Expanding the "farm"

We are getting 3-4 fainting goats in the spring (after they are born) so we need a guardian to live with them and protect them from predators. In true Eric style he has been researching guardian dogs that will protect your livestock but not be aggressive towards children. Since we have two small white fluffy girly dogs we all decided that this should be a man dog for Eric. Well, after all his research and talking to various breeders, he choose a 50% Akbash, 50% Great Pyrenees puppy. So basically he will have a white fluffy man dog, that is a girl. 

Meet Camillia... "Cami"

Camillia is going to grow up to be a 120lb beauty just like her mother.

I know what your thinking... they have moved to Oregon and become racist.  Not true.

We just reserved our chickens for Spring and we are getting several different breeds and colors.
3 Black Australorpe
5 Silver Wyandotte
5 Gold Wyandotte
3 Barred Rock
6 Silkies (various colors)
3 Brown leghorn
5 Americauna
5 Light Brahma
3 Cuckoo Maran
3 Black sex link

These chickens combined with chickens we currently have will put us at 50, but having done this before we know we are going to loose several as roosters and to predators. We are hoping to end up with about 35.

Where are all these chickens going to live? Remember that lavish day spa Eric has been working on for the chickens. It's built, moved out to the field and primed. We just need to paint it and it will be ready.

I will post about the coop when it's totally finished.

Goodwill giddy

Sometimes the stupidest things make me so happy. I love going to goodwill and looking for cheep items that can easily be made cool. I have a constant list of projects I am looking for.  I had seen some really cool black candelabras as Halloween decorations (similar to the photo below) and they were $110 each!

They never sold and I was really tempted when they went 60% off, but I still couldn't justify it. I figured I could easily find an old candelabra at Goodwill and spray paint it black. Well I have been looking for have been looking for 5 months and not found one... until today. 

This little beauty was $5 and the paint was free/stolen from Eric's paint stash in the garage.

I LOVE it!

 I also found these 2 11x14 frames ($3) I need for some original "fashion girl" drawings I purchased last summer from a retirement home sale.

I took these photos at night so everything looks yellow, but the walls and background are actually white.

The look perfect in the girls bathroom, and Haley doesn't mind them because they are not pink.

Ali's baptism

We have this sign in our kitchen and everyday I write the day of the week and list under what is happening that day. It has been helpful making sure everyone is on the same page for the day. On Friday when I came downstairs, Lucy was so excited she did the sign for the day. We made a quick weekend trip down to my sisters house to see Ali (Lucy's favorite relative) get baptized. 

The baptism was perfect. The talks were great and my kids were... reverent enough. Lucy is getting baptized in June so she was like Ali's shadow, watching everything very carefully. 

After the baptism they had everyone (like 90 people) back to their house for an amazing dinner. It was nicer then most wedding showers.  I loved that they had a cookie bar for dessert with carafes full of milk. This is such a great idea, I can't wait to steel it.

Everything was beautifully done and the food was delicious!

Ruby was obsessed with Ryans new "friend" at the party. If there is a beautiful teenage girl, Ruby just wants to be her and wont leave her side, or her lap as in this photo.

On the way home we went by the Jelly Belly factory to stock up on treats for the car.

Pollard Flat

If you are ever driving between Oregon and California you will pass an exit for Pollard Flat, it is one potty stop you will never forget.

We originally stopped there back in June of 08 on our big road trip out of total desperation because our girls needed to use the bathroom. I walked into the log cabin like structure filled with cigarette smoke with my three blonde girls in tow. It seemed like a bar so I was not sure if they would let kids in. I asked if we could use their bathroom and the lady said "Ya, but you might want to warn your kids about the lady in the bath tub". She told us to wait because someone was in there. We stood in the little eating area filled with grumpy stone faced truckers staring at us. I knew we did not belong there, but stood there out of desperation. I remember one of the girls asking why everyone was staring at us and I just smiled at her. Finally an old man came out of the bathroom and we all hustled in. Then we saw her... everyone froze. I had to push the girls in the room to close and lock the door behind us.

"Is she dead? Ruby asked. Lucy suddenly wanted me to hold her. Then they each told me that they no longer needed to use the bathroom.

I reassured everyone that she was not real and had to stand between the mannequin and the girls as they used the potty. The whole time I was just talking about how silly it was and how funny she looked. When we walked back to the car all three girls were talking over each other to tell Eric what happened. I remember being stunned wondering if I had just done permanent damage to my kids.

Although we have passed this exit several times since we have never returned until today. It just happened that Ruby needed to use the bathroom on the long stretch where this is the only exit. We warned her where were were stopping and she said she didn't care. As we pulled up Haley said "Oh my gosh, I remember this...I still have dreams about the lady in the bathtub"(a yes to the permanent damage question). It was not nearly as traumatic today. It was early in the morning and the restaurant /bar /store was empty except for one worker and the girls knew what to expect, well kind of.

Today the girls just thought it was funny. After Ruby & Lucy had used the bathroom and Cheyenne went in, I started talking to the lady that works there about how freaked out we had been by the mannequin previously. She asked if the mannequin had ever screamed at us. I said no. She walked over and pushed a button on the wall and a loud screaming voice came from the bathroom yelling "What are you doing"... "Stop touching me!".... "Get out of my bathroom!" Poor Cheyenne flew out of there. Now all 4 girls have officially been traumatized by this stop.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Green Acres?

Eric is on the night shift this week, so he is home all day to play.  He loves to "play" with wood. So he has been using his free time to make this.... 

You can see from the photo with Eric the scale of this structure- it's huge! The inside is tall enough for Eric to stand in, but he's not building himself a man cave.

Here is a huge hint... it has a built in toilet that I am very excited about.

Our neighbor calls us green acres, but I totally disagree with her...

Eric would never wear a straight tie (except of course on Halloween).