Pickle Juice

I smell like a pickle. 

An extra juicy vinegar filled pickle.

Not from eating them but from making them. 

My aspiration is to be a modern day Suzy Homemaker. 

Quite literally. 

Supper served by 6, house clean as a whistle, and craft projects galore. 

One day I will be that complete package, but until then I will settle for letting a "glimpse" of her surface every once in a while.

Tonight she showed up while Cam and I made homemade pickles. 

I felt right at home slicing and dicing in the kitchen. 

He cut the onions, because they make me cry every time, 

and I prepared most everything else. 

I would like to say I made my grandmother's recipe, but I chose to try my hand at refrigerator pickles instead to get my feet wet. 

You can find the original source of my recipe here.

I adapted this recipe by adding red onion to my jars instead of red peppers and cauliflower. You can pickle anything, but cauliflower didn't sound too good to me. I think the carrots give the jars a nice pop of color though, and pickled carrots are actually quite delicious! All 8 jars sealed after canning them, which means we don't have to refrigerate them after all.  

In a few days we will open a jar to test them, but I think the others will do best to sit and season for a month or so. I'm excited to try them, and even more excited to let my inner Suzy shine in the future with more than just pickle juice. 

Greener Pastures

So this happened yesterday.

Cam hopped in the bucket of Mr. Jimmy's bulldozer to trim up some tree limbs. 

It made me nervous at first, but he seemed to be having fun. 

Sometimes that's all that matters. 

After trimming several limbs and an hour or so of work on the bulldozer this...

Has become this!

Work is finally underway to build us a driveway!

Many thanks to Cam for helping clean this area up.

Pretty soon we will have a new drive and a greener pasture to boot!

Sloppy Seconds

For those of you that have ever owned chicks,
you know that they're messy eaters.

And for those of you that haven't, now you know.

They're messy.
Like hopping in the feed trough, spilling more feed
than what they eat kind of messy. 

And when you have more than one feathered friend 
eating from the same trough, the messiness just gets multiplied.

We feed our chicks scratch feed once they lose their "fluff."

It has sunflower and corn seeds in it, among other things.

And when you have messy eaters, these seeds get all over the place.

And sometimes, they plant themselves.

We currently have three corn stalks and four sunflower plants
growing in our backyard.

I guess the chickens wanted a little more "character" to their yard.
It's been a nice little summer surprise!

She's a Layin'

We had a bit of excitement yesterday. 

Dad came running in the house at dusk saying, 

"Ahna, grab your camera and come look!" 

I didn't know what was going on, but grabbed my camera anyway 

and went outside to see what all the fuss was about. 

Dad was standing by the Pheonix pen pointing at the ground.

So I walked over, went inside, and found this. 

Our very first Pheonix egg! 

It's so tiny, but absolutely perfect for pickling.

When Dad checked the Dominique house they had an extra egg too.
Look what beautifully brown eggs our Dominique is laying! 

That means we have two new egg layers on the farm. 

That's five eggs a day y'all, in a range of sizes.

Our girls weren't supposed to start laying until August. 

I guess my calculations were a little off, but that's alright with me!

Post-It

 

My life is a series of Post-It notes right now.

They're making millions off of me, honestly.

 

Go buy more books.

Label my books.

Organize my library.

Build bookshelves.

Paint the bookshelves.

Book the florist. 

Pay the jeweler.

Call the trailer guy.

Order save the dates.

Decide on invitations.

 

And the list goes on...

 

I'm getting a little overwhelmed by all the things I have to do this summer. My brain is in constant motion thinking about what is to be done, bought, or paid for. I seriously have about 12 different to-do lists in three different notebooks. And some where in the middle of all those lists, normal life has to continue. I'm beginning to question whether or not I can get everything done in the next two months, and more importantly if I will have the funds to do so. But I know that no matter what, My God will provide.

 

Philippians 4:19

"And my God will meet all your needs according

to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus."

 

 

Jaquarium

I have always wanted to hatch chicks in my classroom.

 

I can remember this being a topic of discussion during Easter dinner several years ago. My family and I sat around my grandmother's dining room table debating the type of incubator I would need and how many I could hatch.

 

While I haven't had the chance to hatch eggs in a classroom of my own yet, I was able to help another classroom full of kids experience the miracle of eggs hatching.

 

A month ago one of my coworkers asked if I could provide her with fertilized eggs. She admitted that she knew nothing about incubating eggs, but she wanted to try because it's something she remembers her teacher doing for her class as a kid.

 

We ordered her an incubator off of EBay since ours was occupied at the time.

It was only $20, and was most definitely a to-go container with a Christmas light stuck in the side. We both laughed hysterically when it arrived because we could have made the same thing ourselves.

(Genius marketing by the company, I should take notes.)  

 

So we set the incubator up, and began the 21 day count down to the hatch date.

Sarah and her "hall buddy" Karri rotated their roles as "momma bird," turning the eggs daily, twice a day, at the same time each day. Incase you didn't know, incubating eggs is truly a science.

 

Yesterday was the 21st day, and we had absolutely no activity. I was preparing Sarah for the reality that our babies may not make it. Then, when I arrived at school this morning Sarah came running down to my door ecstatic because there was a crack in one of the eggs.

 

I checked in on the egg periodically throughout the day, monitoring its progress. I was truly hoping that it would make it so these sweet babies could experience the miracle it truly is. When I left school there was still but a small hole in the top of the egg. Then, not an hour after leaving, I got a phone call from Sarah.

 

I'm pretty sure the conversation went something like this:


"Ahna! It's Sarah. We have a baby chick! He just hatched and he's flopping all over the place! I think he wants out. What do I do? I think he wants to walk on the ground." While trying not to laugh I responded with, "He's fine. He needs to stay in the incubator so that he can dry off. Does he have enough room to lay in the incubator?" To which Sarah said, "Yeah, but he can't stand up. I think he really wants to get out."

 

After reassuring her that the chick would be fine, I hung up the phone.

Ten minutes later I got a picture of the little guy.

 

 

Precious right?

And they've named him Jaquarium.

 

Wait until I tell Daddy that one...

 

Here Comes the Bride

I bought my wedding dress.

Let me say that again.

I BOUGHT MY WEDDING DRESS!

Last Saturday some of my family and I went wedding dress shopping. My mom and I had already "pre-shopped" on Valentine's Day to get an idea of what I liked and didn't like. I wanted to save everyone the hassle of traveling place to place if I didn't find "the one" on our first outing.

So back in February we went to Divine Design Formalwear in Trussville. They were very friendly and so helpful! I had a specific dress in mind, but it had since been discontinued. I tried on several dresses anyway and ended up absolutely falling in love with one. It was nothing like what I originally wanted, but it was absolutely perfect. I wanted my family to help me a make a final decision though, so I chose three dresses that I liked, the one I loved, and told the clerk that I would be back soon with everyone.

And, two months later, we purchased my wedding gown!
  

Surprisingly, no one cried.
Although I suspect there were a few tears shed behind closed doors.

While I can't share a picture of my wedding dress with you, I can share a picture of us from lunch after we purchased my gown.

I am so grateful I was able to share this special day with my mom, my aunt, both my grandmother's, my future mother in law, and my best friend (not pictured). These ladies have watched me grow and have supported me every step of the way.

I am so excited to have them alongside me on the day they play

"Here Comes the Bride."