I love you Halloween!

Once again our Halloween Hayride was a huge success!

The weather was perfect.

All the weirdos showed up.

(Step mom and Dad)

Everyone found a seat, 18 in all...

...plus 2 dogs...

...and Skully.

John McCain and Sarah Palin drove the tractor!

John kept calling everyone "My friends" and Sarah kept asking everyone if she could call them "Joe".

*

The neighborhood we drive to is great, these people go all out.

Our favorite is this woman who does a different theme every year.

I am always in awe, this year was no exception.

We first met a Gypsy with her friends...

...then we went to the fortune teller...

...she is amazing!

She told all who came a fortune...

...gave goodie bags...

...that came with all this!

The pencil even has fortunes on it.

I know!

Back on the party wagon.

The grownups and dogs are spoiled, they ride the whole time. The kids had to walk from house to house.

Note: No spiders were lost in the making of this wagon.

Coop Tour

Twenty four days ago, my dad and I started a building my "new" coop. The goal was to use up a lot of scraps that were in both of our barns. I come from a long line of scroungers, I am a scrounger, married a scrounger, so I knew there would be a lot of freebies. Little did I know, in such a short time, and less than $70 later, I would have a coop that far exceeded anything I had hoped for.

I started off with a major advantage having a builder for a dad.

He is also very clever at figuring ways to do things.

The ramp grips into place but can easily be removed.

Some boards from my brothers old water bed, an old window and a set of drawers became a new cabinet to store supplies out of the way.

The drawers are a perfect place for tools, nails or other small items.

Pretty cool!

T-Bone approves.

My brother had made us a deer feeder for Christmas quite a few years back. It is illegal to feed deer now...

...but not chickens!

They seem to like it.

We hung the dresser/nesting box on the wall for more floor space and easier cleaning.

This was a ladder from an old bed left by one of our tenants.

The only things left to do are caulking in the cracks, painting the exterior (may have to wait until spring), putting on a door handle and eventually adding an attached run for when I don't want the chickens in the yard.

I still need to buy bedding for the floor.

Brownie is so excited, her feathers fell off!

When i was helping my dad pack up his tools today, I had to keep myself from crying. Not only do I realize what a huge gift this is and how lucky I am, I got to spend time laughing, learning and just being with my Dad.

Lets go to the mall...

Today!

The kids needed new shirts for their orchestra concert that happens to be tomorrow, queen of the last minute, my son also needed a black bow tie. Luckily he fit perfectly into Grandpas black suit that was only worn to my wedding and never again.

So after school I picked up the kids and we went to the mall.

We go to the dollar theater on a semi regular basis that happens to be at the mall, but we only go into that entrance and never beyond.

I did work at Parklane Hosiery at this particular mall in the early 80's, we used to see Santa once a year there too, that ended quite some time ago, but we haven't actually been IN the mall for YEARS.

Searching for shirts, we found one pretty easy for the boy at Penny's. I had to remove pins and cardboard to give it a test drive. The girl not so easy. She doesn't like see through, who does? She doesn't like low cut and looking like Hooty McBoobie, I can't blame her, so we ended up at Macy's. A very nice gal helped us and as she was looking through a rack, I realized the shirt my girl was trying on was $75!! Dear lord in heaven, $75! Did it have solid gold buttons? Nope.

Luckily the gal found one that was $39 that fit the bill.

I'd like to say here that never in my life did I ever think I would be shelling out over $40 with tax for a white shirt for my girl, but after seeing the $75 one, I was a bit woozy and did I mention it was Hubbies birthday today and it was getting to be a time crunch. I did also realize the good fortune on not needing to buy a black suit.

We hit the tuxedo place, got the bow tie and went home.

I realized a few of things today.

I DON"T like shopping at the mall, I DID like spending time with my kids on our quest for just the right items. I HATED shelling out over $80 for 3 items they will probably out grow and we'll have to do this again in a year. And when you make a deal with your man for no birthday gifts for each other this year (mine is in eleven days), that morning nookie, a BLT pizza and a Brownie, topped with ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream, makes for a happy hubbie.

Coop with a view

My dad and I spent a busy week on the coop.

My dad scrounged a camper storage door???

Now it's a chicken door...

..or doggie door.

I worked on another nesting box from an old dresser.

It works well.

The girls have already been using it.

They don't care about the hammering or me painting the walls around, they just come in and make themselves cozy.

We made a roost with a platform beneath. It should help keep the floor a bit cleaner during the winter months. I covered it with an old scrap of vinyl for easy cleaning.

(I didn't notice the rain on the camera until after a few shots)

We built a partition wall to store the grain barrels behind.

The view from the roost.

When we started on the siding, I ran in to get my camera and look what I found when I came out.

I wonder why I'm screwy.

I told my dad if he left his truck

door open, the chickens would hop in.

This one proved me right.

We are using a cement board (scraps from a leftover project) for the siding. I want to paint the coop barn red and since the primer on these boards is dark, it will save me a couple coats of paint. Serendipitous, ya think?

First wall done!

Second wall mostly done.

This is when it started raining on us, Woo Hoo quittin time!

I am so tired and sore.

This is the view from my chair in the living room.

They are predicting rain and snow on Monday, so I'm not sure when we'll be finished. I'm hoping for mid week, then we can have a giant crate burning!

Weekend Funnies

We were invited to a bonfire party Saturday night by some good friends of ours. There is usually costumes worn by the hostess and kids (men are lame). Being that Halloween is 2 weeks away, and I am a huge procrastinator, which means we wont have costumes until Halloween Eve, or day. :-~

They were predicting a cold night, so Saturday after soccer I got a wild hair to make warm and funky hats.

I had the kids draw out their ideas.

This became...

...this.

We were calling it a brain sucker.

This became...

...this.

Such a cute "Bat Girl".

I winged mine and got Mad Cow.

The kids helped cutting out the parts to theirs and I made the boy sew on his own buttons.

We stayed warm and our hats got a lot of attention.

Chicken News.

There was a line for the porch pot.

Umm, not really enough room for two.

My girl has a website and she adopted a pup.
You can feed it dog biscuits, she got it flying which I thought was HYSTERICAL!

Strange things crack me up,
see what you think.

Is it just me?

Thrifty Veggie Thursday

My garden was severely neglected this summer, we ate well fresh, but I didn't end up with much to put up. The prices for veggies and fruits around here aren't really much of a bargain. For some reason my town is known as an affluent community. Sure there are some affluent here, but it just means higher prices for the rest of us that aren't.

I got a hot tip in this amazing fruit and veggie place.

My sister and I checked it out. If you're local it's by the airport on the corner of Middlebelt and Eureka road. About a half hour drive for us.

It's called Blocks and it was busy.

I went a little crazy.
I love spaghetti squash, they were only .99 cents apiece.

Look at this GIANT sweet pepper, 3 for $1!

It's usually $2.99 for one.

So here is my haul.

50 lbs potatoes (the red worms attacked mine)

50 lbs onions

5 spaghetti squash

3 red peppers

4 pears

5 cukes

3 lbs carrots

3 zucchini

1 bunch celery

5 plums

1 head lettuce

Grand total

$40.24

The potatoes, onions and squash (unless I get piggy) should last the winter. I'm going to chop and freeze the peppers for stir fry. Shred and freeze the zucchini for sweet breads and soups. The carrots should last a month. Between the girl and the Guinea Pig, the celery wont last long.

I'm thrilled with my haul.

The kids have the day off from school tomorrow, that means no chance for me on the computer, so no show off Friday.(Darn it all!) Not that I accomplished much with my still clogged sink, rain, my dad away and dentist appointments.

I did make a bag but its a gift, so no pictures.

Have a great weekend!

Building is hard work!

I had a girl home sick from school Friday, she kept her fever all the way through Monday.

Sunday my kitchen sink clogged up. Broke a plunger, went through 2 bottles of draino. No luck, still clogged. This evening Hubby will get out THE SNAKE.

Needless to say my clean kitchen is no longer clean, I can't use the dishwasher and I am amassing a very large fruit fly collection.

In spite of all that,

I did my weekend homework.

I kept my cell phone on me so the girl could call from the couch.

I nailed down the roof.

Hubbie nailed on the drip edge and put on the ice guard.

I did the majority of the shingles.

I just need to finish the cap.




On Monday, my dad installed the windows and door.
Fancy and free!
Display windows get pitched, the guy I sleep with is there to clean up.
Not a bad trade, nookie for free building products.



I put foam in the walls.
Yes my chickens will have insulated walls!

My dad nailed up the interior boards on 2 walls. Leftovers from another project.

I'm thinking of painting them. Does anyone know what color chickens like?

My dad is traveling the rest of the week, my homework is to finish the interior boards on the other two walls. I may have to work around the rain.

My muscles ache, I'm getting carpal tunnel hands while I sleep, and i think I may need a hip replacement.

I couldn't be happier!