I disappeared didnt I

Wow! I havent posted since last week. Where did the time go? Well, lets recap the past 4 days:

Friday: WORK. The place I spend most of my waking hours. Fortunately our office has been REALLY quiet lately and the Pres. said it was cool for us to close early Friday. YEAH!!! So I got to go visit my sister and my cousin early. We have started our cruise weight loss challenge..... Oh wait, let me back up.

I AM GOING ON A CRUISE!!!!!

Yeah, I have never been on a cruise before so I am pretty darn excited about it! My sister, close friend, cousin and I are taking a girls only cruise for 5 days to Cozumel & Progreso in Decemeber. Ok, back to the weight loss challenge..... Over the years, I have packed on the pounds. Just just a little, but, ALOT. I had decided that its TIME to get my life back and get these pounds off. I have been wanting to "get started" but just had no motivation. This cruise was the "it" I was looking for to really make a difference for me. So the journey has begun. We 3 "girls" met together to weight and take our body measurements.

Lets just put it all out there..... OMG, I weigh 255 lbs! I have NEVER EVER been this FAT in my life. And I will NEVER EVER be this FAT again! How disgusting is that (255 lbs). I am taking my life back!

1. I have cut down DRASTICALLY the amount of Diet Coke I consume. I know, I know... I shouldnt have it at all. But trust me people, if you "know me", you "know" how much Diet Coke I drink in a day. Its seriously like a drug addict going through withdrawls. (Ok, maybe not THAT bad.) I used to drink 2-3 Rt 44 drinks from Sonic and at least 6 - 12 oz cans a day. WAY to much! So for the past 3 days I have had ONE Diet Coke a day.

2. I MUST get moving more! Zumba, gonna go for it thanks to my friend Katie for giving me her unused DVDs. My treadmill and elliptical that I purchased a year ago will be seeing me more often for other than dusting them off.

3. Food: Oh how I love love love carbs. I mean REALLY love carbs. So I will NOT be attempting a low carb "diet". Instead I will be be making healthier decisions, including limiting my calories, fat, & carbs and increasing my protein.

Saturday: Make a trip to town to buy a new pair of athletic shoes. If I am going to be working out, I needed some good comfortable shoes, right? Then it was off to the local TS for our routine shopping for chicken feed. On the way home, my husband and I were discussing getting more chickens. We decided to get a few more of another kind. So here they are:

6 Buff Orpington Pullets

They are currently located in a large Rubbermaid container. Once they get a little bigger we will move them out to the brooder.

I didnt workout on Saturday, but I did eat less than 1400 calories! :)

Sunday: I am well aware that we should rest on the Sabbath, however, that just doesnt always happen around our house. Sunday was my start day! Calories stayed at (just shy of) 1200, I walked/jogged 4 miles, and did an hour total of Zumba. I broke it up throughout the day, and I felt GREAT after it was all done.

Today/Monday: My sinus issues are hitting me full force today. I feel like I am in a fog, my head HURTS, by throat HURTS, my ears HURT, etc... Taking my sinus meds but the dark yellow pollen that invaded our area of the weekend has me miserable. On the bright side, SPRING IS COMING!!

My legs, arms, abs, glutes, etc ARE sore but not horribly. No pain no gain!

There it is.... for all the world to see! BUT..... Changes are a'coming!



Make Your "Girls" Happy

I love to make our "girls" happy! They all come running to us fast and surround us with glee! Chickens really are interesting little things when you watch them. Honestly... they do have personalities of their own.

I remember the very first time we gave them treats. They were little things. Still in the brooder. We gave them yogurt. Oh my goodness! I laughed so hard watching them. First they were scared to death of it.... Wouldn't go near the strange new glass object with weird white stuff on it (umm, glass saucer with yogurt in a big heap). I finally had to reach in and gently show one of them what it was but putting her beak in it a couple times.

That started the frenzy! Once she decided it was safe and GOOD it was like a Blue Light Special at Kmart! They all went running! And oh the mess they made...... but I loved every second of watching them.

Some things the girls like more than others now days. I would say that their favorites would be frozen grapes, cucumbers & strawberries. There are also things that you shouldn't feed them. (I didnt know that before reading up on it!)

Want more information on what to "treat" your girls with and what not to? BYC has an excellent page on this with graphs.... you should head on over and check it out.

Happy Girls with Yogurt

Youngest Daughter Feeding the Chickens Grapes

My DH just had to tease them with the cucumber before giving it to them.

Have a great weekend!

Where Do YOU Get Your Chicken Information?

As a "newbie" to the chicken world, I have searched high and low for all the information I can find about raising chickens. Call me an "information junkie" if you will, but I am just like that. Not just about chickens but about everything. I read, I surf the net, I listen, and I read some more. I currently have almost 300 books on my Kindle with over 1/2 of those being what I deem "reference material". So yes, Information Junkie Julie... that's me!

Where have I found the majority of my information on raising chickens? Well, two places actually. The first place I stumbled upon that had any "meat" to it, was BackYardChickens.com. This neat website & their forum has given me information for everything from choosing our breeds, building our coop/run, to picking out feed and more. Now I am sure that all of you that are in the chicken world have heard of BYC, but this site is just awesome to me! Of course, as with anything or any site, there is going to be bad advice or misinformation, but if you use your brain and don't go on just one person's advice you pretty much cant go TOO wrong. Right?

The second place I get the majority of my information, I actually learned about from the people on the BYC forum: The book Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow. I bought my copies from Amazon (see the link) but I have also seen it in our local Tractor Supply Co and our local bookstore. Like BYC it is a wealth of GOOD information and "must know" things about having chickens. Not only do I have a paperback version, I have the Kindle version as well **insert** Information Junkie Julie **here**! Yes, I want my information at my fingertips!

To me, raising our chickens is just like raising children or taking out a second mortgage..... Not something to be taken lightly. We (I) spent months researching what it would require, cost involved, longevity, breeds, etc. I needed to know what I was getting myself into.

It's been almost a year since we got our "girls" and so far so good. We haven't lost one yet **knock on wood**. We have had a few bumps along the way, but with referring back to BYC and Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens we have managed to hold our own.

There have been other blogs I have found wonderful information on too. As well as the help of some of our local farmers. I never realized how many people had "back yard chickens" until we decided to get some of our own. And oh brother, when people hear you have fresh yard eggs to sell.... well, 30 chickens doesn't seem nearly enough to meet the supply & demand we face here locally. However, for now, we are going to stick to what we have and enjoy them.

Enjoy them? Yes! Enjoy them! More on that another time!

Hope you all have a Wonderfully Blessed Day!

Trash or Treasure? Chicken Eggs Galore!

We have all heard the saying, right? "One man's trash is another man's treasurer." I don't know about you, but I believe it to be true.

I mean, think about it: Garage sales, thrift shops, eBay, Craigslist... the list goes on and on of places for you to buy someone else's "trash". Or perhaps you didn't buy it at all. Perhaps it was given to you. I consider it to be a true blessing from God when my family is in need (or even want) of something and somehow or another we receive it. A True Blessing Indeed!

Almost a year ago, our family decided to start raising chickens to sell the eggs. Wait. Let me back up.

Our daughter Alyssa is an active member of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) and a second year Agriscience (AG) student at her high school. Part of their grade in AG is what is called a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE). Students are required to do this. Alyssa's first year in high school she did her SAE on Small Animal Care. Basically, she took something she was already familiar with doing, taking care of our dog, and made it into a grade. But after completing that project and spending almost a full year in her AG class, she wanted to tackle a bigger project. She decided she wanted to RAISE CHICKENS!

Oh boy! This momma was NOT prepared for that. My husband on the other hand, was much more receptive. He had raised chickens in the past. True free ranging chickens. I thought, "You mean you want chickens to just run around our yard? I don't THINK so mister!" I was quickly assured that we: 1. Live too close to neighbors, 2. Have too many hawks flying above & 3. "No dear, they will be in an enclosed yard."

Whew! OK, I can breath!

Yes, once my daughter and husband convinced me that it was "OK" to own chickens, we got down to researching on the different kinds we wanted. Me personally, got excited with all the different types and would have 100 chickens just to see all the pretty variations.

Fast forward to a few months ago.... MAN! These chickens make a lot of eggs! Why do we have so many eggs? Oh wait.... its because we have 30 chickens! LOL Anyway, we have these 30 chickens (well, 29 hens and 1 rooster) producing eggs. At their peak, we have gotten over 2 dozen eggs a day. Two dozen, times 7 days a week is a minimum of 14 dozen eggs. There is no way we could eat all that! Thank Heaven's part of this project is to actually SELL the eggs. But where do you store 14+ dozen eggs until you sell them?

This is where our "trash and treasure" comes in. (No, I didn't forget the point of my story, I just had to get to it.) We have been saying for MONTHS we needed to get another refrigerator to keep just the selling eggs in. Our poor fridge in the house was jammed full of our normal groceries and then all these eggs. So much so, that on more than one occasion a dozen has fallen out when the door was opened and eggs went SPLAT! on the floor.

So we have been watching the classifieds, listening to the "swap-shop" on the radio, been to a few thrift stores, etc.... all in the hopes of finding a good used fridge. On more than one occasion, while trying to jam something into the fridge, I have lifted up a silent prayer to God "Please let us find a cheap fridge so I can have mine back".

Then it happened! A few days ago, my husband was discussing our dilemma with a friend of his a low and behold HE had a spare fridge that he needed to get rid of and offered it to us! The best part...... we got it for FREE!

HOUSTON! WE HAVE LIFT OFF!!!

Currently, this "not so pretty" little baby is welcoming sight on my carport and I couldn't be happier about it if she was a stainless steel side-by-side with automatic water dispenser that gave me Sonic Drive-In quality crushed ice! REALLY! I am THAT excited! A Blessing Indeed!

Tell me. What do YOU think about the old saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure"?

Time Always Escapes Us, So I Will Catch Up Quick

Nothings changed, life remains the same. Kids are growing up and I am growing older.

Chickens..... yes, we have chickens now. 30 to be exact - 1 rooster and 29 hens. All part of Alyssa's Agriscience project for high school.