Month: March 2018

And We Have a Rooster

I don’t often bring things like this home anymore but we were walking through Tractor Supply over the weekend and Drew thought we just had to have this guy. So, now we have our rooster! I would love to have a real rooster but I don’t want one that gets means with Drew so in the meantime I’ll settle for a metal one. He’s inside for now but his new home will be outside the chicken coop when the weather decides to get nice.

Our two babies chicks are growing like weeds. Drew’s little Lizzie is such a sweetie. She likes to cuddle and is so laid back. My Matilda on the other hand has quite the personality. She does not like to be held and she jumps our of her home at every possible chance. We have to keep an old grate that Joe had lying around on top of their house to keep her in.  She is way more aggressive than our four mature birds too but doesn’t seem to take her aggression out on Lizzie. It will be interesting to see how she is as she gets older.

Our mature girls lost their roommates. Outdoor Pierre, the mama who had her babies in the coop – moved her babies the same day. Joe said he counted seven babies and when she moved them she left three behind that hadn’t made it. We think she might have moved them down to the crib as she has been hanging out down there a lot but we haven’t looked for them. She’s a new mama and this is her first littler so we want her to be comfortable and not move them again. We’re leaving her be for now.  We named her Outdoor Pierre because our indoor cat is named Pierre too. Drew doesn’t care about gender when he names his pets!

It’s The Little Things

Yesterday after getting my typing done I worked on Easter baskets and filling eggs. Drew will be home for Easter break  after today and there’s no way I could get this done with him in the house. It was fun to fill a basket for Bayah and to look for pretty pink and frilly things! We try to keep it simple with little fun things and not too much candy. They will get enough candy that day the way  it is. Drew will get a little more in his basket. A bigger Lego set and a sweatshirt he was in dire need of along with a few little things. Something fun and something needed! I filled over 120 eggs. Way too many to be sure but the kids love to find them and find the treasures inside. Candy, little trinkets and coins. I hope it’s warm enough to hide them outside but the weather doesn’t look too promising.

Then I worked on cleaning my ceilings. Our house is old – it was built in 1900. And even though it was a farm  house it’s a small house, one story with very low ceilings. When we bought the place back in 1988 it needed a lot of work. It still does – we don’t get in a hurry! Anyway, we did do some remodeling in the way of sheetrock and at that time popcorn ceilings were popular. As Joe had worked construction some he was able to do the work himself and he was a master at popcorn ceilings! (I know popcorn ceilings are not the in thing and I totally understand why but he’s a fan and he did do all the work so I live with them!) Unfortunately over the years those ceilings have gotten dingy and they are a magnet for cobwebs. The only way I knew to try and clean them was using the vacuum and it has gotten harder and harder for me to do. It really hurts my shoulders and arms. And then comes Pinterest! A paint roller and new roller brush run under water and voila – just roll it across the ceiling and the cobwebs role right off along with the grunge from a certain brand of candle that I love to burn but leaves so much dark soot on the ceiling that I no longer burn them. But that’s another story.  And yes, I lost a little bit of popcorn too but that’s a small price to pay! So, instead of using the broom handle connected to the roller like suggested I used a shorter piece of dowel. An advantage to having low ceilings! I was so excited to try this out and then even more excited when it worked. I only have the back porch and my bedroom ceiling to finish. And best of all – it cost me nothing. I already had everything needed! It’s the little things isn’t it??!!

Busy Doing Nothing

Sweet little bunny Drew made at the afterschool program at the public library last week. They make the cutest craft projects!

I’m sitting here with the TV on watching Sister Wives – not sure why I watch this show but I do. Joe thinks I’m crazy to watch it but he’s gone tonight for work so I have a free evening to watch what I want and since Dew wanst to entertain himself right now I’m watching what I want!  I have Drew behind me playing away with his train set in the dining room and I can hear the rain coming down. I love love the rain! It’s just nice and cozy right now. I feel like we’ve been so busy lately and yet we’ve really not been doing much of anything. We haven’t accomplished anything big around here. Once in awhile it’s nice to do nothing but once the weather starts to cooperate we’re going to have to get busy and get things done around here.

Drew and his fort he has set up in the living room. It’s been up for about a week – I think it’s getting to be about time to bring it down!

I spent the day in town today with a friend. How nice to spend a day just visiting. We hadn’t gotten together since way before Christmas and it was just time. I’ve become something of a hermit lately. I like to be home. I’m content to be home. I’ve gotten really good at isolating and I have to make myself spend time out and about. When I don’t it gets harder and harder for me to get out and socialize. It was nice to get out and converse with somebody in person and just get away from the house and I need to make myself do it more often. The longer I go without socializing the harder it gets for me to get out and I have to make myself get out of my comfort zone of home!

Tina Woltman designs.

I have gotten a lot of stitching done over the last few weeks. These two are getting filled with crushed walnut shells and then I’ll stitch them up. I’m not sure if I want to sell these or keep them for myself. I’ll probably try and sell them and then stitch up two more for myself. I’m loving how they are turning out and will hate to see them go. I love Tina Woltman designs. They are so prim perfect!

 

 

New Additions to the Chicken Family

These two love their chickens!We added to our flock over the weekend. We don’t have much room left in our coop but we also want to be able to keep a steady stream of eggs comings so we brought two babies home Saturday morning. I wanted more but that wouldn’t be fair to them. Even though the coop supposedly will hold 10 chickens I think the six we now have will be a stretch for them in the winter. We might have to rethink our coop situation next spring. These chickens are addictive! And I went out to check for eggs today I got quite a surprise – I opened up the door and saw a blur of orange run past only to see a nest of baby kittens in the box the chicken usually their eggs in. And one of the Reds was laying in another box. I quickly shut the door as the mama cat was really really anxious. I don’t even know if she was done having them as she wasn’t in there when Joe let the chickens out this morning. Not a good place to have babies I’m afraid. Hopefully she will decide to find a new home for her babies.

We now have a Barred Rock named Lizzie and an Americana named Matilda! Drew picked out the Barred Rock and named her. He picked out the smallest one (I remember always wanting the runt when I was young too!) they had and so far she seems to be thriving. I wanted an Americana because they lay blue eggs. No other reason than that – I just want to have blue eggs! They only had two Americanas left so I was glad we decided to check on Saturday. We were going to wait a couple more weeks but they weren’t sure what breeds they would be getting in later so home with us they came! Now we really have a mix of breeds but I think it’s fun that way.  We can easily tell them apart and they each have their own distinct personality except for the two Rhode Island Reds. We have never figured out how to tell them apart!

The weather is finally warming up here. We had an evening and night of rain, lightening, thunder, sleet, snow – you name it we had it – but it’s warm enough now that nothing sticks. I think Joe’s getting the camping itch because he’s been grilling us some yummy meals. He grilled jalapeno stuffed chicken breasts one night and they were so good he grilled more a couple of nights later to take over to Mom and Dad. Dad had bunion surgery and a hammer toe worked on so we thought Mom would like to not have to fix supper after taking care of Dad all day. Then yesterday he grilled what he called a Bacon Cheeseburger Fattie. Another really yummy meal and it looked to pretty – he weaved bacon to roll the hamburger/cheese mixture up in. Definitely camping season meals for sure!

And I’ve been busy stitching away. I had a large order that kept me busy. I’m thinking I might not be so open to orders anymore. I get so nervous about getting them down and shipped and that’s all I can concentrate on. Not such a good thing for me or my family I’m afraid. But I have found a new show on Netflix to watch while stitching- Calling The Midwife. A really enjoyable show!