When Things Go Bad...

~BREAKING NEWS~
We withdrew Wyatt from school yesterday.
I know that's like changing races at the finish line, but I didn't feel like I had any other choice.
He's had such a hard time this year with his Peter Griffin teacher and dealing with bullying all year. We've made numerous trips to school to meet with the principal and his counselor but nothing seemed to work, and even though it's just a few kids who were the offenders, it was so destructive. The bullying took place in the classroom the hallways and even on the bus and for some reason, one kid in particular just continued to get away with it. If they did intervene with any sort of discipline the consequences for Wyatt were just worse the next time around. So now here we are going into May and we have watched Wyatt become more and more withdrawn and isolated and decided we had no choice but to take a more drastic action. I looked into charter schools but they all have a waiting list a year long which tells me something about the state of our schools in this county and I also read up on homeschooling both public and private and decided I'm not cut out to learn, much less teach. I don't have the patience to watch the commercials during Dancing With The Stars, how could I teach the social life of ants. We ended up just changing districts. Actually, we ended up changing back to our own district that we were moved out of. He started there in March 2006 when we moved here and the next year they said we were in the wrong tax district when really we were in the right district and they were wrong but after they made us move but didn't even know where we were supposed to move to and I had to figure it out on my own driving around in the goatwagon because the caddy had a flat and then a month later they said we had to come back to the district I knew was ours all along I was mad and wouldn't come back.
So his new/old school is just about two miles from the house and the 6th grade is still considered grade school there. Next year he will go into middle school which just happens to be a brand new school.
I really hope we're making the right choice.
Wyatt is so relieved and to see him laughing and smiling and engaging again makes me so happy, but at the same time I'm really nervous for him to start a new school.
I always hated being the new kid.
One more thing.
The school we took him out of just had their third bomb threat in a little over a month.
The high school had one two weeks ago.
Thats four bomb threats in a very short span of time which in my mind screams chaotic learning environment.
Stay tuned to see how the adventures in end of year school changes go.

~PSA~
Yesterday I had a piece of carrot cake that I made last Friday and it didn't taste right and I thought it was just because it had been sitting out on the counter for almost a week and was getting a little stale, so I cut myself an inside piece and it still didn't taste right but I really like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting so I ate it anyway.
Turns out it it didn't taste right not because it was stale, but because it had gone bad.
I Googled cream cheese frosting and learned it needs to be refrigerated because it is  c h e e s e  and milk and cheese need to be refrigerated because they are dairy products and dairy products turn bad if not refrigerated

I may never eat carrot cake again.

Peas.

Easter Update

How was your easter weekend?
Ours was great, very relaxing with one day of sunshine for being outside doing chores and a day of rain to stay inside and veg :)
Friday night Wendy and the Douchebag Jesse came over for dinner and cookie decorating and always being the first to admit and gossip about anything, I must say we had a very nice evening.
It was a little tense at first but the laughter got rolling pretty quickly and we all pretended like there was no history of bad behavior between us.
Forgoing what history has taught me often ends up biting me in the ass, one example would be making four five
     (for those of you that are new here, that would be in regards to marrying my fourth husband twice therefore making him five as well as four)
but what can I say, I'm an optimist.
Anyway, we had a big dinner and then settled right into decorating the easter cookies which is always somewhat of a fiasco.
It all looks like fun and games, but trust me, emotions run high in this house when it comes to working together in an arts and crafts environment.

But tempers aside they managed to pull it off and the outcome was another plate full of holiday cookie magic!

And, I think I can say that even the douchebag Jesse ended up having a pretty good time.

Easter morning was fun too, but I can see that time may be stealing away the baskets of stolen easter treats.

It just doesn't pack the same punch for Wyatt as it did in years past.

I'm pretty sure he's on to us and no longer believes a big rabbit snuck in during the night and dropped of a basket filled with eco friendly recycled spring dyed grass piled high full of jelly beans, malted robins eggs and marshmallow bunnies.

I guess next year I'll go ahead and just buy him the treats that he likes and a few for myself instead of filling his basket with all of my favorites and then I won't have to sneak in his room after he falls asleep or leaves for school to steal from him.

And then maybe we can start having an honest discussion about the colored eggs hidden in the trees and bushes too.

The ones that he colors the day before and has to stay in the living room facing the t.v while one of us goes outside for a "walk" every easter morning before he's allowed to go outside and find them.

Maybe next year I could try to convince him of a more realistic story, like maybe the whole business about the easter bunny is nothing more than a story told to gullible little children and in all actuality it's really an easter peacock.

You never know, he might believe it.

6 has the day off today and we're going to my favorite store in the world, the soap making store!

So I need to go make my list and check it twice and discreetly remove some more malted eggs from Wyatt's basket and carefully move the eco grass around to cover my crime.

Peas.

Soap Dish

The huckleberry soap is done and out of the mold!

It turned out really nice, except I think the color is wrong.

I guess I should have looked at a huckleberry before I made the soap.

I make cold process soap, but I do it a little different than the standard way that you read about in most soap making tutorials.

I soap with my oils and lye at room temperature and then do what is called a "non-gel" which just means that I don't allow my soap to heat up to soaponify.

Sometimes I let it rest in a cool place and sometimes I put it in the fridge for a day. 

Although... Sometimes if my panties are in a bunch and I can't wait to get a batch done I'll do what's called CPOP and that means mixing the oils at about 110 degrees and then placing the soap in the oven.

It puts it into a kind of "super gel" and allows you to cut and use it about a gagillion times sooner.

After the huckleberry chilled in the fridge for 24 hours it's still really soft, but it is firm enough to cut

I'll let it cure on the rack for a few weeks though before it's completely ready to use.

Nice rack huh?

I made soy candles yesterday too, but after I got my wax melted down I realized I didn't have any green candle dye to make my cut grass candles soooo, I changed things up a little and threw in some blue dye and sea breeze fragrance and called it good!

Later in the day I picked up some green to make the grass candles and that paired with 6 mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon sent me head on into spring!

While I was in town we wheeled into Wendy's new salon to get Wyatt a much needed haircut.

Emphasis on the "much needed".

Of course, since he is a little brother and the haircut was free Wendy felt obliged to have a little fun with him, so before she gave him a haircut she gave him the business and made him think he was getting a retro prom night circa 1987 cut.

Aren't sisters swell.

In the end it all came off, but getting there was half the fun!

When we drove in the driveway something caught my eye and I looked up to see this...

Yes, that's Betty the peacock on the roof.

I assume she's there for the view.

Peas.

Blog Podge

Mmmm, the house smells like huckleberries this morning.
First thing I did when I woke up this morning was start a pot of coffee and got the oils warming for a batch of soap.
I decided to use a scent I haven't tried yet, because really, who doesn't love trying new stuff.
I found a new soap supplier here in Portland

right before I started school bus school and I love that they're so close to home because I was able to go and pick up a few new fragrance oils and some other soaping oils that I hadn't worked with before like jojoba and shea butter, and I'm just now getting a chance to try them out.
I made some cucumber melon and blackberry for the bridal shower, but this is the first time I've used the huckleberry and I still have avocado mint to try.
I have to be honest, as much as I loved driving the big yellow bus and being lost and unprepared for the job and having a full on emotional meltdown because I was not born to be a school bus driver like I thought I was and discovering that I was really maybe born to be a lunch lady or hall monitor I really love making soap in my pajamas as the sun is coming up with the smell of fresh coffee brewing while looking out to the pasture and seeing this seasons batch of spring loaded lambs frolicking in the green grass.
I don't think life gets much better than that.
Speaking of grass... I'm getting ready to make some soy candles and I'm scenting them with "fresh cut grass" which is a scent that if you've never heard of before, I can tell you just exactly what it smells like.
Fresh cut grass.
It is amazing.

6 is loving his job as the ice cream man.

He works nights, but is able to go upstairs and sleep in the attic cave when he gets home for six or seven hours and then he has time to do stuff around the house and have dinner with Wyatt and I before he has to leave again.
So far he's only brought home two cartons of ice cream which is good news to my backside, but sad news for my mouth.

In other news, Wendy has a new job at a nice salon in town and is doing REALLY well!
She is renting a station which I told her was the dumbest idea ever since she was just starting out but she is proving me really wrong and doing great.
She has been doing cuts and colors and is even having good luck with a steady stream of walk in clients.
I'm very proud of her ♥
I know that this is out of character for me, but I will even go so far as to add that I'm proud of the Douchebag.
He's been at the same job for quite a while and it seems as though they like him enough to not only keep him around, but to also give him a raise.
Between their two incomes they were able to move out of his parents house and rent an apartment, so things are looking up.

Token Farm Photo

Molly Mule & her boyfriend Dan Ram

Peas

Spring!

I'm so happy that spring is here!
Looking out at lambs in the pasture, buds on the trees and kids outside where they belong.
I want to open all the doors and windows and blow out all the stale winter air and let the smell of sunshine and fresh cut grass fill the house.
They say there's a reason for everything and if there's a reason I was only a school bus driver for a month it must be because it's springtime and there's work to be done at home.
I need to stock up my Etsy store, dishcloths, soap, candles and rugs and get all my seeds going for our garden this summer and I'm SO happy to have 6 home to help with all of my big summer plans, even if most of them make him shake his head and kick the dirt.
We need to get our raised beds in, move the driveway gate back, fence off from the little house, bring in gravel and you know what I REALLY want...
One of those big made out of log sign holders that go over your driveway like they had on the Ponderosa and Southfork

You know, just something simple.

And I've already figured out how I'm going to get 6 to make me one.

I'm going to ask him if he will build me an address marker for the house.

Of course he'll say yes to that, why would he say no, and then, I'll make my move.

He'll ask what I want it to look like and then I'll show him my picture and then he'll say 

WHAT!

NO WAY!

Absolutely Not!

And then I'll say but you already said you would and maybe even make my eyes water up a little.

And then... 

He'll build me an "address marker" just like the one on the Ponderosa and Southfork!

I missed my nieces bridal shower this weekend because she lives in stupid Washingtoncolorado and I live in dumb Oregon.

That's the worst part about living far away from family is that you miss all the special times with free food the people you love.

I remember some of my bridal showers, they were so fun, wearing the paper plate hats and measuring your stomach with a roll of toilet paper.

Wait, that's a baby shower.

Making a wedding dress out of toilet paper and getting a bunch of presents.

I made her little "shower" soaps for the party, but I really wish I could have been there.

I can't wait for the wedding.

I need to buy a dress.

And shoes.

And get a haircut.

And shave my legs.

Ok, I'm done.

Peas.

Bus Driver Fail

Well I have good news and bad news.
The good news is I'll be blogging again.
The bad news is I quit my bus driving job.
Don't get any crazy ideas...
I loved driving the bus.
I loved the kids.
I loved all the people I met and worked with on my bus driving journey.
What I didn't love was not having a regular route and being lost in different buses on different routes without hope of having my own route until well into next year.
The clincher came two days ago when I rode along on a special needs route that needed a sub.
When I got on that bus to go to different schools in parts of Portland that I wasn't familiar with, feeling completely lost to pick up kids that I didn't feel the least bit qualified to care for and get them home safely while navigating the freeway in the rain and then trying to remember and decipher directions through a strange town to get these kids home to their families I knew I was in over my head.
I ended up having a full on anxiety attack crying all the way back to the office to tell the dispatch lady that I was not bus driver material because I don't think bus drivers are supposed to cry and I not only cried in her office, I cried in my truck as I drove home and then when I got home I REALLY cried and then I cried all night.
My manager called and talked me off the cliff the next morning and convinced me to get back in the bus.
She was so supportive and reassured me that it's scary for everyone in the beginning and she wouldn't put me in a special needs bus ever again and I just needed to go slow and try again.
Ok.
I rode along on another route that needed a sub next week.
The idea was to have me ride along first so I would be more comfortable and not be so lost when I drove it next week.
The driver I rode with was funny and patient and explained every stop and turn.
I felt like I was going to fall face first into the seat in front of me and the more she talked the more I could only hear Charlie Browns teacher
whaa wha wha whaaaa wha wha wha whaaaa.
The back off my knees started sweating and my heart started racing.
My face started hurting and my toes were all clenched as I tried to keep talking and sound like I wasn't in the throes of a full mental breakdown.
When we got off the bus it was all I could do to thank her and make my way back to my truck without bawling my eyes out as I realized that I just wasn't cut from bus driver cloth.
I think I'm better off here at home selling my soap and slippers and making rugs and candles and planting a garden, collecting eggs and chasing sheep.
I'll always have the mobile spaces if I feel like I need an official tittle.
Marilyn Parks Trailerpark Manager.
It has a nice ring to it don't you think?
I'm also a professional driver now with a CDL so if we ever buy a dump truck or an eighteen wheeler I could drive it.
Or at least park it.
Marilyn Parks Professional Truck Parker.
Speaking of trucks...
6 got a new job!!!
He is home every night now because he is...
THE ICE CREAM MAN!

Can you even believe it!
He delivers all the ice cream and other frozen Nestle products from warehouse to warehouse in Oregon and Washington so all the little trucks can deliver to the stores.
I knew this whole marriage thing would pay off sooner or later and this is surely a lesson to all of you that dreams really do come true.
Just look at me, I'm married to the ice cream man.
❤
Peas