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The Boys are Here!

Well, the newest additions to our little farm are here! The boys came yesterday and are all installed in their new (temporary) corral. They had an hour and a half trek from their old home to ours and they seem to have made the trip very well. Here they are still in the horse trailer, unsure of how happy they are to get out into the unknown.

We let them stay out in the yard for a while to acclimate to their new surroundings. Its probably colder here than where they were born so we have them in a temporary area until we can get them into the barn. The meat chickens are still in that area of the barn so the boys had to wait another week to get into their new digs. We are also going to change up the barnyard a bit to accommodate both donkeys and pygmy goats. They cant live together as the donkeys play rougher than goats do.

So far my nieces and our granddaughter have come to see them and seem to be pretty excited. We did not let them in with the donkeys yet but as time goes on we will introduce them and all should be great. No need to traumatize the poor boys anymore than they have already suffered. When they are comfortable with the new digs, we will let the kids touch them. Until then, the boys get a reprieve!

The Boys are Here!

Be Alive Participate In The Here And Now

Check out my new DIY jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Be Alive Participate In The Here And Now

I shopped MARLEY LILLY Here Is My Review!

I dont shop online very often. Firstly, I dont like to pay for shipping... ever. LOL Secondly, I just dont like the risk. What if the item isnt what I hope it to be? What if it doesnt fit? What if the color is different in person than what was on the website? What if the fabric isnt nice? What if, what if, what if.

Enter MARLEY LILLY. I first became aware of Marley Lilly when it appeared on Instagram feeds of friends of friends of friends, etc. I admit it, I could not resist the adorable pictures of pretty items in bright colors monogrammed in even brighter colors. So I clicked! I followed! In reality, I was well aware that I didnt have $50 to spend on a whale koozie with my initials on it. But as I perused their site, so many of their items were lovely and dare I say it, sort of, kind of, almost reasonable! And the selection from clothing to jewelry to footwear to housewares was impressive!

AMUSING DISCLAIMER: I am not under the age of 22 and I am not in a sorority! I am not a Southern belle, and I dont have monogrammed car mats. (YET) I live in Chicago and have always been a lover of all things preppy! In fact, I was the first LILLY LOVER crowned by the Lilly Pulitzer clothing line back in 2006! I won a trip to the company headquarters in Pennsylvania and received a one of a kind couture dress designed and made just for me! I KNOW, right? Alas, that is a story for another day! Back to Marley Lilly...

So in August, I saw an instagram post that Marley Lilly puffy vests were on sale for only $29.99! WHAT? I always wanted a monogrammed vest - you know to wear over fair isle sweaters and Bean boots to wear apple picking, to the pumpkin patch or just holiday shopping. So I picked out a color, a font and thread color and put it in my cart. And it just sat there. A few days went by and as much as I wanted to actually order it, I didnt.

I mean I am not 22. I am a little bit, well a LOTTA bit older. Haha! I hate to admit but I am quite picky and have high expectations on most things. Then I was thinking that I needed something for my niece for Christmas! If I ordered TWO, shipping would be free AND I would get a free pair of earrings! LOL - now it sounds way too good to be true. But something came over me and I threw caution to the wind and actually placed the order! I got to the LAST step in the ordering process I and guess what? I clicked SEND! I did it!

Now it just became a waiting game. I had a bit of regret the next day - buyers remorse - cognitive dissonance. We have all been there - The questions entered into my head... What if it is an ugly blue? What if I dont like the font? What if the embroidery isnt the nice heavy stuff that I am imagining it to be? What if this? What if that? Im on a pretty strict budget so I was really worried that I wasted the better part of $60.

Several days later, I arrived home and there was a package on my porch. Sure enough, it was my order from Marley Lilly! I was excited and nervous at the same time! I went inside and opened the box. I ordered a navy blue vest monogrammed in pink and a brown best stitched in ivory. They were both neatly folded and individually packaged in signature Marley Lilly plastic bags

So as I opened the bag and removed the vest, the moment of truth had arrived! All I can say was WOW! I mean WOW! I opened mine first, the navy with the pink! It was PERFECT! I loved the quality of the vest! It is a very nice and it fit perfectly! And the monogram - a big cup of GORGEOUSNESS! It was so pretty and the stitching was heavy and the color quite wonderful.

I ordered the vest in a medium and it fit perfectly. I am a pretty standard medium, size 8-10, and this fit pretty true to size. It also has enough give for a heavy sweater underneath.

I was equally thrilled with the brown vest ordered with a slightly different font! I cant wait for Christmas morning, my niece is going to love it just as much as I do. And since I indicated it was a Christmas gift, they included a Marley Lilly Christmas card free of charge. How great is that?

Oh and because I had signed up for a free bonus with my order, I received these awesome tortoise shell pineapple earrings and they are adorable! They were packed in bubble wrap and on a Marley Lilly card. They are about the size of a dime and I really like them.

So overall, I would give my experience of ordering from Marley Lilly a 10/10! And trust me, I am a very tough grader normally. From the ordering experience to the quality of items received, I did not have one issue, not one thing that could have been improved upon.

If you have ever considered ordering from Marley Lilly or are looking for unique items for gifts or for yourself, do not hesitate ordering from this company. Obviously, I only have this one experience, but it came off without a hitch and I would not think twice about ordering again.

So why did I write this review? Why did I feel the need to post this? Well, since so many things go awry in everyday situations, it always amazes me when things turn out well. Like really fantabulously well. So I simply wanted to put it out there. To shout it from the rooftops that there is a company that does it right and does it well! I am NOT sponsored by Marley Lilly. Seriously, they dont even know I exist or that I even wrote this! Its just when I get THAT excited about something, I feel the need to tell as many people as I can. Thank you Marley Lilly for being a company that delivers on quality and reliability! I cannot wait to order from you again! And I absolutely cannot wait to wear my vest. Even though Im old and from the Midwest! ;-) Happy Autumn!

I shopped MARLEY LILLY Here Is My Review!

Tomato Time Around Here

Its finally tomato time around here! I planted 38 tomato plants this year and I am so excited to start making stuff with them. Last night was my first official harvest and I weighed 17 pounds on the scale. Not to shabby for the first picking.

More than half of my plants are Roma-style tomatoes and the others are a combination of Celebrity and Better Boys. Since it was hot and I was tired I decided that I would make simple crushed tomatoes and can them. Now that I am set up again, the next batch will be salsa or juice or sauce or something interesting. But for this one time it was easy.

I did not season the crushed tomatoes nor did I salt them. I am sharing my harvests with my mom and they dont like salt. I tend to add it to most things I cook in the form of spices anyway so I left it out. The recipe called it optional and I took them seriously. I canned pints using the boil bath method and added 1 TBSP of lemon juice to each pint jar before I added the crushed tomatoes. This assures the proper acidity for this method of canning. Last year I used up all the jars I had canned and this year I ought to have tons of tomato products lining my shelves. And yes, I am still thinking hard about making my guest room into a pantry. No one uses it much anyhow. The guest can just sleep in an awesome pantry. That would be a novel story to tell all their friends when they leave my house.

Tomato Time Around Here

They Are Finally Here!

The laying hen chicks that I can finally become attached to and they wont become dinner, soon or ever, are finally here and I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!! Can you tell? My dad would have a stroke if he knew I used that kind of a run on sentence. He doesnt read this blog so I am safe. Dont tell him:-D

It really is still amazing to me that chicks can ship the day they are hatched and arrive in good shape. Ours came from a hatchery in Texas and all arrived alive and are still that way. The USPS called at 8:45 this morning and told us to come get them. We were ready for them. I had to work so Doyle picked them up and unloaded them into the stock tank that will be home for the next couple weeks. The big brooder is in the chicken house so all our overtime to finish it is for a good cause.

I will say that I ordered 30 girl chicks and only 27 showed up. Someone working in the hatchery cant count. Kind of ticked me off but it is what it is. At least the ones I got are all safe and sound. The other gripe I have is that I am pretty sure they also shorted me some Gold Laced Wyandottes and added more Black Australorps but didnt mark any of that on the incorrect packing slip. Of course I called to express my feelings. But I was nice and they promised to refund the price of 3 chicks. I am anxious to see what I actually got over the next couple weeks. I may be calling again. It wouldnt irritate me if they took ownership of the problem but I had to wait 3 months to get them as it was and now the order is wrong. I also paid extra, almost double to get pullets, which are girl chickens, and the packing slip says that straight run was shipped on at least one breed. That means I will likely have roosters and I dont want roosters. But maybe the roosters will be the life of the party!

Arent they cute? They seem so small after you look at the 4 week old meat chicks. They are not housed in the same place but I still feed and water the others and they look like Baby Hueys, as my friend Brenda calls them. So I thought I would share what has completely consumed all of our time of late. Seems kind of anti-climactic after all the preparations that took place but their new home is a palace and I am so excited for them to get big enough to check it all out.

They Are Finally Here!

Its Here Downton Day is finally here! Happy viewing

Finally! I have bided my time waiting for Season 3 of Masterpiece Classics Downton Abbey watching the Notre Dame football team go 12-0 and become number one in the country, Memorial Day, Wimbledon, Labor Day, the US Open, Halloween, Christmas and New Years, etc.

But, alas, the time has finally come. It is so funny how people are making such a big deal about this but if you dont get, you obviously arent watching. I cannot wait for those first few beats of that invigorating music, the ringing of the bells on the servant wall, etc. I cannot wait. I hope you are excited too and I simply wanted to wish you all Happy Viewing.

I have not cheated and read the spoilers so I really only have a few inklings of what is in store for the Crawleys. Are you going to watch? There is so much going on with the NFL playoffs and Once Upon A Time coming back on but Downton will reign supreme tonight for me! Enjoy!

Its Here Downton Day is finally here! Happy viewing

Here we go again

The other day we were told that Kevin had been behaving very bad towards another girl in school and even towards a teacher. We were not happy and a long family meeting followed that night as we want to understand whats on Kevins mind as we dont recognize the side of him they explain when hes around home. But he cant explain and claim he doesnt even remember. Black out??
As same kind of incidents happened more than ones last year as well we were told there would be meetings about Kevin and an action plan. We welcomed this and was very eager to talk about it and make some common plans and actions together with his teachers. But we never heard of any meetings and when reminding them about it we got avoiding answers and nothing further happened. Easy to complain and tell the parents how much a student is a negative factor in the class but so very hard to do something about it.
Yesterday we booked a meeting with a mentor at his school with copy to the manager of the school saying we wont accept complain after complain about our son without anyone willing to act!!
And funny enough his teacher called last night saying she was worried about Kevin. GOOD!! FINALLY!! I think were getting somewhere..... fingers crossed that this will be the breakthrough for us and Kevin to get on top of his behavior in school.

Here we go again