The Crazy Chicken Lady

Once upon a time, a crazy lady bought twenty-four chicks. The first time her daughter held one of them while they were still little and cute, it pooped on her and her backpack. That was only the beginning.

They got big and and very not-cute fast. Soon, they were too big for their little pen in her office, so she made another pen for them. Then, one died. There were still twenty-three chicks left, and all of them were growing fast.

Soon, they got too big for the two pens. So the crazy chicken lady moved them out into her covered porch where they had a lot of room. But they kept on growing. Before long, the pen was too small for twenty-three medium sized chicks.

The crazy chicken lady finally moved them out into their very own coop, where they could live happily ever after.

Or not. Before she knew what was happening, the coop grew too small for twenty-three largish sized chickens. Finally the day came when all of the roosters could be taken and killed. The crazy chicken lady had thirteen chickens in the freezer, and ten chickens in the coop. The coop wasn't crowded, and life was good.

The crazy chicken lady lived happily ever after.

The End

On our way

A couple of times a year my family visits Colorado. This is a two-day long trip, usually with one stop in Illinois, then continuing on the next day for a fifteen-hour drive. The first day is usually enjoyable, but on the second day of driving, everyone is tired of driving, they want to get out of the car, headphones are broken, snacks are gone, the car is trashed, and even in our eight passenger suburban, everyone feels crowded, and we just want to get to grandma's house.

This year it seemed particularly stressful getting out the door. We were waiting to find out if we could get free tickets to an amusement park, we had to load the car, and on top of everything else, one of our kittens got hit by a car. I panicked when I saw it rolling over, and just when I was about to run and see if it was ok, it kept on running and ran straight back to our deck in the back of our house. Thankfully, it was fine, except for a sore back leg.

Even with all the stress and chaos of getting out of the house and the long days in the car, Colorado is worth it.

Rain, rain, go away

In our family that rhyme is not often said. With the exception of maybe two, all of my family loves the rain.

And so, today was a happy day. We were planning to head into town earlier today, when the rain thundering down outside gave me an idea. Being outside in the rain is one of the best things to do, and being outside in the rain on a trampoline is even better. The only problem was, we were about to leave.

I found my mom and asked her what else needed to be done for us to go. She said that she needed to drink her tea and clean up and then we were going to leave. I asked her if we could go jump on the trampoline, and then, as she groaned out a maybe, I dashed upstairs to change clothes, grabbed a sister, and ran to the trampoline.

As soon as I bounced, I knew that it was going to be fun. Instead of the normal type of bounce, this first one was so much looser, more elastic. My little sister yelled at me to stop jumping while she was getting on, and I stopped. Barely. My other sister got on too, and all three of us jumped like crazy, occasionally slipping, occasionally falling, but having fun

I really love the rain.

Don't forget to sign the door!

In our new house, we have started a new tradition in our family. We have a coat closet in our entryway with a plain white door. If you open the door and look inside the closet you will see a neat row of coats, and, to the left of the coats, a hanging row of cubbies holding mittens, gloves, and hats for winter. As far as you can see, it is a normal closet, with nothing special about it.

If you turn to the inside of the door you will see white paint, and a lot of signatures. With the exception of a few people, every single person who has ever slept in our house since we put that door up has signed the door. Some people try to come up with profound words, others try to outdo each other with elaborate drawings, and some simply sign their name. The only bad thing about this is that we, my family, will never get to sign the door, since we live here.

So the next time you look inside someone's coat closet, turn your head and see if maybe, just maybe, someone signed the door.

What's not to love about moms?

My mom is an amazing person. Not only does she put up with all five of us kids on a daily basis, (as does my dad) she is really supportive of a lot of the things we do.

Earlier today, my parents called us into the family room. The announcement was: the older three of us could get Facebook accounts. Yes! We had been bothering our parents for a few months so we were super excited when they finally said yes. That part was both of my parents decision, so awesomeness points go to both of them!

Later on in the day, i was in the kitchen working on something, when my mother came in and asked me if I wanted her iPod. Hmm, that takes a lot of thought. Of course! I asked her if she was giving it to me, or if I needed to buy it. She said that she would give it to me because a friend of ours had just given us an iPhone! I'm super excited. I've had money to buy a nice iPod for a long time, but there have been things I wanted more, like my laptop. And then, to top it all off, my mom gave me her headphones. Thank God for moms.