Adults Love Bluey, Too!

Some time back, the girls got me into watching the cartoon Puppy Dog Pals. I'd say it was back in 2019 when I used to babysit Jazmin before we got custody of the kids. I thought it was adorable! And I loved that one of the voice actors was also the kid who voiced Catbug. I didn't mind cuddling up and watching it with her.

Now there is this cartoon that they watch that I ABSOLUTELY love called Bluey! I originally saw it during the time when we were staying at my in-laws house, and I had to find cartoons for the kids to watch. Allison saw the name on the channel menu and said they REALLY wanted to watch it, and even Tricity said "Yeah, I've seen it before, it's a cute cartoon" so I said sure, I'll give it a shot. I'm glad I did! I love how the Dad does a lot of the playing around with the kid, like Adam does with the girls, and how the Mom does more of the work around the house like me. Now when the opening comes on, instead of the names they say on the show, we say "Aunt Candice, Uncle Adam, Jazmin, Allison!" If you have little kiddos, I highly recommend watching it with them. So cute!

They Knocked Our Fence Down!

The well guys showed up today! One of the first things they did was knock our fence over... Did they bother to fix it? No... Did they offer to take anything off of the bill for it? No... I'm high-key upset. I loved this fence! It's part of the charm that made me fall in love with this place! It's very rustic-looking and I love how it went with the aesthetic of our homestead. GRR!

Anyway, the got to digging. It's an artisan well, and they have to dig until they get to it, then they have to run the pipes, and then they will set up the tank and get it all hooked up and going. Then they're going to tap off the line that runs to the neighbors house so we will be independent from them. How awesome is that? If you didn't see why, be sure to check out my last post (here https://themultimom.blogspot.com/2021/11/well-well-well.html ) where I explained about our asshole neighbors... It's expensive, but if we're going to be living here for the rest of our lives, it's the best decision.

The truck is huge! And it goes so high into the air, about as tall as the tress! It's very loud, too. I have to almost yell for Adam to hear me sometimes.

There's also a guy coming today to pick up some junk and take it off. he's charging $20 but for all the stuff he's taking off, it's a great deal! In Perryville, they would have charged $10 for each item. he's taking 2 stoves, a washer, a big bbq grill, and a mower deck that the woman left here who used to own this place. Then he's also taking 2 dryers of ours that quit working. I kept one of the dryer drums though, because I'm going to use that as a base for my fire pit when I build it next year. Just knock out the fins inside, build bricks around it, and there we go!

Well... *deep sigh* looking on the bright side of things... since the diggers knocked our fence down, I was wanting to do something like this along the driveway anyway with rose bushes and Italian cypress trees. The only issue will be coming up with the money to make it happen! Maybe space them further apart, though. But won't it look so fancy??? ♥

Well, Well, Well...

Before we get started with today's blog...

Purple... Blue...

The well guys were supposed to come today to start working on our well. Our house came with well water already, and when we moved it, it was our understanding that we were supposed to pay the owner of the well between $5 to $25 a month for our share. Well it didn't turn out that way... He said the contract no longer held up because it was his Aunt who lived here, and the contract only lasted as long as both parties agreed. Well he didn't agree with it any more, and we had trouble with the water shutting off nearly every day.

The first time it happened, we asked why, and he said because the main switch to the well was on the property next to us inside the trailer. The problem with that was that he was renting that trailer out to people who weren't paying their bill, he couldn't get them off the property, and they were just being assholes. I guess they expected us to pay THEM for use of the well? There wasn't any way that was going to happen... He said we could either have a meter on the well over there that would run a line to us and we would pay for it, or we could have our own well dug.

The problem with that is that there was still no guarantee that they wouldn't shut it of. The meter would be just to monitor our usage and decide how much we would need to pay, so that wasn't actually an option in our opinion. I think he was just trying to get more money out of us, to be honest. So the only other option was to have a well dug of our own.

The asshole neighbors keep turning the water off almost every day while the kids are in school. When the kids are home, or it's the weekend, they leave the water on. So now we're having to pay $13000 to get a well dug! Adam was able to pay $3000 of it so far, but his parents are paying the rest, which means we are going to have to make payments to them until it's all paid off...

On the bright side - no more shut off, and once we pay this off, we will never have to pay for our water again! The kids were home today. The school called today "fall break". It was only one day, but that's 1 day I am happy for! Hopefully they will be here tomorrow though. I can't wait to get this done! I hate that it's going to cost so much, but in the long run it's the better option.

Get Off My Property

I found a sign today that I REALLY want to put next to our door! It fits our family's personality perfectly! It's a little metal sign and it says:

Adam wants to get one that says something like - Forget about the dog, beware of the owner - which makes a lot of sense for him! haha  But I think "hippity hoppity get off my property" fits us perfectly as well. It's just the right about of both goofy and threatening :-p

Thanksgiving Dishes

So I saw this today...

For me, it depends on who's cooking them. If I am doing the cooking, then I like 2, 4, 6. If someone else is cooking, I'd go with 2, 3, and 6. Why is there a change??? Because I'm picky.

If I'm cooking the stuffing, it HAS to be Stove Top cornbread stuffing. That's the ONLY kind I like! To me, anyone else's stuffing is soggy, it's mushy, it's just disgusting... Stove Top's cornbread stuffing is crumbly and doesn't just sit like a lump in your mouth. So as I said, it just depends on who is cooking.

I've already started picking out what I'm going to cook for Thanksgiving this year. This year, I want to be better prepared! So far, the menu consists of:

turkey

ham

gravy

mashed potatoes

corn on the cob

stuffing

cranberry sauce

deviled eggs

green bean casserole

mac and cheese

Hawaiian sweet rolls

German chocolate cake

and hopefully pumpkin pie with cool whip if I can afford it. I think I have all the ingredients to make everything else. It just wouldn't be a Thanksgiving dinner without pumpkin pie, right???

I know it seems like a feast, but we've got 7 people, 7 dogs, and 5 cats to share with! lol Either way, it should be a nice Thanksgiving in our own home! I'm so excited! What's your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? What foods are you excited for this year?

Stabbing Pain Near My Incision

This happened back in August as well, but I hadn't said anything about it except to my family and my surgeon, but they said they didn't think it was anything to worry about, and then it went away. Well here I am, I'm almost at 5 months, and I keep getting a burning stabbing pain near my biggest incision scar when I move a particular way. Anyone else experience this or know what may be causing it??? It has been healed for quite some time now, so I'm confused. I was out gardening and planting the flower bulbs, trying to dig through rock, and it just felt like something either ripped or like someone stuck me in the stomach. It burned like a hot poker for a moment and then it slowly went away. It also happens if I'm bent over and I cough. As you can see, it's been healed for some time, so I just don't get it. So weird!

We Got Puppies!

We picked up some pups today! Our friend Ashley posted on Facebook about how she had over 10 of them looking for a home. I saw a short video of them, and they were so adorable ^_^ I asked if we could come and get one, and she told us how to get to her house.

When we went, it was our intention to just get one, right? Maaaaaybe two, depending on how they were. But what happened??? We fell in love. They were all so cuuuute! Some had bright blue eyes, and one (that we ended up taking) had one blue eye. There were two that I definitely had to have, and then Adam picked out two that he wanted as well. So we ended up with 4! All girls, too!

The ride home wasn't so cute. They puked on his coat, on a seat, in the floor, on his dialysis bag. There was puppy puke EVERYWHERE! And one of them even pooped in the floor. We had to give it a good scrubbing when we got home. Luckily we had already cleaned out the shed that we want to use for a dog house, so we stuck them in there while we went to the store to get some extra dog bowls for food and water. All we needed to do was have the kids help move the dog fence around it so the pups could go in or out when they wanted. For now, we just closed the door and they stayed inside the shed (that we now call the dog house).

We were already thinking of names. Adam wanted to name one of them Rowena. He was going to call Annie by that name, but I said no, she is blonde, she has to be Daisy (which is what I thought the name was that Tricity wanted.) I knew Tricity would love her, so I wanted to go with the name she picked (which I later found out was Annie). Well "Daisy" was the one who puked on Tricity's seat in the van, so I told him "See? She's in her seat, she puked in her seat, she has blonde hair like her...It's meant to be!" lol

He said he was also going to name one Angel Eyes and one Blue. I said "Oh, the one with one blue eye would be perfect for Blue! But who the hell is actually going to call the other one Angel Eyes? Angel would be okay, but Angel Eyes in kinda lame." Of course he got offended. (Who doesn't with my blunt non-filter speaking?) He later decided he wanted some other name. Athena was thought of. Then Freya... and then I thought about Tahnee's cats, and how she had one named Loki and one named Lilith. So I suggested Lilith, and he said maybe, and I thought it would be a perfect way to have a part of Tahnee with me! So Lilith, it was!

Then when the kids came home, we acted so casual and cool. I told him beforehand "Hey, when the kids get home, I'm going to act like I have something to do outside. I'm going to go to the shed, and then you wait a few minutes and then tell them I need their help out there. Then they'll open the door and be surprised!" So that's what we did, and as the kids came closer, I could hear them talking. "I don't know, he just said to come out and help her." Then they opened the door, and I wish I had been able to capture the look on their faces! They lit up so bright! The came in and started picking up the puppies and getting their lovin. It was sooooo sweet!

So now, let me present to you our girls: Annie, Blue, Lilith, and Rowena!

My Opinion on Duck Eggs

While we were in the process of moving to our new homestead, we lived with my in-laws for a couple of months. While there, we became acquainted with her farm animals, which included ducks and chickens. They hadn't been laying eggs yet because they were still young, but by the time we moved out of their house and into our forever home, the birds started making fresh eggs. Thankfully they have been sharing them with us!

I've tried both, as fried eggs and boiled eggs. In my opinion, when frying a duck egg, the whites are much more rubbery than a chicken egg. However, the duck's yolk is much more creamier than the chicken egg. It's had to say which one I like better! If I could get the yolk of a duck egg mixed with the white of a chicken egg, I would be pleased. (I've been giving Tricity my fried whites and I've been eating the runny yolks, as she doesn't like "gooey yolk" as we call it.)

As far as boiling eggs, chicken eggs are great, but the duck eggs weren't that bad either. To me, instead of having more of a crumbly yolk texture like the chicken eggs tend to have, it was more smooth, but not as smooth as a quail egg. (Thanks to the in-laws, I got some quails I am currently raising at the moment, too!)

At first (because of the rubbery whites) I thought I was going to rule out the option of us getting any ducks next year, but now I'm not too sure. I guess we'll be keeping both after all! Both birds have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to their fresh eggs. Adam also plans on us having a goose or two. What I REALLY want to try are turkey eggs!

Little Signs That I'm Losing

GUYS!!! I'm getting close to 100!!!  I had my surgery on June 24 (I had the loop duodenal switch). I can tell actually tell now the little signs that I'm losing, like my clothes getting loser, I went to the next hole in my watch band, I can fit in chairs better that I used to struggle with... but still don't see a difference other than in my face and just a bit of my skin getting looser. The numbers don't lie though!  I just wanted to share my moment of excitement. ♥

Do I Get Sad About Food?

At the time of making this blog (don't forget to check the date because sometimes my stuff won't get posted until months later, and some people think I just posted it, but the date will say October 8th because that's when I wrote it, and it's November 20th at the time I'm finally getting around to making it public!), I am proud to say that I'm down 75 pounds since June 24th!  It feels unreal sometimes  I know I never would have gotten this far on willpower alone.

I had a breakdown today though. Most of the time, I feel great about everything. I'm happy in the decision I made to get this surgery, I'm usually in a chipper mood, and there's not much that can bother me these days since my confidence boosted... but I think I figured out why sometimes I feel sad about eating.

Tonight we had homemade tacos for dinner, and I used to eat 4. Now I can only eat 1. Tonight I forgot my limit and mentally I said - yeah! Delicious tacos, I'm gonna make 2! I'm so hungry! It's gonna taste delicious! But I ate 1, and there sat 2, and it no longer looked appealing to me. I was so full that if I had eaten the other, I think I would have popped! So me being me, hating to waste food, I started getting upset with myself.

When asked what's wrong, I explained why I was getting teary-eyed. And that's when it hit me... I'm sad because I really wanted it, and now that I have it, it's not being useful to me. It's like when you were a kid and you wanted a toy that you saw a really awesome commercial for, and you assumed it could do all kinds of stuff, so you get it for Christmas and it turns out to be a huge let-down because it don't do half the stuff they made you think it could do. I felt let down because I wanted it, and now I was wasting it. I was used to getting whatever I wanted with food, and now my stomach was telling me no, and you know how it is with things you want but can't have... I can't stand it, so that's why I got upset.

I'm glad I have an understanding of how the mind works and that I'm able to work these things out for myself. I know to some people it may seem stupid to be upset that food is letting me down, but that was always my main reason for eating, was because food tastes good, and I love eating a lot of something I like. Now I can't, and I have to accept that only a little is plenty.