Inside tour of our little home

Here's some photos of the inside.

It's small, but quite cozy. Later this summer, we will be doing a complete remodel/updating on the kitchen and bathrooms.

Welcome to our little farm

Just wanted to share some photos of our new place. The outside, at least. I will share photos of the inside in a day or two.

Oh and don't laugh at the cinder blocks on the roof. The previous owner was paranoid that the metal roof would blow off in our crazy winds and we just haven't taken them down to see the condition of the roof yet.

The house is an older manufactured home. We plan to upgrade to a new manufactured home within the next year.

We have 1.17 acres of land.

We are happier here than any other place we've lived since moving to the Amarillo area.

Fresh eggs and chickens

I managed to find a cord so I could download photos from my camera, finally.

This morning, I washed up our first dozen fresh eggs from the hens! What a wonderful thing to be supplying some of our own food now.

I have many things to catch up here on my blog, but wanted to share some photos of our sweet chickens. Of course, our Seramas are our favorites. Seramas have such wonderful personalities and make fantastic pets!

This is Roosevelt. He's the most amazing fella!

This is Eleanor. She and Roosevelt are our original pair of Serama that we hatched January 2, 2010.

Now I have to tell you about this next little man. His name is Travis. Eleanor hatched him on Dec. 29 and he was the only egg to hatch, so he got LOTS of handling and attention. He is rotten to the core. He thinks he is a house pet. When someone opens the back door, he starts running from the barn toward the house. He ALWAYS wants to be sitting in my lap. I just love this little man to death.

Darla has been sitting on one egg for nearly three weeks, so I am expecting a new baby Serama any day. So excited!

 When we moved in, the seller left his two hens for us. We named them Agnes and Hazel. We think they are around 5 years old, but just not sure. The day we moved in, the neighbors' dog got them and traumatized them. We didn't get any eggs until this past week. Now they are laying eggs like crazy. Here's a photo; Agnes on the left and Hazel on the right. Not too easy to see them, but they are getting more tame every day.

This is a Black Crested White Polish baby chick. It is 5 weeks old. Isn't it cute? Right now I call it *Mohawk* but we will come up with something more appropriate. We have two more of these chicks, they are 3 weeks old.

Gotta run for now, just wanted to put up a quick post. Have a great weekend!

Yarn along and where I've been

I've been wanting to join in on Ginny's yarn along and finally got out my camera, took a photo and joined in!

I am so in love with this afghan with which I am nearly done! I found out about it from Heather/The Good Life in her post here. I just love the colors she is using and decided to do one in similar colors. The pattern came from Bella Dia. I am not including the link because it isn't working to directly link to it. Instead, I have to go to Swagbucks and enter the words "vintage vertical stripe crochet afghan" and it is one of the first entries to come up. I don't know why her direct link won't work.

I had lots of difficulty doing the ends of the rows as the pattern stated. So I finally started doing them the way I know how to do ends of rows. I do double crochet in each space across to the end, chain 2 then turn. I then begin dc in the very first space. My ends are straight and this is a much easier way to do it. I just love how this pattern makes the afghan almost look like it is woven. Once I am done, I will post photos of the completed project.

I got the new issue of Crochet World the other day. The adorable little sheep on the front had me from the minute I saw it! There's many projects in this issue that I'd like to make, as well.

I've been eying the "Love Finds You In" series of books for quite a while. I couldn't decide which one I should start with, though. Lettie, at Colletta's Kitchen Sink, reads A LOT! She posted a review on LFYI Revenge, Ohio so I decided I would start the series with that one. I just got it from the library the other day and have only read a few pages. I'll share my review when I am done.

Now. Where I've been. As I posted back in January, we finally found a little farm to purchase. We close in 2 weeks!!! We have enjoyed having a stress free packing spree, since we had so long to get it done. Now we're down to the wire and just have to finish up. I can't wait to get moved!

My posts for the next month or so may be sporadic because of the move, but rest assured, I'll be back into the swing of things as soon as possible.

Ugly as...

Homemade Soap!

I made this yummy hot process soap in my crock pot the other day! Here's one place with a tutorial. There are also many, many more links with tutorials, just google "crock pot soap" for detailed instructions by many individuals. I attended a class by a local homeschool mom, where I got the information I used to make mine.

Here's the recipe I made up and used. I used the lye calculator at Majestic Mountain Sage so that I had the precise measurements. Here's a direct link to the calculator.
Amy's Almost Castile Soap

Amys Almost Castile Soap Created by Amy Harrett	Service provided by Majestic Mountain Sage http://www.thesage.com © 1996-2010 Majestic Mountain Sage, All Rights Reserved
Liquids WATER For the size of fat batch that you are using, we recommend that you use approximately 7 to 10 fluid ounces of liquid. WARNING: Always add your solid form lye, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, to the liquid. If the liquid were added to the solid form lye a violent reaction could result. This means you could have a "volcano" erupt out of your container.	Fats & Oils Fat Amount (oz wt) % in recipe Coconut Oil 7 25.00 Olive Oil 21 75.00 Total Weight 28	Lye Table (NaOH) % excess fat Lye Amount (oz wt) 0 4.13 1 4.09 2 4.05 3 4.01 4 3.97 5 3.93 6 3.88 7 3.84 8 3.80 9 3.76 10 3.72
0% to 4% excess fat range: Proceed with caution! We do not recommend this unless actual saponification values are known and used. 5% to 8% excess fat range: This is the range we use most often. 9% to 10% excess fat range: Creates a softer soap because of the amount of excess fat. DISCLAIMER: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained here is accurate. However due to differing conditions, tools, and individual skills we cannot guarantee the information is applicable in your situation. We are not responsible for any injuries, losses, or other damages that may result from the use this information available here.
Always wear protective goggles, gloves and other safety clothing when handling sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Refer to the appropriate MSDS for complete details.
Basic Soapmaking Instructions While wearing safety goggles and neoprene gloves, combine solid lye and liquid, stir well. Set aside and allow to cool (100° F to 125° F). This is best done outside while you are standing upwind. Combine oils and heat gently. Once the fats and oils are melted allow the temperature to drop to 100° F to 125° F. Combine lye solution and melted oils. Be careful not to splash while combining the mixtures. Stir until the mixture traces. If tracing takes more than 15 minutes, which it often does, stir for the first 15 minutes, then stir for 5 minutes at 15 minute intervals. Tracing looks like a slightly thickened custard, not instant pudding but a cooked custard. It will support a drop, or your stir marks for several seconds. Once tracing occurs... Pour raw soap into your prepared molds. After a few days the soap can be turned out of the mold. If the soap is very soft, allow it to cure for a few days to firm the outside. Cut soap into bars and set the bars out to cure and dry. This will allow the bar to firm and finish saponification. Place the bars on something that will allow them to breathe.

This was a small batch. At our class, the batch done was twice this size, but I wanted to use the oils I had on hand, and didn't have enough to do a larger batch. I got 12 nice size bars from my batch.

I also added essential oils of Rosemary and Spearmint. I didn't measure these, I just added them until I got the strength of scent I liked, stirring them into the soap well, before putting soap in the mold.
I really don't think my soap is ugly, I just LOVE it! Have fun making your own!