Fowl Friends

Not too long ago I decided I needed yet another living thing to take care of. So......

CHICKENS!

We have begun our chicken keeping adventure with two Bantams. We have eight more day old chicks on the way. A mixture of Buff Orpingtons and Easter Eggers. I understand if you don't speak chicken. I didn't either until I started reading a bit about them and talking to some chicken crazy people.

For now these two Banty hens are hilarious. CC (chickchick) and Betty (Black Betty) are keeping us entertained. I have decided that chickens are fun subject matter. They are always moving and posing. And clucking. Always clucking.

Guess what? Chicken Butt!

Randomocity

First lost tooth for my darling middle child. Nevermind that a baseball took it out.

He's even more handsome now.

 Allie thinks she's a person. A very silly person.

Sugarbaby says Allie is her best friend.

A snippet of a whimsical oil painting I have been working on.

Time to start growing things!!! Parsley and dill. Love me some herbs.

Wordless Wednesday: Picked Out

I'm done gardening for the year. Although Arkansas says otherwise.

Ugh.

Shop Outside The Box

I went for a great run this morning with a good friend. This good friend is one of those women who just makes all the air around her calm, exudes friendliness, and has you thinking in a split second that maybe just maybe she could loan you some of her voodoo aura and make you a better person.

She was in town to plant trees in the park. To re-green our town. Because that is what she is doing. Saving the world with her degree.

After our run, we walked down to the main street in town and had breakfast at an outside kiosk. It's a fairly new business that has cropped up in our flagging downtown and the meal was good. As we were eating I mentioned a website I had run across and how I thought my friend would be interested in its message.

As I've mentioned before my husband works for his father in their family owned and operated grocery store in our tiny town of 400. Recently a Dollar General opened up right across the street. Dollar General is a national chain. I can't say they are a big box store but they are pretty darn close. To say that we aren't feeling the effects of their presence would be a lie. The closest Wal-Mart is a good 15 miles away and while a lot of our town goes there to shop, a lot also shop at our store. It's been in business since the 40's (I think, family please feel free to pipe in on that and correct me) and has a great selection and an on site butcher. But just because Dollar General advertises $4 laundry detergent and $2 chips and so on and so on I'm seeing more and more cars in their parking lot. This hurts my heart people. Especially you locals. You won't find me in there. You won't find me in a Wal-Mart either unless absolutely necessary. If I can't get what I need at our store, I'll find another brick and mortar store to buy from. To keep our money local, to keep our family stores going, to shop outside the box.

Now in all honesty I make an exception where Target is concerned because oh mi gah! TARGET!

So please, check out the site and maybe participate in a little 3/50 Project of your own.

Review and Giveaway

over at Swoon.

What Does Your Garden Grow?

My garden grows tomatoes, jalapenos, and babies.

Big beautiful one year old babies.

The Suspense Is Killing Me

What is it? Wait, don't ruin the surprise. I'll just take a picture when it happens. Ya'll will be the first to know. Besides me. And probably one of my kids. Yeah.

Progress

This weekend was all about moving forward. Signs of spring urging us to finish our projects and begin the much anticipated cleaning of our domain. It needs it, without a doubt. I am but a week away, give or take, of having the bedrooms completed. After that, the baby shower and then just a short time until Sugarbaby's first birthday and summertime.

Saturday morning dawned early. Much earlier than usual because the minute I opened my eyes, I remembered the bake sale. I committed to contribute something to the Kindergarten's fundraiser for their graduation attire. I should have done this the previous evening, but I returned home much later than anticipated from dropping the Monster off with his father. So I got up, and half asleep I baked cookies. Or more accurately I baked a giant cookie and cut it into bars. I couldn't function enough to do the regular drop cookies. It was delicious just the same.

The weekend weather wasn't very pleasant, but that didn't stop Cashman and I from taking a stroll through the mini-orchard. This is at the top of my list of favorite things about my house. Four apple trees, three peach trees, one pear, and one persimmon complete my mini-orchard. I'm lacking the knowledge of how to care for these fruit trees but time is on my side. This is a view of one side of my mini-orchard.


See how the peach trees are starting to blossom? I'm worried though. I'm sure we'll get another freeze or two and they will have to start all over.

Peach tree blooms in March.

And then I discovered this green guy. He was hiding beneath a clump of my many daffodils. I'm not sure what he is but I would love to know. Anyone?

Everywhere I look...progress.

Pleasing

The kids and I took a break from the demolition and reconstruction to enjoy the first beautiful day we've had since the cold snap hit us hard last week.

We noticed, joyfully, that Spring is just almost here.

The daffodils are gladly making an appearance.

And with it comes an already overgrown flowerbed, begging to be made beautiful.

He is deeply intent on getting that payload hauled off in his bright yellow dump truck.

And Sugarbaby is swinging. Carefree and light as air.

Those Christian People

Been busy folks. Busy busy busy. No time for the Food Diary, no time to eat. Did I mention I was busy? I just composed a complete blog post with pictures mind you over at NLNS as I was cooking dinner and entertaining Sugarbaby. Here's the link to my Autumn Pork Roast recipe in case you're interested.

We did the family thing today, minus the hubby, and went out to Wheels and Wings. Supergrandma came with and took the Monster on his very first plane ride. It was a pretty good turn out for our little town, but I expected nothing less with the CMA in town. The Monster noticed all the motorcycles and asked what was up. I told him about the Christian Motorcyclists Association and how they come to our area once a year for a big gathering. He needed more explaining on the definition of a Christian so I cleared that up the best I could. As we were pulling in the airfield he saw more bikers and said, "Look, there's more of those Christian people."

You just had to be there.

Tuesday's Gone...No Wait, It's Still Here

Okay, I'm back. I was just taking a few days to set up NLNS before resuming regular posting over here. But try and check in every few days over there because its worth it just to see if you learn anything new that could benefit you in ways you weren't even aware. I'm about to do a post on BPA, which is kind of old news, but there are still people who aren't even aware of it.

So what, it's Tuesday? I didn't accomplish a whole lot this weekend besides the daily grind of dishes, laundry, feed the mob, clean the mob, etc., etc. The Hubby did take care of some important chainsaw chores. I don't think he really thinks of it as work when he gets to use the chainsaw. I wouldn't either, but I'm scared to death of power tools that could sever a limb in one fell swoop.

I promise I'll come up with a more interesting post later. This one is going nowhere fast. It's a one way train, it's up @#%& creek without a paddle, (insert many more euphemisms here).

FD Update:
2 cups coffee
I'm not even going into yesterday or the day before. We'll just say chili cheese tater tots are not part of a well balanced diet.

I'm Crunchy...Sort of

Today I found my newest identity (how many does she have you might wonder?). I discovered a new blog to add to my roll called The Not Quite Crunchy Parent.This sums me up right about now. I've been working towards adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle for myself and family and I'll tell you its a slow process to go through here in southern Arkansas. Some of the few things we have actually implemented on a daily basis: using kitchen cloth instead of paper, cleaning with household items (vinegar, baking soda, etc.), ditching plastic water bottles and sippy cups in favor of reusable options. Next on my list is hitting up the farmers market on a regular basis, cloth diapering, and using organic body care products.So right now we are kind of in the middle, and that's why I love the crunchy parent blog. Relevant information and links for families like mine that are embracing the green movement...one change at a time.