No fun on the farm today

Today while trying to get photos of our LGD pups, Dillon and Mallory decided to climb those pesky popcorn trees that are around the pond.  Our doe herd is working on them though... Anyway.......If you can see by the picture below, Dillon is not too happy.  He said, "I'm not gonna smile because you won't let me get in the pond." 

I had told him that he wasn't going to get in that nasty pond.  The water is green and nasty looking and the cows get in there and poop in the water.  You know what...he didn't care.

Just look in the background of this photo.  You should be able to see the green water.  What would you have said?

I do want him to have fun on the farm, but I'm not going for the swimming in the pond now....Maybe if it cleared up some......I'm thinking we might get a sample tested to see why it looks so nasty. 

Dillon did cheer up when it came time to check on the cows.  He got on his dirt bike and did a little riding.  He forgot completely about no swimming.

He started giving Mallory tips on how to work the bike and of course she was soaking it all in.  I'm not sure she is ready for that thing.  I made her dad be the bad guy.  She asked me if she could ride the dirtbike now, because "I can ride my bicycle with no training wheels."  I told her those wonderful words, "Go ask your daddy."
He said no for now, but she was content with knowing someday in the future she can show off to her brother how well she can ride!

Saving some green!

I stumbled onto a coupon blog, and it inspired me to try using coupons to save some green around here. I have read up on many sites on how to use coupons correctly (I was amazed at how much I didn't know about them). So I am really excited to show you this deal I got yesterday at Walgreen's.

I got 4 sticks of deodorant, tube of toothpaste, and 2 bottles of dishwashing liquid for $2.16. With their sale prices and with me using coupons I have saved and some I printed off of the internet, caused me to save A LOT! I believe it's worth stocking up on the deodorant when you can get it for $0.50 a stick. I think I ended up having $0.49 in the tube of toothpaste....I am super excited about learning more on saving by using coupons. Take a look below at my stock I'm starting to work on in my utility room.....

Got a great deal on the cereal. It doesn't expire until July 2011. I think the kids can manage to eat this cereal by next summer.

Taco Bell dinner kits ended up being $0.62 cents a piece, so I got a few. Hamburger Helper was $0.67 per box. Dillon insisted that I go ahead and cut out the box tops for education for his school project. That's why there are holes in the boxes.

We won't be needing soup for a while either! I'm definitely stocked up on it. While stocking up on all of these items, I haven't went over on my grocery budget. I'm sure my budget will get better and better each month by having to buy less and less due to having a stock already in the pantry. I hope to be able to keep you up to date on how the couponing is going. It's relatively easy, it just takes a little organization (something I am not the best at), so if I can do it, you can too!

I never shopped at our local Winn Dixie, but when they have their buy one get one free sales, I save SOOO much when I pair them with coupons. It is the best way to go!

Here are some blogs I have read to help in my couponing endeavor:

My Baton Rouge Mommy

Smart Couponing

Couponing to Disney

Jessica's Coupons

Check out them out!

It's already been a great day!!!

The alarm went off at 5:20am......Eggs, grits, bacon cooked......sipped on a delicious cup of coffee........packed lunches.......helped Shane load 10 cows in stock trailer headed for the stockyard......Dillon up and dressed ready for school......all of this before 7 am all going smoothly!! Cows moved better than expected, no goats got in the way (or tried to escape at open gates); I hope this is an indication of how my day will go today, or maybe even this week! Have a great Monday everybody!!!

Fillin' her brother's shoes

Dillon spent the night away last night with his Paw Paw to go fishing. Mallory ended up having to hang out with us today on our "work day" on the farm. (by the way, if you are interested in what we do on our farm....check out our blog here or our website here.) Back to Mallory....she absolutely does not like to wear shoes. I mean not at all!!! Today she decided she wanted to wear a pair of Dillon's boots that no longer fit him. Of course I encouraged her to put them on, just thanking the Lord she decided to put something on those feet without a fight. She enjoyed wearing them for a little while.


Now isn't this just a fashion statement?

She also had to get a little lovin on our goats' guardian dog, Kimba. I think he is such a beautiful dog. Not to mention, I'm so glad to have him around to protect our goats from predators. It's amazing how gentle his is with our family, but how he can be such a "guard dog" when something strange gets out in the pasture. My nephew Noah came over when Paw Paw brought Dillon home. He and Mallory enjoyed a ride on Sally. It has been awhile since we've been able to ride the horses because of the horseflies and the heat. It was a pleasant way to end our afternoon after a hard day's work!

I also wanted to update on the horse Shane bought for me. If you remember he was so starved down when we got him (go here for that story). It has taken all summer for him to get some weight put back on him. I just might be able to ride him soon. I wasn't able to get a picture of the others but they are looking good too. It is such a shame they were in such bad shape, but I am glad they are doing better. Here is an updated picture of Big Red.

Insulating

Yesterday I put up insulation in our "hopefully-soon-to-be" bedroom. I started out with a long sleeve button up shirt to protect my arms from the fiberglass, but I just got too hot, so..........I ended up doing the job with shorts and t-shirt. That was probably the wrong thing to do.....Actually it was the wrong the to do. I didn't think I was ever going to stop itching last night. Those little fibers get everwhere.

Today I will use a little common sense and keep my skin covered so I can finish the rest of the closet and bathroom. ;)

Family reunion

We have been so busy this past few weeks. Yesterday we had a family reunion for Shane's side of the family ( Keller's). I think they ended up counting about 64 people that showed up. It was real nice to sit around and visit with everybody and enjoy all of that GOOD food! Prepare yourselves, there are a lot of photos.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dressing

This is what we had for supper last night......I decided why wait until the holidays to make this dish! It was delicioso! I found this recipe in a Southern Living cookbook I bought several years ago, and have made this dish for the past 3 years at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is so easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
6 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread (not the sweet version)
8 firm white bread slices, torn into pieces
2 (14 -ounce) cans chicken broth
2 (10 3/4-ounce ) cans cream of chicken soup
1 medium onion, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp. ground sage
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened

Combine first 11 ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 5 quart round slow cooker. Dot evenly with butter. Cover and cook on HIGH 3 to 4 hours or on LOW 7 hours or until set. Stir well before serving.

(Sorry so late to post this.....We had a power outage last night....That kind of stuff is always happening around here. We also had no water during the day yesterday for a few hours. ahhhh the joys of living in the country! I wouldn't trade it though.)