Little Chicken

I have a friend at work that grew up on a farm way up north. His way of introducing his family to farmlife and bringing a little bit of home to VA is raising chickens. Yes. I said chickens. He raised 12 chickens to lay eggs for his family. He told me all about it a few weeks ago and I was just excited about the thought of fresh eggs on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I have no space for chickens in my condo and I'm pet averse. So, I'm not a good candidate for chicken raising right now. He informed me that his chickens were laying eggs like crazy and much more than his family could enjoy. If I brought in an egg carton, he agreed to fill it up. How exciting is that?!?! So, I brought one in for my little share of farm freshness.

My co-worker bought 8 more chicks and we agreed that I could "sponsor" one. He brought in a video of them all chirping away and let me pick out "my" new chicken. I asked if I was going to get pictures as my little chick grew up to be an egg laying chicken and if I would receive letters that I could display on my refrigerator. He said he will work on both. Then he showed me what my little adorable yellow chick will look like as an adult.

Here is what she looks like right now:

And this little ball of feathery fun is what she will look like in a few months:

She is a White Cochin. I'm sure mine will be much more adorable than this interweb picture, but you get the idea. Here's the problem. I have to name her! Give me some suggestions, people! The sooner we name her, the sooner she can mature and lay eggs. Well, that last part may be a bit of an exaggeration but I do not want her to be nameless. She needs an identity other than egg provider.

Oh! And I'm sure you are dying to know what culinary delight I'm going to attempt this weekend with my fresh eggs? Cheese Souffle! Bon Apetit!

Snuggle Buddy

As you may recall, I decided to make the 6 years of employment with Starbucks Coffee a gift that keeps on giving. I had so many t-shirts from my years with the company and knew that I wouldn't wear them again. So, I pulled them all out and started cutting them up. I kept one intact since I already had the 4x4 panels and, as any good barista would do, I opted NOT to use the Vivanno shirt. (There are so many reasons baristas hate Vivannos.)

This little project taught me a few more sewing skills even though the finished product isn't perfect. T-shirts creep even with interface. If I were to do it over again, then I would have used a stiffer interface. I was pretty far into the project when I realized there were numerous mistakes. I finally resolved that I was making something to curl up on the couch with and not something to enter into a quilt show. I pressed on and thought I would finish it last night. However, due to a number of wrong stitches and the need to remove entire quilt length seams, I ran out of thread with one side left to bind. I was so frustrated! I only had 5-10 minutes worth of work left and out of thread. It is times like that I wish I knew more neighbors, preferably ones that sew and wouldn't mind loaning out spools of thread. I made a stop on the way home from work and finished my new snuggle buddy up.

I'm happy to announce that I am typing this right now with said quilt on my lap and it is mighty comfy. I think I'll try to make another one really soon. Next time, I'll shoot closer to perfection...maybe.

Fall Celebrated

Can you think of a better way to spend a Saturday evening to kick off fall than pumpkin carving?

I didn't think so. So, that is exactly what we did last weekend. To celebrate the cool weather, Kirsten and Jesse came over with pumpkin in tow for an evening of carving.

The boys had not carved pumpkins before and I had no experience with it either other than watching my parents as a kid. As a result, I didn't have proper carving tools. The fellas ran to the store to purchase the proper instruments and found a fun pumpkin carving book with an assortment of patterns for us to choose from. And here are the products of our loverly evening:

My pumpkin was the "easiest" and so it doesn't look as cool as everyone else's pumpkin. Plus, I was the last one finished. It is suppose to be an owl in a tree. I'm just not good at artistic projects but I had fun anyways.

I think Jesse's was considered the hardest according to the book. He did a really good job, but that is to be expected. He is good at everything.

Kirsten chose the fun white pumpkin and freehanded her carving. She's an artist with blantanly obvious talent.

Chip wanted to find a Thundercat pattern but settled for the howling wolf included in the book. I think he was pleased with the wolf.

I love fall!! Are you carving pumpkins this year?

Prescription To Read

Today I participated in my first ever physical. (Don't judge me.) I figured 32 was a good age to get some baselines for future preventative care. I had bloodwork taken last week and today was the "inspection."



Doc had a med student shadowing him. He went through the assumably usual questions and, of course, my answers were pretty boring. Sometimes you want to just make stuff up so you don't seem so ridiculously boring, but I figured medical visits and FBI investigations are moments that you don't want to try the story telling. Sort of makes the lying less entertaining.


As you may recall, I sliced my finger Memorial Day Weekend. Doc had removed the sutures, so he asked me about the healing. I showed him the finger and commented about the nail that was sliced below the cuticle in the accident. I was curious about where the nail started since it was split under the skin and was now growing out. He took a look and remarked about how quickly it is growing. Without thinking much, I responded, "I drink a lot of milk." I said it partly because it was the first thing I thought of and partly in attempt to entertain the obviously bored med student. Cricket. Cricket. No response but a glaring look from both. Seriously? Lighten up, people!



So, we continued with the physical. Doc asked about my feet, "Do you have any pains in your feet?" I went on to explain my Plantar Fasciitis issue during Marathon training but I assured him I haven't hurt in the last 6 months. This must have sparked his interest and he asked how much I run during the week.



I had brought a book in with me since we all know appointment times mean zilch in the land of medicine. I recently picked up a mindless chick lit book to read from the Shopaholic series. He looked at the book and started asking me questions about it. At that moment, I thought "I should have been reading something more intellectual or classical." Oh well, I admit it. I read mindless books on occasion.



The results of the physical were pretty good. I am pretty proud of my 142 cholesterol number with 57 HDL (good kind). Looks like my good eating habits (Monday-Friday) and my running have paid off. They are concerned about my B12, though. He asked if I was a vegetarian which I laughed and said "No, I love animal products." I had to get more bloodwork done today so they can look specifically at my B12. I hope that is just something I can add to my diet. I'm horrible at remembering pills.



So, I'm waiting at the lab area and Doc comes over and hands me this:




He told me "If you like to read and you are a runner, you should read this book." I told him thank you. I thought it was nice of him to try and connect with me. Most doctors don't. A few minutes later, he comes back with the book and says, "You can't take this home with you, but read the first chapter before you leave." I thought that was really cool of him. And you know what? I want to finish the book now.


So, physical went well. I'm pretty healthy and Doc has prescribed that I read about the Tarahumura Indians to improve my running. The real question here is: Does MedCo cover Barnes and Noble?