Day-cation!

How sad is it that the strawberries I bought last week for the planting bed are now ripening in their little plastic pots? And the strawberries aren't the only thing that is sad and neglected around here. I see windows to paint, weeds to pull, laundry (dear God - the lauuuuuuundry!!) piling up, a garden to tend and many, many, MANY field day t-shirts to tie-dye. SO - here's what I'm gonna do. For the next week or two, I'm declaring it my day-cation. I'm gonna tend to the myriad odd jobs during the daytime hours (until I either get caught up or throw my hands in the air and give up for good), and make beads in the evening hours. (Obviously, I'm gonna pack and mail the Cabana Boy beads first!)

I'll still pop in on a daily basis, because "all work and no play makes Jena borderline psycho". *grin* Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go eat that strawberry before the birds do!

Cabana Boy Beads Are Here!

Well, sorta...

They will go up in the Boutique, available for purchase at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight. Here's a little preview!! To see the rest, hop over to the Boutique at, you guessed it - 8 tonight!

Quick Question...

Would anyone be interested in one of these sets if I made it using Cabana Boy colors?? I'm thinking I'd like to make a set or 2, but I wanna make sure there's some interest before working on them this week.

Thanks!

Beads!

There will be a couple new things posted to the Boutique this afternoon!

Finally Friday

Well, happy day! The week is nearly over and the weekend is about to start. It has been a loooooooong week, that's for sure. The kids have been taking the CRCT test since Monday and they're all about to crack under the strain. No, not the strain of the test - they've all reported that it was a lot easier than they thought it was going to be. The strain they're complaining of is the enforced earlier bed times and my making them eat a real breakfast other than the Pop-Tarts they would prefer to eat. Yes, the truth comes out. I'm a horrible mother that allows her children to eat Pop-Tarts if they want. Somebody better call DFACS! *grin* Seriously, I do enjoy cooking, but I'd rather save the clean-up from breakfast mess for the weekends rather than our hairy weekday mornings.

I've got more beads to make so I'll be ready for the next 2 days, so I'd better run. See you all soon!

Short, Sweet & To The Point

Or should I change today's post title to say sweat?? It's darn hot here today, all things considered. Oh don't get me wrong, I'll take hot over cold any day of the week - it makes all the yummy plants in my garden happy!

Anyway, I should know better than to write "to the point" anywhere. One thing I know I am not, and that is succinct, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. Here goes:

*Ahem* I am busy making beads today. (duh, right?) More Cabana Boy beads like the ones in today's picture so I'll be ready come the weekend. I'll have a few things to offer on Saturday, but the main bulk of the Boutique update will come on Sunday. I hope you'll drop in and see what's kept me busy for so long!!

I Spy With My Big Green Eye

Eye know you're there. Eye know you've been waiting (some more patiently than others... *grin*). Eye just wanted to let you know that your wait is nearly over. Coming this weekend, there will be an eye-catching spectacle of brightly colored Cabana Boy beads. Don't lose focus now, there's only a few days left until you'll be gazing upon all the new goodies!

Chicken Q & A

In a new twist, this blog entry features pictures that aren't mine!

Why? Because I've had several e-mails about the chickens. The two most common questions are: 1. - Why did you decide to get all different kinds of chickens? and 2. - What will they look like when they're full grown?

Question number 1 - We look on these chickens as really cool pets that, as a bonus, are also prolific egg layers. We specifically chose to get different varieties so that we'd be able to name and tell them apart from one another. Plus, all the chickens turn out to be so beautiful when they mature that we couldn't really pick only one breed. All but one (that'd be Pearl) of the breeds we chose lay brown eggs, which I seem to prefer. I know an egg is an egg is an egg, but I can't help it. Ya like what ya like, you know?

Question number 2 - What will they look like? Beautiful!! Here, let me show you:


Our Mimi is an Australorp, like the hen in the picture. Their feathers are black with shimmering green, blue and purple highlights in the sun. She stands very straight and tall and will meet Gracie at the run door, ready to play. She's really funny how she follows Fifi around the coop and will squawk loudly the entire time I hold Fifi - until she's back in the pen with the door closed.


Fifi is a Barred Rock hen. Besides the beautiful patterning, her feathers are unbelievably soft - like holding a clucking teddy bear! Boy, that's an odd mental image, no? I love sitting with Fifi in the yard, petting her wonderful feathers and feeding her bananas (her favorite food). She really is an awesome chicken!

Lucy will be this gorgeous reddish chestnut color. Rhode Island Reds are Dean's favorite type of chicken and I have to confess, Lucy is our current favorite chick. She was (and still is) the tiniest chick we've got and yet she stands up to all the bigger chicks with absolutely no fear. She used to stand on their backs and peck at their feathers and toes. She got her name, Lucy, short for Lucifer, because we realized she was an ounce of pure, feathered evil for the first week of life! As a matter of fact, we had to temporarily isolate her from the other chicks so they could sleep in peace. She has mellowed, but I can definitely see this girl ruling the roost!


Ahhhhhh...Nadine. This gorgeous girl is a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and quite possible the most beautiful kind of chicken I've ever seen in real life. I don't know why they're called "blue laced" when the feathers are gray, but I'm the most excited about watching our fuzzy little chick grow into this beauty. The only thing prettier than a BLR Wyandotte hen is a BLR Wyandotte rooster! (Do a Google image search and see what I mean!) Unfortunately, it's looking like my Nadine might actually be a Ned. *sigh* We're going to wait another week or so, but it looks like the hackles (neck feathers) are growing faster than any of the other chicks. Plus, she's the same age as Bella but easily twice her size. From what I've been reading, both are indications that our chick is most likely a cockerel and not a pullet.

Pearl is a white Leghorn, like this group of hens. To me, these are what pops into my mind when I hear the word chicken. She will be the only white egg layer in our flock and seriously, how cute is that floppy comb? I probably sound the least excited about this chicken, and the truth is - I am - sorry. We got Pearl (along with Lola) at a chick giveaway in Roswell the day before Easter. And while I did want a white chicken, what I really wanted was one of these:

Light Sussex Hen or Columbian Wyandotte/Rock
(They look pretty much the same to me!)

It certainly isn't Pearl's fault that I have poor impulse control. The people at the giveaway told us we got to pick 2, so I picked 2 instead of the 1 (Lola) we had intended to get. Ha! Watch Pearl turn out to be the best chicken of the flock!!

Bella is our Golden Laced Wyandotte. This picture is a litte darker than the Wyandottes we saw in the breeder's pens, but you can get the general idea. They're really pretty with all the outlining around the feathers and are supposed to have the same gentle temperment as the Barred Rocks (like my precious Fifi!) Bella is a funny little chick and I can't wait til more of her gorgeous feathers grow in!

Is Lola a Golden Comet?

Lola is something of a mystery chick and we've been having a lot of fun trying to guess from her chick-y puffball coloring what she really is. So far, we think we've narrowed the possibilities to 2 breeds: Red Star or Golden Comet

Or is she a Red Star?

It really doesn't matter either way. They're both beautiful breeds of chickens that are very similar in color and are supposedly egg-laying machines. And honestly? I just like having more redheads around...even if those heads are feathered!!

Mmm...Breakfast!

There's nothing quite like a fresh, buttery croissant from your favorite German bakery. Whaaaa? Yep. Bernhardt's Bakery, down the street from where I refill my oxygen tanks, makes croissant that is head and shoulders above our local French bakery.

Who knew?

Here's something I did know. A fresh croissant dripping with blackberry preserves makes an excellent breakfast for what promises to be a long day of bead making!

More Cabana Beads

I finished these disks up on Friday, but just got them cleaned and strung. I can't decide which one is my favorite. Choices, choices...

New Chick Pics

It's been awhile since I mentioned chickens on my blog. So... chickens, chickens, chickens and more chickens. There - I think we're all caught up now! Wocka wocka wocka. (Sorry, I have always loved Fozzie Bear.)

Elinor has all the baby chicks in her lap because Tilly is running the vacuum cleaner in the playroom. The brooder box is on the floor in the playroom and I'm always afraid that the loud noise will scare the chicks. I've heard stories that you can actually startle a bird to death. Does anybody know if that's true or just an old wives tale?

Anyway, yes, we have new chicks in addition to Mimi and Fifi (who now live outside in the coop). From left to right in the top picture are: Lola - an ISA Brown (we think), Bella - a golden laced Wyandotte, Nadine - a blue laced red Wyandotte, Lucy - a Rhode Island Red and Pearl - a white Leghorn.

Whew! We're definitely done adding chickens to our flock unless something happens to any of our girls OR if any of our "shes" turns out to be a "he". In that case, they'd go back to the breeder because roosters aren't allowed within the city limits.

They are SO much fun!

I'm Thinking...

Do I really want to do 2 different version of the Cabana Boy lilypad? I like them both very much and there's where I'm stuck. I've finished making the blue version, complete with a dozen regular-sized lilypads and 3 larger focal beads. So far, I've only completed the 3 larger focal lilypads in the green and now I'm wondering if I should go ahead and make the dozen smaller beads or....not. I love having lots of variety and the mixie-matchie thing really appeals to me, but now I'm wondering if I should just leave it at focals and move onto different beads.

What do YOU think?

More Sneak Peeks

Cabana Boy dot and stripe disks are done. They look so juicy - I just want to pop them all in my mouth!

Stacked Smiles

I wanted to share one of my favorite pictures we had made last week. Isn't it just sweet??

Cabana Boy Beads Are Coming Soon!

Cabana Boy Blue Lilypads

Even though I'm not quite ready to post this month's Boutique beads, I still wanted to show a little preview of what I've been working on! I know I say this about nearly every series I work with, but Cabana Boy beads really ARE my favorite color combination. They are as bright, fun and downright yummy as an umbrella drink on a summer's day.

As for the reason why I'm not ready yet - here's a little word to the wise (and someone please remind me of this in the future when it comes up again) - never plan to get a week's worth of studio time in during Spring Break when the kids are home! It just doesn't ever pan out the way I intend for it to. *sigh*

So. When will I have beads ready? The answer is: I don't have an answer. Yet. Let me get back to you on that. Make sure you're on my mailing list (link to join is on the top right column of this blog under my picture and profile) because I'll be sending out a Boutique notification e-mail the night before the beads will be posted. For example, if I decide to post beads on Monday, I'll send the Boutique e-mail out on Sunday night. I'll also post a blog update to announce the Boutique date, so you can stay informed that way as well.

I'll share more sneak peeks in the coming days, so be sure to check back in!

Yes, Please!

Tumbleweed B-53

In our society, houses are typically seen as outward reflections of your wealth, importance, social standing, etc... The emphasis seems to be on "bigger is better" and "too much is never enough". Now don't get me wrong, there are days when I think it would be absolutely fantastic if we owned an enormous house with a home theater, library, huge pantry and a restaurant-quality/professional kitchen. But then I look around and realize that somebody would have to help clean all that with me because I can barely keep up with the maintenance, cleaning and - Heaven help me- laundry for the house I do have!

Yeah, bigger is nice and all the specialized spaces are fun, but you know what?? I'd really rather go the opposite direction: smaller.....MUCH smaller. I was reading an article last year about Jay Shafer. He's this guy who designs, builds and lives in these eensie weensie houses not much bigger than a postage stamp. Seriously, some of his designs are intended to be built onto a pull-along trailer frame so that they can be towed to a new location whenever the urge strikes! Watch this video and you'll see what I mean. While I admire the thinking and the minimal environmental impact, I don't think I could go quite that small. For one thing, I have 3 kids at home! And even after they're gone, I'm not interested in going quite that tiny. I adore cooking and absolutely have to have a real kitchen with refrigerator and enough room to store all my "stuff".

Okay, so we've established that I would skip over the tiny house plan designs Jay offers. (And yes, with square footage running from 65 to 140, they definitely qualify as tiny.) However, I do like the other group of small house plans he offers. If I had never married, I would build the Loring with additional bedroom in my parent's backyard in the space of about 2 heartbeats! If I had the money today, I would build the B-53 model, picture shown above. And I'd figure out how to incorporate a basement or a root/storm cellar, because "Hello? Tornado alley, here!". Plus, it's so small that I bet you could set it up to use solar power, water recycling and what-have-you and your bills would be almost nothing. Yes, it's exactly the same design as the Loring, just scaled up quite a bit more. As a matter of fact, at either 743 or 837 square feet, it's the largest houseplan Jay offers. Check out the floor plan below:

If you built it with the additional bedroom on the back, you could just do built-in book shelves all around the "bedroom" walls and plunk a scaled-down dining room table and chairs in the middle. Voila - now you have a dining room/study/library space! Now try and tell me that isn't clever! No, don't even try 'cause I'm not buying it. *wink* And if you didn't have kids, you could finish the second upstairs bedroom as either a guest room or a home office/studio - or maybe some combination of the two, perhaps?

I think the B-53 house is absolutely adorable because I've always loved Arts & Crafts style bungalows, although Dean likes these 2 front elevations better:

Enesti

This one reminds me of your typical farmhouse. That's not a bad thing at all - it's just not MY thing.

Sebastarosa

And this one screams "American Gothic" to me. Check out the painting:

I have to say, I like that house plan almost as much as I like the B-53 (but don't tell Dean).

If you'd like to read more about Jay Shafer and his business, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, click HERE.

Yep, Definitely Monday

Now that we've got power again, I'm trying to get a quick update posted - just in case. We had some storms earlier this morning with high winds that downed trees and branches in addition to knocking out the power lines. I was worried, not for myself, but for the box of baby chicks we have that are still using the brooder bulb to help regulate their body temperature. No worries, the chicks are all fine!

The funny thing is that we were more concerned about the storms that passed through this weekend than the ones moving through today and tomorrow. There were reports of hail the size of apples, several tornadoes and a few twister-related deaths in Tennessee - awful!

Anyway, now that I've got a working water heater and am not navigating with a flashlight, I've got a lot of catching up to do so I'd better run!

Happy Easter!

Hope your holiday is a sweet one!

Movie Time!

We went to go see the movie this afternoon. Very, very cute! It was highly enjoyable for both the kids and me, but you never, ever forget you're listening to Reese Witherspoon play Susan - ummm... excuse me, "Ginormica". She just has such a distinctive voice and sounds so much like every character she's ever played.

Still - a really fun, popcorn-snarfing movie!

Can I Have a Break Now?

Whew! It's been a loooong day. It isn't even 4 p.m. and I'm feeling like I could go ahead and go to bed already. I don't even think I'd bother eating supper, just collapse into a boneless pile on top of the bed.

We let the chickens out into the coop yard this morning after it had warmed up a bit. They'd been outside in the coop since Sunday, but confined to the hen house while the cold front rolled through. We actually had SNOW yesterday. It didn't stick, but still. Snow? In Georgia? In April?? If I liked cold weather I wouldn't be living as far south as I do, now would I? If this is what global warming means, color me completely unimpressed. Talk to me about it when I'm wearing Bermuda shorts in February.

So, what did we do that wiped me out so much? Now that I think back, it doesn't seem like a whole lot. The most draining part was dragging the kids from pillar to post, trying to find coordinating clothes for them to wear on Friday. Every Spring, I take the kids to have their picture taken so that I have some photographic evidence of their childhood other than the twice yearly school mugshots they bring home. It's that time of year again, so - shopping we must go! Taking my kids clothes shopping is a lot like trying to herd cats; once you get one going the right direction, the others have veered off course again. It doesn't help that we never find the right thing at the first or second (or third or fourth) store we look in, either. By store six, I had almost completely lost their cooperation and only wrested it back by offering to spring for lunch out if they would stay focused. (Eating out is a big deal to my kids, most likely because I offer to do it so seldom. Why pay someone else to make food I'm perfectly capable of making at home?) Turns out that was the perfect carrot to dangle and we bagged our outfits very soon afterwards. Outfits in hand and with full bellies, we hopped back in the car.

What I didn't tell them was that I also had planned to take them for haircuts before heading home. All four of us got our ears lowered, as a matter of fact. Bwahaha! Because we were walk-ins, we had to sit for quite a while before any of the stylists could get to us. Davis got his usual all-over clipper cut. Tilly had about 2 inches cut, while Elinor had her bangs and dead ends trimmed. I went for the more radical change, adding long layers and cutting about 4 inches off the ends. My head feels about 8 pounds lighter now. Summer hair - I love it!

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to see Monster Vs. Aliens. They're really looking forward to it and so am I! I think I will go to bed early tonight, so there won't be any chance of my zonking out during the movie...

Which Sign Should be Mine?

As I mentioned yesterday, I want to put a tin sign on the blank wall next to the sliding hen house door. You know, here:


Dean and I have found several signs that we really like, but I'm having a hard time picking one. First, I'll show you my absolutely favorite sign and tell you why I can't have it.


This is the sign I like the best of all the ones I've seen. (I've been trying to figure out what kind of chicken that is, 'cause I sure would like one. The feathered feet keep throwing me. It looks most like the English Light Sussex, but again, I can't find any pictures of them with the feathers on the feet. And the Colombian Rock has similar patterning around the neck, but their tails are white. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually.) Unfortunately, the colors of the sign are all wrong for the colors we used on the coop. Also, the layout of this sign is horizontal rather than vertical and it wouldn't fit in the space I had in mind. On the good side, I can still buy it! Our neighbors who built a coop after talking to us, painted theirs blue to coordinate with their house and it will make a good "coop warming" gift for them.
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This is the sign that Dean likes the best. I understand his thinking: the colors are better, the orientation is right, we will be raising the chickens for eggs, etc. But still, I'm not completely convinced. While it is definitely retro, I think it leans a leeeetle too much to the cutesy side for me to really be happy with. I have a serious aversion to all things overtly "country". But this sign is still definitely in the running.
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After the tin sign I can't have, this is the sign I like the best. I especially like the colors and the simple, yet bold design. It's definitely more my style - no unnecessary frou-frou, thank you very much. It's oriented the right way and to my mind, would be perfect for our coop. I think Dean's main objection is that we aren't planning to sell chicks, but I'll have to ask him again to be sure.
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This sign was never even under consideration, but I wanted to show it anyway. The Kewpie doll-looking kid kinda freaks me out, you know. Cutesy country strikes again!
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And boy, do I like the sentiment of this one! Maybe I should hang it inside my closet door...


So, which one of the above signs do YOU think would go best?

The Coop is Finished!

Today's post is a simple one. Oodles of pictures and not much commentary from me. So here we go!

As you can tell from the title and pictures, we did indeed finish and position the chicken coop this weekend. I love, love, love it and I have to tell you now, it physically pained me to let the wee pooping beasties loose in this pristine coop!




The roosts are made using branches we cut off the monstrously huge Magnolia Grandiflora you can see through the coop window. The nesting boxes in the back we left open only to take pictures of. They have to be covered up for the next couple of months until the girls begin to lay eggs. (You don't want chickens to get accustomed to sleeping in their nesting boxes. That's what the roosts are for!)

The floor doesn't look like that now either. Right before we added the girls, I put a 2" thick layer of pine shavings down on the tiles.

The whole face of the coop is hinged for easy clean up. Also, the bottom opposite side under the nest box (underneath the coop) will swing open so we can get in that way too.


Gracie is fascinated by the chickens and will sit and watch them endlessly.


Tilly, Elinor, Gracie and Phillip, our neighbor's son, watch the chickens settling in to their new digs.


Seriously. She'll sit there until we make her leave.


Isn't it wonderful? Dean let me have my way with picking the colors for the coop and the roof. Smart man. Fortunately, we both prefer earth-tones and our color likes and dislikes usually dovetail seamlessly.

The empty wall space next to the sliding door won't be empty for long. I want one of those reproduction advertising tin signs to hang there. I just haven't decided which one yet. I'll find a picture of each of the candidates and post them in another update later.


More magnolia branches for the steps. Dean's idea, I thought they looked perfect!


He's already gone back and added a third hinge between the two shown here.


I meant to take a picture of the nesting box open - oops!

The cord for the coop pulley is a replacement lawn mower cord Dean bought at Lowes. He's a clever, clever man!


All the windows are hinged with hardware cloth screens behind for maximum air flow-through during our sweltering southern summers.


So??? Whatcha think? I'm looking forward to reading your comments!