Oven Magic and My Superhero

So this week was busy and frantic. Why frantic? My oven broke. It broke in a difficult to fix way, the part was expensive, time consuming way.

Not so terrible but for the fact that my cousins were coming and I wanted to show off my new found cooking skills paired with our local produce and farm fresh meats. Bake an apple pie or two, you know, be all domestic and such. But no oven = no pie. I think I did O.K. with our fresh pasta sauce, and local bakery bread but still. It wasn't what I had planned.

We had a great time with cousins, but that gets its own post. :)

So then the dog and cat get a vet visit for rechecking thyroid levels and 1 year vaccinations and we load them up on Friday and get it done. No big deal. Except that it was and now the cat is having a likely vax reaction and the dog is strangely ill as well. Yeah, let's add to the birthday party on Saturday chaos dog and cat vomit, shall we? Um, no. Right.

Then 3 hours before party time, the low temperature alarm in the fridge goes off and we realize it ain't (isn't doesn't sound right here) coolin' the grub no more. Holy moly people. My fridge too? My appliances are all 3-7 years old, they should not be pooping out on me and why now? Right, because 25 people are about to arrive at my house.

Then, Lil'Bug says quietly that she has a headache and doesn't want to wear a costume to her dress up party. Oh no. She is almost always "in costume" in some manner and she is NEVER quiet about anything. No, she's sick. Oh no.

Dearest leaves to get the last bit of food for the party, I clean up more of the dog and cat "issue", feed baby, change poopsplosionalooza, give Lil'Bug a snuggle and some children's Tylenol and a cough drop and hope for the best.

When my sister arrives with the fabulous cake I have not even brushed my hair.

Dearest returns with food, fixes fridge, and party guests arrive. Lil'Bug is sick, chaos ensues, fun is had, kids are all fried from week long Halloween events that Des Moines insists on hosting plus birthday part extravaganza, and before it was all over tears were shed, drums were played at full volume, and parents were, well, awesome. And.....then it was over.

Somehow my house was cleaner after than before (thank you Nana!). My BIL found out we are moving to a farm, and I had to awkwardly address that.

Oh, and as I was closing the door for the night I saw on our realtor sign "Open House 1-3". OMG. No. No. No. I call our agent, sign stickers were a mix up. Thank God.

I crash.

Dearest FIXES oven.

All is well with the world. Until the dog and cat start (continue) their misery and we end back up at the vet Monday AM, sick kids in tote. And then I get sick. So is life.

The point of this woe is me ramble is that through it all my Dearest just plugged away, got things resolved, cleaned up messes, and made things work. My hero.

Our New Tractor

We purchased the Ford tractor, which turns out to be a 2N instead of an 8N. I'm still happy with it, but somewhat frustrated due to the lack of hydraulics. It'll be a great lawnmower and an adequate snow remover and post hole digger if and (most likely) until we decide we need an upgrade.

Pics of the tractor on the trailer - it's parked at a friends house until we get onto the farm in December.

GAH! ARGH!

I love my crockpot. Seriously. I mean, I usually adore it, but today it will keep my family fed.

Yesterday I tried to wait for my husband to call home and ask if there was anything I needed from the store, just so I could say, "Yes Dear, a new oven. Could you pick one up on your way home?"

Sadly, I could not contain my wit, so he got an email that said OMGtheovenisbrokenagainHELP!WAAAAAAAAA!

He came home at 5:30pm and started right in taking apart the oven and troubleshooting. Kitchen more fully in chaos than I could deal with. Headache set in at the same time. So we headed out to dinner instead of trying to figure it out at home. All was good. Came home, I snuggled up with girls and good book and the three of us were snoring in dreamland soon after.

So today the replacement part has been acquired and house is being put back together. Ham is in the crockpot and beds are being made. We have company arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are totally ready (or will be soon) just without the homemade bread I had hoped to have done.

Life goes on.

Tractor Time!

Battle of the tractors!


John Deere 60 with front loader


vs.

Ford 8n with mower, snow blade, chains, post hole digger


For general farm like chores, mowing 6 - 10 acres and removing snow on the driveway. I test drove the ford and it's in good condition.

Who wins?