An Exciting Day

I had a great day! It began by thrifting with some friends. I only bought an old fall issue of Southern Living and an adorable bow tie for Charlie but it was fun nonetheless.

After picking Katherine up from school we went to a friends house who has chickens! We drove up and a mule, a donkey, and a cow moved close to the fence to say "hello". I wish we had brought something for them to eat. They were so curious to see what we were up to.
Walking towards the backyard I could hear the chickens gabbing amongst themselves. There was quite a crowd of them! I was enchanted with this particular rooster.


He started crowing right away when we showed up. He was the smallest of the roosters that I saw but he tried very hard to convince us otherwise. I could hear what sounded like quite a large rooster off in the distance and this little guy would answer back as loud as he could but end up chocking and coughing at the end of his efforts. Very funny!


Katherine spotted some eggs in the nesting boxes. Three beautifully colored eggs! I found several tiny eggs that were so delicate that a couple of them broke under my clumsy fingers.



We were also invited to harvest whatever was ready in their garden. I'm afraid to say that I failed to identify most of what was growing there. I clipped some lettuce to take home and left the rest alone. Look at what a gorgeous green color it was.


Let me share my new found chicken knowledge with you. A chicken can lay an egg almost every day and never see a rooster. The rooster fertilizes the eggs. I did not remember these facts until my mother mentioned that the roosters were loose and to be prepared when I crack my eggs open. I'm a bit nervous about them now but Katherine is quite anxious to boil them and eat 'em. Mom also mentioned she doubts that these tiny eggs came from a chicken. I don't suppose we should eat those.

My great day ended with a delicious bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with freshly picked blackberries blended into a sauce. Wow.

Sonic Bloom

My mother has run across the best nail polish I've ever used, Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Nail Color. I bought the Sonic Bloom color which is a great summer coral-red. It happens to match my new swimsuit perfectly, (more on the swimsuit in a later post). Mom bought Flashy Fuchsia which is a lovely bright pink.

This nail polish claims to cover in one coat and dry rapidly. It does dry quite fast but I preferred the color after two coats. What was the most surprising about this product was how well it lasts. I put it through the beach test. The color did not chip on day 1, 2, or 3 whilst I trudged through sand. In fact, it hasn't chipped ever. I rate this product an A+!

Flower Bed Makeover

We've spent the past several weekends working on our front flower beds. This is what the front of our house looked like when we bought it a year ago:

What was planted in the flower beds was ugly or refused to thrive. The only plants I saved were two hydrangea bushes that I transplanted to a cooler location. They are so happy now and have tripled in size.

Chuck worked really hard on laying the bricks correctly. It bothered me that they were not level and covered just about everything that bothered to grow.

Below is a photo of the drip system we installed to keep my new plants happy. The hose is on a timer that comes on in the morning for 30 minutes. I've covered all the hoses with a cedar mulch that was cheap and it smells nice.

Chuck put the system into my hanging baskets too. It has worked so well!

My plants have grown a bit in the past few weeks but I'm really looking forward to what they will look like in a month. I am pleased. Ta-dah!

Yard Sale Finds

I spent several hours Saturday morning with my friend Ginger going to yard sales. I'm quite happy with my treasures. I spent a total of $17.00 and came home with all of this:

I wanted this Santa from Wal-mart last Christmas but wasn't willing to spend $20 on him. I hoped to get him on clearance after the season was over but they were all gone. I got this one for $3.00!


The bargain of the day was the light fixture. I got it for $2.00! I've been hunting for something to replace a tacky miniature ceiling fan in our master bath. We never use the fan and it's just plain ugly. I have plans to change that....

Two Great Family Games

We've had Blokus for a couple of years now but no one will play with me. I LOVE this game, probably because I'm really good at it. The point of the game is to fit as many of your pieces onto the board while blocking other players moves. Women tend to be really good at this game.The other game I like is Doodle Dice. I am NOT good at this game but I'm determined to win at least once. The point of this game is to match a card's illustration with what symbols you've rolled with the dice. The illustrations get more intricate as the game goes on.

Both games have simple rules and are a blast. Kids age 8 and older can easily play either games.

Iron Man 2

My parents volunteered at the last minute to babysit while we see a movie this weekend. Fun! We loved the first Iron Man and of course had to see the next one. I'm thankful it wasn't in 3D. Some of the previews I was excited about turned out to be in 3D. That angers me.

Back to the movie, I thought Mickey Rourke who plays one of the bad guys was awesome. His career is back on for sure! I've already forgotten all that unfortunate plastic surgery business.


Sam Rockwell was also great in his bad guy part. He's one of those actors you've seen before but cannot remember where. Not anymore!


Of course Robert Downey was his usual goodness and Gwyneth. Scarlett was beautiful but her acting was a bit flat.

Overall the movie was entertaining and funny. I loved it.

Chickens, You're My Obsession

I have been interested in having some chickens for fresh eggs for about a year now. However, after watching Martha's recent show on chickens I'm obsessed. Everyone in her studio audience brought their pet chicken and held it in their lap like a cat. Martha loved on a chicken in her lap almost the entire show. I've never seen or heard about this kind of behavior from a chicken. I had no idea they could be considered a pet.

I checked out this book from the library, "Living With Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock" by Jay Rossier. I really liked this book, it was interesting and entertaining! What little did I know about chickens. An egg, what little miracles they are.

Last week I was just surfing some blogs about nothing in particular and came across this fascinating woman's chicken coop! I've never seen the likes. It makes chicken husbandry look "chic". You must go there yourself as she doesn't want anyone copying her gorgeous photos.
Then, today in Home Depot I was just waiting around for the hubby when I spotted this magazine called "Organic Gardening" with a beautiful chicken on the cover! I had to have it. Surely I am meant to have chickens!?


There has been some debate over whether or not I should pursue this new hobby as our neighborhood covenants clearly state "no chickens, goats, or hogs". I was crushed at first but now I'm scheming. We'll get a fence......I'll share the fresh eggs......we won't even have a rooster....what's the big deal..........
This chicken thing is NOT over.