Nurse anyone?

Lucky this past summer.


My favorite chicken (i realize that sounds weird) was having a hard time settling on her roost on Monday night so I checked her feet and sure enough one was swollen and hot. So yesterday morning I brought her in the bathroom, performed minor surgery, applied antibiotic cream, took her to the kitchen, we sat on the floor and I fed her some spinach. Then put her back out with the girls.

My son came home from school yesterday not feeling well. Didn't eat dinner and lucky for the both of us he was just running a fever. No gross stuff.

So today Lucky's foot is still slightly swollen but not hot. She was a little more irritated when I flipped her over. She isn't a sweet girl anyway but i think she was worried i was going to torture her again.

My boy slept in, still has a fever and hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday. He had left his lunch at home and ended up buying the schools lunch for the first time in 3 years. School lunch, now sick, coincidence? Hmmm......

Etsy love

Does the giddiness of selling things on etsy ever wear off? I hope not. I'm up to 3 things sold! This talented woman from http://gracebeading.blogspot.com/ bought some of my buttons. If you haven't seen her work you have to check it out. She blew my doors off!

I got into making things for craft shows 4 years ago. I love working the shows because of the feedback, meeting the other crafter/artists, and I like the feeling of having my own little boutique if only for a day or two. I had also sold some bags through a local art gallery that used to be in town. That was fun, drop off stuff, look at other artist work, get a check once a month.

Not being very computer savvy made me hesitant about opening a etsy shop, it has been pretty easy, my 13 year old helped at first, it still takes me quite awhile to load things. I know about copy and pasting descriptions of similar items but I'm sure there are a ton of shortcuts to learn. But I do like that you can sell anything you make on etsy because some craft shows limit the types of items to sell. They don't want you to sell bags and then a few hand knitted scarves if the person next to you is selling knitted items.

So today after visiting the post office to send out the package, I had a little photo shoot with my fashion model ( I take terrible photos) and put a few more bags on etsy. Makes a stay at home mom with kids at school feel productive.

Blizzard Parade

My son is spending the night at a friends house, my hubbie's at Hockey (he plays), I have the girl and 2 nieces spending the night. Our town had its Christmas parade tonight. We met up with my dad and stepmom, brother & his son, my sis (the one whos daughters I stole) her hubbie and son.

I had been invited to do the craft show they have that night. OUTSIDE, thank you but no.

Ok, its cold, my car said 26 degrees but we're prepared. Long johns, hats, gloves, the works. Every year we freeze there but we stand outside the bank, they dole out free hot chocolate. NICE. Just as the parade started it started to gently snow. Perfect. Half way through the hour and a half long parade it became a Blizzard. Snow was stinging our eyes. Still fun. My brother dared me to walk down the street, join a group of paraders, walk by waving. I did, he came too.
We are walking by our family waving and it takes them a while to register what they are seeing. My sister is cracking up, my brother's son is looking at his dad then looking where his dad was last standing to make sure its really his dad in the parade. I have to yell my daughters name to get her to notice me (she was picking up thrown candy in the snow). Needless to say, don't put me and my brother together.

This was the best picture I got of my Mother in Law's red hat group driving by. See the snow. We stayed till the bitter cold end. Saw Santa, hit the potties, had to put the Monster Truck into 4 wheel drive due to the snow on the roads and thawed out with chicken noodle soup at home.

I am so glad I turned down that show. Soon after we got home it turned into freezing rain. Those poor people have to pack up their tents in that. YIKES!

We still have power, knock wood.

Winter is here

at least that's what the Weathermen are predicting. We are supposed to be hit by a big storm tomorrow and into Sunday. They usually are wrong this time of year.... I think it makes them feel important to do the chicken little forecast. I try to be ready no matter what, so today I ......

strung lights and hung our wreath.

Easier said than done. I don't want to relive the experience by telling you the gory details.

This jobbie is 5 feet tall and can be seen down our long driveway from the road.

I saw a green wreath with a red lit bow years ago and had to make one.

I then got the chickens outdoor run sealed up and new roosts. Fixed their broken back door.

Then was rewarded with....

these beauties!

Friday's pizza night

We stacked the wood pile last week so I had one less thing on the list.We usually lose power during an ice storm so I do like having a warm fire.

Lets hope for the best.

Pants

Since my last big show I had suffered from a little creative/sewing burnout. I have been paying more attention to my poor neglected home. So many big room changing projects that I have been wanting to do for quite some time but with craft shows looming, I put off until now. I'll eventually show photos but not yet.

I did get the itch to sew so I have been mending my sons jeans. He likes the holes but doesn't like the skives showing. I just patched on the underside with a sacrificed pair. They still look mangy but not indecent. I feel clothing and hair are a mild way of self expression and if he wants long hair and scuzzy jeans then who am I to say no. It is actually a great $$ saver.

Speaking of saving $$, someone gave me these jeans that didn't quite fit. I've chubbed it up a bit since becoming a mom and am actually ok with it. So instead of sending these jeans to a good home, I turned them into one of a kinds that only I own.

I took the seam ripper to the outer seam, it took quite a bit of time because there were 3 rows of stitching per side. Good tv time. I cut the waistband. I then measured approximately how much fabric I'd need by holding them up under the crotch and gave a little more because I didn't want them tight. I hemmed some thicker weight fabric at the top then stitched most of the length down. I then hemmed at the right length at the bottom in case the fabric stretched some while sewing (it did) and finished stitching. I ran down the length 2 times to make them stronger. If my serger was working I would have given them a cleaner edge but I figure who is going to see the inside. One tip: make sure you pay attention to the pocket rivet. Please don't judge them by the photo, I had to stand on a chair in the bathroom and shoot it into the mirror.

I LOVE THESE PANTS!

Now I feel the need to raid the back recesses of my closet and fashion a whole new wardrobe.

Value World love

On Monday my son slammed the zipper pull of his coat in his locker door squeezing it just so as now it wouldn't fit on the zipper. My hubbie (very manly) tried to pry it open and the whole thing broke in two. Luckily its a coat with snaps as a smart back up plan so still use able. My mom called last night to tell me they are having a big sale at Kohl's and coats are 50% off. I luckily was in possession of an additional 15% off coupon so's I figure I may as well take my semi annual trip to check out the sitch. My sis wanted to go too, I love her.

I get to Kohl's and head on over to the Mens department. (My 13 year old son is bigger than me and it has been only since his birthday in June so I'm not used to it yet.) I pass the leather jobbies and go for the good winter coats with hoods (requested) and the cheapest coat is over $150. What the? Half off with another 15% tacked on equals still too much for a coat for a boy who sleds, shreds, and breaks zippers! So I find a Polly pocket set 40% off + coupon for a niece, a belt for my girl 50% off +, find my sis, throw her stuff on my tab so she can save too and get the heck out of there.

We hit the grocery store and head to Value World to look for a coat. Now I don't want you to harbor bad feelings toward my sister but she claims she doesn't like Value World. I don't know what is wrong with her, she is wonderful in every other way. So she follow's me in reluctantly. Well if my son was an 80 year old flamboyant man I may have been successful finding a coat for him today, but it just wasn't the case. The pickins were slim.

So we headed over to the linens.

I found this heavenly soft, beautiful pillowcase. Also about 2 yards of this candy stripe fabric.

I figured perfect for Holiday gift bags.

The true treasure is this apron. Well used (loved) and needs just a minor repair at the neck but oh so purdy. The photo doesn't do it justice. All three items for $2.23! Thrifty love.

My sister actually found one of those generic green aprons (like at Starbucks) that she ended up buying. No accounting for her taste but at least we aren't in competition for the same things. I'm just glad she found something and oohed at a couple other things. I may convert her yet!

random musings

We woke up to snow. Yay! It actually started snowing on us last night as we were finishing up the before mentioned shed which really cracked me up. The time change makes it dark here by 5:30 not dim light but VERY dark, we had just a little bit to go and couldn't see a thing. Luckily the cordless drill had a light attached but the battery was fading fast, so was the light. So I have this emergency kit in my Monster Truck (no flashlight though). It has an old, half melted candle and matches. The winters in Michigan can be fierce and we sometimes travel the road less traveled and I want to always be able to start a fire. Any who, so I am walking around with this very waxy melty candle so we can barely see to finish this never ending job and we are getting pelted with snow. I found the situation so hysterical, I couldn't stop laughing. My hubbie who had to do most of the job without gloves wasn't as amused. (In spite of that we are deeply in love) I did thaw out my keester in the tub so all is well.

I have been loading stuff on my etsy shop but I don't know shortcuts so it takes FOREVER.
How do people load stuff up so fast? I'll see different stuff from the same artist all in a row on the home page. With loading the photos, shrinking the photos, writing a "witty description", measurements and all it takes at least 10 minutes for me.

Enough about that:

I am very penny pinchy. I like to pinch pennies on everything. Especially food. No matter what you eat or how expensive or cheap it is, it's all going to eventually end up in the same place. Sorry.

We went to my mother in law's for Turkey day and I have 3 sister in laws on that side. They divvy up the food afterward. I never take the leftover turkey but always get dibs on the Turkey carcass. I get the looks every year but just smile and smile at my treasure. They may get a meal or two from their share but I get MORE! There is an amazing amount of meat left on that bird if you don't mind getting a little messy.

Here's what I do: Friday I picked as much meat off as I could. Turned it into Turkey salad sandwhiches and made enough for 2 lunch meals for my family.

Then boil the bajeebus out of that bird till the bones and all come off. Sift through the mess after it has cooled. Saturday my daughter made a batch of soup out of some of the broth and meat. meal 3

I made more soup from the same broth and meat today for lunch and have leftovers for another lunch tomorrow. meal 4

I scoop about a cup of broth and meat and put it into freezer bags and label to use as home made turkey soup starter. (I'm not a canned soup fan) In the middle of winter or cold season just add the bag from the freezer, one cup of water per one chicken bouillon cube in the amount you want. Boil, add noodles and veggies of your choice and you get more soup. I made 3 kits today. meals 5,6,7

I have quite a bit left and it will become turkey and dumplings for dinner tonight. Meal 8
I didn't even mention the scraps that my dog loves. My hardworking pup deserves treats too!
8 meals for one family of 4 that would have otherwise gone into the trash makes me proud that with a little work and messy hands I can provide tasty home cooked meals for my family and have a small food budget. I have been taking the turkey carcass for 20 years now. One Thanksgiving I got Three! Lucky me.

We put our tree up over the weekend. It's a 9 foot tree and we load it. I'm too lazy to get the ladder so the top is sparce. Last year we had company over who have themed trees and made comments on my " Mom tree". I'd never heard that phrase before. I guess thats when you "let" your children help decorate the tree. I didn't know you weren't supposed to.

They were Bitches anyway.

We like the tacky lights and have got them at after holiday sales and garage sales.

We aren't choosy.

We have light up bunnies.

And carrots.

Cinco de mayo lanterns.

Horses.

Now who wouldn't love the Hulk shining brightly over their Christmas?

I am SO in the Holiday Spirit.

I also wanted to give a shout out to my Dad and Stepmom who are celebrating their 31 wedding anniversary today. If there is one couple out there who I would choose to follow their example it would be them. I love you both dearly. Happy Anniversary!