He never gives us more than we can handle, right?

Today was my husbands official last day of work. We have known about this since Sept. Chances are it will sell (its been for sale, several people are interested) and he will get his job back. But still, it's a bummer. This job was ideal for us. It was 6 minutes from our house, the hours were perfect, the perks were great and he was just really, really happy working there. I think he is more bummed that he was leaving a job he loved more than the fact he is without a job. He and his manager became quick, close friends. He got a long with everyone there. I hope it sells soon and reopens. It makes my heart happy to send my husband off for 8 hours of our day to a place he is happy at.
On a better note, he does have another job if/when he decides to take it. When the news broke out the resort was closing his old boss called and said he has room for Chris and would love to have him back. I take great comfort in knowing that we have that offer. I feel bad for the 600+ people who worked at the resort that may not have something to fall back on.

Happier news.....my garden is doing great. I can't wait to start eating from it! Soon! Very soon! I took some pictures about a week ago. Excuse the fact that i'm a bit behind on my weeding. Whatever made me sick kicked my butt...but i'm ready now to fight those unwanted garden invaders!

My butter lettuce looks so pretty!


I've never grown Brussels Sprouts before. I am impatiently waiting to see what happens.


Swiss Chard...one of my all time favorites!


I am absolutely loving growing my garden. I have been plotting and planning how, what and where for my Spring garden.

The chicken coop is done! YEAY! The girls started staying out in their palace last week. They LOVE it. And not only do I love it because they do, I love it because we have our master bathroom back! Even though its the 3 of us, I am so spoiled having that second bathroom!

Here are a few shots of the girls on their maiden voyage to the big wooden box in our garage they now call home!

Checking out their new digs!



And, Mary Virginia (or as Maggie calls her Mary Baginia) doing what the girls do every morning the door opens. Runs over to greet whoever is standing there for the game of "here I am, catch me if you can". They really remind me of Kramer on Seinfeld. You know how the door would swing open and he would stumble in. He just had that "look", well the girls have that same look!


I am so thankful we built the coop in the garage. I know we have mountain lions, coyotes, raccoons, etc. But there is one very large Coyote that is showing up more and more. I just feel so much better that our little lovies are safe, inside.

And last, but certainly not least. A picture of Maggie. She worked so hard with her dad to get the coop finished. When it was time to get the chickens she and I got out the pine shaving and she spread them around inside while her dad was collecting our feathered friends. I turned around to grab something, it was less than a minutes time and I hear, "look mama! I'm making snow angels". The deed was done, I let her do it. She had a blast. I had a heck of a mess to clean up!

The icky's, fun pics and a book

It's been 9 days now that I have been sick. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I used to be a "good" sick person. "Good" meaning I wasn't a "high-maintenance" sicky! But something over the years have changed and I've noticed I have become a real pain in the butt when I'm sick! LOL I have a really bad case of PMS (Poor Me Syndrome). Chris is on the tail end of it and Maggie......I am always amazed at how quickly she bounces back from things. She had whatever this is for about 2 days and was done. And she never got it as bad as we did. But that's how she has always been. Knock on wood she can continue to have such a great immune system!
I've been taking my Cod Liver Oil, Acerola, Butter Oil and drinking homemade ginger ale. Fingers crossed it goes away sooner than later!

Because of getting sick the completion of the hen coop has been put on hold. Chris is hoping to get it done (including the electrical) on Monday when he is home.
The chickies had their 5wk birthday on Thursday. I can't believe we have had these little creatures that long already! And even more, I can't believe how BIG they have gotten!

My poor garden is being overtaken with weeds right now. I just don't have the energy to get out there and pull them. Chris has been wonderful to water for me before work in the mornings. Luckily for me I weeded very good right before I got sick, or it would have been worse.

The neighbor brought us a nice round, plump, orange pumpkin last night. I am looking forward to feeling better because I have been craving homemade pumpkin ravioli's! The pumpkin sits on my table....teasing my taste buds! I wonder if I could get a pie out of it too.....hhhmmmm. Can't wait to see!

We don't celebrate Halloween, but Maggie did go to the Harvest Festival last night. Every year Maggie has dressed up as Snow White. Without fail. We can not get her to change if it's to save our lives! The girl gets something stuck in her head and thats it. No changing.....ever!

Here she is last night:



And here she is her first year:


One thing I have been doing since I got sick is reading my new book The Backyard Homestead. I absolutely LOVE it. I really should have been named Backyard Homesteading for Dummies! I don't think it would be much help to someone who has been homesteading, but for a beginner this is like winning the lottery! It covers many subjects, but it doesn't overwhelm you with more than you need to know. If that makes sense.

For the homesteaders out there (if you are still reading!) what's your favorite book?

The Hen Palace

We finally got started on the chicken coop. After many drawings and discussions about what the coop was going to be like we went with the complete opposite of what we were going to do.

Originally the coop was going to sit at the top of my garden area. But we are getting new neighbors and aren't too sure how they will respond to having chickens right next to their bedroom window. So instead I will use that space to make my garden larger this coming Spring which excites me to no end! It's a rather large space and I figure I can do a lot of planting when the time comes!
We decided to move the coop to the opposite side of the house. Our neighbors on that side are awesome, and they are excited about getting fresh eggs so when we asked how they would feel about having the chickie-poopoo's on that side they were not worried about them being there at all.

I am a worrywart by nature when it comes to my pets. And to be completely honest I have been excited about this coop, but so fearful about my beloved girls getting hurt by a predator. We have a lot of mountain lions, coyotes and other creatures around here. In fact, Sunday we were looking out our front window only to see a very large coyote running thru the empty field infront of our house. Of course that made me go outside and take a count of our kitties who reside outside. Everyone was there! YEAY! So while we were outside planning where the coop would sit I started thinking about the predators and already stressing about them being outside. I would keep them in my master bathroom forever if I had to! While measuring and looking around the window in the garage on that side of the house made something click. Why can't we build a coop in the garage with the window being the entrance/exit for them. What a great way to keep them from danger at night when the creatures come out looking for prey! I said something to Chris and *boom* that was it.

Thankfully we have a large garage so it doesn't inconvenience us at all. The coop should be done tomorrow, then the inside will need to be done. It is WAY larger than it needs to be for 6 chickens. I figure it will give us room to grow if we want to. :)

Here is our work in progress!





And the girl having a blast in the coop


Excuse the mess. Those are our holiday decorations which will be stored underneath the coop.


The chicks have been getting treats here and there lately. They have had yogurt, mealworms and fresh greens. They are happy campers! I can't believe they are already 4.5 weeks old!
This has been such a great learning experience for Maggie. She is really into the chickens. She helps feed, water and clean their area. Surprisingly she still pets and holds them. I thought for sure now that they are bigger she would shy away from them, but so far so good. She is really enjoying them. So are her mama and daddy.

Homemade Tropical Muesli

Last night I threw together some homemade muesli for breakfast this morning. I didn't use a recipe, just threw stuff into a container and mixed it up. The main ingredient was Oats. I then cut up walnuts & pecans into halves, coconut, dried pineapple, dried papaya, dried apples, dried strawberries, raisins and cranberries added in wheat germ. The only thing I bought for it when I was out was the papaya and pineapple. I soaked it in milk overnight in the fridge. Couldn't wait until it was time for breakfast. I poured the milk it soaked in along with the muesli into a pan and warmed it up! It was really yummy! Here are some pictures......

cutting up ingredients:


soaking in milk ready to go in fridge for the night:


Cooked.....ready to eat!


My belly is full and content! Try it. It's economical, its nutritious. Use what you already have in your pantry!

If you make it, what do you put in yours?

Monday, Birthday,Cool Weather and Other Stuff

Happy Monday everyone! I don't know what it's like where you are but the weather here is cool, crisp and so clean. We are suppose to get a good rain storm tomorrow and I am SO looking forward to it! I have my fig candles lit, the house smells absolutely delicious. A small fire in the wood stove. This is my kind of day! I feel energized and ready to take on the world!

Today is a special day. Today is Chris' 40th Birthday. I remember back 2 years ago when he relentlessly teased me about turning 40. I have spared him the same in return. I think turning 40 is a wonderful experience. I can honestly say that I have changed and have really started to figure out who I am and what I really want in the last few years. 40 is something to look forward to, not fear! One memory I have of one of my aunts was sitting in her apartment with my parents and she was just beside herself because she was turning 40. I had that in my mind for years and thought 40 was the end of the world. LOL It's not the end.
I just want to quickly say Happy Birthday to my BEST friend. I love you lots!

It's also Thanksgiving in Canada! So Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Have a blessed day!

On today's agenda I am cleaning my pantry, rearranging my pot/pan cupboards, cleaning the dogs crates, working on the chicken coop with Chris,(the cluckers are restless in the master bathroom and need their own space), weed the garden, make some homemade chicken noodle soup and starting my meal planning for the next 2 weeks.
Maggie and I are also making an apple pie for Chris' birthday. Maggie isn't too happy about it. She was bound and determined to make daddy a watermelon cake with lemon juice. And once she gets something in her sweet little head it's near impossible to get it out. Some say she gets that from me. But I deny it. ;)

I've been kickin' around on the 'net searching out for more good blogs to read. I found a few I would like to share with you.

The first I would like to talk about is From Seed to Table
Michelle is a California gardner who has a very inspiring garden. I love all the photographs of not only her garden but of her harvest too! I kinda doubt that my garden will ever be like hers, but it's nice to have such inspiration right at my fingertips!

The second one is The Tie That Binds Us Brenda is a homeschooling mama to 5. I found her by doing a search on chickens. I clicked the link and found the taj mahal of chicken coops. Luckily for Chris I saw the pictures AFTER our coop got started! She has some great downloads too, so go check her out!

The third one I can say I have literally spent HOURS on. I am hoping when she looks at her status of readers and sees how much time I have spent on her blog she doesn't think I'm a stalker! LOL
Rhonda Jean at Down To Earth is who I want to be when I grow up! LOL She and her husband live in Queensland, Australia. She has everything I could ever want to read right on her blog. One stop blogging! Everything from budgeting to gardening to stockpiling to canning to some of the best recipes I have ever read. I copied a bunch of recipes and can't wait to try some of her bread, lemon butter and orange coconut cake. She would be the perfect mother-in-law, aunt, close relative! LOL

Stop by these blogs, I think you will really enjoy them all!

Maggie and I are now going to sit down and enjoy our hot pot of tea!

Have a blessed day!