C is for Chickens 101

Chickens:

I never dreamed I would grow up and be a totally awesome chicken chick, it just happened.  My husband is actually responsible for sharing the love of chicken raising with me.   It is my fault, however, that we have 30 chickens.   I fell in love with them as babies and then fell in love with the different breeds and eggs and I became set on having chickens that were cool, cute, and gave me Easter colored eggs every day of the year. 

When I was talking to hubs about this blog challenge he said I should do eggs for E.  I said, no because I am doing chickens for C and since chickens came first for us, eggs are just going to be part of the C.

So let's talk eggs.  Did you know they come in colors beyond white and brown?  You can see in the picture below that my eggs are white, brown, green, and sort of a pinkish beige color.  I have some eggs that come out looking like they are polk-a-dotted. 

The egg color is actually determined by the breed of hen and there is absolutely no significance to the shell color and nutrition or taste.  The shell color is simply the shell color. 

What about nutrition and taste though?  Are all eggs created equal?  Not by a long shot.   Pasture raised chickens lay a dark yellow/orange yolk that is rich and much more flavor filled than a cage or so called free range chicken.   Pasture raised eggs also should be more nutrition packed than eggs from chickens who aren't running around eating bugs, my flowers and vegetable garden, and quality feed. 

When you are looking for the most tasty, rich, and nutritious eggs, you should find a local chicken farmer and see if they are willing to sell their eggs or better yet, build a coop and start your own backyard chicken ranch.  You don't need 30.  Two or three will do most people nicely.

I want to explain a few things about store labels.  There has been a big movement to cage free eggs.  Cage free hens are only slightly less tortured than caged animals.  It is terrible that chickens, who have so much personality and character, are forced to live their life in a cage but the label cage free is really misleading.   What most people believe when they are buying cage free, organic eggs, is actually what they would get by buying pasture raised eggs. 

My chickens are outside all day and don't go to bed until the sun sets.  Between dawn and dusk my chickens are running around my yard and sometimes my neighbor's yard.   They roam.  Is it dangerous?  Yes, we do lose some to predators and this has been a hard lesson for me.   I can't stop the chicken hawk or coyote but I also can't stand the thought of making my birds stay in a closed in area, grass or no grass, all day long.

Speaking of grass or no grass, the cage free raised chickens are not required to actually have grass.  It is sad really, what some misinformed Hollywood stars and the media try to pass as the kinder, gentler chicken farming. Cage free chickens may never even get outside.  Free range chickens go outside but they may only be out for an hour a day and they aren't required to have access to grass.   The labels are really misleading and the eggs are super expensive for what you are actually getting. 

Understand this, people who raise their own chickens probably aren't doing it to get rich.  I sell very few eggs, give a bunch to family and neighbors who take care of them when we are out of town, and eat the rest.  Feed isn't cheap and although my girls and boys (Yes, I have roosters, 3 to be exact) aren't picky, they do like to have some cracked corn or better yet, fresh corn along with a few treats like cabbage and whatever else I can find on sale at the grocery to keep them out of my garden.  

Chickens are very entertaining.  It is amazing how much time I spend out in the backyard just talking to and watching these little balls of goofy.   Did you know that chickens are the closest living relative to dinosaurs?   Watch them walk and it will make sense. 

So, in the end, I would say, chickens, while not the smartest animal alive, are incredibly fun, well, except for the cleaning the coop.

Living in the country: 10 things that make living in the country special

Our Land in East Texas

 I only moved to the country in September 2014.   To say I wasn't exactly prepared, well, that would be the truth.  You see, while our land in East Texas is most definitely in the middle of nowhere.

Beautiful sky

 An admittedly rustic and beautiful, nowhere.

Our chickens in our backyard

More chickens in our back

Our actual home is only in the middle of nowhere in principle.  We live about 5 miles from the center of one of the most amazing suburb in Dallas.   You wouldn't really consider this the country if you drove there.  It is, however, still rural in ways I wasn't prepared for or considering. 

So, here is what you need to know about living in the country:

*Internet options suck:

This is one of the things I struggle with on a daily basis.  AT&T in it's infinite wisdom, doesn't provide service in our area.  We are therefore, stuck with crappy service from a satellite provider.  Here is the thing about the service, it is charged by the gigabyte.   Now remember, I have a 12 year old who is, as most are, addicted to the internet.   During spring break, she went through our entire months supply of service in 2 days.   To say it is horrible beyond belief is an understatement.

*Septic Tanks:

In the country, they make like it is 1935 and all the homes are on septic tanks.  Basically, once every few years, you have to call a sceptic company out to pump your...well poo.   Seriously, this is a disgusting job if ever there was one.  I have no idea where they take all the stuff but yuck!   Also, you can't put certain things down the drain because it causes problems.  You know, things like certain paper products, any kind of drippings from the meat you cooked like hamburger grease, oh and pretty much we never really use our garbage disposal even though we have one. 

*Wild Animals:

It isn't unusual to find tracks from bobcats or hear a coyote's song after dark.  One of our neighbor's chickens was actually lost to a coyote last spring.  Now to be fair, these animals will make their way into the city as well.  Arlington, where the Rangers play, has a bobcat problem and you sometimes see them walking down the city streets but that is usually near a large city park.   Here, you could lose your dogs, cats, or whatever else you raise in a matter of seconds to a hungry animal.  I promise you if you live any where near a water supply, there are wild hogs around.  When I lived in Lewisville my then Fiance, now husband  and I would walk through the city park and he would point out the pig rubs on the trees.   As a hunter, he is tuned into that stuff.  I use to see bobcats running around and heard stories from my neighbor friend about the coyote that walked right down the road.   You have to believe me when I say, you may not know they are there, but they are however in the country you see them and hear them.  One night I started to let my dogs out and saw a coyote pacing up and down the back fence.  I think he was trying to figure out how to get to my coop.   Thankfully, he was scared off by me.   My neighbor told me his neighbor came over and told him "Your pigs are in my field and I would really appreciate it if you could come get them."   He said "I don't have any pigs".

*Farm Animals:

I won't lie, if you come to my house you will see my chickens roaming the front and backyard at any given time.   They are small and they stay in either our yard or our neighbor's.   They don't really mind because we give them eggs and the chickens eat their bugs.   What you don't really think about is large farm animals.   One Sunday while I was cleaning and hubs was watching a race sleeping, the sheriff department came to the door to let me know my goats were in the middle of the road.   Thing is, we don't have goats.  I directed him to the correct house and laughed.  Last week on the nextdoor app I got a message about donkeys in the road.  Three of them.  Someone lost their donkeys, no joke.  How exactly do you misplace something as big as goats and donkeys?


*Mailboxes:

I am pretty sure this is one of the little "charms" of living in the country that makes me crazy.   We live on a 2 lane Farm to Market road that is fairly busy because it is the main road through the small town we live in and out to the country beyond.  Our mailbox is constantly getting hit by drivers who can't keep on the road.  More than that, apparently kids think beating mailboxes is a ton of fun.  How bored do you have to be to decide to go out with a baseball bat and hit mailboxes as your zit faced friend drives down the road at stupid speeds?  We are about to replace our cheep box which we have replaced twice in 18 months with a heavy steel box that is suppose to hold up under baseball bats and side mirrors.   I know this sounds terrible but I would rather the mirror suffer the damage than my box.   I don't want anyone hurt and because our FM road is technically a state highway, I can't enclose it in concrete blocks anyway (oh that I could some days!).  I just want people to PAY ATTENTION!


*Camo:

Remember how I said that we live (technically in) just down the road from the town that usually makes the top 10 of best towns in America?  Well, if you go to the local gas station or Walmart, you would think you were in the middle of a hunting convention.  I have never seen so many people wearing so much camo outside of the Bass Pro Shop.  It is like the unofficial uniform of the country.

*Neighbors:

I lived in my last home for 16 years and it wasn't until the last 3 years that I met my neighbors.  I was in my current home about 3 days before people started introducing themselves.  I know both neighbors on either side of me and the minute I heard little voices coming from the trees of the home across the street, I grabbed my step kid and ran over to help her meet friends.  Our little community had a workday a few months ago when we picked up trash and where I met more neighbors.  Some that even own chickens!  People leave Christmas baskets on my porch and we leave eggs on people's porches.  

Gardens:

We have one and so do all our neighbors.   In my little house in "the city" there was no place to grow tomatoes much less a garden.   Here we have a flower garden and a vegetable garden and assuming the chickens actually allow something to grow, we will have fresh veggies.  We even planted a bunch of fruit trees last year and this year I planted vines for other fruit.   I will have to learn to can if this stuff actually ends up healthy. 

Small Town Mentality:

When I go to the grocery store in the small town next door, the people are so friendly you would think we were friends.   My hairdresser has a group of ladies who play bunco once a month so I go there and try to win the bunco lottery.  People are just friendly.  Friendly in a way that you don't get in a bigger place.  Plus, everyone knows everyone and you can't go anywhere without running into somebody.   Everytime we go to Walmart or the grocery we run into friends. I even run into them randomly at Khol's or when I was running around the downtown farmers market.  It is amazing.  The moral of that story is dress like you will run into someone because you probably will.

*Propane:

Much like the sceptic system, I wasn't prepared for my gas to come from a propane tank.  These things are big and ugly but in the winter or when you turn your stove on, you are really happy to have them.  Truth here, I didn't know anything about monitoring them and last winter we actually ran out of propane one Friday night.  Luckily, the propane company sent someone right out to refill the thing because it was actually a cold winter spell we were in the middle of and our home was about 20 degrees.  Moral of the story here is don't run out of propane. 

Having owned a home both in the country and in the city, I will take the country every time.   There is a peace that comes from being able to sit on you back deck and watch the animals play.  There is a comfort in knowing if you need something, you can walk next door or across the street.  There is a simplicity about living somewhere that you can raises and grow your own food.  Is it for everyone, probably not.   It is for me. 


Thanks for reading and sharing my blog.  
L

Daffy, Daisy, and Patty: Welcome to my Duck Dynasty

Do you watch Duck Dynasty?  Did you know last year that I met a lot of the cast members and that you can see  My brush with Uncle Si here?  We are totally going back this year, BTW and I have a goal to meet Phil and Miss Kay.  Anyway, that isn't what this blog is about.   It's about Ducks! 

Most people on St. Patrick's day drink green beer.  Me?  I buy ducks.  Okay, I may have had some green beer too but the ducks came first. Seriously, how cute are my little wobbly web footed friends?   So, here is what I know about ducks, pretty much nothing except they will eventually swim and they like cracked corn.  

So last Thursday we brought home the little ducklings and promptly installed them in our chicken brooder.  They have no feathers so just like chicks, they must be warm (hence the light in the photo) and they must be inside until they are fully feathered.  (Unless it were like 100 degrees in Texas already, it's close but not yet.)   The argument discussion then began over what to name them.  Finally my husband told me they are Daffy, Daisy, and Patty.  I was fine with the first two but I was really pushing for Paddy and for her to be a boy but I lost.   Why, you ask, not Donald?   Well, we have only one boy and we decided that right now Donald is associated with a more negative person than the little duckling deserved.  That and my neighbor's white duck who met a sad demise a few weeks ago, I called Donald.   

Alright, you ask, "What am I going to do with ducks?"   Well, we are going to keep them as pets, first and foremost.   I miss the quacking my neighbor's ducks provided and having lost both in a matter of a few weeks made me sad.  We got 2 girls and a boy because we wanted to take a try at duck eggs.  I hear they are amazing.   Plus, maybe we can breed a few ourselves.   

You may also be asking, "Okay so you have more fowl friends, but what kind are they"?   These ducks are Rouen Ducks and they are French.  I don't know if that means my ducks will require special sauces on their food or an Eiffel tower painted home but I do know that when they grow up they will look very much (almost exactly) like Mallards but they will be a little bigger, produce a little less on the egg side, and apparently, they don't really fly.   

You are probably asking "Where are you going to keep them and do ducks and chickens get along?"  Well, the plan is for the hubs to build a little home near the chicken coop for the baby ducks and yes, the ducks and the chickens do get along.  In fact, before my neighbor's ducks passed away/disappeared, we often let them in our backyard to eat with our chickens and waddle around for a bit.   The only thing, so far, that I have managed to figure out that is different about the ducks and the chicks is that you do  not give ducks medicated crumble food because it will kill them but with chicks you need to keep them on that for the first several months of their life to fight disease.  

The dogs, by the way, are really annoyed that they don't get equal time in the blog.  They look all tore up, don't they?

Ries can hardly sleep!

Sadie is packing her bags!

So I promised them that I would give them some blog space soon.  Sadie hasn't posted a blog in 2 years and Ries hasn't posted one ever so maybe it's Doxie time.

Final question: "What does this mean to you, my dear readers?"  Well, obviously you can expect more duck and chicken posts in the near future.   I have even made a section in my toolbar especially for my feathered friends.   I can't promise you that you will become an eggspert (get it?  Oh I am so funny!) on either but if you have any questions at all about ducks, chickens or dachshunds for that matter, I will be happy to try and answer.  

If you love this blog please share it, pin it, stumble it, or tweet.  Just go crazy!

Thank you for reading and as always,
Enjoy the ride!

Laura

Changes, rebirth, and retooling

A lot is going on in my life right now, not the least of which is that I am working on retooling this blog and simplifying my message and find a clear direction.   My platform may change, I haven't decided yet.  I am working on a redesign, something I have never been completely satisfied with, through the years.  I want to make navigation easier as well.  I am also intent on improving my picture quality. I am going to invest in a great camera soon but until that happens, I will be using my digital camera starting Monday.  It is a point and shoot so don't get too excited. 

 I also have my personal laptop fixed and ready to go.  Up until now, I have posted mostly from my phone.  Getting my laptop clean took several days at Geek Squad since, even though I don't use it, the thing had almost 3000 different malware and virus' on it.   How does that happen when it is never hooked up to the internet anyway?  (Yes, I had virus protection it and it didn't work, so I changed to a new program.)   With that in mind, I ask that you stick with me a little longer and I will have a great new layout and plan ready soon.    I am putting an extra lot of thought into this so that I finally get it right.   

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a little bit about what I have been working on the last few weeks that I haven't blogged.   First is the desk from hell.   I have never worked so hard at prepping a piece of furniture in my life.   That includes the antique dresser I had to basically rebuild drawers on last summer.   This piece will finally be ready for refinishing this weekend and there is a chair that I am going to paint to match and recover with fabric for my almost teen.   I can't wait to share with you the finished piece.   

I have been sick for the last two weeks and been on antibiotics and steroids.  In fact, 2 weeks ago, I was in the ER trying to get better. It hasn't worked.  This delayed my work on the desk more than once not to mention that I was too sick to work on the blog.  I apologize to everyone who missed me.  Did anyone miss me?

My chickens are going to be a big part of the remodeled blog.  I wanted to share this picture I took last night.  This is what happens every single time I walk out the door.   They come running up to me in anticipation.   Yesterday morning I gave them some grapes and if you have never seen chickens with grapes, well just suffice it to say, chicken football is better than the puppy bowl! 

I have also been working on the yard and spring is finally showing it's beautiful face in North Texas.  Finding plants my chickens won't eat is a challenge.   Luckily, I have managed to salvage a few from their hungry little beaks.  

Last year we planted fruit trees in the front and back.  The peach, pear, and plum trees are in bloom and while they won't bear any fruit for another year or two, they are making the yard simply beautiful.

I love just looking at the blossoms and enjoying the beauty of nature.   Finding happiness in the simple things in life is my major goal right now and a big part of my future.  (Hint, hing!) 

My bulbs are starting to bloom as well.   I can't take all the credit for the plants in my front yard as the previous owner did a really good job starting the yard off.  I am adding roses and more chicken friendly bulbs and plants.   This is a huge challenge and something I will share more about in future blogs.  

I am also in the process of removing a lot of weed barrier in the front flower beds.   The weed barrier probably seemed like a good idea to the previous owner but two things about it make them have to go.

First and most importantly is that it does nothing to stop the weeds from growing.  In fact, last year I spent a good amount of time trying to kill the weeds that simply planted themselves on top of the weed barrier and grew down.    Second and almost as irritating is that I can't plant more flowers without cutting through the stuff.   I know you can't tell in the picture above, but this flower bed is huge and while there are lovely plants already in the garden, I am in the process of adding to them to make a more English garden feel.  I will be posting some better photos when I get this thing worked out.   The garden has a good start but there are too many empty spaces.   The flowers above are something I planted last weekend and I was thrilled to see they are already starting to bloom.   I also planted some lily bulbs.   I am hoping they take because halfway through I realized I planted them upside down.  Bulbs are new to me.  I planted only tulips in the past, my favorite flower.   The problem with tulips in North Texas is that you don't get a cold enough winter for long enough to actually grow them without giving them an artificial winter.   As much as I want to plant a ton of tulips in my flower beds, I also realize that I have no desire to dig them up every fall and put them in the fridge for weeks on end.  

For Valentines Day my husband bought me rose bushes.   I laughed that, with him love comes with work, but instead of getting roses for a few days, I will have them for the rest of my life.  You can see just one of the 5 bushes I planted a few weeks ago.  

I am excited for spring and the rebirth of nature.   I have come to realize with everything going on in my work life lately (more on that some other time, it is depressing), that finding your happiness is about the place you feel most at home.   For me, it is my old, sprawling, 1970 ranch house in the country with a yard full of chickens and dogs and flowers surrounding me.  Peace comes with finding shelter from the storm that brews from things you can't control.   There are a lot of things that I can't control and a few things that I can.  Staying positive is my main priority right now.  Being surrounded by so much beauty in my home centers me.

So where is your happy place?   Where do you escape to when life throws you curve ball after curve ball?   Do you have any 'favorite' things I blog about?  What would you like to read more about?  Chickens, DIY, Crafts, recipes, gardening, being a step parent?   Give me a shout out and tell me what you are most interested in.

Super Bowl Weekend: Photobomb

I was confident Peyton would silence the haters!

We decided to have a few friends over for a Super Bowl party Sunday which meant that I spent my weekend cooking, cleaning, and driving everyone crazy.    Finally though, the food was done, the house was scrubbed and the time was right to cheer on Peyton Manning, who is one of my two sports man-crushes.  (Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, is the other).

and so was Hubs!  He just can't make a normal face!

Super hubs grew up a Broncos fan and became a Cowboys fan a little later.  The Cowboys are his team but he has a decided soft spot for the Broncos.  I grew up a Cowboys fan and became an Indianapolis Colts fan in adulthood because they are sort of my team by default.  The Colts moved to Indy when I was a kid, after we had already moved to Dallas, but I always cheer Indy teams after Dallas teams.   It just seems right.  Anyway, that is when I fell in sports-love with Peyton Manning.

EVER!

So hubs and I dressed in our finest Peyton is a Bronco shirts and I twisted his arm for selfies.  

And the kiddo dressed in her cutest football jersey because she didn't care who won but wanted to look good.

We had 2 TV's set up but somehow, everyone ended up huddled around the little one until we kicked them into the other room.   Monica, Julie, and Lynn are my Rangers girls from way back.  During the course of time we have inherited husbands along the way and so Jonathan and Mike were hanging out, and keeping it real.

Not pictured: I forgot to take photos when Jennifer, Scott, Sophie, and Sherry were around which was just dumb because Scott brought the cheesecake and you must keep the man with the cheesecake happy!

Sadie wanted in on the picture, or maybe she was just thinking hubs had a treat, who  knows?

Julie is actually the realtor who sold my old house and helped us buy the one we are in now.  It is the first time she has seen the house in a year and she got to see all the changes I made and we talked about things I still plan on doing.   Plus, everyone got a tour of my furniture, live and in person, so they could check out my passion, obsession.

The good news for the ladies is, well, it is baseball season officially in like now, but technically, 9 days when Pitchers and Catchers report.

So I cooked a little and we ate a lot.....okay really we had stupid amounts of food.   There was pulled pork for sandwiches, grilled chicken, and smoked ribs.  We had potato and corn chips, pretzels, french onion dip, spinach artichoke dip, queso dip, buffalo chicken dip, salsa, guacamole, chex mix, cheese with regular and glutten free crackers, jalapeno poppers, sopapilla cheesecake,  brownies, cookies, potato salad which I kept forgetting about and 2 kinds of nuts.   Looking at this table makes me thinks I was all kind of nuts to cook so much darn food.   One thing you can now and always have been able to say is nobody ever leaves my house hungry, at least not from me trying to feed them.

But there was something that stole the whole party. 

My chickens were a huge hit.   They were not nearly as excited about being loved as everyone was at loving them, but they all survived.

And got babied.

And seriously, if you don't have a chicken butt shot, you are doing it wrong.

Congratulations to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.   Nobody does it better and nobody deserved it more!

Buying and Selling: DIY fanaticism

Goodbye sweet Dry Sink. Pictures don't do it justice. 

I had my first official sale last night and it was to the nicest man.  He actually has a resale shop but fell in love with my dry sink (above) and wants it for his own place.  We talked for quite a while about painting and redoing furniture and he wants me to school him in the finer points of furniture refinishing.  He said my stuff is so much better than the stuff he has seen on the market that he wants to pick my brain. :)

I can't describe how wonderful it feels to have someone appreciate what you love doing.  I would love to do it full time someday but that's probably a pipe dream.  In the meantime, I love that something I made beautiful has found a home where it can be appreciated!  

Okay, here is a sneak peak at one of my next projects.   This is a table that has been sitting in my office at work.  I am refinishing this for my house.  

Project 1: my new TV stand. 

It will be my new TV stand.  I am going to paint it the same colors as I did the buffet that holds my DVD's.  General Finishes Linen Milk Paint on the legs and Java Gel stain on the top.   I have fallen in love with General Finishes Milk Paint.  This stuff goes on so smooth and it doesn't require a ton of sanding, the way chalk paint can.  No brush strokes! 

Very happy to see the beautiful wood grain. 

And I am about to start working on this as well.  This will be for the kiddo's room.  The body will be General Finishes antique white milk paint (her choice) and the top will be their java gel stain.

I am so excited to get my hands on this.  

In the meantime we found out today that we are going to be on the Tour De Coop this year.  On April 30th people will be coming to our backyard to check out our Chickens and the coop area.  I am so excited.  We don't have that Pinterest fancy coop happening so I wasn't sure we are fancy enough.   I love my chickens though and don't mind at all sharing the love with others.   Expect more on this sometime around 4/30! 

Happy Terrific Tuesday folks.   Do you refinish old furniture or love chickens too?  If so send me a shout out!

Country weekends: Calm, Relaxing, and...oh who am I kidding?

We had a busy, busy weekend!  I really need a weekend to get over it. 

I finally got my mixer!  LOVE!!

Friday started out running around town, Target and Walmart were tops on the list.  We found a sale on the Kitchenaid Mixer I have been drooling over for months so I was finally able to get it with the use of a gift card and the sale, I ended up just having to supply $20 and tax.   What I am saying is that when all is said and done and with the gift cards that have been just sitting there doing nothing since my wedding a year and a half ago included, I got this Professional mixer, the one I have been begging for the last 6 weeks,  for $39!   Even my husband couldn't complain about the money on that.  So what have I made with it?  Mashed potatoes.  I know, my hand mixer is probably easier for that but I just wanted to try it out.  I may take those brown bananas and make banana bread tonight after I run a sales call. (See last paragraph for more)

My town has a tour of coops every year.   Now, my coop looks like crap right now because we have plastic over the windows to keep the chickens warm in the frozen winters.  Okay, it hasn't been that cold but that wind will surprise you.  Texas gets down into the 20's at night.   Anyway, I had to send them some photos.  I apologized for how bad it looks currently but the tour isn't until the spring which gives me plenty of time if we are included.

Our coop is a little different from what you see on Pinterest.  No chandeliers, no house feelings.  It is functional and it is safe.  However, I have done a little to make it cute.   Mostly with signs.

The pink and green colors were for the kid but I may end up repainting it this summer.  I think a nice white and may some darker trim would be good eventually, although I don't really think the chickens agree.

They seem pretty happy.   We are starting to ready our garden so I have to find a way to keep the little monsters out so we can actually grow veggies.  We managed to get the onions in and they have left them alone so far, so that's a positive.

Saturday we went and picked up trash along the farm to market road we live on.  You would be shocked at the things we found: Bras, dirty underwear, pants, shirts, shoes, needles, tons of beer cans and a lot of fast food slop.   It made me seriously consider how the little stuff people throw out the window, not thinking of it, creates a huge mess.   We must have had at least a full dumpster full of stuff when it was over and we only went about a mile up and down two sides of the road.   We really could do this every weekend for a month or two and still not get it all.   After we cleaned the road coming into the town, I cleaned up my front yard and found another half a trash bag full of junk thrown out into my yard.   My husband is pretty good about picking things up when he sees them so this was mild compared to what it would be if we didn't stay on it.   I think the biggest thing I learned it people don't have the respect for other people's property that they should and that they use to.  

After all that it was the usual, more errands, taking the kiddo to a sleep over, and making dinner.   I live the dream people!

My family room has a very lodge like feel. 

Sunday we met friends for breakfast, ran even more errands.  Seriously, how do people find the time to do all the stuff that needs to be done?  We picked up 1000 pounds of sand...yes you read that right, and hauled that back to the house. Went to the Chinese market where you can see some of the most amazing and sometimes frightening things ever.  Next we spent part of our day. before the football started, dipping water out of the pool by the bucket.  Don't be jealous.  I know you can't imagine anything more thrilling, neither can I.  Honestly though, the chickens loved the worms that came up because of all that water!

Later,  I decided to make some wall art for hubs (above).  This is for our family room but it is really  more his room.  I try to make it comfortable for him with "man" things around.  The way I figure it, I have the rest of the house so this should reflect him and be his space.  I have been reworking all my rooms and the places I hang things for several weeks now, trying to avoid painting the walls yet hiding the left over reminders of the previous owner.   It isn't that I don't want to paint as much as I don't have the time.   Anyway, these two canvas were created using stencils and paint and I love how they turned out. I just need to find some rustic frames for them to complete the look. .

I found this little lady waiting on me at my office the other day.  Isn't she adorable?   I love her.  I am totally into vintage signs and rustic looking metal so this was perfect.

The above is something I got a few weeks ago Amazon. Just an aside here, I am addicted to Amazon Prime. Free shipping and they are fast.  The only issue I have with the letters is that I really want to hang them on my bedroom walls and they don't have hangers so right now they are just sitting on top of this cabinet.   Hubs said he can makes holes for me so they can be hung, once that happens I will follow up and let you see how that works. (The family room and the master are two of the rooms I don't have time to repaint right now.)  My style is somewhere between rustic country and vintage if that makes any sense at all.   I kind of think of it as Joanna Gaines with color.(Not as cute and certainly no where near as skinny or talented.)  My walls are not white or grey and I think I would be bored if they were.  I would love ship lap walls but I would probably stain them and not paint them white and I really want barn door in my bedroom but right now, I just want the house to be DONE! 

Excuse the garage lighting. 

Okay, finally for that dry sink above.   This is a piece I refinished a while ago and have had just sitting waiting for the right buyer.   I had one lady really interested and she wanted it but it ended up being too short for her purpose.  She was going to use it in a bathroom as a sink.   I may have finally found a buyer who really wants it so we will see.   As you can tell from the mixer photo,  it was painted to match my kitchen cabinets and I love the piece but I have several things in the works and no room for them so I have to learn to let go if someone wants to buy the piece.  *Tears.

So, how was your weekend?  Did you do any fun DIY or community projects?   Did you enjoy football?  GO Broncos! 

Things I can not live without.

Confession time:

I started writing this blog on the 17th.  I had all these great ideas for things I couldn't live without.  Alas, I woke up that morning to a sick chicken.   I thought she actually died in my arms, she seemed so sick.  Now, for those of you who do not have experience with chickens, and I am assuming this is  most of you, I have to admit, chickens are what you might consider a little bit of the drama queens of the bird world.   They are easy prey because whenever anything goes wrong with them, they flop down and seem dead.   Problem is, it makes it really hard sometimes to figure out if they are okay, in shock, or dying of some incurable chicken illness.   SIGH!

Patches suffering with Scrambled Egg beak!

Okay, so that is Patches and she has Fowl Pox.  No, not the scrambled eggs on her beak.  That is her poor table manners.  They are, in her case, little black spots all over her comb and waddle (That is the red stuff) and basically it is Chicken Pox for...well, chickens.   After her very dramatic attempted death, I brought her in the house and she acted just about dead for 30 hours.  So much so that Hubs was about to put her out of her misery, so to speak.  I convinced him to go hunting and because I was suffering from some hideous bug that was most likely really a terrible migraine headache that had me pretty much thinking wishing I were dying.  Anyway, I stayed home and by Saturday morning, after I had begun hand feeding and watering the chicken, she made a great turn around.  Now here is the bad news, Fowl Pox is highly contagious and I don't know if I isolated her soon enough.  I have 33 other chickens to worry about.  She has to stay isolated for at least 10 days which means, she is going to be celebrating Christmas with us.  So obviously from the scrambled eggs all over her beak, she has managed to feed and water herself again, thank goodness!  I mean it was like I had a baby with wings to spoon feed.  Seriously. I am too old for this.  So yep, in the middle of baking Christmas cookies I have to stop to burp the chicken.


Okay, without further chicken stories, here are the things I can't don't want to live without.

Kindle Paper White 

Kindle:

I was dead set against this.  I liked books.  I liked the smell of books.  I like the feel of paper.  But, something happened.   I got married and couldn't really read in bed without waking up the snore master husband.   Hubs is funny and sweet but he does not like to be awakened.  In fact, he becomes down right grumpy when forced awake.   If he wakes up normally, on his own, he is pretty much Susie Sunshine but if you wake him it is Oscar the Grouch.  I love my reader.  I have previously done most of my reading on my iPad mini and the thing I prefer about the Kindle is the size.  It is just so much easier to hold in one hand.   

To go right along with my Kindle is my Amazon Prime account.  First they ship for free.  Next they give me access to movies and music.  Finally, they give me books.  I mean, what isn't great about that.  The kiddo likes to read too, so much so in fact we got her a Kindle Fire for Christmas but that's a secret.   Anyway, it became clear to me early on (read when she stole my full sized iPad and started begging me for books) that I needed to get Kindle Unlimited for the books alone.  So, yes, I am an Amazon junkie.  

Source CDN.BGR.Com

iPhone/iPad:

Much like the Kindle, I resisted having a cell phone until 2000.  Can you believe that?  I felt like nobody needed to reach me so much that they couldn't reach me at either work or home.  Like anyone gives out their work phone numbers anymore.  Like anyone has home phone numbers anymore.  Anyway, my first iPhone was a refurbished bust.  What that experience taught me was never buy refurbished stuff but I digress.   I moved on to an Android phone and I was happy enough until I got my iPhone 5.   I loved that phone.  It was so good to me.  Then I upgraded to an iPhone 6 and now I am awaiting anxiously the iPhone 7 and all the rumored Apple goodness.   Somewhere in there I got my first iPad then my iPad mini and I officially became an Apple person.  

So yes, I love my modern toys.  I don't need them to survive but I don't really want to survive as much without them, now that they have spoiled me.   

Sleep time

Okay, seriously, I can't live without my dogs but I am only including them because my chicken got top billing and the dogs get so jealous when they aren't included.  I mean, don't they look jealous?  They are actually alive, I promise, even though in this photo they look like they have been smothered by pillows and blankets.  They like to burrow and prefer sleeping under something, pillows, blankets, my legs, hub's back, our bed, our pillows on our bed.  You name it and they will sleep under it.

Also on the list of things I can't live without but not pictured:

Super hubs.  I can actually live without him for a few days and sometimes I want to live without him for a few days.   Still, when he is gone a few days hunting, I am super glad he is home and I usually do something stupid to spoil him like, make him enchiladas or what he calls Norwegian Tacos. (It's a long story and no they didn't create tacos in Norway, to my knowledge.)  What can I say, I have grown accustom to him constantly talking my ear off. 

Some form of transportation, currently my Ram pickup.   Why?  Because I don't own a horse and buggy.  

Emergency Wine.   Really, the emergency could be forcing me to watch the nightly news and listen to Donald Trump and his latest hate quest of the moment.  Seriously, who doesn't he hate and who doesn't need wine after listening to him?  

Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips.  Okay, I really need to learn to live without these things but I just can't.   Nestle is just not good enough for me anymore.   These things are the bomb.   

Things I am living without that I wish I wasn't:

Ah, you speak to me you beautiful mixer you!

I am dying for a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.   I have been price comparing them and debating on the sky blue (left), cherry red, or the silver (not pictured).  I even found the best price imaginable on them at Sam's.   I still walked away without one.  I want it.  I need it.  I mean, my little, crappy, one blade falls out whenever I try to use it now, 20 year old hand mixer has done it's time and it's time is now up.   Still, I can't force myself to pick one up and put it in my buggy to checkout.

Okay, honestly this need didn't become apparent to me until I started Christmas baking.  I mean, mashed potatoes not withstanding, cookie dough is incredibly stiff at times, especially if you are like me, and forget to get the butter out early to soften.   Anyway, the other day making Chocolate Chip Cookies (I capitalize this because I am so annoyed that I can't come up with a really amazing recipe and yes, I have tried a ton of the "the best chocolate chip cookie ever" pins and none of them really rock my world or my Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips) I realized that the hand mixer was about to just clunk out and therefore I ended up finishing the cookies by hand.   I felt like at any moment my husband was going to come in from milking the cows with two pails of fresh milk, I was going to have to go collect the laundry from the line after hand washing it in a tub, and there was going to be a pig to slaughter for dinner as soon as we got the wood burning fire going in the stove and/or the fire pit.   However, reality struck and I knew it wasn't 1845 so I could just go buy a new mixer...someday.  

So long story short, if anyone wants to donate a cherry red Kitchen Aid stand mixer to me, shoot who am I kidding, if you want to donate one, I don't care what color it is, I will make you the perfect chocolate chip cookies, as soon as I find the right recipe.   (How hard can it be?  We know there needs to be butter, eggs, flour, brown and white sugar, vanilla, baking soda, salt and Ghirardelli chocolate chips. It has to be easier than I am making it!)