Uhh Okay

Last night my neighbor told me she hates my sunflowers because they hang over the wall sometimes.
I won't show you the 36 freakin foot motor home they have jammed right up against my back wall. I say nothing. My husband said there went my chance. I am too nice I tell you. Too nice. I let her insult my sunflowers while she blocks the daylight from one side of my house. My momma didn't raise me to be rude like her momma did.

And A Good Time Was Had by All

We had our daughter's party yesterday. It was a beautiful day and she, I think, had a wonderful time. We are so lucky to have so many nice friends and family members to come and celebrate with us. Because she was home schooled, we had our own little celebration. I am glad it is done and I can rest today. 

My chickens were a topic of conversation. They were so quiet no one even knew they were just behind the garage. One by one folks would hear that I had them and would take a peek.

We had Panda Express. Made it so easy for me. So many left overs we will be having Chinese for dinner tonight. YES!!

And because donuts are the new cupcake, we had tons of them. I just kept filling the plates. They were very popular.

And you have to have smores if you light the fire pit.
I made a basket ahead for all the kids.

Bella Luna!! Did anyone see the moon and how bright it was last night??

Linking to:
Seasonal Sundays
Tabletop Tuesday
BNOTP

Cinco de Mayo Recipes

A few of my favorite Mexican flavored recipes for Cinco de Mayo:

First you could start off breakfast with some Chili Egg Casserole.

If you feel like soup there is always Mexican Meatball Soup.

Maybe throw in a salad with my Taco Salad.

If you want to have dinner simmering in the crock pot all day then try Crock Pot Chili Verde.

For a healthy, vegetarian dish try Nancy's Mexican Tortilla Pie.

And for dessert maybe bake up a batch of Cowboy Cookies.

BNOTP
Bowl Full of Lemons

Frugal Challenge - Our Super Frugal Chicken Coop - Taa Daa!

  Before you see the ugly chicken coop I thought I would share a pretty chicken picture. My daughter took this of flower muffin, Q's chick.

Got my self a new pair of muck shoes. Boots are too hot here in summer so these low ones will be great for coop trips.

Okay don't laugh but it's done and the only money spent was on the coop enclosure. The little hen house was completely done for zero dollars. I know it looks like it but I didn't want to spend hundred's of dollars on this venture to begin with. Maybe down the road we will upgrade or change things but this will do for now.
This is the old cabinet turned on it's side. Hubby made the ramp out of scrap and the side of the cupboard not needed.

I just have them roosting on some logs. Maybe a large coop with high roosting bars would be ideal but this has to do. We live in SoCal so these birds will be able to come outside 365 days a year. No snow here. The run will have a solid cover over most of it and they free range every day in the back yard when we are home which is most days.

Vent holes were covered with hardware cloth so they will be safe. There are five vent holes. The floor is lined with a scrap piece of vinyl flooring so I can slide it out for a good scrubbing.

Underneath in the quiet space below I will put a nesting box and one under the ramp. Both cozy and out of the way for the girls to lay.

There, not fancy, not cute but cheap. They seem to be happy in there so glad it is done for hubby's sake.

Linking to:
Thrifty Thursdays
Glimpse Party
Delightful Order
Somewhat Simple
Home Sweet Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sunday Blog Love
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Thrifty Treasures

In Love with My Keurig

It is rainy and dreary here this morning. Where do I live? Usually May is warm and bright and we don't get June gloom until well, June. And not all wet. My poor chickens don't like coming out in it. I have been having the best time playing with the Keurig. I bought the mini in yellow. My opinion... wonderful invention. I have one complaint though. They made the tray out of plastic below the cup and it is already getting scratched from pulling the cups in and out. Really? You couldn't use something more scratch resistant?

I keep a jar full of the K-cups next to the maker. We have not used the big coffee maker since but hubby says he will on the weekends since he can drink quite a few cups.

Caramel Vanilla was my fave over the weekend but I just had an Italian roast the rocked my morning. I told hubby it was the best thing I have bought in a long time. I bought mine from Kohl's online to get the yellow. Wait until you find a 30% off code and save $30. Can't beat that.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.
BNOTP
Charm of Home
Bowl Full of Lemons

Birthdays and Taco Salad

We are celebrating in our house today. One of my kiddos is turning 18. Parties all this week between her birthday and graduation. I better take my vitamins. We are having taco salad for dinner since we still have piano tonight and three lessons during the dinner hour. Have to make it easy so everyone can eat when they get a chance. Perfect for Cinco de Mayo too. Here's the recipe for Taco salad.

Monday List and Reflections on Homeschooling

I have a Monday list a mile long. Change oil in car, bank, .... you get the routine. I am sitting here though enjoying a most wonderful cup of coffee from my Keurig. It came Friday and we have been having the best time with it. I will show you tomorrow. Love it!!

Saturday my second daughter is officially graduating from high school. We are having a big party. She has been home schooled her entire life. Not one day in regular school but many days being taught by other wonderful folks and the last two years she has been taking her classes at the local Junior College under a dual enrollment program. She has been a delight her entire life. I love her more than she will ever know. She has always been the sunshine in our home. Big wide smile and sweet disposition. Sharp witted though. She could zing you with a funny comment since she was three. She taught herself to read at four and has always kept wonderful grades and is as organized a kid as you can get. If it wouldn't embarrass her, I would show you her drawers. Perfect. I used to pay her to organize mine. She has the kind of brain I wish I had been born with.

Being able to home school her has been my pleasure and is a wonderful way to really get to know your kid. Nothing like figuring out a math lesson to bring a family together (NOT). You really get a chance to know your kids when you are together so many hours a day. Now some may not like that, but I loved it. My little chicks all around me. I am so used to them being here, I am off balance when most of them are gone. The quiet disturbs me. But I am slowly getting used to them all here less and less. Next year, my third will attend public high school which will be a huge change for us. It is what she wants and she is a great kid so I am letting her flap her wings and move on to another chapter in our home. 17 years of homeschooling behind me. It is a big job when you commit to it, but the rewards are priceless and I am so thankful that I had the honor to teach them, a husband who supported and stood by me and the chance to spend my lunch hour with them all these years. Thanks girls for taking the road with me that everyone thought I was crazy to start all those years ago. We survived and you thrived. Can't ask for anything more than that.

Linking to:
BNOTP
Tabletop Tuesday
Coastal Charm
Bowl full of Lemons
Time Warp Wife
Raising Homemakers

Sunday

Oh and the cookbooks will be mailed out to Ricki Jill and Mica.
Thanks.

Change of Heart

I tell you I had no idea I would be so wishy washy when I got these chickens. I guess it is my nature to over protect and hem and haw over things. I am feeling my way. Thank God for Kris from Simplify. She is there for me everyday with my questions.  I wasn't going to let the girls "free range" cause of our big dog's excitability when she sees them but after e-mailing Kris I just thought what the heck. Our yard is small and manageable for watching them. I put the dog in her kennel and let them out. It was a delight. They circled the yard twice. I think I will start introducing the dog on her leash to them. Gauge her interest that way with my husband holding her. She has never hurt any of our other animals and we have a six pound chi, but chickens flap and do other silly things that may be fun to chase. Scary. I will let you know how it goes.

Always together. They do not like to be separated. Once flower muffin found herself on the other side of the fire pit and the squawking that ensued. Poor baby. She ran right back to her sisters.

Chicken butts!!!

Sunflower seeds are a real favorite. We ate some, they ate some.

Everyone out in the yard playing. Thank goodness for the sun today. I think sometimes with each new type of animal I get there is a time period of adjustment. My mom did not like animals and the bother and I only ever had one cat growing up. Not my kids. We have two dogs, two cats and now four chickens. Organized chaos all the time around here.

Now I am thinking of getting a new coop to have the chickens in the yard and not around the corner. I hate not seeing them but I will sit on it for a few days and see if I change my mind. My darling hubby says, "Whatever makes you happy." Oh music to a woman's ears. He deserves cookies for that. Or he is sick of chicken talk. One may wonder.

Show Off Your Cottage Monday
Bowl full of Lemons
Wow Us Wed

Ode to the Girls

I love all things chicken and right now I am 'obsessed" as my hubby says. He's right. I dug this old ceramic chicken out of the pot it had been stuck in for years. Washed her up and now she has a place of honor on the patio.

I told hubby it was my homage to the girls. The feathered girls not our daughters.

Simple Home Life
Show and Tell Friday
Free For All Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Seasonal Sundays
Sister Sunday
Sundae Scoop
Bowl full of Lemons

Oh This Weather!!

Geesh can the weather remember this is Southern California? Hot and dry for a few days then suddenly humid yesterday and then rain all night and into today. No one playing out back, my three year old is on my last nerve. I dash out to pick up something that should not be all wet and swoosh right into a big pile of dog poop. Great!

Even my vines are confused. They are out of control with this damp April. We usually are dry by now around these parts.

The chickens have been shuttled back and forth to the garage as we figured we'd have all summer to get a rain gutter on the overhang above them and a cover over their coop but no it is not done and yes the chickens were freaked out by the huge drops coming off of the roof. As we were carrying them to the garage by poor daughter slipped and her ten foot long legs twisted like a pretzel and down she went but never dropped that chicken.

Poor girl. She grew another half inch according to doctor and is 5'10". That is a lot of leg and arm for a 14 year old. She is always hurting herself. Poor babe. She will adjust to them someday.

Now my good friend Ginger at Small Town USA is have an anniversary giveaway over at her blog. Head over to enter and say hi!

Clearing Out Some Cookbooks

I am thinning out my cookbook collection. So many recipes I use now are online and I am keeping just my most used cookbooks. If anyone is interested in either of these books, just let me know and leave a comment which one you'd like and tomorrow I will draw two names from the comments and I will send them off to you.

Make Your Own Compost Holder

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 I always have a loose little compost pile in the far corner of our yard but decided to make a proper one to compost my chicken waste. In fact I probably will make more. I used half inch hardware cloth. It is spendy but I had a roll from the chicken coop. You could use any heavy duty wire fencing you might have in your garage lying around.

Just layed it out to about the size I wanted and used my wire cutters to cut. I also use some good wire hubby had in the garage to attach the sides.

Fold over the ends so they overlap about two inches. Use your wire in three inch pieces to attach the sides.
I found it easiest to make a hook with my pieces of wire to fish it though the hardware cloth. Why they call it cloth I don't know as this stuff is tough and sharp. When I pulled them through I used the wire cutters to hold the wire and twist securely. Place these about every six inches down the roll.

There it is tucked behind a tree in the corner. I would love to make a big one out of a trash can to really cook the compost quickly. This method will be a little slower but I know the stuff that comes out of it is nutrient rich because whenever I would turn the pile the roots from the plants in the planter would be coming up into the pile reaching for all that good stuff.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.
Success U Wednesday
Raising Homemakers
Frugally Sustainable

What I Have Been Doing

I am very busy learning all I can about my new chicks. I know my husband thinks I have gone off the deep end and baby when I go I go hard.

Went into Barnes & Noble and used a gift card to buy this book. I have read the entire thing. It is visually a lovely book and though I would love the thought of free ranging chickens out back when I am working I have decided that they will either be in their coop or in a mobile pen I have. I move it around and it is open on the bottom so they can scratch and pick and do the chicken thing. My big dog seems very interested in them and with a three year old who follows me everywhere, I foresee an unfortunate situation. I would hate for the dog to get a hold of them and harm or kill one.

So daily I head out to the coop and let them out of the house where they sleep and feed them and give them fresh water. I visit throughout the day and let them out to head to the mobile coop for a few hours or more every day. It was so hot this weekend they had to be in some good shade and nice cool dirt. They were happy to be under the grapefruit tree.
This is my favorite girl Illy. She has been a sweetie since she came home.

That is her drinking root beer. Kidding. I made a gravity waterer out of it but she had loads of leaves scratched up in there over the weekend. They get hot and have to have cool water to drink when it is hot so I put some ice in their bowl. They pecked and bobbed at it. They had ice cold cantaloupe and lots of grass clippings to pick through. We caught grass hoppers and cracked up as the chickens caught and ate them. They would not eat a big brown one though. Hmmm.

Today I snuck out for some quiet time with the girls and had three of them on my lap just hanging out and eating the oats I brought out. I have one that is stand off ish and my be a roo. Wouldn't even acknowledge
me. Stinker. Then wondering if he/she was missing something hopped on my leg and proceeded to take a poo. I saw it coming and flung my leg out of the way. Near miss. If you don't like poop, chickens may not be your thing but really the amount of poo four chickens leave compared to my big stinky pile laying dog is nothing. And dog poo is not good for anything so lands in the land fill. My chicken poo can be added to my compost to grow my garden. I will share a home made composter I made very soon.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.