diy fabric softner...i like it

mix in a jug one bottle of your choice conditioner (i used suave rosemary and mint), six cups water and three cups distilled vinegar. stir, not shake. use as you would any other liquid fabric softner. me, i use a downy ball.

it's cheap, smells good and works. enjoy.





polyface farm! yeehaw!

i am so excited. i have booked the lunatic tour at polyface farm in swoope, virginia for jamie and myself! this is the farm that was featured in the documentary  food, inc.  surprisingly, this amazing farm is only about three hours away from our home, so a quick one day trip is planned. i am counting the days....can not wait. i need boots.

chickens, pigs, cows...grass fed...oh my!

just an egg pic to give ya something to look at, enjoy.

slacker

slacker....that's me. i had a good friend to remind just how much of one i have been lately with this blog, she's right. she is so over seeing the turd cake from months ago, so i had better come up with something and fast before i loose my all of one follower. let's see what's new? hmmmmmm....do you know i work now? i mean if you define work by twenty hours a week, then i do! i am a switchboard operator for our local hospital. it is...well...different, if you don't mind hearing penis, bm's, vomiting and so on stories...all this and more before you can get out that you are just the lowly operator. where can i transfer you? people are crazy i tell you. everything from there are bugs in my lungs to i have a toothpick stuck in my penis! ow.

anyway, what else? christmas, it was nice, low key, uneventful, kids happy, good. new years, it was nice, low key, uneventful, kids happy, good. we have finally finished all the required "stuff" to the old farmhouse, so every one has left the building. i do not have to worry about contractors and any of that crap for awhile. people keep asking-us where we found it, when are you moving, why did you buy it? let me address those questions now, in order....internet, i don't know and it was an opportunity.  done. if you need details, let me know.

i guess there is not too much else to talk about that i can think of for the moment, so let me fill in with some random photos.....enjoy.

travis enjoying the tub at the old place....

the only christmas tree i put up this year....pitiful, slacker....

what happens when you don't listen...

just because i like it...





send me your pyrex, fire king, etc...

the red roof inn...teehee. see ya!

freecycling baby!

oh my gosh i have become a freecycling junkie!

what is freecycling you ask? well, according to the net it is "also known as free recycling, is the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills." it is so much fun! it has allowed me to give away items i don't use or need any longer and in return find things i do need or just plain want. i love it.  for example, just today i was freecycled this fantastic comforter set for travis.

it is made by olive's kids and included sheets, shams, valances, comforter and even a matching room sized rug! he loves it and i am so appreciative. other things i have picked up included shoes for travis, tops for caroline, decorative knick knacks and even this lovely antique sofa.

it has not been all take on my part, i have also been freecycling back quite a bit, giving bags and bags of kids clothes, pairs of shoes, pictures, seasonal decorations and more. i just gave away a huge bag of crafting goodies yesterday. the old saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure" is so freaking true!

if you think you might be interested in freecycling check it out here. you enter where you live and join that particular yahoo group. you will get emails with offers, wanteds, founds, etc...

remember to reuse, reduce and recycle. enjoy.

meet ada and mildred....

they are my two new adopted welsummer hen sisters and they seem right at home, already. i named these girls ada and mildred in honor of two old sisters that i knew as a kid. you see, both of my folks were from lynchburg, virginia and on our many trips to see family we would stop at ada and mildred's rambling old farmhouse. i have no idea how my parents came to know these two women, one widowed and one a spinster, but i remember their house was green, old, smelled of body odor, bacon grease and full of beautiful antiques. they also produced the most tasty sweet and butter milks, as well as the most adorable boston terrier pups ever. my parents bought it all, the antiques, milks and puppies. what characters these two wonderfully large bosomed, shift wearing ladies were. they were the most eclectic coupla of old hens i have ever met. we loved exploring their old farm as kids on our visits. heck, my brother kevin even manage to rack up a few foot stitches courtesy of one of their rusty pitchforks on one trip! ow! can you say tetanus shot?

sadly, they both passed sometime in the 1980's. here are my ada and mildred....

this is ada, right in the front, next to rosie. i think both of the welsummers look very similar to my rhode island reds.

mildred and rosie hanging with dottie.

the two new sister wives making themselves at home in the coop. they figured it all out immediately. this was the easiest chicken integration i have ever done. wanna see what their eggs might look like? look here and scroll down. oh baby, come on ada and mildred. i have faith in you. hmmmm...faith...that would make a nice chicken name. hey jamie....

another interesting link. enjoy.

it's been awhile....

i know. how are you? there is so much going on in my life lately that i have not had the time or motivation to post. some things i can talk about, some i will talk about later. i guess right now i am dealing with school ending and jamie's surgery. he had carpal surgery four days ago and all i can say is thank goodness he didn't get both hands done at the same time! they offered. he said no thanks. thank ya lord. he is actually making good progress and already sees signs of improvement, actually, almost immediately. it was a good decision and incision.

school is ending. oh....now the constant entertaining begins. i don't want to think about it. moving on....

then there is something else going on, but i can't talk right now, but it is a good thing, so don't worry. although for me it is a scary, hair pulling, nail biting, skin breaking out.....good thing. hang tight. announcement soon.....or not.

okay, just because you know you want to see it, here is jamie's six stitches of relief. enjoy.

pyrex princess....cinderella to be exact

i love vintage pyrex and have decide to act upon my desires....today's purchase.

i am quickly becoming a regular at the thrift stores with a ziploc of change in tow. i want your pyrex. check your cupboards. gimme. please. now.

i will give you eggs. deal?

i beg of you. enjoy.

the end. pretty please....

a gardener, i am not

i am going to try my hand or thumb with a little gardening this year. i suspect it won't do too good considering...it is me. i am going to attempt to grow some veggies in raised beds rather than a plowed row garden. here are a couple of pics of how i have done so far....

how have i done? i have done very little, that's how. i do have then lined with weed block and that is about all. those mums you see in the last box, compliments of travis. they won't stay.

it is suppose to rain this weekend, so i expect i will get done even less....more. i will keep you posted. enjoy.

compost.... poop happens

and lots of it especially when you have chickens, so i want to start composting. i want to not only compost  the chicken poop, but all my kitchen scraps, etc.... so i want, scratch that, need both a compost kitchen pail and a compost tumbler. now, the kitchen pail ain't cheap, but i found one at lowe's reasonably priced. i like it. it is plain, but pretty.

there are fancier ones out there, but this serves its purpose, i just need it to haul my egg shells, coffee grounds, veggie scraps to the tumbler outdoors. it beats the old cool whip and coffee containers i had been using. now, the tumbler, dang, those puppies are expensive. the few we looked both at the local home store and online were over $150!! each. i don't think so. jamie's wheels started spinning and he got to making me a homemade jobbie.

first he rounded up a scrap barrel, wood, saw blades, steering wheel, pvc, etc... to get it going. so far, cost=free!

i think i might need a horn on that sucker....beep..beep!

then he bought two bearings=$16 not bad.....

awww, he tried to personalize it, no not really, it is part of an old road sign he used on the inside for support.

then he bought two cans of special plastic paint, in black, to draw the heat=$12, still not bad, so $28 later i get this!

i love it!!

it beats $150 any day! thanks honey. now we can churn some black gold for our raised veggie gardens. what? raised veggie gardens, wait till you see what he is cooking up for that one. stay tuned. meanwhile....

you girls get to pooping!! yea, like you need my encouragement. enjoy.

timberneck farm

or old minty as i like to call it. oh how i love you. oh how i hate you. i love that you are beatiful, historic, spooky, green and surrounded by lovely sunflower fields and sparkling water. i hate that i can not even afford a single nugget of your soil. ugh.

timber neck farm is a 600 acre historic estate in gloucester, virginia being developed for rich folk by the parent company of jamie's employer. oh my gosh is it ever georgous and chocked full of history. we went over to play on saturday. i took a few pics, mostly of the house and the point of land it sits on. there are hundreds of acres of beautiful fields encircled by lots fronting the york river. if you are on the yorktown side of the river,  you can actually see this house from the colonial parkway. i definitely have a love hate relationship with timberneck. i cry when i see it and when i leave it. it hurts being poor.

enjoy.

my first lay

now that i have your attention....i am talking chickens and eggs. teehee. you see my rhode island red, lucy, has been on hiatus to have a mini-molt and just starting laying again two days ago. i  just now went to the coop for a visit, share some grapes and i got to see her lay. although i have had my chickens for almost a year, i have yet to see one lay an egg. i go out there and the eggs are waiting for me or a girl is on the nest, but i never get to see mother nature in action. i mean to be there, right there, when it falls out of her bottom, that is until a few minutes ago. i quietly watched her as she turned around, scratched the bedding, turned around again, again, and again, threw a few pine chips on her back, stood up, sweetly chirped and plop! that beautiful egg hit the bottom of the nest box like a golf ball bouncing on wood. it was so coooooool. i know, i know, i am not right, but you knew that already. here is a picture of it minutes old, perfectly clean and warm.

i know some of you don't get it, but i think is fascinating. man, if only i could lay an egg like that without any expensive drugs, then maybe i would not have had such a hard time getting pregnant. way to go lucy girl!

enjoy, beth

happy valentine's day and yep, i am still here

i am still alive and kicking, but have been so not motivated to post, cook, bake, clean, you name it. i think i must have the winter blahs. today, here in yorktown, it is 72 degrees and a freaking teaser. i love it and it makes me feel so much better, but, wait, it all crashes back down to the freaking forties tomorrow. i am so ready for spring. i am ready for the windows to be up in the house and down in the car. i am ready to hear my chickens singing and happily over running  me with eggs to share. i am so ready for vacation even if it is a staycation. i am just so ready....how about you?

happy valentine's day friends. tonight, it is ribeyes on the grill, roasted veggies, cesar salad, rolls and chocolate icebox cake. yum. enjoy.

dottie's eggs

well, it looks like my girl dottie is finally a happy camper because she is laying! ain't they purdy? her eggs are not dark like her roommate ruby's but just as lovely, all terra cotta and speckly.

i now know i picked the perfect name for my christmas gift. enjoy.

meet dottie

she is my new cuckoo marans hen. she is a bit nervous right now and has not come out of the coop, probably because the buzzards are circling....

well, right below her, just waiting to establish that pecking order. it's not a pretty sight, but it will all come together, eventually. i hope.

i think she is right pretty and

i can't wait to get my first egg. merry christmas to me. enjoy.

wise guy eh?

who thought it would be cute to ask santa for snow? i know i didn't, but it started last night and is still coming down. we don't usually get too much in these here parts, but we are on track for at least a foot! here is my view from my living room couch, kinda nice, for the moment.

enjoy.

merry christmas!

merry christmas from beth, jamie, caroline and travis!

oh, also lucy, abby, minnie, daisy, cora, rosie, ruby chicken and lily the dog!

oh, also the whole herd of unnamed dust bunnies under my bed!

enjoy.

christmas is here finally....

at my house. i just finished decorating the christmas tree while the kids slept. it didn't go too bad, down two ornaments, courtesy of travis, and i swore only a tiny bit. things are joyful.

enjoy.

thanksgiving 2010

was spent with my husband and kids at westmoreland state park in montross, va. it was fun. i would do it again. it could quickly become a family tradition. come take a stroll with the family and allow me to narrate, so follow the sultry sound of my voice....

common sense says that i should have taken a pic of the park entrance, but, well, what can i say? i didn't, so let us begin at our cabin for the holidays, #16. it was quaint, circa 1950's with screened in porch and rockers, updated with corian countertops and lovely thrift store finds, quite the mix.

the living area with the country blue action. please the note the extremely sturdy, yet utterly uncomfortable "this end up" furniture.

the master bedroom with its color coordinated husband, not included, but could be arranged.

bedroom number two, with the two standard mental hospital issued twin beds for my crazy children, very fitting indeed.

travis loved the bathroom and was fascinated that there were two faucets, rather than just one. it has a shower, no bath, no biggie.

the gourmet galley...it worked for me, mostly, but i will gripe about that later.

there is a nice deck with a picnic table, built in bench and grill off one side of the cabin.

 i know i am being very sarcastic, well that is just me, overall i have to the say the cabin was good, not fantastic, but state park budget good. it was immaculate, but there were things i just didn't like, such as having an oven knob with all hint of temperatures completely gone. i mean completely, so your biscuits end up looking like this....

i was not happy, thank goodness my turkey breast had a pop up timer, so i just covered it good with foil and let her rip! it was fine, but i can not say the same for the crescent rolls. also, there was no potholders!!! what? all linens were provided, so there were a coupla dish towels to use, but not the same people. hello, vdcr, ya need some potholders not to mention a good potato peeler, a hook on the back of the bathroom door, some platters, a non-cremated spatula and a few sharp knives, but overall, you did a great job, so let's continue on our stroll of this wonderful park....

the kids loved the beach on the potomac river with its shells and views of maryland, so cool.

the boat house, closed for the season.

the olympic size swimming pool and snack shack, closed for the season. i loved this time of year, no people, just a lone fisherman and two lone kayaks.

a cool picnic shelter with a rock fireplace all facing the potomac. i would have my birthday there.

some serious steps, straight up. no thank you.

starting our stroll to fossil beach....

okay, jamie was way up there and all i could think was that if he fell, i was drinking his coffee. i regret not catching his bear grylls descent, too funny and not to mention scary.

almost to fossil beach where....

we found no fossils only....

beautiful views and one annoyingly yappy dog.

we took a shortcut to rock spring pond by heading down the ravine behind our cabin. i was a little slower than the others. those leaves are like walking on ball bearings people. i was nervous.

we made it, walked back the long way and made a stopover at the playground.

where i gave the zip line a go. ow, painful. then jamie had a go, but with much more flair.

we ended our day with a yummy thanksgiving feast chock full of tryptophan, carbs and a token vegetable. oh, and a beautiful homemade leaf runner compliments of mother nature and my kids, just perfect.

happy thanksgiving and now where to visit for christmas? enjoy.

ps-i wanted to add that bird dog's country store, right outside the park's entrance, has the best hot chocolate on tap!