Green Acres is DEFINITELY the place to be!

Thursday, we went to Atlanta to pick Alex from the great Hartsfield International airport and on the way home, I decided to be adventurous and find my friend Mandy. Mandy lives on Green Acres Goat Farm in Bremen, GA, where she, her husband Shannon and their son Cole, raise Nigerian Dwarf goats. I wasn't able to reach Mandy on the phone, but never one to be put off by something as trivial as someone not answering the phone, I found her address on my cell phone via the internet and then plugged it into my VZ Navigator and it took us right to her front door! Is that awesome or what? Anyhoo, she still wasn't home, but her kind neighbor, who incidentally is her sister - in- law, helped us locate her and we got to have a short, but really wonderful visit.

Okay, for starters, Green Acres is absolutely gorgeous!!! I mean, it doesn't get any prettier than that. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. They have got a really nice property and those are some lucky goats living there. I wouldn't mind living in their barn! I just can't say enough about how appealing the whole farm - it makes you feel like you've found the dream, for which you've always been looking.

The other thing was that having never seen Nigerians up close and in person, I didn't realize the full impact of their "dwarfness". We're talking small here! They are all so adorable , I just wanted to sit down the pasture and wallow in their cuteness. They were all beautiful and inquisitive and very friendly - all very appealing traits in goats. We had to cut our visit short because Mandy was having a busy day, but I was thrilled to finally meet her in person, meet the goats I had been looking at on her website and see that gorgeous farm on which they all live. Mandy is a special person and the kids and I think that she is tops!

What a great little road trip.It was an easy drive with beautiful scenery. Being from north Georgia as I am, I decided it would be fun to take the scenic route up hwy 27 and it was definitely scenic - and LONG! Seeing where their mom grew up, did not impress the kids enough to make up for the length of the time spent on roads that kept us traveling at a range of 35-55 mph. I loved it though - it brought back so many wonderful memories of childhood. Sigh....

I have a link to the Green Acres website to the left with all my other favorites , or you can simply click here to see the goats.

A nocturnal post

It's not even a nocturnal post at this point - this is the next day. What a busy day it was. I've got a bit much going on in the project department. It's too bad that having projects at home can't be a career - I would be a very highly paid professional. Heaven knows I've got plenty to do. I am on the right track though - I've been blasting away through the house cleaning, rearranging, washing, sweeping etc. It's been great, but I want to scrapbook, paint my bookcase, and redo my desk in the living room. And that was just the indoor projects. There are twice as many outdoor projects! One reason I've been so busy inside is that I started back using Melaleuca products and the house just smells so good. Solu-mel will clean all kinds of crap out of the carpet. If you aren't familiar with the stuff - check it out. There is a business element of Melaleuca, which is optional, but apparently people do quite well with it. I personally cannot sell water to a dying man in the desert, but that's just me. If you can get people to listen about Melaleuca and try it, then it pretty much sells itself.
And it's going to have to sell itself without me because I'm going to bed. Goodnight, world.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah....you say it's your birthday!!!!

It's hard to believe that you were born 17 years ago! My how the time flies when you have a son who drives you crazy! You're missing a lot of adventure here! Pixie is turning out to be a champion teacher of amateur milkers, Twister doesn't want any part of milking, and Vanessa would like to have some part of milking. When you get home, maybe we'll make some birthday goat's milk fudge!

I've been working non-stop since you've been on vacation, and while I'm completely exhausted, it's been a good thing for me. It was past time to get up and get busy. Your sister makes sure that there's plenty to do around here, trust me on this. I can't wait til you come home - it seems like there's always something I want to tell you, or there's something funny for us to laugh about. I imagine there's more where that came from and I'm glad you're having a good time!

Well, it's back to work for your weary, but reasonably content mom. Can't wait to see you - we've missed you! (and not just because you take the trash out either.)

(The above photo is not on Alex's birthday, since he's vacationing with his dad - it's a picture of him with my friend, Dawn's dog Skippy. Alex was enjoying some brotherly love while we were visiting with Pixie for the first time and Dawn was performing,....uh.....minor.....uh...maybe it was major .....surgery on Vincent. It's still too painful to talk about! Thank you Dawn - you're a real woman and my idol!!!!)

What a sad picture.....

I admit it......this is a terrible picture of the milking stand that Richard built for me - completely from materials he already had! How cool is that? I haven't had a chance to drag it out of the garage to take a better picture, but I will post it when I do. I was just so thrilled to get it and I was so proud of Richard for building it that I wanted to go ahead and post this as a tribute to him. I am currently milking in...ahem.....the garage, as it is the only place to keep the stand indoors so that Vincent won't be using it as a butting post.

Twister, as a first freshener, is a very challenging goat to milk - especially for a rank amateur like me! I am a having a difficult time with her and I really think that she has a ton of milk, but either she isn't giving it up, I don't have enough milking practice , or a combination of the two. Either way, we're moving on!

She's finally here!

Meet Pixie, the newest Van Goat doe and an expert little milker. Somewhat like the deal with the milking stand, I wasn't able to get a good picture of her, but I really wanted to go ahead and post a picture and a few words about her. She is a beautiful little girl with a sweet personality, if a bit shy. She was disbudded when she was a kid so she is the only Van Goat without horns, which caused me a great deal of concern initially, but she seems, for all her shyness and reserve to be able to hold her own. Twister, who considers herself the queen of the herd, has given her a rough time, but Pixie seems to be unfazed.Vanessa is very interested and follows her around frequently, with the Uncles , Trixie and Gus following right behind her. Vincent has checked her and then dismissed her as an acceptable non -threat. I think she is going to fit in beautifully.

And live from 43 things.......

I got an email reminder today from 43 things to ask me how I was doing on my goal of becoming a stronger person. Well, 43 things..........I am getting better, definitely. Once I made up my mind that I was going to stop whining about how tired I am and how I have too much to do, I started making progress. A friend told me that I suffer from perfection paralysis – that is, feeling like I don't have time to do something perfectly so there’s no point in starting and I wouldn't know where to start anyway. That would be me! Now I realize that if you start, no matter how little time you have – baby steps – you’re going to get where you want to go! Thank you Colleen!

See more progress on: Become a stronger person

Love my grill!

"Think I'm gonna throw a little hay on the barbie."