I am so mistreated

My body hurts today. It really, really hurts.

Wes made me mow yards with him yesterday. 8 of them AND a clean-up. The day after I went jogging for the first time in YEARS... I needed a few days of bed rest NOT yard work!

He tricked me into it really. I was supposed to paint the bathroom but first I had to caulk the nail holes. But, conveniently Wes forgot to buy the caulk.

So he promised to stop at Home Depot AFTER he mowed.

And since I couldn't paint ~ he offered for me to go help him mow his yards~

He is really sweet like that

So I went...

I jammed my pinkie, my legs and shoulders were aching, it rained on us.

Next time, I will say NO

I didn't sign up for this

I don't care how much he begs

He can't make me

We have a stalker...

We have a stalker~ he has 2 feet, feathers and a beak...

We have a neighboring rooster that keeps coming over and trying to court our hens. Our sweet little hens that we purchased for the kids at Easter time. Well, I hate to break it to this rooster but my hens are not available for courting.

We bought these little "pets" because we want eggs. You see, we live on a "working farm" and that means if you are not human then you must work for us. Ok, don't tell the kids but when they get a little older they will have to work too! (Any good self-respecting farmer knows that the sooner you get the kids trained the sooner you get to stay in bed all day watching educational television like Jersey Shore or The Young and the Restless.)

Anyway, the hens are getting to the egg laying phase of their lives and we DO NOT want fertilized eggs so the rooster must stay off our property!

Well, Wes had a conversation with him yesterday and guess what? Now the rooster is standing in the road in front of our driveway and trying to LURE them onto his property! The nerve of this guy...

Later as I was going about my household chores, I heard the hens squawking so I went out to check on them. Low and behold there was that rooster sneaking along the side of our property along the tree line so he could make a quick escape into the trees if Wes tried to "talk" to him again. I couldn't believe it. He is a sneaky rooster. I can see we must brush up on some new scare tactics.

About 10 minutes later, I heard one of the hens clucking and making an announcement. "It must be laying an egg!", I said with excitement. As I ran to the french doors to look out I saw something round and white laying by the hen. Oh, the excitement really began to build now. We have our first egg. We are true farmers. I have to go wake up the kids so they can see this.

Before I went to wake the household, I decided to go out and investigate for myself. I ran into the laundry room and past the bathroom where my husband was... well, never mind.

I yelled, "Honey, come quick, I think we have an egg. I think one of the chickens just laid an egg!!"

As I rounded the house to the spot where the hen was sitting I see that it wasn't an egg at all. It was a white, round GOLF BALL! A GOLF BALL!!!

I just know that rooster was standing in the woods laughing at me. I KNOW he planted that golf ball.

I came inside and told Wes about it and that is when he reminded me that our hens lay brown eggs, not white eggs!

Oh yeah, gosh...this farming thing is mentally exhausting!

We have a new kitty!

I am happy to announce that we have a new kitten

Our final kitten...HOPEFULLY!

I say that with a bit of hesitation and a lot of hope.

You see... we don't have a good track record with cats.

We have always been dog people. But since we have a farm now, we have warmed to the idea of a kitten.

Every farm has a cat or 2, right?

A kitten was at the top of Andie-girl's Christmas list so we adopted 2 from a shelter.

We named them Jingle and Noel...very festive, I know! They got sick a few months later and died within a few weeks from each other.

The kids were devastated. We all cried.

We had kitty funerals and everything.

So we decided to try again... we got a free kitten that was dropped off at the vet's office. It died about a week after we got it. We didn't even get to officially name it!

So now, you understand the trepidation...

We like this kitty

We want to keep it

We want it to LIVE

We better name her...soon!

I am officially the loser!

I did something today, something out of the ordinary for me... I went jogging.

Worse yet, I let Wes time me...for fun. Ok, it really wasn't for fun, it was out of guilt. You see, I managed to skip out on last weeks big race between Wes and the kids (including Sarah, our niece from Oklahoma). I stayed at home in the a/c... where it was safe. But my kids were very disappointed when they got home and I was still in my recliner watching reality shows. Gosh, they can make you feel lazy when they want to!

So, as I promised, I went today. It was as horrible as I anticipated. First of all let me just say, it is July in Texas. It's HOT! Plus, it had just rained so now add STEAMY!

I started off at a good pace but quickly found that my lung capacity wasn't quite where it used to be. I used to be runner for goodness sake. I was on the track team all through school. I ran as an ELECTIVE in high school!!!! It was a joy of mine. What happened??????

I'll tell you what happened... 5 kids is what happened! And maybe a few nights of late night snacking... ok, a lot of nights of late night snacking but in my defense... I have children and sometimes you just have to eat to stop yourself from crying and thinking about the good-ol' days!

As I made my way up this HUGE hill my sweet 8 year-old daughter, Kennedy, was passing me and talking to me. TALKING. I looked at her with her pencil legs and flat-soled Keds tennis shoes and thought, "Where does this child get her lung capacity? Why am I seeing spots? Why can't I feel my legs anymore?"

I started thinking that I should probably just quit. After all, my children need me, who will teach them the ways of the world? I can't leave them with their father... he doesn't even feed them when I am gone!

My breathing is getting worse. I hear wheezing. Somebody help me. I think I may be dying... where is McDreamy and his CPR when I need him?

I could see my daughter at the finish line waiting for me. She wasn't even breathing heavy. I wanted to yell things at her in frustration...

Show-off!

pencil-leg- punk!

I never should have had you or your siblings!

loser!

But... I couldn't get the words to come out over my heavy breathing. Plus, that just isn't nice.

Finally, I made it... I tagged the mailbox. I was last!! It took me 16:41 to do 1.25 miles. Let's not do the math on that one. But, I was ALIVE and still standing (and not on my way to the emergency room like I anticipated 10 minutes prior).

Jake, McLaine and Andie already left to go home! They didn't even stay to cheer me on or offer me water or a twinkie.

I think they will clean the upstairs tomorrow...