Urban Chicks

Well, we are the proud owners of two chicks - who will hopefully be full grown hens in six weeks. So this weekend we will be installing our privacy fence and making a chicken coop, the chicks will remain inside with us for a few more weeks till they are old enough to be outside.

I'm excited, I remember my granddad having chickens in the city and getting the eggs out, so even though we are in the city, we are allowed to have chickens, but no rooster. The chicks won't produce any eggs for about six months, but we should get about one egg/day, which should be the perfect amount for our family.

They have been named by the children and they are excited, my sweet pea's teacher bought eggs/incubator and they hatched a week ago in the classroom. So, sweet pea has been able to see the eggs change, saw them hatch, and has been helping raise them and she got to pick the ones she wanted to take home.

They have also been great helpers so far, I think it should be a great experience for us all and I look forward to raising some hens. My little man did ask if we were going to be eating them, to which I said no....just their eggs and he said, good....I don't want to eat Shelly (his chick).

I want to.....

scuba dive, travel to all 50 United States, read more, dance in the rain, write a book, write a children's book, have my poetry published, sing songs, visit Scotland and Ireland, go back to Australia, move to New Zealand, not be so hard on myself, be an inspiration, be a great mom, be an awesome wife, get organized, get fit, be a dancer, run a marathon, design a great course for my temporary new job, have no worries, have an airstream trailer, be a good person, be a leader, get at least four more tattoos, become fluent in Spanish, become fluent in Maori, do more yoga, be a great friend, be spontaneous, make a difference, be desired, learn to play the piano, live by the sea and feel the warmth of the sand on my toes, make people laugh, have a closet full of vintage dresses, learn sign language, be more passionate, go back to the Cayman Islands, learn a martial art, help people, trace my ancestry, be a healer and a warrior....I want to live with no regrets....

I saw this great website http://www.43things.com/ and it got me thinking, so I've shared some of mine....what do you want?

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting......Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams master the lessons we have learned as we have moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up.... " - Paulo Coelho

New Beginnings

A lot has been going on the past couple of days...my little man has started his T-ball league and he is enjoying it, although even though it is a 5 and under team, I think he is the youngest. It is fun to just watch the kids.
I didn't have any submissions to my Random Acts of Kindness campaign, so there is no winner for my giveaway, but at least I have some goodies that I can give away or save it. I will say participating in this did make me look at things differently, for example my little girl's school sent out emails about teacher appreciation day and the school is doing a week's worth of activities, so I signed up to make dinner for my daughter's teacher one night and to bring in muffins on another day for the teachers. I'm not sure I would have done such a thing previously.

I start a new temporary position tomorrow, it is a project assistant. I will be helping with course development, working with subject matter experts, and pilot testing. I'm pretty excited about it. I will be busy and will have to manage my time wisely, but it will be nice to keep me busy and give me something extra to do as well as utilizing my new skills.

I was reading one of my favorite poems the other day, Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou and I was thinking of all the women in my life that have impacted me and just been a present force in my life and so I'm trying to plan a "Phenomenal" Ladies Tea Party just as a thank you to all the many different women in my life...however there are so many events going on, it will be hard. I would like to plan it before it gets unbearably hot, so I'm trying to look at June, but I have a feeling that I will most likely be pushing it out till August....hmmm...what to do......

"Now you understand Just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It's in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, The palm of my hand, The need of my care, 'Cause I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me." - Maya Angelou

Watching and Learning

Over the weekend, the hubs went down to help the Keep Windsor Heights Beautiful Spring Clean Up and has volunteered to help set up the IOWATER program for the creek nearby and while he was doing that, the kids and I walked along the bike trail and picked up litter. Of course, it's not much fun, but the kids were my watch eyes and would point out anytime they saw a piece of litter and they were talking about being "earth helpers." It was surprising to see how much we collected, but I told the kids anytime we walk, we'll bring an extra sack that way we can always pick up litter along our walks. I had to laugh while listening to them because they are young and it reminded me of how much I wanted to "change" the world when I was younger, most of my reports in elementary school were about endangered species and wanting to help them out and then you get older.
We also installed a rain barrel this weekend, it's not the prettiest thing, but it should get the job done. We need one in the backyard as well. My parents took the kids out and my mom was telling me how my little man was going on about trash and was informing her what to recycle, she started calling him Mr. Recycle. And granted we may not be the most eco-friendly family, but we are trying and doing what we can now and hopefully along the way we will pick up more tips and eventually get there because even though we are one family, we are trying. And I hope that my children will see that and it will transcend to them later in life.
And watching them soak everything in has inspired me, I purchased a notebook for writing. I said that one of my goals for the year was to continue to write and I started and have slack off, so I figured if I have my notebook with me, I have no excuse because my issue is that creativity strikes me at odd hours, so now I can write it down where ever I am. And not to mention that the last several weeks I have been given many signs that is pointing me in that direction and I need to start listening.

"When you are a child, you believe you can change the world. When you are an adult, you realize the world changes you, and then when you are a parent you hope to be the change your children come to admire." - DFife

Kindness in Motion

Well I'm in day 15 of my Random Acts of Kindness and have done several things that I have posted on my Twitter page, you can see what I've done on the right of the screen. You can also see that most of my acts are small, but never the less they are random acts of kindness.

The hubs picked up some remaining debris at our neighbors house, she is an elderly woman and I think she really appreciated the help.

I have noticed the more I do, the more I am receiving in small ways and perhaps it is because I am more aware, so therefore I notice it. And don't get me wrong, I've had some challenging days where things seemed rather depressing, but I try not to focus or put to much energy into those challenging days.
I also picked up several items for my giveaway, I have a couple more things I'd like to get, but remember you need to post the Random Acts of Kindness that you do in my comment section to enter the giveaway. To see more details click on Pass It On and you will see the details of my giveaway.

I've been doing a lot of gardening with the hubs and even just the kids. I forget how much I love the smell of freshly dug dirt and this year we are trying something new and starting all our vegetables and even some flowers all from seeds. Typically we wait and buy plants, but we decided to try it this way and if all comes up then we will have quite the selection of vegetables, so I'm excited to see everything slowly pushing through the dirt. We also received some really great plants from my FIL and step-MIL, we placed those in the front of the house and they look great. She also gave us some raspberry bushes, which I'm quite excited for....I love raspberries...yummm.

Anyway...I just wanted to post an update regarding the Acts of Kindness Campaign and hope everyone is beginning to enjoy the freshly emerging buds on the trees....till next time...Blessed Be!

"Never get tired of doing little things for others. Sometimes, those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts." - Unknown

Are There Chance Encounters.....

My mom took the kiddies this evening for a sleepover...leaving the hubs and I to fend for ourselves. The house is always quite when they are gone and when they are gone, I get just a tad excited because I have one-on-one time with my hubby, his full attention (as long as we aren't watching a movie). I wanted to do something tonight, anything really and he gave me signals that I knew it would most likely stick to be an evening at home...which didn't really bother me since we went' camping last night and I barely got a wink of sleep. There was a movie he wanted to see so I suggested we go see that and it fell on deaf ears, so I thought okay, whatever.
I sat in our bedroom and watched TV (sulking) and the hubs said he was going to WalMart and asked that I join him, I thought well, I don't want to go, but I have no excuse because the kids are gone, so I went.
I wasn't happy, but I wasn't angry...I was feeling frustrated because there aren't many nights when the kids are taken last minute and so I thought we could do something we always say we will do when we don't have the kids. Anyway, we are walking the aisles when a man approaches us.
He just started talking about how much WalMart sucks and how he one time saw some guy shoplifting, the conversation turned a bit to people and body language. The conversation lasted maybe two minutes and we went on our way thinking, huh? That was strange, but okay. So as we approach the check-out, we see him again....so we pass and tell him we hope he has a lovely evening. He stops us and introduces us to his wife and starts talking again, a little bit of politics, life, people, body language again, and this conversation lasted about five to eight minutes.
As he was speaking he said something in regards to marriage and connections to me that struck me, he put his arm on me and said something like, "You two look like a great couple, a lot of commonality and connections." I smiled even though I was feeling quite frustrated with the hubs and I'm sure this stranger could pick up on my uneasiness....as I'm not much of a talker, I'm a listener, but I've never been blessed with the gift of gab.
Anyway, he also said, "it's all about how you open yourself and body language will tell you a lot about someone." And I was standing there, I thought...it's true...and then I thought maybe I should open myself up a bit more. Before he left, he said..."here in this short time, I feel like I have known you guys for years."
It is not often when you come across someone who is genuine and just wants to share a conversation with you. And tonight was one of those serendipitous encounters because after speaking with him, I felt a little less frustrated. There is something inside you that recognizes truth when you hear it being spoken and I felt it.
I believe we were meant to run into this man, just to hear what he had to say this evening, so here's to chance encounters and random acts of kindness!!!! Because alas I have been participating in Kindness campaign and the effects are being felt in many different ways.

"Life: It is about the gift not the package it comes in." ~Dennis P. Costea, Jr.

Wouldn't life be simple

My sweet pea asked me to come into her room and I just started folding the laundry and had the beds to make along with everything else, so I told her to wait. If anyone knows my little girl, she is persistent, so she took no for an answer and continued to ask until I said, why do you want me to go in your room for...she replies, "for a talk."
A girl talk and considering she just turned five, I'm thinking what kind of talk will this be? So, I toddled into her room and she climbs up into her bed and asked me to sit. She starts asking about camping and when are we going to go now that the weather is nice, so we discuss it and I told her how we are thinking of going this weekend. She gets excited and then lays on the bed and exclaims, that is so freaking exciting....I can't wait!
We laugh and then I ask her to help me make her bed, which she does and then she starts talking about what her favorite things are...what she wants to be, how much she enjoys everyday....life. And as we are making the bed, I think is this going to be one of those moments I will recall when she is grown and I am reflecting back on life. I tell my children everyday how much I love them, how proud they make me and listening to her just gave me the warm fuzzies.
The more she sat and talked the more I started to think, how simple life would be if everyone could see the world through child's eyes. The innocence and just appreciation for most things we take for granted or what makes them laugh. The way their face lights up when they get to meet the Easter Bunny or Santa and how a kiss can make everything seem better because to them, it does.
So, thank you my sweet pea...for inviting me for a wonderful chit chat and reminding me just how special you are and these moments!