HUH...Lets see....got more news :D

Well, first of all before I forget...Kallie...I work right next door to that waterpark LOL they should come over there first if I'm working if they go again. I can get them cheap tickets to get into the waterpark ;)

Next...since I started working last October (I think I started in the middle of the month) I have lost 15 lbs! And I have NOT changed anything I eat in that time. It's not alot for that amount of time but at the same time it IS becasue I did not have to diet to do it LOL! So now I have decided to stop all soda to boost that weight loss a bit and still be able to eat the same way. We will see how that goes for me. One thing..I have a headache from HE** and I hate it! It's major caffeine withdrawal and It's awful! Especially at work when I have so much to do. I should be in bed now but I wanted to get an entry in this week.

On to the next...I have a broody hen and I have decided to give her some eggs to sit on. She has eight under her right now :D She would take more if I set them in front of her! I just simply set them next to her and she takes them with her beak and pushes them WAY under her. It's so adorably CUTE! My dad had mentioned that he had never seen a hen hatch out babies and would really love to see that before he dies. He's 82 so I figured this spring would be a good time for all of us so I did it! My hubby is ok with that because of the fact my dad would love to see it :) So I put four mutt chickens and 4 pure D'uccle eggs under her. We will see what happens in 20 days (she has been on them for a day already).

Then...what else did I do? Well, a friend of mine knew how much I wanted bantam blue cochins SOOO she put a bid on a thread on BYC for me and WON! I am getting eggies sent to me tomorrow! I have to get the incubator heated up and ready for these :D Don't ask me how I will do all this and still work full time becasue I have NO clue! LOL I just know I'm going to. Heck yesterday I forgot to eat lunch... and I just don't forget to eat! LOL That's just not like me ;)
Tomorrow I work 12 hours and then I get a day off on wed! Can't wait for that!

Last...I will be sure to take some pictures for you nonchicken people soon ;) I still have not been able to get to many journals :( I miss that the most when it comes to working full time. I miss you guys! Thanks for still stopping over even though I have not commented on your journals! Ok, well...I better get to bed. I'm tires and Nic will have me up at 6am I'm sure! Love you guys!

OH chris...I have not checked my aol mail in SO long. I will do that on my day off!

I promised pictures :D

I finally got hubby to add those pics for me so I can share them with you. If your not chicken people well, I will try to find other pics too. I also have some news that I can't remember if I shared with you all...and two movie reviews too. First we will start with the news. I think I told you that Stefan had been on homecoming court and that he had been listed as "All American" in football? But I don't think I told you that he got a recruit letter from Gallaudet University! They want him to play football there :D After they see his transcripts from his other school there will most likely be a scholarship involved in this :D The only problem is...Stefan is deaf and he has problems understanding the english writing. So with that, he had problems understanding the directions to the SAT tests. SO his score was lower then it should have been compared to his grades in school. He is an A B student in all his classes so he's very smart when he understands what the directions are. So were trying to see what can be done so he can take some prep classes so his test scores will improve. It sucks and he didn't' want to have to take them again but he will have to so his scores are where they are suppose to be. We have sent the transcripts over and sent his fees to the school to get started. It's in Washington DC so it's SO far away and I'm not going to like it but I know he will love it there. He told me the other night that he had a bad dream. I asked him what it was about and he said he had a dream he was back in his old school and he hated it. The only thing he misses at his old school is wrestling and his coach. I'm SO glad he talked us into letting him go. I didn't want to...I hesitated and really didn't want him to go but now I'm glad I did. In fact he didn't even come home this last weekend because he went home with a good friend of his. He's just really bloomed over there! So now that you know I"m happy about that I will get on with the next. PICS

Here is my blue orpington rooster Tristan blue: He's 14 weeks old





And here is his mate my Splash orpington hen Lexi:





And here is the coop we finished up but is still in the garage until the snow melts. And yes, I still plan on taking a video when they move that!





The venting in the coop:



And here is an outside:





We have I THINK decided to side it with regular siding rather then paint it. It's going to be closer to the road where people will see it so we don't want it looking like an old shed lol. We will prob side the big hen house later on too. AND hubby says he MAY just make another coop for me! I would LOVE to have another coop just like this one so I can have four different breeding breeds :D I think he loves me ;) Now we have coop one (unnamed yet) and coop two (Autumn Breeze). I still have bantam cochins and my silkies in his computer shed yet so I told him another coop just like this one would be perfect ;) I'm going to try to get pics of Stefan when he comes home this next weekend with Nic so I will add those. Alex was over yesterday and I forgot to grab some pics of her! I was so mad. Anyway....now on to the movies:

We watched "Fireproof" and that movie was awesome! If you don't believe in god it's not a good show for you but if you do...it is a fantastic movie! I do so it was fantastic ;) It's a good movie to watch with your young teen boys and your hubby. You both learn so much from this movie. I highly recommend this movie!

We also watched "The Secret Life of Bees" with Dakota Fanning and she was great in this movie. VERY good movie also and I give it three thumbs up! She plays a 14 yr old girl and I won't tell you anymore except she does get her first on screen kiss in this movie. So cute! I can't believe she has grown up so much already!

Well I have to get back to cleaning before I head to work today. I will talk with you all soon :D

It's been a while!

Hi all...just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive. We still have not got our apple computer because were waiting for the new one to come out. Once that is here I will be posting more often because its upstairs where I am most of the time. Anyway...work has been busy (I'm on 40 hours a week) and it's been a tough time getting used to the airline crew we have in They have a contract with us every day for a year. I'm getting used to it now but boy it was a battle at first. They are awesome people so that helps! Everyone here is fine...I'm taking some pics of my new babies later today and finally get some on here of our new finished banatam coop which is STILL in the garage. We figure we may as well leave it be until the snow melts. It's only in the single digits today again! We did have one day that was FORTY! That was nice! I have to go around and do rounds later today and see how Lori's grandbaby is I bet she is getting BIG! And I have to check in on Kelly and her chickens! I miss yoU! And Missie and Helen and many others I used to read every day but now can't seem to find the time! SORRY! I really miss my old life when I had time to read for an hour or two a day! On the brighter note...we are doing SO well on getting our CC bills paid off it's amazing. It's been hard not buying what I want when I want but it will all be worth it. THAT is the main reason I went to work and it's paid off. I won't even need to work anymore after Dec of this year if I don't want to. I may go to part time though... maybe, but I don't know if I will quit. I LOVE the people at work and the guests that come in. Were a long term stay hotel so the guests that come through our doors stay for months at a time and you really get to know them. I made two wonderful friends...Sarah and Vicky, the only girls who are staying long term (most are men) and one of them has a boxer :D She brings it down when her boyfriend brings him in. There is also a cook who comes in often and cooks for everyone! He brings down really nice meals for us :D Then there is a very friendly doctor who comes down to chat computer with me. He would LOVE to learn more about computers but is afraid of them. Once I told him my hubby was a computer wiz he's been hooked lol. Vicky is leaving next week so I will really miss her. After work she comes down and chats with me for an hour...gives me a break from laundry!
So anyway, life has been fine...everyone healthy and the chickens are healthy except they look terrible from the rooster! I'm buying saddles for next year so that doesn't happen again. Not to mention my big boy will have spurs by then. OUCH for the hens! He sure is a mating fool! My new blue and splash orps are beautiful! I LOVE them. He's crowing now and sounds so cute! Well, I better get off here and get to the dishes. I have a day off today so I have to try to get some cleaning done. I got the basement sparkling, now I just have to work on the upstairs. THEN we are finally going to take in a movie. BOY, it's been a long time since I just sat and watched tv for a few hours. Were watching the new Dakota Fanning movie. I hope this finds everyone well!

It's warming up!

Oh it feels so much better out there and the hens are more active today. I could take the electric heater out of their coop. The two heat lamps can keep up with this weather. It's about 11 degrees here now! WOO HOO It's a heat wave! LOL
I have the weekend off work and this next week I work 7-5 day shift so I will be home at night. The day shift person is on vacation so I got her house next week. I work four days all 10 hours each. I would rather do that then work five days. We will be dragging that coop outside real soon so watch for movies of that. I still did not get my pictures on here but I'm going to try to have DH do it this evening. Well, right now he wants to watch a movie so I better head upstairs for now. Talk at ya all later! Missie...just know that -25 is COLD! LOL you walk outside and when you breath in your nostrils will stick together. My hand was wet and it actually stuck to the door knob.

More cancellations

Schools were cancelled again for tomorrow. It's going to hit -25 or maybe lower tonight again with crazy wind chills to boot! I'm sure all the kids are loving the cold because they don't have to go to school.
The neighbours looked at me a little strange when I ran out to the hen house to put the heater out there to warm them up a bit. The reason they looked at me a little crazy is because I had shorts on and a big jacket. LOL I just got out of the shower and I just throw shorts and a t-shirt on until Its time to get ready for work. I don't want to get my clothes all dirty before work. It was cold, yes it was! I'm pretty sure I won't do that again.
I'm feeling a little better today so training wasn't so bad tonight. The girl I am training is opening up a bit to me now. She seemed so shy! My boss said that's why I am training her because I am so outgoing that he's sure I will rub off on her! I asked him "why, because I can never keep my mouth shut for 5 min!" LOL Now, this is NOT how I was when I was young. I was SO shy when I was younger. Then I met Cory! It's his fault I'm a big mouth now. I blame him totally!
Well, the hens made it through the night last night...I did change the heat bulb today because they seem to get cooler and cooler the older they get. Now it's a nice hot bulb. This morning when I went out there, their water was froze even though the heat lamp was right over the top of it. Now, THAT Is cold! I hope it's not froze again tomorrow...the thing weighs a TON the way it is and add ice to it makes it even worse. It holds three gallons of water. I should have prob put the electric heater in there tonight but I'm not going out there again tonight. I hear the wind and it's not so inviting. I'm heading off to bed. Hope you all are well :D AND STAY WARM!

All schools cancelled in our area.

It is COLD! It's -25 with -55 degree wind chills here. Schools were cancelled for tomorrow already by this afternoon. Boy I can't wait until the warmer weather blows in. 28 is going to feel like a heat wave next week! I just got in from the shed and getting the wood stove nice and hot for the babies and on my way back to the house my nostrils stuck together. Reminded me of the good ol days when we would walk a mile or so to school LOL Poor Max couldn't walk...his poor feet were sticking to the ground LOL He sure didn't go far to potty. Cubby has so much fur he doesn't even bat an eye when he goes out side in this stuff. I just hope my hens in the big coop are ok tonight. They have two heat lamps out there and the coop is well insulated so I think they will be fine. I have one hen who is pulling out her own feathers because she is broody and is lining the nest. Right now she is laying on nothing. We took the egg she was laying on but she is still in the nest growling her fool head off LOL Her neck is bare because she pulled out all her feathers where she could reach. Silly fool bird. I take her out and she jumps right back in. If she is still in there tomorrow I may have to put her in a cage and put her in with the bantams until her broodiness is broken. I hear that works well. I wouldn't mind her being broody if it was spring...heck I would let her lay on all sorts of eggs ;) Ok well, time for bed. I have a cold and 1/2 and I'm feeling just miserable. Training the new girl tomorrow should be a joy! Oh we DID get a movie in and it was really good. Can't remember the name off hand...it was Angelina Jolie (the new one she is in) OH "WANTED" is the name. Very good movie...filled with action and even some comedy in the beginning. Two thumbs up! Night everyone :D

A day off work!

Today is a good day. I finally get a day off work. I have to work tomorrow and Friday again but today I have off! I finished painting the first coat of the Bantam coop I got a sign made out of 100 yr old barn wood with a picture of a D'uccle painted on it from a member on BYC :D and it says Autumn Breeze on top and D'uccle on the bottom. I took a picture but DH will have to upload them here for me. The guys were busy this last weekend so no pics yet :( As soon as they come out with the new apple computer we will be ordering that for his business but until then, I am stuck with this one. I hate it, but it gets me on the net. I would so love to put siding on this coop instead of paining it. But we just don't have the extra money right now. It looks good either way :D I didn't do a fantastic job painting inside but it will work. Chickens don't care and as long as I can control bugs from living in the wood I'm ok. The floor gets another coat of paint and then we have to wait three days for it to air out and finally the chickens go in. They will be MUCH happier in their new home seeing it's much bigger. AND I have less waterers and feeders to fill each day. Right now I have 14 of them to check each day...all but two need to be filled every day. The bigger ones every other day. It's easier in the summer...I can fill them and clean them right outside. Now we have to take each on into the laundry room and clean them and fill them in the house. PLUS not to mention they all have to stay thawed in this -20 degree temps we have been having. So we have heat lamps out in the hen house and the wood stove going 24/7 in the shed where we have the others in individual cages.
BUT I don't even mind...I love the chickens and they ARE so very sweet :D And hubby has been helping me alot with them them too. Last night I didn't have to load the wood stove or feed/water anyone. Hubby had it all done for me :D I would take that over house cleaning any day. It saves me from freezing outside at 11:30 at night to make sure everyone is ok.

Well, tonight I THINK were going to try to get in a movie. We tried Saturday night but I fell asleep at 7:30 which is NOT like me. I was just exhausted. All the other night I worked until 11:00 pm and when I get home DH is already in bed. So I will get those pics on here asap...until then I hope everyone is having a great week :D See ya soon with pics!

Oh and BTW us humans are all good here as well ;) I'm full of oil based paint and filled with smelly Kerosene fumes and I have a cold...but alright :D Just glad to get that big job out of the way. Now it's just waiting and the guys take over trying to pull that huge thing outdoors! Time to go make dinner (potato burgers) and take a quick shower before our movie.

Almost done! Info on eggs

Our Bantam coop is awesome! The only thing left to do is paint and it's done! My FIL is thinning the paint so we can spray it on rather than roll it. MUCH faster. We have the heater going in there now so it's nice and toasty warm. The garage is also heated up nicely :D Tonight when I get home from work I will be working on the brooder box. YES, working on it at 11:30 pm! I AM crazy! But I have to get it done. I have to at least get the wood cut for it tonight. The birds have spilled their water WAY to many times and I need to get them out of that box.

Janis asked about the difference in the eggs. There is no difference on the taste UNLESS you go from store eggs to farm fresh. THEN we notice a HUGE difference. The nutritional value is WAY higher in farm fresh eggs VS store eggs. Mostly because the store eggs come from hens that are ONLY feed chicken feed. Where farm fresh eggs are fed "REAL" food. During the summer they get most of their nutrition by grazing on the plants and grasses a chicken SHOULD be eating. The get some "people" food too. Minus all the flavourings of course. When I fry eggs for my birds I NEVER add any salt or flavourings...just the eggs. Same with pancakes. Yesterday they got pancakes for breakfast and LOVED them! It was something new I tried. So once every couple days I will switch from eggs to pancakes. Hens can eat almost anything people can eat without the salts in them. NO onion or uncooked potato peels though. They LOVE meat, yogurt, pumpkin and their all time favourite thing to eat is watermelon. My hens get black oil sunflower seeds every other day as well. Very little cracked corn as that is "candy" for them and not all that good for them either. They DO love it though! They know when I come with my white bucket and call "here chick chick" they come running! I can't even try to sneak it in so I can actually WALK through their house to set it down lol they are around my feet and I practically have to step on them to get from one side to the other.
OH one other thing we tried this fall was whole pumpkin. We cracked it open and let them at it. At first they looked and looked thinking OK what the heck is THIS! Than once one took a taste they were all in there going at it. It was gone in 10 min! And pumpkin is a natural medicine to treat for worms without using antibiotics (which is another thing our store eggs are filled with). Something you don't want to be feeding your kids. Farm fresh eggs are free from all antibiotics (at least MINE are) Some people may give their birds antibiotics if needed but we don't plan to unless we have NO other choice. In which case they will be taken out of the egg business and we will not sell their eggs again to anyone. We will only sell eggs from hens who have never had a dose of antibiotics.
So there you have it...if you google farm fresh eggs vs Store eggs I'm sure there will be TONS of stuff on both. But that is my 2 cents on it. I will NEVER go back to store eggs again after seeing what I've seen and reading what I have read. Same exact reason were buying a whole cow rather than store meats any more. I don't want my kids eating the meats coming from cafo's. Just too dangerous!

Well still did not get the pics downloaded, hubby has been working later and he didn't have time. SOON though! I'm making him do it for sure this weekend for me ;)

Bantam coop almost done

I have named this coop "Autumn Breeze" and I LOVE it' It is almost done and I will be taking more pics of it tonight and post them later if hubby can upload them for me. I am LOST without my Apple computer! I can't wait to get our new one! So anyway...it's beautiful and the chickens will LOVE it. Now I just have to figure out who I'm putting where. For now it's going to be the D'uccles in one 1/2 with the silkies...and in the other half will be Phoenix my Golden Phoenix rooster and his girlfriend Shelby ( my polish hen ) They make such a cute couple! I'm eventually going to get him his own girls and sell the eggs. I'm also getting some Black Copper Marans! I can't wait! They lay those really super dark chocolate eggs. Here is a pic of what the eggs can look like:



I would LOVE to have those types of eggs. I am also looking at getting the "true" ameraucana's also who lay the sky blue eggs not the green eggs (those are easter egger chickens) Still cute and lay nice eggs but I want blue! LOL NOW i just have to get hubby to build me another coop! HEHE Prob won't happen for a really long long time but I can hope ;) I'm building me a brooder either tonight or this weekend sometime when I have off work. The baby orps are getting HUGE and keep tipping their water over so that cardboard is getting SO wet. I made them a larger table so now they don't spill it but their box is already wet so I have to replace it because...well, it sticks! Wet cardboard mixed with chicken poo is not pretty! PLUS it can't be good for them either.

Well, I have to go make some egg pancakes for dinner :D LOVE those things! They are VERY thin and you roll them up and put butter, sugar, and syrup over the top! YUM! I will take a picture of those too so you all can drool!

PICTURESS Lots of um!

First, Kelly...here are new pictures of Phoenix (Golden Phoenix rooster). Isn't he just crazy beautiful!! I am IN LOVE with him.








Next, we have pictures of our new coop being built....We are having a blast with this. HUH not really! LOL We wish it was done. We are building it in the garage and my FIL is helping us out again so that really makes it go faster and he's such a good builder too so it always looks perfect. They will have heat and lights in the coop.







This is our vent system in the coop which will be able to close with insulation inside for colder/windy nights.



We will have doors like this on both sides of the coop since there will a separation in the middle of the coop. Light switches on both sides also so I can turn on/off the lights from either door :D



Electrical going in. (below)



Drip edge up...



Front (south side) with two windows and two pop doors for each coop.



My FIL measuring something. AND Max :D After his homecoming.



Roof going on...



Ok now some other pictures...Check out the different sizes and colors of eggs we have been getting! It's so cool! We get almost a dozen every day now :D





Here is Nic amazed with our double yolker



Here is our "Big Toy Day" with Max keeping an eye out on the presents.





Here is my Daddy



Remember the chick i hatched out...well here he (I think it's a he anyhow) is today at 8 weeks old. He is growing nicely :D





My silkie hens. YUP they are BOTH hens :D





Here is our trail to the hen house now that we got FEETS of snow! LOL Our temps have been 0 or below for DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS. All except for one odd day when it got to 39 and made a big skate pond in our driveway when it went back down to below zero that very same night. Oh and by the way...my hens will NOT step foot out their pop door LOL They prefer to stay their butts right inside the coop under the heat lamps. They are just too funny! When the weather was up to 39 that one day they came out for a few hours but once the sun went down they were right back inside. Sure glad we have lights in there for them! We would never get any eggs!



Here is one of my girls in her nest. Her name is Tinker Bell




Well I think I got most of the pics I had posted now :D Hope you enjoyed the post. I will take pics of the coop when it's done and of course a video of the guys "pulling" it out of the garage to put it in it's place for the winter. LOL THAT should be interesting. I think they are hooking it to the tractor.


Oh and a fast Movie review. "Over Her Dead Body" It was AWESOME and very funny! Even hubby liked it.

A MUCH better day

MAX IS BACK HOME! We got a call from a neighbor about a mile away (cutting through the woods) going around the properties we had to drive about 5 miles. Their property butts up against ours (we have 20 acres they have about 80). He called and said that he found our dog and that he is very scared. We rushed right over there! When we got their he said you better call him he was just right here. I called him and about 30 seconds later he came running and was very happy to see us. We told him thank you and he said to us "Be sure to keep your dog chained or it's a guarantee that next time he will be dead." That to me was a threat really...I don't blame him really as Max WAS chasing deer and people don't like that AT ALL! Not a good thing for a dog to do and anyone has the right to shoot a dog if it's on their property chasing other animals OR their livestock. He said that Max had been there before chasing deer (can't figure out when, as he is always accounted for) The guy was not happy at all. What we think happened is that the guy held him there just to teach us and Max a lesson. Especially when we got him home he was not interested in water or food. He was VERY sore and could hardly walk. I had to help him up the stairs when he had to go out potty. He was just not normal excited Max. NOW...he is right back to normal and back to being Max. We are SO happy and could not imagine life without Max. He is for sure part of our family. Thank you all for the nice comments and for worrying about Max :D That is so sweet!

Today we were out in the garage working on our bantam coop. I got lots of pictures and Cory is going to work on getting them on the computer since we don't have our apple right now.

Kelly, you should see Phoenix! OH is he beautiful, what I am going to do is order phoenix girls for him so I can sell their eggs. We are putting hardware cloth in-between to separate the coop and the yards. Kelly is still separate from the girls until spring because they pulled out all his beautiful neck feathers but they are coming in nice now. Red actually. Not white like before. He's looking really cute! Well I'm giving the computer over to hubby so he can get my pictures on here and later I will add them so come back later to check. I will just put them in a new entry.

Family is good :D Stefan goes back to school Sunday...he was home for two weeks. Did I tell you all that he was "All American" OL in football? I don't think I did...I was off here for so long. Well, I'm off. Hope you all are well.

Max is gone

Today right before noon was the last time we have seen max our Boxer. We think he took off chasing a deer and he never returned. We know that means bad news as he never goes off very far and he ALWAYS comes when we call him if he hears us. We have been out looking for him and I called all the Animal shelters in the area and nothing so far. I am just so sick to my stomach worried about him. It's been so cold and it rained ALL day here so on top of him being soaked it's going to get darn cold tonight and he can't even stay outside long to potty when it's this cold. I just hope someone picked him up and has him at their house and he's not lost out in the woods some place. We started our bantam coop today and I can't even be happy about that because I'm so worried about Max. It's SO strange here without him :( My son is out of town with a friend (it's his dog) and he is heart broken. Tomorrow I make up signs and post them around the area to see if anyone seen him. Nic is so sad too! It will be sad day's ahead if he doesn't come home.

I'm alive!

I am SO sorry I haven't posted in well, A LONG time! I have to say, number one....HOW DO YOU FULL TIME FAMILIES DO IT AND POST TOO!!!??? LOL OMG I have never worked full time before and I have to tell you, I have WAY MORE respect for those women who do now and take care of the house stuff and babies too! I get 15 min to sit at work and that is it. I have been SO busy! I am SO sore when I get home it's not even funny but the good news is I LOST 10 LBS! No change in the way I eat but boy do I move! LOL Can we say NO time for anything else!? The one computer thing I have been doing is going to my Private message box on Back Yard Chickens because I have been selling Mille Fleur D'uccle eggs (I have sold EVERY egg those chickens have laid!) it's sort of a side business to try to make chicken food money. Those four chickens have earned their stay here PLUS some :D

My baby blu is doing AWESOME...he was so much smaller than the others but he's catching up. Looks like I MAY have three boys and only ONE girl :( If that is the case than two will have to go. :( We just don't have the room to separate them right now. The girl (thank god) is my splash :D That makes me happy. And of course I'm keeping Baby Blu! Blu did have spraddle legs (their legs are straight out to the side and they can't walk well at all) It was from being in the egg for so many days after his hatch date...I cured that in four days and you would never know anything was ever wrong with him. He is one strong bird Its all I can say. They are about 7 weeks old now and staying nice and warm in our basement...soon to move to our heated shed by the bantams though. We have a wood stove out there and they stay right about 60 degrees :D I could not watch them all get so cold in our garage as we have NOT made our bantam coop yet (cory says this week!)

OK now for us...well, we have been a busy family. Nic stays with grandma when both Cory and I work and LOVES it. He asks every morning..."mom, do you have to go to work today?" and when I say NO (Hoping he will say AHHH Shoot!" He says "OH MAN, I wanted to go to grandma's!" Lol Little stinker! He's a whole four now! And he has a (DARE I SAY IT) ATTITUDE! He does NOT like when we laugh at his funny saying's Here is a cute one I have to share with you. He grabbed a gardening book I had in the book shelf and put it on his head. He starts walking with his hands out for balance and says "ok, Easy, Easy, Come on Nicholas you can do this! You got this!" It was just hilarious! But if you laugh at him he will take off running to his room and pout. HEHE He has grown up so much and is SO easy to love.
My daughter has two jobs again and is paying her bills and being way more responsible. He nice car we bought her died a few months back and she was not working so we didn't see the need to have a car...Right? Well, she finally got a job and she stayed at it for a while so we thought it was time to get her another car...we know she could not get one on her own and all her money was going to other people to drive her to work and back. We found a 675.00 one in the paper that we could pay cash for rather than have MORE payments (were still paying for her other car!) We told her the only stipulation with that she HAD to come sit with us and figure out a budget to get all her bills paid up. She did that and she has been doing really well at it so far :D

My van is broke down so I have to get another vehicle so were looking for that now. I have been using Stefan's truck (he is now making his own payments on it to grandpa!) That is a load off our budget :D He has a job at the school he goes to and he is now getting a LITTLE disability ssi money. He would NEVER be able to live off that (300.00) but it gets his truck payment paid and gives him a little extra for things he needs. We pay the kids car ins and their cell phones so we can get ahold of them. If we didn't they would be driving without ins and we would never be able to talk to them! Neither of them can afford the car ins that's for sure! It's so crazy for teens now to get coverage.
****Guess what else??? Stefan is an "ALL AMERICAN" football player! He is recognized in a magazine even! I was shocked when he brought home all his awards and coaches plague. So proud of him! He can't wait to show his wrestling coach from his old school. He will be graduating in June and than I will have NO ONE in school for one year! WHEW! I would LOVE to keep Nic home but I know I can't and work full time. Plus he really wants to go to school. He loves his play group at his school once a week. He has made two really good friends Jadan and Jordan (twins) They are three peas in a pod. Their dad looks strangely like Cory too. Their dad is the one who takes them to the play group every Wed.

Cory has been doing dishes for me when I'm at work so that's nice! And last night the three boys cleaned almost the whole house while I was at work! Cory took two weeks off work so he has really been doing good here at home with helping out. Even with the chickens!

Ok pictures will come soon. But I can't do it right now because I'm on our old computer (we get our new apple in Jan or Feb) and I don't know how to add pics on this one yet. Waiting for hubby to show me. For now this is it and If I think of anything else I will post again. But I am still alive! Oh and Nic's hand is totally healed and looks normal :D He did split his lip really good and hurt his ankle but those are healed to now :D

A miracle!

I had a miracle happen today. Four days ago I had an egg pip and usually they hatch 12-24 hours after that. Well this one did NOT! In fact close to 30 hours later I decided I needed to step in and help it a bit. I chipped away at the shell and got over 1/2 of it off. I than covered it with wet paper towel and left it be to see if it could make it's way out. It was able to tear a little bigger hole in the shell over the next two days but that was it. This morning (I had to work from 11am to 11pm yesterday) I went down to check on it and it wasn't moving at all. Nothing. I went to pick it up to throw it away and it peeped at me! STILL ALIVE after all this time. It's a strong chick! It was my only blue and I was so upset because I thought I was going to lose it. I got four healthy chicks already and this was the last one to hatch. I looked at it a bit better and seen his foot sticking out a bit. He was looking at me with those cute eyes just begging for help. It was SO sad! I than decided I was on a mission to help this baby no matter what! I took it out and began working on it. I pulled the membrane away very slowly and inch by inch (45 min later) I was able to free it! Talk about relieved! That poor chick was SO relieved I could see it. Now, it's not doing great but it's alive and I have been giving it water with an eye dropper until it gets some strength back. His neck is weak from being all scrunched up in that egg for so long! Otherwise it looks like a perfect chick! I will let you know how it does. Here are some pics I got of it AND of my other four babies.

*YAWN*

I'm still up tonight only because I'm waiting for my eggs to hatch. I have nine orpington's in the bator right now and I'm waiting for them to pip! They are due to hatch tomorrow :D I always do this! Get excited and than wait up for the darn things even if they aren't doing anything. I'm SO tired. I worked from 7am to 7pm and I'm just tired. I'm going to check one more time and if there is nothing going on I'm going to hit the sack and HOPE for something tomorrow morning when I wake up. The hens have been laying four eggs a day for us! We still have several that need to start laying yet.

Work has been ok...I like it but it's just so darn draining. SO different than my last job even though it's the same type of job. Nic's hand is totally healed now and he is doing great :) He got to spend all day with grandma today and he was loving it. I was so happy to see him when I got home from work though! I miss him so much when I'm at work. I'm off tomorrow and Saturday and I work 11am to 11pm on Sunday. Another hectic day! Well, just wanted to come on to say hi and again I'm SO sorry I have not been around to comment to anyone's journal but I will catch up! It's just been pretty crazy lately.

Pictures/Nic's new pics of hand

Well I hope pictures show up here...I have been having problems getting them on here again. The first day it worked now it's giving me grief again. Janis didn't know what D'uccles were. Janis, here is a picture of my Mille Fleur D'uccle's. They are very sweet girls. Ok so my pictures are 1/2 cut off but I think you can see what you need to see. The D'uccle girls are the brown ones. The fuzzy butts in the back are silkies.



Helen wanted to see pics of the eggs they laid...the little white ones are next to my Sex link pullet eggs which are still not regular sized. I didn't have a store egg to compare it to but it's about quarter size. maybe a touch bigger





And here is my baby's new hand pics. The first two are of Nic with his thinner bandage on and the last one is of Nic with it all off :D Now all we have to do is put Biafine on it to keep it moist and the skin from getting overly hard while growing in. If you look on the dates of the pictures you can see how fast he has healed up. He first got burned on October 24th.







As for work...well, it's MUCH harder than my last job I had at a hotel. At this hotel we NEVER sit down. Heck I used to watch tv at my other job...or play on the computer. Not here...no time! BUT what I am hoping is that I will lose some weight while working there LOL Everything else at home has been great. Cory has even been doing the dishes :D that makes me VERY happy to come home to the dishes done. He fixed my oven last night too so now I can cook again :D AND he made home made bread! I come home and the house smelled SOO good! I have a day off today so I'm going to spend time with Nic and the chickens. I'm sure they are wondering where the heck I have been for the past 4 days. I purchased a larger waterer for them because I was not home to refill it like I used to be.

My D'uccles gone mad

I went out to change water yesterday morning to find two tiny cream eggs laying on the floor of the D'uccle chicken coop! I was thrilled. I waited patiently for my dad to wake his butt up so I could show him and than I wanted to check for fertility. Well they ARE fertile :D So guess what I will be doing after the eggs hatch that I have in my incubator right now? YUP hatching D'uccle eggs! Not right away...I'm going to give them a month so the chicks have a better chance at hatching. So than I go to leave for work and guess what I see!? ANOTHER tiny egg on the ground. ALL three of them laid the same day! So far none today but maybe later. Nic went to see the doctor again today and he got all bandages off and he just has to put med cream on it three times a day :D It's healing up nicely! I will take a picture of it tomorrow when I have a day off work. Have to leave here in a bit to go to work. Just wanted to fill you all in. I hope everyone has a great day :D

Monday reports on Nic

BOY it's cold here lately. We had our first snow yesterday, not much just a few flurries but it was pretty. I love snow. I don't know If I'm ready for it yet...seems like it just melted a while ago. Well we still had feet of it in April yet!

So Monday we went to the burn clinic and here is what they told me at check in.

"Today we will be popping the blisters and cutting off all the skin over the burned area and wrapping it back up" I'm like OH GOODIE! THAT should be fun! So we fill out our paper work and head back to the room. It looked like a surgery room with a bed and totally white! I felt sick to my stomach. Nic jumped right up on the bed himself and the nurse took his temp and than three other nurses walk in. The head nurse explained to me that the nurses would help hold Nic down while they cut the old skin off. They explained this to Nic... Nic looked at them and put his hand up, waved it a bit and said in a brave voice "NO, that's ok" LOL They said that's ok what? He said I don't need you to hold me I'm ok. I told them to wait before they hold him...that he may be ok. So they tried it...all standing around ready to grab Nic and hold him. The women got her grabbers and her scissors and Nic sat there patiently watching her...still as can be. He sat there through the whole thing and said NOTHING! Well I should say nothing...he did say ouch twice. He amazed those nurses s much that they went and got the other nurses to peak in and see what a brave boy he was being. They said they never had that happen before with a 3 yr old. They ALWAYS had to hold the 3 yr old down. I was so proud of him :D They got done and gave Nic his special glove they had been telling him about. Not anything special just finger gauze. Makes little finger gloves for him. He liked it though.
He got TONS of stickers and they even gave him several little toys because he was SO good. He has to go back on Wed and Fri and than start water therapy after that. Sounds fun.

Got my blogs copied...whew! On way to doctor

Today Nic and I head to the burn clinic to see what's up. Got my blogs copied today so that is off my chest now. I just wish I could put them all together into one. I will be journaling here in this one from now on and only this one. That way it's easier for my followers rather than changing blogs for me again. I will just add links here for my other ones as well but not till later...gotta run! Will update later about how he did and what they said.

Update on doctor visit

Well we had to go back to the doctor yesterday and get his bandage changed. He said it was a little worse than what they thought but it's still not bad bad. They are sending him to the burn clinic on Monday because the joint is also burned where his fingers bend and they don't want that to get hard with the new skin growing in under the blisters so they have to send him for a special glove I guess. They don't THINK they will have to do any skin graphs at all which is good! Tomorrow we go back again for another bandage change. This sure is not slowing him down at all. What he can't do with his had he does with his feet! LOL He's been happy and has not complained.

On the chicken front...I had a rooster who we were thinking was a hen and I was kind of bummed out about it because I wanted him to be a rooster. Two days ago he was in the nest box. I thought he was laying an egg so we than thought hen...well today he crowed! AND he started mating the girls! All of a sudden this morning he decides to be a rooster?? No signs AT ALL until this morning.

We have company today so I'm going to get off here for now but will update again later.