Our Chicks' Country Cottage

They are cute & fun & growing stinkier by the day.

This weekend we put together a temporary hen house for our quickly growing chicks.  It is still too cool at night, but they can go out to their new home during most days.  Since we had only a weekend to get it together, we decided to reuse the kids playhouse, which they have lost interest in long ago.  We moved the cottage to an area where we could easily add a run and that was protected from strong wind and direct sun.  Then we added chicken wire over the windows and started building their roosts and nest boxes.  The chicks seem to like it a lot, which is good because hubby is tired of jokes about sharing our bathroom with 8 chicks and I'm tired of the smell.

Yes, our chicks have a working
doorbell.

This back "fireplace" will open out to their run.

BTW-We started with 4 chicks and we thought we had some guaranteed fatalities after the first day due to so much handling by the kids so hubby went and bought 4 more reinforcement/replacements.  I originally told you we had 7 because one was on deaths door when I wrote my post, BUT as luck would have it, Corrine is a serious internet-informed urban farmer.  She fed the chick egg yoke and it made a recovery that was nothing short of miraculous.  So if they all make it & lay 3 eggs per day.....anyone going to need eggs?  Lots of eggs? 

Grace & Corrine's Birthday

Grace turned 16 on the 25th, but we surprised her with a party on Sunday the 22nd.  We had the party at Grandma's house and all the way their she complained about having to go to Grandma's for a family gathering when it wasn't even anyone's birthday!  Needless to say, we had a lot of fun and some great memories were made!

Corrine turned 12 on the 28th and as is her tradition, I made the meal and cake of her choice and we ate dinner using the china.  This year she chose Italian Chicken, Lasagna, corn on the cob and Tres Leche cake.  She put 1 candle on her cake as a count down to 13.  I guess she is putting us on notice!  Corrine got gifts of clothes, money and lots of supplies for her chicks.

Newest Additions

There are lots of pets that I have agreed to through the years...dogs, cat, fish, hamster, hermit crabs, birds, gerbil, frogs  and turtles...AND now chickens.  Corrine has saved her money, read library books and begged endlessly so today we added 7 Rhode Island Red Pullets to our family.  I'm not sure what their survivability will be with 3 curious three year olds and a fearless four year old willing to lead the crew to the chicks.  However, we have bought all that the books said we need for chicks and now we'll see how our young farmer Corrine does with her brood of chicks.

Provided we have some survivors, in a few weeks, our May project will be building a chicken coop.  If anyone wants to help, just let us know!

Of course, we'll blog it!

Save money on prescriptions

Okay, I hate to admit that at my youthful age, I was checking out their web site, but www.aarp.org has some awesome tools to help save money on medicine.  I NEVER knew this until today.

The first tool that I was impressed with explains its function as the following:
" Have you ever wondered if the medication you’re taking is really the best one for your condition? Is there a less expensive, but equally effective medication you can use instead? Or is there a comparable drug with fewer side effects?  AARP’s Drug Savings Tool can help you get the most value for your prescription drugs and learn more about the medications you take."  My current pharmacist has saved us money when we switched from Walgreens by talking to our doctors about some adjustments, but it is good to know that I can easily access that type of information too.

The second tool that I was impressed with is a pill identifier. Now I know not every home is a mini-pharmacy like ours can be, especially during cold/flu/ear infection/strep throat seasons, but it seems there is always those mystery pills that are at the bottom of my pill bin or in my travel case.  This eliminates waste by letting me know what they are so I can still get the mystery pill used.  Since some medications in our home can cost over $5 per pill, even a couple reclaimed doses can REALLY add up!

Lastly, there are many programs from drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and organizations to help with the high costs of medicine.  Most of these programs are all located at a user-friendly web site at http://scpharmacist.net/ .  This is a pharmacist ran web site that gives credible information on all types of options when facing the challenges of obtaining medications within a budget. It has lots of links and is updated often.

A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine:

but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

~~Proverbs 17:22

Easter Fun!

Friday evening I took most of the kids except Jon to my mom's house for a family dinner.  Daddy and Jon stayed home because I didn't have enough seats for everyone and Daddy's car hit a deer on Thursday morning.  The kids had a great time seeing family, and this year there was an Easter Egg hunt so they all LOVED that part.

Saturday was fairly relaxing except our usual pass time of working on the deck and hubby translating.  However, Sunday was an early start.  6am Sonrise service and the men like to get there at 5am to cook.  Mr. Workman decided to pre-cook some pecan pancakes, which he had been asked to bring, and arrive at 6am so I would not be alone getting all the kids together.  The twins, Matt & David who usually get up early were so tired and wanting to go back to bed.  Jon couldn't figure out what was going on!  I think he thought we were headed to St Louis to the doctor to be up so early when it was still dark.  Vanessa, Corrine & Hannah were dressed in their best and ready to go long before the rest of us.  I was SO happy that someone was awake....go girls!

Pa Easter Bunny

We got to church just as the steam started boiling out of my Durango's hood.  The service was lovely, but the kids were restless.  With Mr. Workman in the kitchen, that meant the older ones and I had to try to keep everyone "acting proper"; whereas usually a daddy "look" or shoulder squeeze settles the whole crew and makes my part easy.  After church, Mr. Workman filled my Durango with coolant and I drove straight home taking the shortest route!  I barely coasted in the drive as the engine once again started to overheat. 

Then came MY FAVORITE part of Easter this year!  Mr. Workman cooked a complete turkey dinner with all the trimmings while I took a five hour nap!!!  The nap was great and his dinner was even better!  Turkey, potatoes, noodles, sweet potatoes, rolls and even pumpkin pie...what a man! 

Chaos can be such fun!

After dinner, we gave out Easter bags in our room in an attempt to control the chaos.  It didn't really work.  Plus Luke had diarrhea all over just as we were ready for our Easter egg hunt so instead of a rain delay, we had a complete clean up delay! 

Jon getting his Easter bag.

This year Ma and Pa Easter Bunny were sneaky and the eggs that sounded like they had money, only had pennies!  HOWEVER, the eggs that felt like they had Peeps in them had quarters!  It was great fun watching each of the kids gathering eggs.  Jon was perhaps the most excited and apparently he remembered Easter from last year.  He was ready to open eggs and eat lots of candy, which he did, so much so that I delayed his tube feeding a bit on Sunday evening to make room for his formula.



Luke after a delay for clean-up



The older "faster" kids ready to race
to get all the eggs left by their siblings.

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
~~Matthew 28:6