Composting Update

I haven't posted an update on this in a while.

Steve got me a huge food-grade tub that we plan on using to make our DIY composter. We haven't started the project because the weather has been just shitty. And, AND! It's supposed to fucking SNOW this weekend. 

SNOW. 

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Anyway, last week I was perusing social media and came across my town's board and someone posting that they had received a FREE composting bin from the city! I investigated further and realized that anyone who lives in the city, can fill out the form and get a bin delivered to their house. And they would also get a kitchen sized one to fill with scraps before bringing it out to the bin.

Of course I signed up right away.

I got an email the next day saying that this promotion is only for CITY residents, not town residents, which we are. 

WHAT?! What the fuck does it matter?

But, the lady who emailed me did say that town residents can get a 3' x 3' x 3' wooden box (I prefer wood over plastic anyway!) for $20 and it would be delivered. We would also get the kitchen bin for small scraps.

The kitchen bin! We are waiting on the town to deliver the 3 x 3 x 3 wooden box. 

Ok, well, still a good deal! There's no online form, so I'm sending Steve to show up in person to request and pay for one.

I'm so excited! 

Mila's School Project

We are getting to the age when Mila has projects she must do for school.

I absolutely love it.

I was very proud of her for being excited to do the project, and her enthusiasm while we did it! We used an old Amazon shipping box, wrapped it in craft paper and used modeling clay and pipe cleaners. I tried doing a 3D lion our of cardboard but it didn't turn our too well. Mila didn't seem to care and propped him up anyway. Luckily I had found a zebra and lion at Michael's and was smart enough to pick them up so she had some recognizable animals in there!

We get to go see her diorama during Habitat Night at school in a couple of days. So proud of this girl! 

THE SKUNK

Yep.

A skunk.

I was putting the girls to bed, and MR was being very annoying. Barking, whining, etc. I couldn't figure it out.

I got him and put him in his crate and went back upstairs to the girls to finish up bedtime.

While in his crate I can still hear him huffing around.

Whatever.

I do what I have to do during this down time: clean up from dinner, make kids' lunches, straighten up whatever toys didn't get put away, etc.

I do a little work and fell asleep on the couch.

Woke up around 10:30 when Steve got home with Calzones! (Yes, I realize how terrible it is to eat that late).

I was heating up the calzone when Steve comes back inside and asks me for the spotlight. I have no idea where it is and ask him why he needs it.

His response: I see the garbage bag moving outside, I think there's a skunk!

Me: a WHAT? Where?

Before I know it, Steve comes back around with MR and I open the door to the worst stench I had ever smelled in my life.

He says he doesn't think MR got spray - so in he comes, into his crate. 3 seconds later, I'm gagging and dragging him back outside.

He definitely got sprayed. 

Can you see him? Between the house and the garbage can? Black fur.

The entire outside of our house and patio area smelled lie this rancid, dead, disgusting smell.

Steve is all "what do I do?!?!?" and I'm all "tomato juice!" haha

But, since I had to work the next day and it's not after 11pm, I take Bella and head to bed.

Steve comes and tells me that he's Googling and that he's reading we should use baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

He goes to Walmart at 11:30pm and comes home and gives this dog a bath in our garage.

The next morning there is still a stench. Not nearly as strong. But it's there. Our air purifier had been running on full blast all night.

MR spent his entire day outside to air out. Luckily for him it was 65 and sunny.

But fuck.

We're not sure what happened to the skunk.

Roosters anyone?

Speaking of culling chickens...

We have 3 roosters.

Not by choice.

We got the one rooster from our friend, because he already had one. And this rooster was getting picked on by the other rooster. He was in rough shape when we got him.

He then grew the biggest set of balls, apparently.

Because he's the biggest asshole, ever.

He's attacked he at least 4 times, drawing blood 3 of those times. (I believe).

He's pecked Mila in the face!

I've learned to take a stick with me, or a pitchfork, for protection.

The other two were surprise roosters - when we added to our flock a while ago, we bought "sexed" chicks, which are guaranteed female (hens/pullets, who will lay eggs), although I've read that 10% could be males.

Anyway, our New Jersey Giants and Brahmas were not guaranteed females.

Of course we got two more roosters.

Beautiful bird. He has not attacked me yet. 

My Brahma in the back, between the two reds

My strategy to protect myself didn't work this past weekend.

Our "teenagers" as I affectionately call them, are located in a small coop that is inside our fenced area. They are locked in there for the time being - they are on chick grower food, not layer food, and they aren't old enough yet to be on that food. We have about 5-6 weeks left. Chicks should be at least 16 weeks old before they are put on layer food.

I went out, pitchfork in one hand, water in the other.

All THREE of these fucking roosters run over. I think they do this for a couple of reasons:

1. They are actually protecting the chicks from me
2. They are interested in the food that I have for them (most likely)
3. They are legit trying to kill me

So, I stood out there for a solid 15 minutes, trying to figure out how to turn my back to these fucking birds, keep them at bay with a pitchfork, open the coop door and put the water in there without tipping it over or being attacked. (We put the water up on two boards so their bedding doesn't get kicked into the water dish easily).

Um. Yeah.

I stood there thinking for a bit.

Abu came at me - I YELLED LOUD and swung the pitchfork.

The other two have never, and I mean NEVER gotten close to me. They usually run the other way.

But, this time. THIS TIME.

My fucking Brahma Rooster came at me.

THIS CHICKEN IS HUGE, PEOPLE.

I threw the water down and ran out of the gate. I ran so fast I was worried I'd trip and fall and subsequently get pecked to death by 3 roosters.

FUCK.

I haven't been able to get near it since.

So, Steve and I have to move that sucker out of the fenced area so I can access it.

Needless to say, we need to figure out our rooster issue.

Culling chickens

Every few months I'll run into someone who will ask what I plan to do with my hens once they stop producing (laying).

Each time my response is "oh, no, these are my friends, they are just pets."

I can almost hear their eyes roll.

And sometimes their response is "well, you're feeding something that's not giving you something back in return..." - and while this might be true...I'm not doing this for profit. I'm not raising chickens to have eggs.

For now.

I'm raising chickens because I want to.

The fact that we are able to sell eggs is a bonus.

BUT, sometimes, there's reason to cull chickens. To keep your flock nice and healthy.

Culling chickens is removing sick, inferior chickens from your flock. 

This is good for a few reasons:
1. Removing sick chickens will keep your other chickens from getting sick
2. It increases food and water resources for productive chickens
3. It increases the flocks' living space
4. It increases the egg-to-hen ratio (if you have some non-layers)

How to spot a non-producing chicken:
1. Feathers will look dirty and gross - if laying, all the energy goes to laying eggs, not keeping feathers beautiful
2. Combs and wattles - a producing hen will have a vibrant, bright red comb and wattles. Non producing hens' combs and wattles are pale and scaly
3. Vent - a laying hen's vent should be large, oval and moist. A non layer's vent will be dry, tight and round.
4. Overall activity level - healthy, laying hens should be running around not lazy

Right now we have 10 adult chickens (don't get me started on how sad and upset I am by this) and 3 of then are roosters. Of course. So right now I only have 7 laying hens. Or maybe less. I think I have one who is not producing. We've been averaging 4-6 eggs per day. We were up to 15/day earlier this Spring!

Since the number in my flock reduced greatly, I don't have to do any culling. I still keep an eye on them in case any of them look sick or whatever, but so far, everyone looks pretty good.

We also have 24 new babies!

The first batch of babies are just about 9/10 weeks old.

The second batch of babies are just about 8/9 weeks old.

The third batch of babies are a couple weeks old (I forget exactly how many days).

It's always a good idea to go through your flock and check them out. We handle our hens occasionally and will go through their feathers and whatnot and just give them a general once over to make sure they are looking good.

Another fun-filled weekend in the books!

We had a great long weekend! The girls were on Spring break all of last week and then we enjoyed a long weekend for Easter.

It was rather non-traditional this year, since Steve had planned to go to the Annual Snirt Run with some friends, so he wasn't going to be home on Easter Sunday (not until the afternoon, anyway).

Friday was Good Friday and I had the day off of work. Steve and I enjoyed the day - spent time outside getting our chores done, and then we had a special event that evening.

From the beginning of TIME, Steve's favorite TV shows are: The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld.

I just can't with the Andy Griffith Show.

But, I can definitely watch Seinfeld.

So, for approximately 7 years, we watched that show religiously. I even bought him the box set for his birthday like 12 years ago.

He can tell you what episode it is only hearing like 2 lines from the show. It's nuts.

ANYWAY.

I saw that Jerry Seinfeld was coming to town.

I had to get us tickets!

We went Friday night and had the best time.

The opening act was hilarious (although I cannot remember who it was!)

And then....

He appeared.

And I was apprehensive. I had never seen his stand up before. I've only watched his "show about nothing."

I was blown away. He was hilarious and is exactly the way he was on the show.

The ONE thing that could've made it better?

If George was there to banter with him.

But, we laughed pretty much the entire time.

It was a great show and a great experience.

I'm SO glad we got to see him.

Steve left very early Saturday morning - around 4am.

They stayed at this cabin and it happened to be the exact same one we stayed at when we went "glamping" back in 2013! Mila was 16 months old. Great memories.

The girls and I had a date with my absolute best friend and her daughter, Olivia.

I've known this girl for about 15 years, and surprisingly, NOT from high school! She married a friend I've known since I was 8.

We were meant to be friends, I literally feel like she's family to me. I can be 100%, absolutely, ME. CRAZY ASS ME. And she still loves me. We have the same opinion on almost everything. I've never in my life, laughed as hard as I have with this chick. I've spent an ungodly amount of time with her, in the same living space with zero issues.

Shit just works when we're together. 

Anyway, we've managed to stay very close even though we live 2.25 hours from each other. We manage to meet in the middle, at a large mall (perfect, right?) and we shop and eat, and chat, and get coffee. And there's a great play place with climbing structures, mazes, bounce houses, huge slides, etc. and we can just sit and chill while the girls play.

So we did that all day Saturday!

This Bubba

Being such a good girl during lunch. She ate 3 bowls of rice. Just rice. 

So much love in this picture. These are my people. 

This store was my worst nightmare! It has ALL the trendy toys that are out right now! This wall...Mila could barely believe it. 

Of course we need cotton candy.

Ava started to get whiny, SnapChat filters for the win! 

Got home after bedtime, so I put the girls to bed immediately. Since they wanted a sleepover (and had earned it), our routine was pretty quick and painless. They were TIRED from walking the mall for 6 hours! (And they did it without complaining!)

I also made sure the Easter Bunny made his appearance ;)

Playing with a bubble fan Ava got in her basket

Steve made it home around 2pm and then placed himself on the couch and stayed there for the next 6 hours. Apparently he drank a lot of Jack (ugh, I'm dry heaving - can't even think of hard liquor anymore).

The girls played around him (haha! can't just rest and get over your hangover anymore!) and we enjoyed a very low key Easter Sunday.

Even though it was a little weird, it was still great. 

Summer Camp!

It's official! I got them both signed up for Summer Camp this morning!

Normally, on days that both Steve and I are working, they would just go to daycare and that would be that. But, starting last year, we were thinking we should look into something else...for Mila at least. We LOVE our daycare provider, but I wonder if Mila gets bored being there for 8+ hours. There are crafts, coloring and other kids, of course...but I wonder if she'd benefit from summer camp and all the activities they would offer (beach, swimming, field trips, etc.)

Now here's the thing - I've never attended summer camp. There was no way in hell my parents would pay for us to attend such a thing.

But, now that I'm a parent, I totally get it. They are off of school for about 10 weeks. I still have to work full time during that time...and I feel both my kids would benefit from some cool summer activities. I want it to actually feel like a summer break!

Here's another thing - wrap around care can be freaking expensive!

I looked into the YMCA camp, but since we're not members, the cost for camp + wrap around care (7am - 6pm) is $225 per week.

PER KID. 

So, $550 per week for both my kids to attend camp. 

For one week. 

So, um, no.

But what other option is out there?

I looked and found something that's open to residents of our city/town.

The rates are VERY reasonable.

$90/week for Mila's age group.

$50/week for Ava's age group.

But, of course, there's a catch.

Mila's camp is 9:30am - 3:30pm.

Ava's camp is 9:00am - 12:00pm.

Super convenient for working parents. 

I still wanted to figure out a way so my kids could attend camp, but that wouldn't cost a freaking arm and a leg.

I picked two weeks that Steve's schedule is such that he is home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So he'll be able to drop off and pick up those 3 days each week.

I am then responsible for Thursday/Friday for each week. I cleared it with my supervisor first, of course, since those days will be kind of crazy for me. I'm SO grateful for the flexibility they enable us to have.

Here's what it'll look like those days:
I'll take Ava to her camp (located at the school), then wait for Mila's camp to start at 9:30 (also located at the school). Head into the office and then depending, maybe leave at 11:45 to pick up Ava and bring her to daycare. Then back to work. Then back out again at 3:10 to pick Mila up from camp. Then pick up Ava from daycare.

I'm going to be a freaking taxi for those days! 

But, I'm willing to do it, so that my kids can experience camp!

So, they will be at daycare for about a week, then two weeks of camp. Then after that, 4 more weeks of daycare, then my mom comes to visit for 2 weeks. I think that breaks it up enough for them!

If I can manage it, I'm also hoping to take Fridays off over the summer - or every other Friday. Or something. I want to really be around for the girls this summer and have it really feel like summer. I don't want to pack them up each morning and have them spend 8+ hours away from me and home. Besides, we will have a LOT of things to get done around the farm during nice weather. I'd like to be around to help Steve out!

Half Bath/Laundry Room Renovations

I don't think I've posted about our half bath/laundry room renovation, have I? I went back to check and couldn't find anything.

Our last house had the washer/dryer combo in the basement - since it was a split level house, it was only like 6 stairs to get into the basement.

We had purchased a brand new LG washer and dryer set, only to move to a house that had a really, really old set.

Like, REALLY old.

I was always hopeful that I'd have a legit, separate laundry room (you know, the ones you see on Pinterest all the time?), but that didn't happen.

I do like that the laundry room in our current house is on the main level. I never understood why most homes have them in the basement. Hauling clothes, bed sheets, blankets, etc. down two flights of stairs? There must be a better way.

Our current house has a bonus - washer and dryer hookup in the upstairs main bathroom (!!!) which is huge. There are two closets, one huge one for typical stuff (linens, blankets, storage, whatever) and the other closet has water hookups! The previous owner did not use them and neither are we. We would if we had extra money for an extra washer and dryer! Maybe one day.

Our half bathroom that is on the main level had closet doors that hid our washer and dryer. It was Ok. I liked that we could essentially hide the W/D behind the doors, but it still felt little...dingy? Is that the right word?

Whatever it needed, I knew I wanted something different.

Again, however, I really wanted to keep the budget reasonable. I did NOT want to spend more than $500 on this bathroom remodel.

I wish I had "before" pics! This was one of the first rooms we completed, so it was well before I had the blog.

Old cabinet/sink combo, think 1990's (the theme of this house).

Old faucet.

Old (tan? yellowish?) toilet. Gross.

Old closet doors that looked beat up.

I told Steve it'd be nice to have a table or counter to work on.

I wanted to have cabinets where I could store stuff and keep it out of the way.

Definitely needed a new sink and cabinet - this was the most expensive thing we got. And, when it got delivered, the marble sink top broke in several places. The movers were SO awesome about it, took pictures and called on our behalf and said it was broken when delivered. So the company we bought it from (WAYFAIR) really hooked us up! They were sending an entire new sink/cabinet and they told us we could keep the old, broken one.

Now, why would we want to keep an old, broken one?

Well, we have plumbing hookups in our basement. We're hoping to finish it one day.

We could use the cabinet for that potential future bathroom.

But, ta da! Here is the updated half bath/laundry room.

Steve used poured concrete as the counter top; cabinets were purchased from Lowe's. I just love a new coat of paint on the walls and trim - it makes such a difference!

Steve made that wood shelf, using some really old reclaimed wood. We painted the walls a nice, light, minty green. I reused the white oval mirror and we purchased a new light fixture from Wayfair.

I would say all in all we spent probably around $1,200. That's including the sink/cabinet (which was the most expensive piece), toilet (we got it on sale!), paint, concrete, the light fixture, etc...so more than my budget, ok more than double my budget, but for Steve Ruple, that's not too bad! ;)

Mila's 7th Birthday! She called the shots for the day!

I've read a LOT of these DITL posts from various bloggers and for some reason, I love them. I'm not sure why it's so fun and intriguing to read about another mom's normal daily routine. This one was a little different, because it was NOT a normal day for us. It was Mila's birthday and we made a day of it! I thought it'd be fun to document the day, with Mila dictating to US what she wanted to do.

Anyway, if you follow me, you'll remember that I allowed Mila to decide what we're going to do on her birthday. 

Yup. Allowing my NEWLY turned 7 year old to decide what our itinerary looks like for the day.

So here it goes!

7:20am - I hear the girls come down stairs

sorry for the crap pic - I was still laying in bed! 

7:45 breakfast for the birthday girl! 

Probably her favorite breakfast. She could eat allll the bacon if I let her! 

9:30 heading out to our first stop - the Mall!

10:00am - we got to the mall

Another crap pic - she wouldn't slow down for me to get a decent photo! 

We didn't have an exact destination in mind, we just let Mila take the lead. As we walked around, she decided she wanted a Build A Bear! We have not yet experienced this before, so we were excited! They each picked out what they wanted. And then. We waited. And. Waited. 

Surprisingly, they only had 2 employees working. We were the second family in line...and then it blew up. All of a sudden, the store was packed. The people ahead of us had like 5 kids...so it took a while. The girls were VERY patient the entire time, I was very proud! 

I also have to give it to the employee who filled the girls' bears - she knew she had a line a mile long, yet she spent time with the girls, wished Mila a happy birthday, and made sure she felt special! She got a special "birthday" heart for her bear and she even got a Happy Birthday crown! 

Ava lucked out and got a bunny! 

Smelling the scent she put in her bunny

Mila with her new crown!

She got to ring the Birthday Bell!

Putting a new outfit on her bear

two very happy girls!

We asked Mila what was next and she just said she wanted to walk - so off we went! We ended up by the ice cream...

11:30am pre-lunch snack of sorbet with sprinkles!

throwing a penny in and making a wish! 

Mama got a milkshake

Carousel ride

We even made it to see the Easter Bunny! 

I failed to take pics of our next stops! Mila wanted to get McDonald's for lunch, so we headed back home. (Ava surprised me and napped in the car all the way back from the mall). 

After we grabbed lunch and ate in the car, we went to Michael's so Mila could get the Barbie Doll she wanted. 

We got home from our activities around 2:00pm.

Ava had a hard time not getting everything Mila was getting. We had to explain to her that it was Mila's birthday and it was special for Mila. She did get quite a few things as well, so she really shouldn't be complaining, but that's the mind of a 4-year-old I guess. It's hard not being the center of attention! (As I'm typing this, she's crying to Steve in our bedroom - she's been throwing a fit for 10 minutes so far). 

When we got home, Mila immediately went upstairs to play with her new stuff. She also put together her new Lego thing (Little Mermaid themed, of course) all by herself and I was pretty impressed! She followed the directions and only needed minimal assistance from Steve. 

3:15pm - snack time and rest time with dad watching TV in our room. Ava has finally stopped screaming. I'm updating the blog, drinking my afternoon coffee and catching up on The Great British Baking Show. 

I think Mila was tired and ready to just CHILL after a few fun-filled days! We enjoyed an early dinner (we were done by 4:45 LOL) and hung out until bedtime. She played with all her new toys and we read her new books at bedtime. 

I can't believe I have a 7 year old!