F I N A L L Y ......

Finally, after waiting and waiting, we now have our first two eggs. As you will see in the picture, they are small right now, but will get bigger. We are so excited.

Just a quick update on chicken counts. We have seven (7) roosters and five hens. Those are terrible odds. When we went to Tractor Supply and bought straight run chickens (didn't know the sex), we were hoping that we would have many more hens than roosters. DIDN'T HAPPEN. And, another funny thing is that we actually had three roosters killed by predators of some sort. That means we would have had TEN (10) roosters. NOT GOOD!! We don't want roosters. We want hens and we want their eggs. So, what to do...We know what to do, but I want share it on here.

Of our hens, we have beautiful Mur, named after one of my dearest friends ever, Mary. We have Charlotte, who is beautiful and red, named after a precious friend that works with Donnie, who has red hair. We have Oreo, who is black and white and crippled because a dog tried to eat her. (but boy she is determined and Beth loves her). We have Big Mama who is just perfectly named because she is fat and fluffy. And then there is Kramer...remember Kramer...with the big feathers sticking straight up on top of her head. She is a Polish Bantam. To be honest, we don't know 100% that she is a hen, but we do know that she has not crowed, she is small, and she does not seem to be chasing hens around like our other roosters. We are so hoping she's a hen.

We are still loving our chickens and even have more little chicks out in our garage that we are raising. We didn't buy these from Tractor Supply. We mail ordered these. They actually came to the post office. Crazy, isn't it? This time we were able to request all hens. NO ROOSTERS unless they gave them to us by mistake.

If we get enough eggs to share, I would love to share some with all of you, but things aren't looking so good when you only have five hens and one may not even be a hen. There may be just enough for the Kinsers to enjoy. Donnie LOVES eggs.

Aren't these eggs just lovely?

Sweet, adorable Kramer. This is BIG D!! He is a massive rooster. Look how long his legs are.

First Day of School

Today was our first day of school. I now have two in high school and one first grader. I CANNOT believe I am the mom of two high school students. Boy do I feel old...

We had a great day. I have to tell you how much I truly love teaching our children at home. Homeschooling has been one of the greatest blessings of my life and I can't imagine not doing this. I am rewarded all day long and thank God for the opportunity. Faith says she has the best teacher in the world. I certainly am not, but, boy, is this a great thing to hear from one of your children.

It Has Begun...

Volleyball is back and "Smack" is back. Beth's first volleyball game was last night. She and the rest of the team played great, but, unfortunately, they did not win.

These girls play hard and they play to win, but last night it just didn't work out for them. Hopefully next weeks game will end up better.

A junior volleyball player in the making. Go Faith!

Happy Birthday JuJu

Happy birthday, mom. We all love you very much and hope that this day is wonderfully special for you.

The kids and I want to honor you with some words that we think best describe you... (don't worry, they will all be sweet) :)

Caring

Loving

Fun

Cool

Kind

Helpful

Cleans a lot

Giving

Grandmotherly

Sweet

Thoughtful

Young

Compassionate

Never to old to have a little fun

Beautiful

Always gonna be 35

Good okra cooker

Such a pretty woman


Faith says to tell you "Hoppy Birthday", just like a frog.







....We all got together for a cookout for mom's birthday. Donnie took the photo so he is not in here, but otherwise, she has all her babies here.


Joey, my bubby, and his lovely daughter, Lea.

Read It For Yourself!!

This sign welcomed me in the ladies restroom at a little convenience store on mine and Keith's trip last weekend.

Do I need to say anything or can you imagine what I thought and what my impression was of this convenience store/restaurant?

Can I just say a great big YUK!!!!

Yardsales or Bust (Yardsales and Bust)

It's taken me awhile to sit down and blog about mine and Keith's weekend because I wasn't sure what to talk about first. Would it be the endless yardsales and all of the people or would it be the sweet 80 year old gentleman that crashed into the back of my van, totaling it. Anyway, I decided to tell you about the yardsales first and the wreck later.

Keith and I left out Thursday morning for our three day adventure. Boy, was it an adventure. We decided to go up into KY for several miles and then turn around and start coming down HWY 127 and begin our shopping. Let me tell you that there were yardsales everywhere. They were on both sides of the rode for miles and then there would be a break and then more and more. It was crazy good. We didn't travel many miles a day because we were in and out of the van so much.

I have to tell you that I have never seen so much junk. Yes, I said junk. Now, I have to tell you that I like pretty junk, but a lot of this stuff was not pretty junk it was just plain ole junk. There was glassware everywhere you turned. Tables and tables of it. I was not particularly looking for glassware so it didn't mean much to me. The other thing we saw plenty of was what Keith called "love" books. He was looking for good hardback books and he mostly found romance novels. He did find some good ones that he wanted so he was happy.

I was looking for some vintage items. I really wanted some "shabby chic" looking things and was happy to find several really neat things. Treasures were everywhere.

Keith and I stayed Thursday night in Cookeville and planned to stay Friday night but "plans" changed when we had our wreck. We did get to yardsale all day Thursday, Friday and then believe it or not we went back on Sunday. Let me explain...

This weekend was as much about spending time with Keith as it was about finding treasures. I wanted to spend time alone with my son. I wanted to get to know him again without any sisters or anyone else around. I have to tell you that it was wonderful to be with just him. We had a blast. We laughed, talked, laughed and talked more. The reason we went back on Sunday, even after wrecking and being exhausted, was that we were not finished with our time together. We had planned on three days together and we wanted to do just that. Since we lost Saturday, we finished up on Sunday. I am so glad we did. We had great conversations all day long. Let me say again...it was wonderful.

So, despite the fact that we were in an accident...stood in the middle of HWY 127 yardsale traffic for two hours...had to unload every item that I had bought into a parking lot...watched my van be towed away...wait for my brother-in-law to come from Cookeville to Crossville...IT WAS A FANTASTIC WEEKEND!! We did both!!
Stuff everywhere.
Can you even imagine?

654 Miles of Yardsales!!!

The Biggest Yard Sale in America......here we come. My paper reads, "A 4-day extravaganza that stretches 654 miles along one road." Can you believe 654 miles of yardsales? This mega, ginormous(not a word, I know), yardsale begins in West Unity, Ohio, and goes all the way to Gadsden, Alabama, and I am going to it!!!

Actually, Keith and I are going. Keith is my navigator and will be map reading and directing for me. He will also be my bodyguard when those ladies are trying to snatch my newfound treasures from my hands.

We will leave tomorrow morning and drive up into Kentucky and then turn around and start shopping and working our way down Hwy 127. We are planning to stay Thursday night and Friday night along the way. We have been checking out some hotel ideas in certain towns and aren't finding many hotels that I have ever heard of. You have to remember that most of these towns we will go through are pretty small. Have you ever heard of Sportsmans Lodge Motel, Conner Motel, Grider Hill Dock & Indian Creek Hotel, Quilt Country Inn or Sulphur Creek Resort? No, neither have I. Let's hope there is a Hampton Inn or something similar somewhere along this path.

Pray for Keith and I as we go on our treasure hunting trip. Pray for our safety and that this will be a great time of fun and bonding for mother and son. I can't wait to spend the weekend alone with him. He and I get to do very little alone since the girls usually want to go anywhere I go. This will be good for he and I and I look so forward to the memories we will make together.

I'll fill you in next week on all we did, where we stayed, what we found and funny things that happened.

Stay tuned to Amy and Keith's Big Adventure on the Yardsale Trail......

Goodwill Goodies!!

I think most of you know that I love shopping at Goodwill. The best thing about Goodwill is 1/2 price Saturday, which is the first Saturday of the month. Yes, that was today and yes, I was there. Actually, I was at two Goodwills today. I started in Tullahoma and finished up in Manchester. It was totally fun!!!

I got all kinds of goodies, too. I bought cute shirts for me, t-shirts for my boys and a couple of cute shirts for Beth. Sweet Faith got no clothes today but did get a pair of bright red crocs (fake) for the garden. I also got the cutest lamp made from a big mason jar that I filled with clothes pins and put in my laundry room. It is sooo cute. There were a few other goodies bought today at my favorite store but I will stop sharing just in case you feel so bad that you didn't make it to the 1/2 off sale yourself.

I have to confess that I never thought I would love shopping through somebody else's stuff, but it really is fun and it really is a treasure hunt.

I DO LOVE ME A BARGAIN!!! I hope to see you there in September. Remember, it's the first Saturday of the month.