Oooo..... I fess up to it. *nods* I slept in real late this morning. I'm not sure why, but DD slept in pretty late, and then never bothered to come in an wake me up. I've come to rely on her as my trusty alarm clock. Some people have a buzzer, and I have a 4 year old poking my closed eyelids and stuffing a toy telephone next to my head. "Mommy! Papa wants to talk to you. You have to wake up!"

Aaarrrrrfffff........*mumble, mumble, mumble*

I put myself on a little bit of a schedule today. I gave myself time to sit down to breakfast with DD, and then I was off to the housework. I actually managed to spend an hour cleaning my room, but I still can't see where there is much of a change. *laughs* Ok, that has something to do with the books on the dressers, all begging for a new book case. So, I sorted the books and lined them up prettily on my desk in the computer room. Now all I have to do is find a place to put all of DH's tools and weird work things that have migrated into our little "love haven". Don't you know how romantic I feel when I have to step over a 4' level, nestle candles amongst screwdrivers, and pick errant screws out of my socks? Yeah baby! yeah! *shakes head* Well, no. lol So, I TRIED to do something about it today. I need to take some things down to the basement tomorrow.

Next, I was off to clean the computer room, and then I moved on to the kitchen. I did pick up and make things nice and neat, but now it looks like a cooking class from hades. No one wants to eat what I have on those cooking sheets. *laughs* I've been baking rodent bedding today. DH came up with the *interesting* idea to put the paper pulp into the washing machine on the spin cycle. Need I mention that I quickly offered an emphatic "NO!" ? *chuckles* Hey, he loves it when I'm submissive, but I'm not sure that he would like grey underwear and a clogged machine. Yuckers.

DD and I had a quiet dinner of chicken nuggets and corn on the cobb this evening. DH was over at my dad's house, helping him hang his new kitchen cabinets. Apparently they have it all done now. That's good. Dad's only about 18 years behind schedule. lol Oh, you think I'm joking? The house was tore up when I was 7, and he is just now starting to put it in order. It's sad that my dad never thought enough of us kids (and my Mom), to bother making the house decent to live in before, but now he will do it so he can have a rental property. Dad's a real trip. It makes me sad every time that I think of the house being nice. My mom worked so hard to make that hovel clean and neat, but there is only so much that you can do with rotten carpet and open rafters. My mom deserved better than that. Of course, we children did too. I should be happy for my dad and his progress, but it just lights up his selfishness. He wasn't the little girl who was crying because friends would never come over though. *shrugs* My dad had money, but he spent it on himself and race car parts all of the time, and not his wife and children. All of that really causes me to appreciate all of DH's hard work. I'm glad that at 25 years old, we have our own house, even if it does need a little cosmetic work. I am just happy to have the small things. I was nearly in tears when DH hung the doors in our house, because we didn't have doors as children. We had a blanket hung over the doorjam for the bathroom, because my dad never bothered to fix our house. I appreciate my husband so much. He has a great deal of respect in my eyes because he works very hard, and he takes care of his responsibilities. We have never wanted for necessities while he has cared for us, and he even makes a point to work harder so we can have some of our 'wants'. What a great guy.

DH wasn't too long in coming home, thankfully. We even had time to sit down together and watch '24'. I was happy to not be babysitting the VCR tonight, taping the show for him. lol DD is in bed, nestled in my wolfie blanket. She went to bed real easy after having her storytime. I read to her every night, and tonight I read her three short stories about Jesus. I'm glad that she enjoyed them.

Speaking of DD, she and I had to have a little talk this evening. When we bowed our heads for prayer, she rushed through the table prayer and was already done by the time she finished figuring out how to fold her hands in a comfortable way. So, I asked her to stop and begin again. This evening, I tried to stress to her that prayers should always be said from the heart, and that they are not just words that you rush through before eating. She apologized, and began again at a much slower pace, and with greater reverence. I'm not completely sure if she understood me, but this is something that we can work on as she gets a better grasp of what it means to pray to God.

After my marathon cleaning, I've had plenty of time to work on my latest project. I am currently putting together www.choosinghome.com with my friend, Molly. The site isn't completely done, but it is coming along nicely. I am very excited by the endeavor, and I can't wait until all of the pieces fall into place. If anyone hasn't signed up for Molly's newsletter at www.workathomeconsulting.net , then I would definitely encourage them to do so. Choosing Home is the future site of WAHC, but all of the information that we have is still up at WAHC. There are so many resources that can be so helpful to women who choose to stay at home. I hope that we can take the place to great heights and really make an influence in the lives of many lovely women. There are so many absolutely brilliant women out there who really know how to make 'working at home' a blessing, even among my relatively small list of aquaintences in the blogosphere. How great would it be to see all of these women come together to help each other through the trials and greatness of everyday life? Peachy!

When I was a little girl, no one thought much about what to use for rodent bedding. I had a guinea pig for many, many years whose cage was lined with a layer of kitty litter under a layer of cedar shavings. Ah, and now they say that cedar and pine shavings are very bad for the respiratory health of rodents. So, being that I like to be a good mommy to my rodents, I've taken to making my own bedding, since buying good packaged bedding can be expensive if you change the bedding frequently.

I have read that many people use shredded newspaper for bedding, because it is absorbant and easily attained and disgarded. Also, the ink is most times made from soy, and will not harm the animals. I, however, have a slight difficulty with seeing my pets running around with dingy fur and grey feet. *laughs* So, here are my homemade "stupidly simple" instructions for rat bedding.

Jenna's Stupidly Simple Rat Bedding

1.) Aquire a large bucket in which you can get sloppy. Keep in mind that it will be stained with newspaper dye.

2.) Use only the regular printed pages from your local newspaper, not the glossy pages.

3.) Place the newspaper into the bucket and fill bucket halfway with water. Let the papers soak for a few minutes, and press them down as they get soggy, allowing all of the paper to become saturated.

4.) Enjoy having quiet time. You can do any number of mental tasks, such as praying, menu planning, composing essays, or arguing with yourself as you take the mushy paper and tear and pull it apart. This will go much easier than normal because the saturated paper fall apart fairly easily.

5.) When you think that you have most of the paper suitably shredded, have fun squashing the pulp and grinding hanfulls between your fingers. This breaks the paper down into a mushy pulp, a yucky grey blob that will turn your fingernails grey if you aren't wearing gloves. Don't worry though, it washes off with dishsoap. :o )  The main point is that you work the paper enough that the water turns very murky. You want to wash as much of the ink off of the paper as possible.

6.) Once you have your paper washed as much as you like, use a simple kitchen strainer to drain the water off of handfulls of paper pulp. With the pulp in the strainer, just press carefully on the pulp, and the water will come out, leaving you with damp paper. You can then ball it up in your hand and squeeze out even more water if you like.

7.) After your paper has been squeezed and is fairly dry, then rub it gently between your hands and crumble it into pea sized balls (it doesn't matter if some are bigger or smaller). It doesn't matter so much the size, except that large lumps will dry slower, and all of it still needs to be broken up enough to cover the bottom of the cage.

8.) Once the paper is crumbled up, you have different ways to dry it. If the day is calm and sunny, then you may be able to set your pan of bedding out in the sun. Most times, I have had to place the bedding in the oven on a low setting and bake the moisture out. (I don't trust Michigan weather. lol) Normally, I will start out at about 150-200 degrees. I've found that I have the best luck when I turn the oven on broil, checking the paper every 20 minutes or so, to stir it around a bit. The dry time will vary depending on temperature and amount of bedding being dried. Just be sure to make it as dry as possible (but don't burn it! lol), so no mold or bacteria have a chance to grow on it.

Hey folks, that's it! Once the bedding is dry and cool, you can go ahead and use it to cover the cage. I have a decently large cage, so I have to wash more paper than someone would need to do for a small cage or aquarium. I am very happy with the results though. The bedding is majorly cheap, especially on Monday, when I can ask other people for their old newspapers. *laughs* I would say that that is better than $8/bag that I have to pay at the store. The paper is clean enough that my rats do not become discolored, and they are not bothered by the bedding at all. Should any bedding fall from the cage, I have no problems just vacuuming it up, just like any other scraps of paper.

Oh goodness, we've had a lot of things going on today. It's a good thing that we don't live down in TN with my family, or else we would have gotten dirty looks from the neighbors. *laughs* For some reason, though they do not keep the sabbath in the biblical sense, most folks in them there parts don't like to do any work on Sunday. Not only that, but they frown on others who would work on the Lord's day. Me, I'm of a mind that every day belongs to the Lord. There's no doubt that I get my due rest once a week. lol

Anywho, I man-handled some newspaper today, and it is currenly soaking in my paper bucket. This time, I broke down two whole newspapers, so it is taking more time and energy to make paper pulp. That is also why the paper is still soaking, since I need to mushify the stubborn pieces. *laughs* So, I will probably let that sit overnight, and then start drying out the paper for bedding tomorrow.

Not only did I get some exercise by mauling the paper, but I went out and cut the front lawn today. It looks so much better now, though we still have a few pesky dandelions that hid from the blade. They can have a good time hiding from DD though, as she thinks they are the prettiest flowers. So, she picks them en-mass.

While I was mowing and raking, DH had fun with the chainsaw, cutting up the large pieces of wood that we had in the backyard. He had sprung for a new chain for the saw, and he was very happy that the work went easier. He was able to take our maple tree all the way down to the ground. He didn't have the same kind of luck with the crab apple tree. He'll get it though. DH was talking about drilling into the trunks and leaving some coals to burn in there. We knew someone who did that whenever they were grilling, and they cooked the tree enough to finish off the stump until it was under the grass line. DH thinks that it sounds fun to douse it in gasoline and light it up, but I'm more conservative than he is, especially being that the one tree is a little too close to the house for that. lol

After DD had gotten successfully dirty and tired, she wanted to come in and relax with a movie for a bit. So, I took the time to sit down at the computer, here, and work on my latest project. Things seem to be going well, and I'm feeling like I'm actually getting somewhere. I was watching the clock, making sure that I wouldn't be on here too long, and then DH came and changed my plans for me. (Don't you love it when they do that? lol) I was going to make some chicken, but he has a yen for taco bell. I'm not complaining though. We don't really eat out very often at all. We calculated it out, and for the things that DH likes to eat, it would cost us a whole lot more to make them at home than it does to buy the things. So, less work for me? I'm not going to raise a fuss. *chuckles* Besides, I'm tired today. I've been fighting off a sinus infection for a couple days, and my face still hurts. I fell asleep so hard last night that I didn't even notice when DH came to bed a few minutes later.

I've got to start getting to bed earlier, but I'm so bad about that. lol Last night, we went over to Sis' place and had dinner with them. I had stopped at the market before going over there, and I'd been able to pick up some ears of corn. So, we had fresh corn, and Sis just loved it. After dinner, we sat around and played Monopoly, and I won! Yay! (my first time to win) The game took a long time because, well, it always done. On top of that, the guys had to go over to the work office for a while to close down a party. So, it was about 12:30am before we even left their house. Hey, but on the upside, it was really easy to put DD to bed. She didn't fuss at all as I pulled her shoes off and covered her up. lol

Tonight, it looks as though we are going to watch 'Bridget Jones' #2. DH got it for me, since he knows that I thought the first movie was funny. You see, he will pick up "chick flicks" for me, and then he actually enjoys them. He won't admit it though. The comedies that he's gotten for himself lately have been pretty disappointing, so he is actually having a good time, watching at least one video that is entertaining. lol I've got it pretty good. He doesn't even tease me when I start getting mushy over the movies. I was expecting him to snort and laugh at me when I started crying while watching "The Notebook", but he seems to have become a bit more understanding over girly things.

Oh well, dinner is here!

The continuing story from Incoming and the Incubator (part 1).

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It was painful to look on my baby for the first time, but I loved her so much. My heart just ached for this tiny little girl who weighed 3 lbs. 1/2oz when she was born. What a skinny little baby! Awww....but so precious to me.

DD's first days were pretty difficult, and I'm glad that she doesn't remember it. Even though I knew that the nurses were doing all that they could to take care of her, it was still hard to watch them move her IV, to hear her tiny little cries. But if she had breath and will to cry, I was happy.
One day, when DH and I arrived to spend time with our little girl, one of her doctors came to see us. Armed with films and a less than happy face, he proceeded to tell us that some of the smaller vessels in her brain had burst, and she had a hemorage blocking fluid in her brain. For now, all we could do was wait and see if it would resolve itself, or if she would need to have a stint inserted to relieve the fluid buildup. We were already worried that maybe she would have health problems because of the circumstances of her birth, and now we had more to worry about.