Because it’s too late to tell me you used the last of the sour cream after I already cooked the egg noodles and had a roast in the crock pot for 8 hours with a plan to make beef stroganoff.\u00a0 Hence, the uncontrollable shrieking.\u00a0 Please note that you know you live on a farm when “zip ties” are included on the grocery list.<\/p>\n The second list is a To Do<\/strong> list which contains both immediate concerns and things that can be put off for so long that it will take an extra strength cleaner to get the chalk writing off when (if) I ever get around to them.<\/p>\n “Computer” has been on the list for 18 months, ever since the large box that apparently held the brain of our computer gave up in an alarming grinding noise and a puff of smoke.\u00a0 It won’t come off the list until we save up $500 to replace it.\u00a0 Not gonna happen, friends.\u00a0 “Hem pants” may be last on the list but I really do need to do that since my new work pants arrived and the legs end in a shockingly ragged strip of material that is a full 6 inches more than the length that I ordered.\u00a0 I mean it looks like someone had to use their teeth to tear it off which, considering they were made in China, I hope was not the case.\u00a0 Regardless, they can’t be worn without some major hemming.\u00a0 And once again, the fact that “Bubba” is on the list illustrates that we are a working farm.\u00a0 Bubba is the farrier and CC is long overdue for a trim.\u00a0 I mean, what do you expect the farrier to be named?\u00a0 Vaughan?\u00a0 Montgomery?<\/p>\n Adding another list doesn’t really seem necessary or particularly effective.\u00a0 Which makes me ponder what really does motivate me.\u00a0 There’s always that satisfying sense of a job well done.\u00a0 Or if not well done, at least done.\u00a0 Until it needs doing again.<\/p>\n It was awesome to get all the Christmas decorations down and the Rubbermaid Christmas tubs back in the rafters of the shed.\u00a0 Well done!\u00a0 Until we realized we forgot this large ribbon that had been hanging over the picture window.<\/p>\n Now someone will have to use the step ladder to climb up there, clamber over the stack of tubs, figure out which tub has any space left, squeeze it carefully under the lid, and then climb carefully back down.\u00a0 Or else throw it in the trash.\u00a0 Wanna place bets on where that ribbon ends up?<\/p>\n The kids and I also felt pretty good after replacing all the frozen water in the barn with fresh, clean, warm buckets of water hauled in from the house.\u00a0 See how everyone is enjoying their morning drink:<\/p>\n Too bad we’ll have to do it all over again tonight as temps won’t increase enough for the hoses to thaw.\u00a0 And then we’ll get to do it again tomorrow morning.\u00a0 And while we’re considering things that have to be done over and over, let’s not forget the floor will need to be swept and mopped after each round of tracking muck and mud from the barn, as well as sloshing buckets of water, in and out of the house.<\/p>\n So satisfaction of a job well done might not be the bar I want to set for 2012.\u00a0\u00a0 Because doing something “well” may be a matter of opinion. (Hey, we don’t have to look at Christmas decorations anymore.\u00a0 At least we won’t after I get that bow off the counter and throw it in the trash. If that’s not well done, it’s at least medium rare.)\u00a0 And the jobs around here seem to be endlessly repetitive in nature.\u00a0 So figuring out when a job is ever really done seems like an impossible task.\u00a0 Or a pipe dream.\u00a0 Or a thesis statement for a philosophy major.<\/p>\n In 2011 I managed to get by with a cyclical sense of motivation that was both practical and efficient.\u00a0 When the household chores became so overwhelming that I couldn’t face the mountains of laundry or grime in the tubs then I went out to the barn and got some farm chores completed.\u00a0 When the broken fences, diminishing hay supply, and leaky waterers in the barnyard threatened to crush my delicate spirit, I headed home and got some cleaning done.\u00a0 When the pantry was empty, I sat down with my cook books and made delicious monthly meal plans using ingredients for which I clipped coupons and shopped for endlessly.\u00a0 When I couldn’t spend one more minute pushing a grocery cart and convincing cranky cashiers that, yes, they can accept a coupon which results in an overage, I actually stayed at home and made the meals.<\/p>\n I’m not sure exactly what this style of life management is called. (No, not “chaotic,” but thank you for your kind suggestions.)\u00a0 But it got us through last year and has worked out fine for the first 4 days of 2012.\u00a0 After all, the garden got covered before the nighttime temperatures dropped into the 20’s.\u00a0 Well, actually it got covered the day after nighttime temperatures dropped into the 20’s, but luckily, a stiff wind on the first night kept any frost from settling on the plants.\u00a0 Which meant another job well done<\/span> medium rare.<\/p>\n Papa Noel got moved to larger quarters and a fresh pile of straw for snuggling.\u00a0 Not due to any particular planning on my part, but because Magenta was showing signs of impending labor and Papa was taking up space in the kidding barn.\u00a0 But apparently we moved him just in time because he is now too big for the under-the-arm-carry and required both arms plus an assistant to open gates for me.\u00a0 If we had waited any longer I would have needed to read the chapter about moving pigs in my book on raising pigs.\u00a0 Hah!\u00a0 Did you really think I had a book on raising pigs?\u00a0 And if I did, that I’d be reading it as opposed to skimming it frantically while a loose pig roamed up and down the driveway?\u00a0 Please.<\/p>\n With the pig gone, the kidding barn was cleaned out, and water buckets, feeding troughs, and an extra heat lamp was added.\u00a0 All ready for birthing.\u00a0 After which, Magenta promptly stopped laying around, grunting, and spewing mucous, and went off to play in the woods with the other goats.\u00a0 Apparently, unlike a lot of people, “finishing what you started” is not one of her New Year’s resolutions.<\/p>\n But that’s OK.\u00a0 Because by the time all those chores were done, our noses were nippy and our fingers were freezing.\u00a0 Or maybe only my nose and fingers were cold.\u00a0 The kids were hot and sweaty from playing King of the Hill on the last bit of compost in the garden.\u00a0 Which goes to show that if you take kids out of school long enough, they really will fight over anything—-even an 18 inch pile of poop.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/IMG_0420.jpg\")
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