Life of a "non-working" mother

Celebrating 25 years

2025-07-13T22:29:00.001-05:00

We came to Crested Butte for the weekend to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, by riding lots of awesome trails in the high mountains between the wildflowers.

Our friends Becca and Scott, and Michael and Brittany joined us. The first, and only other time we have been here was in 2020, also with Becca and Scott. We are staying in a nice condo, so it’s much more comfortable than camping!

The first day we did laps at the bike park, the next day we rode Tiocally & Strandhill, and today we rode 403 and 401. We have done a lot of elevation gain. More than 3000 feet per day! Some of the elevation gain wasn’t necessarily 100% necessary, because we could’ve probably shuttled some of it. But it’s nice to be in good enough shape to be able to ride it.

After a long day on the mountain, we come back to the condo and make yummy dinner and just hang out and chat. I have been making videos on my Insta 360 camera, and have been able to throw together some fun clips to watch. Tomorrow is our last day here and then we go back to real life. In the meantime, Ginger has been watching the boys, which has been amazing.

Preventative maintenance

2025-07-09T14:37:00.004-05:00

Getting old sucks!

Just went to my preventative annual physical, just so I can get my thyroid prescriptions renewed for my Hashimotos. Not only did I need the standard Pap smear, they want me to get a mammogram as well as the equivalent of a colonoscopy. There was talk about peri-menopause, and somehow she talked me into getting the HPV vaccine since you never know if/how long I will outlive Joe, and they’re only approved until age 45, which I’ll be tomorrow - she scared me with 70 year old ladies still needing Pap smears. And to add insult to injury, they didn’t tell me I might get a fever and have a very sore arm until after they gave me the shot!

Broken record?

2025-07-06T23:31:00.002-05:00

Not to sound like a broken record, but I love riding in the high country! Today Joe and Brittany and Stephi did Molas to Engineer- plenty hard, but I paced myself and it was no problem.

Joe hasn’t had as much time to ride, so he suffered a little more..

I brought my insta360 camera, and took a bunch of short clips that I’ll now how to somehow shorten into a 4-5 minute video.
Yesterday I worked on the video of our ice lakes hike, and I probably spent over 8 hours editing! Hopefullya this one won’t take as long.

I had been taking my allergy medicine for a few days, and thought the allergens must have gone away. So I made the mistake of not taking it yesterday or this morning.. had a bit of a sneeze attack as I waited for Joe to pick up the car at the end of the ride.

The High Country

2025-07-04T23:30:00.001-05:00

Last summer, in 2024, I was gone so much that I hardly got to ride any of the trails in the high country near Durango. However, since I have been around here this whole summer, I have been able to do a lot of fun rides with all sorts of different people.

In the past three weekends, the wildflowers have started to come out a lot more! When I rode Pass Creek to engineer two weeks ago, there was hardly any. Now, there are Indian paint brushes, columbines, and lots of other pretty flowers everywhere.

It was a zoo up at Coal bank pass today, because of the Fourth of July. However, I was still able to enjoy the mountains, because it’s pretty easy to get away from the crowds on a bike. I tried to make it a point to look around and really take in the beauty of the mountains, because I do feel so lucky to be able to live here.

I rode Pass Creek to Coal with Stephi, Cassidy, and Stephi‘s friend Kelly. Then, Cassidy and I went back up pass Greek and down engineer. I really wanted to go at my own speed, so I just bombed down engineer and set a bunch of PR’s.

(Stephi, Cassidy, me, Kelly)

(Cassidy)

Almost like new

2025-07-01T21:34:00.002-05:00

There’s just something about a clean house and a clean car that makes me so happy! I have been fortunate enough to have professional cleaners come clean my house for the last two years or so. Working full-time just did not leave enough time that I wanted to dedicate towards cleaning. And I was tired of the mess!

Besides the obvious benefit of someone else doing the actual cleaning, having someone come every other week means we have to actually tidy the house to get it ready for them to clean. We used to have to run around like crazy people the night before and spend 2 to 3 hours cleaning up, but as we have gotten used to living in a cleaner house, we have been able to keep it more organized… Generally. Of course, anytime you go on a trip. It seems like a bomb went off when you bring all the stuff in. And since it’s not that big to begin with, small messes seem bigger than they are- and yet are quicker to clean up too!

Chase got in trouble at Boys and Girls Club last week, and was not allowed to come yesterday or today. So I had made him a whole schedule of chores and projects to do. Selfishly I was kind of glad because he was able to clean up the mess after our back packing trip.

Also, the Subaru really was a disgrace! I started driving it about six months ago, when I started my new job in town. I had not taken the time to fully clean it out until this week. Chase started the process of cleaning it out yesterday, but as you can imagine, the job did not quite live up to my standards. So today as part of his chore schedule, I blocked out a two hour time block to go to the car wash and do a thorough job of cleaning it out.

I love the vacuums and pressured air that the car wash has! It is so much better than our old, weak shopvac! While I am cleaning a car, it seems like it can never get completely clean. But somehow, as you drive away from the car wash, the shiny dashboards and crumb free floor mats almost make it feel like I’m in a brand new car again. Minus the cracked windshield and 145,000 miles on the odometer…

Time flies

2025-06-30T22:24:00.004-05:00

Somehow, I got on the topic of couponing when I asked a friend if she had any pro deals on any outdoor gear. She said that some of the pro deals can be complicated and I told her that I used to be an extreme couponer so not much would phase me. I honestly kind of forgot about this blog, but wanted to show her some of the coupon posts. I was amazed at how many posts I have on here! It really is a shame that I have not kept it going. I also feel like I should probably print all of this stuff since you never know what will be on the Internet in the future.

Technology has definitely advanced since I first started blogging, and voice to text is a lifesaver! Most of my blog post were from a different life entirely. My life has changed dramatically from even a few years ago. We no longer have five kids at home, but just two. Miles and Chase are already 11 and 13! In addition, we both work full-time and play as much as possible on our free time. We still love living in Durango! That is one of the few things that stayed the same since 2022.

Just for a quick recap, Winter is a full-time tattoo artist, Sterling graduated college with an accounting degree, and Ginger is a sophomore at Fort Lewis College Studying to be an art teacher. I am working at A local CPA firm and Joe is still working at the local Hospital.

Reading back my blog posts, I feel like I used to be a better writer than I am now. Maybe it is true that practice makes perfect?

What’s interesting is that although I have no longer been keeping track of all the happenings in my regular life, I do keep track of all my travels really well. Since my memory is so bad, I am so happy to at least have that! But now this is my new goal. Daily Duolingo and blogging updates! - and I might even try to backfill some posts!

Pack goats in training

2025-06-29T22:26:00.118-05:00

Joe told me he wanted to go backpacking to Navajo Lake up near Telluride. Since we are doing a longer backpacking trip next month at Maroon Bells, we thought it might help the boys to have a shorter backpacking trip as practice.

We have goats at our property at Wild Turkey Canyon, to keep our agricultural exemption. Several of those goats were purchased for the purpose of also becoming pack goats. Twister and Ozay are Alpine Goats, which are the best type of pack Goats. they are just six months old, so not old enough to actually carry anything. Rico is a Nubian goat that was originally purchased to become a pack goat as well. However, Rico is the biggest pain in the butt! He is so loud! He screams the whole 2 hour drive, and anytime you are more than 5 feet away from him on the trail. It does not even matter if he’s the one that walked away from you in the first place! He just screams and screams and screams.

Although none of them actually packed any of our stuff, they were our pack goats in training this weekend. They actually are really good about following us on the hike, unless we happen to be walking uphill, and some other hikers are walking downhill. At that point, they lose all loyalty to us and were ready to abandon us for just about anybody. I guess that’s something we’ll have to work on!

We hiked up 5 miles along some beautiful mountain ranges, meadows, waterfalls, and creeks. The goats snacked on lots of dandelions. Miles and Chase did awesome! I can really tell the difference between now and even a year ago when it comes to hiking abilities.

My friend Kate and her dog Arkty came along for the hike. Arkty is not a fan of our goats. He was hypnotized and fixated on them at all times, and would constantly lunge at them. Nothing seemed to be working. We ended up just hiking separately most of the way after Arkty pulled Miles to the ground. It wasn’t until later in the evening, when we realized that the rubber coverings on the shock collar were actually still on the collar! And they have owned this collar for months and months… so anytime Kate thought she had buzzed Arkty’s, it had done absolutely nothing. After a quick lesson with the actual shock collar, Arkty was less enticed by the Goats and we were able to finish the evening on happier terms.

Once we got to the final destination of Navajo Lake, Chase, unfortunately realized he had lost his fishing pole and immediately turned around with Joe to go look for it. Miles did not waste any time and started fishing right away. Both of them caught several trout. Besides the annoying mosquitoes that chased us to bed by 8 PM, we had a lovely evening in the mountains.

I was a little bit stressed about the goat being there, since we did not have a dog with us to protect them. (Kate and Arkty sleep on the “lower level” (aka different campsite) The goats were just tied up on a line 15 feet away from our tent. But if a hungry bear would’ve happened on our camp, there’s nothing we could’ve done to save them. Luckily, all my worry was for nothing, and we spent the next day fishing and reading and sleeping before heading back down the mountain.

Cat in Box

2025-06-09T23:18:00.001-05:00

Peaches was the first one to claim it as her own.

What started as the result of me not picking up a box off the floor for several days, turned into the cats’s favorite hangout place. This unassuming box, that came from who knows where, is The Spot. The ultimate napping container. Sometimes they even hang out in there together, although not usually. Minion still prefers to nap on the bed, especially after he has rolled around, giving himself a dust bath.

However much or little time they spend in this box, is a win for us. That means less cat hair on the furniture, bed, and even table… Peaches is the biggest offender of napping in off-limits spaces. She finds the worst spots, including the dish drying mat on the kitchen counter.

But one of her favorite places to nap? On Joe’s lap! A self proclaimed cat hater, even he has a soft spot for Peaches. After all, her name came from the song that goes:

“Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches

Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches

I love you..” -by Jack Black.

So we have two cats with very distinct personalities. A grumpy, old man, a.k.a. minion, and the sweetest cat you’ll ever know, A.k.a. Peaches, who acts more like a dog than a cat. They usually get along, but sometimes when peaches wants to play, minion goes in full on attack mode.

And just because we don’t want to forget about Luka- he gets along with everyone!

In a sea of gold

2024-09-30T00:22:00.047-05:00

Fall riding is my favorite! I just love the yellow aspens! Sure, Utah has even better fall colors, with the reds mixed in, but the golden Aspens remain my favorite.

And it’s so awesome to have all these rockstar ladies to ride with! They push me to ride more often and faster than I would by myself. Some days when motivation is low, they push me to go anyways.

(Left to right: Nicole, me, Brittany, Kate)

One of the most striking things? The contrast between the dark green pines and yellow aspens - it makes the foliage pop even more.

This is the stuff I live for. Work hard, play harder.

Day 2: Disney Hollywood Studios

2022-01-26T22:16:00.005-06:00

From the days we lived in Florida, I remember going to Hollywood Studios after work the most. Hollywood has more attractions for teenagers so it was a good progression from the Magic Kingdom.

It was cold and rainy this day, but luckily we were able to go back to the hotel around lunch time to get more jackets and sweaters. Staying on-site definitely is an advantage because you can go into the park early, and easily go back to your room if necessary. The upside of the colder weather was that many visitors left the park early.

We brought a bunch of snacks so we wouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for food at the resorts. Since we would be staying at the resort hotels and spend all day in the parks it didn’t make sense to rent a car, so we just took a taxi. That also meant we couldn’t really go to a grocery store, so half our suitcases were full of snacks. We just got one meal per day and that worked out well

Demi is de grootste fan van Minnie

Hollywood studio’s has Star Wars attractions. I still haven’t watched any of the movies, but Joe and the kids all love it, and of course the set designs are very well made so it was fun for me too

We had been in line for over an hour for one of the Star Wars attractions, when it shut down. Perfect time for a nap!

The love show for Beauty and the Beast is always one of my favorites.

Sing along for frozen!

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

2022-01-26T21:28:00.001-06:00

After 5 short hours of sleep we took the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom. Since we were staying at the Dolphin hotel on Disney property, we could get in an hour early for Magic hour. We followed the Ridemax plan, and didn’t have to stand in line too long.

The Magic Kingdom is a lot more focused on little kids than I remembered but it was the perfect park to start with.

my favorite ride: space mountain was unfortunately closed several times during the day.

This was the first time to Disney World for Miles, Chase, and Demi. Demi had been to Euro Disney when she was much smaller.

Since it was a Friday in January , and we planned out our day we never waited more than 45 minutes. My poor feet were not doing so good though. I had forgotten to cut my toenails and only brought one pair of shoes so the pressure was always in the same spot.

I gave each of the kids $100 to spend during the trip. That way they could decide how to spend it, whether it was on souvenirs or treats, and once it was gone it was gone. Ginger always wanted to have one of these huge lollipops.

With social distancing due to COVID still in effect, we had to wear masks inside and on rides and couldn’t get very close for character photos. But Mickey is cute no matter what.

What a great first day, finishing it off with a fireworks and light show. My body wasn’t too sad that the park closed at 9pm instead of 11pm.

WDW Florida vacation

2022-01-23T20:57:00.001-06:00

I’ve always loved Disney World. Joe and I worked there when we were first married and would go for a few hours after work whenever we could. Although I love it, Joe has always been a little meh about it. So we kind of decided to go every 7 years. That way it’s not too much for Joe, and each of the kids get to go twice. Once when they are smaller and once as teenagers. In 2007 we went with the Judds to WDW. In 2014 we went to Disneyland California with just the older three kids. And now we are back in Florida.

The Durango airport is so small that you walk into the tarmac to get on the plane. It’s very convenient because you can easily get to the airport and hour before the flight and have 50 minutes of waiting at the gate.

Our first flight was delayed so I stressed all day about what to do. Should I rebook the flight and not arrive in Florida until the next mid morning? Or should we chance it with a 40 minute layover in DFW? I really didn’t want to arrive the next day because that would be our first day at Disney. We decided to practice our “Disney walks” and chance it.

The transfer went smoothly, and with some power walking we arrived at the next gate as they were boarding. It was definitely a “home alone” moment .

We arrived in Orlando and our taxi driver was waiting for us with a sign. He turned out to be the slowest taxi driver on the planet, going 45 mph on a 65 mph freeway. But we made it to the Dolphin hotel by about 1 am.

We set the alarm for 6.15 and laid down for our 5 hour sleep.

Where have the last 8 years gone?

2021-12-20T20:06:00.002-06:00

Occasionally I’ve looked back at this blog and lamented about the fact that I didn’t keep it up. The last post was 8 years ago, and so much has changed since then. All the kids are in school, Winter and sterling moved out, and I graduated with my masters degree in Tax. And I’m officially no longer a non-working mother… but instead I’m a working mother. We moved to Fort Collins and then to Durango. Instead of giving a whole history I think I’ll just start off as if I never missed a day. The posts I make on Facebook just don’t go into as much detail as I’d like to remember, and my memory is lacking so if it’s not written down, it just is lost forever.

This is my first season with a season pass to the local ski resort. I have wanted to get one for many years, but I either had little kids at home, or we lived too far from the resorts. Miles and chase also have season passes, and they just learned to ski and picked it up super fast. Demi, our exchange student from Holland also got one, and it’s been a great activity to do together. I just hope Ginger and Joe will join next year.

My favorite type of skiing is definitely through the trees (as long as it’s not too steep) with some fresh powder. I’d love to learn how to do some jumps and am constantly working on my parallel skiing skills.

Goldilocks Century

2014-05-12T20:56:00.003-05:00

Saturday I rode my very first ever century bike ride. It's a 100 miles on a road bike. Me and my friend Lisa Calderwood signed up for it a few months back, and I've spent the past 8 weeks on an intense training schedule. My weekly mileage increased steadily, until I rode 70 miles a few weeks ago. That 70 mile bike ride was tough. It was raining and windy, I had no support, and was riding in the mountains with a lot of hills.

I was looking forward to riding with other women (it's a women's only ride), and utilizing all of the rest stops. I also figured that even though the 70 miles was the most I could handle, this 100 miles would be different, since I could draft behind people part of the time.

The night before any big day is always restless for me. At 4am I got up to eat breakfast, giving myself plenty of time to be fueled for a 7am start time. Lisa picked me up at 5am, and we made it to the starting line by 6am. That hour before the start time flew by! Before I knew it, it was time to take off.

I started riding with Kristen Bellows. We were among other women going similar speeds, but lost most of them at the first rest stop. The first 55 miles were great. I was taking turns pulling and drafting with Kristen and this other girl named Sarah. At that rest stop (55 miles), we turned around and headed back north. (by this time Kristen was going a little slower, and we left her behind)

The headwind was insane! It was necessary to ride with other people, or I ended up working twice as hard. I tagged along with a Papa Bear for a while, which was nice, because then I didn't have to take turns pulling. Unfortunately, he had to come to the rescue of another woman, so most of the way back into the wind was taking turns.

It really amazed me when I saw women riding close to other riders, but not close enough to take advantage of the windbreak you can get by riding right on someone else's tail. I was all for doing as little extra work as possible.

Lunch was the 4th rest stop, at 72 miles. By that time the idea of a turkey sandwich didn't sound appealing to me at all, so I stuck with watermelon and cantaloupe. Right before Sarah and I were ready to head out, we saw two women we had initially ridden with before that first rest stop. The ladies in Red were going our same speed, and I knew we would still have a lot of headwind to face. So as soon as they took off, I made the extra effort to catch up with them.

The four of us (ladies in Red, and Sarah) rode the next 15 miles together. For some reason, they didn't have another rest stop until mile marker 95, which meant there was a 23 mile gap after lunch. I had really been drinking a ton of water to try and prevent dehydration. There was no way I could ride another 8 miles without stopping to use the restroom. So I decided to stop at Walgreens, and realized I would lose my riding party for the biggest hill (with headwind) coming up.

As I started back up, I was a little deflated mentally. The hill looked so long, and I knew that it would take a ton of extra energy to make it up. I was just chugging along, when all of a sudden a random old guy on a bike passed me. He was only going a little bit faster than me, so I immediately pulled behind him. I was like night and day! I was able to easily ride up the hill at a 10mph pace, where moments before it was taking all my energy to go 8mph.

At the last rest stop (95 miles), I caught back up to Sarah and the girls in Red. I was still feeling good, and finished strong.

I spent 7 hours and 25 minutes on the course. I used Strava, so I know my actually moving time was closer to 6 hours 30 minutes. That was right in my goal range.

Joe and the kids were at the finish line to cheer me on, and give me some pretty roses. I sure felt loved!

In the future I'd definitely like to ride another century. There are so many to chose from in Utah! For the next few months I'll just ride my bike for fun (mountain and road), and maybe do another organized ride in the fall after Swiss Days. I really need to focus on catching up on my doll furniture building, since I've fallen behind. Time flies!

** Once the professional photos become available, I will add them to this blog post

On the brink of change

2013-12-31T09:06:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe that my little girl turned 12 today. I can remember the day like yesterday, when they told me at the hospital but she was ready to go home with me. I was scared, thinking "can I really do this"? Wondering, but if I do things totally wrong? Of course I have done many things wrong, but overall she has turned into a wonderful young woman despite of it. Yes, she is a typical tween. She can go from Sweet, loving, and helpful. To a little demon, in two seconds flat. I remember when I was 12. Just going from believing my parents knew everything, to thinking I knew it all myself. The coming six years scare me to death, just the same as that day at the hospital when I was able to take her home for the first time. This is when I think to myself, have I done enough? Will she make the right choices for herself? Will she make the right kind of friends, that will help her to making these good choices? And even if she does, will she still make the right choices? Because good friends don't necessarily mean good choices. I hope I can be a good friend to her as well as a good mother. That she will come to me for questions and concerns. And that she will love me, through all of the periods that she might hate me. All the while I think about her growing up, I must remember that she still is a little girl. That is one of the hardest things with younger siblings, the older ones always seem to get the faster. But when you look back at pictures, you realize they were still little themselves.

As part of each child's birthday, they get to choose what they want to eat that day. Winter requested breakfast in bed. And she also wanted to eat sushi. Again, such grown-up things to want.

I love this little girl, she is so sweet and talented. She exceeds in pretty much anything she puts her mind to. She is smart, and works hard at school. She excels in music with cello, violin, piano, and any other instrument she tries her hand at. She can be very sweet to her brothers and sisters, and helpful with the babies. My hope for her is, that this time with the small babies will help her to want to become a mother herself someday. And that it will help her see that it is not all fun and games.

Here is to a new start of the new chapter in my life. Scary life of teenagers, but also rewarding hopefully.

Eggs and snow

2013-11-22T00:25:00.001-06:00

Winter is knocking on the door. The season that is. We have had a few small snowstorms each time we get a few inches and it only lasts for a few days. I can't wait for a snowstorm that dumps 4feet of snow overnight!

The chickens finally started laying eggs a few weeks ago, and they are beautiful and delicious!

We get about 8-10 eggs per day, which is on the high side for us, so I have started selling them. It's a good way to recoop some of the money we spend on food.

Miles is the biggest fan of the chickens. It's super cute when he goes out to play with them. I don't know if they think he's a rooster or what, but if he chases after them, they will kind of squat the same way our Texas chickens did when the roosters came to "service" them. Then Miles can just pick them up easily.

When the weather was still nicer, Miles also liked to sit in the dirt where the chickens take their dust baths. Not such a pleasant smell when he came back in the house!

Wow

2013-11-19T00:41:00.001-06:00

I really wish I haven't gotten out of the habit of writing on this blog. When I don't write down what I do, I forget. And so much has happened in the last nine months. We had summer vacation, when we went to Texas. A new school year started. And last but not least, I had another baby. Chase was born in October almost a week late. His birth story probably deserves it's own blog post. It's hard to believe that he's almost a month old. It has been fun to see how Miles loves being a big brother. He comes up to Chase and give him kisses and hugs, and asks to hold him often. My recovery has been longer than I expected, but I am finally starting to feel a little bit more like myself again. Of course my scale doesn't make me happy, but I knew this was coming when I signed up for another baby. Going anywhere with essentially two babies is not easy. So I have been hibernating in my house. I don't think I was ever the scared with winter and Sterling to leave the house. It just seems like there are germs and sickness hiding everywhere in plain sight. I have had great support from my friends and people in the ward, which is been really nice. So for the sake of family history I will try to keep writing on this blog, even though Facebook has taken overs the Internet. And no, I don't think anybody still reads this. But I will be able to be back, and that's the most important part.

Bull Trout camping trip

2013-07-30T14:12:00.001-05:00

Living in Utah has given us the opportunity to do a lot of camping. This means I have go make it as comfortable as possible. Tent camping has never bothered me, but I did have to get a good mat. With that, and a good warm sleeping bag and earplugs, my nights were amazingly good. I mean, I had to get up in the middle of the night to pee, but that happens at home too.

We went on a 5 day trip to the Idaho mountains with my sister and her family. The mountains and lakes were beautiful, and we had tons of time to relax, fish, swim, and hang out.

Halasana

2013-05-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

I'm almost halfway done with this pregnancy, which is insane to think about. I think I've been in denial, as an emotional protection (in case of miscarriage). So now that I'm starting to look pregnant, and feel the baby move, it's a fun reality.

He has already mastered the yoga pose Halasana (Plow Pose)

It will be fun for Miles to have a brother so close in age (20 months).

7 days of construction

2013-05-18T21:17:00.001-05:00

It's been a LONG week, but I've made a TON of progress since my last post. That chicken coop post was of the progress from the first day. Of course I had grand intentions of chronicling each days progress, but then at the end of the day I would be completely wiped out. So instead I'll just show the progress by day:

Day 2

Earl helped me construct and install the walls. The wall installation was one of the most tedious tasks. We had to make sure that everything was level and plum (who knows what that even means?).

The trusses were built. For some reason I felt such a pride in the fact that I could make trusses! I mean, it's not rocket science, yet it's something that does seem complicated and important.

Day 3:
After 2 long days of working, I was not looking forward to another full day of labor. However, I knew that I need to get as much done as possible, with Joe being home (saturday) Look at those beautiful trusses! I could build myself a house! (well, maybe)

To keep the trusses in place, we used hurricane ties. Sounds pretty hardcore doesn't it?

With the roof and walls put on, this was starting to look like a mini house!

In order for the chickens to keep laying eggs through the winter time, it's important that they get at least 14 hours of light. So we decided to install a light on a timer. Joe's the master electrician

I am rarely so happy to get a Sunday. A good excuse not to work, but rest!

Day 4:
Didn't get a lot done, as I was feeling pretty worn out, even after a day rest. I did create the first nesting box. Those hens better use them!

Tuesday I was still feeling burnt out, so decided to take the day off. And that means off from everything. Except watching TV shows and cuddling with Miles. It's actually kind of funny. Miles is my least cuddly baby, but around day 3 or 4 he would just walk on to a piece of plywood I was trying to mark, and sit down. As a sort of protest. He wanted and needed attention.

Day 5:
The windows arrived, and I started on the trim, so progress seemed extremely fast. All of a sudden you can start to see what it might look like. This day was very rewarding.

Thursday Joe had the day off work, and we spent it working on the garden. Yes, I know I'm crazy for taking on 2 such large projects, but they both just had to happen. We got all the gardenn beds rototilled, and new top soil spread out.

Day 6:
Although the front of the coop was trimmed out on day 5, the sides and back still needed to be finished. It took pretty much all day to get the little trim pieces on, and install the nesting box lids.

Day 7:
I had planned to prime today, but it was raining in the morning. So I spent the morning finishing the roosting boxes and plank. Then we took a little bowling brake, after which the weather had cleared up, so I got to prime after all. It sure looks better from far away!!

Although the coop looks almost done, my to do list still seems unbelievably long. I have to paint, caulk, install roofing, make feeders and a waterer, make the run, finish the electrical, and hopefully get Joe to design an automatic door opener. The chicks are getting big fast, so I'd like to get them into the coop as soon as possible. Of course they can move in before the run is complete, so that takes the pressure off a little bit.

Chicken Coop

2013-05-09T22:31:00.000-05:00

Our new chickens will need a place to live, so I am building them a super deluxe chicken coop. I found an amazing looking plan on CleanCoop.com. The Daisy plan can house up to 12 chickens

When we lived in Texas I just converted a garden shed without much thought into layout or design. I built some nesting boxes that were sub-standard, and it was difficult to clean out. The chickens rooster everywhere, and therefore pooped everywhere too. So when I was searching for a set of plan, my main criteria was 'easy to clean'. Also, I want this coop to be attractive, as we are living in a suburban neighborhood, and not in the middle of nowhere boonie land.

A few nights ago I set off to Home Depot with a long list of supplies.

Joe joked that this coop will be built as good as our house. That sounds good to me! Yesterday was a crazy busy day so I couldn't start, but today Earl is staying with us, so it seemed like the perfect time to get started. Dad played with Miles while I measured and cut all the 2x4's for the floor and wall framing. Then I built the floor all by myself, and was feeling all proud of myself.

Then dad helped me build the end walls. It's amazing how much faster the second one went.

The next step was attaching the floor to the leg posts, which is definitely a (at least) 2 man job. (notice the temporary housing for the chicks, the former rabbit hutch)

My least favorite part took a long time: getting the site prepped. We needed to dig holes for the concrete piers, get it all leveled and spread out right. Of course we ran into sprinkler lines.

After some digging, and planning to re-route the sprinkler lines, we were finally ready to place the frame on the piers.

And that's when we called it a day. A good day of hard manual labor.

Oh, and no, the house isn't officially ours yet.... we hope to close June 15th.

Chickens

2013-05-06T19:44:00.000-05:00

Joe sent me to the hardware store to pick up some paint, and they had chicks for sale. I bought 10 chicks. (That's what husbands get for sending their wives to the hardware store)
Now that we are planning to stay in this house, I can finally get my chickens again. I've missed my girls ever since we left the Texas farm almost 3 years ago! They had a great variety, and I wanted to get a bunch of different kinds. Here's what I got

1 Silver Laced

2 Golden Sex-link

2 Black Sex-link

3 Americauna, these girls lay green eggs, which is why I got more than one of these

1 Brown Leghorn - the only kind that lays white eggs

1 Rhode Island Red

Of course it will take about 5 months before we'll see any eggs at all, but chicks are fun too!

Hoopla

2013-05-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago a new piece of land came for sale at a reasonable price. Since this short sale is anything from short, I started looking into the possibilities of building with gusto. I called a bunch of builders, and even found one that told us we could get the house we wanted for only slightly above budget. We met with Blue Pine Homes, and started the process of finalizing floor plans to get an accurate quote. I made some small revisions to a plan they sent us, and planned out my whole kitchen with the cool 3D kitchen planner from Ikea. I spent hours on Pinterest dreaming of all the amazing things I could put into this house. Our house is very nice, but it just isn't the style I would pick if I can build from scratch. At one point we were pressured by our real estate agent to decide whether we were building for sure, so someone else could claim Michie Lane. As we didn't have all the details, we couldn't make that decision, and I had a few very stressful days. We were able to hold off the agent, and past Monday we met with the builder to finalize finishes and get a more concrete price. This is when the builder dropped the bomb. When he had originally quoted us the price, he had actually quoted it on the original layout of the floorplan. It was a 1700 square feet home (on main level). Well, the actual floor plan he sent us, was 1900 square feet. Obviously it will cost more to build a bigger house. To make the story short, building was going to cost an additional $50,000 above our already higher price. I was disappointed. But at the same time I was glad. Glad to have a nice house to fall back on. Glad to know I won't have to move again. Glad that I could use some of our money on changing this house to better reflect my style. Glad that I can now plant a vegetable garden this summer. My sister Wendy has been posting pictures of her awesome garden progress, so when she sent yet another picture today, I decided to head outside and start tackling the weeds. I don't know when the last time is that my flower beds had any attention. It must be a long time! The dirt is all compacted, and weeds well established. Using a shovel and a little rake I started one foot at a time. After 2 hours of hard work, there's not much to show for it, but I'm happy with the progress anyways.

After all the weeds are gone, we'll have to bring in some more top soil and miracle grow, but at least there is a defined area to plant my veggies in.

Easy no-cook Strawberry Freezer Jam

2013-04-12T20:55:00.001-05:00

Our local grocery store had an amazing deal on strawberries:

8lbs for $2.99

So of course I couldn't resist, and bought 3 flats (or 24 lbs)

I've always wanted to make freezer jam, and lasts year's halapeno jam was not a big hit around here. After talking to some friends, I decided to use Ball's RealFruit Instant Pectin.

This instant pectin uses about half the sugar as some of the other brands, and the biggest plus: no cooking involved. This means, no vitamins or flavor lost. And these strawberries are super sweet.

I used the recipe from the Ball's container, but doubled it for each batch, as I will be making about 30 half pints. Each double recipe uses about 2 lbs of strawberries. The first thing to do is take out the top and clean them. I then dried them off a bit, before putting them in my Blendtec Blender and mashing them up. Much better than using a potato masher!

Then mix 1 1/3 cup of sugar with 4 Tbsp of Instant Pectin, and add the mashed strawberries to it. Now the most time consuming part: stir for 3 minutes.

You can store your jam in any airtight container, but I prefer to use the disposable kind (like glad or ziplock). I found a 6 pack Kroger brand for $1.97.

Just transfer the jam to the containers, making sure to keep about 1/2" at the top, allowing for expansion. The double recipe will fill four 8oz containers.

Put on the top, and they're ready for the freezer. Each batch only takes about 15 minutes.

Cost for 30- 8oz containers:
Strawberries: $5.98
Pectin: $10 (about 2 bottles at $5.15 each)
Containers: $10
Sugar: 10 cups = 4.5 lbs - $2.88

Total= $28.86 - or less than $1 per 8oz container!!!

And a video tutorial

Trailer

2013-04-12T19:17:00.002-05:00

When you have a husband like Joe, and he comes home with a stack of metal tubes with the announcement: "I'm building a trailer in the next 3 weeks", you should believe him. Cause that's exactly what Joe did. One day we were talking about our upcoming camping trip to Moab, and the next day he had purchases a bunch of steel for the frame.

Joe is a very precise and meticulous worker. Especially when it comes to building things. In case of building a trailer, this is a very desired attribute. When you are quickly trying to fix up a house, it is not. (aka, until he can envision perfection, nothing gets done) After many measurements, he made the bottom frame. It was looking kind of bare without the tires.

Ginger helped with the welding

Expanded metal mesh for the bottom and sides

The first time we tested the trailer, was on the 4 hour drive down to Moab. It drove nearly perfectly, although it does need some shocks.

Pretty impressive right?