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Goat Friendly Porch

Last night, after picking the girls up from school, we were greeted by this guy when we got home.  

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And how cute is that!  I pulled into the driveway and he almost went into the garage, but I closed it as I saw him and he went back up on the porch.  The girls wanted to keep him, but I don't know the first thing about goats.  There are a lot of people in our rural neighborhood that have chickens, goats, horses, sheep, etc.  

I had a notary coming over so that we could close on our refi, so I called her and said, "Uh, this is kinda weird, but I don't want you to be startled.  There is a goat on my porch."  She was asking me all of these questions that I thought were weird having never met this woman.  Like, "Is he healthy?" and "Has this happened before?" I was thinking, you're missing the point, lady.  

Anyway, the girls loved him, and kept looking out the window to see if he was still there.  He stayed for a couple of hours.  Ryan called a nearby friend that had other goats to see if he wanted to come get him.  He said yes and asked if we would tie him up.  Ryan and I went out to see if we could get him ready for transport and he was gone.  :(  

I told the girls that he went back to his mama.  Our friend said that they don't normally wonder too far from where they live, so hopefully, I am correct in that he went home. 

Now that's love

The other day, driving home, Ryan tried to pick my nose.  I had a low-hanger and he was willing to get it for me.  I said, "do I have a bat in the cave?" as I pulled the mirror down to look at it.  I struggled for several seconds to try to dislodge the bat to no avail.

I look over to see Ryan picking his nose to give himself a low-hanger so that I wouldn't have one alone.  How sweet is he?!  To know that my husband won't let me face with world with a boogie hanging from my nose alone.  He'll have one too.

Bribery vs. Work Ethics

Remember the days when a quarter would get you something?

A piece of bubblegum

A pack of Wrigley gum

A phone call at a payphone (I remember when you could page someone with the payphone number and they could call you for free!  I had a great pager when I was in high school.  It was green and alpha-numeric.  I digress.)

For two quarters you could by a soda

Air (for tires)
A pack of baseball cards

But now-a-days a quarter doesn't get you too far.  However, in the Davis household, a quarter will get Maddie up and out of bed, she will do chores, help clean up, set the table, get water in the glasses, and many, many more things.  Kara will eat things she otherwise wouldn't eat.. and So will Andrea (for a couple quarters anyway).  For a dollar or two the dog poop will be scooped, the dishwasher unloaded, the house vacuumed, etc.

At first I though it might be "wrong" to try to "bribe" the kids to do things.  But I am the queen of rationalization and I think that I am not bribing... in fact I am encouraging good work habits and ethics.  I have to get up every morning.  Why?  Because I need to make money.  I have to get up and go to work.  My boss is bribing me with a quarter (obviously on a grander scale) everyday and in order to get it, I have to do certain things.

I would rather reward the kids for doing something to earn money as apposed to dishing out allowance for them doing nothing out of the ordinary.

WTF, OMG!

Does it really matter when someone says "What the freak?" Instead of the actual "What the F***?" The latter is the strongest curse word (I think) and it gets thrown around all the time, but it's all good because if I substitute "freak" instead, I'm cool.  Would I be okay with my children saying "W.T.F."?  No, I wouldn't-even if they said "mom, I mean freak, not f***."  Because it's all about what is implied.

The reason I ponder this is because someone at church kept saying "what the freak?" the other day.  I mean, every other phrase... Does it really make a difference that he said freak?  The same thing was implied to me each time he said it and I started to get annoyed thinking just say it!

It's like when people say O.M.G. for "Oh My God", but will not say "God." (I don't either, which means I am as guilty as "freak" guy, I guess.) They will tell you that they are implying "Gawd" or "Gosh". 

Does the actual word matter that much that just changing a letter or two make it all sunshine and rainbows?