Lovely

This is our lovely neighbor, J.

This lovely gal knows I adore lovely flowers.

So can you guess what she did?

She picked this flower just for me!

Lovely!

At least it rained...

I love rain, it relaxes me, it makes me happy!

And after the weekend I had, I find myself thankful that it rained almost the whole weekend so I could at least stay calm.

Shawn and Christian went to Utah the whole weekend for the Callahan father/son reunion. It was the first time Christian was invited with the BIG guys. They were both really excited to go.

I very much dislike when Shawn is away, and then to have the next standing 'man of the house' to leave with him... I NO LIKEY!!

Then Ty gets the chicken pox, random!

But in the end, we were just fine, the guys had a wonderful reunion, Ty is healing, and it rained... a lot... which helped me sleep well and not be so self absorbed in my missing my husband-itis.

But I sure didn't have time to just laze around, no sir!! I've got a deadline looming.

Seems, my little itty bitty desire to open a Bed & Breakfast... in actuality... is a big ole honkin' mess of paperwork, yuck.

I literally read 4 books on this topic... not that I'm counting :), but that is 975 pages of research.

Not to mention, the tons of internet reading....

I am exhausted!

Now that the research is read, notes made, etc...

The fun part of writing a Business Plan. Seems we had to have one of these to open our Dental Practice... ahhhummmm, I didn't lift a finger for that one... Shawn handled all that not fun stuff. So it is only fair that I have been left to wade through this headache myself, whimper.

Thankfully, I have found a few contacts that are precious and helpful, and I hope to meet this deadline by weeks end.

One thing is for sure... I was never good at research papers in school, and age has not improved that skill.

A 30-50 page Business Plan is suggested... do you think I will get any brownie points for a MUCH shorter plan?

After all,

I will be saving the readers a WHOLE lot of time ;] If nothing else, wouldn't a very itty bitty Business Plan be a sign of intense consideration, on my part, of the readers precious time?

a chick, chick here...

and a pox, pox there... here a chick, there a pox... everywhere a chicken pox............

OoOoOoOohH.........

Chicken pox were NOT on my radar screen, but indeed, Ty has them! I thought he got into some chiggers, I was wrong, oops!

Ty had the immunization years ago but the Doc said it is only 70% affective.

When I told Ty he was in the whimpy 30%,

he took offense.

We stayed home from church, bummer, and Ty was bored about 2 seconds after waking up.

What to do.... what to do????

I love that each of my kids look just like Shawn. And I also love that each of them are extremely creative, which I take credit for, right or wrong, I'm sticking to it... I want a little credit for their artsy gene.

Ty loves to paint on canvases. Today he is doing a portrait of Mr. Roo. This past week he finished this one of the barn. When I asked him why he painted our barn red, because our barn isn't red, he simply stated, "it should be red, that's why!'

While I love red barns... I wouldn't change a thing about our barn, love it, love it, love it!

Clear?!

Son? Are you listening to your mother?!

By the way, I always have a cheap, CHEAP stash of canvases. I can make them quite cheap, but when I can buy them, even easier!

I get most of them at Hancock Fabrics, of all places! They will clearance them out periodically and I buy them ALL. These cost me $1.29 each. Then the kids just paint over the original art and turn it into whatever they want. Can't beat that!


So now I am off to put PINK Calamine lotion on Ty's pox.

I shall be sure and torture my spunky 7yr old son and tell him he looks mighty precious in pink.

Thanks Aunt Mimi for running to the store to get us the pox necessities.... Calamine lotion, cotton balls, Aveeno bath treatments, antihistamine, and the must have....

strawberry/peanut butter M&Ms!!!

Long observation...

I spent the bulk of my Friday afternoon at my kitchen table. I was meeting with our Landscape Designer later in the day and wanted to at least appear organized.

I have a clear view of the coop from my kitchen window. I noticed that there was a gap in the temporary chicken fencing we have attached to the coop. This gap seemed to be the exact size and shape of my son CHRISTIAN, grrrr. I watched and watched waiting for the great chicken escape of summer 2009. I wonder if an IQ test has been created for chickens. I think ours are dumb as rocks!

Almost 3 hours later, I noticed the first chicken attempting an exit. Once she got out... she cackled up a huge racket and the party was ON!!

Freedom, whoo-hoo. Never mind it took them forever to even notice, they made the most of the mayhem. Actually, I hope to let them freerange during the day more once the area has additional prep work done. The coop is where we will shoo them for safety during the night.

Chicks gone wild. There rendezvous can NOT be termed quiet or sneeky!

And there is Mr. Roo, of whom I have a tad bit of a crush. Remember that he is a miniature? See how much smaller than the hens he is? Don't worry though, he has the 'little man' disease... which means he doesn't know he's dinky... and the hens let him think what he wants.


So after letting them enjoy some free time, I called Christian to inform him of his error in leaving the chicken wire gaping open. And told him to round'em up. He calls this ring around the rosies... chicken edition...

First you open the coop door,

He slowly walks around the back of the coop calmly flapping his arms,

And the chickens traipse right into the coop to avoid the odd fella doing the chicken impersonation.

There are no feathers ruffled in this process.

All are safely gathered and cackles have returned to a reasonable volume.

PS - still no fresh eggs, grrrrr. I called the hatchery this week and asked them a few questions. The window of time for egg production starting is much larger than I had first read. Seems it could take up to 4 more weeks possibly. Delayed gratification is not one of my finer points.

Got Milk?

We got another little goat this morning. Her name is Calli, and we look forward to spoiling her rotten. Calli's temperament, ears, and black coloring remind Savannah of our little baby goat, Madi, that we lost this past winter. Calli is part miniature Nubian and Oberhasli, we're hopeful she will be a wonderful little dairy goat.

Amelia should enjoy the company, once she makes sure that Calli understands Amelia has seniority, grin!

These animals are an absolute joy. I'm sure our other goat, Jack, will look forward to hanging out with these ladies in the near future!

Safe and sound... 1 year later!

My youngest Brother, Dave, married a total sweetie, Jessica, last summer.

I bought them a gift card to one of my favorite stores... hoping they loved the store too.

I promptly came home and put the gift card in a safe place!

This was such an awesome safe place, that the gift card... one whole year later... is still safely tucked away there. Because, I have forgotten where the gift card safe haven IS!!!

So this month, on Jess and Dave's 1 year anniversary, I have determined that I am truly overdue giving them a wedding gift, grin. So I went and got another gift card, of course adding a little to the gift amount in hopes it will grant me quick forgiveness, and I am thrilled to say the card is finally in the mail.

Happy wedding day AND 1 year anniversary!!!

Laughter

My boys can laugh up a storm! I'm talking loud, HUGE laughter.

Last week I heard such laughter at the side of the house. I must say I'm glad a simple garden hose and dirt can still provide tons of fun for these fellas.



Our yard is still so barren, at least it can be useful for a good mudfight!

Later that same day, Savannah and the boys went firefly chasing. Can a brag a tad and say I used to be an awesome firefly chaser!? Seriously was good at it... my kids need more practice... or a good lesson from their mom ;)