tidbits tuesday: chronological style

2:30 pm.
I am procrastinating on the transcripts. R is working on his reading lists for the last two years. He is definitely getting a credit for literature. I have done a bunch of AFF work between assigning him tasks. This transcript writing is tough work! I am using the model Jean put on her blog. Wish us luck.
4:30 pm
Getting ready to take E to swimming lessons. I have this to peruse, between watching and occasionally waving to the Girl, going over literature with the boy, and encouraging him to watch the Girl for swimming techniques he can coach her on this week. There is also another Mama there who visits a bit with me as well. It can be warm, but it is also enjoyable.
6:00 pm While R was waiting for E in side, I got the air conditioning going while I touched base with the Dude by phone, as he is away tonight.
6:30 pm Stopped at a fast food place, even though I said I wouldn't. Tasted good and made life easier.
9:00 pm Neighbor Girls heading home, R is cleaning up a nasty hairball incident, and then we are gonna head into the studio for an hour or so. The kids can paint papers for me while I tidy up, and then we will experiment with my new adirondak dabbers, and various spray inks. I have become addicted to these two products (I will let you find those for yourself at Joggles.) I have samples to make! And kids are great assistants in the studio. They inspire me.
10:30 pm I tell the kids to head upstairs. E painted a picture with oil pastels, R worked on a giant Lego guy, and I got all the table tops to a visible state. I changed the black plastic on my paint table, and installed a tall shelf (that we got free off the side of the road one day when we were running errands with Gramma) at the end of my paint table. It holds a lot, looks good, and is a nice room divider between the studio and the basement door/ mudroom/ laundryroom areas.
11:10 I dragged R's sorry tush out of the steamy (no fan again, sigh) bathroom, and tucked the kids into bed. I don't feel the least bit sleepy, and now that I have found the tables, want to play a bit. Do I sleep or make art?

See you later, Alligator,
See you soon you big Baboon.
Oops. Did I say that out loud?
Off to the Studio Depths of TurtleWorks,
LB

LB

Tidbits: short and sweet

Howdy folks!
I am busy again, so here are just a few tidbits for you- link away!
1. The Fine Young Man is here. Think First Place Thoughts! And no, I am not locked up. I have come so far from when my baby girl traveled a year ago.
2. This is what Piano Girl and I did last night. We had a blast, and met lots of fun new folks.
3. This is my new phone, with which I am becoming acquainted today. This was my old phone. Quite a difference, hmm?

Okay, off to plant seeds, do laundry, program my phone, and make art.
TTFN,
LB

Tidbit: Enjoy it while you can.

I have been doing my very best to be in bed by 10 pm, so I can be rested and up at 7, getting the kids up at 8, and being intentional with my time, so they get their schoolwork done, I get household chores done, and then can feel free to be in the studio. Except for today.

Last night, when I went to bed at 10:30, the Dude was already asleep- in the middle of the bed, stretched out in an X shape, so that with his arms and legs stretched out he was taking up the entire bed, and was doing that snoring/apnea thing where he snores and then doesn't breathe for a second. It freaks me out, and I worry about him, but he refuses to do anything about it. Anyhow, it was very hard to find a little spot to curl up in, and I really didn't want to curl up, so I went down and slept on the futon couch in the living room. The things we do for love, hmm?

Aaahhh. It felt good to stretch out with the cats, and it was nice to make my multiple middle of the night potty runs without having to blindly negotiate the stairwell. I actually slept very well, and woke up at 7, and was checking my email and blog-cruising. Until my dd got up a bit later, complaining of stomach cramps. She crawled onto the futon, laid her head on my lap, and crashed. I sat there, reading blogs for a bit, stroking her hair, and then it just hit me- how big they both are, and how they aren't little babies who want to be cuddled any more. So, I did what any mother would do, given this chance. I put the laptop down, skooched her over a bit, and laid down with her cradled in my arms; listening to her breathe, I conked out happily for an hour. Now it is past 10 am, and we are a couple hours behind our normal routine, but I am very happy to have been able to be with her like that. Happy mama sigh.

Off to cook bacon,
LB

Various tidbits

Happy First Day of Spring! It was really a lovely day. It was supposed to rain, but barely did, and not till this evening. My neck was hurting badly last night, and then again this morning, but it is much better now. We had our usual toddler/piano day, got quite a bit of school in (We are doing well with that this week!), played the Dragonology game, listened to music, and started reading aloud the Easter Story in our worn copy of the New Testament. I had them in bed by ten pm, and you know what? The Boy actually went right to sleep! Yay! I have been sitting at the kitchen table working in my art journal, getting photos on the computer, and checking blogs.

The Dude called tonight and is very sick. Nothing like having the flu in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home. He should be home tomorrow night, late. I am actually pretty pleased with how the kids and I did while he was away this week. It has been a challenge, what with my sore neck and all the raging hormones, but all in all, we worked together well, the kids have been integrity with their schoolwork, and I haven't killed anyone or said anything nasty that I would later sorely regret. As Dy says, it's good stuff.

Speaking of Dy, she is in labor and has been for over 24 hours. It's moving slowly but she is hanging in. Think good thoughts. I cannot wait to meet this little person, and all her other little people in a few weeks! I am so very excited to get to finally meet her in person after talking on the phone almost daily for the last 6 years.

The Boy (and I, sigh) has the WA State Speech and Debate championships this Saturday. I am planning on packing lots of art supplies to keep myself busy, as we are pretty much gone from 6 am to midnight. Wish him luck, and me patience. Actually, this really is a fine group of kids, and they seem to have made me their honorary S & D Mom, so it's all good. After that, he will just be preparing for Nationals, which are in Las Vegas (Whose idea was it to let a bunch of teenagers loose in a city like Las Vegas- I need to ask if they need another chaperone!) at the beginning of June.

The Girl found out today that she received a gold seal and an SMTA musical excellence reward at her adjudications 2 weeks ago! This is pretty cool, and means that she is already accepted into the Octoberfest recital later this year, so won't have to audition for that. TBPTOTP was doing a happy dance in excitement that one of her students got a seal. Very cool. We have just one more adjudication for her a week from today, and then a recital in May. Then the season is over for a while- whew! I can use the break! Having the S & D and piano seasons at the same time was a bit stressful and tiring to me. Now that I know to expect this, it will be easier next year.

Tomorrow will be errand day as we are out of both chicken feed and cat litter. I also need to thoroughly clean the house. And especially the kitchen table- we have been having issues with people being on the computer in the kitchen supposedly to do their online writing class, and then playing online games instead of working, so today I worked at the kitchen table. It was messy, but fun.

Gotta clean and tidy up, have the kids help me change my bed linens (Nothing says "Welcome home, Dude, like clean sheets, but my neck is still to sore to do it myself, sigh.), etc.

Talk soon,
LB

Random photo catch-up

How about some random photo miscellany tonight? I have a bunch of photos that don't really go together, so will put them all in this post.

This is one of my favorite photos of the Girl, with a trumpet flower for a hat, taken at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, last year. I have about 200 photos I took this day- I guess I need to learn how to use PhotoBucket so I can put more than 5 photos in a post!

I was fortunate to be visited by my Fairy Cardmother last month. This is the pile I am still sorting through. Lots of art materials and inspiration in these ten boxes, which are now stacked up against the design wall- the theory being that I will find spots for them in order to use the design wall. It has been 3 weeks and the boxes are still in front of it. Sigh. Is there a prize for procrastinator of the month? If so, it's mine- hands down.
The Boy, the day after he got home from his Stanford tournament. He looks so serious here- well after all, he is the King.
This is the Girl, doing this thing she does where she moves her eyes independently. I hate it when she does it, it makes my eyes hurt to just look at, and I worry that it is bad for her eyes. Of course, this just makes her do it all the more! Sigh. Teenagers!
And last but not least, this is Catkin playing with some plastic flowers a friend brought over yesterday. Is he not the most precious thing?! I don't have favorites when it comes to the cat-toddlers, but this guy is really the sweetest cat I have had in a very long time. Me loves him.
That's it for this post. How is that for random?
LB

Tidbit: Happy Thursday!

It is one of our early Thursdays. The Dude left before 5, I ran the Boy to the high school by 7 am (as he had some basketball championship at which the band is playing), and we leave for Piano Lessons at 8 am. Piano Girl has adjudications today, after her lesson and a quick lunch. Of course I am content just knowing I get some toddler time today. The kids and I apparently left my camera in the Dude's work car, which is sitting down at the airport, as the Dude is in Boise today, so I can't take photos of PG in her finery, or of Abe, who has lost so many of his baby-like qualities, and is getting to be such a little boy.

Ok, that's all I have time for, but wanted to update a tidbit or two. I have been in the studio a tiny bit, and will update (minus photos, I guess) on that soon.
T.T.F.N.,
L.B.

Update: tournaments, trees down, and spring fever win out over screen time.

Well, here we are- another week gone by with no blogging. I have to say, I don't even have any excuses this time. So what did I do last week? Piano Girl had her first piano competition, the Simon Fiset, last weekend. She didn't place, but enjoyed the experience, and learned a great deal. She is working up a description of her experience to post. I also was very sick last Friday- I won't go into details, but it was thyroid-related. I did a tiny bit of gardening, and some garden planning. I chopped and stacked wood till the cows came home, and supported the Dude while he chopped down the birch tree and our oldest plum tree. I have been cleaning the house, and doing more decluttering, slowly. We got some schooling in last week, too, but not as much as I would have liked. I have even been sleeping. That's been nice.

My break from the internet (I am really fighting an addiction, here folks. Sigh.) made for boring blogging, but it was nice to be a part of the world and get away from the screen to breathe fresh air, and engage in hard labor, and wear freshly-laundered pants and sweaters.


Our up and coming rest of the week: The kids don't get to go to Youth Group tonight, as the Boy has a band concert. Piano lessons all day Thursday, and then I have a Mom's Night Out Thursday night. Looking forward to that. The Boy has his National Qualifiers on Sat. It looks like I will end up driving, and being there all day, even though the Boy's events aren't until the afternoon. I seem to have become a speech-team-mom-lady. I do love the Coach, and this fine bunch of kids. ( I am finding that winter is extremely busy to keep up with all the kids events in the winter. Speech and piano competitions both happen during Feb and March.) My birthday is Sunday. Not sure what plans are for that day. I think it might rain. We shall see. A visit to Gramma at the very least.

I haven't been doing any art- I go and sit down there, but nothing is happening right now. I feel a bit pressured to create, and feel the "blockage" of all the creative ideas floating in my head, but not coming out of my hands. There are so many areas of my life I am trying to pull together right now, all the juggling of dirty floors, and dirty clothes, dirty dishes, food to cook, gardens to plan, kids to teach, etc. It is so easy for me to jump into the "I'm overwhelmed" story, and to just get locked up. Winter is not a great time of year for me.

I have been experiencing a bit of Spring Fever lately. The kids played outside a great deal last week- I felt bad that we weren't schooling, but they had such a great time running, playing, using their imagination- up in the treehouse, out in the back yard........ You know- these are teens I am talking about, still actively playing. How cool is that? Gotta make time for that.

I do have some photos to post, but gotta get going right now. Kids are still sleeping, sigh. They'd sleep till noon if'n I didn't wake them.
LB

Sleepover Preparations

The big party/sleepover is today. I got to bed before midnight last night, which is early when my Dude is away at night, and woke up about 10 minutes before he called me this morning. We had a nice, quick chat, and then I got dressed super quick, and snuck out to the grocery store and back before the kids were even up. I got lots of party food, that was all on sale- hot dogs, burgers, and pizzas- even the dairy-free pizza was on sale. Gotta love that.

The only things I didn't buy were fruits and veggies, as I usually get them at the fruit stand, but it was closed, and their new location isn't open yet. So when I pop out to take the Boy to the high school, I will have to stop somewhere and pay full price (sigh) for some fruit and veggies. The Girls will need them to balance out all the sweets and meats this weekend.

Now the Girl will tidy the house a bit, while I head down to the studio to start pulling out everything Valentine's day related. I did this will all the Christmas stuff, and put it all in one big basket, and it really helps to be able to just pull one box out, rather than to have to make a huge heap of piles by pulling out this paper, and that stamp, and that roll of pink hearts wrapping paper, etc. We will make Valentine's as our main craft today, with lots of stamping and painting.

After I drop the Boy off, I will be surrounded by 5 lovely young ladies ready to make art, bake a cake, eat, and maybe watch a movie, before they all take over my living room. I may let the Boy go across the street and play video games with our neighbors- three men, aged 10, 35, and 70. All that testosterone will help keep him sane. It will be fun to watch him, though- he has a bit of a crush on one of the girls, and they are all very nice kids.

Okay, gotta get going- I will take photos (better make sure my camera is charged!).
Have a great day!

LB and the Bad Feeling Fairy.

I was planning on blogging yesterday, but it just didn't come. It was one of those days.
I woke up at 4 am with such a feeling of impending doom- you know, where you just can feel it in your bones- something B. A. D. is going to happen, but you don't know exactly what or to whom. I have had this sixth sense my whole life, but it was hard to ignore, or identify today. And then to complicate matters, my Girly was flying home from a weekend visit with our dear friends, the G family. Mr. G. is a flight attendant (bless him) and makes sure the Girlies get to spend as much time together as possible. He flies up and back, and then up and back again, to deliver one girl or another so the two best friends can spend a few weekends a year together. I love him for this.

*But* I was locked up all morning, until my Girl was home. I guess we are all coping with my nephew's death fairly well, but one thing that has happened is that I have a very hard time surrendering my kids to other folks- putting their safety and well-being in the hands of another adult- the Boy rides home with someone from his weekly seminar, the Girl on the plane, etc. I called Dy twice yesterday, being reassured that this was a little silly, but normal under the circumstances, and did my best to let go.

I thought the feelings would let up once the Girl was home, but they didn't. Instead, the Boy and I had a stoopid ugly fight. It wasn't just a disagreement, or an argument, it became a fight. You know, the kind you can NEVER win with a teenager- you ask, they resist, you insist, they resist harder, you demand and persist, they resist, then rebel. It sucks. It really sucks. We were finally able to regroup, acknowledge how each of us were being that kept the fight going, the yucky impact of that behaviour on each and all of us, we apologized, and everything, but. But I even had a lovely phone conversation with the Traveling Dude, where he reaffirmed how close and loving our family is. But even after watching Ratatoulle with the Girl, I still couldn't pull it out. It was the whole dark cloud thing all over again.

And I seem to have woken up with it still hanging over my head. How do you regroup and reaffirm when you have had a bad day the day before? How do you successfully let it go?

Here is my plan: I journaled last night for the first time all year. (Again, not very successful yet with my goals.) I think I will journal again today, and see if anything left over from yesterday needs to bubble up and out, and then maybe I can create something amazing for this day.

I have made a healthy breakfast, I will move my body today, I will do laundry, and make art. It will all be okay. Hopefully even better than okay. Thanks for listening.
LB

Tidbit: piano day and toddler fix

Hey! Good Thursday morning to ya!
We are supposed to have winds up to 40 miles today. I am just hoping it doesn't stop my Dude's flight home today.
Off to all day piano lessons (Piano Girl has a performance this weekend!) and my toddler fix for the week.
Hugs,
LB

Bike a thon today

The Kids are participating in a unique community service project today. Usually our communtiy service is very local, but this one is a world-wide neighborhood project!

They are riding in a bike-a-thon to raise money to purchase goats through Heifer PRoject. A family in an impoverished village in (most likely) Africa is chosen to be the goat owners. They learn how to care for the goat, and when the goat has a baby, it goes to another family in the village who has been trained for the job. Buying a goat for one family helps an entire village. I am probably not explaining this well as I am in a hury, but you can read more about it at the link provided above.

The kids' goal is to ride a total of 20 miles each. If anyone wishes to pledge, shoot me an email. Otherwise, wish them good luck- it is a hot one today!

Gotta go- I need to get some zucchini muffins baked for them to have as a snack on the ride.
TTFN,
LB

I'm back!

Yes, I am here today. Thanks for all your well wishes! My neck is sore, but the swelling is down. I have learned after over 20 years with this injury, that at the first sign of pain, it is better to take a day off, drink tons of water and take tons of ibuprofin, and be in bed with the heating pad for several hours. Better than the severe pain and agony if I just try to be the mom martyr and tough it out. So I will make sure to keep my neck covered and warm, and try to stay as stress free as possible when you are parenting teenagers.

Today is music lesson day. We have piano and then voice lessons from 1 to 4 pm today. If we have to bus, we will leave the house before 11 and not be home till 6, at which time the Boy's tutor picks us up. While the Boy's tutor and he are so engaged, Mr. Tutor's wife and I walk, and talk education (she is beginning her first public school teaching job this fall).

If Papa Dude is available to be our transportation, it will shave an hour each way off our travel time. I am hoping he is available!

Ok, I promised to get some recipes up today, so I am going to get on that now, before the neck gets sore.

Updated at noon to let you know the Dude is our bus today. Yay! That gave me an extra hour to soak sore muscles in the tub. What a nice Dude I have!
LB

Birthday Art- Guest Artists!

For the Dude's birthday, I called the kids down to the studio, and gave them a quick tutorial on how to use Paintstiks. When we were at Daniel Smith the other day, both of them were enamored with all the pastel sticks, so I knew they would have fun with these. These have just one layer on them as we didn't do this project until the day before Papa's birthday. We will probably add more, but they already gave them to their Papa. They used 11 by 7 flat canvases.

This one is by the Fine Young Man. I really liked his use of color. This one is by Piano Girl. The colors did not come out well in this photo, but that is ok.
Now these are mine. I found the coolest blank canvas cards at Daniel Smith. Again, I will put another layer on these, but the kids took pictures of them, so I thought I would post them anyhow. I have absolutely no experience with painting, have never had a class or anything. I feel the lack of such, but for now, I am not letting inexperience with a medium stop me from experimenting with it.
And this is how you can tell that Miss LB had a good time in the studio.
TTFN,
LB

Sad chicken news

We were gone all afternoon and evening. When we got home, I sent the kids out to put the chickens to bed. I looked out the window to see my Girl crying. I think to myself, "Oh crap!", and head out. Something (I'm thinking dog) crashed through the fencing fabric, tearing out two fence posts on the way, into the chicken yard, and took Ida. Remember, just 2 weeks ago, when something got her but she escaped? Judging by the trail of feathers, I don't think she was so lucky this time. THere were feathers from some of the other chickens strewn around in the same area, so whatever it was attacked several of the birds.
Girl is so very sad, this was one of her favorites of the 5 chickens we rescued earlier this year. She also feels like they aren't safe out when we aren't home. We will have to do some remodeling of the chicken run when Papa gets home.

It has been a tough day, one of those that makes you thankful for all the good ones!
TTFN,
LB

Dang it! I think I am frustrated.

In no particular order:

1. I cannot post pictures! I have a ton on the camera, and a ton on the computer, but I cannot access them! I keep getting these messages: First it says I can't open a database because one is already open. I click on close, and then it says, and I quote: Please open or create another database using the database dialog which is accessed via the database menu command. I have no idea what this means, other than my photos are trapped on my camera, and I cannot access the ones already in there. Sigh. I have Piano Girl, treehouse, art, and other photos to show you. I promise to figure this out and get them up soon.

2. It was a good day parenting wise- I kept my cool, but I did find it stressful to do so. Better than last night, though (when my Boy said something disrespectful to me in the car, it was the straw that broke the camel's back after a loooonnnnngg day of backtalk, and I kicked him out of the car. Sigh. We worked it out, but it was horible and tough.), and that counts for a great deal. It means I set the example of thinking carefully before I spoke to the kids. At this point, my kids are too old for me to control their actions, but I can still model the behavior I expect, and it can be powerful as well as extremely taxing.

3. My Dude has been gone a full week, and I have another to go. I am so glad I am not single parenting. As Melissa so elegantly (and timely, I might add) wrote tonight, I am not a single parent. My partner is away, but he is working his sweet little tuckus to the bone for us, so that I can stay home, and devote myself to these amazing (albeit bratty sometimes) children we created. He is still very much an active part of this family, whether he is here or away. I do miss him terribly though, and not just when I could use some tag-team parenting. There is so much to share, so many smiles to give, so much to enjoy about this life! I know it is much harder for him than me, so I do my best to support him, and not complain, though I know I do a bit. Truly and deeply I am grateful for him and how hard he works, and how much he loves us, and I am grateful he doesn't have a more dangerous job, and isn't away from us more. Getting to know Melissa has helped me a great deal with this!

The biggest thing is that he didn't call me tonight, and I am just really missing him. But it's okay. It really is.

4. This was a long day. Piano Girl really wanted to see her Gramma and Godparents today, so we went to the East Side, and went to church (there was a wonderful speaker- ask me about him later!) with the GP's, and then spent the afternoon at Gramma's. After that, we dropped in on the B family, to touch base about this week's actions on the kids' community service project (details later),. We didn't even get home till 8 pm.

5. The best part of the afternoon for me was going to Value Village with Gramma. You need to know that my Mama is the best truckin' buddy a gal could have, and when she lost her eyesight, she decided that shopping wasn't any fun anymore, and up and stopped going with me. My Mama grieves her sight for many reasons, but this is probably the toughest thing about it for me- for my entire life, if I wanted to be spontaneous and go thrifting, shopping, antique hunting, etc. (my Mama always called it truckin'), my Mama is the one partner I would always ask. I just haven't found anyone who is as much fun (though the Girl is learning fast, and comes in second.) We have similar tastes, like to do the same things, and wear out and need to eat at the same time. I so miss this.

Today was really fun- I got some storage stuff for the studio, found a couple of neat things for upcoming birthdays, and had a lot of fun, but it was also bittersweet, as shopping with her is different now. First off, I have to be my mom's eyes. I have to tell her what EVERY SINGLE THING IS: explain to her colors, sizes, and shapes; check prices, and help her navigate the stores. Second thing is I cannot leave her for very long at all, as she sometimes forgets things (don't want to lose her!), which means I cannot just go off to the skirt section while she looks at the kitchen stuff.

I guess as I think about it, I have been very blessed, and really have no complaint. I love my Mama, and will spend as much time as I can with her. I love to help and support her, and spend time with her doing whatever she wants or needs to. We will adjust (You have no idea how far we have come, the two of us!!) and adapt.

6. Gotta get myself to bed right now, as we are schooling tomorrow, and have a lot of ground to cover. I also need to be in the studio for a few hours- there are two sweet babies turning two in August, as well as my love's birthday. I also still have a bunch of fabric postcards in process.

That's it- I feel better- writing this down was a bit of a release, and was also an update for you!
See you tomorrow!
LB

Tidbit #18: She's home!

I promise to update on Piano Girl blog tomorrow- tired, tired tonight. I have a bunch of pictures as I had promised, just need some uninterupted time to get them up. Hah!!!
TTFN,
LB

MonkeyBoy goes to the Zoo/ Baby Fix

Here is my Monkey Boy. If you haven't already figured it out, we use many nicknames here. We are not comfortable with names on the blog, but even at that, we use all the nicknames you read here. So this fella here, known as the Fine Young Man, is aka Monkey Boy. Even as a tiny infink he used to have such a strong little primate grip, I swear I could have let go, and he wouldn't have fallen. As he got older, he would wrap his littl e arms and legs around you, whether in the sling or not, and hang on for all he was worth. So there ya' go, why we look for any and every opportunity to photograph this child with statues of primates.Ok, so here we are, all of us, at the zoo. First stop was the African Savanah. You can see the Girl's Piano Teacher Lady holding her son, (whom I call Abe on the blog) in the bottom corner there.
Here is the Fine Young Man. He was so happy to see Abe, and did such a good job looking after him while we Mamas talked a bit. Piano Girl called while we were together, so that was cool. I got to relay all the good bits to PTL, and FYM got to talk to her, too.
Here's a picture of Abe. He had just woken up, hadn't had lunch yet, and wasn't quite with us yet. He has such a sweet face, I couldn't resist. By the way, Abe picked out his own hat. It is as orange as can be! Notice the ever-present Engines (Abe at 23 months old, is in love with all things Thomas.) in both hands, and the teddy bear. Also there is the ever-present lovey- a bear named "kitty".
Here is my favorite photo of the whole day. This is how these two spent most of the zoo trip. Notice how patient and relaxed the FYM is- when he is in service, he really shines. These two play Thomas, read stories, and eat snacks together every week while Piano Girl has her lesson. They are14 years apart, and yet, enjoyed a playdate together. This is one of the bonuses of homeschooling- here is the answer to the socialization question. Life is good.
TTFN,
LB

Three letters came today.

Head on over to Piano Girl to read her letters. I am not sure I could handle it if she wanted to go to high school there. I am not handling her being gone very well at all. Sigh.
LB

Chicken-sitting

Taking care of the Girl's chickens has been good. This is hard work! I think we will be visiting the Seattle Titlth Garden as soon as she gets back. The day PG is due home, they are having a chicken/garden fair. We will miss that, but I think it will be good for her to have her chicken interest to offset the intensity of her piano work.

Ok, so here are some pictures of the mean and nasty blueberry blossom eating chickens. Not really mean and nasty, so much as dusty, but that's okay.THis one is either Goldie, or Chicky-Boo, and no, I can't tell which one is my bird, and which one is the Girl's. They are both golden-laced Wyandottes that look the same to me. Anyway, which exact chicken it is of not the issue. The issue is that she is underneath my blueberry bushes- the bushes my family has been giving me for the last 4 years, on my birthday.

This one is Lucy. Miss K, from our nature study group named her. Lucy is a white-laced wyandotte. Look at the way she is just sitting there, like she owns the whole bed, not just this one poor, berry-less bush. Darn birds.
Now this darn bird has a story to tell! This is Ida, who is some kind of white chicken. (Yeah, Yeah, I know the Girl would know her breed.)

She was out wandering the yard on about Tuesday, and when it came time to put the chickens in, she was no where to be found. The Men took to the road, and I searched the back yard. All we came up with were feathers rom a pile two houses down the road. We thought for sure she had been carried away. I wondered how I was going to tell the Girl I lost a chicken on my watch. Anyhow, the Boy and I slept in the following morning, so I didn't get out to the chickens till about 10 am. Who is waiting at the gate, but Ida. I picked her up, and it looks like she is just missing one row of feathers right down her breast bone- no blood, no teethmarks. Whew! Boy did I luck out- now I have a cool story to tell the GIrl, rather than an admission of guilt from the chicken-sitter. And again, I say, "Whew!".

TTFN,

LB

She's there!

None of her luggage is, but that's okay. She sounded so grownup and excited. I guess I should be posting this to the Piano Girl blog. I will do that tomorrow. Right now, I am just going to be glad she is there and her adventure begins!
LB