A conversation with Sister
Me: “I don’t understand why people ever use straight screws. The little star kind are so much easier.”
Sister: “Well, maybe they need to use up the screws.”
I ponder this… why would you even have a bunch of straight screws to begin with?
Sister continues: “Like maybe someone gave you a screw for your birthday and you don’t like it so you don’t use it but then you see the person and they say, “So… did you use that screw yet?” and you have to say, “um, no.”
There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
“Act out ‘Five Little Snowmen.’ ” 
Sister wasn’t feeling well today so we did our 
dry even in freezing rain and snow.
our little auto waterer does a fabulous job. (
meat – and a mixture of hen scratch & crumbles) in a trough at the end of their pen but in freezing weather I fill the auto feeder and place it just inside the shelter by the laying boxes. That way I don’t have to stay in the cold feeding them and they don’t have to get out in the cold to eat. (I don’t use the auto feeder all the time because there is way too much waste.)
Is anyone else feeling as I do that this advent stocking thing has gone on long enough? I don’t think I’ve longed so much for Christmas to arrive since I was a child. Today’s stocking #18 was “Create a Winter Diorama.” Perhaps we could just skip it …. but no … Sister is still keeping track of the puppet show we skipped back on 
#16 “Tell a story together. Each person gets a turn.” Hmm… this is one of those things that was better in the concept stage.
Well it seems as if Krista may be ours. We posted a sign near where we found her and contacted the local animal shelter. No one has responded so far. She is a sweet one and so intelligent that if anyone does come to claim her I might just make an offer. We will take her to the vet this coming week if there are still no takers. She will need a checkup and perhaps shots. How is it that even the free pets end up costing money?
#14 “Create a candle wax painting of the star that led the wise men to Jesus.” We didn’t ever quite capture the star but we had a good time first pouring hot wax on our paper in some random design then painting over the wax with watercolor. And since we had hot wax available we talked about letters and how people used to seal them with wax. Then we sealed some of our own imaginary invitations. Brother, obviously too young to be using hot wax seemed content to blow our candles out for us and make charcoal drawings with leftover (cooled) match stubs.
#15 “Color something together.” We decided to skip this one in favor of making Sister a new piggy bank instead. She has been racking up quite a stash of cash lately but has been keeping it in a plastic baggy. Grandma started this saving business a couple of months ago by giving each of the grandkids a memory verse and telling them when they could say it perfectly she would not only give them a quarter but also a dog bank to keep it in. Sister was so proud the day she got hers. She couldn’t help playing with it and wanted to take it everywhere. Rushed little hands holding too many things and ”Crash!” The poor little dog never had a chance. The new bank is fashioned from an old peanut can covered in pretty paper. Simple and relatively unbreakable.