April Showers Bring May Flowers

Let's hope all this rain this week will bring on the Spring flowers!  I can't believe it's almost May and we are still having cool weather!  Last weekend we went to the beach and I wore a sweatshirt the entire time!  The kids didn't mind though, they swam several hours both days and it didn't even phase them!  Ocean water was still frigid, but heated pools were awesome! 
We walked to our favorite pizza place Friday night and it came a downpour and we had to run back to hotel in a thunderstorm! Kids thought that was hilarious. We had to dry our jackets and shoes when we got back to the condo! 



 



Saturday morning was chilly so we went to the Ripley's Aquarium.

Brandon didn't even venture down to the beach with us. He was probably watching TV instead!

 

Abigail in one of her wild moods!!

 

 Abigail's new favorite restaurant is now Thorny's.  We even had ribeye leftover for breakfast the next day and it was awesome!

 

 Brandon and Emily contemplating the world's problems, or maybe it was just the next hole?  We went to Mt. Atlanticus Mini Golf Saturday night.

We had a good weekend, but can't wait to go back when the weather is warmer!  We came back to a week of preparing for the Green Goats and Garden festival which was this past Saturday.  Brandon took 4 goats and I set up a soap booth to try to start my "business"  We had a good day and the rain held off until after the festival was over so we were very thankful for that.  For pictures of this please see my other blog, www.southernsoapsandsuds.blogspot.com  I made some more soap today and will make several more batches this week to replenish my supply. 



 

 

 

Spring Has Sprung!

 

Sam, Emily, and Abigail at the Whitewater Center  3rd annual trip to this place on Spring Break


Emily's Easter eggs


Abigail's Easter eggs



So here I am finishing up my 7th week at home.  I have been working on packaging all my soaps, designing a business card, and trying to get a soap blog started.  I have started a new blog www.southernsoapsandsuds.blogspot.com if ya'll want to check it out when I get it started.  All of this has to be up and running before next weekend.  Brandon did a TV interview this past week and we have another one next Monday at 8am on Channel 18.  He had a little problem with the goat he took because it freaked out when it saw the TV reporter.  I didn't go with him, but I sure would like to have seen that!  A reminder:  the Green Goats and Garden Festival is Saturday April 27 from 11am-3pm in the University Research Park.  There are lots of Go Green vendors and activities for kids.  Of course we will all be there with our freaking out goats!  It should be a sight to be seen! 
 

The Burnette clan at the farm


Abigail and Paw Paw John down at the farm

 Emily down at the farm

 

 

Abigail (my special child) going for a hike.  She doesn't go anywhere without those boots!  I think the gloves were just a special accessory for the day!

I worked a few hours with Brandon's company the last 2 weeks so I would have some splurging money for our upcoming beach trip.  I also talked to a guy in their testing lab about a possible full time job opportunity.  They do a lot of chemical and physical testing of polymers in there.  It is very interesting but I would have to step up my game because I think you have to be really smart to catch on and interpret the data.  It's an opportunity, but I am still looking for other medical laboratory (cytology in particular) to go back into.  I have enjoyed being home and don't want to go back to work until I think about what my 401k will look like 30 years from now if I don't!  I would love to ride it out until the end of the summer.  I love being here and keeping on top of things.  I have absolutely no stress and I think my blood pressure has dropped.  I am as chilled out as I have ever been. For those of you that know me personally, you know that is unheard of!  I have planted more flowers this year than ever because I am here and if I think about putting a flower in a particular area, I just go get some and put them in the ground!  No thinking about it and then never getting around to it!  Our vegetable garden is all planted too.  We have everything in the ground now and waiting for blooms!  We had an addition to the animal family last weekend.  Chad brought us 3 orphaned baby bunnies to take care.  We got them drinking from a syringe and eating bananas and even gave them field trips out to the grass in the front yard.  They were all growing and hopping around and then yesterday the runt died on us.   The girls were heart broken and Abigail (formally enthused by a dead animal) didn't even attend the funeral Emily gave it. 

 



The girls with the 3 new baby bunnies

When the runt got sick he was not breathing good and I put him back with his siblings and this is what they did to snuggle with him.  (Runt is the one facing up)

Spring Projects

So I have completely given up on doing things in the house all day long.  I did enough of that the first 9 days.  I have learned that an hour or two every day is plenty to keep the house straightened up.  I have moved beyond the house to the yard and pastures.  I moved 3 truck loads of rocks from the fenceline along the driveway to an old ditch in the goat pasture.  I will admit that I waited for the kids to get home to help me throw the rocks out into the ditch, but loading them had been the devil!  This motivated Brandon to take pasture fence down and get in there with bobcat to push down some unlevel spots and fill in some old perk holes.  All this means more work... more rock to move and brush to be dragged and piled up to burn.  Its amazing what we can get done when Brandon is off from from Friday to Sunday.  One thing leads to another.  We also sowed new grass in the front yard and put down straw.  This has been an ongoing problem ever since we moved here, but we try, try again!  As a family we also split 4 trees and stacked the wood in the woodshed for next year.  I have hauled wood into the basement enough times that I am so ready for warm weather to get here and stay! 
We have gotten our garden started.  There are 5 rows of potatoes planted, broccoli and cabbage set out, and leaf lettuce sowed.    I have cleaned up possum poop, Great Dane dog poop, and various other unpleasant things while out and about.  I have also sanded and painted the trim around Brandon's garage door too.  The more I do the more Brandon thinks about that can be done next.  He puts an idea in my head and what do you know...I do it!  I can't wait for warmer weather because I am going to fire up the pressure washer and clean some siding and concrete.  I was so happy to see the rain today.  We got to be lazy for a day.  We went to the movies to see "The Croods" and it was a cute little movie.  Now it's time to get ready for another action packed week ahead.  I am almost sorry that I talked Brandon into taking off Easter week!  He will kill me by the end of that week!  I will need to take an Advil every morning before he puts me to work! Hahaha!

Brandon getting the garden ready.

possum poop prints... was he trying to push the garage button so he could escape!?  Hmmm...  Poor thing got shut up for 2 nights in a row and he literally tore up the garage both nights.  He pooped on the mat, stepped all in it, walked around and tore up a shelf to get up to where this garage door button was.  I guess it was glowing in the dark and he went to investigate!

The girls with our latest arrival.  Twins!!! These will be the perfect age for the Green Goats and Garden festival next month!

Some practice packaging for some of my soaps. 

My new work uniform...It's funny how the farmer has to go off to the city to work everyday while the wife is stuck at home!

View from my office.  Try finding this in the city!  Hershey comes down to visit when he hears me in the woods.  He has been a bit spoiled lately.  He gets brushed and combed a couple times a week and looks forward to getting the attention!

From Domestic to Desperate!

Woo Wee it smells like Monkey Farts and Coffee up in here!!! So I have officially finished my first whole week at home.  I am thinking now I am more of a desperate housewife than a domestic goddess!  You know, the Lucille Ball kind of crazy desperate.  I have had several moments this week when I sounded just like her!  Thursday I was making some lye water using strong coffee for a new soap recipe.  I had read it is better to mix that outside because of fumes and stinking smells so I went out basement door with my lye and coffee, mixed it up, watched it smoke for a bit, and then turned around to find out that I had locked myself out of the house!  So here I am in a t-shirt and jeans and it was probably still in the 30s out there and I had no way to get inside and meanwhile I have this vat of lye coffee that is cooling and going to need to be mixed with the fats when it cooled to 105 degrees.  Sooo what do I do?  I could get into the garage and I found a sweater and an old LabCorp health insurance card (useless now) in my car.  I jerked the sweater on and ran to see if I could card the basement door.  I couldn't so I went around and checked all the windows to see if they were locked (they were) and then I got desperate and violent and mad and was able to card the door with the insurance card.  Thank goodness I hadn't thrown that away yet!  I was able to get in and finish getting ready the fats for my now cool lye solution. 


What the coffee log looked like before I stored it away to "cure"

Freshly cut bars of Columbian Coffee Soap.  I wish there were a smelling app for this!  I cut these smaller than usual because I figured that if each bar was cheaper that people would be more likely to try it at a smaller financial risk!

I actually made 5 batches of soap this week.  Hence the Monkey Farts and Coffee smell.  The Monkey Farts is actually a banana pineapple like smell scent that I got a trial bottle of.  The kids like it (I am not sure if it's the name or the smell that they like)  I am trying to get a variety of soaps ready for the Green Goats and Garden festival.  We are taking several of our goats and I decided this might be an opportunity to try to sell some soap too.  The good thing is if I don't sell it, I can always use it for myself!

 

This coming week I have a few things lined up to keep me busy.  Monday I am taking Brandon's car to have the tires rotated and oil changed, Tuesday I have my farm business class, Wednesday I am going to school to eat lunch with Abigail, Thursday I am eating lunch with Emily, and Friday I will probably be hanging out with Brandon as he takes care of animals and errands.  We are getting a new bull soon so maybe we can go pick him up and introduce him to his new ladies.  Fun Stuff.  With the other 3 dozen hours of free time I don't know what I will get into.  I am starting to get irritated with the idea of trying to find something to keep myself busy.  There is only so much baseboard and window seal cleaning a girl can do before it bores you out of your mind!  I swear there is 14.7 miles of baseboard in my house!  I went through an entire box of swifter dusting wipes and a box of magic erasers last week and I am not looking forward to picking up where I left off.  I hope the weather stays nice so I can get some outdoors time in.  We tillered my raised bed this weekend so I can get my cabbage in the ground and I may go look to see what else is out there that I can plant now.  I would also like to wash some siding with the pressure washer.  So, I guess my week is probably going to be an eventful one.  Maybe I will get some follow up calls on job applications I have in.  That would be a good feeling.   But until then I will be here cleaning things that no one will ever notice that I cleaned...

Day 3 Update

So here I am 3 days into my extended vacation.  Over the weekend I was pretty bummed about the upcoming "first week", but I am starting to get the hang of this staying at home thing.  I had a lunch date today with a good friend from high school and she recommended I call myself the "domestic goddess".  I thought about it for a while and I am worried that may involve too much work!  I mean as a domestic goddess shouldn't I keep my legs shaved and learn how to sew or something?!?  I am not sure I can live up to that title!  I have been making batches of soap and doing some touch up painting.  I don't know if that will qualify me as a domestic goddess just yet!  In another week or so of this nonsense I will run out of "special" projects.  It's nice to get to sleep in till 6am everyday and when the kids get on the bus at 6:40 I start my whirlwind of straightening up the house, laundry, and sweeping.  By 8:30 I have drank my pot of coffee and finished the normal housework stuff.  The rest of the day I spend in a blur of other projects.  I actually get excited when the mail comes.  Last night I remembered I didn't get the mail and got excited because that meant I could go to mailbox twice today! (Once early and once later after they came again)  I am getting a little bit nutty I know!  I don't know why mail excites me, I told Brandon it was my link to the outside world!  You never know what might come...usually it's just a letter from a car dealer swearing they need my cars' make and model on their used car lot.  HA! At 283,000 miles and a $1700 tax value I don't think they know what they are talking about!  Who knows, I might get bored one day and call them and confirm if they really want it or not!  This goes for telemarketers too.  I might just answer, yank their chain for a little while, and then decline their offer.  I haven't slumped to that level yet, but only time will tell.  For now I have a new shipment from Wellington fragrance company to go through and daydream about what soap I am going to make next.  I think tomorrow it will be coffee soap and monkey fart children's soap.  I know I know, that is so terrible sounding, but that's what it is actually called.  It's a multi-fruit scented smell popular in kids soap.  I think if I ever make it to sell I will have to change the name-it sounds too bad to print and advertise!  Well, until next update this is how things are going at the new domestic goddess' secret lab.

Lab Corp Goodbyes

Our last day at Lab Corp Charlotte was March 1.  We decided to get together for one last social visit before we all went our separate ways.  We did pretty good all day at work but by the end of the evening we were all emotional and sad to be leaving.  Out of the 13 of us only 4 decided to transfer to Burlington and continue working for Lab Corp.  The rest of us are going to try something new or just wait and see what happens. 

Part of our group after work on the last day.  We gathered at Cheddars and everyone of us showed up.

The other part of our group.  The guy on left and the guy on the right are bonus people that decided to join us for the evening.  Kevin on the left used to work with us but went to CMC a few years ago.  Melissa (the girl in middle with beautiful red hair) is one of our administrative specialist and the Steve (in red on right) is Vanessa's husband. 

Jan our administrative specialist.  She is a hoot and a half.  She actually went to high school with my dad and lives not too far from me. 



Me and Mama Nancy.  She watched over us like a mother hen. She has worked at same place for 39 years so she has practically raised the rest of us! 

My supervisor Tom.  He had dropped by Lab Corp while on medical leave the same day Headquarters decided to drop by with our closure information.  What coincidence!

Carol the super positive attitude lady!  She plans on driving to Burlington and continue working for Lab Corp. 

My cell mates.  (No pun intended!!!) Carol, Vanessa, and Allen have had to put up with me and my "Lordy, Lordy, Lordy" chant at least every hour for years!  The four of us shared a screening room. Allen is planning on still working for Lab Corp in Burlington 

Sandra and Terrence had the prison cell next to us.  And no... we really didn't have cells, but that's what it seemed like sometimes.  Sandra is a cancer survivor and inspiration to many.  She plans to expand her baking business so if you need something let me know!  Terrence is moving to Burlington so he can continue working for Lab Corp.

These are the girls that had a cell across the hall from us.  Kim is in a physical trainer program, Valerie is commuting to Burlington, and Christine plans to finish an IT program she has already started.

Burnette Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Steven Burnette

This weekend Brandon's cousin Steven got married and all of the family had jobs to do. Abigail was the official snow girl, Emily was a junior bridesmaid, and Brandon was a groomsman. I have to say I have quite a handsome family!


Wedding party



Abi waiting on showtime!

My beautiful daughter as a bridesmaid

Steven and his mom Kay.  I love this picture of Kay, she looks so happy as she grasps Steven hand for a picture before the wedding.



Elaine before the wedding

 

Emily, Mellie, and Abigail

Me and my darling children!

 

Regional Science Fair

Emily waiting on science fair judging

We were in Salisbury all day today for Emily's Science Fair Project deal.  After an all day affair she didn't get advanced to the state competetion, but we did have a good day.  It was good to see Emily hanging out with her fellow classmates and having a good time.  I always worry about her social skills, but she seemed to be doing just fine today.  She didn't seem to be upset that she wasn't advanced to the next level, but we had plans to celebrate afterwards either way it went.  We went out to eat and then off to the movies to see Warm Bodies (a zombie/comedy/love story for those of you that don't keep up with these things).  It was a really good movie and a nice end to our long day.  Tomorrow will we have to hit it hard and do all the things around the house that should have been done today.  We need to put tin on our hog building and get the pig pen put back together.  Seems like Suzy Lou wasn't quite ready to go to slaughter back in December and she tore up some stuff before she left out of there!  There is always something to do...

Me and my lovely kids

New Year, New Adventure!

We are only 1 month into this year and I can already see that things are going to get interesting for the Burnette household.  As you all know I LOVE my vacation time and my paid time off.  Come to find out I am going to have plenty of vacation time (more than any year before) but no paid time off!!  It's funny how this works you know.  Last month we found out that our positions at work are being moved to Burlington.  We have wondered for many years when this would happen, and now we know.  About half of our department decided to commute or rent a place up there, and the other half of us are going to try our hands at something new.  I just cannot bring myself to drive 4 hours a day to work and I definitely can't see myself renting a motel room and leaving my family all week.  Sooo with that being said I am going to polish my resume, network with some people, and take advantage of my time off.  I already have a list of things that I would like to accomplish and I am excited to have a change in pace for a while.  I officially have 4 more weeks left to work.  I have found new insurance for me and the kids, scheduled my first mammogram, scheduled dentist and orthodontist appointments, sent out half a dozen applications, scheduled a transfer for my 401K, signed up for a class on running a farm business, and planned how to make a 13 week severance package last 26 weeks!  I can not wait!!! I would have never left this job on my own, so this little "push" has set me free!  I am feeling so many emotions since we were told.  I am saddened to think that I will never again see these people that I have spent so much time with the past 12 years.  They drive me crazy sometimes, but they will be missed.  I am anxious about the job market and knowing for every application I put in there are 100s of other desperate people wanting it too.  I am excited that I may get to try something totally different.  I am hoping that employers will see my resume and have enough faith in me to let me prove that I can do the job.  Time will tell, but until then I am planning for vacation!

Here are a few pictures of our most recent activities.

Me and my little nerd

 

The girls and 1 of our November babies

 

Me and a set of 3 day old twins.  With kids that look like this I couldn't tell you who the baby daddy is...

Emily was 1 of the winners in the science fair at school, at the county, and now we will be spending next Saturday in Salisbury at regionals!
 

Long Weekend Fun

The kids had a 4 day weekend this week so I took Friday off to enjoy an extra day with them.  I was so excited that Thursday night we had a snow shower and we had no worries of going into work the next day.  We did however have a trip to West Virginia planned.  We went to Winterplace to go snow tubing for the day.  Boy did that turn out to be an adventure!  Brandon went through an emergency stop fence, down an embankment, and out into a road while on his tube!  His hat and 1 glove was ripped off and stayed halfway up the bank.  Some little girl had seen it happen from the road below and climbed her way back up to retrieve his lost items for him.

 

Mind you, he did this on our 3rd slide down.  When we reported the broken cable holding the fence down they closed down half of the tubing paths.  Great!  It wasn't very crowded that day, but when they had to shut half the lines down it began to back up.  I was disappointed because we got there late and then the park wasn't operating at optimal level (because of us).  It was a beautiful ride up there though.  Virginia was absolutely beautiful.  They had 8-10 inches of snow but the power was off right in the area when we needed gas,  We found a gas station right along with the other 24 cars that needed gas right away.  We had a good day and still had an entire weekend to look forward to.

 

 

Saturday I followed Brandon around as he ran errands and got some things done around the "farm".  We went to see our new baby calves and pcked up a truckload of animal feed.  We ended up sending Pawpaw John off with the girls to go eat at Jay's seafood restaurant while we grabbed a bite to eat and a movie.  We went to see Django Unchained.  It was a good movie, but VERY long!  It had been a long time since we had been to a movie without the kids so we enjoyed every minute. 

Sunday I got a few things done around the house and tried to enjoy the beautiful weather.  I could use a week of weather like this.  We made a quick trip to Tractor Supply.  Brandon and Emily stacked some firewood while Abigail and I messed around with the bow and arrow.  I made a batch of goats' milk soap to test out.  In April we have to take goats to the Green Goats and Garden festival and I plan to take some soaps there to see what people think.  I am pretty sure that I couldn't have squeezed one more activity in this weekend.  I am ready to go back to work so I can get some rest!!!