RIP Chickens

O.M.G.  Yes, I just wrote OMG.  Our poor chickens have been decimated by two evil-hearted raccoons.  Okay, I say evil-hearted, but in reality I know they are just trying to survive.  They found a flock of chickens and they viewed them as relatively easy prey.  Considering the majority of our chickens have one wing clipped, then I guess I could agree.  But the truth is, I am really upset about this turn of events.

For one, I've enjoyed having our chickens, especially the Black Star ones that we've had since they were a day old.  They've moved with us from Vista to El Cajon, and now they only reached the age of three and they have been killed.  So yes, I'm bummed about that.  Second of all, we only have two chickens left!  And this means basically, no eggs for the foreseeable future.

My husband is going to work on building a new coop, utilizing the materials from the old one.  So now, I don't know whether to ask our neighbor if she wants to hold onto our two chickens (so this way hubs can get started soonest on rebuilding a new, enclosed coop) or if I should just go ahead and purchase some ammonia and spray it around our current coop.  Any thoughts?


RIP little chickens!

Getting back to basics...starting with my coffee!

Mmmm...coffee. Like many other mom's, I am a coffee drinker. Ironic, cause before my first child was born, I wasn't big into coffee. If I did drink coffee, it was the fluffy, chocolate flavored mochas and that was it. Now, honestly, I'd feel like I'd die without at least one cup a day.

Once I started drinking & making coffee at home, I always used liquid vanilla creamer. For one, I didn't trust the powdered stuff, no idea why. Then...I read the ingredients in a bottle of Coffee-Mate liquid vanilla creamer and it read like this "water, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil, casenate" etc. I don't even think actual milk was in this - just a milk derivitive! YUCK! Not even to mention that the sugar-free version has corn syrup solids - Holy crap!

So now, I've moved over to regular ol' half and half, making sure the ingredients list just says cream and milk. That's it. BTW, Target's skim half and half does NOT read just milk & cream, as an FYI. Sure, it's less sweet than the vanilla creamer, but when I had some coffee over Christmas Eve at my parents (they only have the creamer) and I took a taste of it, my mom looked at my face (apparently I grimaced) and she said what's wrong? I just told her I am so used to half and half now, that the creamer tastes violently sweet...and it was the sugar-free version, too!

My point is, I'm trying to get myself and my family back to the basics. Trying to cook more whole foods, more whole grains, using pastry wheat flour when I bake, etc. So, why not start with my coffee? That's one of the best things about the morning anyway!