My Job Title

Recently I spent some time out at my parents' house. Somehow during a conversation my being a stay-at-home mom came up. My dad said everytime he reads that description of myself he laughs. I don't stay at home. That part of the conversation was short, but it got me thinking. Every time I fill out paperwork that requires a job title, I don't know what to put. I guess technically I am self-employed as I do receive paychecks from the dairy, but it's not really my primary job.

My primary job is this: waker-upper, clothes-dresser, diaper-changer, potty-trainer, seat-wiper, mediator, picker-upper, TV-controller, story-reader, school-delivery-driver, nap-enforcer, bath-giver, jammie-putter-onner, teeth-brusher, tucker-inner. I am also the meal preparer, financial manager, gardener, and cleaner (although the last one is up for debate).

When I'm not doing that job I am a calf-feeder, cow-getter, substitute teacher, and student.

So maybe I'm a work from home mom? I don't know. What I do know is this: some days my kids drive me batty. Some days I would like to run away from the "Mommy"s, "why" s, "help me"s, the whining, and the tears, but that is my primary job and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

If I could figure out how to make a little heart, I would heart Penzey's. I love getting the new catalogs. There is always a new recipe to try. The latest issue was no different. Yesterday we cooked, ground, and froze pumpkins. This morning I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.

3 Cups sugar
1 cup oil (I used 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce)
4 eggs (I only used 3 because that's all I had)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon (I love the Penzey's cinnamon)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling). (I,obviously, used fresh pumpkin)
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray tins with cooking spray. Beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Gradually add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend. Add half the milk and half the pumpkin, mix, repeat. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into muffin tins, about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes until springy and brown.

The recipe says it yields 24 muffins. I made 39 muffins plus 24 mini muffins. Maybe it was the fresh pumpkin, but it made a lot of muffins. Luckily they are delicious.

IUD Follow-Up

I had my second and final follow-up appointment with my OB this week. It went well. I am usually pretty gutless when it comes to asking challenging questions to a professional. I did ask why Mirenas are being put in so soon. My doctor is pretty conservative when it comes to things like that and she was pretty up front with me. Basically, I was, wait for it, the possible side-effects or complications side of things. Imagine that! She's been putting in IUDs since 1979 and I am the first patient she has perforated. Fantastic! People are human. Crap happens. I still like my doctor and I will continue to see her. She screwed up. It wasn't malicious. It was an accident. The breastfeeding thing didn't get mentioned at the initial appointment, which would have delayed my decision, and probably played a part into the perforation. She doesn't like putting them in breastfeeding women. She isn't just leaving it at "oops, sorry" though. She is going to talk to someone at the hospital to review my case and see if they can help out financially. Yes, it's a listed complication, but it certainly wasn't what I expected, or what she expected. We'll see if it pans out, but I'm glad she isn't just forgetting it and moving on. For those of you with Mirenas, I hope they work out well. My advice, if you can't find the strings, get it out!

Preschool Update

Cole loves school! He usually doesn't have much to tell me other than they did stuff and had snack, but every once in a while, he'll blurt out something. Yesterday, for instance, he randomly started telling me how he played bowling ball in the gym. He can name most of the kids in his class, even 2 out of the 3 girls. We had family night at the apple orchard last week and it was fun to see him recognize the other kids. I think this year will be really good for him. Two full days a week hasn't wiped him out like I thought it would. He's got a good group of kids in his class and he seems to be learning something! His teacher sent a note home about how he's such a good helper and listener. When I read it to Cole, I thought he was going to burst. He was so proud of himself!

Fancy Boots and the Missing Calf

Earlier this summer I bought myself some new rain boots. I'd had the same boring pair for about 5 years and our dog used them as a chew toy on about day 2. Luckily he only ripped the top of my boots and didn't compromise their functionality. My left big toe was starting to get wet this spring so I decided it was time for a new pair. I found these super cute polka dot boots. I know there is no point to buying fancy looking boots to go walk in cow crap, but I liked them and why shouldn't I feel pretty while doing chores? So I splurged (I think I paid $25 or something) and bought them. They were way more comfortable than my old boots and didn't eat my socks either. Bonus! Only problem, they aren't made for poop. They are made to go out occasionally in the rain.

I discovered this flaw the other day as I was searching for a missing heifer calf. About a week ago we had a new heifer calf. When I went to the back to feed the other calves, she was in her pen sleeping peacefully, curled up in the straw. About an hour later I went back to give her a bottle of milk, only she was gone. About this time it also started to rain. Now we have around 200 head of cattle on our farm in various places. We've had calves get out before, but they usually prance in front of the other calves or go bother some cows nearby. Not this one. She was completely gone. Our hired help and I wandered back into the grove a little ways, into the dry cow yard, anywhere a calf might have gone, only to find nothing, no sign of her at all. I felt so bad. It was cold and rainy and this helpless little calf hadn't eaten since the night before. To top it off, she's a heifer, which we'd really like to keep. I wandered through puddles, which led to the discovery of numerous holes in my boots, and all over our farm in the rain. Nothing. The story does, fortunately, have a happy ending. At some point she wandered back home and Pat noticed her and put her back in her pen. She wasn't too wet so she must have been protected back in the grove somewhere. She hasn't been out since. As for my boots, they have been replaced by some new, boring, yet non-leaking, rubber boots.

Hey, at Least It's a Post!

While I'm waiting to wipe my 4 year old's rear...

I wish that sentence ended with at Uno, or Phase 10, or something, but sadly it does not.


Tired of looking for blog fodder? Here’s a simple Meme. Tag yourself if you want to!

What I’m reading now: Applied Combinatorics by Alan Tucker, thrilling, I know! and the latest edition of The Reader's Digest.

What I want to read next: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

What I’m watching: Biggest Loser, The Office, and Community, almost religiously, and shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother when I can catch them.

What I’m reading to my kid: Anything with dinosaurs or firetrucks

What my kid is reading: How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends with the help of his Tag Jr.

What I’m listening to: Music from the National Youth Gathering, particularly You are Holy

What I’m cooking from: A Year of Slow Cooking and a few of my fail proof recipes.

What I’m looking forward to: Thursday when I have no where to go and maybe I can accomplish something. I guess I'll keep dreaming...

Good Riddance Stubby!

Cows have miscarriages just like humans do. While it's not common, it does happen. Just like humans, it's not a good thing. However, one of our cows aborted the other day, and I was thrilled. A couple of posts ago, I blogged about a girl who was attacked by a bull. Thankfully, she's now home and recovering. Anywho, I wrote about trusting animals. Stubby is one of those cows that I don't trust. She's fat and mean. We have cows that are skittish and if you surprise them, they'll kick and run. Stubby (her real name is Anna, but she lost half her tail somehow and Anna is much too nice of a name for her) will kick and run without being surprised. In fact, she'll kick back when she knows you are there. She's not the kind of cow I want around my kids, or me for that matter. When I heard she aborted and weren't sure if she'd be bred back or not, I put in my two cents: Get rid or her. So good bye, Stubby! Unfortunately, she could milk for a good long time yet. When cows aren't bred back we keep milking them until they aren't giving much milk (about 20 lbs per milking is our cut off). Sometimes they can go for years. I'm not sure what our longest cow was, but I do know she milked for over 2 years before we got rid of her.

We had another strange thing happen on our farm yesterday. When Pat got up in the morning a cow had calved, which is not unusual. The unusual thing is that there were 2 calves and one had wandered out of the maternity barn and was causing quite a raucous with the late lactation cows. We aren't sure if the cow had twins or if 2 cows calved. In fact, we still aren't sure. The other cow that we suspect, was checked but either she calved of the calf is lying very low and can't be felt. Nobody was really sure what to do until I suggested milking her. Milking her will make her come into labor, if she hasn't calved already. If she has calved, not milking her will cause her to get mastitis and potentially kill her. I'm not really sure why I'm the only one to think of this. They gave her some medication that will induce labor this morning and if she hasn't calved by tonight, we'll start milking her and hope for the best.