That's the end of that

This year my family decided we wanted to try raising some chickens. My hubby built the chicken coop and the kids and I raised four little chicks in the laundry room. Two weeks ago we finally put them outside in their coop. They were so cute foraging in the grass!

We had named them and everything. From left to right that's Squeaker, Forrest, Feistypants and Lazybones.



They are no more.

The kids and I went to Wenatchee to do some shopping and when we got back I saw a pile of white feathers in the grass by the driveway. I put the kids in the house and checked on the chicken coop and there were more dark feathers and a piece of meat, but that was all that was left of my chickens. The fence in one corner had been pulled up by some dogs. I'm impressed Feistypants got almost 30 feet out from the coop before they got her.

Immediately after I found the carnage I went to the owner of the only dogs within a mile of our house and informed him that my coop and been broken into and all of my chickens were gone. I had not seen the dogs do it because I was gone all day, but we have had to chase them out of our yard several times since we put the chickens outside. Thankfully he was very gracious and offered to replace them. But I'm still sad that my little chickies are gone.

Remember that old post?

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about how the pros and mostly cons of Omak/Okanogan, but deleted it the next day. It was pretty negative. I also thought I would feel better after getting it all out, but it didn't help at all. I wasn't sure if we needed to stay here or look for jobs somewhere else. I knew God was telling me to wait, but I was really tired of waiting and not knowing what the future would hold.

And then Jeremy got back his first annual employee review.

Turns out pretty much everyone loves him. He got five gold stars and rave reviews from the nurses, MAs, lab employees, doctors, etc. He has had two people ask if they could clone him. This isn't really surprising, Jeremy is an incredibly hard worker and a great team player. He is compassionate to his coworkers and thinks of how he can help them better. All in all, a pretty amazing guy.

So why on earth would I pull Jeremy away from a job like this? I finally realized that I couldn't. We have a great job, a wonderful group of people at church and a lot of friends we enjoy spending time with. It's not the greatest area on earth, but we have the things that matter. And we're going to stick around for awhile. That's why we went house hunting a couple weeks ago, found an amazing house and are going to buy it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a little excited. I've actually been holding this information in for a little while, but we had friends asking us if we had found anything and put in any offers and I don't like being coy. So yes! We're buying a house.

(This is actually a picture of the back. Who knows why the realtor didn't take a good picture of the front.)

yay!

It's amazing how once I aligned myself with what God wanted for me and my family everything fell into place.

Colbie Caillat

My new favorite song:

Mornings

I am not a morning person.

No matter how early I go to bed I wake up a zombie. It takes about an hour for my brain to no longer feel fuzzy and become functionable. I blame my children. In the best way. My allergies are also really, really bad this week, so that has only made my inability to turn my brain on even worse.

My son has learned that Mommy does not like to get out of bed in the mornings when he does. (Why can't he sleep until 7:30? Or even 7:00!) so recently he started getting his own breakfast. But this morning really took the cake. My 4 1/2 year old came in and said, "Mommy, I made toast!"

"Mphmnble... that's great son. Thank you."

"I made you toast too!"

"Thanks." ZZZzzzz....

Later, when I was actually able to wake up he came up and said, "Mom, I put your toast in the fridge." Lo, and behold, the toast was in a Ziploc bag and indeed in the fridge. He knows that we put food in the fridge so it won't go bad. He just doesn't quite understand that some food lasts out on the counter longer than others. But it was still just about the cutest thing I've ever had done for me. It was indeed toasted (which was a little scary, I asked him not to use the toaster without Mommy or Daddy next time) and his thoughtfulness really made my day. My little sweetie. :)

Refinishing my desk

Here is my newly refinished desk!

Jeremy sanded it down and built the cabinet on the right, it was originally two drawers that were very stuck. Now it's a nook for my computer to chill in.

The paint is two toned, and the colors in this picture are more true to life.

 

I love my new desk! When I got the first coat of stain on it Jeremy and I looked at the top and Ooohed and Aaahed over it. The paint is a bit lighter than what I originally wanted, but I'm still happy with it.

Here's some backstory, for those who might be interested. When we moved Jeremy put my computer on my old sewing desk. It was very small and very cluttered.

Plus my baby was constantly trying to pull on the cords and push my computer off of its shelf. Not very child-safe. So my hubby said buy a desk, whatever you want, just don't go crazy with the price. So I looked around online, at antique stores, secondhand shops, everywhere. I couldn't find anything that I really wanted that wasn't a thousand dollar desk (apparently I have expensive taste).

I actually bought a desk from an antique store that was a little small and not exactly what I wanted, and told a friend about my desk troubles and she offered to give us an antique desk they had sitting in their backyard with a top on it. The paint was peeling so you could see the three different layers of paint it had once been (dark yellow, red, and black). But it was exactly what I wanted. Big desktop, drawers on either side and a drawer in the middle that was actually a drawer and not a keyboard pullout.

Jeremy got to work getting all the drawers out. We had to put the desk in the sun to get some of the drawers unstuck. He sanded the sides and I tried chipping off the vinyl desktop, but wasn't having much luck. Jeremy's Dad suggested a heat gun and that worked like a dream. The vinyl peeled right up revealing a beautiful wood top. Jeremy really did all the hard work, but it was a lot easier now that we have a belt sander, orbital sander and a hand sander. When it was all ready and the cabinet door had been built we brought it in the house so I could stain everything and paint it. I put a coat of poly on all the stained wood surfaces to protect them, and I just love having something that I was able to customize and make it exactly the way I wanted it.

Fun fact: While working on the desk we found some writing where someone had signed their name and dated it. I can't read the signature, but the numbers read 10/8/42. We think that means this desk was owned or made in 1942, making it at least 72 years old. We also know that it was a government desk, possibly used in a Naval office, and it belonged to my neighbor's grandfather (I think. Father of grandfather). I love having pieces of history as furniture.

Travel Bucket List

I've been thinking a lot lately about traveling and getting away, probably because I'm ready for a vacation. But I have some trips in mind that I would like to see happen someday:

In the next 1-2 years I'd like to go to the San Diego Comi-con. That would be crazy and geeky and fun!

In the next 5-10 years I would like to go to Scotland with Jeremy and on a tour of Japanese onsens (bathhouses) with my sister. She doesn't know it yet. ;)

I would also like to go on a cruise with some girlfriends someday. Maybe a roommate reunion cruise to Alaska or someplace fun and tropical.







Time to get saving!

The New Year... isn't very new

I haven't been feeling very pretty lately. My hair is always up in a ponytail because I haven't showered in a couple days, I wear pajamas until noon, and my face has been breaking out a ton (no showering, duh.) The problem though is that I just don't care enough to make a change. I have no desire to add one more thing to stress me out. I don't want to feel anxious about not taking a shower, so I  just don't. I don't get dressed first thing because Ms. B is just going to spit up on it anyways so what's the point.

I did try looking up the Dress Your Truth series to see if it would help, but I'm really not into "finding your energy" and things like that. I feel too practical for that. So, what to do? I'm really not sure. I feel like things will change after I wean B and no longer have to dress to nurse and wear my nursing bras that don't fit anymore. So I'm looking forward to April. The first year is always hard for me because I breastfeed and I don't like to pump, so I don't get many breaks. Hopefully this summer we can drop the kids off with some grandparents and get away for a few days.