Bookkeeping is a nasty job, but someone has to do it. I am grateful for Excel. Seriously. When an accounting problem arises and I have to spend days trying to figure out and entering numbers upon numbers into massive spreadsheets like this, I go to bed wondering how real Accountants do what they do. I would venture to say that they keep a drawer fully stocked with Tylenol.

I have tomorrow and Friday off from work and a wonderful weekend adventure planned. I am so excited, I can barely wait! Thanks to my husband and father-in-law, my chicken lot is coming along wonderfully. I should have those babes in there sometime next week. Woohoo!!!

Now he’s 9 months old and we decided to do another little photo shoot.

And his ever so sweet disposition.

And his eyes, oooooh his eyes!

Bottom line, he’s 100% CUTE!

He and Wes are going to grow up to be the best of buds

Today I have decided that I am adding 6 more pets to my repertoire. Seriously.

5 of these little boogers:

Rhode Island Reds

and 1 of these cutie pies:

A silky

WHY, you ask? Well… I have a large square fence that’s not being used and they are cute little pets that they provide fresh, organic eggs. Granted, I don’t eat eggs – but Gary & Wes do! I am going to send some eggs with my mother-in-law to the market where she sells her famous cakes and crafts in town… and hopefully I can make some money off of the eggs, to cover their feed. The silky is just for a pet, she’ll lay tiny little eggs.

My mom is going to read this and probably definitely a) laugh out loud b) roll her eyes c) call me immediately. She knows I’m an animal lurver, but she thinks I am a nut. And she may be right. And mom, I know that you’re wondering where I am going to put my coop, so I’ll go ahead and answer that one… in my bathroom.

Just kidding Back on the flat spot behind the house. In the woods.

And if you’re worried that I’m going into this chicken biz all virgin-y, don’t worry. My in-laws are expert farmers and I have already asked for help. No chickens will be harmed. Hopefully. I will keep you all posted on my poultry related adventures. Wish me luck!

Enjoy this video of one of my favorite bluegrass tunes… “Cluck Old Hen”

Yesterday, Wes and I were in a waiting room. There was a toy table in the middle of the room and Wes immediately went and played with a group of children. No problem there. The lady at the counter called me up to fill out some paper work. I was there for about 5 minutes and Wes played very nicely with the other kids. When I was finished and went back to my seat near the toy table, Wes got angry. I’m not sure if he thought I was going to make him leave or he just wanted that independence and didn’t want me right there near him – but he looked at me and said “Mamma, go away”. Ok, I get that. It was slightly embarrassing, but ok…

The other moms near me looked at me. The looks were mostly sympathetic. I smiled at them and looked down at a magazine I was reading. I didn’t want to get up and move away from Wes because 1) I wanted to make sure he was being nice to the other kids and 2) I didn’t want to it to look like my 2 year old barked orders at me, and I obeyed. Well, Wes wasn’t pleased that I didn’t “go away”, so he looked at me, frowned and yelled “I SAID, GO AWAY MAMA!!!”. Over and over and over. I was really regretting using the words “I said” to him. At home, I can ignore these tantrums, but in public I have no idea what to do. I got a little panicky. I picked him up and walked over to a corner and firmly told him that it wasn’t nice to yell at his mom. He got angrier by the second and continued to yell and cry. Everyone in the entire room was looking at me. I felt like a crappy parent who couldn’t control my child. It all continued until we were called back to our appointment. By then, I was sweaty and he had snot all over his face.

This isn’t the first time he’s acted like this in public, but it was by far the worst. I dread going into a public place and having a scene like this again. Spanking him just seems to make things worse and honestly, I hate doing it in public. I could have tried time-out but there’s no way he would have just sat there, it would be more screaming and crying. Any advise, PLEASE???

b) Having this free time, Wes and I have been going swimming a lot. Yesterday afternoon we planned to go over to the pool at my friend Kerrie’s condo. We were getting ready to leave the house at about 1:00 and I remembered that Wes hadn’t gone #2 yet. Being that we were going to a public pool, I really wanted him to do his “daily” first… so I asked him if he needed to go to #2 and he said yes. I sat him on the toilet and showed him how to get things started – I squinted my eyes and grunted a little bit He then decided that he didn’t want to be on the big potty and asked for his little Elmo one. Soooo… I got it out and sat it in front of the tv since one of his favorite shows was on. I asked him to sit there until he poopoo’d and I went to get ready. About 15 minutes later he came into my room and to let me know that he had indeed done a #2 in the potty for the first time ever! We’ve mastered the art of #1 but I have longed for the day when he’d finally start going #2. This was the highlight of my day. Actually month! Hooray for potty training!!!

PS – My blog has been titled “Hi, I’m Amy!” since I first started it… over a year ago… I think. I’ve always wanted a cute little title, but I haven’t been able to think of one. I think it’s definitely time for the change. I’m sure it will change a few times before I actually settle with something new

This summer, Wes and his Papa-T have been growing tomatoes. This is their first ripe one. Love it.

Another staple of this summer has been fudgesicles and freeziepops. Mmmmm.

It has been super hot here so playing in the water is another daily occurrence. This is Wes washing his motorbike and his Meemaws.