Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sunshine and grapefruits

WooWEE!  This month has been full of excitement.  Since the job offer I received (which I did end up accepting), Zach and I went to visit my little sister in California, I started work, and the chicken coop is more than half done!

First, a few highlights from our trip to SoCal: 





It was wonderful, and I feel like my sister and I are finally really relating as adults.  She is a wonderful woman with lots of big hopes and dreams, and I'm really lucky to call her my friend as well as my sister.

We got back from California Monday night and I started my new job Tuesday morning.  It's crazy, and the commute is so bad I've already started looking at home listings online, but the job itself and the people I work with seem great.  It will be really busy all the time, and they offer a lot of training and opportunities.

Today, Zach and his buddy moved the pieces of the chicken coop from the garage out to the back yard and put them together.  The framing is all done and the back wall is attached.  Sad to say, I forgot to take any pictures, but Zach will be working on it again tomorrow (assuming the skies don't open), so I'll get some shots then.  The girls are going to be so happy to get out of their brooder.  They are all fully feathered and it's getting crowded in there!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Indecision

I got a job offer this week. I should be really excited, but instead I have this feeling of dread. I can't out my finger on the problem, so I'm stalling on my response and living in limbo. Possibly a part of the problem is that I'm still waiting to hear back from a local job while this offered job is up in Bellevue. But that can't be all of it because I'm also interviewing for a job in Seattle that I have a better feeling about.

If I haven't heard anything by Tuesday about the local job, my only choice becomes a long commute. Probably to Bellevue. Why am I so stressed about this?

Monday, April 8, 2013

Meatless & Marvelous

So I've decided to do an experiment this week.  I'm going to make all meatless meals, but not mention it to Zach.  We'll see if he even notices the lack of meat.

The menu includes:
Black Bean Taco Soup
A bean soup mix that was in my Christmas stocking from my mom
Pasta with pesto and maybe a few random veggies to clean out the fridge
Skinny Lasagna Rolls
and finally, if we have eaten all the leftovers, a vegetarian chili (I haven't decided which one yet)

I think if I rotate through them, Zach probably won't even notice that not a single day includes meat.  Although now that I'm looking at the menu, it's pretty obvious that Mexican and Italian are two of our favorite cuisines. :)

In other news, Zach started building the chicken coop this weekend!  We're using Ana White's Shed Chicken Coop plans.  So far, we have the floor, back wall and front wall all framed.  Yesterday, I went up to Second Use and picked up a couple of plain wood window sashes we'll use to cover the windows instead of relying on shutters.  That and painting are all I'm allowed to help with since Zach and I don't work well together.  Here's a photo of the progress.  It may not look like much yet, but I think it's great progress!


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Another gray day

Oh, the last few days have spoiled me.  It was so sunny and beautiful this weekend, and I really enjoyed getting out of the house and getting started on cleaning up the yard.  Plus the time with the chicks in the garden was delightful.  But today, and the rest of the week according to the forecast, we're getting back to early spring weather with gray skies and middling temperatures.

I had plans for today: make Portuguese Sweet Bread (done), start my Chocolate Milk Stout brewing (not done), do some weeding and pruning (a little done), and start my lasagna beds (not done).  Oh well.  I did accomplish a few things. Most notably the sweet bread, although it didn't turn out like I wanted, so I'm not giving you the recipe yet.  I finished my first batch of dairy kefir and started a new one.  And I found a volunteer position I'm considering applying for, depending on how Thursday's job interview goes.

Plus, I'm sticking with FlyLady's Baby Steps cleaning routine, and my kitchen sink is shiny!