Slaters' Funny Farm

 As I was looking through my posts today, I see that I have failed my readers. Many of you were aware that my other daughter was pregnant and going to deliver in July, I am sure those of you that knew are wondering why I never posted about that and I must say that life has just gotten in the way, and I thought that I had written a post. Since I know I did not, I will now! He came when Mamaw was out of town! Can you believe that? He actually had the nerve to do something so ridiculous as to come while I was at the Pink Zebra reunion (our annual conference). I was with four of my best friends when we got the announcement that he was here! I was so happy that I was able to share that news with them before anyone else. Of course, the leaders of the company were there and anxious to hear how she was doing as well.  Deliver went fairly smooth, but she was in labor for quite a while. I am not sure on hours, but I think about 6 hours. There were some issues with my daughter following delivery

 Here's another poem that I have read that I want to share with you.  LET THEM KNOW Written by Grace Easley Let somebody know you're caring Take the time to listen to What they want so much to tell you, For the gentle folks are few You are not so high and mighty, That you cannot spare a smile. For you never know when you might Need somebody after-while. Let somebody know they matter, Do not turn and look away, You will someday have to answer, For the things you do today. Never be in such a hurry, That you have no time to do A kindly deed, else someday God ... Might not have time for you.  Read this and think about these words. How many times are we guilty of being too busy or too stressed, mad, sad, etc. to say a kind word to a stranger or smile at someone. Do you often forget to say "Have a nice day" to that kind (or unkind) cashier, waitress, young mother with a screaming child? We are all guilty of it, but do we ever not want God to have time for us. 

 Here is a poem by Ruth Scarbrough that I found in a small poetry book that I want to share today.  Today Tomorrow may bring sorrow or care For things can happen Most anywhere; But don't fret what might be Just savor this day; It's God's gift to you to use as you ay.  Be happy, be helpful, Be prayerful, be strong God is walking beside you  All the day long.

  Happy Monday! Make it a great day to start your new day, week and achieve some goals. 

 This farm girl is taking a break from the busy life here on the farm and heading to Ohio to the Pink Zebra Convention. It will be 2 full days of fun, training, new products, and all of the fun that I can possibly have. I have three friends going with me that I travel with quite often and I am very excited to be going! I will make new friends, catch up with old friends, get to talk with Tom and Kelly (the founders of the company) and experience a lot of true fun times. The trainings are usually fun and yet we learn a lot from them. I will use my time wisely as I want to see some sites while I am there as well.  I have been busy with the animals and garden here at home. I have learned to can and I have canned many pints of green beans, squash, zucchini, and carrots this year. I hope to can some beets when I get home and my potatoes should be ready for me to pick when I return home.  These precious little ones were hatched from our own eggs in our incubator. I adore the middle one and th

 Yesterday and today have been very cool days here on the farm and I must say that something that we don't recognize has been falling from the sky. It is wet and seems to be hanging around. IT is certainly what the ground needed as it seems to have soaked it up almost immediately. Rain, glorious rain!! The ducks are loving their pool and the rain, but I truly don't think that they are liking the cooler temperatures so much. I know I am not. I don't mind cool, but wearing my sweatshirt in June is not fun.  The white turkeys are enjoying the coop that my husband put together for them. We have 5 of them and two others. We won't be keeping all of the toms as we have too many.  Nesting boxes made of milk crates that we had lying around work well attached to the back wall.  Here is Tom. He is such a great boy, but he likes to show off. He gets along well with the chickens.  These are my Old English chickens. I like them as they are small and will never get much bigger. I actu

 As promised, I am going to share some of our zoo photos with my readers here. It was a nice day at a small zoo, but each kid had fun as did the adults.  This past week, we visited  Columbian Park Zoo  in Lafayette, Indiana. It is a seasonal zoo and located right in town near a park and a water park that could easily allow a family to spend a whole day in the three areas and have a lot of fun without breaking the bank. The admission to the zoo for three adults and three kids was with a train ride and feed tickets for the goats was $16!!! This is in front of the farm area. Now, why do farm kids want to see the farm animals? I really don't understand, but it seems that is where they want to head first. Oh, maybe because the baby goats are there and the older goats are all over you and expect feed out of your hand.  These goats are very used to people feeding them and they knew we had feed in our hands. The grands were so excited and of course, my girls have been around goats for seve

Loving You  , Thinking of You, Don't Forget to Pray  by Jacqueline L. Jackson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr shares letters that his mother wrote to him while he was imprisoned for using campaign money for personal expenses in this book. I must say that Mrs. Jackson offers her son amazing advice throughout the book as well as attempts to keep him updated on friends, family, and the world news. Many of these letters are personal and many of them are filled with advice, but her most important words throughout the book are " don't forget to pray" and encouragement to remember that you are important even if incarcerated. The book is a true show of a mothers' love for her son. It also offers a glimpse into life of a loved one that has a son or daughter locked up. It is a nice read and an easy read.  This book was a nice break between the many other books I have been reading for the summer. I would recommend it as a quick read just to remind

 There are so many changes and things happening here on the farm that I can't keep up. We have brought in several new chickens, turkeys, and ducks. I will be picking up three geese this week that my daughter was able to pick up for me yesterday. I will need to post pictures soon.  Our garden is finally starting to look like it has something in it. The lack of rain has made watering a chore and I don't care for that as I have enough to do without taking the time to water on a regular basis. My flower beds need some TLC and I can't seem to even find time for that at the moment. I am enjoying my citronella plant on the porch that has kept the mosquitos at bay for me to be able to sit on the porch most evenings as the weather has been great at night.  I am truly missing my camper, but I don't want to use it till I fix the refrigerator and that will be soon I hope. I need to be busy planning a trip with my granddoll and her mom and sister. We celebrated the coming of the new

 Mother's Day can be such a beautiful day for many people, but I always think of the moms that have suffered losses of children, either in pregnancy, at birth, or at some point in the childs' life.  My heart breaks for them each year as they see others celebrating today. I want to wish each of you that are fortunate enough to have your children a Happy Mother's Day, but I also want those of you that have suffered the loss to know that our prayers are with you today.  I also wanted to share a poem that I read today.  Daily Thought Life cannot make me treasure weeds-- I love each moment's flower-- nor do I feed on future's needs but feast on present hour.  No fearful tear will ever last though hostile storms do glower because the clouds of shadowed past grow bright in new hope's power... as darkness is forever gone when earth has welcomed rising dawn. Eugene G. E. Botelho

 Hi! I'm hoping with this post I can catch you all up on life around the funny farm.  My mom is still battling the infection that sent her to the ER. Fights with insurance has been the norm here and since we could not keep her in the Rehab center, I had to admit her to the facility to be placed into skilled nursing. She can not safely come home and be here if she would be alone. I am hoping this is a temporary placing, but I truly am not sure.  The farm is busy. We have added some new chickens ( which is another story) and some more turkeys. We have built a turkey coop and we have made some rabbit hutches home to some new chickens for the time being. I have quail eggs and I am hoping to purchase an incubator that will allow me to raise some of my own and hopefully sell a few chickens as well.  The garden is planted and I am working on finding a spot that I feel comfortable having a compost bin. I am also planning to add some new wildflowers to the homestead and I am learning some m

Hello! I may finally be able to get back to doing the things that make me happy. Writing my blog, reading what my friends here write and reading. I have finished a couple of books and I want to share that here as well as on Good Reads.  The Coffee Corner by Amy Clipston is book 3 of a 4 part series of Amish Marketplace books and I must say one of the most interesting books I have read recently. I am finding that my love for Amish stories continues to grow with each book that I read. Here is the review that I briefly wrote for Good Reads.  Amy Clipston has completed yet another great story and I am already looking forward to reading other books by her as well. There is one last Amish Marketplace book in this series of 4 and I will be anxious to read it next. Bethany Gingerich works hard along with her cousins at the Amish Marketplace each week. Each one offers something different in their booths, but they love that they are able to see each other and chat each week. Bethany loves her Co

 Hello readers! No, I am not MIA. Yes, I have been for several weeks as I was fighting an illness and now I am in the midst of another health issue, but not one of my own. Although, my husband and I are both feeling quite badly with a sinus infection and allergies. The biggest issue is my mom is in the hospital and is very sick. A week ago Sunday, I called an ambulance to take her to the hospital as she could not get out of bed. She was admitted and it was discovered that she had a Strep A infection in her bloodstream and in her back. She is in severe pain, but is not willing to take the chance of having surgery to drain the infection in her back. She is being treated with IV antibiotics and her vitals are better, but she is in a lot of pain. IV treatment is recommended for 12 to 20 weeks and the doctors are not sure it will give much relief. As of yesterday, she was being transferred from the hospital to continue to treat the infection and so I made the decision that she will go to a

 Well, after a long time of being sick with some kind of infection that spread throughout my body, I can finally say that I am feeling better. I have to apologize though as I was really trying to do the Blog 365, but I just destroyed that plan as I was too sick to write.  I intend to write daily again, but we will see how my health allows that. The doctor truly is not sure of what was going on, but I have taken 6 different antibiotics and here I am feeling a bit better, but not 100% myself. I am thankful that I was feeling well enough to do something with my granddoll while she was on spring break! Well, I better close this and rest again, but I wanted to do a quick update on my health.

 Hello! It  is Thursday and I am sick again. I have some kind of infection that seems to be attacking multiple places at once. I have a UTI, swollen glands in my neck, and multiple other issues. I feel really bad and I have been sleeping a lot. I am supposed to go to a hockey game tomorrow with my daughter, son -in-law and my oldest granddaughter. I am super excited about going as I have never been to a professional hockey game. I hope to go, but we will see how I feel tomorrow. Antibiotics all day today and drinking water and cranberry juice and I hope I will feel better.  I need to be busy planning my daughter's baby shower, but I am just not feeling up to it at this point. I have to get it done before we get so busy that we can't get it planned or worked into the schedule. Summer gets busy with vendor shows and all that comes with that.  Well, I will leave you with a thought for today.

Pink Zebra has offered me a job for 8 years that allows me to travel with my grandkids and enjoy being home. It has allowed me to homeschool my grand for one year and it has given my family an added income. I love the company values and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a way to make some extra money.    I decided that I would use the garden rabbit shade to make a nice Easter tray for a centerpiece for our table. The above photo is the finished product. It shows just how versatile these shades are. Remember our shades are made to go over our Simmering Lights, but I gave it a whole new look doing this.  I started with this. Our amazing Garden Rabbit Shade. It is a rather large shade and I think there are many options for it. I have seen people use it as a kitchen gadget holder, a flower vase holder , and just as a nice rabbit decoration. I had other ideas though.  This is how it is normally used. You simply place it over one of our Simmering Lights. It just changes the

 With all the new happenings here on the farm, I am finding that I have more chores to do. We got two new roosters last night and so they needed to be added to the chicken coop today, but one of our roosters had to be taken out as he did not want new roosters in his pen. So rooster sitting was added to my list for a bit.  The new coop requires that cleaning is done more often and it also means that we check the heat lamp daily and we check for eggs a little more often now as well. I don't need to, but I just enjoy checking them more often. I finally got an egg gathering apron and I was anxious to use it!  We have 24 baby chicks as well, so that means that we must do a little more feeding as well. It also means checking that they are all thriving in their new homes. Just like having a small child- they need to be checked on a fairly regular schedule. There is medicated feed to be given to them and fresh water more often than the bigger chickens.  Of course, there are still many chor

 Good Afternoon! What a busy day it has been here on the old funny farm. I am exhausted just thinking of all that I have accomplished since 6 a.m. I realized that I had to get my Happy Homemaker post written though or it would be Tuesday instead. Happy Homemaker is a series of posts by women that are proud to be homemakers and it is hosted each week by Sandra at  Diary of a Stay At Home Mom *** THE WEATHER*** Cold, snowy and truly not looking like it did just a week or so ago when it seemed as though spring was here. I am very disappointed with the weather, but I know Mother Nature is testing us to see how upset she can possibly make us before spring gets here. I just hope that she has not destroyed all of my beautiful flowers that were starting to bloom.  *** AS I LOOK OUT MY WINDOW *** Gloomy, snow flurries and windy. What more could you possibly say about winter. It looks cold outside. I do see a cardinal on the bird feeder and I believe it is shivering where it sits.  *** RIGHT NOW