Positively Charged [5]

• It's been raining and the plants are refreshed and sprouting like mad!
• I found a bunch of art I've been wanting to frame but couldn't find.
• This year's renewal of D.I.Y. magazine came with a free year... woot!
• We had a lovely afternoon and dinner with one of my sisters and her family.
• Another sister is SO close to her due date. Hang in there! These last couple of weeks are so rough, I know... we love you!
• Found those little kid cowboy boots.
• The house is in chaos but it's that "crazy before organized" kind of chaos and that is exciting
• Birch gave me the go-ahead to renew my Amazon Mom membership. SO worth it.
• I've actually managed to not stress over Keats' party on Saturday!
• Lovely grub at the farmer's market! I love spring!
• I'm actually staying on target with this spring cleaning stuff... woot! Woot!

Pescadero at sunset.

Some nights there is a tunnel you can only feel. The chill moves through you bitterly, but that and nothing worse could drive you back to softly-lit, comfy corners.

Along with that chill there is a glow. Orange ombre through the tall line of branches to the West. The sky morphs with each passing minute into a new and wonderful creature. The color seeps deeper into the East as a fresh splash of watercolor paints does against its porous lover. Colors once crisp with the afternoon gray are now melted and voluptuous.

My blonde imp laughs near the flutter and squawk of Poppy laying a light brown egg in her nesting box. The other chickens scratch up worms and spiders and break grass spades from their roots. My chest rises and falls with a gentle echo burying its face into my warmth. Hens cluck, roosters crow, and Olive the dog runs, teeth grinning against that chill.

The farm is calming, settling down for the night.

Daily Routines

I've been failing miserably at taking control of The Mess. Each day I do a little cleaning that is later replaced by more of The Mess. One area gets better while another spins out of control. One chore is dealt with while another is ignored for days on end. It's overwhelming. That need to clean the entire house is just plain exhausting, so I'm taking the advice of every organizational aid I've read recently and not tackling it all at once. I'm following a Spring Cleaning schedule set out by Crystal of Money Saving Mom. It helps to have an unbiased voice dealing out instructions. It's embarrassing, but the number one thing that makes me not want to clean is having someone I'm living with ask me to clean. It's so ridiculous and a definite flaw, but it's true. I'm hoping that by completing these goals I'll accomplish enough with my time that I will no longer feel bogged down by Mess or guilty for watching X-Files instead of cleaning the toilet or organizing the toys back into their bins. I've crumpled in the face of exhaustion long enough. Time to take a stand against myself. Conquer and clean so that some day cleaning will be a short activity mainly comprised of a quick swiping of the sponge and a whirlwind of a few things back to their appropriate space. One can dream...

To that end I've made up weekly goals, daily routines, and manageable daily to-do lists. I've incorporated Crystal's suggested daily assignments into my life and so far I'm doing all right, although I'm behind due to being out of house too much due to Birch's Spring Break vacation and, you know, having fun? Whoops... or WAHOO!!!

If you're interested in joining 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home, I'd love the company and encouragement. Let's do this!

Putting together my daily routine made me ridiculously tired... I'll have to make a dumbed-down version for myself someday, but for now, with super-duper mommy brain on full non-alert, I'm sticking with a play-by-play:

Daily Routine

6:00 a.m.       Wake up, brush teeth and wash face, make coffee, check email.

6:50 a.m.       Keats and Frida wake up, diaper changes, make breakfast.

7:15 a.m.       Indoor toy time, get dressed, check email/blog.

8:30 a.m.       Frida feeding and nap.

8:50 a.m.       Play in the yard, morning egg collection.

10:00 a.m.     Frida wakes up, diaper changes.

10:30 a.m.      Farm walk.

11:30 a.m.      Play in the yard, chicken scratch and noontime egg collection.

12:30 p.m.      Make lunch, Keats video, Frida feeding.

1:15 p.m.       Frida nap, read books and coloring with Keats.

2:30 p.m.       Keats nap.

2:35 p.m.       Brush teeth, 15-minute clean-up, make bed.

3:00 p.m.       Frida wakes up, diaper change.

3:10 p.m.       Dishes, sweep.

3:35 p.m.       Afternoon coffee/whatever, read.

3:45 p.m.       Frida feeding and nap.

4:00 p.m.       MSM Spring Clean activity.

4:30 p.m.       Keats and Frida wake up. Birch home.

4:45 p.m.       Farm walk.

5:30 p.m.       Play in the yard, afternoon egg collection.

6:00 p.m.       Indoor toy time, Birch makes dinner, Frida to sleep.

6:30 p.m.       Family dinner.

7:00 p.m.       Toys and diaper change.

7:30 p.m.       Pajamas and bedtime books.

7:50 p.m.       Keats to sleep.

8:00 p.m.       Wash face.

8:05 p.m.       Check email/toys & books away.

8:15 p.m.       Free time.

9:45 p.m.       Brush teeth and bedtime!

Spring Cleaning: Week One---Goals

After a year of living in my new home, I have it just about figured. (Although I'm less sure as to how that bread just fell over... spooky.) With a definite, doable plan in tow I am on the... slow-track to complete organization and a clean house no longer filled with clothes piles, paper piles, and boxes I'm too scared to even open. To help me along this treacherous path to sanity, I've joined Money Saving Mom's "4 Weeks to a More Organized Home." Thankfully, my lovely Miriam is joining me, keeping me honest, and will most likely be showing me up on several occasions. Since I am, at the moment, without my photos of the week so far I'll share my weekly goals for this past week: 

Make an IKEA shopping list

Clean and change all bed linens

Make a 2012 budget plan with Birch

Write in journal at least three times

Start planning the garden

Box up any clothes Frida has outgrown

Decide on Keats' birthday presents

Clean off dining table

Write a love note to Birch

Read 4-5 books to Keats before naptime and bed

Clear off computer desk and repurpose
Organize Birch's clothes

Follow daily Spring Cleaning goals

Thankfully, the week is not over. I've finished a few things as you can see, but there is always more that can be done. This weeks' goals were a bit ambitious, I'll admit, so I won't be too upset if some of them drag over to next week. And some will be recurring goals until they are just naturally a part of our routine. Building a daily routine is another one of the steps recommended for a more organized and joyful life. Now that Frida is a bit older she seems more open to daily rituals and "schedules," so without knowing it I'd already started building a routine. More on that journey tomorrow!

If you're taking part in the spring cleaning party, let me know in the comments! I'd love to see/hear what you're doing to promote sane living in your home. 

Positively Charged [4]

• My home is filled with orchids, tulips, and ranunculus.
• Frida suffers from infectious laughter.
• There's Cherry Garcia in the freezer.
• Jerry Garcia isn't in my freezer.
• We're getting nearly two dozen eggs a day.
• I have a black light stamp on my hand from Monterey Bay Aquarium (if it hasn't washed off yet).
• Keats' second birthday is on Thursday!
• I discovered Postum's lovely and organic cousin, Naturalis Inka, and I drink it every day.
• Our boots are covered in mud.
• That package is one card away from being shipped off to England.
• Birch is home! Bye!

The Originals

I've fallen ridiculously behind in my posts, I know. We just expanded our flock of chickens and I realized I hadn't even given The Originals their adult, named debut here! My goodness!

Lucy is my favorite. She is very friendly and
follows Keats and I around practically everywhere.
She's made it into the house a number of times, always
to be kicked out a second later. She is the easiest to handle
and loves to be stroked even when she's just on the ground.

Rose is Lucy's more elegant and dramatic sister. She
follows Lucy around but is much more shy with people. She is
very smart and knows which side her bread is buttered on.
I usually find her following Keats (with his pockets full of scratch)
or between my feet as I move things around in the yard.

Cider is Birch's favorite. She is extremely adventurous and is most often
off by herself in some strange, not-for-chickens type place, like the roof
or a window box. We don't worry for her though.
She takes care of herself quite well.

Poppy is almost always in a state of agitation. When she's not in the nesting box
for hours on end she's hopping around the yard unable to decide
whether to avoid the roosters or follow them around constantly.
She's a troubled soul, but we love her. I'm
pegging her to go broody first.

Dew is flighty and mysterious. When startled
she walks backwards. She'll accept just about anyone's company
except that of her sister, Sylvia. She is always the first
to partake in the worms and bugs uncovered
by relocated containers and straw bales.

Sylvia is straight up crazy. Dark and moody and nearing the
bottom of the pecking order, she flutters about
the yard with Poppy, the both of them squawking and
over-reacting to just about everything.
She also walks backwards when startled.

Quince is even-tempered but not exactly friendly. She's more likely to
just stay out of your way. She's opportunistic and clever. She took the
longest to convince that the nesting boxes, instead of the bushes, was the best
spot to lay her eggs. I'm not totally sold that she doesn't still lay a few
outside the coop, but I'm not about to go search for them.

Ronin is Keats' favorite. Keats learned his name first, followed by Lucy.
He is surprisingly friendly for a rooster. He's a lovely leader and protector.
He has made his way up in the world, taking over top rooster
from his counterpart, Shogun, despite having fully matured later.

Shogun has made my "list" a couple of times by
attacking me when I pick up his ladies. He pulled my
finger and twisted it out of joint once. He seems to
think the only thing the hens need protection from is me; not
the hawks or Olive Dog, just me. I am dangerous. I admit that
I get scared when trying to take his picture.

Jane is shy and a bit of a dunce. Whenever the flock startles and flies across
the yard, she never follows. She mosies about eating with her head down
then flies in a panic toward the nearest chicken a few minutes later. If
one of our flock gets "taken," it'll be her. She's a great layer and is on good
terms with everyone in the flock.

Remiss

Time flies when you're... moving through time. Short days, long hours. Winter to spring. Chill and frost to rain and unpredictable humidity. Recovering and hopeful to crying over his little, soft bunny body. It seems like just the other day that she was a newborn baby! Pure exhaustion to just tired. Hard to understand to talking nonstop and with precision. Cuddled in a ball to rolling over to standing up with minimal help and skipping that whole sitting up thing. Who needs that? Ten chickens to twenty-four chickens! Time flies when you're having fun!

It's been a while since I've visited this space. Honestly, the biggest factor was my annoyance at constantly having to switch from my Gmail account to my Blogger account. I made this blog before I had a Gmail account so I used my Hotmail address. Well, that got hacked. Big time. I've switched to Gmail but now I can't use that address as my Blogger username... frustrating. If there's a way to fix this that you know of, please let me know. I've reset my passwords a bajillion times because I just can't seem to remember them these days. I should just write them down and stick them on the computer screen. Worried about someone seeing them? Yeah, I live in the country. If someone comes all the way out here to steal my passwords, well, I'll change them and then laugh at the person for wasting quite a chunk of their time.

I'll get back to this space more this week, so check back! I have loads of news and photos to share of our growing life. The chicken coop has a name as does the house. We've gained a number of chickens and they are beautiful (we finished naming the "originals" and then we went and got more... names coming soon to a coop near me). We lost our dear Harlequin and miss him greatly. We're getting warm days between the rain, both of which are one hundred percent appreciated. We've experienced our first flooded Pescadero road and there is often two feet of water beneath our house (which is raised for this very reason, don't worry). This is our first spring here and it is exciting! Our wisteria is blooming and our willow and maple trees are leafing out despite being ravaged by the chickens once too often. Olive brought in a tick that first humid day which I quickly executed with the help of a jar and a freezer (thankfully, I've been really good about reapplying her medication the last several months). Keats and Frida are doing fabulously and are both super healthy (excepting, of course, poor Frida's ezcema which is a battle). Birch and I have celebrated our birthdays and chose very fitting and wonderful gifts for ourselves... yipee!

Check back! All love to you and yours!