Lawnmower Queen

Yup just call me The Lawnmower Queen.

I DESPERATELY needed to cut my grass before I lost a daycare kid in it. So the last daycare kid leaves and I pull out the lawnmower and the pull cord won't pull. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! You got to friggin' be kidding me????!!!!! REALLY??!!

My options were to A-leave it alone and pray Dan might be able to help it tomorrow, it's not like I don't have other chores i need to do...feed kids dinner, fold two baskets of laundry, put a third coat of paint on Dyl's room..but it is not promising for Dan to fix things.Last time he took apart my dryer to fix it, it came apart in about 100 pieces, never to go back to gether again and had to be completely replaced.

OR B-take a crack at it myself. If it's already broken how much more damage can I do to it right?

So I start by clearing all the grass out of the bottom. Nope.

Take the twine and string off of the blade. Nope.

Then I removed the air filter cover, scraped the accumulated junk off the sponge. Put it back. Nope.

I attempted to take the cover off of the top so I could look at the "flywheel" (YUP I am one BAD ASS Internet surfer and found a lawnmower website)But I failed, it was a weird nut holding it on and no matter which way I turned it it wouldn't go more than a 1/4 of a turn.HMmmmmmmmmmmm. I KNOW the problem is in there, but I can't get to it : (

Then while I contemplating what else I can unscrew to get to it I found the oil fill/drain plug...and I said well let's check the oil, It' probably hasn't oil put in it since we bought it 3 years ago...sure enough it was almost empty. I went into the bat cave basement (yeah, I braved it..GO ME!!!) and returned with oil, added oil, put oil plug back...and tested the string...and VIOLA!! Big black puff of smoke and my mower ran SWEET BABY!!!!!!!!

I am so damn proud of myself!!!!!!!

What Good are Dwarves If They Don't Do Chores?

I never knew the reason behind why my parents had SIX xhildren...it was to keep a continuous chain of work eligible beings around!!!

I started to sand down Dylan's dresser to paint it for his new room...and Autumn comes and find me and says "I want to do that!" And so I put her to work and I won't suffer the effects of arthritic feeling hands and carpal tunnel syndrome...it's the LIFE being the supervisor!

The New ADD diet

We have decided not to medicate Owen for the school believes is ADD. We will be changing his diet in order to see if we can get his ADD symptoms under control.

This morning I tried out a smoothie (vanilla organic yogurt, milk, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries and a banana). First we tried out the berry smoothie alone..Autumn and Dylan and myself gave it a thumbs up, Owen didn't like it much. After we tried out the berry smoothie alone, I added in some flaxseed oil to see how it would work as a delivery system for Omega 3s...Autumn still liked it, Dyl still liked it, I liked it, OWen didn't care much for it.

Then I tried out Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread, as a delviery system for the contents of a fish oil capsules. It was OK but still had a faint fish oil taste...Dylan didn't care at all and licked the bowl and spoon clean, Autumn ate hers, I ate mine although I was the least enthusaistic about it and Owen ate his. Tomorrow we will do it with flaxseed oil and I will look for an orange flavor fish oil, lol.

We talked about our new traffic light eating.

Green Go -GROW Foods:

All fruits, all vegetables, eggs, flaxseed oil, lean meat, low fat milk and cheese,nuts and seeds, nut butters, olive oil, salmon, soy foods, whole grains, organic yogurt

Yellow Slow down Sometimes foods:

butter, homemade cookies, frozen yogurt, 100% fruit juice, honey, fatty meats, pasta, homemade pastries, white bread

Red Light, We don't eat that Stop and make a healthier choice foods:

beverages presweetened with sugar or corn syrup (yup I am going ot give up Sierra Mist), cottonseed oil, dyes, foods with artificial sweeteners, foods with hydrogenated oils, prepackaged bakery goods, gelatin desserts, marshmallows, foods containing nitritrates (hot dogs)

We discussed out Goals.

1-drink more water

2-eat fish twice a week

3-take an Omega 3 supplement every day

4-no fake sugars

5-go whole grain

6-no preservatives or artificial colors

We are going to Go Natural: D

I listed made a Brainy Breakfast Menu:

*apple slices with PB and yogurt

*smoothies

*egg in a hole with whole weheat toast, OJ fruit

*french toast with berries and yogurt

*yogurt fruit and granola parfaits

*oatmeal, yogurt, fruit

*PB on whole wheat toast with bananas or berries, milk

*veggie omelet with whole wheat toast, fruit

*granola with yogurt and fruit

*whole grain waffles or pancakes with fruit and yogurt and milk

*zucchini or pumpkin pancakes with fruit and milk

We discussed what we have to give up...Mom's soda, pop tarts sugary cereals, lunch box snacks will change, pizza will change...we'll make our own, cookies will no longer be bought, we'll make homemade...I was asked How will this change Thanksgiving Dinner? (not at all)

All in all there was no boo hooing...I won't be dragging them into it kicking and screaming. They were awesome about it. I stated this is what we will be doing, this is why (to build smarter brains, healthier hearts) and they went with it.

Autumn asked to include more family excercise. Dylan said his friends at school will miss his snack filled lunches, lol. Owen isn't resiting it but he has quiet apprehension, lol. They all wanted ot know if this includes Dad as well...I told them we will have to ease him ito it..let's just give him credit now for being 4 weeks smoke free: D

Dog Days of Summer

Poor Greta Girlie had a rough day. Mom took the girl on a walk of 3 miles, which normally she'd be able to handle just fine, and be ready for more, but today it was about 90 degrees out with 81% humidity. Poor girl was so overheated by the time we got home.

We walked all the way to the town hall because my parents took the kids to he ball field to play baseball. And Mom forgot to send along Autumn's Emergency Rescue meds, her Diastat. I tried to call my mom's cell phone but she had left her cell in her car and there was no answer. So I figured it wasn't more than a 20 minute walk down there, I'd take Greta with me. I left the Mastiffs home on the sheer basis of the length of the walk alone...they never would have made it in the heat.

Poor Greta was hyper salivating and panting hard, she had me nervous the last four blocks snapping at her rear at nothing that I could see...it was very pre-Ictal behavior although she isn't an epi dog. I got her in and she about collapsed inside the front door, didn't go for water. I got a towel and wet it and put it against her belly, I added ice cubes to her water dish and put it closer and had Autumn come aim the fan on her and doused her with water and put a small soda bottle full of frozen water near her. After a few minutes she was panting pretty heavily still so I gave her a small spoonful of vanilla yogurt heavily laced with honey. That seemed to give her the energy to recover fully.

I am so glad I didn't take the mastiffs, they never would have made it home and would have gone inot full heatstroke!

LOLA, L-O-L-A, LOLA

Autumn and Lola

Danny Joe has left to attend college in Hawaii and now Autumn has inherited his pet rat, Lola. Autumn loves this rat, and holds her and plays with her while she watches TV. Autumn lets Lola sit on top of her head and kiss her on the lips...can you say YUCK!!?? I love animals, I like pet rats...they are smart, friendly and entertaining. But really letting the rat kiss your lips is pushing it for me.

Lola however thinks she is living the high life now. Frequent handling. Extra treats. Being doted on.

Requests have been put in for cage upgrades...an excercise wheel, some cool tunnels to crawl through, a rope to climb.