The (almost) Middle of the Year

I revisited some of my goals for the year the other day and came to the realization that I haven't done much yet, and the year is approaching half over. Sounds crazy to think of it like that on the first day of June. Anyway, I got to work. 

The carrots are planted, and with a little luck, I will be able to harvest them. My second book was published in May. Brian and I are signed up for a conceal and carry class, and I've done a little target practice trying to decide what the best gun will be for me. In the process, I ended up with a battle-wound. No, nothing major, but an empty shell hit my forehead and cut it. I am not getting that kind of gun, in case you were wondering. 

The biking has been slow with the odd weather we've had. I was out tonight before supper and ran over a nail. It cut the bike ride short, but I did walk the rest of the way after I stashed the bike. I purchased an indoor bike trainer in the fall, and love it. If you don't know what that is, it's basically something that holds the back tire of your bike up and you can adjust the resistance. I've used my bike more in my basement with that than I have outside. If I hadn't thought it was such a nice day today, I wouldn't have had a flat tire. Oh well.

It's been busy around home, part of my lack of posting. As I type, the chickens are getting butchered. The vegetable garden is in the ground. I may have gone overboard on the tomatoes planting 32 plants for us. I hope the pepper plants survive their abuse from the kittens.

School is out for the summer, and the boys are excited for our family trip this summer. I am too. I made the choice to scale back on summer events after last year and plan on making it a point to do more with the family. I sold more in the fall anyway, but there are still a few summer venues I plan on going to. 

My third book is almost complete. It may be a while before I get it published, but I'm a few nights away from writing the ending. It's not connected to the two I have published, except for having some firefighters in the story. Honestly, I'm more excited about this one than the first two. I really like the storyline and the twists :)

Touchdown in Kimball

It's been an interesting week, to say the least. My launch was Friday night, I spent the weekend with some friends having a craft weekend, my wedding anniversary, and there was a tornado touch-down very close to my house. The damage started less than half a mile from my house, with the most destruction happening on our high school football field. Normally, I can see the uprights on the South end of the field from my dining room window. Now they are just gone.

It was confirmed as a tornado, with about a mile long path. Our house and property was fine, and oddly enough, there was minimal damage through out town. The bus garage was probably the second worst damaged, and even that wasn't major.

I got my vegetable garden cleaned up tonight and hope to get it planted this weekend. With the strange weather I haven't wanted to transplant the plants I have started just yet, but I've been told after Memorial Day they should be safe. It will be nice to harvest food we grew ourselves and know exactly where it came from and if there was any products used on them. 

Mother's Day

Today is a big day for many people. I am no exception. I have two little boys who both drive me crazy and make me wonder why some people choose not to have children (maybe the two go hand in hand). I didn't think I would become a mother as early in my marriage as I did, but looking back I wouldn't want to change a thing. The boys are close in age, and they are best friends. Over the weekend, they have kept busy with their super hero costumes and imaginations.

I've also been blessed with an amazing mother of my own. When I was younger, she worked only a few days a week. She made clothes for me and I still remember one home-made mermaid costume for Halloween when I was in kindergarten. There was a lot of time spent in the kitchen and garden. To say I've learned a lot from her would be an understatement. 

The days she worked, I would go to my grandma's house. She is also a wise person who has impacted my life in positive ways. Being a farmer's wife, Grandma had plenty to do, and encouraged us kids to play outside. Unless it was raining, we were outside in the sandbox or riding bikes.

 Mother's Day ties in nicely with my new book. The major theme to the story is wanting to become a mother and having family. I was lucky enough not to struggle with having children, but many of my friends have. Children can bring so much joy, it's hard seeing the people who desire it the most not have the opportunity. 

Friday night is my book launch, and I am both excited and nervous. At least I've done one before so I know what to expect. Hopefully the weather is great and we can be outside on the patio at Triple R. If not, they have a nice room where we can go. Hope to see you there!

Spring Clean-up

I love this time of year. There is always something to do around home, and after staying inside most of the winter, it's great to get outside and working again. We purchased our house less than 2 years ago, and this is now our second spring here. There were projects we didn't get to last year, but we're getting a few more done now. 

I got a new flowerbed worked up this past week, and mulched over the weekend. The boys have a new swingset and club house. The chickens are now in their new coup, and the pumpkin patch planted. The brush piles are growing, and once it isn't so dry, we'll be able to have a few nice bonfires. 

With all this, it seems crazy to think my new book will be in my hands within the next 7 days! It seems too soon, but will be nice as I start my round of summer events. I am not doing as many events as last summer- it got to be too much for me and the family. And I want more time for writing my next book :)

Plumbing is not my side job

There are some things nice about old homes. They are built stronger in some ways than new homes. I think back in the 60's when my house was built, the builders used better materials than they do now. Out bedroom has the old thin wood flooring that is hard to find. There is a now unusable laundry chute. 

Then there's the headache of old technology and the fact that things get old and at some point, they need to be replaced or fixed. We've said after this house, and once the boys are out of high school, we're building a house and not fixing any more houses up. We'll see about that.

Enter my Friday night. I was doing some laundry, and found at the end of the washer cycle some very wet clothes. The washer was not draining all the way into the sink, and the sink was clogged. I did my best to open the drain with a wooden spoon handle that was in reach. No progress led me to more ideas. The plunger came out, and I had to try to get one side of the sink covered to make a tight seal for the plunger on the other side. When that didn't work, I realized there was a hose in the sink. Thinking it might work as a snake, I shoved it down the drain. Maybe a little too hard. Water started to leak out of the pipe under the sink.

 This wasn't your normal fiberglass sink. It's concrete and the left side has the old washboard in the side of the sink. I called Brian down to see if he could do something about the pipe leaking, and after some grumbles about old houses, he said the trap needed to be replaced. He started to take it off, and I headed back upstairs. A little while later, he came up and said we had to replace the whole sink because when he tried to get the trap off, the whole drain broke out of the sink. 

I guess I just wasn't meant to do laundry on a Friday night :) 

Better news: my book launch for Trying is scheduled for May 15th at Triple R in Kimball. I'll provide some snacks like I did at the launch for Moving On. Feel free to stop out and watch for more info.

Sometimes I live in a Zoo (or Farm)

It's been a crazy week at our house. There were 2 birthdays and 2 birthday parties. I spent a night away with the boys, treated one for pink eye and got it myself. We also grew our critters by leaps and bounds. Mittens had 5 kittens Saturday/Sunday. There is one that looks just like her. 

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​And then these came along Monday night. The 4 yellow ones will be chicken dinner, and the 3 brown ones should be laying hens. They are currently in my basement, and by the end of this week should be moved outside when the temps are higher. 

Last weekend, I pulled the taps from our maple trees after collecting around 75 gallons of sap to make syrup. I did get some of it cooked down, but it's sure a long process. Friday night I had my fire going for 7 hours, and cooked 10 gallons down to about 2. That's still a long way from being syrup. I even had the fire hot enough to make my blocks around the fire crack.

New book cover and proof should be to the printer by the end of this week.... I can't wait!

Book Progress and signs of Spring

Last week, I was one of many people enjoying the beautiful spring-like weather. We really didn't have a bad winter like last year, but it was long enough to appreciate warm temps and sunshine. The boys and I went for a few walks and a bike ride over the weekend. 

Proof #2 came to me yesterday, and I'm making pretty good progress on reading it over to make any additional corrections. This book is a little shorter than the first one, but without adding too much fluff, I feel it's a complete story. This book takes the same characters from the first book but is told from the perspective of Becca and her husband Boone. They are trying to grow their family with difficulties, and is aptly titled Trying. We're still on track for a May release, and hopefully (fingers crossed) it will be avalible in time for Mother's Day. 

I tried to tap my trees last year for maple sap to make maple syrup, but didn't follow through with it. This year, with a little more knowledge, I have collected over 30 gallons of sap. That sounds like a lot, right? It takes 40 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup. You can learn more about the process and some fun facts at the Minnesota Maple Producers website: www.mnmaple.org