Mommy, that's horrible.....

I tend to keep my news watching to a minimum and today, for some reason I had left the telly on and they were showing pictures of the oil spill, so my daughter asked what that was about. So, I tried to explain it to her, that this company was looking for oil in the ocean and the line burst and is now spilling into the ocean. She asks, "is it hurting the fish?" And I tell her yes, it is as well as birds and everything other animal and lifeforms nearby. We looked at pictures and I showed her the live feed that they have, she saw pictures of some dead animals and she looked at me and said, "Mommy, that's horrible."
About five minutes later, she runs up to me and says I've got it, I know how to fix it...so I ask her and she says, they need to think like a beaver and build a dam with sticks and mud, that will fix it and then they need to say sorry to all those animals that have died. I later thought, here she is at this young age trying to fix the oil spill in the Gulf Coast and so I later asked her again to explain it to me and grabbed the video, here is her explanation...

"A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching." - Sivananda

Our City Chicks.....Shelle and Aurora

Well it has been one week since we've had our chicks and they are two weeks old - I'm rather shocked at how they have grown in one week, but then again they should be full size in another four to five weeks.

They are rather easy going, but I have been changing their bedding twice a day even though we read that you should change it once a week. They are still inside and I don't want my house smelling like a farm, so that is one reason why I change it so often. We got the fencing for our backyard and some wood to make the coop....I found a really great coop plan, but the hubs doesn't like, so I think we will go with something else. It's been fun so far, the kids are still being great helpers and the chicks are getting use to hearing us and getting picked up. They still get a bit skittish, but not nearly as much as they were, when we walk into the room, their little necks stretch up to see us...it's kind of funny.

Anyway, just wanted to post an update of our chicks....more to come.

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