Thanks

Ceecee from Texas, who takes amazing photos of creepie crawlies, Mo who grows an amazing amount of veggies considering she is living in the Phoenix desert, and Midwife who is busy bringing new life into the world, hers and others, all presented me with this award. Thanks ladies, I love reading your blogs and this means a lot coming from you.

I am supposed to come up with 10 things to say about myself, honest things. It usually takes me time to figure out a list but I have been so busy that I'm just going to wing it.

1. Speaking of busy, I have this horrible flaw that when I get too busy, I feel so overwhelmed that I almost get nothing done. I try to make a list and just start with one thing, but being a mom and wife I put all other things first. Then I let so many things go that I beat myself up for not being able to handle it all. How do full time working moms do it?

2. I love food. I know this isn't news to many of you but I used to be a skinny mini that could eat anything I wanted. Now that I'm older, how do I just eat a little of something? Portions, yeah right, I want to be full. So now I am chubbier than I have ever been. Diets suck!

3. I try not to care what others think if its negative, but sadly i do. On the other side, i get uncomfy with too much compliments.

4. I like being married and love my husband. Something I never thought I'd do when i was young.

5. I'm stubborn.

6. I don't mind getting dirty, hell I'm dirty right now. I just cant stand having grease on my hands. Like motor oil. The times I'm out bike riding and have to put a chain back on, I will rub my hands in the dirt to try to get it off. If hubby needs a hand doing engine work, I'll help but I have to go and wash the second its done.

7. I don't like hotels.

8. I consider myself tomboy but like to wear dresses and makeup on occasion.

9. I don't mind messes and feel uncomfortable if I go to someones house and its too clean. So if you come to my house and its messy, it's because i love you. You're welcome.

10. I like funny people. Funny funny and funny weird.

Now I'm suppose to pass this on to 10 others. I'll pass it on to blogs I like to read even if they got this award already. frugalmom, farm mom, farmgirl_dk,

joanna, catherine, magnusmog, acorn farm, kb, little red hen, dzyning things

second road trip

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed at the weight of the last tiny egg. I mean it was so small, but at .7 oz it was a giant compared to smaller eggs out there. Imagine my delight when last eve, while gathering eggs, I came across another tiny egg. Even smaller than the now huge .7 oz.

See the difference?

How's about now?

So this morning, I packed up my tiny little jewel,

put it in the car,

my farm helper was thrilled to go,

since it's family, there is no need to dress up,

I held my breath,

Wow, only .4 oz.

Makes me appreciate how tiny a .2 oz would be.

OK chickens, keep up the good work and give me more tiny eggs, this is fun!

Peer Pressure

A couple of weeks ago one of our hens gifted us with a tiny egg. I guess it has been going around.

Ceecee left me a comment about hers and asked if mine had a yolk. And Danni who weighs her eggs requested I weigh mine.

Great, I don't have a scale, I could take it to the Post Office but I go there regularly and don't want to be known as the weird lady who asks you to weigh tiny eggs, so what was I to do.

After putting some serious thought and a couple of naps it came to me, my stepmom has every gadget known to man, I bet she has a digital scale.

I called, she did, road trip!

I packed up my little egg and drove the 2 miles.

We weighed it.

See. Danni won, hers was only .4 oz.

I didn't want to crack the shell so I poked a couple of holes,

and blew. (Sorry no pics of that one, who knows what sort of people that would attract)

It was mostly egg white, a strange little yolk and some alien like substance hovering around.

Well ladies, there you have it.

It's been a week?

I don't remember not blogging for a whole week before, unless I had a good excuse. This is supposed to be my slow time work wise. Maybe that is my problem, I start doing the mundane around here and worry about it boring everyone. I didn't used to worry about that, if you read back on some of my early posts, zzzzzzzzzzzz. Knowing I have at least a handful of you reading my posts, frequently about chicken poop puts a little pressure on this gal.

One of those readers is the lovely Joanna who gave me The tree of happiness award.

I love her, she has been one of my nicest blog friends, she is a relatively new goat mama, and is the caregiver of the famous Franklin, who has had his picture in Backyard Poultry Magazine.

Then there is Erica ,who was kind enough to give me this award. She is a homeschooling hands on mom with adorable kids. Talk about being creative. Thank you for putting me in the same Kreativ category as you.

So with the tree of happiness, I need to put 6 things that make me happy. So easy, I have tons of things that make me happy, the tricky part is narrowing them down.

1. My little family of four. My hubby who is my best friend and partner in taking on the world, and my two wonderful kids who own my heart.

2. My home and land. I love being home and cant imagine a better place to live than where I am right now, and having land to grow things is the icing on the cake.

3. My chickens and gathering their eggs. Makes me just enough of a farm gal to make me happy.

4. Sewing and fabric, does that count as 2 things? You all know that I'd sell myself for fabric and having the ability to make things from said fabric that people actually want to buy is really a dream come true.

5. Hot baths. What more needs to be said?

6. Bloggers and the friends I've made through them. Having you guys to share and laugh with has made me feel truly thankful and happy.

*

On the creative front, i do need to show a couple things we have been working on around here.

The boy took apart his last pinball game, added more things and has a new and improved version. When he has it finished and filmed, I'll share it with you. It's really cool.

I have been working on sock pups for the shop, so my girl took a pair of her old holey socks and made a hippo and named it Shamrock. Once again no help from mom, and so clever.

We had warmer temps this weekend and got more finished on our floating dock. Now this is set on the ice in our pond and with the temps near 50*, we were walking in a couple inches of water. Tomorrow is supposed to get near 60*, I think we need to hurry.

Last but not least, here I am in real clothing (not jammies). I had a 8:30 meeting this morning for a potential sale of 10 bags. I don't want to talk too much and jinx it, but it will be a great opportunity and may lead to future sales.

The power of suggestion.

I have this terrible thing,

if someone talks about a certain kind of food, I see a commercial, smell an apple pie candle (you who burn those things in your home with no real apple pie to serve are just cruel), anything really, well I want to eat it or a close enough version. I want to eat it then or by my next meal or sometime in the near future. My brain wont rest until my taste buds are satisfied.

Danni showed these amazing cinnamon rolls, that did it.

Sadly I had no starter or the patience to wait it out so I had to improvise.

I use this bread recipe, for all things bread. I add extra grains and flax seed for a healthier version. It works for bread, bread sticks, pizza dough, pepperoni or ham & cheese pockets, or even my version of...

cinnamon rolls!

Danni, I thank you and the kids thank you.

Thanks a bunch

I received 2 awards that cracked me up!

I got this from children in the corn.

http://childreninthecorn.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-awards.html

It's funny because I always thought her blog was hot, I was just too shy to admit it.

*

And if that wasn't enough I also received...

from GreyWolf at

http://toooldcripples.blogspot.com/2008/11/for-dorothy-kim-maude.html

This is the one that is cracking me up the most!

Thank you both, the last few days haven't been so fun, this is just what I needed.

The latest gossip from Michigan

A woman in her pajamas was spotted taking pictures of the wildflowers surrounding her mailbox, the neighbors had no comment.

Some delicious spuds were unearthed and consumed by a local family.

Weeds have taken over gardens everywhere...

...in spite of that the green beans are about a week away from feeding the masses.

Giant Dill is popping up everywhere. Luckily it is a harmless giant, its only goal is to make homemade pickles taste better.

The bees are doing what bees do best...

...while the cukes just hang around and watch.

The local garden security officer chased a couple of teenage rabbits off the premises before any real damage was done.

A local woman bought her kids a new playstation.

Not the kind you plug in but the kind you plug up.

We were informed she did not win the lotto but used some of her earnings from a recent business adventure to thank her family for all their help.

She then was seen napping in a hammock.

This reporter has the inside scoop on major celebrity news.

This Monday actress Drew Barrymore will begin filming her latest picture in our little town.

Other actors include Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden, Zoe Bell and Kristen Wigg.

It is a roller derby movie and the only extras they needed were very old people or teenagers with lots of piercings and tattoos.

This reporter did not fit any of those requirements, drats!

In other news...

sugarcreekstuff was paid a very big honor.

I would like to thank Children in the Corn http://childreninthecorn.blogspot.com/ for this Awesome Site Award, coming from you sure means a lot!

I would like to pass this Award along to some other sites I love.

Twinnville at http://laughingorcaranch.blogspot.com/ , I love her funny take on all things chicken, goat, sheep, llama, cat, dog, guinea pig, desert and family.

Ceecee over at http://undertexasskies.blogspot.com/ who likes to take photos of all things creepie crawlie and thinks I'm funny.

Frugalmom at http://everydayhappeningsofafrugalmom.blogspot.com/ for her frugal blog and also because she loves my llama bags.

ga_farmwoman at http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com/ , her young dreamers stories are a wonderful read.

And last but not least

Danni over at http://critterfarmgirl.blogspot.com/ , for whom I wouldn't have even been able to accept this award (literally) if it wasn't for her help and computer knowledge. Thank you for helping this gal with practically no computer skill on more than one occasion and for your friendship.

Well that pretty much sums up the news in this little corner of the world.

Fun Friday

Today I made $34.25 at the garage sale, not bad for a whole lot of nothing. I also did gobs of trades and came home with new things.

The sale is at my brothers house and includes his fam, my fam, sisters fam, dad and stepmom, mom and stepdad.

My stepdad and i took off for a bit and hit some other sales and I got......

....an extra set of eyeballs. For only 10 cents. A true treasure in my book. I made him buy a safari hat and we wore our treasures to every sale after. He was embarrassed but not me, I figured people would be looking at my eyeballs and not my rained on frizzy hair.

We closed shop, I met the kids at the bus stop, got the mail and it included....

... a package from KB.

http://apatchworkworld.blogspot.com/

KB is a funny blogger in California, with a talented artist husband and two adorable kids, who makes these true one of a kind items mostly created from treasures she discovers from garage sales and thrift shops. You HAVE to check out her stuff.

http://www.kokoleo.com/

I had left a comment on her blog last week and her juicy, adorable baby drew my name to win...

...this bag!

Roomy and very well made (I checked out how she made the bag and learned a thing or two).

Veggie covered, it will be perfect to take to the Farmers Market.

Now as if that wasn't enough she also included...

... all these goodies.

A notebook, notepad, stickers and a button!

So nice, so kind.

A great day.

We are now getting some much needed rain. I had been hoping for a good drenching to soak in all the little chicken land mines scattered all over the yard. My chickens are my natural herbicide, insecticide and fertilizing machines. They also give the most tasty eggs.

Soccer games and more projects in my weekend future.

Have a good weekend!