Randomness

So this post is going to be a bit random...because, frankly, my life is pretty random right now. I first want to talk about friends and family. I used to believe that simply because someone was "family", meaning a blood relative, that I was required to have that person in my life, thus giving them permission to affect my life. Several years ago, in 2006, my husband, youngest children and I decided to pack up and move from Ohio to Florida. During that time, we learned to rely on each other a bit stronger and realized that, from that point forward, we'd only allow people to affect our lives if their affects were more positive than negative. We understand that life isn't going to always be wine and roses - people argue, feelings get hurt, people misspeak etc. but then life balances out. However, if your scale is constantly tipped to the anxiety, sadness, frustration, getting spanked in the self esteem side of the scale...I've figured out that it is ok to let that person out of your life. I say it that way...letting the person out...because obviously if they are constantly in a state of WANTING to hurt you, make you feel bad, make you feel less than or not good enough...then they can't be happy in your relationship either. I'm talking about any relationship...this isn't just about a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend...this is about siblings, parents, aunts/uncles whomever is always making your life so challenging. So for those of you reading this, wondering if I'm talking about Mark...I am not. Mark and I do have our challenges - like all other couples; however, I hope that we will continue to grow old together and will be playing SkipBo and scrabble on the front porch, while our grandkids chase baby goats around the pasture :-)
That all being said - since I realized that it's ok to let those negative people out of my life, I also learned that just because someone isn't a blood relative, doesn't mean that they aren't family. There are a few women in my life that we have made the choice to be in eachother's lives for a long time. Some I've been friends with since high school or shortly thereafter and others I may lose touch with for a time and then we come back together and it was like we just saw each other yesterday. I love my friends. There are a couple people in this world that I can say just about anything to and they place no judgement on me. The love me for who I am, they love my children, they support my decisions (even when they don't understand them or wouldn't choose them for their selves)...I am so thankful for this group of women, friends who have become my family. The other day, was a little rough for me...I was having a bad self-esteem day. (for those of you that know me, may or not, know that I have some pretty bad self esteem issues - there are days that I just don't really like myself, don't worry, it'll be ok, it happens). But one of these wonderful women sent me an amazing gift...flowers...delivered to my home. Remember, we live out in the boondocks...this took a lot of planning to locate a florist near me that would actually deliver out this far and do such an amazing job. The flowers are still gorgeous and still put a smile on my face when I look at them...like just now, I looked over while typing and smiled. I'm thankful that I there are these awesome women out there that love me as much as I love them.

My lovely flowers

The weather FINALLY broke around here...just like my previous post mentioned - we finally started to get some warmer, sunnier and generally more beautiful weather than we've experienced through this very long, nightmarish winter. Our children have fixed up their bikes and watching them regularly cycle up and down our very long driveway (another thing I love about this house is that driveway - the kids can bike, scooter, do chalk art all around and never have to get close to the road. I love it. Below is Gage basking in the sun. He pulled the legs of his PJ pants all the way up and made shorty shorts out of them...God, I love my kids. They are all so funny.

As I mentioned last post, we had our Backyard Chicken class this past weekend at Meyer Hatchery (the place that is shipping our chicks) - we decided to make the weekend of it. The kids and I picked up Mark at work (he worked Spring Break at a place he worked for several years ago - a two-way radio sales and service shop...to make a little extra money), and then we drove a couple more hours to NE Ohio. We stopped to eat at one of Mark's favorite restaurants (a place that we don't have where we live, but it was right down the street from our apt. in Florida), Cheddars - YUM! By the time we go to the hotel, everyone was too tired to swim - we opted to get a good night of sleep and then swim after breakfast. Everyone grabbed a quick shower and off to chicken keeping class we went. I HIGHLY suggest this class. The teacher, Carrie (I don't know if she's a Kerry or Kari...we'll just call her Carrie), was relaxing and funny and extremely informative. She took us for a short tour of the hatchery and everything (BTW - VERY clean building, VERY wonderful and helpful staff, excellent customer service). After the class/tour - we decided to drive just a little bit farther to let the kids experience Amish country. We've been there in the past, but always find it so fascinating. We visited Lehmans and had lunch/dinner at Mrs. Yoders (DELICIOUS). We talked with a young Amish couple and then taught us a bit about Amish travel (horse drawn carriage) - it takes them about an hour and a half to visit her parents, that live just 15 miles away. Definitely a slower pace to life. Here are just a few pictures from our weekend...

Gage and Drake - hotel comfy!

A horse drawn carriage - you can see the horses feet from under the carriage. One thing I have learned is that you should never take a picture of an Amish person's face, it is against their beliefs. There is something so beautiful about the seeing the carriages - sometimes with a beautiful face peeking out at us. Gosh, I just love it.

This gentleman was pushing four horses - I believe he had some sort of farm equipment - the horses were ginormous.

Amish parking lot - near the restaurant that we ate at, they had a special area that the horses could be hitched to, while they ate dinner.

While we we driving through, we came upon a house that was a deer farm - how neat to see about 15 deer wandering through someone's front yard.

We stopped to turn around in a parking lot and this "little" guy peeked over the fence at us. Looking not amused lol.

Oh, did I fail to mention the turkeys. Hmmm...Well - while we were at the hatchery, they had turkeys for sale. Turkeys were not on the list for this year...they were a possibility for next year or the following - but since we were there and they had no minimum purchase, since we weren't shipping them, we decided to pick up four of them. Two blue slate and two red bourbon - they are cute and sweet and will hopefully make a delicious meal. We've decided that if, between the four of them, there is a mating pair, that is nice and we like, that we will keep them and slaughter the other two - then we'll breed the two for more turkeys. I guess holiday dinner is on us?

The Spring flowers are beginning to bloom.

 I thought I'd share a couple pictures of the pasture crew...

Jester and Steve (mostly) and Ethel is climbing up the balance beam.

Jester and Steve chowing down on hay.

Sweet little Fauna, hiding from all the craziness (don't let her fool you, she's a crazy maniac too...she was just needing a little break).

Sweet Pea - hard to believe that this little goofball had such a rough start.

Ahem, Steve REALLY enjoys his hay. LOL

Turkeys!

Turkey, turkey, turkey.

They are so cute now - don't get attached! They are dinner!

Happy Spring Everyone!!