Cuttin' the Chives

OK, folks, I don't want to bore you, but PLEASE don't forget to vote for JiJi (The McNew Family)!

For your viewing pleasure today you get to see Miss JiJi cutting the chives to put on the baked potatoes tonight.

Meet Janelle!

Hi, my name is Janelle, and I love to contribute my milk to make yummy cheese!

Miss JiJi named this goat after her beloved buddy from camp this summer.  Yup, she loves the both to the moon and back!

After milking, and a few other small steps, the thickened milk is placed in cheesecloth and allowed to drain.

12 hours later - yummmmmmmy!  This is some of the garlic and dill batch - usually the fav.  If you have ever tasted goat products in the store - PLEASE don't think this tastes anything like that.  We tried some from the store, and without being graphic, it made us want to run to the throne!  YUCK.

Please take a moment and make sure you have voted for JiJi today - The McNew Family - is how it is listed.  We are sadly near the bottom of the pile.  Consolation - I know that whichever child ends up winning - they are well deserving of such a fine piece of technology!

Dona Nobis Pacem

Fresh Blackberry Pie

Life can't get much better - we just went out into the back forty, picked some fresh blackberries, and now the girls are making their own pies!


Don't forget to cast your vote today!!!!!! 

 http://www.wonderbaby.org/backpacking-smart-brailler-vote

First you stir in some sugar and thickener . . . . .

then

Smoky Basil Cheese

OK - here is a voting poll of a different sort -

I am over run with goat milk and making a fresh batch of cheese every day. The stand-by has always been Garlic Dill. We just tried Southwest, which was a hit. 

This batch is Smoky Basil - what do you think? 

I am considering Spiced Apple - perhaps a morning bagel spread?

Any combinations that you can think of?

Want to come to a sampling party?

What is this?  Two lovely ladies have come to my sampling party?  How delightful!  What a beautiful day this is!

Oh, don't forget to vote for JiJi and the Smart Brailler today!  Just click on the image of Marty on the right sidebar and you will be directed to the poll.  Please don't hesitate to post the link on your blog/FaceBook/whatever the rest of the social media options exist!

Hot Dogs in a Biscuit

Sounds perfectly disgusting to me, but a great cooking project for JiJi! Please ignore the incubator in the background. Doesn't every kitchen hatch eggs?

Voting has Begun

The time has come for voting!

One of the six well-deserving children will be selected to receive a Perkins Smart Brailler.  

Adelyn would LOVE to have your vote to be selected to have this awesome tool in her literacy journey.

The voting ends on September 8 and the winner will be announced on September 9th!  We have the opportunity to cast a new vote every 24 hours, so don't forget to go back each day and vote again.  Here is the link that will take you to the voting poll:

http://www.wonderbaby.org/backpacking-smart-brailler-vote

If you are on FaceBook, or any other group that might be willing to join in the voting, would you please share the link for me?

Thanks so much!

JiJi and the Chick

Another new little creature joins The Crew and JiJi checks it out.

Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo

Well, Mr. Marty's flight home left today. Today is a spelling test, so prehistoric Perky (the "dumb" braillewriter) came out. Although JiJi was TRYING to make a sad face for you, she couldn't stop giggling!

Challenge. We are working in a little math on the spelling tests. Each correct word on the test earns a dime. I challenged the Loolies this week. If they could ALL get 100%, I would give them each an additional $0.25! Boy, that got them excited. They have been helping each other all week. We'll see how it goes in a few moments.

Of course the lesson doesn't end there.   We are keeping a class graph of how many correct spelling words are achieved.  They like to see the mountain peaks get taller each week!

Once they collect their money, then we trade. How many dimes do you need to give me for me to trade you $0.50? Do you have a nickel? How many coins do you need to give me to trade for $0.75? Heh, heh, heh. Then we go to the store, they see what their selections can be, dictated by how much money they have earned, choose the right amount, pay and make sure they get the correct change. Fortunately, our little country store LOVES to see the girls coming and they generally open a lane just for their transactions, so no one is hurried!

I will post a link tomorrow that you can select - it will take you directly to the voting page to cast your vote for the individual who will be selected to receive a Perkins Smart Brailler to keep. Of course I am hoping that you will vote for Miss JiJi, but gosh - EACH of those sweeties are deserving and worthy of the opportunity to have one. Apparently, one is able to cast a new vote every 24 hours, but I have been told that the voting process will only extend over a two week period at most - possibly less.

Chick-A-Dee aka fairy princess

JMJ & Calgon, I need H.E.L.P.!!!!

Today began as most - a bright promise to a wonderful day, chatter, laughter, happy goats (after they were milked, that is).

And then. Just then.

Nearly 11 AM, girls hair is not yet combed, school has barely begun.

All I wanted to do was can a quick batch of pears before the day got away.

Well, I was stirring up some light syrup for the pears and the container that the syrup was in broke. Yes, sugar water pouring off the counter, behind the fridge, into the silverware drawer that just happened to be ajar. Cleaned up - not easy moving that durned dutch door fridge.

Ah - one jar short - I, of course, had to bring in one of those odd jars - the top was not a small or large mouth - somewhere in between. Trek out to the big barn to get one lousy jar.

On my way to the barn . . . . . What is this? Three tiny holes squirting water from the pool hose? Great - I just put new hoses on last week! Why is there only one plug in the pool bag? Search everywhere, finally find the missing plug in the new hose bag - yeah, now why did I put it there?

OK - pears finally in the water bath, girls have actually begun school on their own and are well on their way to being done! I finally made it to the bathroom to brush my teeth - maybe that was the reason everything was going catywampus? Nope - undoubtedly THIS was the reason - 

how on earth did my necklace go down my sleeve, for goodness sakes?

Now.  We are NOT going to go into that dangly, flappin' in the wind stuff hanging under my arm.  If you value your life, that is . . . . .

Chore Charts

OK, so Mr. Marty is thinking he is on a marathon. We even brailled up some chore charts. With 3 ever so willing helpers, we rotate missions on a weekly basis. They each have a different area to vacuum that they are responsible for. Kind of fun - we use the same number for who goes first, second or third for that particular week - who is called upon first in school, who gets first choice when there is a choice, etc. For some odd reason, they all race to the fridge Saturday evening or Sunday morning for the rotation, each one counting the days until they are once again number 1!

B.I.N.G.O.

Thanks, Marty, once again! We made Bingo cards in Braille today! Using sticky stickers on plastic paper (I know there is an official name for this kind of paper - thermoform???) allows the player to keep track of their numbers without the frustration of pieces going all over the place. Plus, the stickers can be used for quite a few games before they loose their stick! Hmmmmm - now we need to braille up little papers that say N37 or B10 so JiJi can take her turn being the caller! I think that you can purchase ready to go Brailled Bingo games, but then your sweetie would loose out practicing all those numbers!

The Six of Clubs

With the kind help of Mr. Marty, we were able to braille a deck of cards. Now we just have to learn to hold the cards so that no one else can see them! Not that anyone around here would take advantage of seeing someone else's hand. ahem.

Chick-a-Dee Has a Turn

Mr. Marty is getting a work out today. Miss Chick-a-Dee decided to write a note to JiJi and has been exploring the Braille alphabet all afternoon!

Gettin' It Done

Even when our grand-daughter, Miss PollyMops comes for a visit we can work on schoolwork! A little friendly competition of four 2nd graders never hurt anyone, right?

We have found, using Marty (the super cool braillewriter), that we need to use the headphones, otherwise everyone else waits to listen to Marty spelling a word to write theirs!

Spelling Words and Marty

Mr. Marty is getting a work out! JiJi wanted to write out her spelling words this morning before we had our first 2nd grade oral spelling competition. Not that she is in the least bit competitive, ahem. I have never seen a child so driven to perfection as she is! I guess she figured she would have the winning edge over her sisters if she reviewed her words before they could!

Yup -- A New Bike Rider!

Yup, Miss JiJi can ride her two wheeler now - with no training wheels!

So I am haavingg technical diffficuultiess

Noot sure how it loooks to youu, bbut I ccan'tt gget the rest off the woordds to ppost AND myy kkeybboard is ggoing waacky.. OOff course! I'lll trry again toomorrow.. Wiish mme luck!

Mr. Marty meets The Crew

Well, you might notice that there haven't been many posts recently.  Through no fault of my own . . . .  Both the desktop and the laptop died.  I finally bought an ipad, but can't seem to figure out how to get photos from the ipad to the blog using the ipad.  SO, I just had an epiphany - post to the blog via an email?!?!?!?  We'll see.

Big news on the farm - Mr. Marty showed up for a two week visit today - not that anyone was excited to see him, mind you.

Soni was pretty interested in the UPS driver, as you can see.  Of course, JiJi had JUST taken her clothes off to jump into the pool when he drove up and she came tearing out to meet him in her underwear!  "GIRLFRIEND, get in here and get some clothes on!!!!!"  I have never seen her get dressed as fast as this afternoon!

JiJi has the privilege of being one of 5 youngsters in the nation to try out the new Perkins Smart Brailler, thanks to Amber at Wonderbaby.  We are the final family for Mr. Marty to visit and then a vote will be cast to see who Mr. Marty will permanently reside with.

Well, you might notice that there haven't been many posts recently. Through no fault of my own . . . . Both the desktop and the laptop died. I finally bought an ipad, but can't seem to figure out how to get photos from the ipad to the blog using the ipad. SO, I just had an epiphany - post to the blog via an email?!?!?!? We'll see.

Big news on the farm - Mr. Marty showed up for a two week visit today - not that anyone was excited to see him, mind you.