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The Living Without Series

This is a series of posts that I wrote back in 2006 on living with less stuff. Check them out: liv011Living #2liv031liv04

Coal Creek Farm on Facebook

The Chicken Doctor

April

The Architect

Clay

Looky! It’s ME!

Helllllooooooo.  I sort of feel like I could strip naked and walk around in this blog without disturbing a sole, because I’m pretty sure the place has been vacated.

I’m still without a computer.  It’s sucks and at the same time, I don’t really have time to be indignant about it.  However, it is putting some major stress on my camera.  That poor thing needs to unload its contents….or I could get another memory card, but that would mean going to the store and buying one and that’s just not gonna happen.

I’m neck-deep in planning graduation stuff for Ellen.  It’s not overwhelming it’s just that I don’t really know what I’m doing.  I’m making her announcements and the wording seems all funky.  I’ve looked up examples and I still think they all sound weird.  Then there’s the baccalaureate stuff and the open house that the senior parents are hosting and the photos that I need to get together for her slide show, I seem to be missing photos of her from 6th grade through 9th grade and I don’t have many from her toddler years.  I also have to make a memory board and a hurkin’ lot of food and plan a party at our house.  Oh, and Seth is in a play the same week that I’m supposed to be doing something for, but I’m not sure what.  Did I mention we’re trying to talk to a college coach about high jumping in the off-chance that Ellen might be able to join the team?  So, Clay and I are coaching her as best we can, with Clay going to practice and me attending most of the meets.  Clay and I have been calling Ellen’s senior year The Giant Time Suck.  And just in case you forgot, because sometimes I do, there are two small boys in the house that just started boy scouting.  Lord, help the parent that signed them up for that……because he’s exhausted and his wife refuses to hep with the whole scouting business with the exception of hosting a pack meeting and making two cakes, but that’s it, no more help, I mean it, my answer is……maybe I can help you, but it doesn’t mean I’ll be happy about it, but really I mean NO when I say yes.

I would love to brag about all the kids’ accomplishments this year, but ya know…without photos, meh.

In fact here is a photo I found on Clay’s computer, you know, the only computer I can use to blog on these days?   He’s on the roof of a building probably taking measurements for something that needs to be torn down and redesigned or something very architectury….architechtey…archy techy, whatever, he’s doing something on top of a building and he has about 50 more photos of this roof.

How exciting is that?!

Okay, what else?

Maybe I should list things real quick, because who knows when I’ll post again?  And we all know how much I love a list.

1. Seth turned 16.  He’s now a wee bit over 6’3 and he can’t drive without an adult in the car until he’s 17.  I love Kansas, but these new restrictions on ages are killing my boys’ chances of getting a job that doesn’t rely on his mother’s schedule.

2. I did a huglekulture in our back yard.   Google it.  It’s cool.  Except I haven’t planted anything on it yet.  So, basically I just have two mounds of dirt and sticks in my back yard.

3. I cried my eyeballs out at Ellen’s last basketball game and it wasn’t because they lost.  It was because it was her last basketball game…ever.

4. Also, KU lost.  And my town wept, but only after it partied its way to the Final Four and the Championship Game.

5. I think we’re going to foster train some Dexter calves.  More on that if it happens.  And by that I mean, a fence has to happen.

6. Our mower died, which is why we might foster train some cows.

7. Getting a new mower would probably be easier than cows.

8. We never do things the easy way.

9. Speaking of easy, Clay tried to install can lights in our dining room.

10. I say try because now there are two holes in Ellen’s floor and only one of the three lights he installed works.

11.  What we thought would be an easy project has, of course, turned into a bit of a nightmare.

12.  We now have to repair the ceiling in the dining room and the holes in Ellen’s floor.

13. I probably won’t get around to doing either of those things until I’m done painting the bathroom.

14. I ripped out all the wallpaper from our bathroom over Christmas.

15. I started painting the bathroom over Spring Break.

16. Maybe over July 4th I’ll get it finished.

17. Did I mention we’re having a big party here for Ellen’s graduation?

18. Did I say I wasn’t overwhelmed by the whole graduation thing?

19 That was a stupid thing to say.

20. A very stupid thing indeed.

 

The Shallow Grave

This is what I look at when I walk out onto our decaying porch.  It’s supposed to be a brick path, but instead it’s a shallow grave.  Yesterday, when Clay and I were outside trying to decide which project was going to get done first, we saw onc of our barn cats hang his butt over the edge and take a crap…..wonderful, now it’s a big litter box.

I started this project and then Seth took it over.  I tried to help him, but he told me to go back in the house and let him do it.  Who was I to argue?  That was two months ago.

I told him he’s no longer digging a path, he’s digging his grave.  So, he stopped digging.  I wonder when we might get it done?

3 Amigos, Sushi, Ballroom Dancing, and Damn Ramsey in that order.

 

This is Clay laughing at Gary and the dude on the end that you can’t see is Todd.  You can read more about these three amigos in Clay’s Life.

Clay and Gary have known each other since second grade, they lived across the street from each other when they were children.  When they’re together the laughter never stops.  Gary is one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever met.  When we visited St. Louis we spent one evening hanging out at Gary’s house.

Todd came over with his wife and three boys too.  Todd, Gary and Clay have known each other since 7th grade.  These three friends may go long stretches without seeing each other, but they keep in touch via email and occasionally we get to see them.

While they talked and laughed, Levi slept on my lap which is the excuse I’m going to use for all the sucky photos, but I’m sure you all know that’s a big fat lie.  So, day one of St. Louis came to an end, but the fun was only beginning.

The second day we were in St. Louis, Melanie (who had broken her foot the day before, but was swearing that it was just a bad sprang) and I went shopping.  I love shopping with Melanie because she’s my friend that knows all the cheap places.  I bought Ellen a bike for $25 at Goodwill and a wool rug for $15 then we went to the $1 jewelry store and I spent a whopping $10 on bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and hair clips.  It was a fun day.

That night we met a group of old friends for sushi in downtown St. Louis.  I’ve eaten sushi before, but I’ve never gone out to eat just sushi.  This was one of my all time favorite meals and it was priced well at around $8 a roll.  Clay and I tried to re-live it on our anniversary a few weeks ago and we were so disappointed, the St. Louis sushi was supreme, the Kansas sushi…not so much.

 

 

After dinner we headed to the Casa Loma Ballroom where Clay and Richard took this rather awkward photo before going in and setting fire to the dance floor with their fancy-prancy feet.

This is Richard with his wife Anne.  If they could teach the whole world to two-step like they do, the world would be a much happier place.

Clay took Melanie and her broken foot out on the floor.  She wore wedged flip flops, danced, shopped and walked around the city….WITH A BROKEN FOOT!  She danced one dance and then sat and drank beer the rest of the time.

We all danced the night away and were mighty hungry and thirsty when we headed back to the country, so I begged Bryan, who was driving, to stop somewhere.  We finally stopped at Krispy Kreme and the four of us aet all but 2 of the dozen donuts we ordered.  I felt like I was in college again going on a midnight donut run.

The next day we got up and went to church and then had lunch at Richard and Anne’s home.  Bryan and Melanie came along too.  Guess what the topic of conversation was?

And yes, I had to post this photo of Melanie because she always looks way too cute in all the other photos I take of her.

Did you guess?  Did you say DAVE RAMSEY!  Yep, we talked about Damn Ramsey, as I like to say.  Richard, Ann, Bryan and Melanie are hosting a class this fall.  Every one of us has been through the Financial Peace class.   If you don’t know what I’m talking about check out Dave’s site.

If you’ve taken the class and are” living like no one else so that later you can live like no one else” then you know EXACTLY why I call him DAMN Ramsey!

Are you getting tired of all my, “We went to St.Louis over a month ago” posts?  I think I have one more and then I AM DONE!

What can I say?  I’m not very organized when it comes to this blog….or anything else at the moment.  However, I did clean out our little office a couple days ago and it is like living in Paradise.  I won’t let any of my children enter it.  The room is MINE!  It’s full of coupons at the moment, but it’s still organized.

Okay, line up all your chickens and give them a big hug and peck for me!