Turkey day..

So, what's everyone doing for the big day? We are staying home and I'm cooking for the eight of us. No company for us. I'm not doing a huge dinner, but will be making some traditional things.
My hubby doesn't like turkey so I looked for just a small breast. The large turkeys were cheaper. I got a 12 pounder for $7 and the breast alone was almost $9. Needless to say, I bought the whole bird. We'll also be having ham, mostly to satisfy the man of the house. The rest of the menu will consist of: mashed taters, candied yams, green bean casserole, dressing (i won't be making my grandma's boiled dressing cause I'm the only one who likes it), homemade rolls, giblet gravy, and cranberry sauce. I'll also make a relish tray and deviled eggs (our chickens have been outdoing themselves, course they are starting to slack off now that it's getting cooler out). Gee, that was quite the run-on sentence. I'm not making much in the line of desserts. Just Cherry pie, pumpkin pie and brownies with lots and lots of chocolate frosting. Was gonna make a pecan pie, but I'm the only one who likes it now that my step daughter isn't here. I would just eat it all if I made it, and I don't need that much sugar..lol! Hopefully we will have plenty of leftovers so I won't have to cook for a day or so. That will be a nice break.

The kids have this week off school, so not much has been going on in the schoolroom.
It's starting to cool off here. It was 40 this morning. We have had a few fires in the fireplace in the past couple of weeks.

There really isn't much more I can think of right now...so...

Later ya'll,
Mary

Well...

I am officially back in blog land. My sweet 'computer guy' was able to set up a desktop upstairs for me today. YIPPEE!! So now I will be able to keep this blog up.
Let me see...what have we been up to for the past few months. Of course school is keeping us very busy. I seem to be having a hard time doing school with our 3rd and 4th graders while keeping the three little ones entertained. As many of you know, most little tykes do not have a very long attention span. I must admit that my housekeeping is taking a toll. That is something I am trying to get under control....I am not an organized person and I do not live by a schedule. I realize these all add up to chaos. Any way, our chickens and ducks are doing great. We have been wanting to start a rabbit harem....ahem....breeding set up for meat rabbits. We got a New Zealand buck this weekend. He is a beauty! Hubby built a cage for him. Now all we have to do is find a couple of does and we'll be in hare heaven...he he! Oh and both of our kittys met with disastrous ends. I need to find a mouser in the next few weeks..Yikes! We don't need mice in the house.
So, I think that about catches y'all up on what we've been doing. I will try to get some new pics up in the next couple of days. I always like looking at photos on other blogs.
I will sign off for now. I'm glad to be back and hope all of my readers haven't left for good.

Bye now,
Mary

Oh where, oh where....

Have I been? I am sure some of you have been wondering. Well, my laptop died and the only computer available is in the safe room in the basement where I can't keep track of the kids. Of course it doesn't help either that our modem got fried by lightening and I had no access to the internet for a couple of months. But....now it is back up and I thought I would post a short note to let ya'll know that I'm still here, just limited to my time online. I still have no computer upstairs so I won't be able to do any routine posting for a couple more weeks. We are all fine and busy with summer things. Hope ya'll are doing well also.

Til' next time..

A very busymama,
Mary

Changes...

I thought it was time for a facelift around here. I was getting bored with the appearance of my page. Hope you like it! I think it's easier on the eyes. Let me know what you think!

Mary

Kids...gggrrrrrrrrr!

Okay, I may be the mother of many..but would someone please explain to me, why kids do the things they do. Especially when said child is an 'adult' and has the 'freedom' to do what they want. Now, take a look at this and tell me what you see. My description is under the pic.

Punk kid with piercing! Blahhhh!!

Yes, this is my oldest blessing...isn't that a handsome pic of him? Hmmmm?... UGH!
Oh and by the way..I found this out on myspace...this pic was on his page (he doesn't live at home). And how long ago did this happen??? New Years...well, there is a reason the internet is called the information highway.

Oh my...

Well, I see it's been a while since I was here. Sorry to all those who check in with the hope of something new. Time just seems to get away. Let's see...almost 2 weeks ago, we got 4 ducklings they were about a day or two old at the time, so it would be safe to say they are 2 weeks old now. I don't have a current photo though. I'll put that on my list of things to do :)



Last Wednesday was K's 8th birthday. I took some pics to share. My step-daughter came down from Indiana with a friend and stayed Thursday through Saturday. We all really enjoyed their visit.


I made her a strawberry ice cream cake with chocolate frosting..yum..here is a pic of the inside of it


Yesterday, we bought some paint and hubby started painting the coop


Oh and in case you didn't notice...drum roll please.............I finally got around to putting a REAL pic of myself on here. Now you can see who is writing all this drivel.

Well, have a nice week...

Mary

New pic of the chicks

Here is a new pic of the chickies taken just a few minutes ago. Aren't they getting huge? They are one week old.

one week

newly hatched

Mary

DVD giveaway over at...

Sharri's place...she is giving away a christian homesteading DVD called Inherit the Land.



Please visit her blog to find out more! Thank you Sharri for letting me know about this and for visiting here.

Blessings,
Mary

The coop has a roof

My husband put the rest of the roof on the coop yesterday. I took some pics. There are only a few cosmetic things to finish inside and out. There is trim to be put on, doors to put on the outside of the nest boxes, ventilation windows to install and roosts to put in. I probably forgot something in there, but you get the general idea. There will also be a fence going up.

Here is the front. I really hate when my shadow gets in the photo!

Here is the back with the nest box bump-out. There will be three doors here for egg collection.

Here is the door

Here is the interior box view. You can't really see the one on the far end in the pic.


This is the inside


Here is the chicken door


And here it is open. There is our lab Nestle wondering what I'm up to.

I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Blessings,
Mary

The new babies are here!

Our new chickies are here! Out of all the trays of Black Jersey's they incubated only 5 hatched. So...we didn't get any. Instead, we chose to get 2 Black Australorp cockerels and they didn't even charge us for them. They are doing very well and are eating and drinking like little pros. Here are a couple of photos.


And to those who might be concerned, I added more bedding after taking these photos. They kicked more of it away than I thought they would. We don't want any of them getting hurt on the slick bottom of the container.
Well, I just wanted to show them off.

Blessings,
Mary