Chickie Baby

Waaaaaaaaaay back in 2003, when we were still living on the Compound in Tifton, James asked me what I wanted for a Valentine's Day present. I told him "chickens". So he agreed to build a chicken coop in preparation for little, tiny baby chicks that would be available that spring. He drew up the plans and got as far as getting some 4x4s in place that would be the corners of the coop.

The Valentine's present turned into a Mother's Day present, which then turned into a birthday present, then James started schoool and before we knew it it was May 2005 and we were moving to Albany for his new job and I had never, ever got my chickens.

Last spring, James brought home a bunch of wood and made me a compost bin out of some wood he brought home from the base. I alluded to our next project in that post, and finally SEVEN YEARS after his initial promise, WE HAVE CHICKENS.

My brother David ordered 60 chickens from a mail order company, and they arrived the week of the family reunion. Dave set aside 10 chicks for us, and James (after checking out and reading every book on raising chickens from the library that he could get his hands on) set about building a Biddy Box that we figured they'd stay in for at least a month.

James built the box and set it up on some sawhorses over our garden box (which I had never got around to planting anything in this year, although the rosemary and thyme I planted *last* year are still thriving!)


The idea was that each day when we cleaned out thebox, we'd let the chicks run around in the garden.






I don't know if it's our tender loving care or what, but these chicks are SUPER CHICKS. Less than two weeks after the reunion we had to upgrade their "area" because they are getting HUGE!

James decided to mount the biddy box on the end of the (now) enclosed garden bed, giving the chicks a run. I think it's pretty smart myself.






So for the time being, the chicks have plenty of room, and they are happy and thriving. We still have 8 chicks (we lost two of them to a neighborhood cat who found away into the pen. James has sworn to have his revenge. Our ultimate plan has always been to build a bigger, permanent coop in the back of the yard, with laying boxes and plenty of room.

With it being the Memorial Day weekend and having time off of work, James decided to get to work building the permanent coop last Saturday. He had been outside for about two hours when he came into the house and uttered these immortal words....

"Hey, come see this. I have an idea...."

TO BE CONTINUED

*tap tap tap*

Is this thing on?

I noticed it's been almost a month since I updated Ye Olde Blog, and I thought about waiting a whole month, but then I decided that it would just be too cruel to deprive you of my witty thoughts and insights that much longer.

Since we were last together:

- I went on a field trip with Madeline to the Georgia Aquarium in ATL
- I got a haircut
- school has ended for both me and the girlies
- we had the family reunion
- we've aquired baby chicks
- we had to buy a new computer
- I figured out how to stream Netflix, Hulu, Amazon VOD and all sorts of other channels through our Wii and onto the TV. As soon as this season of Gaving and Stacey is over we'll probably be cancelling the cable and saving beau coup dinero each month. (Maybe)

I'm hoping to spend this summer lounging by the base pool as often as possible, reading lots of books and eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm not really all that interested in doing much of anything else. ;)

With that, I'll leave you with a few pictures.

Navel Gazing

Things I Have Discovered About Myself and/or Finally Accepted In Past Year

1. I DO NOT like change. I thought I was okay going with the flow/seeing what happens/etc, but it turns out I'm not.

2. Even though I want it to (if for no other reason than to use the thousands of dollars worth of supplies in my house) scrapbooking doesn't give me the creative outlet that it used to. There's no motivation there, and hardly any desire. Most of my creative energy goes into preschool and writing witty blog entries.

3. I love living in a small(ish) town, because the people have such big hearts. Unfortunately those big hearts too often come with small minds. It's like living in a huge warm, funny, sincere, petty, crazy, dysfunctional family. I need to learn when to speak up and when to keep my big mouth shut.

4. Anxiety medications are a Good Thing.

5. There's a difference between being stupid and Being Stupid. Far too often I am the former, but I thank God every day that I am not the latter.

6. I spend far too much energy thinking about people who are Being Stupid. I need to be more kind in my words and actions to those people, in hopes that they will be kind in their words and actions towards me.

7. Heavenly Father is probably frustrated and disappointed with me, for a lot of reasons. But He probably feels the same way about Pat Robertson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright and Glenn Beck, and at least I'm not making money off of His name.

8. I'm fat, but my eyes and lips are gorgeous. It might be time to join Weight Watchers.

9. I wasn't nearly as smart and mature at 18 as I thought I was. (In fairness, I realized this a long time ago. But given that I'm closer to being the mother of an 18 yeard old than I am to being an 18 year old myself is really driving the point home.)

10. It will be OK if I don't ever "finish" college. I have never stopped learning, and I don't plan to stop any time soon. I am an intelligent, well-rounded, creative woman who loves her careers; both the one I get paid for (preschool teacher) and the ones I don't (wife, mother, pseudo book reviewer, wanna-be librarian, occasional writer).

11. Sometimes writing a blog post at 1:30 in the morning is a good thing. SOmetimes it's not. We'll see what the verdict is on this post in the light of day. ;D

12. I physically can't make an odd numbered list.

The Cucumber Museum

Our last day of Spring Break found us shopping


and eating





and gardening. (Say what?)



One of my favorite places to visit in Jacksonville is the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. In addition to be a pretty awesome art museum in its own right, it also has a great hands on children's room, and GORGEOUS gardens, all right on the St. Johns River. We were really lucky because on Tuesdays the museum is free! So we spent about three hours there, looking at beautiful art, wandering around the gardens and taking lots of pictures.

When we first drove up, Bella misread the sign and asked why we were going to the Cucumber Museum. Henceforth it shall be known as such in our house!















After leaving the museum, we decided to drive back out to the beach to get our toes in the water one last time. I love being at the beach just as the sun is setting (even if we were faving the wrong way to see the actual setting).











We caught a late dinner at Five Guys and OH MY GOSH!!! You haven't eaten a burger until you've had a Five Guys Burger! Sooooooooooo good! Right next door to Five Guys was a Frozen Custard shop, so we walked over for some dessert, and it was the perfect ending to our spring break.

Old Friends

Usually when we head out on vacation we either go north to Atlanta (and The Cannegieters) or south towards Jacksonville (where we have lots of friends and THE BEACH!) This time, Jacksonville won out, but don't worry Lora and Jeff- we're headed your way SOON!! We stayed with my oldest friend in the world, DeeAnn and her family. We have known each other since we were three years old, and she's like a sister to me. I didn't get any pictures of her or her husband Marty, but that's because I was too busy taking pictures of her cute kids!





And if DeeAnn is my oldest friend, the Kiki is probably my second oldest friend! Her mom was my first Primary teacher, and then my Young Women president. Kiki invited us all over on Sunday for an egg hunt (her family recently moved into DeeAnn's neighborhood. How convenient!). We ended up staying until close to midnight! All nine kids happily played and watched movies while we visited and laughed and gossiped.






On Monday we had dinner with The Jarvis' and The Howles. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Katheryn and Erin are cool enough to become friends with an old girlfriend of their husbands. Yes, in my misspent youth I dated both Nathan and Jason (although not at the same time ;D). I adored them both (and still do) and my teenage years would not have been as much fun without them in my life.

Our visit was the first time I've met Katheryn (I met Erin about 14 years ago, when she and Jason first started dating). They are both as awesome as I hoped, and we might even all go camping together this summer! (I hope this works out!) I must also give props to my awesome husband who is cool enough to be friends with my ex-boyfriends! YAY James!






I have to give credit to Katheryn for this shot- she insisted me and the guys take a picture together! How funny is that??!!?


I love that we have so many friends who care about us enough to make time to see us and feed us and keep in contact!

Old Friends

Usually when we head out on vacation we either go north to Atlanta (and The Cannegieters) or south towards Jacksonville (where we have lots of friends and THE BEACH!) This time, Jacksonville won out, but don't worry Lora and Jeff- we're headed your way SOON!! We stayed with my oldest friend in the world, DeeAnn and her family. We have known each other since we were three years old, and she's like a sister to me. I didn't get any pictures of her or her husband Marty, but that's because I was too busy taking pictures of her cute kids!





And if DeeAnn is my oldest friend, the Kiki is probably my second oldest friend! Her mom was my first Primary teacher, and then my Young Women president. Kiki invited us all over on Sunday for an egg hunt (her family recently moved into DeeAnn's neighborhood. How convenient!). We ended up staying until close to midnight! All nine kids happily played and watched movies while we visited and laughed and gossiped.






On Monday we had dinner with The Jarvis' and The Howles. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Katheryn and Erin are cool enough to become friends with an old girlfriend of their husbands. Yes, in my misspent youth I dated both Nathan and Jason (although not at the same time ;D). I adored them both (and still do) and my teenage years would not have been as much fun without them in my life.

Our visit was the first time I've met Katheryn (I met Erin about 14 years ago, when she and Jason first started dating). They are both as awesome as I hoped, and we might even all go camping together this summer! (I hope this works out!) I must also give props to my awesome husband who is cool enough to be friends with my ex-boyfriends! YAY James!






I have to give credit to Katheryn for this shot- she insisted me and the guys take a picture together! How funny is that??!!?


I love that we have so many friends who care about us enough to make time to see us and feed us and keep in contact!