Homely Animal

You've got Quail... (patterned baldness ;)

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Yes, you guessed it. Just when you thought our summer couldn't get any more fun, it did. My friend Jeanie lent me an incubator and gave us some quail eggs to hatch. (Such an enabler!) It is so fun and they are just adorable! Here's the blow by blow :o) We got 13 quail eggs total. 6 developed, 1 rotted, and the other 6 didn't develope at all....so

13 Corturnix Quail eggs. Each given a number to keep track of progress. Inucbate 14 days.

On day 14 they all go into the hatcher! Pip, Zip, Pop!

Could you die? How cute is this?

There are 3 babies under the heat lamp and 2 eggs that haven't hatched....yet? This is very fun and exciting. Stay tuned for more hatching posts.... Jeanie also gave us some chicken eggs! :o)-

Such a thrill

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Today we woke up to a surprise from Buttercup (btw she has the sweetest smile). We went to a hobby farm that was selling pullets that had just started to lay and we did not plan on buying a blue/green egg layer. It sort of just happened. When we got home she laid an egg that night, but I suspected that it was already 'en route' when we got her (the tip off being that she was swatting by the nesting box at the farm!)

Well today we got Buttercup's 2nd egg. The color is so beautiful and darker than I thought it would be. There is no mistaking that this egg is green (with a touch of blue). Our next pullet is due to start laying in about 1 month. We can't wait!

New Digs

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:20:00 +0000

Today we finished the new coop. Hooray for us (and our pullets). Although the original plan was for 3-4 birds in the end, we have ended up with 6. Each one will lay a different colored egg which will give us a very fun 1/2 dozen. Here are the new digs.

Large roof opens on a hinge for inside access. Small side door opens from the outside to reveal inner mesh door for ventilation, or open the mesh door for side access.

Coop w/o run. White base panel is end of slide out tray for cleaning. Side access door with latch.

Nesting boxes from the inside lined with linoleum tiles

Slotted floor roosting bars remove for easy cleaning.

Floor and doors view from nesting box roof

Coop with the run attached and the girls in there looking around. It took us about 1 1/2 weeks to build the coop. We're happy with how it turned out. My hubs is especially happy to be done with this project.

a Royal upset!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:01:00 +0000

I remember the day that the chicks arrived. Princess was so small and brownish grey, I couldn't ever recall seeing and Easter Egger that color before. Even when Princess got sick (see last post) the family was on pins and needles saying prayers for Princess. We looked forward to the beautiful blueish green eggs that she would lay this fall...

Sooooo, remember when I was typing away on my last post and saying that hopefully there wouldn't be any more chicken issues in the near future?... well.... turns out this week a shocking piece of news has been revealed to our family...... drumroll please......

Princess is better and back to her normal self and as I compare her to the other chicks I notice...

weird? Princess' tail is pretty tiny compared to the others.... I wonder why?

and boy is she assertive (that's the way that we say aggressive when we talk about girls). And hey, wait a sec.... her comb is sure coming in fast and turning red before the other little chicks...

Princess!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Here, here. Order in the court. Today we announce to the subjects of our kingdom that Princess is indeed..... a prince. He'd prefer to be knows and T.A.F.K.A.P. (The Avian Formerly known as Princess) but the sad fact is that whatever we call him, he must now relocate to a non-urban home. A few people have shown interest. We will be sad to see Prince(ss) go.

We have arranged a chicken trade so that Princess' former owner will not be left without a chicken (she is now claiming my chicken as her new Princess). So as of today we can now decree that all is once again well in the kingdom. ;)

Princess is back

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:34:00 +0000

About 3 days ago we noticed that my daughter's little chick Princess wasn't acting normal. We watched her closely and she wasn't doing her normal chicken things like scratching and pecking at food. I checked the 'help' forum on http://www.backyardchickens.com/ and did what was suggested for unusual behavior.

On day 3 Princess bounced back. We have heaved a huge sigh and are so relieved since she is such a sweet little chick and loved by all. (you can kind of tell in the pic that she will have a beard when she grows up). We have now had our very first chicken incident. Hopefully this will be the last blog post of it's kind!

If Rasheeda can do it so can you!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:01:00 +0000

My son was given this bag of chips as a snack at church. I have never heard of HOMEGIRLS Potato Chips (It's All That) before.

The chips had some sort of super spices on them and I couldn't quite place what the flavor was supposed to be unless... it was that when you mix all spices together, you come up with a new flavor ;o)

The whole bag as only $0.25 which is a pretty good deal overall.

Do they have these where you live? Honestly, I've been in this area for about 6 years and I've never seen these on the shelf before..... anyway....

The 3 homegirls mentioned on the front are Kathy, Maria, and Rasheeda and they have a message for YOU HomeGirl.

*******Here is what is written on the back.********

MOTHERHOOD: As we look to becoming mothers one day, we will produce children with good manners and good minds. We are the first teachers.

WE ARE GOING TO CHANGES THIS THING
AROUND

MARRIAGE: We should save ourselves for marriage. Why should a man respect us if he can have us before marriage? Respect yourself and everyone will respect you. NO RING...NO THING!

WE ARE GOING TO CHANGES THIS THING AROUND

THE POWER WITHIN US: The power within us is stronger than the negative forces outside of us. So our message to bad influences is ... STEP OFF!

WE ARE GOING TO CHANGES THIS THING AROUND

There is a new bag on the block ... and it's all that ... and a bag of chips

**********************************************************************

So there you have it. When you down and out and surrounded by bad influences. Think about homegirl chips, say the pledge, and change this thing around. You can do it!

So this is love

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:22:00 +0000

We are absolutely loving our chicken experience. Here is the blow by blow so far :o)

The chicks arrived on a Tuesday.

Each of the older children has their own chicken which they picked from the http://www.mypetchicken.com/ website. We did the questionnaire on the website matches chicken breeds to your situation. We ordered 4 chicks total and each chick owner named their own chick. A huge portion of the bickering, meltdowns, and power struggles has ended. I took away a LARGE bunch of toys (the usual fight causing ones) and the children are blissfully happy with their new united purpose. The only care about their own chicks but they have the chickens in common. Nobody wants to hold anybody else's so the there aren't any power struggles or fights. We should have between 18-24 eggs a week when the laying starts.

Yellow Chick - California White (cross between a white leghorn and a California Grey) Will lay white eggs average 6/week. Name "Lulu"

Brown/Grey chick - Easter Egger

Will lay wither Blue, Green, or light pink (unlikely) eggs average 6/week.

Name "Princess"

Brown chick - Welsummer. Will lay med brown eggs with drk brown speckles average 4/week. Name "Lady Windsor"

Black Chick- Australorp. Will lay light brown eggs. Average 6/week. Name "Big Z"

It's been about 3 weeks now and boy have these little girls grown! The novelty hasn't worn off and the children (and I) just love it. I never thought I would feel like I loved a chicken but I do.

Every Monday we take a picture of each chick and weigh them to keep track of their growth. We love the Eglu that we bought and the children have their lawn chairs set up in a row to watch chicks during the day. They sit and narrate what they believe the chickens must be saying. It's all very cute.

We look forward to our first eggs which should arrive late Sep or early Oct. I think I will blow out each chickens first egg to keep. More updates to come :o)

Quilt Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:11:00 +0000

I'm so grateful for all of the support on the Philadelphia chicken petition. The signature number went from 275 to 433 in 2 weeks! It is soooo close to the 500 signature goal :o) Here is the random number draw...

And the winner is.....

Promises to Keep said...
I signed, had my mom sign and my husband. I am also going to create a link on my blog. Love Chicks!! Aileen

Please send your address to homelyanimal@gmail.com and I'll send out the quilt! Congrats and thanks to everybody for helping to move the petition along.

QUILT GIVE-AWAY!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Quilt Give-a-way! This is for the quilt from this post. This give-away is to raise awareness for urban chickens. There are many cities that allow urban chickens including Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, L.A., Madison, Miami, Portland, Raleigh, San Fransisco, Seattle, and the list goes on. So I am introducing my newest mini-cause entitled. "a Quilt for the Chickens!"

If you agree, would you please sign this petition? It's for the city of Philadelphia to amend the urban livestock code to exclude hens/chickens. Under the proposal families in the city limits can have up to 4 laying hens per household with proper waste disposal and sanitation facilities in accordance with the city’s guidelines.

Click Here to Sign!!! (pretty please?)

It's soooo fast and you don't have to live in Philadelphia. Also you don't even need to comment on the petition if you don't want to :)

Do it for Lulu :)

Please rest assured that this isn't a huge group that will turn your home town into Chickadelphia. It's a small group of individuals that want the ability to keep chickens as outdoor pets in order to provide eggs. The petition needs 220 more signatures to be proposed to the city for the change AND a perk to raising awareness is that I'll be giving away this baby quilt to a winner a week from Friday! Just leave a comment on this post for an entry.

42 X 39 inches. 100% cotton pieced top and 100% cotton flannel underneath. If you post about it linking the petition on your blog gets you 5 extra entries for a total of 6, just let me know which one you do! (Feel free to use the "a Quilt for the Chickens graphic above ;) )

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional seamstress and this was done on my home machine. I don't see any puckers or issues so I'm pretty confident in the workmanship of this quilt!

IMPORTANT NOTE* YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND WIN THE QUILT. THE QUILT IS TO BRING AWARENESS TO THE CAUSE. AS STATED ABOVE "If you agree, would you please sign this petition? " if you don't then don't :o)

Week #3 The Quilt-a-long

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:22:00 +0000

The strips are sew together and cut into blocks. It's actually pretty amazing to me that in 2 days I have 42 blocks done for a quilt which will end up being about 6'X7'. Since I've only ever done baby quilts and tied larger quilts I'm really excited that my first large pieced quilt experience has been so positive so far. I wish I could just keep going instead of waiting until next Monday for the next step but I wouldn't want to get burned out right?

Finally, a motivator!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:38:00 +0000

I've decided to do the quilt-a-long at OldRedBarnCo. Where each week, Dana the quilting mastermind, guides you through 1 step of the process to create a beautiful quilt (along with a couple hundred other quilters) and in the end (6 weeks later) Voila!

She is also doing a drawing at the end for participants and giving away a Janome 6600p. The machine would just be gravy since your real prize is having made an incredible quilt.

My fabric pic is the summer colors of "Flights of Fancy" designed by Paula Prass, made by Michael Miller. There were a few different color schemes to choose from but this seemed more Frenchy to me somehow.

You may have stopped by Dana's site or maybe even saw a quilt of hers when she did this giveaway last year.

So the current quilt-a-long is to make this same pattern which I thought was very fun. I actually really like Dana's blog. She's fun and smart and her posts are fun and well written. So check it out if you get a chance :)

Old Red Barn Co.

I'll be sure to post my finished quilt at that end of it all. Wish me luck!

On hold for too long.

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:37:00 +0000

I made this little sweater pattern about 3 years ago from the Debbie Bliss book "Baby Knits for beginners". I love the simplicity of the patterns in this book. A beginner can make these cute little projects, but I think that other knitters appreciate the quick, simple and classic patterns. Well, it was just seasonally off for all of the baby boys born to my friends during all of that time. I'm now very happy to say that it has finally found a home and this winter it will realize it's full potential.

Here's mine. Try not to compare it too closely to Debbie's okay? I just love the little jowls, mouth and chin of the sweater model.

Hopefully after ALL of my other of projects are completed, I'll be able to get back to knitting!

Spring distraction #1

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:15:00 +0000

So it's been so hard to concentrate on normal indoor crafting withe nice weather coming fast. The sewing has slowed down a bit and the yard projects have begun. The first completed project (that will HAVE to be how I post them since more have been started than have been finished) is our little fish pond. It has been really great and easy (so far) and has really added a nice serenity to the patio. The plants seem to grow fast and we have gone from 2 lily pads to 6, in only 2 weeks. I found some great water garden info on the following sites. Doesn't have to be a half barrell but mine was free so that is what I used.

http://www.jeffcook.com/hbpond.shtml
http://www.well.com/~gjmurphy/pondindex.htm

From what I've read, water plants can be very easy to divide and share so if you know somebody with a pond you might be able to get some great starter plants free.

Another year, another quilt.

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:01:00 +0000

So lately I've been working on a larger quilt for my bed. I've only finished the first steps of this one but you can get the idea. I'll probably end up having to send it away to actually be quilted but even that is getting cheaper with the recession. This pattern, or at least what this pattern should become is free online at Moda Fabrics. I'll have to modify it a bit to make the end result larger so stay tuned. Hopefull the 54X54 can somehow make it to 110X95-ish without getting weird. Crossing my fingers!

Do you know the Hot Dog Man?

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:59:00 +0000

A few cuts and 30 seconds in the microwave. Hello there.

Another month another quilt

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Same quilt pattern with alternating white strips between the colors. Don't know the destination of this quilt yet but I'll let you know.

Another Day, Another Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:10:00 +0000

The matching boy version of my first 'Sewing with Nancy' quilt is now done. It's slightly different than the first red quilt, but pretty much the same idea. The weird thing is that the only 2 people that I know who are having boys soon are both really exceptionally good quilters so I'll be hanging on to this until a baby boy is announced by a non-quilting mother!

On these last two quilts that I've made, when I'm sewing at the machine, or when I bring the finished quilt upstairs, Girl #1 asks me, "is that for me?" then I say, "did you want it to be?" and she says 'yes' with such hope in her face. Each of my boys have a quilt so maybe before I dig into my Nest quilt, I'll make her her toddler quilt and she can help pic her fabrics. This should be the next project and afterwards I'll move on to the 'Mommy quilt'.

Still no word back from Nancy regarding the email that I sent her back when I finished my first quilt. I thought Nancy was different.... only time will tell. ;o)-

Merry Christmas to me post #2

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:34:00 +0000

I had some money in my paypal account and have always loved 'Nest' by Tula Pink. It is so appealing on so many levels for me. Before Christmas I went on ebay and found a jelly, charms, and a layer cake all of Nest for a great deal. As soon as I finish my current quilting projects then it's on to my Nest quilt. I've very excited about and it will be my first larger than baby quilt. I also think that Tula's 'Neptune' is so beautiful...maybe that can be for next year :o)-

Merry Christmas to me

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:33:00 +0000

For Christmas this year we had a serious budget which I'm pretty sure wasn't unique to our little family. In addition to outside gifts, we drew names and each had to make a present for your Christmas person. I was very surprised with boy #1 who wanted to make a make up kit for his little sister. I took him down and let him choose the fabrics that he wanted to use and here is what he chose. We bought a chapstick and some princess jewely and the kit was a hit. For the first time since I've had children, I observed that boy #1 finally understood the joy of giving. We hope to continue this tradition every year.

Could it be???

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:35:00 +0000

I've won a give-away in blogging land. My very first win and I'm just so excited. It was from the Caffeinated Crafter whose blog I just love. She does a bit of everything and it's always so fun! It's box of all different crafting supplies. The CC wrote, "I'll raid my studio for fabric scraps, ribbon, beads, yarn, fur... you name it. I'll stuff the box full... " so I'm so excited and can't wait to blog about the contents of my mystery craft box!

Slight detour

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:47:00 +0000

On my way home from a pediatric doctor's appointment for the boys, we swung through the garbage dump lot. Since we live in the city limits, garbage items aren't taken directly to a landfill, but rather a large paved lot with a row of dumpsters on one side and a pile of bigger things that will be broken up and then taken to the land fill.

Anyway, we swung through and couldn't believe what people were throwing away. First of all we got this highchair. It's not even wobbly, doesn't have stains, and the snap, leather strap, and slides all are in normal working order. Why it would be headed for the landfill and not put on freecycle or craigslist 'free' is beyond me.

The same day we also got a bedside table (for me), an old pram, and a backless vintage chair/seat with an upholstered top and a small roll on each side. 2 weeks ago we got a step 2 playhouse, you know the one with the pink roof and purple door?

In the past few years I've gotten the following things on freecyle or craigslist 'free' section. Baby clothes, a pop-up camper, a toddler bed, couch/love seat/chair combo, my piano, fabric, futon bunk bed, baby swing, and that's not even counting trash pics. Sad to think that so much useful stuff is discarded, but it's nice to be able to intercept something that is otherwise headed to the landfill.

Talk about a total 180!

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:43:00 +0000

I have officially completed my very first Sewing with Nancy quilting project. More than 3 years ago I made each of my boys a very simple 4" alternating squares quilt that was crib size, but my corners were off, the binding..questionable, and puckers galore. In the end they were loved and well used but reaked of 'beginning quilter'.

After watching one of Nancy's more recent show series ("Already Cut and Ready to Quilt"), I knew it was time. I taped the show, and did each step with her, pausing and sewing, pausing and sewing. Here is the result. (this is a jelly roll quilt).

I honestly expected my quilt to be mediocre and figured that it would be better than my previous quilts, but not quite good enough to give away. Well, not only can I not believe that I even made this, my husband kept saying, "that's really good" everytime he glaced back at the finished project.

It's 40 X 40-ish the backing is cotton flannel. Can you believe my corners worked?

Anyway, the boy-ish version of this same quilt is already underway and soon to be finished. All it needs in machine quilted and the binding done and voila, another quilt!

I wrote an email to Nancy linking it to pics of my quilt. So I'll be watching my site map to see if we get any hits from Beaver Dam, WI ;o) (Dare to dream)

The quilt is tied up and ready to be given to my friend Alyssa who had a baby girl earlier this month. Hopefully this is the first of many successful quilting projects. Stay tuned!

1 - It's what he wanted.

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:10:00 +0000

We went to see Santa at the mall. As per his request, we will be leaving oatmeal cookies out tonight. (This is our vault recipe for oatmeal cookies.)

Oatmeal Cookies (Aunt Susan)

3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 cup dried fruit (craisens/raisins)

***mix and soak for 1 hour

1 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar

***cream together

2 1/2 C flour
1 t salt
2 t baking soda
2 C oatmeal

Mis first 3 ingredients with creamed mixture. Combine all dry ingredients and mix together with wet mixture. Form balls and place 2" apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. You won't be sorry!

2 - It just wouldn't feel right...

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:20:00 +0000

It just wouldn't feel right not to have gingerbread houses every year. I've baked off the houses and they have been assmebled for decorating. I use the Martha Stewart recipe (<--the words are the link!) for these and it's good. Pics will follow our decorating session on Christmas day!

3 - Jolly good, jolly good.

noreply@blogger.com (The Homely Animal) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:12:00 +0000

English Toffee

2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup slivered almonds (or ground, if you like)
1 tsp. vanilla
12 oz. milk or semisweet chocolate, melted

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter and then add sugar until dissolved. Add water, corn syrup and salt. Mix well and stir over medium heat to 290 degrees on your candy thermometer. Do not turn up the heat to speed this up.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour onto a lightly buttered large cookie sheet and with mitted hands, tilt to disperse evenly. When cool ( I put mine on the porch until it is hard), pour chocolate over and spread with spatula. Sprinkle almonds over the top. Break with a knife and store in a tin that is not airtight, in the freezer. This can be halved to make 1 1/4 lbs. This recipe makes 2.5 lbs. of candy and is great for gift giving.