A Whole Lot'a Simplicity

My relaxation of choice while the kiddos were napping. A little wine, a little chocolate, and a whole lotta Simplicity.

This year we decided not to plant a garden. . . well we more let the garden bed go too far this last year and therefore did not feel the desire to tackle it in order to get garden fresh veggies that our children shun over store bought canned veggies. However I have always wanted an herb bed but didn't know where to put it. My sweet, handsome, muscular, Beloved built me this sweet raised bed. I bought some starts and placed them by the front door, hoping that they would magically find their way into the soil. . . and they did! 

I love my husband.

I decided to plant half the bed with strawberries and the rest is cilantro, which is laying down on the job, lettuce, see it there with it's hand up, I think it has a question, and in the back is some oregano. There is one spot in the back that my Beloved wants to fill with a tomato plant. I'm not sure how well it will do in this location but for the prospect of fresh salsa we are willing to try. :)

I'm also brainstorming for some ideas on how to label my sections. I want something cheap, as in free, but pretty and possibly whimsical. Here's what pinterest and I have come up with.

In My Own Style

I like these but they mat be a little too DIY.

My Chic Life

Love this and I might have a few corks laying around.

Studio Blog

This is great as well. I think it would look best in front of rosemary or lavender of which I have neither.

Design Your Revolution

I would love the spoons but since I have never done anything like this I think it would have to break my free rule. Perhaps someday.

Which is your favorite? Do you have a link for something better. . . ooooh do tell.

My Beloved also spruced up this area. Which if you remember I teased that we were going to do something with and I think we might be getting close to possibly making that happen-ish. I'll let you know soon. We get side tracked easily and our yard plans change from year to year.

Aaaahhh this is my family doing what we love. . . I'm on the swing on the porch with a drink and a book watching all of this take place. . . HA I wish, I think I was actually cleaning mud out of the living room rug.

I do love to watch the girls play. Especially when they have no idea that I am watching. Beloise was playing down on the slope eating a Rice Krispy treat, humming to herself and wandering aimlessly until she suddenly stopped turned on one heel and spun around then wandered a little further only to repeat this action. . . So sweet. . . I wish I knew what she was thinking at those moments. . . I remember I used to run out into the fields of tall grass around my house with my mom's Tom Sawyer book, spread out a blanket and pretend I was reading. Or my sisters and I would tie the grass together at the top, for a doorway, and trample sections down for our houses and then go visiting each other. I miss fields. Even the ones I used to play in are much more developed now. Not houses but horses or shop garages, orchards and gardens. My tall grass is gone.

. . . *sigh*. . . that's progress.

This weekend Ballerina ran, sobbing, into the house where I was preparing breakfast. Apparently my Beloved had told her that Dora (the Rhode Island Red chicken from the original batch gifted from my Dad) was going to be butchered that day. Not being sure why this would bother her, since Dora is the meanest chicken and chases the children whenever she is out of the pen, I asked her what she was going to miss about Dora. "I just like her color," was the reply. Perfect, I thought this will be an easy fix, "next time we get baby chicks we will get a red one okay?" At first she wasn't okay with this solution because she wanted a BIG red one but after a while her sobs subsided and she was okay with it . In fact she ran into the kitchen later that day, hands clasped, with a large grin on her face.

"Mom, I have a suprisemint for you!"

"What's that?"

While jumping up and down with joy she opened her hands to reveal a large brown egg.

"Dora laid her last egg!" 

I am going to warn you this next picture may be disturbing for animal lovers not used to farm mentality that some animals although loved while living and serving a purpose are eventually killed for meat. . . . 

Well it isn't terrible, if you have seen a chicken at the store it's pretty much the same. . . .

but with a neck. . .

Last chance to skip ahead really fast to the comment section.

Ta-Da. This is the first chicken that we have butchered. I say we but those of you who know me, know that my Beloved did all of this, I won't touch it until it looks like something from the store. He said it was pretty simple, he watched a few YouTube tutorials so he's an expert now ;D. 

The girls were fascinated by this and now they keep asking to see Dora in the freezer. I'm hoping that she will make a tasty soup perhaps next week. If I can wait that long. Before every meal I get the question from my little monsters "Are we are going to eat Dora?"

That's healthy right?

Perfectly normal? . . . I'll check into therapy *sigh*.

~And So That's What She Did.

Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax, of Cabbages and Kings

"The time has come my friend to talk of other things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. . . "

A few weeks ago our dryer decided to stop drying. . . 

on the first laundry day of the week. . . 

on the first load of laundry. 

Thankfully by fabulous sister-in-law happened to have an extra dryer laying around so we were able to catch up pretty quickly but in order to get the borrowed dryer into the laundry room my Beloved had to take the door off the hinges. So of course the girls assumed he was making a slide for them.

The hole in the laundry room door is a mildly amusing story. It was that way when we moved in. . . see how mild that was.

Really it has come in handy and we have thought about framing it out to look more like the dog door we use it as. We once had a Yorkshire terrier and she used it quit frequently since her food was in the laundry room. More recently Penny has been enlarging it for her own use.

My Beloved's parents and his sister, Aunt Nay, made the trek from Idaho for Suzanne's memorial. It was nice to have them here. Great to be able to focus on other things and know that my kids were in grand hands. Here's Grampy with Ham-Huck.

After the memorial we were all exhausted with aching feet. So we treated ourselves to a foot soak, apparently Beloise missed the memo about it only being for your feet.

Why not eat strawberries while bathing in the mop bucket?

On Monday they headed back to Idaho. Ballerina HAS to watch people leaving our house to see which way they go. I snuck into her dark bedroom to find her peering out of the window. Please disregard the giant pile of clothes by the window I had just gone through the girls drawers and haven't found a place for these hand-me-downs just yet. Also I believe that string is the string from my camera, that's been bothering me for a while. I couldn't figure out what it was . . . funny how I start to analyze pictures once I post them on here. ;)

Later that day it was nice out so we spent as much time out of doors as possible.

Beloise loves when her sister "reads" to her. I love to hear the story change every time.

Apparently we aren't feeding Dora enough.

Here are the baby chicks. . . not so baby anymore. They are nearly all feathers now.

Ballerina has been begging us to roast marshmallows so we finally gave in and blazed up the fire pit for the first time this year.

Yeah she just ate the marshmallow she was supposed to be getting for me!

And in case you missed my mug, here's one for you. . . 

FIRE!! See what happens when I try to pose for you!

Marshmallow face

This is rapidly becoming me new favorite photo of Beloise.

This is a regular occurrence at our house.

Like I said. . .

This crazy dog has her head on my foot. . . she's so sweet. . . we love her. 

Except when she rolls in pungent things and then wants to snuggle. 

Then we love her from afar.

~And So That's What She Did.

Go Play Outside

I love sunny weather. It keeps my house clean. I send the kids out first thing in the morning, call them in for breakfast, send them out till lunch and then clean the house while they nap. After nap time, back outside folks. I love it. Unfortunately we will probably have rain the rest of the week. But while it lasted I took a few pictures of the girls playing today.

We let the chickens out of their new outdoor pen. Let me tell you I was so glad to get them out of the house.  It's a bad sign when people come in the house, sniff and say ooh are you cooking fish? nope just raising chickens.

These two are the more adventurous ones in the group.

Once they determined the coast was clear they all came out to see what they could find. These little guys have grown so much that I think I should re-introduce them.

This is Ethel, the ornery one, a Black Sex Link. She is by far the leader and a very photogenic ham. Every where I pointed the camera she sped over and posed in front of the other chicken.

Here's Chrysanthemum, our Silver Laced Wyandotte. She's bashful but speedy.

Olga, my beauty, she's a California White. 

And lastly, Hazelbell Featherdy, our Light Brahma.

Poser.

The girls love the sand box. I often find Beloise laying down in the sand.

Oh no, I've been spotted, prepare for a ham-moment. . . 

Ta-Da! She's worse then Ethel.

They have been pulling out their fluff to make way for their feathers.

I was trying to get a shot of Hazelbell when Ethel darted over and when I looked at the picture this is what I saw.

Our old girls are still going strong. Laying usually an egg a day each.

Speaking of hams, I wanted to show you what we are doing to the playhouse area but Penny decided to come stretch in front of me.

We have moved the playhouse down on the slope for a bit so that we can remove the bark dust. My Beloved is planning to make a floor for the house to keep it up off the ground. He also reinforced the pathway with a plastic border thingy, since the sand and rocks kept sliding out of place hopefully this keeps it in place a little better. We haven't decided on a new ground cover for around the playhouse, probably grass but I would like to put some flower beds beneath the windows.

We also would like to put in a picket fence along the rock wall with a mailbox on the last post. But I doubt it will happen this summer.

Beloise, back in the sand box.

While I was taking these pictures Ballerina noticed what I was doing and ran over to the sand box mumbling some excuse about oh yeah that's what I was going to do.

The girls love to play restaurant. The Menu?

Eggs and Toast

Chicken and Rice

Chicken Sauce Soup

Cheeseburger

Water

Milk

They also do specialty orders if you ask but be prepared to pay for it.

I said pay not pray.

~And So That's What She Did