Like, duh!!

 Isn't it funny how an idea will hit you, the simplest or easiest or most obvious thing, and you cannot believe that you'd never thought of it until that very second?  And it shocks & staggers you that you've been blind to it all along?  I had one of those last week.  Frozen cookie balls!!!
Make a batch of cookies, but instead of baking them (or baking all of them) portion them out as usual, and freeze them.  Once they are frozen hard, toss them all into a freezer bag, or storage container.  Brilliant, right?!  (And here is where many of you will say, "Duh.  I've been doing that for years.  Welcome to the party, brainiac.  Really, you call yourself clever?")  When you'd like a warm, gooey, fresh-baked cookie, dig into your freezer bag & pull out the balls.  Bake as usual, adding on a couple minutes more to accommodate the frozen center.
Really, this works PERFECTLY!!  You always get to provide your loved ones with fresh cookies, and you only bake as many as you're going to eat right now- no more of those random cookies laying around to absentmindedly nibble on.  And it's really fun, as you can have bags of different kinds of cookies, and just bake to please your cookie-eaters (right now, we've got chocolate chip with and without nuts.) 
If people have been doing this all along, I've never heard of it.  Perhaps those bakers were being very secretive with their great idea. Well, I'm all about sharing- so go load up your freezer with cookie balls!!

Sunny day!!

 Our wonderful trees create a wind-break that we did not have at the old house.  We now get to embrace & enjoy the sunny days.  We had an overnight guest, and the girls had a fun time spraying each other with the hose- which then turned to spraying the mole hills in the lawn, then turned to creating a mud slide!! 

We all hope you're enjoying your long weekend!!

Bossman & I are having a potato salad "throwdown" tonight, I'll let you know later which of us is the champion.  (Honestly, our recipes are almost identical, with the exception of pickles [I use dill, and he uses sweet.], and we're really just using it as an excuse to make double the amount of potato salad.)  The key difference is the texture.  He prefers small, VERY uniform squares of all ingredients (yes, I know this is NOT a shocker to any of you), and I prefer a more "rustic" approach.  Call me unrefined, but I likes me a big ol' chunka pickle & carrot on my fork.

What does this tell you?

I wonder, is sock reading an actual thing (you know, like handwriting analysis, or lipstick prints...?)  If so, I think we have some significant data going on here:



From left to right: Bosslady, Bossman, Boss Jr

 You will note the vast quantity difference (the fact that most days I tuck my bare feet straight into muck boots is one reason), and that the youngest sock wearer prefers to wear hers unmatched.  Any guesses about what this all means?  At the very least, we're individuals- one of us prefers jazzy colored footwear, and one of us doesn't need to go to REI anytime soon, and one of us is still working on establishing her personal style (and is a bit lazy.)

And on the subject of feet, it's Boot Friday!!  So pull yours on & rock out the weekend, we sure plan to.  :)

When she is good, she is very very good...

Boss Jr busted out her first BIG school project today.  For weeks she's been conducting research on the use of plant food, and the potential benefits.  We're just going along, watering plants & logging observations, and talking about the project.  A random trip to her room, and a glance around the mess to her calendar tells me that the WHOLE THING IS DUE MONDAY!!!  If you remember, dear readers, she had 2 birthday parties to attend this weekend.  After a serious discussion about planning, and responsibility, and her academic future, she decided to decline the second party.  I was very proud of her mature decision.
Today, she came home from the first party and settled in to work:

I am so proud of her!!  She really did a great job of focusing, and typing, and laying it all out so nicely.  This is great work, and it looks so clean & organized.

Ugly stick attack

Peep, peep, peep?

Um...  I knew this day would come (actually hoped for it.)  I knew my sweet little Tweedles would morph into ugly turkeys.  I just really didn't think it would happen overnight...

Looks like they got a hideous rash or something.  The skin on their heads turned red overnight!!  And look at that neck flap development! 

Boot Friday!!

My boots aren't exactly rockin' today, but some days are like that...

More productivity & sharing tomorrow.  Bossman's gone for the week (you knew that was coming soon, didn't you?  Yes, we were already on borrowed time...), and Boss Jr's got b-day celebrations booked for 28 hrs straight this weekend.  I gotta do something besides rattle around the Big House alone, so I've got a list of projects to bust out.

Gasp!! Oh no. No, no, no. Oh please no!

One thing we forgot about having little chicks is the "dead chick phenomenon".  One minute they are zooming around, peeping & scratching.  You go about your business, happy to have such fun little birds in your living room.  A few minutes later you walk by and see this horror:

Just a pile of fluffy corpses.  Or worse yet, just one oblivious corpse, being heartlessly trodden on by the others.

I am a thespian.

This little drama queen was obviously born for our house.  She's giving that little extra "something" with the outstretched leg.








After the turkey vs. chicken throwdown we had last week, the "phenomenon" has been a bit of an adjustment.  Once adjusted, you just find the whole thing adorable.

Peep!!

All soft balls of fluff in this post were not smuggled into the house, but rather requested & agreed upon by ALL members of our household.  I swear.  Well... the humans in our household.

2 Buff Orpingtons & 2 Black Australorps.  Researching the Australorps tells me that they will produce more eggs than the breeds we already have. Wow!  Good thing we have so many people that enjoy our egg deliveries.  :)


Hey lady, stop swooning & give me a treat



I love the little Australorps!  I think they have the sweetest little faces & coloring.  Bossman & Boss Jr. like the Orpingtons better.  They are so tiny, it's almost shocking- they feel like nothing in your hand.

NOW...

We are officially moved in!!  :)

We took our first hot tub last night, and it was as wonderful as you might imagine.  Think of going camping... but there's a hot tub there.  You can watch the moon come up, and the bats coming out for the night, and smell the smoke from the fire, and feel the cold drink in your hand- but you are in a luxurious hot tub!!! 

Muchas smooches to Bossman for delaying the installation of the hot tub to take care of the livestock.  Our first soak was a well deserved celebration of our new home.

Off with the old...

Happy Friday!!  Yesterday was my last day working on the old house, getting it ready to hand off.  My last day working on the house that was our home for 2 years, the last day tending the yard that became home to my chickens, the last day polishing those lovely bamboo floors, the last day Boss Jr would walk home from school (actually, that's a change she welcomed. As the last few weeks she's been helping me ready it- so walking through that door meant a chore list.  Yes, it's true, I'm the meanest Mom ever.)

Being fully finished means I can allow myself a few fun projects on the Big House:

"the Cadillac of firewood"

Our first woodpile!!


The Girls look ready to strip those flowers bare





Coop beautification!!

And the verdict is...

The Girls must be happy, they each thanked us for the beautiful new home with yummy eggs!!  (Note how they ignored the fact that they have 2 lovely, spacious nesting boxes, and all layed in the same one.  I wonder how long that habit will last...)

Do not deny our power. Bow down to it!!

BEFORE. 

AFTER!!  The girls got moved, and will be spending their first night in the Big House.  Wha-hoo!!!  We still need to put the full roof on it, but it's fully functional.  I'll let you know tomorrow if it's critter-proof.  :)
Let us remember what was said about the timeline...  2-3 weekends?  I think not.



It feels really good to have them moved.  And what a wonderful Mother's Day project- building with my team.  Pure joy (and a horribly smashed thumb.  Yuck.)  I will do a full coop tour tomorrow.  Just a heads-up for those of you who are not really chicken-jazzy.  You can check in on Tuesday, when I'll be moved on to other things...

Quick post

Busy week, busy weekend.  Many projects going, including:


Casa Grande de Pollo- Day 1

A POULTRY MANSION!!!  It's so gorgeous, I'm so excited!  I'm also so tired & sore- but we totally rocked it out, and we'll have it done tomorrow & get the girls moved.  It'll be so great to have that done.

Photo Tour- outside!!

See those big trees on the other side of that parking lot?  Those are OUR trees!!  Look at all those cars, they have no idea such a wonderful house hides in there!  :)

Starting up our driveway...

The front of the house.  Note the walnut tree riddled with woodpecker holes!

Woodpile & chopping block behind the garage.  Helpful Tweedles keeping the woodpile bug-free.

Back of the house, from the afore mentioned trail to the bonfire clearing.  Just look at all those windows!!

 View from the main yard area.  That bank of large windows is the sunroom.  Hot tub has not yet been permanently placed.

View of the owner's cottage from the deck.  This is our nearest neighbor.  Isn't it exactly what a cottage should look like?!

Photo Tour- inside (ignore random boxes, please)

Kitchen & Dining Room, from the Living Room

Living Room- from the Dining Room

Sunroom/Workout Room

Boss Jr's Room & Office/Guest Room

Hallway to Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom- skylight & 3 windows make it wonderfully light!

 Tour of the outside to follow in a bit...

Happiness is...

Empty boxes!!  With each unpacked box, we move away from "moving" and closer to "normalcy".  These boxes are actually Boss Jr's, who was not here for the actual move.  She will be dedicating each afternoon/evening this week to unpacking & setting up her Tween Dream Room.

A woodstove!!  Warm, cozy, campin' smelling, bugs running for cover after being carried into the house by a sullen child (actually, we have a little portal door that goes to the outside, so maintaining the wood supply is kinda' fun!  Check back soon, I'm sure the novelty will have worn off...)

I adore getting up to a chilled house, getting coffee going & starting a fire- which is definitely better than camping, where it's the other way 'round...  :)

A room with a view!!  This what we see when looking out 3 of our livingroom windows.  It may not be clear, but on the other side of that log is the trail that leads out into the bonfire clearing.  Yes, you heard me right.  Trail.  Bonfire.