TOFW

It's late but I can't go to bed until I can put my bread dough in the fridge for the night, so I thought I would just check in. 

I've been at Time Out For Women in Portland this weekend with great friends who are a real blessing in my life.  I don't know what I would do without these girls.  We have so much fun, lots of laughter and girls I can bare my soul to and know they will love me no matter what.  The theme this year was about Infinite Hope.  We listened to women who shared stories of their life and trials and how they clung to hope to overcome feelings of despair.  We listened, laughed until we cried and also shed tears when feelings of the spirit overcame us.  They were wonderful and very, very funny.  We started lists of what we hope for in life and what we have hope in. 

Not much sleep was had amongst us, maybe 2-3 hours at best, but what fun.  No pictures (forgot my camera), but will try to get one or two from Stephanie or Pinky tomorrow to post, just to let you in on the fun.  I think I can just about put the dough in the fridge now, so I'm off to bed.  (It's a new recipe:  Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day.)  I'll let you know if it turns out.

I'm tired, but it's a good tired of a great weekend.  See ya!

New Business logo

I finally got my new business logo up as a blog banner.  It will also be used on my labels for everything.  I love it! Now to just figure out CS3 and circles and texting in the circle (my fonts won't seem to work doing that, so I know I'm doing something wrong).  It's probably a simple fix, but can't seem to get it to work. 
Anyway, check it out, do you like it?   Look here

Which of These Girls?

Which of these girls.....

I didn't ask them to line up, seriously.

Isn't she just beautiful!

They always run to come visit when I come out.

Or these girls...

Gave us......

They're small, but they are the first ones.  Yeah!  Typically, Barred Rock Hens lay huge brown eggs, so I know they will get to be quite large.  Yum!  It is what I have been waiting for all summer long.  Guess what we're having for breakfast! 

I love chickens, love having them in my yard, love the sounds they make, I love how pretty they are, and friendly.  I just love everything about them.  Well, I don't like that they come on my deck and poop, but other than that, oh and that they get in my garden and flower beds and dust themselves, but it's a small price to pay.  Let's see.....10 hens, 10 free range chicken eggs a day, youza.  I hope some friends love good eggs! Actually, I have had quite a few people ask if I am going to be selling them, so shouldn't be a problem. 

Have I mentioned I love chickens!!!!

Kayaking

I thought I would just post these two pictures of Bill and my friend Sami while we were kayaking last weekend. See I do things, I just forget to post. We only have one kayak right now (my Christmas present from Bill), but Sami has 2 so she lets Bill come along since her husband has to work when we can go. We went again this morning, different lake, but so much fun. It's finally sunny and gorgeous out.

And Penny of course. She has her own life jacket and everything. She saw me in the other kayak and decided to come see me and jumped out of Bills. I don't know if she realized that was water between us or not, but she was pretty surprised, we fished her out and she was fine. This week she didn't do that, but did learn how to jump from one kayak to the other when we were right next to each other. I'm not sure she is having as much fun as we are, but hopefully she will learn to. I would love to have her sitting on the top and "leading" the way. We shall see. She is still a puppy.

I tried to make these pictures larger, but they warped. Does anyone know how to keep the scale correct while doing that. I thought it was something like holding down shift or control or something like that. Anyway, if anyone knows how to do that, let me know.

So Social

I thought I would put some pictures of my cute little chicks, that I forgot to take pictures of when I first got them in March or so. Ten little Bard Rock chicks. I love chickens. I can hardly wait until they are old enough to start laying eggs. Hopefully in another month or so.

These hens are the most social hens we have ever had. One of them waits every morning for me to pet her when I'm letting them out of the coup. Today she even seemed to want me to pick her up, so I did, she loved it. They even come running up to Max and Penny when they are out there with me. Don't they know Max is a cat and birds are his favorite thing to eat????? They have even come up to him and touched his nose. What is with that!!!

They love to go nose to nose with Penny too.

Penny loves these girls, but really I think she just likes to eat their poop. It really must be way yummy.

See, they love her! Way social!

So Max has pretty much had it with these girls. I'm sure he is thinking about the others behind him and how he is going to make his escape. But then....

they chase him when he makes his move. Seriously, these girls will probably walk up to the first coyote or Bobcat they see and try to make friends. NOT a good thing! I need them to grow up and give me nice big brown eggs, Yum!

Blogging? What's blogging?

I can't believe I haven't blogged for such a long time. It's not that things are going on. I am not working and at least something is going on and I completely forget to blog, or to check blogs I usually follow. What's that all about? I guess I think that nothing is really that interesting, so why blog about it. Actually, I just haven't even thought about it. But since this is also a type of journal, why not keep it up, besides it's fun. There is plenty of rain to keep me inside. So, need to take advantage of it and do inside things. Like, clean out cupboards and closets and purge all those things that I don't need and I'm tired of looking at. You should see my living room. I'm getting rid of 90% of my scrapbooking stuff since I'm mostly doing digital now. Kept some stuff since I really love the look of the paper ones with all the real layers and such. Still love doing it though. My goal is to get at least 1-2 closets done a day, then do whole rooms, then the dreaded garage. Then start over and purge more. We are going to have a smashing garage sale in July or there abouts. I keep saying that but it never really happens and we just keep gathering. This time it's happening, I'm tired of all the "stuff". I want it gone! I also need to get rid of some books. We have way to many, but books are hard for me to part with, so I'll do that last. You know, those church novels that we all read. Do I really need to keep them? Am I really going to read them again, or just be someones library. No, probably not, it's just so hard to part with them.

I'm playing my Viola again and hoping to join the local chamber group within the year. I have forgotten so much, it makes me sad that I didn't keep going. Years ago when I was playing there were very few opportunities locally to play, or people to play with. I went to Eugene for a time and played with the Lane CC chamber group for awhile, but it is just a long way. It was fun though, and of course the local Oregon Coast Chamber Orchestra. Now we have one girl that is in our ward that plays violin and another that just decided to pick it up again. Now all we need is a cello. I've tried to convince Bill to play the cello. Maybe I just need to buy him one and have it sitting around for him to get interested. That would be so fun to have a little quartet in our ward. Anyway, I should, hopefully, be able to get back what I have lost within the year, so that will be fun. I really love it. Learning an instrument is so important I think. I wish I would have had my boys learn to play the piano. When they were little they did the violin for a short time, but they hated that. Piano should have come next. David played the sax and Chip the Oboe in Middle School, but they needed to continue some kind of instrument. Really, the piano should be something everyone learns I think. I wish I would have. I can play a little bit, but not really. Does that make sense?

Knitting and hand work have all been replace with keeping a puppy entertained, throwing balls, etc. Penny has really grown, and she is a blast. We took her down to my dad's house and he LOVED her. She loved him to. When we came back from walks she would run to him and jump on his lap. When we got home and I called him to tell him we were home (and even a couple of calls after that), he would say how much he missed ... Penny. What are we, chopped liver. I thought it was so funny. He would get down on the floor with her and play and was always excited when she came back in from walks, and would comment on whatever she was doing at the time. It was fun taking her down there, but she got very used to the weather and not having to go out in the rain to do her duty, which really made it difficult when we got home. She would just stand at the door and look outside and then look at me like, "ah, no thanks". Can't say I blame her.

That same trip we went to Disneyland with David and his family. What fun that was to see Milan loving Disneyland. The weather was perfect and we all had a great time. I didn't know you could spend a whole day in Fantasyland, but we wouldn't have had it any other way. Bill and I did sneak off and go on two rides, Splash Mountain and Soaring, which is in Calif. Adventures. That was very cool. It closes early and we barely made it so we didn't even get to look around it there, wish we could have, but that's okay, next time. Anyway, Soaring kind of makes you want to learn how to hang glide. I'll put up some pictures in the next day or two.

Well, enough jabbering for now. I'll post some pictures later. I have to make a dessert for a YW auction tonight (not in YW anymore, but just contributing). I think I'll make the coconut dish with cream cheese and coconut cream pudding and coconut on top, it is way yummy! It's been a lazy morning, so better get started.

Finally

Well, I finally have a moment to post. Actually, it's probably that I have finally taken the time, not that I've been too busy, though it does feel that way. So much has been happening it's hard to believe it is already April. I'll skip the little stuff and move on to the big change. On March 14th my whole department at the hospital was laid off. Most of us could see it coming, but they promised it wouldn't ever happen, so it was still kind of a shock. They really didn't have much choice. For those of you who don't know, I'm a medical transcriptionist and have been working at our local hospital for just over 13 years. The whole corporation, which includes hospitals and clinics in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, decided to go with voice recognition. Frankly, most of us saw the writing on the wall and in late April they announced they would be outsourcing the editing. So, March 14th was our last day. They have been kind and generous to us and we feel pretty good about the whole thing.

One of the best things that came from this experience is a wonderful talk I had with one of my kids about faith. He was so angry about all of it, but I explained that if we have faith that all will be well and that our Heavenly Father will take care of us, he will. I explained to him that it didn't mean things wouldn't be difficult, that we might have to make some major lifestyle changes, but that change isn't always bad. It can open doors that ultimately are better for us. We really talked at length about it and it was a great moment. We really do have faith that all will be well and that we will be guided towards the answers that ultimately will take us to where our Heavenly Father wants us to be. Most important to me is that it's an opportunity for spiritual growth, because ultimately, that it most important. It really doesn't matter if we lose everything, it's just stuff. It's not that we think that will happen, we don't, but even if it did, as long as we have faith and we are doing what the Lord wants, I'm okay with that. Ultimately, the company that took over has asked me to come work for them, which I am trying out. I'm not sure it's what I want to do, but I told them I would try it out for a month or two, so we'll see. The job has caused some nerve damage in my ears and a few other aches and pains, so I may make a major change, maybe take some classes and try something different. We'll just have to see. I do have a testimony that if we follow the guidance of the Spirit all will be well. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and His great Plan of Happiness. I know that if I earnestly pray and ask my Heavenly Father to guide me, he will. The place where I want to be is where He wants me to be, doing what He wants me to be doing. It's that simple!

Shortly after this conversation, this same child had some major change in his life, which I think, because of our conversation, he was more able to deal with, and understand that change isn't a bad thing. He isn't a child that likes change, or deals with change easily, but it has ended up being a blessing in his life and an opportunity for growth. It's been good and he agrees. We are so proud of him. We are proud of all of our boys and how they deal with life's challenges.

Now, on a lighter side. We have a new puppy, Penny. She makes us smile all the time. Here is the first picture I took of her.

Yes, that's the picture. She moved so fast that picture after picture looked just like this, or maybe this one.

Finally I got one of her, but it wasn't easy.

Of course, she turned her head so I didn't get her face. I think she weighed about 1.3 pounds here. We are so used to having big dogs, a Golden Retriever , Rotty', that this is sooo new. But we are loving her. She is a Yorkie, but a full-sized Yorky, not a tea-cup or toy. She will never be big though, probably about 9 lbs. She doesn't shed, Yahoo!, so no one will be allergic to her. Here is another picture of her. Everyone says she looks like a bear cub.

Is she not the cutest! I think she looks like an Ewok, sounds like one too sometimes when she is trying to talk. No one passes her on the street without stopping and giving her attention, which she loves. Now she wonders why some don't.

She is so good. She has really grown, she now weighs a little over 3 lbs. Here is a picture of her on the beach for the first time. We are really having fun with her and she makes us smile all the time. She is such a kick!

She still moves fast, so not great pictures. I'll have to get a video of her and post that. I also have to post another one that Bill would be embarrassed about, but oh well. I was in the kitchen making dinner or something and he called me out one day to look at what he was doing. This is the guy that was shaking his head about getting a small dog. (I had given him multiple opportunities to get a golden again, or a lab and he wouldn't go look, so this is what I decided on)

We have a picture of David with Milan on his 4-wheeler, so this makes the picture even more funny to me. Look closely, see the green bag... Does this look like a man who minds having a small dog?

All of the boys have basically said it is official, we are getting old. But I have to tell you, she won't shed (no allergies), she is small enough to take anywhere without a hassle, she will be a breeze in the camper and traveling. We just love her to pieces. I think Milan and Eden will too!

Oh, and here is a picture of her brother, who we just saw yesterday. His name is Guinness. Not a great picture, but the best we could do. He is a little bigger than Penny, but is adorable. He chases his tail like a cat and has a great personality.

Glenda????