chicken update

I've heard that I've been slacking in the chicken posts lately. I think the reason I've slowed on my chicken reporting is because now that they are outside with a fence, they don't require a whole lot of attention. They are the easiest animals on the planet. We give them new feed and water every morning and hook the door closed in the evening. And they're happy. And they love us. And they continue to entertain our children.

So up top there is Hamburgerpoopedonthecarpet. A beauty.

And this here is Eggs. Eggs is quite aggressive. I think he is a bully. And I also think he thinks he is at the top of the pecking order.

But here is Almonzo flapping his wings, who I think actually is at the top of the pecking order. He just has confidence like that. I think Eggs is insecure and gets into other chickens business to exert his wanted authority. But Almonzo really is the Alpha Male. Sort of a whole Scar versus Mufasa thing.

I don't have much to report on Zumbrota. This bird sort of gets lost in the bunch, beautiful and black, she or he doesn't seem to need too much extra attention.

Still the favorite is Legos. Our delightful niece, Josie, is here for a few nights and has confirmed that Legos is the most social. Legos lets Josie hold her and is always the first to come out to say hello when she goes for a visit. Plus, just look at how awesome and fluffy this bird is!

And finally, below is Butterscotch Cookies, another bird that doesn't make too much of a scene. Butterscotch is pretty chill, and reminds me a bit of that one guy Bull on that court show that used to be on channel nine on Saturday afternoons growing up. (thanks to a google search: the Bailiff Bull Shannon on Night Court) I'll get a close up and to a comparison another day.

We're thinking we've got a good number of Roosters in the bunch. Which is a total bummer. Because we were going for eggs. But the boys still aren't too loud. At the moment their morning sounds are more like chain smokers barking out a "rook-a-doo" first think in the morning.

But they'll get louder I'm afraid. And when the full on cock-a-doodle-doo comes, we'll have to figure something out since we like our neighbors and want them to keep liking us.

Having Josie here has been a blast. Last night I used her as a model for the picture I needed for The Soul Sisterhood post that went up today. Be sure to go over and check today's post on the importance of a Strong Finish. 

"the moon is scared to me."

A few Ivar fears came out this week. As we were getting ready to go to a parade he came running into the garage and told me, "the moon is scared to me!" He wouldn't go out of the garage. I had to carry him to the car in the driveway with his head buried into my shoulder, hiding from the moon.

In the car we asked him why the moon was scared to him. He said it was moving. (Which is true since Ivar was moving and it kept following him.) And I think he didn't like that it was out in the daytime. He just doesn't trust a thing that comes out as it pleases and follows him wherever he goes. He's suspicious.

Then we went to the parade and he did not like the loud sirens on the fire trucks and police cars. But he didn't cry. He just pulled down his hat over his eyes.

And later, after he fell down I asked him if he was hurt. He said, "I am. I got hurt my feelings."

good mood food

I am tired a lot of the time. And since that's a terrible feeling, I started trying to find a remedy. I went to bed earlier, tried to get a shower in before the kids got up, added some new vitamins to the mix and even started drinking a cup of coffee every so often.

Then Rory, for reasons of his own, began to cut out as much sugar and carbs from his diet as he could. I didn't jump on his train and it was during those two weeks of his eating spinach salads and meat that I was so, so aware of how I medicate my exhaustion with sugar-starchy snacks. Like a bowl of cereal. Or a granola bar. Or a handful of chocolate chips. Or club crackers. And they're great in the moment, but leave me worse off than when I started.

So it dawned on me that I could do something about these sugar crashes, with hopes that it would help my energy too. I started trying to eat only energy-giving food. I read an awesome hippie-dippy article about how we should envision our bodies as fires. You would never feed a fire kindling (sugar and carbs) and expect it to last all day long. But throw a big log on that fire (protein, fiber) and that fire will stay a blazing a long, long time.

So now my question before I eat is: will this meal or snack give me long lasting energy?

It's a great question to ask and has helped dramatically improve my diet, my attitude (most days!) and my energy.

I was greatly inspired by Elise Blaha's post on what she ate with gestational diabetes. She had to test her blood sugar four times a day, and as Elise always seems to do, she made this annoyance seem like a great awesome opportunity to see what foods were best for her body. I read this post and thought it would be interesting to poke my finger and learn this too. Then I decided I didn't need to poke my finger. I could just monitor my own energy.

In her post she writes about the grain-free granola above. She wrote highly of it and so I gave it a try. And man it is so good. Rory likes it, my mom likes it, Ivar likes it and I love it. And it sort of bums me out that Ivar likes it because that kid is bottomless and eats a lot. But I'll get over it.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the link to this granola recipe. It's my new breakfast of choice and it's easy and so good, packed with protein and starts me out on the right foot. Elise recommends cutting the coconut oil down to just 1/3 cup and I agree. Also, I don't have a food processor or vitamix...I just buy the already chopped nuts in the baking aisle and crush the almonds up with a rolling pin like the olden days. And it works just fine. I keep the granola in the fridge to keep the oil solidified and eat it with milk in the mornings. Enjoy!

jealousy: a big, fat waste of life

A few weeks back I read Kelly Rae's blog who had just returned from an art retreat in Bali. Her pictures were magical, her stories were amazing and she gushed about how her awesome husband had insisted that she go, telling her that he would watch their two-year-old son for the nine days she was gone.

You can imagine my thoughts...why doesn't Rory insist that I go to Bali for nine days? Actually, why doesn't he insist that I go anywhere? Come to think of it, why the heck am I always stuck in this house with these two kids all the time?!!

This week it was a dear friend who took a much deserved eight day cruise with her husband. They left their little boy with grandparents and spent time holding hands, swimming with sea turtles and hiking around ancient Mayan ruins in Belize. I looked longingly at the pictures and wondered why we don't have an eight day cruise to Belize on the calendar.

It's so terrible isn't it? It's such a waste of emotion and energy. Before reading these posts I hadn't the slightest desire to go on a cruise or to Indonesia for crying out loud.

But jealousy snuck in. And it sucks. It's so destructive to a happy life.

The irony (and irony seems like too small of a word here, because it's more than ironic. it's rather tragic) is that I, too, am posting pictures and writing stories. And almost weekly I am told, "you are living our dream. we want to do what you're doing so badly."

One friend even told me that it's hard to see our pictures because she gets a little jealous.

Well crud.

When people tell this to my face I am quick to tell a bit of the behind the scenes, the stories that never get told or posted. How most of the time it is just Rory out in the garden and I'm watching from the little windows. How he wishes I could be more of a partner out in that garden, but how my part of the partnership has to be more related to the kids and the house and the meals.

Sometimes my part of the partnership makes me a little crazy. Obviously I adore my kids. I love our home and I feel so grateful for the little life we are beginning on this sweet little hobby farm. But show me a picture of Bali and Belize and I go a little bonkers.

So I've been thinking about this lately. All of this social media stuff is still so spanking new, and we have no idea how it affects us. Except that I think we actually do. The pro side says that sometimes it can inspire us to be more creative with our days. My favorite blogs actually do that. But then there are other times when that jealousy monster creeps into my heart and this farm and farmhouse and simple life I am leading looks like the enemy. And that's ludicrous.

Does anyone else do this to themselves? How do you deal with these feelings of jealousy?

Because when I look at my own life, the one God has put in front of me, I have nothing to be jealous of and everything for which to be grateful.

That same Kelly Rae who went to Bali, posted today that she is moving into a new art studio with friends. She had moved into a studio a year ago by herself but it was lonely. She wrote that she was able to make the move after such a short amount of time in her last space, "because I believe nothing is permanent and we can create what we most need."

Those words shook me out of it a bit and in the end I'm neither going to Bali or Belize. But I did call and get a babysitter for the next three Thursday nights so I can go to the movies with my husband. And that feels like a great step in the right direction.

Take that jealousy, you joy sucking loser.

our first strawberry

So far our little strawberry patch has gone unnoticed by the bunnies, bugs and birds in our area. But there is one pest who is hard to keep away. He joyfully picks the green and white strawberries and proudly tells us about what he has found and what is now cupped in his hand: a strawbally!

It made us wonder if we would ever get to eat a red strawberry. They hardly stand a chance. 

But after lots of coaching and talks of patience and waiting, we finally got to eat our first red strawberry. And we made a big deal of it. 

We split the strawberry four ways. Ivar took the first bite, then Mama, Dado and finally baby Elsie sucked on it for a long time. Then Ivar finished it off. (that makes it sound like it was a big berry. It wasn't.)

But it was one very celebrated strawberry. 

And now, I'd love to invite you to come on over to The Soul Sisterhood where I have my second post on Living your Life as a Great Story. We're not quite writing in our journals yet, so today I am simply introducing everyone to one of my very favorite life stories, my friend Banana Man.