Well actually I like school. However I’m completely drained by these summer classes. Never again.
First, I’m alive. So’s D and the cats, the new layers are laying eggs, the four pullets are growing, Cedric is a beautiful lump on a log. I’ll take pictures. Eventually.
Second, I was hired by the client company as a full time employee. They screwed up adding me to payroll, however I did get paid (albeit 5 days late). My next check is showing pending to my bank account so apparently they fixed the previous problem.
Third, I was offered (and took) the promotion to the Department Assistant position in the department I work in. That wasn’t that big of a raise but it was a 3 paygrade increase. So it’ll work out in the long run.
Ok, back to going crazy. Laters.
Plurk
Ok, that’s all I have to say for now.
In my case, the chickens came before the eggs 
Anyway, yesterday I conned J into riding with me to Tulsa to pick up laying hens. We left at 630am (and yes, he reminded me ALL DAY that he was awake on a Day Off at 6fuckin30 am). Picked them up, headed back… and hit a squall line on the way out of Tulsa.
Seriously, we saw three flashes lightning almost one on top of another, then drove past a factory or refinery that had taken three direct hits and was on fire. I had my camera and took pictures. THEN… what had been a blue clear sky blackened over with clouds, a wall cloud started to form and descend… and the sky opened up. We ended up having to pull over and put on the hazards because we literally couldn’t see past the bumper of the car. After almost 20 minutes of heavy, can’t see through it rainfall, it started to lighten up. We pulled back onto the highway, did between 25-40 through the rest of Tulsa (had no choice… it was still raining HARD and everybody was doing between 25-40, thankfully no wrecks popped up on our way out), then burned rubber all the way back to OKC.
For all this trouble I got these:
Four full grown Silver Laced Wyandottes and one 4 week old White Cochin (friend to the surviving Cochin). They joined the survivor and two Americaunas (also 4 weeks old). *Note* One of the Wyandottes is in the nesting box checking it out… so there’s only 3 in the pic.
Today the Wyandottes gave me these:
Totally worth it.
It passes so quickly that some days I feel like I turn around and it’s time to go to bed and face the next day… and nothing seems to feel like it got done. Although quite a bit got done.
In recent events:
I had to re-home my beloved German Shepherd, Raven. She’s currently integrating into my second ex-husband’s herd of Germans (her father, as well as a sister & brother from the younger litter). I had no choice because…
She chewed a hole through two layers of wire into the chicken coop and killed 5 of the 6 chickens. The one surviving chicken was one of D’s white cochins. The cochin had managed to get into the farthest back corner under the roosting box, where Raven couldn’t reach her. The rest died because they tried to run (apparently). I was at work when it happened. That night Raven went to S’s house.
Since then I arranged for a guy who sells chickens to meet me next Saturday to pick up 4 more silver laced Wyandottes that are already old enough to have started laying eggs. So the poor remaining cochin didn’t get lonely, I stopped by the feed store and picked up an Americauna chick that was only a week or two younger than the cochin.
I bought a roll of 1×2 welded wire to use under the 1×4 welded wire. I don’t know if Cedric was involved or not (I did see him flipping a dead chicken like a toy, but for all I know he came upon it when it was already dead). If he makes any moves towards the chickens I will probably come unglued.
My daughter’s cat is trying to kill herself, I swear. So far she’s eaten pieces of a balloon, cardboard, ribbon, thread, and toilet paper. She of course pukes this all over the house. I can’t get her to stop eating stuff and she’s figured out how to open cabinets. I warned D before she left on summer visitation that if the cat doesn’t stop (there is nothing physically wrong with her according to the vet… no vitamin/mineral deficiencies, stomach or intestinal issues, etc) then she might eat something that will kill her. Basically I wanted to prepare her for the possibility that one day I’ll wake up to/come home to a dead cat because she’s too stupid not to eat shit that’s not food.
I’ve been busy working. D went to her dad’s house for summer visitation. I have two summer classes that start the week of the 2nd. Can you tell I’m sooo excited?
That’s enough for now…
Eventually it’s for these…
Six little chickens… I only ordered five, but they sent six. I’m not complaining!
Two White Cochins:
Four Silver Laced Wyandottes:
They are two days old. Whether or not they’ll all make it is still up in the air… and if the extra is a rooster then he’ll have to find a new home (and no I won’t sell him for a stew pot). I only ordered pullets (hens) as roosters aren’t allowed in my town/city/suburb because of noise ordinances.
They’re actually quite nice and cuddly little things… D and I are working on socializing them young so that they’ll be accepting of humans throughout their lifespans. However, Scholar is Not Amused that Mama won’t let her go play with the new “toys”.
I just haven’t gotten around to posting recently. I’ve been sidetracked by such things as this:
And maybe this:
Don’t worry, there will be yarn pictures forthcoming. I did manage to make a spinning night and plied one of the 4 oz singles of Eire into a 4 oz two ply, and plied the rest the next night.
On the job front: So far I like my job (knock on wood). I work with two other legal claims analysts and 7 lawyers. The lawyers are actually really nice people contrary to most popular opinions.
On that note, I think I’m going to go pass out. I get up waaaaaayyyyy too early for work.
This weekend was pretty full. I’ll upload pictures later.
Saturday I relaxed for half the day, then wandered around the lumber store and picked up boards for a veggie garden thing. Dropped the boards off at home, then accompanied J over to the bike rally (Thunder Run IV, largest bike rally in OK). There were some awesome bikes there and I thought it was great that so many charities were represented (Downed Bikers Association, Bikers Against Child Abuse, MS recycling bins for aluminum cans, etc). Everybody was very nice.
Sunday morning Dad came over and helped me build the veggie bed. I needed some help with the assembly because I don’t have big enough hands to hold the sides together while screwing in the stud hangers, but I don’t have a set of clamps either. It’s just basically a big rectangular box. J is going to take his truck by the garden place and pick up the compost, manure, and peat for the dirt mix… since he’s got a bigger truck, he should be able to haul all the bags.
I started a bunch of veggies in the greenhouse seedling starter, D is going to start some marigolds tonight for the front porch side flowerbed as well. She got the seeds from one of the ladies at Dad’s church. She’s so excited that she gets to start flowers!
Ok, that’s enough… gotta start the truck and get a move on.
That’s really all I have to say. I’m a bit sleep deprived as it is 5 am, but ah well. I’ll get into the swing of this soon.
Just a couple sidenotes… I’ve been doing some sewing, which is kinda funny considering Stacey over at the Purling Dervish mentioned that she is wrestling with fabric too yesterday (or was it the day before?).
Here’s the generic view of what I’m working on: Butterick 4790, which is the reprint of the famous Butterick “Walk Away dress”. I’m working on a muslin of it because of potential issues with the fit in the bust and shoulders.
On a random note, I want to make this particular Vogue pattern one of these days, after I hit the sales at Hancocks and pick up the pattern. I don’t spend more than a $1 for Butterick and McCalls patterns at Hancocks during a sale, and no more than $5 on a Vogue. One this one, I like the sleeved version, although I do admit that I’d alter the neckline.
Here is my daily “WTF?” post. What in the hells was this designer thinking? Or is it just me and these aren’t hideously ugly? I almost gagged when I saw this pattern pic:
I’m wondering if it’s safe to assume that the designer was indulging in some substances that they shouldn’t have ingested.
Ok, gotta finish getting ready for work and book it out of here… have a good day peoples 
Everything (except my one remaining college class and the child) is on a back burner for a bit… after 10 months of unemployment because the job market here sucks, I started a new job yesterday. First day went ok, here’s to hoping that the rest follow it. I’ve got to get back into the habit of getting stuff done with a day job.
While there is spinning going on as evidenced by this:
I’m still kinda sidetracked by a few things. One would be this kitty following me around wanting me to either play fetch with him or pet him:
Rhodes is a dog in a catsuit, at least in my opinion. Right now he’s trying to convince me to take a nap but I’m holding out.
Then there’s this:
You see, I’ve always been fascinated by Jacqueline Kennedy. These three books relate to her style of dress and clothing (two separate things, don’t get confused) as the First Lady. Jacqueline Kennedy epitomizes elegance and class. Hell, she had more of both in her pinky finger than I have in my entire body. However, I delude myself into thinking that I would love to have some of the same dress and carriage that she had throughout her lifetime. I found these books through ILL (inter-library loan) and am going to add them to my list of “must have books” even though it will be a while before I can buy any books. They are, from left to right, Jackie Style, A Thousand Days of Magic, and Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. The second book was written by Oleg Cassini, who was her ONLY designer during that timeframe and good gods I’d love to pick his brain. *sigh*
Ok. Enough gushing over clothes. I need to take some heavy duty allergy meds and work on the Emotional Rescue batt. Seems that I am allergic to a perfume or scent in the batt (it was stored next to soaps and herbs) and every time I spin on it, I sneeze. Horribly. I have to wash my hands right afterwards so I don’t forget and touch my face otherwise my eyes swell up and start to water. I know it’s not a fiber IN the batt because I’m not allergic to any of them. However, when I smell it (and it does smell GREAT), I start to sneeze. I see a pattern here.
