Some days...

There are just some days when even when the sun is shining its brightest, the sky is so blue, and all the birds and flowers sing and dance in their own way, all these can't seem to clear the gray clouds that hang over my heart.

Then I eat junk food, and try to temporarily escape with hours of watching and mindlessly laughing at arthur, spongebob, and jeeves and wooster. -.- buh....

Then I again realize that this escape is very temporary, like the minute I turn off the tube, and must find a better solution.

I must pray and have faith. Jesus, Almighty Savior, help those of us who are down and can't seem to pick ourselves up again without your help. Amen.

Books~~

I got myself into reading books again!! I finally found some good books to read.

First one was


I must say that I expected more out of this book. It was really great in the beginning and then...I was pretty disappointed towards the middle and end. Some say that the book is like The Handmaid's Tale and that that book was better. So I went off to read that book. I didn't like it too much either.



Then the next book on the list was The Last River Child.

This book was really good. It did not disappoint me at all. I loved it!! I love books like this!

I am still hungry for books so I went to library and borrowed some books from Tamora Pierce. I used to read her books when I was in highschool. They were pretty fun but I didn't realize how "girl power" it was. Haha! I just figured that out. Lots of girl power stuff in it and some other contents I don't like too much but overall her books are very exciting, quick and easy to read. This time I borrowed the Beka Cooper Series. She has two: Terrier and Bloodhound.


I'm still on the hunt for more books like Icy Sparks and Last River Child. Anyone have suggestions?

To Do List

I have recently added lots on my to do list now that my sister is back home from college for the summer and plus the additions to our family. Which is good because it keeps my mind off of my Etsy shop so that I am not freaking out when I am not selling anything. I was spending way too much time worrying and sitting in chatrooms and such. :)

1. Make Chicken coop: now that I have chickies I have to make a house for them before they get too big.
I plan to make it look like a combination of these: *all these pictures come from members from backyardchickens.com

this is by trictle http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=49209


by happychickengirls http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=51786-our-coop


by Deena in Fremont, Indiana http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=16313-a-real-chickenhaus

sigh...but I am not a carpenter at all...

2. Clean up the garden and start raised beds with vegetables and such...

This is a super small raised vegetable garden from Sunset.
http://www.sunset.com/garden/fruits-veggies/small-space-salad-box-00400000011785/

Anyone also hear of square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew? Just heard of this awesome idea!! Working on that too. Haha...apparently I am late to this old news...it's been around since 1980's I think. Oh well, it's never too late!!


These are Morning Glories beautifully climbing up a rope trellis posted by gochrisgo75 on Brooklyn Roof Garden blog.
http://brooklynroofgarden.com/2010/06/04/glorious-growing-morning-glories-on-a-roof-garden/

and...of course...
3. Etsy shop:
continue to work on my etsy shop but that is last on my list for the moment. Haha! Right now I have chicks and plants that need a home and they are growing fast and must be moved to a bigger habitat! Work Work Work for the GardenPig and her sister!!

Chick Water and Feed Bowl Tutorial

First...
RIP to Sophie...she was my cousin's beautiful Americauna chick. She was so cute and lovely. She followed my cousin around and would fall asleep right her the palm of her hand. :( She died this morning. Farewell, oh wonderful creature of God!! We will miss you even though you were with us only for a few days.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a happier note:
I want to introduce our new chick! Her name is Popeye and she is a Red Star!! My mom named her Popeye so that she can be strong haha!! She is one of the chicks that we really wanted and we made a trip all the way up to Blue Hill Farms in Ventura, CA from Orange County just to retrieve her! Yay!!


So, I only have 3 chicks and I didn't think I needed to buy the long feeder. Instead I decided to make my own with water bottles! It works fairly well, a lot better than just little bowls or plates.

Materials:
-sharp knife
-sharp scissors
-lighter, long or small lighters
-water bottle(around 0.9 fl oz)


Then cut the top of the bottle. You might want to cut a bit higher, just below the neck of the bottle. That way you don't get the opening to be too wide. This will be the top portion of the bowl.




Now cut the bottom of the bottle just so it is about 2.5 inches. This is the base of the bowl.




Back to the top and cut around 1.5-2 inches below.


Cut any fray plastic pieces.


Now get the lighter and if you have the option, set it to the lowest flame. Use the blue part of the flame and melt the edge of the bowl rim of the top. This is to soften the edges so that the chicks don't hurt them selves while trying to get at the water or starter feed. You really only need to do this to the bowl rim.


Now try to piece the two together. You might have to fold a part of the bottom portion so that the top can fit and also maybe cut the top and bottom parts a bit so that it isn't too high so that the chicks don't have a hard time getting at whatever they need.







Now fill it with water and feed!! Make sure you only put enough water in the bowl so that it won't spill out. Only fill up to however high the base goes. If you go any higher than the base part is, the water will just spill out.

More Chick Pics

Some more pics!!



Dido is quite the active chick. Always wants to jump around and play.




Celia looks a bit harassed because she had diarrhea and it was sort of sticking to her but. Not completely pasting but just in case I put some ointment on her butt and she was trying to see what I did. hahahaha!! And she had something dirty stuck to her fur and I attempted to take it out which made that spiky hair style she is sporting heeheehee! :) so cute!!

Chicks!!!

We have 2 new additions to our family today. 2 baby chicks! Both female and a few days old. We have guessed about 4 days and we were told they have been vaccinated. Welcome home babies!!


The black one is an Australorp. It is an Australian breed and it is supposed to be quiet, docile, bears confinement well, and great with others. It is also a great egg layer! Soon in about a couple months we shall have fresh organic eggs everyday!!
My sister has christianed her Dido(dee-do). She is actually quite loud at the moment and is adventurous.



The yellow one is a Brahma female chick. They too are very quiet, docile, bears confinement well, and quite motherly. :) Lays eggs moderately. I have christianed her Celia. She is very calm and goes to sleep well.

I will post more pictures tomorrow! These pictures definitely do not do them justice.

A Wonderful Sunday

Today was a nice day! I went to mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe and after mass a nonprofit organization was selling jewelry and crafts made from third world countries.
So, I bought some. Firstly, because I didn't bring any cash for donation during mass and was unable to donate and secondly, they were neat!

They are called "Third World Gifts & Handarts"
I think they said that it was started by a priest back, "in 1975 to assist artisans and their families in several nations including the U.S."
I bought two handmade necklaces made from Uganda. The beads are made with recycled paper. I thought they were quite cute and pretty!

Wish I could take better pictures of them.











Also, today I have made another sale! I think she came from Facebook because I saw she just opened her etsy account today. Hurray! These are the earrings I sold:



I have packed it up for her in a nice white cloth that my friend gave to me.



I use mostly recycled materials to send my items. I save the paper bags from grocery stores and use newspaper and magazines for the stuffing to add cushion.

Ads Ads Everywhere!~~

I just placed my first ad today. I did a facebook ad for 3 days and will be doing craftcount and craftcult soon. We shall see what happens next after! Doodoodoodoodoooo~~~

In the mean time as I wait to see my results I shall watch more Jeeves and Wooster! I wish Hugh Laurie would go back to doing comedy with Stephen Fry.



Instead of the depressing, cynical, negative Dr. House.


Oh well... on to Jeeves and Wooster!

Rome was Not Built in a Day

It has been about a little over one month from opening my store and it has been slow. But I have progressed a little bit in the past couple days. No sales but, I have been featured twice! Yay!
GardenPig has recently been in our first treasury on etsy!
Malskeys has chosen to include the Rockstar to be part of her treasury. :)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c05df9cc3196d91620c0421/red-and-yellow




And beadingtimes.com has featured one of my earrings to be part of her examples of barrel beads.

http://beadingtimes.com/design0610.htm



Hurray for progress! I must remind myself that Rome was not built in a day. Rome was not built in a day. Rome was not built in a day...

And finally, I would now like to announce the winner of the blog giveaway! And the winner is...Ohhhfire!!! Thanks for participating everyone!

Have a good day!

Pardon Me...

Please excuse the GardenPig. I am experiencing some technical difficulties with the giveaway. Will post winner as soon as things are cleared and fixed!!

Last day for Giveaway!!!

Today is the last day for the giveaway!!! :)

http://gardenpig.blogspot.com/2010/05/introducing-giveaway-bumblecatsoapco.html