t have far to go before). Taking things away doesn’t work, he throws huge tempertantrums and it is more like my punishment than his…
I am glad you asked me! It is obvious that I am the authoritative expert on getting young boys to obey.
Time outs do work for my boys. Most of the time. Just removing them from whatever they are doing and telling them they cannot come back until they are ready to be nice.
Taking things away also works for me. But it has to be the right thing. For example, my son really loves chocolate milk, so I will sometimes not allow him to have it for the rest of the day. Oh, for the weeping and wailing when he does not get his chocolate milk.
It is tragic for him.
If it has been a really bad day for me with them, I will make them talk to their dad about what they did when he gets home.
I say something uber awesome like, “When your dad gets home, you will tell him that you climbed to the top of the fridge, stole a pack of gum from mommy’s purse, ran downstairs, chewed up every single piece, and hid the chewed pieces under the piano, beds, toy box, and in your dresser drawers.”
Yes. That gets them shakin’ in their boots.
5) From Joyce
What color do you wish your peach walls were and do you have any plans to make them that way?
I wish they were the same green that I painted my kitchen in my other house:
I waited seven years for that kitchen to get painted. And I never got to enjoy it. For we had to move immediately after finishing it.
Oh, the humanity!
6) From JDaniel4’s Mom:
What would you do about a beaver dam built in the front yard?
Ok. If my Lumberjack decided to put a beaver dam in the front yard, I would deem him officially crazy. I would tell him to have fun living in his 62 degree, peach-walled house with deer and turkey and mice and a demon puppy and numerous rabbits and wood piles and human waste lagoon all by himself.
I shall be moving.
Far, far away.
7) From Hoosier at Heart:
Question: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Hmmm. I think it would be that I live in Ruralville.
Ha! I kid! I jest!
I don’t think I could pick one thing. But I will try:
I really, really wish I had lovely, dark brown hair.
Yes. Lovely and thick, yet smooth, and it would just air dry beautiful and all peoples everywhere would be envious of my luscious locks.
***
Alright. That is all for today. I have more questions that I shall answer later on.
Happy Thursday!
Disclaimer: I love my husband very much. My life is not horrible, even if I do have peach walls and a human waste lagoon. I just enjoy complaining about trivial things every now and then.
I am a brat like that.
Thank you.
Big Cities and Restaurants
As I mentioned before, we went on a field trip yesterday to the TV station . . . where the children were expected to sit quietly during the taping of a LIVE news show.
You can imagine my panic, no?
When we arrived, we met up with the rest of the homeschoolers. Apparently, the lady in charge had given the wrong directions and she was wondering if we had found our way ok.
I had to tell her that we took a completely different route on account of us now living in Ruralville.
Fun Fact: Peoples from our area have heard of this Ruralville. But no one knows anyone who actually resides there.
Yes. Ruralville is that desirable.
Homeschooling Peeps: You live there?!
Me: Yes. Yes we do.
Homeschooling Peeps: Oh, wow! Such a far drive!
Then the Homeschooling Peeps started talking directly to my girls. And they were saying ridiculous things such as:
“Girls! Are you excited to be in a CITY?”
“Have you ever seen so many buildings before?”
“You have such a long drive home! I’ll bet Mom here is going to take you to a RESTAURANT! Isn’t that exciting?”
I must admit. It was a tad ridiculous. And embarrassing. And hilarious.
So, after everyone got over the fact that we were those people from Ruralville, we went on the tour of the TV station.
Handsome Dude decided that he was old enough to be a part of the gang and he joined in with all the older kids.
And guess what . . . he did great!
The real challenge was getting all the kids to be quiet for the taping of the live show. Handsome Dude was awesome and made not one peep. Little Dude did great until I handed him his toy train. He let out a:
“Toot-Toot!”
But don’t worry. I put the kibosh on that immediately and he was quiet for the rest of the time.
The girls got to pose for a photo op with the weather gal:
Are not my girls uber cute? They got all dressed up “just in case” they were needed on live TV.
They were not. But it is good to be prepared.
After the show, we were hungry. And I did, in fact, take my children to a RESTAURANT called Wendy’s. We are not used to such high-class living. It took me a moment to get over the fact that they did not serve elk. Nor did they serve venison.
Fun Fact: Venison is just a fancy word some people use to hide the fact that they are just eating DEER.
We decided that since we were in the big city and all, we should make a day of it. So, we went to stores called Target and TJ Maxx and even found this really cool large store called the mall. It had an elevator and everything.
It’s amazing what city folk can think of.
Finally, we met up with Sir Lumberjack. Sir Lumberjack gets to go to the big city everyday to electrify things. I had found a discount movie theater and we were able to get all six of us in to see Tangled for $21!
Lumberjacks love Disney movies.
It was a fun day!
***
Earlier this week, our regular car was acting all temperamental and I had to take David’s truck into town.
There is a really long story behind all of this and I am not going to tell you all of it for fear of boring you to death. But here is the bottom line:
He left and came back with a rabbit hutch that he had bought for $40 and expected me to drive his truck home . . . all while it was towing this bad boy:
So, I was like: Oh, no you didn’t.
And he was like: Oh, yes I did.
And did I drive that thing 45 miles to our desirable homestead?
No. No, I surely did not. I put my foot down. I refused.
And I got my way.
Question: Why did that not work when I told him that there would be no deer heads hanging on my wall?
Things to ponder.
***
And, finally, it is time for the COW.
The COW stands for the Comment of the Week.
This week goes to Mindee:
I think that you wearing an ugly wool sweater and two pairs of socks with slippers is pretty much what LJ deserves for moving you to a freezing house with peach walls in Ruralville.
Tell him that you’ll dig out the negligee if the walls are green and the house is warm.
Amen, Mindee.
Amen.
Alright! Happy Weekend!