Loafkeeper Farm

There aren't a lot of preschool choices here for kids who aren't living in poverty or with special needs or for families that don't believe bible verses should be on the syllabus. I've heard there are a few spots in a preschool class at the main elementary school without any strings attached...except kids have to be in class five days a week for a full school day. Plus? I've seen the rooms at that school, and they are cold and rundown and not any place I would want to spend my time. I definitely don't want to send Anya there.

Luckily, there is one more option. Blue Mountain School.

Andy, Anya, and I went to BMS Wednesday for the morning, and we had a really good time. The environment was warm, and cozy, and loving and full of fun things to play with. There was a shelf holding wicker baskets full of pine cones, finger puppets, mardi gras beads, bits of fabric, and sea shells. There were lots of wooden puzzles, blocks, dress-up clothes, books, a wooden kitchen, a kid-sized table set with a tin tea set, and a cozy corner with fluffy pillows and a canopy. The wood floors had snuggly rugs in the play area, and one wall had a big sliding glass door looking out on the play area and woods. For snack time, the kids and teachers sat down to wooden bowls of fabulous-smelling oatmeal delivered in papa bear, mama bear, or baby bear portions. The teacher and aide seemed as at home in the classroom as the kids and were really interested and caring with the kids.

Anya didn't want to leave. If not for the lure of the library, we'd probably still be there.

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We enjoyed about a week of being able to drive all the way up to our house before we had to get out our hiking shoes again. Now, after several weeks, we've finally begun to see the ground again. Maybe we'll even find those two missing packets of Ramen.

Here's what's been going on around here:

+ Andy put in the threshold and replaced the under-the-door-thingy-jig on the cat room, and we've had no more mice sightings (dead or alive) since.
+ Our snow shovel broke last weekend. After visiting four stores, we finally found a new shovel yesterday.
+ The sheep have started escaping again. They just walk over the fence on the frozen snow drifts. (Andy dug the snow back some, but they still manage to climb over.)
+ Anya gets to test drive a preschool on Wednesday.
+ There is a snow drift about five feet tall crossing our driveway. It's sort of solid, so we can mostly scamper over it. Sometimes we sink.
+ Every day last week I asked Andy if the chickens were okay because from the house it looked like they had been buried.
+ I didn't leave the house for four days because of the scary snow drifts.
+ Anya uses a chair to turn on the bathroom light, change the thermostat, get cell phones, raid the pantry, and get the tv remotes.
+ We lost a bag of groceries in the snow. The next day we found a jar of adobo sauce (unfortunately) and three packets of ramen scattered in the snow across a quarter of the driveway.
+ Anya likes to lick playdoh. Especially the mint green.
+ I ripped apart the last square I was knitting and have only finished about 1/4 of a new one. My mom, however, has crocheted about 87.
+ We're looking at kitchen cabinets for The Great Kitchen Remodel of 2010, 2011....2094.
+ Walking the driveway today felt like walking through a giant slushie but wasn't anywhere near as tasty.
+ My left eye is twitching.

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Anya's new favorite song to sing is "Three Blind Mice." We don't sing it around here much; it's not really requested very often. Perhaps it's a daycare favorite?

This morning I walked into the living room and found a dead mouse on the floor. I mentioned it to Andy, and he told me how in the wee hours of the night he and the cats chased down three mice. I'm not sure if they were blind, but they must have been pretty stupid to come into a house with nine cats. Bob dropped the second dead mouse in the bed, and the third dead mouse was in the hallway.

That makes a total of five dead mice we've found in the last few weeks.

Okay, mice, listen up. I know it's cold out there. And there's all that snow in the way. But really...if you want any hope at survival, DO NOT enter this house. You don't stand a chance of making it through til dawn.

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For Christmas, Grandma D. gave Anya a kid-sized table and chair set. As a bonus, Anya also got a really great box. As you can see, it's the perfect size and shape for napping. (Note: This picture was taken a few weeks ago right after Anya had taken a nose dive on the one rug at daycare and gotten a huge owie on her nose. She looked like Rudolph but is better now.)



In other news, we got a lot of snow.

This afternoon, Andy, Anya and I went down to dig out the car. Anya played in the back with one of us while the other shoveled. Andy did most of the work, but I managed to be the one shoveling whenever the neighbors drove by. One guy honked as if to say, "Dude, why are you playing in the car with the kid while yer wife is shoveling??" Eventually we got a path cleared to the road, and we all climbed in for an adventure.

We drove the mile up the street to the convenience store, Andy bought a 2L of coke, and we went home.

After we got back to the house, Andy started to boil some water to make lunch. Then we ran out of propane.

Soon, Andy gets to strap the propane tank to his back and carry it to the car and go get a full one and lug it back home. He also gets to haul a bale or two of hay down to the sheep. He's such a lucky guy! While he's out having all that fun, I have to stay in the house while Anya takes a nap. Bummer. Maybe I'll knit some snow shoes.

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When I visited my parents at Christmas, my mom and I decided to work together to make a blanket for my brother. Our assignment was to knit (Carol) or crochet (Mom) a bunch of squares that Mom will then stitch together. The materials?



Bags and bags and balls and balls of cotton yarn that Mom made from unraveling a whole heck of a lot of sweaters bought for cheapo at the Goodwill while she was staying with me when we first moved to VA.

Having just finished up another knitted/crocheted quilt, I know how hard it is to get the squares all the right size. Mom said we should just shoot for squares that were 8" wide. So, my first one is really long and, um, not 8" wide. Oh well. Then I made the green one. It, I am proud to say, is 8" square. The creamsicle square I just finished is 8" long and about 7" wide. So, I turned it sideways. Of course, my Mom tells me she is making her squares all 8"x8". Show off. She's also finished at least 6 squares to my 3. (SHOW OFF!)



I've started my fourth square in purple and burnt orange. It's looking to be maybe 8.5" wide. I suppose if I was doing the same pattern on each one it wouldn't be so hard to keep things the right size, but I'm trying to do each one differently.

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Anya is addicted to lotion. I had to hide my bottle on top of the shelf in the bathroom, and her bottle of baby lotion is in a kitchen cabinet. It was on top of the microwave, but she pushed one of her little chairs over and started sweeping her hand back and forth over the microwave pushing everything off in hopes she'd get the bottle. This morning I gave her a couple of dots of lotion and she wanted more, as usual, and I said maybe later, and she started the bawling and the crying and the whining and the repeating of, "I NEED MORE BABY LOTION!" This is probably her first five word sentence and the first time I can remember her using "I" correctly.

On Wednesdays I usually stay home with Anya and work when she's napping and after she goes to bed at night. Today (in between lotion episodes) we sat at her little table and made stars out of playdoh. MommyStar, DaddyStar, AnyaStar, GrammaStar, BubbaStar, Yay-yeeStar (sitter), Kay-keeStar, Ney-neyStar (kids at sitter). Then the stars started hugging. "Mommy and Daddy Star HUG!" Then the playdoh was dirty and had to be held in the mist of our new humidifier to take a bath.



We normally go to story time at the library on Wednesdays, too, but guess what? We are snowed in again! Friday night we got a ton of snow. Saturday and Sunday we shoveled a path from the house to the car. So, we aren't really snowed in, but the truck is so no story time. It's definitely an easier hike with a path but still not fun. We got more snow yesterday, and Friday's forecast is another doozy.

2010 Goal Update: Mom and I have started working on Craig's blanket; Andy finished putting down the floor in the basement but still has trim and painting; and I think hiking up and down our driveway so many times takes care of the "monthly family hike" for January. Go team!

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