Stefan called on VP :D

It was so cute...Last night I told Nic that Stefan was calling us on video phone and he just could not sit still at all. I don't think I could hold still LOL We were both waiting patiently with our kitten in hand that we found in the hen house: We were so excited to show Stefan ;) He's an animal lover as well.

Introducing: Baby Jaguar (Nic picked out the name)



So we sit in front of our TV waiting and watching for the lights on our VP to signal a call from our little Stefan. FINALLY it did :D
He looks so much older already and he is acting very mature and responsible. Were very proud of him. Nic signed I miss you to him and showed him his kitten. We talked for an hour which for Stefan that was really good! He had a date so he had to get going. He met a girl a few days ago and they hit if off so he was taking her to Subway and then they were going back to her dorm room to watch a movie. He told me "MOM, I FINALLY met a girl who doesn't party!" He was pretty excited about that. He was worried he would never meet someone who does not party or smoke. Two things he really does not agree with. He hasn't played wow for two weeks which we were VERY proud of him for that! I was worried he was getting way to addicted to that game. He starts classes on Monday and he's pretty excited about it. He took 15 credits and all classes he thinks he will enjoy. He said he has been talking to a lot of teachers and counselors who seemed to have really given him some insight on how to succeed in college. Many students go their first year and never return. He really loves it there which I'm happy about. I would hate for him to be so home sick that he would not want to stay. He has decided to come home in Dec rather then Nov (nov they are only out of school for 2-3 days. Doesn't really pay to fly home for that. Christmas time he will be home for two weeks. Picking him up from the airport is a day I'm looking forward to! SO he's doing fine and I got to actually talk to him rather then text only so we are good for a few days.

Stefan, you wanted to see what grandpa has been doing to the yard. Here are a couple pictures of that: It looks much better and the chickens LOVE all the extra forage room too ;)














Here are a couple Frizzled cochin chickens. They are the sweetest hens ever. There is a blue and a splash: The splash is Ashley and the blue is Kate...yes, I do have a Mary to alone with them. They are my trio Mary, Kate and Ashley LOL I do have an Olson but he is in another cage right now. To young to add him.










Well, I'm heading out for now but will be back to add more photos later now that I can figure that out :D

Mini Coop done

OH How I want my apple computer back! I just can't figure out how to get the pics to upload to this computer. I mean I CAN get them on here but they are humungoid! Then it's transferring them all one by one to photobucket and ugh! SO MUCH TIME! Hubby does two things and they are all small and on photobucket. So I wait for him, patiently....wait. He's been busy though with work so I will be patient. He has tomorrow off and I'm going to beg him to get the photos on here then. I'm going to at least get a couple I really wanted on here so you guys can see my mini coop :D It turned out really cute and I did it ALL myself. Well, with the exception of my dad holding one of the coop doors while I drilled a hole. And hubby screwed in three screws for me that were way up and I could not see them. I was going to get the ladder and do it but he just did it for me while he was out there looking at it. Otherwise I measured, cut and built everything myself. Sometimes I amaze myself. I will get the pictures on when I can.

Haven't heard from Stefan in a few days so I'm going to try to get a hold of him today. He has went to the whitehouse and I'm curious if he got to see the president or not. I sure wish he would text more often :(

Well, gotta get going for now but will update with pics later. Have a ton of them now to post.

Here are my pics of the mini coop (above nest boxes):

Work??? NOT ME! ;P

I have the next SEVEN days off work! I am thrilled. It's our Anniversary on Aug 29th so I took the weekend off (I usually have to work EVERY weekend) so it turned out that our large contract with an airline has downsized the amount of rooms they need so our hours at work decreased also. Just turned out to be the same week that I asked off for my weekend. So I ended up with that many days off in a row. The paycheck is going to suck but I'm going to enjoy the time home. I need to do some serious spring cleaning anyhow (cleaning under fridge/stove, curtains...that sort of thing. Plus I plan on building a mini coop inside my big chicken coop for my Serama chickens so they can be outside and still be warm for the winter. I'm planning on doing this on my own so that should be interesting. I will be sure to take pictures LOL I'm not promising what it will look like but I'm going to give it a try :D It's mainly going to be a frame with screen around it and a floor so shouldn't be TOO hard. RIGHT? Oh ya, I already have the nest box...made that last year for my cochins but they have their own coop now so I can use that for the Serama's.
I have baby chicks hatching today also :D I am giving them away, I just wanted to test fertility on my eggs before I started selling them. THey are INDEED fertile and VERY strong chicks too. Were enjoying watching the hatch today. The lady I am giving them to will pick them up this Sat. I also stuck several Cochin eggs under two broodies here. They are due to hatch in about 14 days. They are pure bantam cochin eggs. Can't wait for that.

In other news. You will never guess what my dad found in the hen house two days ago! Guess...did you guess????
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A........KITTEN! YEP another kitten. I'm sure you all remember the last kitten we found in the middle of winter 10 degrees outside at 4 weeks old! WHO was very sick. See this link. The pictures are screwed up on my journal but you can kind of see him. YES we STILL have him lol Cory is such a sucker for that sort of thing ;) Well this kitten was at least 6-7 weeks old and not sick at all at least. He is a adorable! And guess where that "kitten who was suppose to live in the hen house" is right now? Yup, in our house! UGH! I sure hope we don't run into anymore stray kittens cuz cleaning the litter box will become a regular every day job instead of every couple day job. I have pictures..will post later.



Well, better get going have lots to do today and it's already after noon.

It's cold here today!

It's not even going to reach 70 today and it's been raining all day. Where do my chickens hang out when it's raining?? Well, I have pictures I will add here later tonight. I can tell you this...it's NOT in their DRY EXPENSIVE 8' X 8' home with nice soft pine shavings and nice clean nest boxes NOPE...not there! Pretty funny really. I'm suppose to make a trip (about 45 min away) to pick up a hen but not sure if I want to do that if it's raining. May do it tomorrow in the morning. Have to be back in time for my book party tomorrow though.
Well, last week my MIL got into a car accident...she is not sure what happened but she is not feeling well right now. We decided to give her some time off of babysitting so my sister is watching nic (he gets to play with his cousins so it's ok with him). It's only Mondays and Tuesdays so not to bad and it's only an hour and 1/2 till Cory can pick him up. She can't drive anymore for a while at least. Nic got to visit yesterday for a bit and he loved that. We will see how next week goes to see if we will have her watch him or not. May give her one more week off. We just thought it would be best if we are home when Nic is visiting and that way if she gets tired she can just call us and say come pick him up...I need a nap. Work may adjust my time too so that was nice of her. They may change the schedule around so I can work 4pm to midnight instead of 3-11. I told her only if everyone is ok with it. That way it's one hour less she has to worry about. Cory can usually be home by 5:30 if he has to be.

Another OUCH for Nic...(this happened three days ago). I was up early about 5am and decided to start some laundry. Nic woke up and come down looking for me. He was standing behind me in the laundry room and all of a sudden started screaming. I turned around and he's hopping around on one foot screaming OUCH OUCH OUCH! I asked him where it hurt and he points at his heal. I look and then see a bee on the floor still alive. He was stung for the first time in his life. I was worried and watching for any allergic reactions. Give him some benadryl right away and put an ice pack on it. Within 1/2 hour it was like nothing happened. At least I know now that he is not allergic.

Watched the "Hannah Montana" movie last night. It was cute. Cory laughs at me when I watch those "teen" movies he calls them but he was right there with me watching ;D HEHE SHHH I didn't say that on here! Don't tell him!

Ummm lets see...I don't thing anything else interesting happened lately so I better get upstairs and make some breakfast. I can't believe it's almost 9 already and I was up at 6am and got almost nothing accomplished so far today! Talk later :D Have a great week.

Been watching some movies finally

Hey everyone. My son "nailed" his placement math exam he says! It was a test to see where he will be placed in college when it comes to math. Also, we had been having trouble with getting his diploma and that is finally fixed. The school for the deaf had sent the incomplete transcript so we waited to hear from them leaving messages (everyone was gone for the summer) Finally I got a hold of the principal there and she helped me out and got it done. His grades were all A's and B's with one C being in budgeting LOL Go figure! Anyhow, we got it and it's all good and I get to pick up his diploma on Monday. He had to get it from our home school system which stinks. In order to get it from the School for the Deaf he had to go 2 years there. That's ok tho...he got it and he's happy.
We have been watching a lot of movies lately. One that was really good was "17 again" It's a watcher folks. Very funny! I will list the others later. Have to get going...gotta get up very early to go to work again tomorrow. This morning was a 4am work day too so I'm exhausted tonight. Everything else is going pretty good. Slaughter date for the meat chickens is coming up soon. About 2 weeks. That will be strange! Now they all follow my dad around LOL Pretty funny site really. He has 37 chickens walking behind him whenever he walks around. They see him most of the time so they know him well. The hens will follow me everywhere but not the meaties. Well, unless they are hungry then they will follow anyone! Gotta go! Talk later.

I got a text ;)

My son text me this morning :D It made me happy. Two nights ago I was trying to talk with him and I was asking all sorts of questions lol he sent me a text back saying Mom, I'm really busy right now I will text you back. UGH! That drives me nuts when I want to know answers to the questions I was asking him. It's way harder then I thought with him being almost 1000 miles away :( I miss him a lot and knowing I can't just drive to see him any time I want is driving me crazy. So this morning when I got his text you can imagine how happy I was. He was getting ready for class so he just wanted to say hi and tell me he would text me on his break. He still says he's loving it there though :D
Well, last night and the night before last we made home made bread...(four little loaves and one big one) I put four little loaves in bags and gave them to my co workers along with some fresh home made butter. They loved it! Then Cory brought some over to his parents and he said they loved it too. We had to make more last night so we had some LOL I think I could live on those two items alone! LOL Well along with farm fresh eggs and OJ so I could get some vitamins. Every day we try to omit another form of preservatives. The more we read on this crap the more we really want to make everything home made. Cory is a big helper when it comes to this because he loves the finished results we get. And he's worried about all the preservatives in the foods now a days. We all work together as a family so that's nice too.
Oh my daughter had a really good date the other night...he got her flowers, took her out to eat and they went to the fair. He paid for everything and she seemed to really like him :D He's the captain of the research vessel that she met.
Well, I better get going..Cory did all the laundry yesterday and I need to get it hung up and put away before I head off to work. Cindy, if your reading this I will bring over some fresh bread and butter the next time I visit. I also have some towels for you.

Home made??

Well we have made home made butter and let me tell ya...we are hooked! It's 100% better then the store bought butter and way healthier for us too. We will now be making home made butter. We are also making home made bread (that was a long time ago if you all remember) and now we have looked into making our own cheese as well. In three weeks we will have home grown chicken (they go to the butcher then) I may have to quit my job to keep up! LOL No, it's not really that time consuming and it's WELL worth it.

One highlite of our night tonight was meeting our daughters friend (hopefully maybe boyfriend some day) He's very nice and we think he would be good for her. He's a research vessel captain and he's 28 yrs old. Alex is only going to be 21 but I think she needs someone older. Nic loved him and when we got there he was under a tent with Nic talking with him. I should have got a picture of the two of them. Well, got a movie so were going to go check that out. I have to get up at 2:30 am to go to work and I work till 3pm. It's a long day like every weekend so I better get moving. Will update later. Stefan...you would like Brandon...his aunt is an interpreter for the deaf :D

Whats going on/bragging a bit ;) I love my kids

On Thursday Stefan will have been at Gally for two weeks! He has text me a few times now though. The night before he text me asking me to check out a website becasue he wanted to purchase a blackberry phone and asked me if that would be ok and what I thought of the phone and if his dad was available to look at it for him. I told him if the price was really what they say and there is no hidden costs (we all know how that can work) that it was fine with me. The phone is suppose to be free (with a mail in rebate that is) and then it is suppose to be 30 bucks a month. Well later that day a 280.00 charge came out of his checking. I text him back and said WOW that's a lot to spend for a blackberry. Was that FOR your phone? Later he text back and said...NO I put 280 in my savings account and waiting on the phone right now. THAT to me proves my son is growing up :D It made me very happy to hear that!

He is doing wonderful at Gally and I am just SO proud of him, I can't seem to say that enough. He really loves it there and has met a lot of new friends.

He told me a few days before he left for school "mom, what if I don't find the right girl?" I said what do you mean by that? He says "well, I have been looking and I can't seem to find a girl who does not smoke, do drugs, or drink and is nice all in the same person" I told him he just needs to keep looking and he will just know when that person comes along. He's so young but that has been on his mind for some reason since he has turned 18 or maybe even before that. If anyone knows Stefan they know he has always been a kid who does not drink, smoke or do drugs...heck the kid even refuses to speed and yells at me when I do! LOL And he never wants anyone who would do those things and we all know in todays world the peer pressure is awful and most kids are not strong enough to say no so I can see why he is worried. When Stefan gets married I know he wants it to be forever so I told him that he is allowed to be picky to some extent. The girl who finds Stefan will be a lucky girl indeed IMO :D

I am so lucky to have three wonderful children... My daughter just informed me she has an interview with a nice company where she can make really good money and I am so proud of her too for not giving up when times got tough for her. She is my strong willed child that is scared by NOTHING. She says it like it is and to your face. She doesn't care what others think of her. She is SO opposite of her brother (she speeds) LOL NO, she is a wonderful person and would do anything for anyone. She insisted she move out the day she turned 18 and she did, and she never moved back in (except for a week here and a week there). I give her credit for wanting to do it on her own even though she really could not afford to. She did it, and she is now in her own apt (paying for it on her own) and she seems much happier now. I just pray this job works out for her.

And we have Nic...well, he's sort of between his sister and his brother when it comes to personality. He is very quiet when we are around people but he's sneaky too. His new thing is saying "I love you 40, 90, 1000, 40, 90, 100, 40, 90, +1 40, 90 +2 (going on for 5 more minutes)" sort of thing. It's so funny. We need to get it on video. He has been addicted to grandma lately with me working so much he sees a lot of grandma. When he was little and I was home he wanted mom only. He sure is my lifesaver. I'm so happy to have him here with us now that both Alex and Stefan are gone.

Ok done bragging now ;)

LISA...YES, I do still have chickens. Could never give up my chickens. Only got more...were raising meat chickens now :D


My dad is gone this week...I think most of you know that my dad had moved in late last year? He went to my sisters to babysit her dogs for her. Seems strange him not being here...mostly quiet! And I have NO clue whats going on in the news! lol He always keeps me up to speed on that. I had to get into his room and CLEAN...he's SO messy! I washed his sheets (he doesn't see the need in that he says :/ ) and I washed his clothes. I wonder if he will notice his sheets are back to blue! LOL I will also have to add a garbage container to his room. He had empty bags of BBQ chips all over! Along with Coke cans. Ants had invaded his room. It has been nice though to get to know him sober. When I was a child he was always drinking so I never seen him and when I did see him I didn't want to be around him. He had to quit due to his health but by that time I had already pretty much decided I didn't care to have anything to do with him. Not that I didn't want to but I just didn't know HOW to I guess. He lived with my sister for 11 years and he has been here with me for one so far. I never knew anything about him so I was kind of nervous to have him move in. It's been nice getting closer to him for the first time in my life. I know Cory gets annoyed with him not taking off his shoes in our home and just some other annoying qualities he has but like I told Cory. Carpet can be replaced easily enough when he is gone. It's worth it to me to get to know him. Cory has been wonderful about it so I'm thankful for that.

Well, nothing else going on around here really...OH we went to subway last night for dinner and Nic opened the door for me :D I have been working on manners with him and that is one thing I told him (always open doors for lady's) It was so cute.