Corn....Beans....Carpet

It has been a long time since I had time to sit and write anything on here...We have been so busy this fall, it has been crazy.

Big Sis is now done with cheerleading and has a couple of week break before she starts Dance Line, so she is enjoying not having any practice for a few days..

Big Bro is getting all geared up to take his friend to the homecoming dance this weekend and we got all his dress clothes lined up.

Little Bro is growing like a weed...Hard to belive in less than a month he will already be 3 years old...It is amazing how much happens to those kids in 3 years! We have all the supplies for his Bob the Builder party, including plastic hard hats for the littles to wear. Need to just get those invitations sent out and we should be good!

Harvest is going well. We are done with wheat, edible beans, soybeans, and have started on the corn. Traditionally the sunflowers are done before the corn is ready, but not this year, we have had such a nice end of September and beginning of October so it hasn't had a good freeze to shock the sunflowers into drying down. We also got our grain dryer installed and we are putting it to use drying down the corn.

House projects are on the agenda for the last month or so. New carpet is being installed in our living room next thursday and so we are painting the living room and dining room this weekend. I am excited, we have lived here for 8 years and have never done anything with the living room so it is time. Plus we got a bigger TV and a smaller entertainment stand, so now there is more room in our living room, which helps.

I am looking forward to the few months, lots of big things on the Horizon including having my massive family over for Thanksgiving. A trip to the Twin Cities to do some Christmas Shopping. Another trip to the Twin Cities in December to see the Vikings Play. And last but definately not least the hubby and I are going away on a 4 day cruse in January. I am very excited I have never been on a cruise before...It should be fun.

Feeling Blue

This time of year inevitably makes me feel a little blue, we are coming up on the 4th anniversary of my mom's death. Four years ago about this time we were all fighting our demons. My mom had incurable lung cancer and had gone thru all the Chemo that her body would allow, and it didn't help at all. She was in and out of the hospital and barely clinging on. I was trying to manage all the day to day aspects of her care, plus my own 2 kids, and a job, and hubby, etc...I was failing miserably. I felt such horrible guilt, while my whole focus was on making mom comfortable I felt like so many of my family were only focused on what we could do to make mom better, I knew there was no making it better, and I felt like a really horrible person for wanting it to just be over for her.

My mom was a very complicated person, on one hand the most loving and generous person you would ever meet, she loved her family, children, and grandchildren more than anyone could imagine, but she was never able to really be happy. I knew that she didn't want to go, but at the same time she was suffering so much. It took a very wise man (thanks Father Wilhelm) to make me believe it wasn't wrong for me to want her to pass. It was not from selfishness for me, it was for wanting her suffering to be over. We are now a year and a half past my father also passing from lung cancer. Some days it all still feels fresh and raw and horrible, and other days it is just okay. My mother was my best friend...I told her everything, so there is still not a day that goes by that I don't miss being able to share with her, and tell her about all the wonderful things that happen to me and the kids...I know she is watching and I hope she is proud. We have always said that drew was grandma judy's miracle baby, and every time he crawls in my lap and tells me he wuv's me, I know that her love didn't go when she did, that it continues in the heart of everyone who ever loved her, and even in one little boy who only points to her picture and said gmma judy!

Harvest Time

Well I have been MIA lately mainly due to harvest being in full swing! We have gotten a good start on our wheat crop and I can honestly say both Jeff and I are happy with the quality and quantity of the wheat so that is good. Little Bro has been in his element, with all of the trucks, tractors, and combines in full swing, he is having a blast. We usually take him out to the field a couple of times a day and he gets to ride in the combine with his daddy. He is getting brave now, he asks to drive the combine :)

Speaking of Little Bro, he has had a busy couple of weeks, we have been working on getting him toilet trained, and we are *almost* there. For the most part he does an excellent job, but every once in a while forgets what he is supposed to do. So it is nice not to have to change diapers anymore.

Big Bro and Big Sis are getting all geared up for the new school year it starts in 11 days. I don't think either of them are really all too excited to go, but we have registration coming up this monday so we can review what classes they are taking and such, I think we will be doing some switching with Big Sis, she is not happy with the class choices that she made this spring.

Today has been busy, but it is the first day in quite a while where I have been actually able to be home and not have it be 95* outside, it is nice and cool with a good breeze so I took this opportunity to make 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 2 loaves of banana bread. Hope they all turn out!

Vacation

Well we just got back on Wednesday from our summer vacation. We went on a tour of South Dakota. We started out from our house and meandered down to De Smet first, it is one of the homesites for Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have been reading her books since I was in second grade, and to this day still read the entire series at least once a year. I told Jeff that she was my imaginary friend and I spent lots of my childhood wishing I were her. We got to tour the origional Ingalls homestead area, her parents home, and see the graves of her family. It was neat. Some day I am going to get to Missouri and see her final farm there.

Next day we took off and headed to Mitchell, there was the corn palace, that was such a disappointment, but we got to spend some time swimming in the pool so that was good.

Next day we went to Rapid City and that is where most of our time was spent, we went and saw Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial, Bear Country USA, The Reptile Gardens...Went on the presidential Alpine slide, basically it is a chair lift to the top of one of the big hills, then you go down a big concrete slide in a scooter....I am terrified of heights so the ride up was pretty nerve racking, but the slide down was a hoot! I loved the beautiful scenery in the black hills, it is a world away from the flat land of our farm. I imagined what it would have like to have been a pioneer there.

We finally meandered to Bismarck North Dakota, and spent a night there in a neat hotel with a 2 story waterslide, that was really fun, and then headed home. So now we are just trying to get back into the swing of things at home. We should start harvest in about 2 weeks so lots of last minute preparations for that and I "think" our new grain dryer will be getting installed this week as well.

Home at Last

Here are some pictures from the lake...many more on FB but these are cute so thought I would share. I have always thought it was a little crazy how both for Jeff and I , going places is so much fun, but it is always just as fun to come home to our own house. We got back mid-afternoon from the lake and it was obvious to everyone that we were all really glad to be home. Big Bro and Big Sis disappeared upstairs to their space, Lil Bro spent most of the evening listening to his favorite movies and playing with his cars and tractors on the floor, and Jeff and I just relaxed.

Crops are looking decent, all jeff's hard work of spraying for weeds has helped clean up our fields nicely, and all of our wheat is headed out and some of the fields are already starting to turn from Green to Gold...that means harvest isn't too far away!

We had a great 4th of July at the lake, lots of swimming, tubing, paddleboating and sun! Lots of Good Food and family, couldn't have asked for nicer weather...well there was the 5 inches of rain on Saturday night, but we were snug in the camper so it didn't really bother us that much.

Got home and I am getting flowers on my tomato plants, and my corn is now knee high, my radishes are the size of big marbles, so that looks promising...oh and my blueberries are starting to turn blue on the tree...Little Bro is VERY excited about that.

Can't wait to see what we actually harvest from it.

Summer=Crazy

In our house nice weather equals craziness!! When the sun is shining that means that Daddy is absent and working hard, which means mommy is working hard as well making sure things are running smooth...not always and easy task with 3 kids, 8 animals, one ramshackle farm house, and a hired man. :) Some days I have time to sit and actually talk to my friends via email, and maybe read a chapter or two of a book, and there are days I am lucky if I get 5 minutes to go to the bathroom myself!

The last week has been action packed. Lots of yard work.. Got our lawn mowed again this week, which is no small accomplishment, it takes about 3 hours to get it all done on the rider, got my flower beds weeded again, and got a few more veggies planted in my garden and got that weeded as well. The garden and I are still in that hate/hate state...It still wants to grow grass and I want it to grow vegetables.

Got to spend some time with just the boys hanging out as Big Sis was gone visiting family. It is always interesting being the only female in a house full of boys!

Tomorrow am we are getting up early, packing up and hopefully going to be on the road by 10am to the lake. My inlaws have a camper across the road from my Aunt in laws cabin at a resort, and the kids and I love spending time there, we never seem to get there as much as we want, but try to make the most of the time we get there. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and hope you all stay safe!

Skunks....Music....And Dad's

Well this week we had a visit from one of the lovely creatures that frequent the country....Skunks...unfortunatly for us it was not a friendly visit. It got into our barn and killed three litters of baby kittens. So sad for the momma kitty but honestly I am having a hard time feeling too bad because that makes for less barn cats and so we don't have to take care of them. We have tried to catch the females to take them into the Vet to get them fixed so that we wouldn't have to worry about litters of kittens, but they are feral and catching them is near to impossible.
A skunk also found its way into the yard of our neighbors but big brother happened to be there and he took care of it with their rifle...Pretty sure it was rabid as it had no fear of humans or their great dane. He didn't get our skunk though.

Talking about shooting skunks always reminds me of my father...He was the kind of guy that was very no nonsense...if it was a critter causing problems it had to be dealt with. When I was younger I thought this was so horrible and cried for the animals that he shot, but now that I am an adult, I understand the reasoning and the logic behind it. It has been just over a year since my father passed away and there isn't a single day that goes by that I don' t think about him in some way. And since tomorrow is Fathers Day it is fitting that I think about him tonite.

Thinking of my Father invariably leads me to thinking about growing up. My family loved music and I sang with my mom and dad all the time. My mom always had music playing in the house and I have a love for music because of that. My father only listened to Country music and considered anything else noise. I however have an appreciation for all types of music, a fact that brought me to put my ipod on shuffle this afternoon and write down the first five songs that played...This is what played:

1. Dixie Chicks-Hole in my head.

2. Eminem- Shake That A$$

3. Michael Buble- Just haven't met you yet

4. Lady Gaga-Bad Romance

5. Flo Rida- In the Ayr

So with that I will call it a night...Hope all the dad's out there have a great fathers day and for those with their dad's still with them...appreciate them even when they drive you nuts, because in their own way and in their heart they love you and when they aren't there you WILL miss them.

Ramblings

Well it has been another exciting or not so exciting (depending on your point of view) week at McMahon farm. The kids and I went to Bismarck last weekend to see some friends. It was alot of fun but hectic and noisy. But I suppose that is going to happen when you have 7 adults and 8 kids doing anything as a group! On the way home I let Big Brother drive, as he said he knew where he was going, and I promptly fell asleep (2 nights up till 2am will do that to you). Well he missed a turn and we ended up taking the scenic route home. He was quite embarressed but I found it funny!

This week has been hectic with farming as Jeff has been trying to get the last of the crops in the ground, but of course the weather is not cooperating. I think we finally have everything planted that we are going to get planted though. He worked till almost midnight last night and figures we have about 70 acres that won't get put in because of the rain that has been falling all morning again. But as I told him 70 is preferable to the 300 we were looking at last week.

Big Brother has been spending lots of time being a "manny" for the neighbor so that sucks up his evenings, but he likes the money that is coming in for sure.

Big Sis has been helping out more and more on the farm and seems to enjoy it, but is worried they are going to try to make her row crop cultivate and the thought of having to drive straight is scaring her!

Drew has hit a cranky stretch and I now remember why you should have kids closer together than 3 years, because when they reach this stage they make you reconsider ever having more!! It is like living with jekyl and hyde some days! Potty training has completely stalled, he thinks it is hilarious to pee on his character underwear, so we have put that aside for now and am going to try again in a few weeks, if he asks to go to the potty I will definatly let him but I am not going to push it.

As for me I am trying to get some projects taken care of, I am thinking about enrolling drew in gymnastics so called and got the specifics on that today, also need to contact a contractor about our upstairs, we need to do some upkeep this winter and I need to get that lined up before he books too far into the spring! Oh and I also need to start looking for a new house for our students...the one they have is not adequate and so one more thing to my list....It will all get done eventually right???

Oh and my garden is sucking wind. All of my cantelope and watermelon died, as did all of my peas. So at the moment I have tomatoes, corn, radishes and one pumpkin plant...we will see how long those live!!

SLOW DOWN!!

My mind has been screaming that at me for a couple weeks! I just get so busy sometimes that I think it was almost easier when I had a "real" job! There is no end to the things that need to be done. Some of them I will admit are completely self inflicted. I planted our garden finally. We picked a spot and got it all tilled up, right now I am fighting with the sod...it is really tough but then so am I, we will see who wins out! I finally got a plant back in our planter in the yard. We have trouble keeping things alive in that planter for some reason.

We are still attempting to potty train drew...that has been a process. He knows what he is supposed to be doing, but has trouble wanting to do it! He thinks it is funny to mess up his big boy pants, which is very frustrating for me, but at the same time I keep telling myself he is only 2.5 years old! I have time!

It has been stressful here the last few weeks, we have had alot of rainy days and so we still don't have the crops all in. We are getting near deadlines to make for crop insurance, so jeff is going a little crazy. Not that there is anything we can do but still we worry. The added rain has added a new problem. The water table is so high that we have water coming in from the old well and basically running into our basement...Not what we were expecting after spending BIG bucks to have the basement walls redone this winter, but we will just add another #4 sump pump into the old well and pump the water level down to manageable and hope that helps!

It is our 11th anniversary this Saturday, and in true McMahon fashion, jeff will hopefully be planting and the kids and I are going to be out of town. We never actually do anything on our anniversary anyway, and we are having a get together with one of my good friends.

Summer Fun

I am starting to think that summer has finally decided to come and stay in ND! The temps last week were gorgeous and the boy and I got some really good time outside. I think this week we are going to drag out the pool and fill it up.

Not so good part about summer is that the mosquitoes, flies, and bees are out. I hate using bug spray on myself and the boy cause it is stinky and sticky, but the alternative is swollen, itchy bumps from the mosquitoes so I guess we will be using it. Today I had a run in with a couple of bees. I was in a sweater set and was outside weeding my flower beds, I had gotten warm and took off the sweater and laid it on the lawn chair. After weeding I decided to put the sweater back on and stuck my arm in the sleeve, and BAM! Two bees were in there and decided it was theirs and so stung the underside of my right arm! OUCH! I had forgotten how much it stinks to have a bee sting!

Other big news this week is that I am kinda sorta working on potty training with the boy. He will most times pee in the potty upon request but no poop yet, and has only once told me when he has to go. But still big progress for us. Hoping by midsummer to have him trained so that we are completely out of diapers for the hot months of july, august, and september!

Big kids have three days of school this week and then they are out for summer vacation. They are very excited, me not so much! They both have summer jobs that will require some of their time, but I have a feeling there will be plenty of "I'm Bored" I don't do well with that! I have our late summer vacation planned for July. We are going down to South Dakota for about 5 days and will be visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, Pa's homestead, and all that stuff in De Smet. And then will be visiting Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial too. I am excited, I don't think Big Brother is very excited though, he told me that it sounds like a vacation for old people....Sigh... Every vacation can't be disney you know!

So work wise, the farm is pretty well caught up, I think that in the next few weeks we should be done planting so that is a good thing, but then we will quickly move on to row crop cultivating, and spraying for weeds. Never ending work on a farm you know. Found out that we are being audited by our crop insurance company, just a routine audit, but makes me crazy, my first year home on the farm doing books and I am being audited!!

Well I think I am going to have to find something suitable for dinner, get the boy off the floor where he is whining, and clean up the mess from not cleaning all weekend!

Manic Monday

Well Monday has found me again...So much going on don't know where to start.

Had a very good but busy weekend. Saturday the Big Boy and I went to Grand Forks on the hunt for garage sales. We found some! Hit about 30 of them, most of them in a 4 block radius. Got the little boy his summer, and part of his winter wardrobe! The big boy and sister got some stuff too, all in all a very productive trip. Then spent the late afternoon and early evening working on flower beds. I have a love hate relationship with them. I LOVE flowers, I really try hard to make them work, but I am just not very good at them. I am hoping now that I have a little more time to tend them that they will live longer than a few weeks. We will see.

Sunday brought church and visiting with the great grandparents. I love my hubby's grandparents. They have been so wonderful to me and my children. I get sad thinking of the day there will be no more sunday treats at grandma's. But at 87 years for the both of them, we know those days are precious and limited. I am just thankful that my kids have all gotten to know them and love them. Sunday after lunch was mowing. I mowed for 3 hours and burned my face and neck mighty handily. The sad part is I am not even close to done. I have at least 3 more hours worth of mowing, weed eating, etc. before I am done.

Today I am attempting my mountain of laundry, and cleaning the house, in between taking care of my sick boy. He has been running low grade fevers on and off for about 4 days, and now his nose is permanently on run, and his cough is just getting worse, he is getting a rattle in his chest so we are heading out to the doc this afternoon to be checked. I am a little paranoid about his lungs after having so much trouble when he was so little with RSV. Paranoid maybe, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Mothers Day

Well another mothers day has come and gone. Mothers Day is always a little bittersweet for me. My mother passed away 3 years ago and there isn't a single day that goes by that I still don't miss her. She was a very strong woman and she told it like it is. Thinking of her always makes me sit and contemplate the relationship I have with my own kids. While growing up I knew my parents loved me but always wondered why they had to be so strict...Now that I am a parent I understand and I have tried to make my kids understand, but they like me will have to just learn from experience. I would not say that my mom and I were ever "friends", but she was always there for me to listen, to advise, and to love me and my children unconditionally. She was so kind and generous to everyone. She came from a very large family, she had 13 brothers and sisters so she new how to share that is for sure. As I get older it is weird for me because as gain a little weight and get a few laugh lines, it strikes me how much I look like her.

My youngest drew never got to meet her. In fact I am pretty postive the only reason we have drew is because she bent the ear of the big guy! From the time my husband and I started dating she would needle him and I repeatedly about having a baby. I had two children from before I met him and so we said we weren't having children. She hated when we would say that. As the years passed we always thought she would give up, but she never did. When she got cancer and got really sick, she still gave us grief. Well about 2 weeks before she passed away, I was sitting with her in her hospital room talking about this and that, and out of the blue she looked at me and said "you know when I die, and I get to heaven, I am going to be an angel, and I am going to make sure you give me a new grandbaby" I just laughed it off........Yeah, 6 months to the day my mother passed, I found out I was pregnant with drew. So he is grandma's miracle baby, and she got to hear me cuss her out all the way to the hospital while I was in labor! I look into his sweet little face and it pains me that he will never be able to sit in her lap and have her love on him like she did the big kids....she wanted him more than all of us combined, I hope she is looking down enjoying every minute of his antics!

Sick and Feeling Guilty

Well the spring sickies have found me. Sore throat, stuffy nose, no energy. I get one every year. I know it will be short lived, but that brings me to the guilty part. Every since I started staying home to work, I have a guilt complex. I know that between doing the farm books, keeping the house clean, and chasing a 2.5 year old I keep plenty busy....But for some reason I feel the need to defend what I have been doing all day to people, my husband, father in law etc. I know that they don't expect me to be running like a chicken with my head cut off 24 hours a day, but at the same time I feel almost guilty if I sit and read, or watch a tv show, or check my facebook page. Why is that? I never used to have guilt about anything for any reason. I always considered it a character plus to not care, but now it has intruded into my life, and I don't think I like it.

So the not caring, and the caring part of my brains wage war...On the plus side, I do get alot done out of guilt, but on the negative side, I feel a little cranky at my family cause they all get to come home after work/school and relax and I am still working! I know I will eventually come to some sort of level where I feel comfortable with sitting once in a while and still getting alot done.

Old Friends

The last couple months I have been looking back at my life and looking at all my accomplishments and mistakes. It makes me think of old friends I have lost touch with. So I decided in this age of information technology there is no reason that I couldn't reconnect. So on to Facebook search I went. It amazed me how quickly I was able to find two cousins and my BFF from high school. The cousins were an easy add...but I really had to think about adding the BFF. She and I were as close as sisters. We did everything together and in fact were able to finish each others sentences. Then grown up life kinda intruded...I let her live in my house, she didn't take care of it...my boyfriend didn't like her...or her boyfriend. I left my boyfriend and messed around all while in her company, you know those type of 18 year old shenanigans. But it was enough to ruin our friendship, we stopped talking and she moved away and I haven't seen her for almost 16 years.

I missed her and I think more to the point I am kinda nostalgic for the girl I was when I knew her. I was so confident and carefree. I was convinced that I was going to take on the world and conquer it. Don't get me wrong I completely love how my life has turned out...but it is not the life I thought I would have. So I sent her a message and added her as a friend. It will be interesting to see if she adds me as well. What do you say after 16 years of not talking when you ended on bad terms. I guess we will just have to play it by ear.

Work or Fun

So since I started working for the farm I am torn between doing farm work and actually taking a day off. There is never an end to the piles of bills coming in, the papers that need to be signed and the contracts that need to be gone over...Luckily for me so far hubby has to be the one to sign the contracts! But today I had planned to go to my hometown and visit my brothers family and see their newest little addition. But as I sit here I realize that I can't take a whole day off without feeling guilty, so my day trip has been scaled back to a half day trip and I am going to attempt to tackle the farm bills....that is if little boy here will cooperate, he is as we speak screaming my name and blowing on a wooden flute!

We are still waiting for the exchange student to get his social security card...it has been applied for but we kinda need a social security number to pay him, and well he needs to be paid...so pretty sure I just broke the law and entered a false SS# into our payroll system till we get his....it is not like I stole some random persons number, I used my hubby's! But that way I can at least get him a paycheck...

Yesterday I did the mountain of laundry that accumulates from 5 people in one house....If I counted correctly I did 8 loads...and those are front load washer loads...and I still have one in the dryer and one in the washer to finish...Now I know why those old time families with 15 kids only let their kids have 2 outfits...less to wash!

Still trying to get back on track here after having my best friend come visit...it is really easy to stay connected to her thru email...but then we get to see each other and I realize how much I miss just having her around...It is just not the same to tell her something funny over email, when I know in person she will wrinkle her nose and squinch up her eyes and it will be twice as funny!

Okay off to tackle those bills and payroll, and maybe get a shower before I head out.....

Shopping Day

Well most people think of shopping that they do for fun, or even out of necessity a couple of days a week. Since I quit my job, I have limited myself to going shopping one day a week. There are a couple of pretty significant reasons why.

1. I live 45 miles from the nearest shopping. (yes there is a grocery store 18 miles away but that is it!) I don't want to make that kind a drive on a regular basis. It costs me approximately $8.67 in gas each time I make the trip to GF. So I shop once a week, and try to make the most out of that trip.

2. I still take the little boy to daycare one day a week so he can interact with all his little buddies and so he doesn't get complete mommy burn out, and so I don't go completely crazy as well. Shopping is a much more pleasant experience when I am not lugging a 2 1/2 year old around during nap time.

3. It saves money, when I am forced to plan out meals a bit and not run to the store on lunch to fill time, I buy significantly less.

So today once I get out of my jammies I will be getting the little boy ready to go to daycare and then heading off to GF. I do look forward to it, just cause with being a SAHM and working with my hubby, it is one of the very few times I get to be completely alone. I don't have to fetch, print, or run anyone between fields.. It is kinda nice...plus I get to eat hot dogs from Sam's club for lunch and that is a guilty pleasure!

Well this is my first blog so I guess I should start by introducing myself a bit. My name is Cary and I live in very rural North Dakota. I live 18 miles from the nearest town with my husband and three children. I recently decided that working on the farm with my husband and taking care of my kids was the life that I really wanted and quit my job. It so far has been a wonderful decision. I wanted to start a blog so that I could really keep track of my life and so that my extended family could keep track of us as well. Plus I really think that there are so many misconceptions about farmers and stay at home mom's, my hope is that someone might read this blog and have those misconceptions shattered and realize that neither of those professions is what they believed. I don't always promise that my stuff will be interesting, but I always promise that it will be truthful.