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Week #13 Saturday Top Five Laughs

Posted by html404 on January 25, 2014
in Animals, Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Fun Stuff, Humor, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Uncategorized

Can’t believe I have been consistent for 13 weeks for the Saturday Top Five Laughs! Woo hoo! Once more we have joined The Mommyhood Chronicles in the Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. Last week I went out to lunch with my “farm” buddies – other women farmers and farmerwannabees – and my friend, who also has cows (beef and a Jersey) shared with me that conventional farmers do not allow their cows to go the bathroom during milking. Now I could be wrong, but I swear the cows at the farm we grew up going to and buying milk from went to the bathroom during milking. Nova Scotia friend Elaine, are you reading? What does the N farm do? Anyhooo…Miss Moo going potty has been an issue for us. So C told me to hold a bucket under Miss Moo’s tail when she went to go. B did this ONCE and Miss Moo has stopped going to the bathroom during milking. Miss Moo knew what she was doing was wrong and was taking advantage of us beginners! I am still shaking my head at that. My pregnancy and sensitivity to smells stopped me from continuing to milk Miss Moo, but so did her bathroom tricks. I think I’ll have to pick up milking again…if Miss Moo will let me. She would not let anyone milk her one evening when B and my husband went to a farmers market. She waited for B to come home! She’s definitely B’s cow.

4. Our three year old ‘s drawing of a snowman from a gift card envelope.

3. Jr. and my husband – snuggle buddies and partners in mischief – these two definitely love each other!

2. I bought a new garbage can to store animal feed in and this is what the little boys did with it before it got taken down to the barn….why buy toys, right? Then I had to take it from them because they started to do stupid stuff. What my husband likes to blame on the “S” gene (for stupid gene).

1. We still have our Christmas tree up. Yep, we do. I bet it stays up until the end of January.

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“Grow your Game” – Men’s ROGAINE

Posted by Brande on January 24, 2014
in Guest Post, Health and Wellness, Men's Health, Personal Care Products, Products for Dad, Uncategorized

“I participated in an Influencer Program on behalf of Dad Central for ROGAINE®. I received a product sample and promotional item to thank me for participating.”

Guest Dad Blogger – Scott

Besides worrying about getting gray some of us Dad’s also begin to worry about hair loss. The dreaded widow’s peak is starting to make an appearance for this Dad. I’m looking forward to using ROGAINE treatments. As directed – I will use a half a capful of ROGAINE foam twice a day (morning and evening). It’s a leave in formula, so make sure it’s dry before you go to bed.

Many of you may recognize Bill Rancic from “The Apprentice”. He was not fired by Donald Trump and was the first winner of the show. Bill came on board with ROGAINE in May 2012 and is currently serving as the brands first ever “Growth Coach”. Bill tells about real world experiences and personal situations and not letting his hair loss get in his way.

The “Grow you Game” initiative – A few small changes in your life can give you or anyone the confidence to achieve anything. That shock of looking in the mirror and seeing your losing hair or over weight can really take the wind out of your sails. I’m taking back my confidence by using ROGAINE foam, eating better and getting out for a walk once a day. Just these few extra minutes a day can make a lifetime of difference in your confidence and attitude. Check out what Bill Rancic and 5 other men are saying about the “Grow you Game” initiative.

A few ROGAINE facts:

It is FDA approved and Easy to use.
ROGAINE is the #1 Dermatologist recommended brand for hair regrowth.

Did you know that …

“Hereditary hair loss affects up to 40% of all men and more than 15 million men admit to being concerned about the condition.”

Why not start fixing that concern today! ROGAINE is available nationwide at food, drug and mass retailers, or even online at www.rogaine.com.

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Swerve Sweetener 10% Discount Coupon – Thrifty Thursday

Posted by html404 on January 23, 2014
in All Natural Products, Coupons, Deals, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Health and Wellness, Shopping, Thrifty Thursday, Uncategorized

This post contains affiliate links.

I reviewed Swerve Sweetener when I wrote the post about replacement sweeteners and really liked it. It isn’t like other replacement sweeteners, it tastes that good. I used most of it in my tea, but I need to order more. I just missed the sale they had going on where you can purchase four canisters for $20. Completely forgot! Boo hoo! Can’t believe I have to start putting sale end dates on my calendar to remind myself to shop!

You all can save 10% discount on your order placed via Swerve’s website.

The discount code is: FAITH10 and expires 12/31/2014.

Have you ever forgotten a sale you really wanted to participate in? Or forgot coupons you really wanted to use?

Stay sweet!

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Miss Moo Miscarried – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on January 22, 2014
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Miscarriage, Pregnancy Loss, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday Dr. M, one of our vets, was out to check Miss Moo to see if she is with calf……she WAS indeed pregnant but she miscarried.

Warning contains some graphic cow anatomy details! Not so wordless this week, but that’s not really new.

A week ago Friday or Saturday evening a couple of the children came in from the barn saying Miss Moo had a bubble in her butt. By the time I got down to the barn the bubble had popped and she had a clear, mucous like discharge, not bloody, but indicative she could have miscarried. Believe me I googled every known term for “cow miscarriage”, except spontaneous abortion since I hate that term, to learn what I could about miscarriages in cows. Then I prepared B, just in case, because I didn’t want her to be shocked if the vet did announce Miss Moo had miscarried.

Yesterday when Dr. M checked Miss, she only had two thirds the fluid she should have and Dr. M could not feel the calf. We were half expecting it, but it’s still disappointing. Miss Moo should absorb (such an awful way to describe it) the calf in the next 10-14 days and go back into her heat cycle at which time we will try to AI (artificially inseminate her) again. The vet suggested we switch bull semen and instead of trying for a pure bred Guernsey to try for a cross breed. There may be some incompatibilities, though she has been bred to “Grumpy” before. So we are going to try our friend’s Dutch Belted (otherwise known as Oreo cookie cows black with a big white strip in the middle of their bellies) and see if the third time works. It will be interesting to see what the calf looks like, that’s for sure!

These are my friend’s Dutch Belted cows, she sold the heifer, the one in the background, if I remember correctly.

Here’s what my friend said about the Dutch Belted bull semen (like you all want bull semen education, but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll blog if I want to, blog if I want to! Extreme tiredness = silliness):

Your straw (or more, if it takes more than one try) will be from “Snappy”. Supposedly, Snappy sires “easy-calving”, vigorous calves, so we’ve used his stuff on two heifers now. Funny, the heifer that just went to C’s friend in North Carolina is carrying a Snappy calf, half-sibling to your eventual calf.

Dr. M and I thought it would be a good fit, because both of our heifers “took” on the first try with Snappy, and both kept their calves past the time when they could have lost an early pregnancy.

Good luck!

Miss Moo is finally up to her normal body condition after coming to us last April extremely underweight so the vet was impressed again by her weight gain. At his last visit he said she needed another 100-200 lbs, so that she looked good to the vet was good news. We knew she was doing well because none of her ribs are showing anymore, it’s just that confirmation is extra nice, you know? Hopefully her improved body condition will help her conceive this next time. We will be upping her minerals too. He said she isn’t a “fertile Myrtle”. Even if she isn’t we would never get rid of her. She’s a pet, as well as a food source. Besides now that her weight is up she won’t be anything to feed once she’s on pasture and we grow our own hay for winter so it’s not like we have to pay out a bunch of money for hay. I am going to hope and pray this next AI sticks.

Now, here’s to hoping for a fall calf!

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$100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

Posted by html404 on January 20, 2014
in Blog Stuff, Gift Ideas, Giveaways, Holidays, Uncategorized

Most people can use a bit of extra cash after the Christmas season or any time really, right? Five fellow bloggers and I have joined together to offer a $100 Visa Gift Card giveaway. Not only can you buy groceries or gas but it could be used for gifts too. A great way to get a head start on 2014 Christmas gifts. I’ve bought one small gift so far for each of our children. Even if I buy one thing per child per month, I will be that much farther ahead than I was last year. Here’s to better planning this year! Do I hear a “hear hear!”?

The giveaway will run from Tuesday, January 21, 2014 to Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 11:59 EST. So be sure to come back and enter tomorrow!!
An actual Visa gift card will be mailed to a winner. This is not an e-gift card.

Thanks to Katy over at MovingThroughLife.com for organizing and coordinating this giveaway.

$100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What would you use the gift card for?

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Get Healthy with Insync Probiotic #NaturalProbiotic #shop #cbias

Posted by html404 on January 19, 2014
in All Natural Products, Exercise, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Fitness, Health and Nutrition, Health and Wellness, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Recipes, Uncategorized

Our family really strives to live a healthy lifestyle, but I want to preface that by saying we don’t do it perfectly and we are still on our journey to better health. Always room for improvement, right? Though I have to say we celebrate our two year anniversary of being cold and flu free next month! One of the ways we live healthy is taking a natural probiotic and a daily multivitamin.

Insync Probiotic

Insync Probiotic is a natural probiotic I have been taking for the past three weeks. It is available at Meijer stores in the “condition specific” section. It contains doctor recommended B. infantis’, which is a healthy probiotic bacteria that has been found to help women with irritable bowel syndrome (Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine). I have found it easy on my digestive system.

Four Things to Stay Healthy

Here are four other things to do to help maintain a healthy digestive system balance in addition to taking a natural probiotic.

1. Eating the right foods. One of my favorite fall and winter time foods is soup, especially Potato Kale Soup. It has lots of yummy veggies that keep your digestive system going.

It looks wonderful in the above photo with all its brightly colored vegetables, and it’s how the children prefer it, but I prefer to blend it together as the recipe calls for, which makes it look not quite so appealing. It is oh-so-yummy though!

2. Getting enough sleep is an important part of staying healthy and giving our body the rest it needs to function properly.

3. Get enough exercise. I struggle with this one because I like to get my exercise naturally rather than go to the gym or get on exercise equipment. One of the reasons I want to live on a farm! The thing is I have so many children that usually what’s left for me is weeding the garden which no one else enjoys. Before my older two boys took it over, one of my favorite things to do in the winter was shovel snow. Exercise aids in regular bowel movements.

4. Laughter. We are all probably familiar with the old proverb “Laughter is good medicine”, but it rings true. Exercise, laughter and having fun gets the endorphines going and reduces stress in our life. Less stress promotes good digestion and promotes good health.

For more information about Insync Probiotic, please visit:
http://www.insyncprobiotic.com
Twitter – @insyncprobiotic
Facebook – insyncprobiotic

Do you and your family take a natural probiotic to stay healthy? Have you ever heard of or tried Insync Probiotic before reading this post?

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Week #12 Saturday Top Five Laughs

Posted by html404 on January 18, 2014
in Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Fun Stuff, Humor, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Uncategorized

Once more we have joined The Mommyhood Chronicles for Week #12 – for us – in the Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week. And once again our three year old dominates the list!

5. B sat on Miss Moo to ride her. Did not get a photo of it though because by the time someone had come inside to tell me and I thought to take a photo B had already come in.

4. Earlier in the week Jr. (3) came to my husband and said, “Here Daddy, my school work.” He sees the children coming to get their school work corrected and thought he’d join, I guess. I haven’t been consistent in doing his preschool books with him….maybe that’s a hint?!

3. Our three year old son was at it again. He created at least ten “Daddy and Me” pictures and even cut them out! He gave my husband all these teeth because my husband has this grrrrrr sound where he clamps down on with his teeth. There’s even one of my husband with a hat and his brain. Very interesting perspective from our three year old anyways!

2. We had our farrier out this week to do our horse’s hooves and as he’s trimming Blaze’s hooves what does Freckles, one of the kittens, do? She jumped up onto Mr. B’s back! Silly cat.

1. We were watching a movie one night and out of the blue our three year old goes, “Me love her” referring to one of the female animated characters! lol!

What fun things happened at your house this week?

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isharkk

Posted by Professor on January 18, 2014
in Uncategorized

Are you tech savvy like me? Then let me introduce a company that I just found out about… iSharkk. They have some great products for everyone! Let me introduce you to one of their products… The 25W 5-Port Wall Plug…

This is a great little gadget! It allows you to charge 5 devices at once. No more need to plug and unplug chargers …just use this one handy device!

The 5-Port Wall Plug features:

Clean and fashionable design
Five USB output for different digital devices
Multiple safety protection system to ensure battery safety: Voltage control, current control, temperature control and the maximum charging time control.

This device has ports listed for IPAD, IPHONE, Android, etc… but can be used for any device that uses a USB charger… it is a great little charger!

I liked that the product is relatively small. I was expecting a big bulky charger, but this one literally fits in the palm of my hand. It rests nicely on the counter and I can conveniently plug all my devices into the plug.

If you are a “collector” of many tech devices like we are in our house… I would suggest looking into this nifty wall plug; it certainly makes charging life easier!

Please visit isharkk.com for more information on this product and may more techie gadgets!

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The Calling

Posted by html404 on January 17, 2014
in Books, Gift Ideas, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

The Calling by Suzanne Woods Fisher is another great book by Suzanne Woods Fisher. It is the second book in The Inn at Eagle Hill series. It is a clean, all round good read.

As you all know, I am intrigued by the Amish and appreciate their deep sense of community and commitment to one another and this story exemplifies this in a very real and strong way. I cannot tell you how or I’d reveal part of the mystery of the book.

I really enjoyed getting to know Bethany’s character better. I loved how she played hard to get with her “friend” Jimmy. She also displayed wisdom and how she learned from her past mistakes.

The mystery, twists and turns surrounding Bethany’s mother kept me guessing and wondering. I also cried buckets over the revelation of that whole story line.

Another part of the Amish community I enjoy is the respect the younger have for the elderly. In this series, there is a group of five spinster sisters who stand out for their service and commitment to the community, but they also stand out for the way in which they care and interact with the younger generation. The younger in turn cares and respects them. It seems more rare than common in our society today.

I love Bethany’s sister Mim and how she secretly provides advice in her Mrs. Miracle column of the newspaper and how supportive Bethany was of her endeavor.

The growth of Bethany’s brother, Toby, was revealed in this book and I was relieved when he turned out to be a “good” person and chose to do the right thing in spite of the consequences. That’s not always an easy thing to do but it is the honorable thing to do.

The guest, Geena, who visited the Inn at Eagle Hill in this book was a central part of the book and I appreciated her struggle with her “calling” but also how she allowed herself to be used where she was and how she integrated into the Schrock’s family and community.

If you haven’t guessed already, The Calling gets two thumbs up from me!

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Is Your Water Bill Higher than Normal?

Posted by html404 on January 16, 2014
in Guest Post, Home, Home Improvement, Thrifty Thursday, Uncategorized

This is a guest post.

If your water bills are costing more than usual, you need to read this.

A bill that is much higher than what you have been paying then the first indication is that you might be having some leaking pipes. The sound of running sound is audible even when you turn off all the fixtures but you are still to able to find it, this is when you actually need to call a professional and get it fixed right away. Besides your water bill, the leaking water might damage your house flooring and the furniture. It is important that you check the faucets after use and make sure that they are properly closed. Then check the water meter, if it is still moving then surely there is a leakage which needs to be repaired.

Photo compliments of Peter Griffin. Used with permission.

• Finding the exact point

Try the following tips to locate the exact leaking spot. If the sound helps then you can easily locate the source. Else you will have to find an amplifier devices that will give you the exact location when help close to the pipeline. Check for the satins in the ceiling, and then it might be the water tank that is leaking.

• Get professional help to locate the problem

At times, water travels along a line and gets accumulated on the roof top so the exact location might be somewhere else than the staining. If there are no stains and signs but the water meter seems to be moving, then locating the hidden leakage can be little trouble. Make use of a flashlight to get the pipeline in the basement or in case you have a crawl space.

• Fixing the problem

If the leaking is too an extent then you needs to turn off the water supply first in order to fix it. Make use of the main shut off valve to deal with it. The leaky section might need to be replaced or can be stopped with the help of a sealant. However, if you are not able to reach the pipe that needs to be repaired, calling a plumber has to be the ideal choice.

• Clamps can help

Make use of a clamp that will stop the leakage for few months if you don’t wish to replace the pipe immediately. A solid rubber blanket keeps the clamp in position and will hold it for several months to come. Get to the nearest store to buy a rubber sheet and some clamps exactly the size of the pipe that needs to be repaired.

• Measure the diameter of the sleeve clamp

Sleeve clamp of the pipe’s diameter will work the best. Protect the leakage by wrapping the rubber blanket and then carefully screw the clamp. A pinhole leaking can be fixed with a hose adjustable clamp. You are not able to find anything else, and then you can always go for a C-clamp.

• Apply epoxy putty

To make it even more secure, you can apply epoxy putty around the fixture where you are not able to apply the clamp. Make sure that the pipe is thoroughly cleaned and dry before the application. No matter, what you are doing, turn of the water supply and let the solution to stay for a while and get solid. All the above measures can be taken care as a DIY program but in case of any trouble, if you’re currently
residing at Simi Valley, CA. Find plumber in Simi Valley who spent years in plumbing industry.