Broody Chicken

i have a broody chicken. did i mention that before? having a broody hen in your midst is like a woman with bad pms. all this chicken does is sit in a corner of the girls' playhouse, yells at you, ruffles her feathers at you, pecks at you, and poops where she is sitting, which makes heat spots on her underside . she gets up maybe, once a day to eat, drink, and potty. other than that she is in that one dirty corner. "why?" you ask? she thinks she going to hatch a golf ball. yes, a golf ball. there were eggs, but we removed them to try to get her to move, but she found the golf ball to sit on. those eggs were never going to hatch. and here is where we will have a quick lesson in chicken eggs. i have found out that many people don't understand the chicken egg. some people think all chicken eggs will lay a baby chick. not so. you HAVE to have a rooster in your midst to fertilize the egg, the same way human males fertilize a woman's egg...need i say more? so the chances of you actually coming across an actual chicken embryo for breakfast is slim to none, for commercial hens are no where near roosters. on the ole farm or urban homestead they have their ways of keeping things in check. me, we don't keep roosters. well, i'm not suppose to. i have 2 baby boys i don't know what to do with, more on that later. anywho...chocolate(broody hen) has been sitting in that corner forever. i'm so tired of it. the kids can't play in their playhouse and i'm not getting my eggs from her. i heard you could put ice cubes under them, remove the eggs(check), wait it out(check), or remove them from the nest. putting ice cubes under my mad chicken did not sound like fun, so i braved the wrath of chocolate, picked her up and put her in a locked pen with a roost so maybe she could cool her featherless underside. we'll give her a week to get over her broodiness and see what happens. i just want my eggs back.

Grosgrain: Sweet Pea Patterns Guest Giveaway

Grosgrain: Sweet Pea Patterns Guest Giveaway

adorable baby shoes...<3

Monday Morning Anthropologie

looks like interior walls will be going up soon. who knows?

33 Weeks

this week i dropped. i woke up, looked in the mirror and thought for a brief moment that my tummy looked different. when i took the kids to school, juni's primary teacher asked me if i had dropped. i totally jumped to attention because i didn't even trust my own judgment on what i thought i had seen on my own body. so i ran home to compare photos of my belly to what i looked like now. i am definitely lower. little toot in my belly is snuggling downward, huh?

Now

• listening to: fireworks outside my house
  
• reading: the Bible in 90 days, day 20, 1 samuel
  
• drinking: ice water
  
• watching: reruns of dog the bounty hunter
  
• sewing: curtains for the kids' rooms
  
• quilting: a panel for last month's bee
• wanting: my footsies rubbed
  

Have a Happy Forth!!!

I Got Up Early This Morning

i woke up at 5am. i sat in bed for an hour till i heard my fledgling rooster crowing at 6am on the nose. my goal was to remove him from his hutch, put him in the garage where i could not hear him and his awkward attempts at male-hood, and go back to bed. but after being outside in the cool morning breeze, the quiet air, wink running around, chickens pecking the ground, and petting my sweet teenage chicken, i decided to clean the back yard some. it is always so hot when i am awake, but this morning was perfect! then in the kitchen i boiled some water, ground my coffee beans, took out my press and made myself some nice hot liquid gold. it was so peaceful with everyone in bed. everything was so still, but me. i then made blueberry corn muffins. i love blueberry muffins. i am very particular about them, but this recipe is so lovely. not too sweet, and the blueberries were from our pickins' a couple weeks ago. just tart enough to compliment the fine sweet corn taste:)

2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs

• cream together the first 4 ingredients with an electric mixer or stand mixer for about 5 minutes till creamed. add the 2 eggs one at a time, and mix well after each addition.

2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. yellow corn meal
1 1/3 c. milk
frozen or fresh blueberries

• on parchment or in another bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. on low speed, add half the flour mixture alternately with half milk until all ingredients have been added.
• at this point i added about 2 cups of my frozen blueberries. spoon into paper-lined muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly brown.

i think this recipe made about 24 muffins, and i ate about 5 while drinking my coffee:)

for summer treats i like to take the kids to get a sno cone. this week i thought we'd try this josh's sno shack i'd been hearing about on the other side of the world(south tulsa). i love shaved ice, the kind that melts in your mouth, not the crunchy kind. this was very good. the menu was huge and intimidating, and you can get add ins such as my favorite, gummi bears! bee settled on rainbow,juni got wedding cake, which she thought tasted like bubble gum, and i got firecracker-sweet and spicy.

summer is happening right before our eyes, gotta get in as many sno cones as we can:)