Nerds With Birds

1. This dude knits newspaper
2. Homemade metal detector - from a calculator and radio!
3. Build a Mongolian yurt house (portable home)
4. Make a 2 liter broom
5. Mod your wii nunchuck blue leds
6. Flip Flops turned shoe (knit)
7. Home Ec 101 (what you wish your momma taught you)

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Oh man! My favorite magazines have been discontinued! Better Homes and Gardens published a simply creative crochet and a knit it! annual magazine. I wait all year for the next issue. Well I’ve been on the hunt for the last month with no luck so I decided to call and find out what’s up. I spoke with a Lori Eggers (who works on the crafty and simply creative magazines) who said that both magazines have been discontinued *pout*

That just sucks!

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I like to crochet *hello captain obvious right?!* So I am always on the look  out for a new crochet forum…I found one at ravelry.com. I signed up and it told me I was on a waiting list? That’s a new one. I’ve had to wait to be approved but a waiting list? I waited a day then I went back to the site figuring maybe I did something wrong. I saw at the top it said “waiting list checker” so I clicked that, filled in my info and here’s what I got:

• You signed up on Yesterday
• You are #66896 on the list.
• 7298 people are ahead of you in line.
• 501 people are behind you in line.
• 87% of the list has been invited so far

Good grief! At this rate I won’t be able to join until next summer! *LOL* So as great as it may be…I’m gonna have to pass!

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(Life) Life has been insane. I’ve been trying to keep up with school, home, kids and gosh it seems like a lot right now *L* Those few days I missed in school did some damage - dropped me a full grade in 2 classes! I was getting A’s now I’m down to an A and 2 B’s. Still good but makes me mad given the reason :( Mama was here for about 3 weeks helping with the kids while I was sick. Her staying home was awesome. We all miss her lots so we got in lots of visiting time while we could. The kids had a blast playing with Mamoo. I celebrated my 29th birthday - gosh I’m getting old. This is the year I can stop counting right?! *L* We had dinner at Red Lobster while Momma watched the kids. When we got back Momma had a cotton candy ice cream cake waiting for me and Cody decided everyone needed to sing to me - it was cute. Overall it was a good birthday!

(Farm) A lot has changed on the farm :) We’ve traded out some animals. Pig Update: The pig is gone. We sold her right before I got sick. She was getting awfully loud so she had to go. She was still an awesome pet and we’ll miss her. Quail Update: Somehow the entire flock got out and found their way into the backyard with the dogs. It wasn’t a pretty site. So we have 12. I’m not sure what we are going to do just yet. We need to buy more eggs if we want to repopulate the flock because of the whole diversity thing. SO we’re not sure what we want to do with all that just yet. Rabbit Update: Poor Mr. McGee is sick again. I swear the poor thing hasn’t caught a break since the neighbor dog got him. He’s got sores around his mouth and I’m just not sure he’ll pull through this time. Sassy is doing good - still no babies but we haven’t been “really” trying either. We added a new rabbit to the mix. Walter is a lop eared bunny wabbit who is super friendly and is about the same size as Sassy. I think he is older but it doesn’t really matter. He was $4 bucks *L* He’s male, and very friendly and my male is sick. So we bred Sassy and Walter last night and we’ll see what happens. Chicken Update:My rock has gone broody. She is so mean right now *L* she will try to peck at you and makes an awful racket if you bother her in the least. The Aracuna is the only one still laying eggs (because of the weather change) so that kinda stinks. We added 2 more Aracuna’s (Black, Grey) to the mix Saturday. They are cute but very scared still. I’ve been working on them with rice crispies *L* they WILL learn to like me :) Pigeon Update: Yes, I said pigeon *L* Jay has been talking about pigeons for awhile and an opportunity (a cheap one at that) arose so we are now the proud owners of 4 roller pigeons. We shall see how this hobby pans out.

(Kids) Cody has been doing good in school. He brings home “Super Manners” almost every day. You get super manners for doing good things and being nice, ect ect. It’s a big deal for him to we plaster them to the wall in the livingroom *L* I’m already running out of space! Cody throws the peace sign whenever he says bye to his friends at school and it just cracks me up. My little boy is growing up *L* Emily is getting so big. She can sing the whole ABC song and can already count to 12. She can count higher but it’s usually not in the right order *L* Still cute though! Jay made her an “Egg” they are hollowed out eggs (chicken, quail) filled with plaster. She just loves to hold them. She calls them HER baby eggs *L* Talk about cheap entertainment!
(Garden) The garden is officially over for the year. I pulled up my sweet potatoes this weekend. Now that was hilarious! I don’t think I will ever plant those again. The cucumbers think they are coming back - I found several blooms and a few cucumbers an inch or two but it’s getting cooler and I don’t have time to mess with the garden anymore. Jay picked a bucket full of his peppers and made some hot sauce - that’s some HOT stuff! *LOL* Next weekend I’m hoping to get the garden prepared so it will be ready to plant in next year.

(Contest) I played a few days ago and won a koolaid backpack and a $20 gas card *woohoo*

(Hobby) I finished Emily’s scarf. It’s a tootsie roll looking thing. I still need to add the letters but all the crochet is done! I did get some sewing in this week but not for me. A friend needed me to fix a shirt *L* I know - woohoo right?! *L* Maybe I’ll get some more in this week.

(Website) Main update and pictures to come this week!

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(Farm) I know what your thinking…No…She hasn’t had any babies yet :/ She still has a few days though. Last time she kindled at 32 days which would be the 9th so that is still 3 days from now. I’ve been checking on her several times a day. Hoping to catch her having them. Anyways the rest of the farm is fine…The Inky will be set up tomorrow and we should have the webcam on it by this weekend. Everything else is doing good. Zsa Zsa is getting bigger everyday and is ruling the yard right now :)

(Life) Well Jay has been home for a few days now…why did I want him home again?*LOL* Just kidding of course. He has been a big help around here. He’s been doing the outside chores and even cut the grass today. I have been gathering up all my school stuff. I can’t believe I start next week - insane! I’m nervous but excited at the same time. I am kinda bummed that I am not able to take one of the classes I had planned on taking. Sign Language is no longer being offered as a “credit course” just as a continuing education class, not counting as college credit. I don’t really want to take a class that doesn’t count for anything :/ although I would like to learn sign language. So now I need to figure what other class I want to take in its place.

(Hobby) I’ve been making booties / slippers for the peanut. I just love this pattern. I can whip them up in no time flat. They are just so cute. I’m thinking of starting a blanket but I’m not sure I want to tackle another big crochet project yet. I like to finish stuff in a day or two *L* So we’ll see…

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(Life) Jay will be home tomorrow! WooHoo *happy dance* It sure has been a long week for me. We missed him a lot. He’s been having fun in Florida; well he was working and it was a business trip but he got to play after work :) We have never been apart more than a day since we got married (almost 7 years ago) so it felt different around the house. Having the bed to myself was only nice for the first day, then I missed him stealing my covers to throw them on the floor *lmao* I can’t wait for him to come home. I haven’t updated the blog all week because I haven’t been online much. I’ve been hanging out with Mamoo (Jays Momma) and Aunt Holly and if I wasn’t doing that I was doing the “farm” chores. Mamoo stayed home this week to help with the kiddo’s while Jay was gone. Cody stayed over there for a few nights and Emily spent her very first night away from me last night. Now that was strange. I had the ENTIRE house to myself - overnight. I didn’t even know what to do…so I took a bath and went to bed *LOL* and I slept so good. I even got to sleep in until 10am *woohoo* Since PawPaw & Mamoo started driving the big rig the kids have been really missing their Mamoo so it was really good that they got to spend some time with her. PawPaw should be home tomorrow as well so they will hopefully get to spend some time with him a bit before they both go back out on the road. Alright onto the rest of the updates…

(Farm) Wow, I never realized how much easier it is having 2 people doing the work at once. Normally it takes 10-15 minutes to feed and water and tend to all the animals and the garden. With Jay gone and me doing alone it was taking 45+ to get it all done. The rabbit has been pulling out her fur and has made a soft little nest so hopefully she really is preggo and will have some kits. The first possible day is Sunday - so only 2 more days. Our chickens are doing good. The Rock is the only one laying still and I think she’s a double-yoker.Every 3 days she has an egg that is twice the size. So that’s kinda interesting. I ended up counting the quails a few days ago. We were having a bad rain storm and their area got flooded so I went out and caught them all - in the pouring rain BTW - and stuck them in cages for the night. I went out the next day and counted 15 males and 18 females. I have been gathering an average of 14 eggs each day so a few still aren’t pulling their weight *LOL* I started collecting eggs for the inky (incubator) on 7/28 and should have a full box (130 eggs) tomorrow. I think we will have it up and running by the 7th so I’ll update ya’ll in a few days with a link to view their progress.

(Garden) I’ve been steady collecting cucumbers and grape tomatoes and have picked a few of the regular size tomatoes finally. Those plants just didn’t do what I thought they would. They had a lot of leaves and limbs but not much fruit. So I may buy a different brand next year. The rest of the garden is doing fine…same ‘ole really.

(Hobby) I actually crocheted this week. I made Emily a pair of slippers. It was a very easy pattern and took me a little over an hour to whip up. She loves them and has been wearing them everyday. I think I’ll make her another pair in a different color just because she looks so cute in them and likes to wear them.

(Funny) A few things I’ve learned this week…

1. If your going to boil eggs…Don’t forget about them *L* I boiled a few dozen quail eggs for over 2+ hours. The outside coloring and spots were peeling off but they tasted fine *L*
2. I don’t know why I set the mouse trap out when I can’t get them out of it. Normally Jay does that…I’ve been feeding a mouse that is trapped in the Tin Cat mousetrap for 4 days because I am to freaked to get it out of there myself *LMAO*
3. Avacodo seeds will sprout eventually and will grow to 12 inches and stop. I swear this plant hasn’t grown in 3 months *lmao*

(Website) Updated the Birds Page (Egg Counts / Quail Count) and Pictures

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(Family) Holy cow! I found money :) Well actually I found Cody’s money. Back when I was pregnant with Lil man I signed up for upromise.com. I signed up my grocery discount cards and then forgot about it. Well 5 years later here I am sitting in my college entrance class and they start talking about upromise. I remembered “hey! I did that for Cody!” so I figured out my log in and guess what?! Cody has 50 bucks saved for college that I didn’t even know about. Granted it’s not much but its free and its his. The information they had was all incomplete or incorrect so I updated my account and added the princess to it. So I thought that was super cool. I like to find free money - even if it’s not for me. Let’s see what else went on this week? Aunt Holly came over to visit us and stayed a few hours just visiting which was nice. We made a cake and just B.S’d for a few hours and she played with the kids a bit. Always good when Aunt Holly visits.

(Farm) Everyone is doing great. We bred the rabbits again on Monday. I’m still erked that she didn’t have babies but all we can do is try again. The pig is doing great in the backyard. She has been using the kids sandbox turned mud hole to have her mud baths in. It hillarious. She turns into one giant mud ball. She is sectioned off from the dogs but has gotten loose twice and she wasn’t attacked. It’s strange to see her running in the “pack” it doesn’t look right *L* We are working on a new way to fasten the gate so she cant get it open because I’m just not comfortable that they still wouldn’t hurt her sometime. The quails are doing alot better since we got them out of their cages and into their new pen (basically an aviary) They seem alot happier and have been laying on average 4 eggs a day (38 eggs laid so far). The other day we had a tragedy involving them though. The dog next door dug under and ate several birds and wounded a few more. It was sad :/ nothing we could do but fill the hole. The chickens STILL aren’t laying. I’m getting a little annoyed. I bought them a higher layer ration and we’ll see if that makes a difference.

(Garden) Finally the grape tomatoes are starting to turn red! About freaking time. I’ve picked a few more cucumbers and they are sooo good. I love cucumbers. Well worth the hunt to find the plants ;) There are 3 blooms on the pumpkin patch. The book says I need to pick the blooms off and wait until the plant is at least 10 ft long but I cant bring myself to do it *L* So I’m leaving them alone. I finally got to pick a ripe strawberry but just as got ready to eat it I saw another bug beat me to it. Darn bugs!

(Hobby) I reworked Emily’s red/black/white blanket. It kept coming unraveled and making me made so I’ve been meaning to redo it for 2 years *L* Well I finally completed it and it looks great. Instead of sewing the blocks together I crocheted them. That should make it 3x as strong and it looks neat to :)

(Website) I will be adding(*done*) another crap load of pictures. I’ve got a ton from the 4th and a few updated pictures of the animals and the garden. I should have them all uploaded by Sunday night. I also updated the rabbit, bird, pets page.

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Some quick facts: it’s weatherproof, doesn’t chip easily, doesn’t warp like latex, is great for people with allergies and isn’t full of nasty toxic stuff.

Here’s how you make it. The ratio is about a gallon of skim milk to four ounces of hydrated lime and NOT quicklime. Very important. Quicklime will react in a not so nice way with liquid. You can put some chalk in there, according to some people.
The idea is to mix it up slowly, like you would instant pudding. Don’t just dump the lime in on the milk all at once.

Find some nice red clay, or other natural pigments to add to the paint. Just make sure the pigment will get along okay with lime and not react. Don’t use anything with lead, as it is a hazard to kids and animals when it dries and is flaked off and eaten.
Use sealer on your work if you want, after it has a couple coats of paint.

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(Garden) Yesterday I picked our first ripe tomatoes. Let me just say, they were mouth watering sweet *yummy* Everything else is growing good. The cucumbers have exploded this past week. We have more than 25 baby cucumbers started and even more blooms. The vines are climbing up the fence and can almost touch the top of the shed. No blooms on the pumpkins yet but there are new leaves so that’s a good sign. Something (a squirrel I imagine) keeps eating my strawberries the day they ripen. It’s agitating *L* The peppers are full of blooms. I’m not sure how to tell if how the sweet potatoes are doing - but the top leaves look good *L*
(Farm) The quails weigh 7.7 ounces now. They still need to double in weight before it’s fry’n time. Hopefully they will start laying eggs soon. No eggs from the chickens either. They better start earning their keep ;) I made Zsa Zsa a new toy this weekend. She loves to eat so I got a ball and drilled some holes and I put her food in there. As she rolls it around it drops a few pellets at a time. It gives her some exercise and keeps her busy. A bored pig is a bad pig *L* SO we like to keep her entertained and this seems to be doing the trick. The rabbits are doing good. My female rabbit has been eating like a horse the last week *L* I think I can safely assume between her eating everything in sight, trying to eat me alive if I touch her, and the fact I can feel little grapes in her belly…she’s preggo! Do you see a glow? *LOL* I love close up bunny shots ;)

(Kids) Cody has been playing on his computer a lot this last week. His favorite new website is Youtube *ack* he loves to listen to crazy frog videos and watch video’s of people playing Mario. Princess Peanut had a lapse in potty training. She has been boycotting the potty for a few days now. I’m hoping this will pass and she’ll remember that dirty diapers don’t feel all that great. So we shall see.

(Life) Jay and I worked all weekend but didn’t finish anything - so it seemed. We did accomplish getting the rabbits cage ready - in case she has a litter in a few (on the 7th) weeks. We started to tear apart some pallets to make a stand for the cages but that didn’t really go as planned. Pallets are really hard to disassemble! We got 2 of the 4 partially done and at that point I had hit my arm with the hammer (don’t ask) and we were both dripping with sweat and out of all the boards we actually got off, only 3-4 were usable. So I said “forget this” - we’ll figure something else out later. I will never attempt salvaging wood from pallets ever again! *LOL* I decided to move the kids rooms around. I made Cody’s room (the bigger of the 2) the beds/clothes room and Emily’s room is now the playroom. It seems to be working out great because all the toys are contained in 1 room. I’m hoping that at least while we live in this house it will work because it makes cleaning and bed time a lot easier.

(Hobby) I finally finished Emily’s little bench/chair. The paint is all dry and I added the same princess fabric as her cedar chest. It’s super cute. I padded it slightly but I couldn’t do as much as I planned because then the seat wouldn’t fit anymore *L* Oh well - she likes it and thats all that matters.

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(Farm) I’m pretty sure the bunny is preggo again. She is plumping out and being lazy. She doesnt even bother to try and bite me when I’m messing with her cage (which is nice!) The quails are getting big. We split them up into 3 cages now so the smell and mess isnt as bad but they still stink and I cant wait until 1/2 are gone ;) No eggs from the chickens yet. I’m expecting them to lay any day now. Zsa Zsa is doing good. She has full run of the house during the day and is locked in her room at night mainly so she doesn’t wake the kids. She has turned out to be a really great pet.

(Kids) Cody & Emily have been swimming and jumping on the trampoline for days now. The second we get up it’s “can we go outside?” and if it isn’t that it’s “can we play the Wii?” *LOL* They have been having alot of fun this summer just playing and being kids.

(Garden) Everything is growing! I have about 15 cucumbers started and no less than 20 grape tomatoes :) The chilli’s are starting to get blooms and the other tomato plants are chugging along with 3-4 tomatoes on each of them. The strawberries are growing but as soon as they start to get a pink hue to them the bugs find it and they are gone by morning *L* but they are growing. We planted a pumpkin plant and it seems to be doing ok so far. We also have a few wild mushrooms that had sprouted up - no I wont be eating them but I do like to watch them grow *LOL*

(Life) I’m suppose to go tomorrow and take my college placement test (wish me luck!) so we shall see how that goes. I went grocery shopping by myself and was so proud. I saved 45.87 using coupons. It’s such a pain to clip and keep track and check expiration dates but it makes it worth it when I see the savings. So that made me happy. Not a super eventful few days but ahh such is life ;)

(Contests) Well I started playing my instant win games after taking 6 months off. I really like to play and of course I really like to win. The problem was that I played so many (I was entering no less than 300 contests every night!) that I became bored with winning. I know - that sounds so dumb, but I did. I would win and think “well that’s ok, wish it was … prize instead” and I hated to be like that because it’s hard to win anything. It’s basically all about timing. You play at the right time and you win - that’s the secret. I usually take a screenshot of my screen when I win so I added a new “contest” picture section, and I will add anything I win here :) I posted my wins from the other day when I played so I just need to update tonights wins: AC Delco Cooler (ARV $20) & Transformers Poster (ARV$?) & Koolaid man stickers (ARV?)

(Hobby) I’ve been sewing this week. I did a few more re-fashion items this week. Mainly I made 2 more pairs of capri’s. I really like my green ones. I had such a hard time tweaking them and getting them to do what I wanted them to do *L* but they look great (I think) and they are really comfy! Bonus! *L*

(Website) I’ve added more pictures (Farm, Summer 07, Crafts, Contests) and I posted a few times this week. I also added a new list item “contest” to the update posts. I’m hoping to get back into the groove with that and this will give me some motivation to fill some more space here ;)

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