So this stay-catin is a bust! Sadly things do not always work out as you envisioned in your life...sometimes this is for the good (a blind date leading to an amazing partnership) & sometimes for the bad...
I was notified that I would not be returning to my job once my vacation ended. It was a shock, and honestly earth shattering. I am a person who has always prided myself on working hard & losing your job just doesn't happen to people who work hard.....right?!!? Oy, life is a bitch sometimes. Goddamn economy & the real world.
The first day of knowledge was tough. I have spend 5 years of my life living & breathing my job, not only my employment but it became part of my soul, the fight for the companies' vision became my own sole passion in life. I was 21 year old when first hired and honestly it was a perfect fit at the time. I cannot even begin to count all the lessons I have learned not only professionally but personally in that time. My life evolved around one thing, and I identified myself based on my job...so losing it felt like I had lost myself.
My identity.
My worth.
The second day of knowledge is much different than the first.
I realize that for too long I have become complacent and comfortable in the company I worked for. Even though the vision of the company was no longer my goal in life I still pretended that it was. I was no longer being challenged or continuing on my path of knowledge instead I was resting on my laurels & the feeling of comfort/familiarity. And to be honest it no longer fit. I was living in the memory of what once was.
I am not going to say that I am not having random moments where I think I am gonna have a panic attack....I am a person who has always had at least 2-3 jobs at a time so being losing my main one is a big deal. I could wallow and say "why me??!" but instead I am going to do my best to buck up to the challenge. I am going to stop and ask myself what I want in my life...to stop for a minute & create a vision for myself. No more am I going to adopt someone else's... I get the awesome opportunity to create a new one.
I am going to look around the old interweb to see what is out there, I am also going to take some moments and figure out what I want. Where do I want to be in 10 years...hmmmm....the sky is the limit.....I feel some big changes coming.
Lacy
Stay-Cation
So as homeownership is becoming more and more real to me (and less & less glamorous) I have realized that if you spend all your vacation days doing fun/vacation stuff your house ends up looking like total trash. The hall closet has to be closed really quickly & only opened very slowly for fear of crap avalanche all over spewing out. The curtains bought at least 6 months ago gather dust as they still wait to be hung up...and don't even get me started on the garage...oy. How do people find the time to do it all???!!! So the Mister and I took the week off to get our crap in gear. This means making a list of all the little projects we keep putting off and a general deep clean of the entire home is in order. We will donate everything that is collecting dust/got multiples of via the holidays.
So My To-Do List:
1. Create a craft space in the basement (already started! very exciting!)
2. Organize under the stairs closet
3. DE-CLUTTER EVERYTHING (if you don't love it give it away!)
4. Hang Curtains
5. Hang Bathroom mirrors
6. Dispose of Xmas tree (it was still decorated & in the house until this weekend...oy)
7. Organize food pantry
8. Clean out car!
9. Frame more pics (and hang them....)
10. Garage...blah.
11. Sell old chicken coop & expand new one.
12. Go through book case and purge old books.
I think that shall keep us busy.......hopefully I actually do these things when all I really want to do is look over (and drool) the seed catalogs that keep coming in the mail!
Wish me luck!
Lacy
So My To-Do List:
1. Create a craft space in the basement (already started! very exciting!)
2. Organize under the stairs closet
3. DE-CLUTTER EVERYTHING (if you don't love it give it away!)
4. Hang Curtains
5. Hang Bathroom mirrors
6. Dispose of Xmas tree (it was still decorated & in the house until this weekend...oy)
7. Organize food pantry
8. Clean out car!
9. Frame more pics (and hang them....)
10. Garage...blah.
11. Sell old chicken coop & expand new one.
12. Go through book case and purge old books.
I think that shall keep us busy.......hopefully I actually do these things when all I really want to do is look over (and drool) the seed catalogs that keep coming in the mail!
Wish me luck!
Lacy
Cutting Ties?
I come from a very conservative family....not like super-duper-have-their-own-tv show conservative or make our own matching dress/bonnet conservative but very you get the point...... I am the only "left" winger...and live my life VERY on that side of the fence. Most of the time this is not really an issue
(besides the fact that I have a family only email so I can never see their anti-Obama forwards and such)....
yet there are moments that I find myself asking how deep blood goes...
I am fine with individuals having different ideals than me, different value systems. What I am not okay with is people who you cannot talk to, those people who hear it once and with no research on their own think it must be. (Thanks Fox News for 99% of my families' ideas) And those that spew hate/racism.
I am lucky to have parents who might not always agree with me, or my lifestyle BUT whom I can converse with, have dialogue with. And honestly at the end of the day we might never meet in the middle but we respect & love one another. We both come from open places and with the goal to learn. The rest of my family sadly does not have the same attitude.
I am not one to "bite my tongue" yet when it is 12 against 1 and I already know the outcome (me leaving) sometimes the fight seems not worth it....yet there are days like today where I realize that it is.
The longer I allow bigotry and hate to be "okay" with me the longer it will survive. I have too many friends who are muslim, gay, whatever to EVER allow such jokes/comments slide. It is not going to be an easy road and honestly I am slightly afraid of what the other side of this journey will look like.
I believe hate only breeds hate so instead of shouting and yelling I am going to show love. I am going to not allow racist/derogatory/homophobic comments or people to invade my life yet I am going to model for those people. No longer will I make excuses for my family or leave another gathering angry & hurt....not from their words/ideas but from my own cowardly actions. I realize that some people won't get it....and will probably have to be removed from my life...though the sacrifice is worth it to me. I don't want a world like that for my kids. I don't want to have to explain to my son what a "dirty muslim" is...or why we don't talk to a certain 2nd cousin because she looks like a boy.....I know its unrealistic but damn-it I can control my actions and those who I surround myself with.
At the end of the day I know who I love and blood will not mean family to me.....family=love in my book and that is gonna be the 1st criteria.
Lacy
(besides the fact that I have a family only email so I can never see their anti-Obama forwards and such)....
yet there are moments that I find myself asking how deep blood goes...
I am fine with individuals having different ideals than me, different value systems. What I am not okay with is people who you cannot talk to, those people who hear it once and with no research on their own think it must be. (Thanks Fox News for 99% of my families' ideas) And those that spew hate/racism.
I am lucky to have parents who might not always agree with me, or my lifestyle BUT whom I can converse with, have dialogue with. And honestly at the end of the day we might never meet in the middle but we respect & love one another. We both come from open places and with the goal to learn. The rest of my family sadly does not have the same attitude.
I am not one to "bite my tongue" yet when it is 12 against 1 and I already know the outcome (me leaving) sometimes the fight seems not worth it....yet there are days like today where I realize that it is.
The longer I allow bigotry and hate to be "okay" with me the longer it will survive. I have too many friends who are muslim, gay, whatever to EVER allow such jokes/comments slide. It is not going to be an easy road and honestly I am slightly afraid of what the other side of this journey will look like.
I believe hate only breeds hate so instead of shouting and yelling I am going to show love. I am going to not allow racist/derogatory/homophobic comments or people to invade my life yet I am going to model for those people. No longer will I make excuses for my family or leave another gathering angry & hurt....not from their words/ideas but from my own cowardly actions. I realize that some people won't get it....and will probably have to be removed from my life...though the sacrifice is worth it to me. I don't want a world like that for my kids. I don't want to have to explain to my son what a "dirty muslim" is...or why we don't talk to a certain 2nd cousin because she looks like a boy.....I know its unrealistic but damn-it I can control my actions and those who I surround myself with.
At the end of the day I know who I love and blood will not mean family to me.....family=love in my book and that is gonna be the 1st criteria.
Lacy
Cheap Meat.
So this might be the lamest post I have ever done...BUT I thought if there was anyone out there who was also broke & slightly empty freezer from the holidays I would pass this along.
IF you got a sunday Oregonian (or the free insert they litter our porch with) there is a $10.00 off $50 spent. If you have neither RUN to get one right now, tonight (they stop selling the sunday paper on Wednesday).
Use this coupon to buy some of their buy one get one free (Bogo) meat specials until next tuesday. Mostly roasts but also some bagged chicken breasts. It is their Rancher's preserve and the special (without the 10 dollars off) makes it under $2.30 a pound! I love roasts because you can crock-pot them....I love using pork roasts for pulled pork..not only can you make them in the slow cooker BUT it also freezes perfectly. I usually make two roasts at once and then freeze whatever we don't eat after two dinners...I have even been known to staple the buns to the meat. Dinner, done.
I know I sound like a hundred year old BUT as someone who doesn't get home until 7pm every night and refuses to eat after 8pm the only thing that keeps us from eating out every night is pre-planning. I also have this weird psychological thing that I only feel good when my freezer is full...gotta be prepared for zombies!!
Last tip I have is friday ONLY Safeway will have pork tenderloins and Huge Shrimp both for $5.00 a pound.
Ok so I am going to pick up some more $10 off coupons and stock up.
Lacy
IF you got a sunday Oregonian (or the free insert they litter our porch with) there is a $10.00 off $50 spent. If you have neither RUN to get one right now, tonight (they stop selling the sunday paper on Wednesday).
Use this coupon to buy some of their buy one get one free (Bogo) meat specials until next tuesday. Mostly roasts but also some bagged chicken breasts. It is their Rancher's preserve and the special (without the 10 dollars off) makes it under $2.30 a pound! I love roasts because you can crock-pot them....I love using pork roasts for pulled pork..not only can you make them in the slow cooker BUT it also freezes perfectly. I usually make two roasts at once and then freeze whatever we don't eat after two dinners...I have even been known to staple the buns to the meat. Dinner, done.
I know I sound like a hundred year old BUT as someone who doesn't get home until 7pm every night and refuses to eat after 8pm the only thing that keeps us from eating out every night is pre-planning. I also have this weird psychological thing that I only feel good when my freezer is full...gotta be prepared for zombies!!
Last tip I have is friday ONLY Safeway will have pork tenderloins and Huge Shrimp both for $5.00 a pound.
Ok so I am going to pick up some more $10 off coupons and stock up.
Lacy
Out with the old & In with the New...
I hope the holidays treated you well. Here in our household I am geeking over my new Foodsaver & harvesting & homesteading books.
Hello. My name is Lacy and I am officially super lame.
Anyhoo....I have never been one to care much about packaging, I realize it is bad for the environment but with so many things in my life I have had to prioritize my "causes" & that one did not make the cut...UNTIL this holiday....WTH.
Thankfully my family is pretty awesome and while they do not really understand my need to reuse materials they got me many gifts that were good for the environment/locally made BUT after hauling yet another box FULL of packaging I realize how wasteful this all is...but am frustrated by what to do with it...any ideas??
As we have gotten newer stuff I have been working on getting rid of the "old" (usually really good, lots of life) stuff. And if you too are doing this I really want to shout-out an AMAZING organization that not only will take your stuff with a smile but do amazing work with it...
Community Warehouse
They have drop off points in both NE & SW, making it very convenient to donate. They use household goods to help people get on their feet, they do not discriminate what constitutes a household and I have taken many people to partake of their services & it is pretty amazing how a couple of paid employees team up with a bunch of volunteers to spread hope & cheer to so many. They are the essence of a non-profit (look at their budget on the website), turning very little into quite a lot for a lot of individuals in our community. I know that there are a lot of organizations that take goods but there is something about Community Warehouse that just seems right. I encourage you to look through your kitchen, linen closet & garage/basement to see if there are any items not getting the love/attention they deserve because I know Community Warehouse will make sure they are placed with some people that would be very appreciative of them right now.
On a total side note check out their blog....RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. you will thank me later...
Lacy
Hello. My name is Lacy and I am officially super lame.
Anyhoo....I have never been one to care much about packaging, I realize it is bad for the environment but with so many things in my life I have had to prioritize my "causes" & that one did not make the cut...UNTIL this holiday....WTH.
Thankfully my family is pretty awesome and while they do not really understand my need to reuse materials they got me many gifts that were good for the environment/locally made BUT after hauling yet another box FULL of packaging I realize how wasteful this all is...but am frustrated by what to do with it...any ideas??
As we have gotten newer stuff I have been working on getting rid of the "old" (usually really good, lots of life) stuff. And if you too are doing this I really want to shout-out an AMAZING organization that not only will take your stuff with a smile but do amazing work with it...
Community Warehouse
They have drop off points in both NE & SW, making it very convenient to donate. They use household goods to help people get on their feet, they do not discriminate what constitutes a household and I have taken many people to partake of their services & it is pretty amazing how a couple of paid employees team up with a bunch of volunteers to spread hope & cheer to so many. They are the essence of a non-profit (look at their budget on the website), turning very little into quite a lot for a lot of individuals in our community. I know that there are a lot of organizations that take goods but there is something about Community Warehouse that just seems right. I encourage you to look through your kitchen, linen closet & garage/basement to see if there are any items not getting the love/attention they deserve because I know Community Warehouse will make sure they are placed with some people that would be very appreciative of them right now.
On a total side note check out their blog....RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. you will thank me later...
Lacy
Angry and Frustrated.
As some of you might know via Facebook last night we had a raccoon attack. We lost one chicken and thankfully because of our "guard" dog the raccoon dropped one mid-snack. This is sooo frustrating to us. Mostly because we have had this happen before. In the course of 2 years we have gone through 5 coops...trying to find the balance between happy chickens and uneaten ones. We thought we had found a fool-proof system and once again I find myself blaming my lack of care taking to losing a life and having one pretty hurt chicken currently awaiting an emergency vet clinic.
When we decided to get chickens we read all the books, joined the chicken forums, and even took a couple classes and one thing that I feel we were never warned of is how hard having chickens can actually be. Don't get me wrong usually they are pretty easy, and not much work but now having lost over 9 chickens in two years I thought I would share some of my pit falls so hopefully others do not have to wake up to a bloodbath the next day. I am doing this with feelings of shame and guilt but to be honest we went into "chicken keeping" with a lot of forethought, and education and it was surprising how many things have surprised us during these two years.
1. In Oregon you will not want to open/shut your coop every day & night, especially when it is cold and raining. There are a couple of solutions, both with positive and negatives. One is to not put your coop super far back from your back door. The plus side is that it will make the painful walk in your pj's every am or in the rain/dark every pm much easier. The negative is that the smell/rats that come with chickens will be much closer to your home....Our solution (so far) is to find an all in one coop with both the run and coop completely raccoon safe (unless you let the out for one sunny day and don't lock them up right away once the sun goes down). The positive is that you don't have to run outside all the time but the negative is that these types of coops can be a lot costlier (more materials) and your chickens might not get as much room as you (or they) would like to walk around.
2. Another way we have lost chickens is by introducing pullets too early to very dominate birds. One thing I was never told is that chickens are cannibals. Once they taste blood they will keep going. I am not going to get graphic but this is one thing I wish people talked about a lot more with new chicken owners. I did research, talked to knowledgable individuals and yet when I introduced two pullets (after days of letting them "smell" each other out) my Rhode Island Red completely went crazy on them and sadly killed them. Afterwards I turned to the forums and told my story and out came tons of stories of this happening to others. I don't know if people are ashamed, scared to admit this happened or what but it is something that should be shared. It was heart-breaking to raise chicks for months to then loose them in one night.
So here is my advice: if you have a dominate bird (Rhode Islands seem to be the most notorious of this) either raise your pullets for months separately, until they are like a full sized bird and then if you put them together (at night with no light around them) make sure that either you wake up before the sun rises to let them out or have a coop set-up where they can escape/move around A LOT easily to dodge pecks. Our other solution was to buy other dominate birds (more than one!!) and then place them in a run together for a week but at night keep them in separate coops until they have worked out their new pecking order. There were fights but no one was horrible injured and they seemed happy once they all got acquainted.
3. One other lesson we have learned is that when you raise chicks you will get some that have genetic issues. BE PREPARED. Have a plan so that when one needs to be put down you know what/how your going to do it. Believe me that you won't want to figure this out at the last minute...We sadly had no plan and had to make some hard decisions based on the tools we had at hand...if we had a plan in place (including who was doing what..and who was comfortable with what) and the proper tools I think the situation would have been MUCH less stressful to both us and the animal.
Yes chickens are awesome, yes they are great, useful animals, even pets. But like all animals they do have their negatives/their challenges. I hope that fully sharing our downfalls will help others avoid them. I also know that some of you out there will poo-poo us taking one bird to the vet. But honestly it is our fault they got hurt, it was our lack of knowledge/planning. I think that is the worst part, the knowing that it could of been avoided.
For chicken owners currently if you have a raccoon problem there are some options. We just called Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and asked them about Raccoons they said that it is the states job to trap them but when we said that we had lost 3 chickens they said that because the raccoons are attacking our "wildlife" they are mailing us a permit (for free) to trap the bastards. They said that Raccoons are really hungry right now and acting VERY aggressive, so please watch for them with your dogs/cats/small children (seriously...he said all of these things). They also do not only come out at night during this time of year...they have been seen quite frequently during the day.. He also told us to NEVER approach one without a gun (even though you can't "officially" shoot them within city limits) as they will attack humans. We found a trap that is dog-proof and chicken-proof and ordered it off of amazon....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prCJCHY468Y
Wish us luck. I would like to give a shout out to North Portland Animal Hospital. This is the second time they have helped us out in a crisis and they are caring/not pushy and have amazing hearts (they have seen me cry more than most). They understand people have to choose sometimes between paying rent and pet operations and have never pressured/guilted me to do anything. As someone with a very high maintenance pug I appreciate this. The vet even showed me a website to get her meds for like half! They have one bird vet and even though his day is packed he personally called me and when I said I had called all the referrals and that the other vets were all on vacation he is shoving us in during his lunch break. Really awesome people that I know I can trust. Makes horrible situations manageable.
I know this isn't a super happy holidays post but I am hoping that it will help some.
Lacy
When we decided to get chickens we read all the books, joined the chicken forums, and even took a couple classes and one thing that I feel we were never warned of is how hard having chickens can actually be. Don't get me wrong usually they are pretty easy, and not much work but now having lost over 9 chickens in two years I thought I would share some of my pit falls so hopefully others do not have to wake up to a bloodbath the next day. I am doing this with feelings of shame and guilt but to be honest we went into "chicken keeping" with a lot of forethought, and education and it was surprising how many things have surprised us during these two years.
1. In Oregon you will not want to open/shut your coop every day & night, especially when it is cold and raining. There are a couple of solutions, both with positive and negatives. One is to not put your coop super far back from your back door. The plus side is that it will make the painful walk in your pj's every am or in the rain/dark every pm much easier. The negative is that the smell/rats that come with chickens will be much closer to your home....Our solution (so far) is to find an all in one coop with both the run and coop completely raccoon safe (unless you let the out for one sunny day and don't lock them up right away once the sun goes down). The positive is that you don't have to run outside all the time but the negative is that these types of coops can be a lot costlier (more materials) and your chickens might not get as much room as you (or they) would like to walk around.
2. Another way we have lost chickens is by introducing pullets too early to very dominate birds. One thing I was never told is that chickens are cannibals. Once they taste blood they will keep going. I am not going to get graphic but this is one thing I wish people talked about a lot more with new chicken owners. I did research, talked to knowledgable individuals and yet when I introduced two pullets (after days of letting them "smell" each other out) my Rhode Island Red completely went crazy on them and sadly killed them. Afterwards I turned to the forums and told my story and out came tons of stories of this happening to others. I don't know if people are ashamed, scared to admit this happened or what but it is something that should be shared. It was heart-breaking to raise chicks for months to then loose them in one night.
So here is my advice: if you have a dominate bird (Rhode Islands seem to be the most notorious of this) either raise your pullets for months separately, until they are like a full sized bird and then if you put them together (at night with no light around them) make sure that either you wake up before the sun rises to let them out or have a coop set-up where they can escape/move around A LOT easily to dodge pecks. Our other solution was to buy other dominate birds (more than one!!) and then place them in a run together for a week but at night keep them in separate coops until they have worked out their new pecking order. There were fights but no one was horrible injured and they seemed happy once they all got acquainted.
3. One other lesson we have learned is that when you raise chicks you will get some that have genetic issues. BE PREPARED. Have a plan so that when one needs to be put down you know what/how your going to do it. Believe me that you won't want to figure this out at the last minute...We sadly had no plan and had to make some hard decisions based on the tools we had at hand...if we had a plan in place (including who was doing what..and who was comfortable with what) and the proper tools I think the situation would have been MUCH less stressful to both us and the animal.
Yes chickens are awesome, yes they are great, useful animals, even pets. But like all animals they do have their negatives/their challenges. I hope that fully sharing our downfalls will help others avoid them. I also know that some of you out there will poo-poo us taking one bird to the vet. But honestly it is our fault they got hurt, it was our lack of knowledge/planning. I think that is the worst part, the knowing that it could of been avoided.
For chicken owners currently if you have a raccoon problem there are some options. We just called Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and asked them about Raccoons they said that it is the states job to trap them but when we said that we had lost 3 chickens they said that because the raccoons are attacking our "wildlife" they are mailing us a permit (for free) to trap the bastards. They said that Raccoons are really hungry right now and acting VERY aggressive, so please watch for them with your dogs/cats/small children (seriously...he said all of these things). They also do not only come out at night during this time of year...they have been seen quite frequently during the day.. He also told us to NEVER approach one without a gun (even though you can't "officially" shoot them within city limits) as they will attack humans. We found a trap that is dog-proof and chicken-proof and ordered it off of amazon....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prCJCHY468Y
Wish us luck. I would like to give a shout out to North Portland Animal Hospital. This is the second time they have helped us out in a crisis and they are caring/not pushy and have amazing hearts (they have seen me cry more than most). They understand people have to choose sometimes between paying rent and pet operations and have never pressured/guilted me to do anything. As someone with a very high maintenance pug I appreciate this. The vet even showed me a website to get her meds for like half! They have one bird vet and even though his day is packed he personally called me and when I said I had called all the referrals and that the other vets were all on vacation he is shoving us in during his lunch break. Really awesome people that I know I can trust. Makes horrible situations manageable.
I know this isn't a super happy holidays post but I am hoping that it will help some.
Lacy
AHHH!
Isn't it crazy how the sun can make your whole mood? Is there anything better than drinking a fresh cup of french press watching the chickens mosey about the yard softly clucking to themselves? I think not. Hope you are enjoying the beauty that is this day.
