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Monday, April 22, 2013

As the Coop Turns

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the chickens of our lives.

When we last left our saga, five chickens had joined the household. They were small and adorable. They pooped a lot and we had no idea if they were hens or roosters.

As weeks went by the chickens doubled, then tripled in size. All, that is, but one. Ginger, the beloved runt of the litter, never gained the size or strength of the rest of the brood. She was beloved by the children because she was the most accessible and loving, allowing them to pet her while she made crazy crowing noises.

But one fated day, Ginger started limping, and seemed to lack control of her extremities. The other chickens knocked her over and she couldn't get up. Things looked bad. The children were worried.

Removed from the coop, Ginger took a turn for the worse. After some research on the chicken version of WebMD, a diagnosis was guessed: Chicken Polio. Ginger was not long for the world. Goodbyes were said, and a dramatic conclusion to poor Ginger's life was avoided by allowing her to go "back to nature" (AKA becoming coyote bait) at our land.

Tears were shed by the children, and the small girl wondered if we could get a new Ginger. No, that was not to be. But can we just re-name one of the other chickens Ginger? Yes, sounds good.

Back at the coop, it was becoming clear that 50% of the flock were roosters.


No bueno. There can be no crowing in the neighborhood! Although we were personally sad to see them go because the roosters had the most spunk and were hilarious to watch when they run-waddled after whomever was getting them food or water, they had to find a new home. A quick Craigslist search found a man willing to take "unwanted farm animals," and he swooped through and took them off of our hands.

Meanwhile, a man in Terrell had some Rhode Island Red hens of approximately the same age as our Leghorn hens, and so two new hens joined the flock, securing our position as the Warner Brothers cartoon of the neighborhood:


These new chickens were a different breed, and ruffled the feathers of the Leghorns. While the Leghorn hens were true biddies -- lazy, nosy, and averse to change -- these Reds were athletic and graceful. They evaded capture by racing around the yard a full 30 minutes before we were able to finally get them in the coop. While the Leghorn hens struggle to get up the ramp into the coop (causing the ramp to buckle under their weight), the Reds fly effortlessly up to the coop door and stroll in.


Like true "mean girls," the Leghorns are nasty to the Reds. They give them the business whenever the Reds (now christened Ginger #3 and Polly) try to get water or food. When they stroll outside the coop the Reds take a wide berth around the Leghorns (now christened Nadine and Roxie).

See the Leghorns playing defense of the food and water?
Now that the coop is rooster-free, the food and water consumption has gone way down, and the poop production seems to have abated. (Typical males!) Life in the coop seems to be normalizing as a pecking order is established. It seems that if only in their minds the Leghorns will be at the top of the order, but all the Reds have to do is fly three feet to get out of their way. Ginger #3 and Polly seem to be growing and thriving, and successfully ignoring Nadine and Roxie.

The next chapter: egg production. When will it happen? Will the hens share the nesting boxes? Will the eggs be brown or white? Will they be possessive and broody hens, or will they let us take the eggs with no problems? I, for one, will not miss an episode.

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Workout of the Day
P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Eggs in a pepper

The spring semester is always crazy at our house. Zach has baseball, softball, track, choir concerts, band concerts, awards ceremonies, banquets, prom, UIL events, and all other sorts of events to attend. So my weekly menu has to be somewhat flexible.

Earlier this week he had an event come up that caused a meal to be bumped later in the week, which left me to plan a dinner for myself on the fly (the kids got the standard breakfast burritos). I've been following a gal named Alyssia on Instagram who is doing a "100 Days of Clean Eating" challenge, and she posts some great recipes, and when I was wondering what I might have she posted a picture of an egg she baked in a pepper.

Since I have about eight peppers in my fridge from last week's co-op shop, I decided to try it out!

First I tried to cut the pepper in half down the center -- no dice. It wasn't a deep enough hole and I was sure the egg would fall out. So I threw that pepper in the broccoli/cauliflower container we keep in the fridge. I got out another pepper and just cut the top off. Perfect!

After salting and peppering the inside, I cracked the egg and slid it in the pepper. Looked good, but I thought I could fit another one in there, so I cracked another one.

I put the pepper in a pan and put a bit of water in the bottom to prevent scorching. Then I popped it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Here's what it looked like when it came out:


It was cool! I topped the pepper with salsa, feta cheese, and green onion. I cooked it just about right -- when I cut into it the pepper was tender and the egg was still a little runny, just how I like it. The taste was really good, although it was really watery from the pepper and the steam that had built up in the pepper. 

On the side I had some vegetable soup that I had whipped up to eat on for lunches this week, but this would be really good with some seasoned home fries. It's just a quick, easy meal that is nice and light! Try it!

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Workout of the Day
Les Mills Combat 60

We are in the recovery week of month one for P90X. We substitute Les Mills Combat for Kenpo because Combat is WAY cooler than Kenpo. 

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The House of Mouse

Did I tell you guys about the time we planned a trip to Disney World and hid it from the kids until the day we were leaving?

We totally did.

Last year I had a goal of earning "Success Club" each month with Team Beachbody. If I did that, then I would be eligible to earn a trip (and a lot of money while on the trip) to Disney World. In December I met that goal.


Disney World is not someplace Zach and I really ever considered going, because it is really, really expensive, and really, really....Commercial. While we do watch Disney movies, we don't have the channel and don't really make a big deal out of Mickey Mouse or princesses. I'd much rather my kids watch PBS. But since Disney characters and Disney World/Land is pretty ubiquitous in our culture, our kids had a vague idea of what it was when we told them at breakfast that we were getting on a plane to go there.


I just keep seeing their little faces in utter disbelief in my head. I love how Kate said a very quiet "yes" real quick after we asked the question as if we might take it back if we got no response. I also love that the kids seemed to be more excited about seeing Shaun T than Mickey and Minnie. Clearly they see Shaun T more than they do Mickey Mouse at our house.


As we left on the trip I have to say that I wasn't necessarily super excited for it. I mean, I was super excited for the kids, but I had a little bit of dread in that I knew there would be tons of people there, and it would be CRAZY expensive to buy food (hence 1/3 of our bags were stocked with food), and I just had a bit of apprehension.

But y'all, we had a lot of fun. Yes, there were lots of people. Yes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cost $5.75. But seeing the look on my son's face after he went on Space Mountain for the first time was priceless. (For the record, that look registered terror and dismay. But darn if that kid didn't get right back on another roller coaster mere hours later, as did his sister. I was so proud!)

The kids were complete troopers the whole time. We had them up at 6am so that we could work out at Epcot with Shaun T. It was cold!




We had them out late at Downtown Disney so we could find something to eat.


Drew even showed his greatest patience with the Disney photographers who requested some "quick" shots with a dad and his kids for an upcoming Disney Cruise Line commercial.

We were told it would be quick. It wasn't.
We thought we might get some Disney bucks from it. We didn't.
We made it to Hollywood Studios early and rode "Star Tours" three times in a row.


Kate was ready to swim at the drop of a hat, even if the temperature was 75 degrees (a good 15 degrees from proper pool weather, in my opinion).


Like any event hosted by Team Beachbody, it was a fantastic time. On the closing night, they had a huge dinner and had the characters come to take pictures.


After the dinner, we all retired to a private area at Epcot where we could eat cookies and cupcakes and watch the fireworks show, complete with 3D glasses that made each sparkle from the fireworks look like a Beachbody logo.


It was truly a magical trip.

It meant so much to me to be able to earn this trip for my family. This has been a difficult year so far, and this trip was a bright spot. It's something we will all remember for many years to come. I'm so thankful for Team Beachbody and the opportunities it has afforded me -- the opportunity to earn some money while being home for my kids, the opportunity to take a trip that we would never dream of taking on our own.


It was incredible.

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Workout of the Day
We are in week three of a brand new round of P90X. We haven't done a complete round in a couple of years, at least. Here's the news: IT'S STILL HARD! Holy cow, Chest and Back kills me. Plyometrics still has me doubled over by the end. Hands down P90X was the best $120 we ever spent. Think about it: we've been using these DVDs for 5 years. That's a mere $24 a year!