Happenings in the House

I haven’t posted pictures of our home improvements lately..WHAT? Well, I had book club here the other day, and I decided to host the book group downstairs, since it’s nice and cool down there (and it stays cleaner than the upstairs family room).

I bought these two chairs at a yard sale. I went out with Robin, and when we found these, neither of us had enough cash on us, and when I went to the bank to get cash, I realized that my ATM card had expired, so it was kind of a process getting money, then I had to call Megan to bring the truck down to Orem to pick up one of these chairs because I couldn’t fit them both in the Suburban, but it was worth it. These are the COMFIEST chairs!

I moved the treadmill over to this corner. I really don’t like having this big old treadmill that you run into RIGHT when you come into the room. I like where they are now, and we’ve been putting it to good use. The girls are going on pioneer trek next week, and I’m trying to get them to walk the miles every day. Today they need to walk 5 (yesterday was 4, tomorrow will be 6). Natalie’s been doing her walking, but I don’t know about Megan. Silly girl always says she’s too tired after working.

The fooseball table is here in the tiled area. Someday that will be a counter, but for now, it’s open area. See that yellow wire? Ryan ran a camera to the back of the house, and I’m not sure how long that yellow wire is going to be running across the floor…

I took these pictures when Larissa was trying to pack.

Poor girl could not fit everything in, and she was upset and didn’t want to be in pictures, but I tried. We ended up with quite a bit of stuff that I need to mail to her. Have I done it yet? No. I’m TERRIBLE about getting to the post office.

I’m really encouraging the kids to do things to MAKE their own money this summer. I’ve got John delivering eggs to sell. He gets $1 for each delivery. It’s not much, but it’s a little bit of cash for him. He can also wash the car and do extra jobs. Jenna has gotten a regular babysitting job where she does goes at least twice a week for one family. She would like to do more babysitting, and so would Natalie, but they have to get their name out there. Natalie is now my chief lawnmower, and she does get paid for that. She’s also done some animal feeding when people are out of town. Megan has started teaching her summer art class again. She taught it last year, and it ended up being a class for only 2-3 kids, but it was almost every week. This year, she made up her flier, and I gave it out to friends, and she had 8 students come over. At $6 per class, that’s quite a bit of money if they all come. Jenna and John come, too, but they do not have to pay.

The first week she gave them all their sketch pads, and they drew some different kinds of doodles. This week I think there were 9 kids (including Jenna and John) and they worked with clay to make sculptures. They will let the clay air dry and then next week they can paint them. It’s nice that we can set up the tables in the basement, and they can do their class there, instead of on my kitchen table like they did last year.

Jenna heard about her cousin who made 1,000 paper cranes and the legend that if you make that many cranes you will get your wish. She’s decided she will do that herself.

If you were looking for ME in the house, you might find me in one of these two places…
Sewing

or with my chickens.

I’ve been buried in fabric and projects in my office. Trek clothes! I have sewn two skirts and two aprons, and altered three shirts for the two girls. All I have left to sew is the bloomers. I’m getting sick of it, I tell you. And BUYING all the stuff for trek has about broken the bank. Moleskin, bandaids, tin cups, socks, tick spray, sunscreen……

The chickens are always fun. If I open the back door, they hear that noise, they see me, and they come running. Especially if I am carrying the chicken bucket, where I keep all my scraps and food for them.

Now that we have the back yard fenced in, I let them roam through the yard for several hours each day. That way they can find more bugs and weeds to eat, and fertilize more of the yard than just their pen. We also have these mini chickens.
The small chickens stay in the old small coop inside of the run. That way they can be outside with the other chickens, but they are protected from the pecking and bullying that goes on with the bigger chickens.

I’m not sure how long I have to keep them separate, but for a while yet. The chicks are about two and a half months old now. They are getting pretty big, but not big enough to hold their own.

The kids like to take them all out and play with them.

So, yes, we are enjoying our summer break so far. How about you?