The Meaning of Life

The chickens are running... well, not exactly. But, we finally have our garage back! It’s such a wonderful thing. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the sound of cheep cheep cheep… but the smell of poop poop poop was getting to me. The “ladies” are out in their new house now… just where they should be. And they are oooooh soooo happy! A few have tried to become escape artists but only in vain. That's right. There's no "run" for them right now... just a spacious mansion in which to walk about and ponder the meaning of life.

The garden is coming right along. Terry now has 2 full strips dug. Working on a 3^rd strip over time – but no rush for this year. So far I can see my cucumbers, squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and peppers all growing nicely! We’ve also added another strip over along the north side of the upper lawn for Sunflowers! I can’t wait. It will be a big beautiful row of Mammoth Sunflowers layered with smaller sunflowers layered with Shasta daisies & marigolds. What a wall of HAPPY!

Grace has moved out. Out of her nursery into her big girl bedroom… and she is quite happy to be there. I wondered how she’d handle the change of venue, but it’s been quite smooth… illnesses and all. Yes, we’ve all been passing around a nasty little virus of head and cough congestion. The other 2 ran fevers… so far I’ve been luckier. ANYWAY, Grace’s new room is about the girliest thing I’ve ever seen. I have to admit, it was quite an involved process getting all the "layers" of paint on the wall. Normally I don't have the patience for such a thing but I mean, come on, it's Grace's room! Those are “Candy tuft” pink walls with “Sassy pink” stripes. And the polka dots really add some Gracie flare, don’t you think? We bought the bed used through Craigslist (Sherry’s personal addiction), and the dresser came from Craigslist as well. It got refinished – painted, and tumble-polished hardware, and now is a great dresser with plenty of room for ALL Gracie’s clothes… and let me tell you, she’s got a ton of clothes (thanks Barb)! Anyway, the change from crib and rails to wall-less toddler bed went fairly well... Grace did manage to fall out of bed a couple times the first night! We have since added a small little partition (i.e. white plastic cutting board) on the outside edge in the middle section to help keep her from falling out again... so far it has worked. Who knew cutting boards could be so versatile?

It's not all been all about chores and painting... we've been having some fun time too. Grace has spent many of these nice summer days on the back deck reading in her patio set. She's also donned her sunglasses and played it cool with her very cool dog Zelda.

I wish I was a kid again.

And with all that said, the title of this post was "The Meaning of Life" No, this is no reference to a Monty Python movie. This is just reality... everyday day-to-day stuff...what many would consider the boring filler. But I disagree. The meaning of life is what God provides for us everyday - some chickens to laugh at, a garden to dig in, a little girls' room to obsess over (ha!)... that's the real meaning of life.

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Would You Rather...

OK, Had to share this with the folks out there... found it kind of funny and a bit challenging to think about...

It's from the game "Would you rather"... I'd love to see your posted comments on any that you find funny or hard to answer as well!

Would you rather:
Eat a can of cat food -or- eat 7 whole lemons (seeds, pulp, juice, and rind)?
Eat a can of cat food - I mean, 7 cats & our dog loves this stuff... it can't be that bad.

Have one child who is totally out of control -or- 9 children who are well behaved angels?
Oooooh, wow. This is tough, but I think that if we had the means to support all of them, I'd go for 9 well-behaved kids.

Have an attractive spouse with a hideously annoying laugh -or- an attractive spouse who is a really bad dresser (we're talkin' middle age polyester here...)?
Really bad dresser. I can always get mean and dress him if it's that out of control.

Without ever being able to wash them, be forced to forever use the same bath towel -or- sleep in the same sheets?
Ugh. Sheets are so long lasting... I mean we're talkin' 8 hours here... but then again, if you mess up the towel... cleanliness is over. I guess I'm gonna say use the same sheets... I'd just shower before bed every night.

Publicly mud wrestle your spouse -or- a stranger?
As mean as we can be, I'd wrestle Courtney. That'd be quite a show! HA!!!

Wake up one day and not recognize your friends and family -or- wake up one day and have them not recognize you?
That's tough. I'd rather deal with them not recognizing me. That way, I would have the opportunity to reintroduce myself to them and get them back in my life that way.

Have very, very smelly underarm sweat -or- non-odorous underarm sweat that nonetheless causes terrible stains on all your clothes?
Non-odorous sweat. I can always change & buy new clothes. Besides, I sweat like a pig already.

Have one thick, furry eyebrow across your entire forehead -or- an inordinate amount of ear and nose hair that cannot be removed?
This is one I truly can say neither. No thanks.
But since that's not the rules, I guess I'll go for the unibrow.

Have all your friends be smarter than you -or- have all your friends be much better looking than you?
Good grief. Smarter friends could be handy... I'll go for smarter. That way I can be edumacated... yeah.

As a 25 year old, forget your entire childhood up to age 15 -or- lose your memory of the last 5 years?
Shoot not much there from 20 to 25... sure I got married but really it was just newlywed stuff and college. Who really wants to remember that?

As a groom, forget the ring -or- be one hour late for your wedding?
I'm no groom, but I'd say it would be safer to forget the ring... at least you could use a "dummy" ring as a stand in.

Be offensive -or- incredibly passive?
Incredibly passive - I'm not sure either are going to do any good though...

Share your home with six 90-year-old men and six 90-year-old women -or- 2 ostriches?
Ostriches. Birds rock.

Get free gas for your car for the next 5 years -or- be exempt from speeding tickets for the rest of your life?
Have you seen the price of gas lately? Gas. Besides, I rarely get speeding tickets... of course, I drive conservatively to save on gas but if gas is free...

Have the power to read minds -or- the power to make anyone fall in love with you?
Read minds, but only ones I want to read. And definitely not everyone's at the same time!

Spend every minute for the rest of your life indoors -or- outdoors?
Outdoors, hands down.

Hang upside down suspended from the Eiffel Tower by a nylon cord -or- be strapped to the wing of a flying airplane with only duct tape?
Eiffel Tower - at least it's still.

Be 6 feet tall and ugly -or- 3 feet tall and beautiful?
3 feet tall and beautiful... I could just shop in the children's clothes section.

Be stranded on an island for 2 years with 20 friends -or- with a group of 20 famous people of your choosing?
20 friends. Most celebrities are psychotic.

Be stuck in a warm, dark place -or- a cold, light place?
Cold, light place. I can handle cold but constant darkness would just be depressing.

Have a photo developer always lose your photos -or- have the airlines always lose your luggage?
Photo developer can hose it up all he wants. We rarely develop our digital pics anyway. We're just that kind of people.

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You Asked, I Listened...

I've been summoned to come back and post pictures. So here are some pictures of things going on around here. Grace has been having an aweful lot of fun helping with the garden... er, um, I mean eating the dirt from the garden. She also likes to oversee the work being done from Mommy's big chair... kind of like a little director of events. Perfect.


Speaking of gardens, here's the latest pictures of what the garden out here is beginning to look like. multiple rows dug down (remember the Square Foot Gardening concept I posted on earlier... this is a modified version). We also have some plants in transplant mode in cups in the ground acclimating for their big day out.

Zelda has also been quite involved in the whole process of building chicken houses, planting gardens, playing in water, going for walks, playing with Grace, and just writhing around in complete and utter labrador enjoyment of the warming weather. It must be good to be a dog.


We also got out the little pool. It's too early to set up the larger one, so we had a small pool day Sunday since it was so warm. Grace thoroughly enjoyed her time splashing around. I posted a little video for those that are feeling a little Gracie withdrawal coming on (grandparents...).

Hope everyone else is enjoying this grand warm summer weather we're having!!

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Progress, Progress, Progress

Despite many efforts by mother nature and tired bones, this place is moving forward. Deep holes are dug around the garden and are ready to set in posts. ~then on to fencing it in. I believe there would be no hope in having a garden out here without fencing. I would be gardening only to feed the critters. So, that's our next big move forward. Many seed-start plants are transplanted and waiting to strengthen in cups in the ground. Others were planted by seed directly to the ground. We're seeing tiny faces of green popping through all over.

The chicken house hasn't changed too much from the last post. We've mostly been worrying about the digging of the garden and the fencing. The chicken house will hit a growth spurt soon though, and I'll have more pictures to post on it later.

We'll be moving Grace to a new room soon... into a big girl toddler bed. There's been a lot of furniture painting going on, and I'll soon paint her room. Pink, of course, with some stripes & polka dots on the walls too. I'll post pictures of that later as well. We're leaving her current room - the nursery - as is for now. Hoping that God will decide it's time for us to expand (literally).

Other than that, we're just keeping busy with spring maintenance around here. We've also seen two funerals next door in the last couple of months. Busy place for an old hilltop cemetary. We always go over to meet the "new neighbors" after. I guess we're a little odd, but isn't everyone?

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Beautiful Spring Weekend!

Wow. There has been some SERIOUS business going on around this place. I have now painted the base color coat on the chicken house! It's a nice natural sage green. The brick red roof looks pretty sharp if I do say so myself. We'll be adding doors, shutters, and window boxes in a few days to finish off the look. The trim on the ladies' house will be in an earthy gold and more of that luscious brick red! Yeah baby!!

We, ha, I say we like I actually did any digging... Terry and Courtney, got the first strip of the garden dug and filled. That's some super duper soil down in there. My plants should take off like crazy... now, I just have to go put the seeds in the soil...

It's lovely weather though. I just hung laundry out today. There is nothing better than the crispness and the smell of clothes off the line. Grace has been having a lot of fun outside playing in the warmer weather herself. She's really been enjoying all the digging going on. I know she's a little girl, but I think there's a little boy in there somewhere too!

I also got my Mother's Day present early. I've been eye-balling those beautiful Crape Myrtles... they are just so lovely in bloom... so I bought myself one. HA!!! Yeah, I did. I emailed Courtney and told him he was off the hook. He he. Hey, but I got myself something I'd wanted for a long time...

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