For The Birds

I just ordered an urban chicken coop for the backyard!  I am super stoked about it!  Raising chickens is an idea we have tossed around for years.  Both Seth and I had chickens growing up.

From an early age deviled eggs was one of the first things I learned how to make.  SO.MANY.EGGS.

Our coop is going to be much smaller than the one I had growing up, but it is appropriate and proportional for our backyard in the city.   I think it will yield the perfect amount of eggs for our family.

The plan is to have three or four girls in there.  We may put up some chicken wire to expand where they can roam during the day, and shoo them back in the coop at night.

So anyway, here is a couple photos from online ... when we actually get everything set up I will probably take some of my own.

fun with animals. and miniature plastic toys as well.

September is the nicest month as far as weather goes here in Santa Cruz.  And by nice I mean hot.  So even though I did this little project a few weeks ago when the sun was beating down I am just now getting around to putting up the photos.  Oh well.

You know those little plastic animals that kids get, but they never really seem to play with after they are first opened?  I don't know about you - but I have tons of those at my house.  (Not to mention green army guys, and legos)  Well I froze them.  I saw this idea somewhere and liked it because it is a free, easy, and possibly even educational way to entertain the kids on a super hot day.

They started out chipping away with butter knives, (I realize that is kind of dangerous - I was supervising closely) but then they figured out on their own that it may work better to pour water on it to make it melt faster.

I especially liked this project for my three year old Aiden, because he doesn't quite know the names of all of the animals yet so we got to work on learning those together. Also I liked tricking both the kids into being super excited about each individual animal that they didn't even care about before.  They were entertained by the block of animals stuck in ice probably a good half hour or more.  All the way until it was completely melted.

So much going on!  I have been busy with my matronly-of-honor duties.  I am throwing my sister a bridal shower.  It is in little over a week!  I'm having it at my house, and I couldn't be more excited.  Planning these things are all sorts of fun!  I ordered my dress for the wedding yesterday and it shipped today.  Eep!  Also Rebecca, Brittani and I got together and had lunch and talked about wedding/shower stuff.  I went to the party store after and got plates, napkins, cups etc.  It's going to be so cute - I can't wait!  The wedding itself is in a month (they had a super short engagement) and I know the time will continue to fly by!

Also yesterday I jogged/walked from all the way from my house to the beach in the rain.  I ended up at the lighthouse.  It was absolutely grand.  Why is it that I can jog so much further while I am listening to pop music?  Or any music for that matter.  It was refreshing. It was just drizzling not pouring, but there was no one out.  I felt as if I had the whole world to myself!  I was trying to dodge the hundreds of snails that all decided to cross the sidewalk as the sun was setting.  I was doing pretty well but as it was getting dark, I accidentally stepped on one!  As it's shell got crushed so did my heart... I felt so bad!  When I arrived home I told Levi to come outside to check out all of the snails.  As soon as he stepped out he crushed one too.  Sad.

Last Friday was clinic.  My PFT's were down by 7%.  From FEV1 83% to 76%.  Because of my recent RSV and hospitalization they want me to have a bronchoscopy.  Having RSV can trigger an immune response in the body, which can lead to rejection of the lungs.  If you remember, I don't want my body to have an immune response.  I take pills to suppress my immune system, so that my body doesn't recognize my lungs as foreign and try to kick them out.  So the bronchoscopy is scheduled to check for rejection.  I'm trying to not think about it too hard.  Worrying doesn't add one day to my life.  I am nervous about the procedure itself though.  It is tomorrow.  Pray for me -- if you remember me tomorrow.  I will be partially sedated, and need someone to drive me home.  My awesome mom is going to watch Levi and then drive me back.  In my experience partially sedated procedures are the worst kind!  I'd rather be all the way blacked out or totally alert.  A few hours after my transplant I had a bronchoscopy, and I remember the whole thing very clearly.  Usually, in the past, they give me medication to make me forget.  Isn't that a creepy thought?  Medication that makes you forget what they did to you?  Yep, that's what I usually get but I don't know why I remember that one bronch.  They forgot to give me the forgetting medicine.  Haha

I have a new hair colour!  Platinum blonde!  I love it!  This is the second time I have done platinum... it's a fun colour to be.

That's all for now!  ... until next time...

Pony and Spoon

Spoon

Pony

Levi named these little guys today. (Actually they are girls..) They are a new little addition to our family.

Frog Friendship

So we have had two frogs for the last four years.  We started out with three, but the third died years ago.  We have always been amazed that our two little frogs had lasted so very long.  We got them when Levi was a tiny baby...  I always said that when one died the other one would die soon after.  I think they kept each other going.  Frogs from Wal-Mart are just not supposed to live as long as these little guys did.  Earlier this week Seth found one of them belly up .... he had died.  A couple days later, just as we had thought the second one did too.  Seth and I were thinking that is pretty amazing even tiny creatures such as frogs have such a powerful effect on each other. What makes Wal-Mart frogs live four years and then die with a few days of each other?  We fed it like usual, and it was in the same water as usual....  God's creation is so complex... even in tiny frogs.

Picture of the day.

Yes, they are monkeys!

Don't Bite Me!

Okay...tell me if this is my imagination or what.

My left arm keeps getting REALLY stiff. So I examine it and there are two fang marks that look like this: .. So I know we a have a spider problem and I have two big red welts on my leg as well. So I type in and search it on the internet. I ended up at a brown recluse site. It talked about stiffness, and "satellite bites" (which I have) and it starts rotting your skin away.
So I'm thinking, okay it's probably not a brown recluse. But then I see on the website the antibiotics they use to treat recluse bites I am already regularly on!!!! So now I'm thinking that it might be.

So I am telling this to my dad, and he is like, "I saw a brown recluse at your house one time!" Now it's got me really thinking!!! So we killed one of them, (which is brown) and were looking on it's back for the trademark "violin." We saw markings, but it was too little and shriveled to tell. so we tore apart our house. Crazy cleaning...and we're not done yet!

The funny thing is Seth hasn't gotten bit once, and he sleeps right next to me. He says I'm spider candy.