Happiness is Chicken Sh*t

We're taking Music Together classes again and there's this one simple song (they're all pretty simple) that goes, "Apples and cherries . . . peaches, blueberries . . . grapes and bananas . . . dee, dee, dee, dee, dee." EVERY TIME I hear it or just sing it in my head, I get teary eyed! Why would that song bring tears to my eyes? I think its just the simple, cheeriness of the song or that I just feel so overwhelmingly happy that by the time the song hits, "peaches," it reminds me of good ol' Palisade and I break into tears! Haha! Probably pregnant hormones have something to do with, too? I like to think I'm just so happy that a happy song makes me cry.

The girls and I shoveled out the chicken coop today, which as it turns out, is a really fun thing to do together (shoveling sh*t is fun!) I start out shoveling out the yucky outside chicken run into a garbage can (to go up to Granny's compost, because mine is full.) Today, while I did this, the girls played Bakery, Cecilia was Mary and she made pies all morning. She would shovel sand out of the sandbox into buckets and cups and flower pots and put them in the oven, somewhere. Soon, all the sand was shoveled out of the sandbox, (I gave up trying to stop this from happening) and soon the girls were ready to help with the chicken coop. We kept a close eye on Tornado, who has taken to trying to attack the girls while they raked all the wood chips into a pile so that I could shovel it into another trash can, to be sprinkled into the run. Then the girls poured fresh wood chips into the coop and raked it all about. Afterwards it was lunchtime and Cecilia was starving (who wouldn't be, without eating wheat or dairy, right?) I love pretending that our tiny chicken coop is our farm and we're tending our farm animals. I wish we had more chickens, but we really don't have room for more, unless we build a bigger run. We probably eat three or four dozen eggs/week, so if had only about three or four more chickens that laid everyday, then we'd be good to go. I'm thinking we'll just hatch some and let the hens do the brooding. According to Backyard Poultry, that's the way to go. Loving the Fall - looking forward to seeing cousins and aunties and uncles next month for Thxgivin'.

On a side note - I'm addicted to the www.soulemama.com blog . . . damn, that girl has it goin' on! Its really inspiring - she knits and makes her children cool, funky clothes out of antique and recycled fabrics, homeshools them, takes beautiful photos, cans applesauce, makes me feel like a slouch . . . but on a more positive note, it really is inspiring and her outlook and gratitude is really sweet. Jackie turned me on to her blog. She's all crafty like the soulemama chick. Anyway - I'm determined to get a sewing station set up in the girls' playroom now. Their playroom is the biggest bedroom in the house and its relatively empty, so I'm hoping to make a perfect crafting spot. Francesca needs some pants, so that's my first mission. Mission impossible? I made her some pants once before, with the help of my mom. I was lost on the first instruction in the pattern, so she had to help me a lot. Practice makes perfect? Mom is addicted to the soulemama blog, too and before we left her house tonight she said she was going to start some pants for Francesca . . . we're dually inspired. Dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee!