Back in the Saddle

Abby celebrated her 12th birthday on the 19th. She had friends over and enjoyed a sleepover. It was a fun time for her and I was able to chat with a couple of my friends for some time which is a rare occasion. 

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I drove up to Kentucky with the kids. It was a surprise to my mother, but my father knew. We had a decent Thanksgiving, but by evening we had one child sick. By Friday morning, two were sick. By Sunday, we were all sick with covid for the first time. 

I will spare the details because it was basically like being sick with the flu.  The problem being I was unable to return home the day I had intended. So we had to wait until the following Friday. 

I found myself in such a fog mentally after arriving home. My basic tasks and routine were absolutely overwhelming. I was exhausted and actually quite anxious.

I am doing better mentally thanks be to Yah and I slowly returned to my normal over the first 4 days of the week. We started up with homeschool on Monday and planned the menu.  

I did, however, notice myself getting brought down simply from the cloudy, rainy weather that had been continuing for days.  I was also discouraged by the lack of seasonal decor in the house: something pretty.

Most of you know we don't celebrate Christmas, but I do love to decorate seasonally. Unfortunately, I didn't have much for the winter season except for a few cute birds. 

So I decided to look online and order a few items that were on sale such as a red lantern, some candles, potpouri, and candle holders.  Then later on Friday I went shopping with a friend and we both snagged some cute seasonal finds. 

Last month, I had arranged to purchase five gallons of honey. I got that on Tuesday and we put that into smaller, half gallon sized jars.

By Sunday (today) I was feeling like things were back in full swing. Through out the week, I had been throwing small bales of hay to the does and sheep. So today, Al and I got large round bales to the pens. 

I finally got around to giving the goats their copper boluses, except Jersey who got hers during her ultrasound, and a few of the bucks who will get them next month. 

I pulled up the electric fence from out front, and Al and I added it fence to the back chicken yard making it about four times the size. The chickens were very happy to be able to forage in a bigger space. 

Al and I also got a new tarp attached over the bucks hay bale since it was torn apart from the elements.

I was able to get the house vacuumed after the girls picked up.  My laundry was done, sheets put on Alexandra's top bunk, a load of linens were washed, bread was baked, and of course dinner was prepared: mac and cheese casserole, broccoli, and peas.

The kids were tasked with house pick up, as I mentioned before. They also put dishes away and cleaned the bathroom.  It was a huge help and obviously not anything too big a job for them. 

This Monday, Alexandra has an orthodontic appointment, and I will need to run to the store for a couple items I didn't get on Friday.  

Tuesday we have to pick up our Azure Standard order early in the morning, so we will need to be up and going early. The rest of the week is pretty open for processing food like the butternut squash from the garden as well as the apples I ordered from Azure. 

Well, I guess that wraps it all up. Sorry it has been so quiet lately.  I guess now you know why.