Eating Chicken and Rice Tonight, Chink?

This post is hard to write. 

Eight people were gunned down last week.

Six of whom were of Asian descent.

A clear hate crime.

An individual walked up into these Asian-owned spas and opened fire. 

49-year-old Xiaojie Tan of Kennesaw

Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth

Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta

Daoyou Feng, 44

Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, was also shot but survived.

Soon Chung Park, 74

Hyun Jung Grant, 51

Suncha Kim, 69

Yong Ae Yue, 63

Working Out - 40 Weeks Into My Fitness Journey

Another 4 weeks down, folks. 

I have now completed 40 weeks of my fitness journey. 

I've spent the same amount of time improving my mind and body as I have growing a baby in my uterus. 

We Hung Out With People!

It's no secret that the girls haven't hung out with any of their friends outside of our circle. 

Mila had made a bunch of friends during her short few years at school and since the pandemic hit, we haven't been able to see them much.

No more sleepovers.

No more indoor playdates.

Now that the weather is breaking and Spring is on its way, we are able to get outside and actually SEE people.

Nora is a little girl who Mila met in first grade and they became fast friends. Their first grade teacher requested to put them together in second grade as well and they loved it.

We had sleepovers, playdates, you know, all the typical little girl things.

Then COVID.

We were able to go to Nora's birthday party since that was a ropes course outdoors - the kids wore masks but had a great time!

Then we had a random nice day in November and we had an outdoor playdate.

And FINALLY! It was warm enough to play outside for an afternoon.

We were invited to go to the park near our house to play on the playground and to hike to the small waterfall.

I fell in at one point and got soaked up past my ankles. I took my socks off and squished in my boots for over a mile. 

Spending time with kids their age was everything. They ran off and just played and talked and talked and talked. Luckily we've spent enough time with this family that it's not awkward to chat with the mom - lovely (SUPER SMART) lady who is a college professor and has some really cool stories. Like doing research on sea turtles laying eggs and since they lay eggs at night, she had to hike five miles to find them at midnight to do the research in another country and ended up dislocating her knee! Then had to hobble FIVE MILES back to wherever she could get help! LIKE WHAT? This family was supposed to move to Australia for a semester while she did more research, but due to COVID, that got postponed. What a cool job, right? 

ANYWAY.

Now that the weather is nicer and we can be outside (and people are getting vaccinated) we'll be able to do more of these playdates. 

Baby Chick Season!

It's that time again!

Ava and I stopped at the feed store last weekend and there were so many baby chicks available!

We opted NOT to bring any home that day (go me!) because Steve was suffering from a back "episode" (that's what the doctor is calling it) and we didn't know if it was going to be bad or what. I didn't want to add another thing to my plate in terms of animal care.

I already pretty much do 75% of the outside chickens, the dogs, and the piggies.

But, Steve started to feel better and is now going to PT twice a week.

He was feeling pretty good and decided we'd go run some errands. The sun was shining and it was a decent day.

Last weekend after our visit, I decided to at least bring the big tub over to the basement doors so I could prep for the baby chicks if we decided to go back.

It really wasn't that much work since we have everything. 

We got 12 new babies and they are SO freaking cute. I love having baby chicks around they are so fun to watch. 

We have about 30 chickens now, including 2 roosters. Hopefully these 12 are all female (they are sexed with a 90% guarantee) but that means 1-2 may be roosters. Hopefully not. We'll see!

Our other girls are doing so great after culling 3 roosters. 

The first day we got 24 eggs, then 11, then 13. 

Crazy I tell ya! 

I Can Get Used To This.

The last two days have been very nice. Sunny and not in the 30's. 

Today was one of those days where the sun was shining, the air was warm and I didn't have a lot of meetings.

I spent the entirety of my lunch hour outside doing various things. 

Checking on the chickens.

Took a short walk around our property.

Got the mail.

Cleaned up dog poop from our fenced-in area.

Let my skin soak up some sun. 

It was amazing. 

Then I got my laptop and sat outside and worked until my meeting at 3pm.

It was glorious.

I've been working with the window open, and that's been amazing in and of itself. 

The breeze that comes through and the shining sun...ugh. It's so nice to work in these conditions. 

And today?

I got to work while the girls played.

I literally cannot handle how cute they are. 

This is just what we needed. Don't get me wrong, I completely realize that we will still be getting a snowstorm before Spring actually arrives.

But these little reprieves really help see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Warmer weather to come!

There are still no plans to return to the office...so...I guess I will enjoy this while it lasts!

The Ebbs And Flows of Egg Production

It's been a while since I've posted anything "farm" related. 

There's just not much to report on during the winter.

Other than trying to keep everyone alive.

Feeding and watering the birds during the winter months can be brutal, but at the same time, I really want to make sure they are comfortable out there. 

Every winter the egg production slows way down. 

This season (late 2020) seemed a little odd to us. Our egg production was down early in the season.

And over the last couple of months, our egg production was essentially non-existent. 

I'd get one or two eggs every few days. 

Yeah, it was...weird. 

We have about 30 birds.

So here's the thing. We had like 5 roosters.

WAY TOO MANY.

Too many for the number of hens we have.

It was stressing them out.

So we culled a few of them to try to even things out.

That was a few days ago.

And I'm not kidding you guys.

I GASPED OUT LOUD when I went to feed/water the chickens today and saw a PILE of eggs.

Turns out it was like 25. 

A few were cracked and had to be thrown out.

But come ON, people.

These are some gorgeous eggs

We will be turning our clocks forward this coming weekend (March 14) so we will get more daylight. This is also the chickens "clock" if you will. I will be interested to see what we max out at. I remember there were some days when we were topping out at like 20 - 24 eggs per day. It was tough to keep up!

But it's also nice to know that some of my older hens seem to be laying still. Big Red was also being broody! 

On another note, Ava and I stopped at Runnings the other day to pick up more chicken feed. AND IT'S BABY CHICK TIME!!

We didn't bring any baby chicks home, since we are not ready for that right now, but MAN they are CUTE!

I promised Ava I'd get our bin ready in the basement and get ourselves set up and we can go back and pick up a few more...it's so hard not to get new chicks each year! 

With the nice weather coming up, it'll be time to get our coop straightened out. We have to turn over their bedding, get new straw laid down in the run and clean out the nest boxes and stuff. Just a few "housecleaning" items.

One Year.

Holy bananas you guys.

It's been a year. 

A YEAR of working from home, full time.

Because of a fucking pandemic.

A pandemic that our country has been unable to control.

A pandemic that started when we had the absolute worst person as our leader. 

A leader who did nothing to try to keep this pandemic from getting so bad.

And now all the people are suffering because of it.

It has now been one full year of working my full-time job out of my home.

Well, minus the 7 weeks I was unemployed. 

I absolutely, 100% cannot believe that we are at a year of this.

My kids haven't had any sense of normalcy in a year. 

My little one started her first year of REAL school during a pandemic and has lost out on a true Kindergarten experience.

All of this being said, I do realize that we are some of the lucky ones. 

Even though we were directly affected by it by me losing my job, we still ended up in a better place than before. 

So many people are still suffering in horrible ways.

No job.

No way to pay rent.

No way to pay for groceries.

Kids not in school.

So I'm still grateful that we have what we have.

It's so weird not knowing what life will be like in a few months. In a year.

Will schools be open?

Will we be able to travel?

It's just so weird that it's been legitimately 12 months since this all started on Friday, the 13th of March.

I remember the day like it was yesterday.

I remember texting my daycare provider to let her know that we wouldn't be sending the kids but that I'd still pay her for two weeks until "this got figured out."

Well, obviously we're still figuring it out.

Trying To Keep Them Engaged

It's no lie that this whole "homeschooling" thing sucks.

And we are in the group of people who aren't actually suffering all that badly from it.

Both Steve and I have jobs that are flexible enough to allow us to make it work while the kids are NOT in school full time. 

I'm not sure how other working parents do it! What if they can't split their week up and what if they can't work from home?

Regardless, it's not an ideal situation for many reasons.

Both of my girls are social creatures - and Mila had the opportunity to make friends and develop those relationships during K - 2nd grade. 

Ava didn't get that opportunity (as much).

Because I work full time and Steve is doing homeschool Monday - Wednesday there are not a lot of extracurricular things that we participate in.

It's just too much.

It's all via Zoom, so parents have to help get set up, etc.

There was ONE extracurricular thing that I was excited to sign Mila up for.

It's a once-a-month art "class" on Mondays from 4:30 - 5:30pm. 

We could sign up for all or just a few. We signed up for all because what the heck.

We logged in, got our materials ready and both girls got to follow along and do their art. They drew a panda together.

There were several kids logged in and two of Mila's friends were also on. It was cute to hear them say "hi! I miss you!" to each other.

There was also one kid who legit whistled the entire time and had his microphone on and no one told him to mute. So that was loud. 

And yes, they are still in pajamas, even though it's dinner time.

We have 6 more "classes" to take us to the end of the year-ish. The first one went ok. Mila said she enjoyed it and will do it again next week. It ended around 5, so it was only 30 minutes.

I think it's a great way for her to interact with some kids she normally wouldn't during her two days in school. 

A Big Day For Ava

I got my ears pierced when I was a kid.

5 or 6 maybe? 

I remember having to get them done twice because the first time they got infected and we had to take them out.

That's all I remember, really.

When Mila was born, we decided that we'd let her make the decision.

I didn't feel right poking a hole into a baby's ear without her permission. It would hurt - even for a second, I just couldn't do it to a baby!

I know there are a lot of opinions about this. I have a few Hispanic friends who got their baby's ears pierced and I'm not going to judge them for that. For a lot of people, it's tradition to pierce a baby girl's ears pretty early on. 

We just opted not to.

I am honest with my kids.

When Mila did ask about earrings, I told her that the piercing hurts for a second but then it's over with pretty quickly. 

She chose not to do it.

Ava, however, expressed interest a couple of weeks back and after telling her what it all entails, she still wanted to do it.

Steve called the body mod shop in town (a tattoo/piercing parlor) and got her an appointment. 

Right up until the time, I told her it would hurt for a bit then be ok. I knew she could do it.

She did get a little nervous as we got there, but man, I'm proud of this kid!

Picking out earrings!

she's ready!

Marking the spot with a marker

Not gonna lie - she cried, but held it together. And they did it one at a time, so she KNEW what she was in for for the second one and she STILL handled it like a BOSS.

As the day went on, she didn't appear to be bothered at all by the new earrings.

The only "care" I was told by the piercer was to spray with saline spray a couple of times a day and make sure it didn't get crusty. 

I checked on them throughout the day just to make sure they were good to go.

We stopped by Steve's work to show them off. 

Then we went to my mom's house for dinner. 

Sunday night at bathtime, I heard her yell for me from upstairs.

"MOM - MY EARRING FELL OUT"

WTF.

Like, how?

The piercer guy said that the way these new earrings are made, it's very difficult for kids to accidentally pull them out. 

And Day 1. My kid rips it out of her ear.

I know exactly how she did it, too. 

I should've reminded her NOT TO RIP HER SHIRT OFF OVER HER HEAD and swing it around like she's going to throw it out into a screaming crowd of people at a concert she's headlining. 

I go upstairs and she proceeds to tell me "the front is here, and the back fleewwww somewhere over there"

Awesome.

A teeny, tiny back to an earring (it's like a pole that goes through the back of the ear, and the front (gem) part of the earring goes into the pole from the front, if that makes ANY sense). 

FUCK ME.

Took a few minutes, but we found that sucker, and I shoved it back in her ear.

Crisis averted. 

Happy Chinese New Year! (A little late)

We originally planned to celebrate Chinese New Year on the weekend of February 12th. We didn't get the chance to because we ended up having to quarantine because of the positive cases popping up at Steve's work.

So me and the girls ended up going to my mom's after 2 full weeks of staying away.

My kids have never experienced celebrating this holiday and to be honest, we didn't like actually celebrate. 

We did have the traditional "hot pot" for dinner. A big pot of soup with a ton of items to cook in the broth.

Noodles, meat, shrimp, veggies, tofu. 

All cooking in this amazing-smelling broth.

Mixed together with some sort of Chinese BBQ sauce mixed with thick soy sauce and hot sauce.

The smell was so nostalgic.

I think I had 4 bowls of soup and goodness. 

I'm so glad my girls got to experience a little of it! 

They also learned how to say "Gong xi fa chai, hong bao nah lie" which means in English "Happy Chinese New Year, hand over the red pack of money" lol.