This 'n that

Sorry for the relative silence during the past few days, I've had a loopy week of deadlines (four to be precise).

The quarterly Dexter cattle magazine I edit went out the door Tuesday (that's Ruby and Victoria on the front cover)...

...and then today I had two articles and a column due. Phew.

With all this hard stuff done, I'll have a chance to catch up on the blog. I have tons of photos I want to put up and which I hope to get to this weekend.

Meanwhile I woke up to a nice surprise this morning: the regional newspaper, The Coeur d'Alene Press, ran an interview with me about the Simplicity Primer.

After a couple weeks of relative quiet, my publicist has another round-robin of radio interviews for me this month. There's even talk about flying me to Florida next month for (gulp) a television appearance. I'll keep everyone posted.

Busy day

This was what my Monday was like. While I won't say every day is like this, it's by no means unusual.

Up at 4:30 am. We have a shipment going out via FedEx this morning, and I still had a batch of tankards to test (for leaks). Then I tagged all 45 pieces and packed the box. Done by 7 am.

7 am - 8:30: Drink my tea, read the news (online), read my emails.

7:30: Don leaves on errands, etc. that will keep him from home all day.

8:30 am: go find Matilda (as usual, in the farthest corner of the property) and bring her in for milking. Done by 9:15.

9:15: Take the dogs for their usual 1.25 mile walk.

10 am: Peel tankard bodies out of the hoses and duct tape used to clamp them together (the girls helped with this). Mark bottoms. (It's hard to see, but the boards are marked with six-sided shapes, one for each tankard, all numbered.)


Start what will be the first of three loads of laundry.


11:45 am: Finish out the batch of cream cheese I started last night (it ripened overnight). The bag hangs to drip dry for about twelve hours.


Yield: about 1 3/4 lbs.


12 pm: schoolwork with the girls. Today it's math, science, history, geography.

2 pm: Cut tankard bottoms (100 in all).



3 pm: Sand bottoms of tankards.


(The ones in the crates have their bottoms sanded; the ones on the floor are next.)


4 pm: Dishes. Before:


After:


4:30 pm: Haul the tankards upstairs (we do a lot of piece work upstairs in the great room). Oldest daughter visits the neighbors. Youngest daughter (who has a cold) sorts and stacks the tankard bottoms.

5 pm: Start gluing on bottoms.


6 pm: Break for an hour workout (20 minutes on elliptical trainer, 20 minutes stretches/crunches/strength, 20 more minutes on elliptical trainer, pant wheeze).


7 pm: Time to get Matilda (as usual, in the farthest corner of the property) and bring her in for milking. Done by 7:30. Kids feed and water chickens and refill livestock tanks.

7:30: Strain and chill the milk. Take the dogs on their (shorter) evening walk - about 3/4 mile. Back upstairs to continue gluing.

9:30: Don gets home. Put the kids to bed. He comes upstairs to help me finish gluing on bottoms. Done by 11 pm


11:15 pm: Finally take a desperately-needed shower.

11:30 pm: Hair soaking wet, stay up and read emails until hair is dry enough to braid for bed.

Midnight: Bed

What I didn't get done yesterday: Make butter, make English muffins, work on cleaning the barn. Another day.

Oh...and the obligatory Cute Puppy Pic:

Busy day today....

Took the car in for brake work. Home. Took the kids to music and sewing lessons. Wrote most of my WND column during their lessons. Home. Washed and hung two loads of laundry (windy and chillier today, hopefully they'll dry). Squeezed in history and math. Made a two-pound batch of cheddar. Made three pounds of butter. Made two quarts of eggnog. Made piecrust cookies.

Pooped.

Busy Day

Busy day today.

Milked the cow. Twice.

Fed all the livestock. Twice.

Fed the kids. Twice. (Okay, three times.)

Made English muffins. Double batch.

Made cheese. Mozzarella.

Made butter. Two pounds.

Played Spoons and Monopoly with progeny.

*Yawn* Off to bed.

Sometimes I forget I have a blog to keep up on....

Sorry.