Friday, September 28, 2012

Small space goodness

While I love the look of my table covered in freshly canned foods, it doesn't make for a permanant option for storage....

 

So I had to get creative about how we were going to store all this goodness!!  Thank goodness I have a handy husband that entertains my crazy ideas! This shelf fits perfectly behind the door of our laundry room!! It seems like such a little space but boy can we make good use of it!! I didn't think we used that much canned goods but if I am going to keep canning I think I am going to need another one of these shelves! lol

"Oh Honey....!"

:)







Blogfest
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Skip To My Lou homework

Monday, September 24, 2012

Fiber and Friends

I am continually amazed by the friends that God brings into my life. Sometimes it feels as tho it was just by chance that I met someone at the park, or thru another friend or in this case at our old church. I know that it is never just by chance, and really don't know why I am so surprised when it happens... I know that He has a plan but sometimes I am just not very patient. :) I will forever be greatful for that summer night at church when we were there for a potluck. My eyes were quickly drawn to a gal sitting at a table with her spinning wheel at her side. I  walked up and asked my friend (who was sitting next to her) to introduce us! Shortly after, I met a few other ladies that also spin and thanks to them, I am learning to spin with my treasured thriftstore find! :)

Last week, we all got together at that friend's home to spin and to add another mom to the list that is wanting to learn! I really feel bad for people that don't think God is watching out for them. He is such a loving god that He thinks of even the littlest detail... for me it is fiber and friends!

  

Rocket is just the sweetest tiniest little thing!! He seemed to like me (or rather liked hiding from the rowdy kids next to me!) but I was so afraid of hitting him wit the peddle! lol

Even when I am spinning, I can't help but stop to take a few pictures! They were just too cute sitting there together, I couldn't help it! lol


And finally, I have something to show for my work at the wheel. It's not pretty but it's mine!! My first yarn... it only gets better from here right?! :)


Skip To My Lou

Favorite Photo Monday

 
I was so impressed by her courage!! 
What a great night at the fair and a very exciting 3.6 sec ride! :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Harry Potter Giveaway! WOW!!

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Monday, September 17, 2012

The saga continues...

One never knows quite what to expect when they wake up on their birthday... will you feel older? Will you not even remember? Will the day go by unnoticed?

Well, my birthday got off to quite a start and it's only 9am! lol 

I knew that the chicks would be due around my birthday, but we've had really nice warm weather so we thought they might be born a bit early so we went to check them yesterday afternoon before we left on our bike ride. Two of the eggs were pipping! Well, our short ride turned in to a long ride (12 miles!! An amazing feet for an 8 year old!) dinner and stop at JoAnn's to get stocked up on more colors for the shop. SO... we didn't get home until late and it was too dark to check on the chicks...



So I went out this morning, gave the chickens a treat, dropped the door and went to open the door to the coop and heard cheeping!! What a wonderful feeling it is to hear that sound!! I was so nervous that something would have happened to them over night so it really was music to my ears!! 


 I had thought ahead to bring the camera with me this time. The hen seemed to be fine, I was taking pictures and watching the chick when I reached over to lift her wing and see how many there were... and it all went so very wrong from there...she proceeded to attack the little brown one. I thought maybe she was just being protective but she was relentless and I had trouble getting it away from her... and when I did, she stood up and started attacking the next one...It was terrible and something I wish I could forget!!! I thank God I went out before the girls were awake!! !! These are the pictures to follow their rescue....
 I ended up waking J up and asking her to snuggle them warm in bed while I got something made up to hold them...Luckily the blankets were still nice and warm from her sleeping... but now I have more laundry to work on today! lol
 This little gal took the brunt of the attack... she seems to be doing good but she has a bloody spot about the size of a dime from where she was attacked... I'm sure she'll be getting babied today!! 

As for that broody black chicken? She never even got a name (she was intended for dinner!) and now I know why! To the soup pot she will still go!Now I'm off to go steal her last egg... the incubator will be a safer place for it now... I've had enough of a twisted scene from a mutant animal horror movie to last many birthdays to come! lol The day can only get better right?! :)

This will definitely be a birthday to remember! :) I'll show pictures of my wonderful birthday weekend later... gotta go get that egg to safety! :)

The Chicken Chick

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

{Blogger Opp} Creating Holiday Memories Event

Blogger Opp} Creating Holiday Memories Event

Creating Holiday Memories Fujifilm FinePix Event is hosted by Mom Blog Society.

Prize: Fujifilm FinePix S4250 Black 14MP Digital Camera
The event dates: 10/8 - 10/22

Miracles in my hands


****I hope that if you are still following this blog, you haven't been completely bored with all the chicken coverage lately but I just can't help but share this egg adventure that we're on! I hope you are able to enjoy it along with us! :)

I was a little over two weeks ago now that we went out to check on Chipmunk and her chicks that were due to hatch...



...two out of five had hatched... another one had hatched and died.... and then we found this....

 Our last ditch effort to get a "Daisy" egg to hatch, was actually hatching!!!!

We left it alone all day until Daddy came home from work and we found it still in the egg and not making any progress.... We could see its little peak so we knew it could at least breath but it was SO hot out that day (in the 90's in the Pacific Northwest is stinkin hot!) and the thin lining of the egg that was around the chick was drying out.... I was not about to lose this little guy after trying so very hard to get a Daisy egg to hatch...

So with the girls and hubby right there cheering me on, and the expectant parents watching on from the chicken run (yeah, I know, they probably had no idea what was going on but hey it made for a nice picture! lol) I slowly but surely chipped away at the egg shell....






And then all of a sudden she plopped out into my hand!! 


After so many tries to get this little guy, we finally got a Daisy egg to hatch!!!  I was choking by the tears as she hatched into this world right there in my hand....

  Meet Rosemary!! (R has a theme of naming chickens.... Daisy, Tulip and now Rosemary!)

There are no words to describe how lucky I felt that night to have not only witnessed this amazing event but to experience it first hand! Literally!!

I can tho attempt to describe the feeling I felt the next morning when I went to check on her and found her face down in the bedding and I thought she was dead.... It was as if all the air was sucked out of me and the world around me didn't exist for a moment until I saw the ever so slight movement of her beak and then my memories are a blur of first scooping her cold little body up in my hands, (cold as if she'd been in a fridge) cuddling her up in my pjs and running for the shed to grab our incubator... I thank God that this was very early morning and the girls were still in bed. I don't know if I could have dealt with their hysteria and still kept a level head... I got her into the incubator and got it warming up while I stood there praying over her, and begging her and God to let her live....

I remembered a friend who raises chickens say one time that if you mess with them it makes it harder for them to die... so for the next half hour or so, I stood there rubbed her back and sometimes her belly and after that she started to get warm, started to move a bit and within an hour or so she was making the faintest little cheeps... that were music to my ears...

I don't have any pictures of her during those few hours. I didn't know what the outcome was going to be and didn't want to have pictures of her like that in case it ended badly but now I wish I did.... knowing that by the end of the day she would be fluffed out and walking around!


Little Rosemary is now 3 weeks old and doing great! Can you believe this is the same little chick? We are definitely counting our blessings... and our chickens!! Another hen has gone broody and is sitting on three eggs as we speak! :) This egg adventure continues!





Bloggers WAnted- Harry Potter


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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Creativity For Kids- Review

When I got the email from MomSelects saying that I had been chosen to be a party host for Creativity for Kids I could hardly believe it! As you know, we LOVE their craft kits!!  And when we came home one day from town to find two huge boxes waiting at our door we were even more excited!! I'm sure the neighbors could hear the girls squealing as we lugged the boxes into the house! :)

We couldn't believe how lucky we were to get in on such a great party and the girls were simply over joyed and quickly set to making their list of ten girl friends to come and get crafty with us!! A few of their friends couldn't make it so we ended up having a few last minute invites to fill their spots and when all was said and done, on the day of the party I had 12 little girls on my back porch ready to get creative!!!

There was a total of four crafts that the girls got to make so I'll step you thru each one and let you know what we thought of them! :)


The first craft was the Stuck on Fashion Tote Bag... 

 


Now, at first glance, this was the craft that I thought was pretty lame.... When they are folded up in the box the totes look MUCH smaller than they actually are, and to be honest I thought the girls were going to be done in two minutes and bored with the project in a heartbeat... BOY WAS I WRONG!!! I think this craft was SO MUCH BETTER than anticipated!! The bags actually fold out to be much larger than I thought and also came with a square bottom to insert to make them sturdier and a matching wallet to decorate too!! :)   We had a wide range in ages of girls (3-13) and this was a huge hit with all of them!! They all spent so much time putting the included stickers on and were so proud of their creations!! I thought that with the stickers being all basically the same only in different colors (butterflies, flowers, circles etc) that the bags would end up being pretty much the same but was pleasantly surprised when the girls started creating all sorts of pictures from the different shapes!! These girls really had the creative juices flowing!!








Some decorated with random placing of shapes....





While some decorated with a favorite color....





And some made pictures out of the shapes!! Aren't those bunnies cute? 

And take note of the little fish with bubbles!! I just thought that was a great idea!! 

This craft FAR exceeded my expectations and was a HUGE hit with the girls. I loved hearing them visitng while they worked and all the ideas they came up with for what they were going to use their bags for. I think in the end a lunch bag was the most popular idea... the possibilities are endless!! 


Next we made the Pop Art Necklaces!

I liked this craft right away for the options it included. There were stickers that were premade and colored that could be used but also the option of coloring their own pictures too! :) Again, I love how the girls got creative and really enjoyed seeing what they came up with! No two were the same! :) The only bad thing I could think of would be that it needed more pink options in the kit... ALL the girls wanted pink and there just wasn't enough to go around. That being said tho, the girls really liked the necklaces and from the view point of a mom, I think it was a great kit and would be really fun for a birthday party etc!

 

 

The third craft we did was the Fashion Headbands!

While the head bands were a big hit with the kids, they required A LOT more help than the other crafts and I realized that because I was having to help with the gluing and the wrapping of ribbons, I didn't get to take any pictures of us making them! Ooops! This project was a bit much for the littler ones and I ended up having to get out my glue gun to get the ribbons to stick. I think that it would have been a GREAT project to let the older kids run with, I think it was too much for the little ones and they didn't get to be as hands on and creative as I would have liked.

One big downside that I saw with this craft that I didn't see with the previous two was that it really wasn't created equal for ten little girls to be making at a party. There was only enough for each girl to chose one ribbon (with no left overs) and there were only three of the flowers/butterflies. Now I know, that sometimes kids don't get everything that they want and that disappointment is part of life, but it shouldn't be like that at a party with fun crafts! We ended up having to draw numbers for who got the three fancier items for their headbands and over all it all worked out ok but I think it should have included something bigger and fancier for everyone. For those who didn't get one of those three fancier things, there was the option of feathers and gems and they did end up being happy with those but there was still a sense of being disappointed and who could blame little girls for wanting the bling!? :)

That being said tho, the girls really didn't care that I had to do much of it for them and when asked, the headbands were one of the favorites of the day! :) Sorry I wasn't able to get pictures of it in progress!!

The final project of the day was the Fashion Bracelets



This craft was better than the headbands but still not at the top of my list. Again, the kit came with enough bracelets to make 15... but all were not created equal... there were only 5 of the big chunky, easily decorated ones and then 10 smaller much harder to decorate ones. This kit did come with plenty of ribbons etc but was hard for the littlest ones to do. I think  the suggested age should have been 10+ instead of 7. That being said, if I were to buy this for me and my girls to make I think it would be ok but in a party setting I think it was just too much.

The ones that the older kids made turned out really cute! :)





















All in all this was SUCH an AMAZING party and I can't thank Creativity Kids and MomSelect enough for letting us host it!! In addition to all of these great crafts they also gave us kits and coloring books to send home with each child and a few other kids just for my kiddos to get crafty with!! This was such a wonderful afternoon of girlfriends hanging out, crafting and enjoying one of the last days of summer! :)

Since I don't like to put children's faces in pictures on my blog, I smugged them out to be able to share this picture... but that just looked kinda creepy so I added in some artwork faces! I tried to match them with the faces they were actually making and love how this picture turned out! lol

THANKYOU Creativity for Kids and MomSelect!! 
 

Disclosure: I received no payment for this publication. I was given the kits but my opinions are my own...