A chalk alternative

I like to do a weekly menu for our dinner meals and place it on the fridge. It would be quite wasteful to print something like that out weekly, especially when it could change anyway. I don’t have one of those neat little chalk wall sections like I’ve seen in some houses, so I got a little dry erase board and some markers. 

The markers I got were too wide to allow me to write a full meal in the allotted space legibly, so I didn’t really use them much and bought fine point markers. That left me with markers just sitting around.

Though it's hard to see, there is a jack-o-lantern drawn on the top half of the door

When cleaning off the area where those markers were kept, I noticed they also said “window chalk”. I never thought about much, but they would work nicely for window decorations, so I decided to let the kids use the markers. They knew they were special markers since they were only ever used for the menu, so they understood they couldn’t use them like normal markers. I let them decorate the front storm door windows and other various windows in the house. This worked great for rainy days when they couldn’t play outside with chalk, and it also was great for when they had a party. They want to help decorate for their parties, but there really isn’t much they can do yet. They cannot blow up balloons yet (they try, though!), they can’t reach to hang items from higher up, and they really just feel left out when it comes to that. Now I let them use the markers for helping decorate.

They have not tried to use regular markers on the door/windows, and they haven’t tried to use the special chalk/dry erase markers on anything but glass (thankfully!). I’m glad that the markers aren’t going to waste, and that the kids can feel useful when “decorating” or can express themselves for all to see without it being permanent.

The markers are also easy to clean up because they are water based. They wipe off easily (dry with a bit of pressure, or water takes it right off), and they come off of hands easily, too!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for this post. All products were purchased by me. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Adventures with chicks (pt. 6)

One day before turning 7 weeks old, our chicks had to move house again. I feel bad that they don't have the ability to fly up on the side of the baby gate to roost anymore, but as they get bigger they create more dust. I prefer not to have my house smell like a chicken coop, so they relocated to the garage.

All 9 of the chicks in their new home

We have a really large metal dog crate that they got relocated to, and a large (yet small) branch was fed through the bars in the back section to allow for them to still roost if they want. Often times they still prefer to just plop together in the straw to sleep.

Of course, now our garage smells like chickens, but that is much better than a room inside. We often open our garage door and the back door to the garage to let the air circulate through to help cut down on smell, but it is going to smell a bit like chicken until we move them outside.

Though I feel bad for making them fully enclosed (versus an open top like they had) they are a bit more at ease when the kids come near them because the kids can't just reach down and try to grab them. I also feel bad about the size, wishing it was so much larger so they can roam far and wide, but I keep reminding myself it's only temporary, and that they have it much better than a conventional laying hen that is kept in battery cages that are so small they can't even stand up and can just poke their head out to eat/drink. At least my chicks have enough room that they can literally run around, fly about a bit, and have space to roost.

You can see the branch to roost on if you look at the left side of the picture

Soon I'll have to find homes for a few of these girls, as we don't have room to add 9 more chickens to our coop. Well, going back to the battery cages bit, we technically do have room, but we would rather not crowd our flock too much.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

Tips: Fruit Flies

I don’t know how common of a problem this is, but every year we have issues with tiny little flies. I think they are fruit flies or gnats, honestly, though I’ve had them long before I had children (which means sometimes food ends up in places you wouldn’t think to look). They hang around drains, they hang around potted plants, and of course, food.

To help control these little pests without using unsafe chemicals, we put little dishes (think tiny condiment dishes) with apple-cider vinegar (ACV) near the sink and the fruit. 

You know the saying “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar”? Yeah… I’m convinced that’s a lie. They really, really like the ACV. Of course, they can’t fly in it, they can’t swim, and so they are trapped. Success!

You can also add a tiny bit of dish soap to it and mix it up to help thicken the consistency and ensure they are actually stuck. We empty them out and refill them every couple of days during “fly season”.

Do you have any tips for controlling fruit flies?

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

Adventures with chicks (pt. 5)

Our chicks are 6 weeks old and officially have feathers! They are also significantly harder to keep still for pictures, so I had to resort to holding the birds in front of me and snapping a picture. If their feet touched something, they would use it to their advantage and push off and sneak away. Without my friend over this time, my helpers were Bobble and Squiggle... erm... "helpers". 

Black Australorp, and the calmest chicken at the moment. She let me take this picture with minimal fuss.

 Above are the two EEs. Bobble's is on the left, and I'm holding the other one on the right.

We finally figured out that this is a Bantam Partridge Cochin. I'm loving this little one! She's so... different!

This barred rock is fiesty, and is making a run for it as the picture is being taken.

Still not 100% on this gorgeous chick, but current guess is Blue Orpington or Blue Andalusian

We have come to the conclusion that this lovely blue is actually an Olive Egger.. mostly because of her cheeks (see second picture below)

Squiggle's white cochin is on the left (note the black leg band), and the other has now grown in all white feathers (right). Good thing we put a band on them!

The chicks also had their first taste of treats today, as we gave them some dried mealworms after their (forced) photoshoot.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Wrapy Baby Carrier (review)

First of all, special thanks to Thoughts of Fluff for letting me do my first ever "guest blogger" post. With four young kiddos in tow, I'm not often invited to be anyone's guest. Ever. So I'll be on my best behavior...

Today I'll be reviewing the Wrapy baby carrier. This will be my first time attempting to use a wrap-style carrier and I won't lie: I'm stoked! I've always wanted to try a wrap and I've especially heard good things about "stretch" wrap carriers like the Wrapy. Word on the street is that they are particularly comfy for curvy mammas like myself. Considering my only experience with babywearing involves our two Ergo structured carriers (which aren't particularly "curve friendly") and a ring sling that I made from a tablecloth,  I'm really looking forward to giving this a try.

First Impression

This has got to be the most convenient carrier ever made for a first time wrapper! For starters, it comes in a matching drawstring storage bag so I won't have to wrestle an alligator... Oops! I mean "try to properly fold a hugemongous piece of fabric"... every time I use it.

I predict many years of shoving a Wrapy into this drawstring bag -without folding it- in my future.

The Wrapy also comes with a handy little booklet that includes step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to wrap yourself with it for use as a carrier. Better yet, there are also directions on how to use a single wrapping method to carry your child through various ages (from a newborn to a hefty 35 lb toddler) in several different ways.

There's even a breastfeeding carry! How cool is that?!

I'm dying to try all the different carrying styles but my toddler is currently in the "I'm totally independent and can do everything myself including walking but I'll throw a screaming tantrum if you don't wipe my butt fast enough" phase and the newbie is only a few weeks old. So basically one of my daughters is unwearable and the other can only be worn a couple ways. I also have two boys but one of them is six-years-old and the other is a rock (seriously! He's 40" tall and weighs 40 lbs... that's a pound per inch!!!).

This is what 40 x 40 and stubborn look like.

Seriously though, the Wrapy would make an awesome gift for a first time parent. It's got a lot to offer and a lot to teach a first time wrapper like myself, which is amazing. If you follow their FaceBook page, you can see all sorts of tips for more than just wrapping, too.

The Details

I'm a huge fan of the gender neutral color options (blue, black, gray and red) that the soft, breathable and comfortably stretchy fabric comes in. I chose blue, which is closer to a navy color. My color selection process involves three factors that all of the Wrapy color options meet though: A) I wanted something that matches most of my clothes, B) Something that my husband wouldn't be embarrassed to wear in public and (most importantly) C) It can't easily stain from mustard-ish newborn diaper blowouts. Speaking of which, I'm an even bigger fan of the fact that the entire thing is machine washable AND dryer safe.

It's like the people who made the Wrapy are telling me "Relax Mommy. Don't slave away hand washing and scrubbing the poop and curdled milk spit-up from your carrier. Just throw it in the machine and pour yourself a glass of wine to go with that chocolate and your new book..."

Like most wrap carriers (which are essentially just a massively long piece of fabric) It has a convenient tag to mark the center of the wrap to make the wrapping process easier. The Wrapy also has nicely tapered ends, which I really like. Many of the cheaper wraps I've seen leave the ends square which looks unfinished and bulky hanging down.

All in all, I really like the Wrapy carrier. It's priced extremely competitively for the baby carrier market, offering an incredible value. I honestly couldn't buy enough fabric of this quality to MAKE a wrap carrier for the price that the Wrapy goes for on Amazon (seriously, I checked)! And for such a simple product it was very thoughtfully designed. It's now officially at the top of my baby shower gift list for new mommies who won't realize how badly they need the freedom of babywearing until they're crying over a pile of dirty dishes/laundry while bouncing a screaming infant on their hip. It's the gift of sanity.

And of course, what's a review without a disclaimer?... Lost and Farm was sent the above product to facilitate this review. This did not sway my opinion in any way though. All opinions in this review are 100% my own honest opinion and therefore may differ from your own.

Ann Milligan is a devoted wife, mommy to four crazy kids, a Chicken Soup for the Soul author and freelance writer. Her extremely limited free time is consumed by a chocolate addiction, obsessive internet cat stalking and her blog at LostandFarm.Wordpress.com.

Sun Tea

Few things excite me about summer more than sweet tea. I’m a huge fan of sweet tea. More so, I’m a huge fan of sun tea. My whole family is, actually. We can go through a lot of it, but we often make “Arnold Palmers” with it (half tea, half lemonade) which helps it stretch a bit.

I’ve actually been asked a few times how we make sun tea, so I thought I’d share it with all of you. People do it many different ways, but this is how we do it:

·         1 container

·         6 (black) tea bags (we usually do 3 decaf, 3 caff)

·         1c sugar

·         1 gallon of water

That’s all you need! Well, that and sunshine. I add the cup of sugar to the container first, then the water. Finally, I add the tea bags (and lid!) and place it in the sunshine for the majority of the day (we prefer at least 6 hours). After we bring it inside, we strain the bags, stir to mix in any undissolved sugar, and enjoy!

Some people prefer to dissolve the sugar in a bit of hot water before setting it out, but we never do. Not all the sugar will dissolve, but that’s okay. My kids don’t need a bunch of sugar!

Other alternatives would be doing 3 black tea bags and 3 flavoured like raspberry or peach. If you’re curious, yes… both taste amazing mixed with lemonade!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Adventures with chicks (pt. 4)

At 3 weeks and 3 days, the chicks have definitely given a better idea of what they will look like as they get older. They also quickly were growing out of their new container. We planned a similar set up as we had for our injured hen (and also that we used for our roo when we first got him), except significantly more straw for snuggling against and a heat lamp.

I had a friend over, (the person that introduced me to keeping chickens, actually!) and she helped me put a little band around the legs of a couple of the chicks.

Our little bantam is growing some feathers in and looking less like a chipmunk!

The barred rock is starting to show her barring instead of sporting all black with a white dot on the back of her head.

Still pretty certain this is a black australorp, and we are intending on keeping her.

Our two blues wouldn't hold still for the picture, but my friend did her best to get them to at least show their face for the camera. 

The feathers are coming in on the supposed buff cochin, and they are white! When I realized these two will likely be identical, we quickly banded the one that Squiggle wanted as her own chick so we could tell them apart.

The two easter egger (EE) chicks. The one on the right is Bobbles, and we banded her just in case they started to look more like each other like what happened with Squiggle's chick.

As the chicks grow, they are getting more spirited. By that, I mean they are more active and when I reach for them and they will either loudly run from me, or run up and peck at my wedding band.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.