Morning Chores

Mornings chores..... living with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rat, fowl, pork and fruit bearing trees/bushes means there is a lot to do in the morning. My job - check email and facebook :p Okay, so normally I would be pulling my weight around here, but right now mornings are rough for me.

This pregnancy has made my thyroid go janky so I have to swallow this itty bitty pill first thing in the morning with a glass of water...... for those of you who have never had morning sickness this is a nearly impossible task. To put a glass of water on my stomach and then not be allowed to put anything else on top of it for an hour means my only job in the morning is simply not to puke. For most of the summer I used this as an excuse to run errands first thing in the morning. I'd get the girls dressed, down my pill and by the time I'd get them all in the car, drive to where ever we were going it'd be 40 minutes or so later so I'd grab some fast food. Good plan for me, bad habit in the long run. Now Tamarin asks for popcorn chicken from sonic every morning *face palm*. Oh, sorry this post is about morning chores.....

Most mornings Tamarin is up first, she has to take her little wiener dog out. Until I saw the mountain lion a few days ago her job was to open the barn and check for eggs. The last few mornings I've told her just to set him out and wait for us to get up. Fortunately my husband, Chris, sets his alarm for 6...... then doesn't get up till 6:30. Never understood why people do that..... Anyway, he goes to water our fruit trees in the front and berry bushes in the back, feed and water the pigs, and refill the water for the fowl and dogs. Tamarin is usually at his heels trying to help or just chasing ducks :)

Her favorite duck.

Watering lost it's appeal for her when the temps starting getting ridiculous this summer. When Lemur wakes up, her and Tamarin throw scratch off the porch for the birds. We free range, like really free range cause all the fencing here is worthless. It's usually pretty funny to watch them come running.

This pic is from April, those critters on the right are our turkeys, hard to believe they were that small!

A couple of weeks ago I found all the bits to the girls' chore charts. Tamarin is still very excited about doing her chores and getting her reward: an extra 15 minutes before bed. Lemur is not too keen on it. She's excited when we begin, but loses interest after two or three tasks, but it keeps me from having to do those couple of tasks :)

Tamarin's Chores

Yes, store bought cause I the ones on pinterest are cute, but I don't have time or energy to make them.

Lemur's Chores

Not to mention my crafty bone doesn't coordinate colors well.

I'd need help the whole way and probably still end up with something on pintrosity.

While I'm cooking breakfast I remind them to do each of their chores. Starting with making their beds. Tamarin has to feed the cats and dogs. Lemur has to feed the guinea pigs and rat. Tamarin has to search the house for dirty laundry.... that may sound like a silly task, but I have three young girls who have a wardrobe change every 30 minutes. I do a LOT of laundry. Lemur is supposed to collect dishes and sippy cups from around the house, she gets most of them. This is usually when I lose her to whatever cartoon Chris has turned on for Howler so that he can get showered and dressed for work.

My little rockstar, "Peace, Love and Chickens!"

 

Howler usually follows him around the yard during his morning chores too. Typically stark naked because she likes to jump in and out of the pools we use to water the birds and dogs and of course she doesn't want to wear the clothes once they are wet. I used to argue, now I'm just happy to have a few less clothes to wash.....

Chris heads out for work about 8 while I'm wrapping up breakfast. The girls and I sit down to eat. I watch enough of the news to find out what the weather looks like for the week. Then switch to one of their shows while we all munch away.

This particular morning. I am blogging away counting down another... 30 minutes till I can eat something. Howler is throwing dirt into the bird's nice clean water. Tamarin is leading the boston terrier around by the leash he hates. Lemur is sleeping in. Breakfast will be cinnamon toast for Howler. Sunny side up egg with toast for Lemur. Tamarin will probably want some cantaloupe or watermelon or a turkey sandwich. I'll have to ask her once she comes back inside.... oh wait, here she is.... rice crispies..... well it'll have to be out of a cup cause no one did dishes yesterday I have no clean bowls...... Off to do dishes......