Prayers

My husband's sister, P, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has had surgery and will soon begin chemo and radiation.  Please keep P and her family in your prayers.  Thank you.

Finishing

I like to make things.  But I don't always take the time to completely finish one item before starting the next.  So this week I have been finishing all the nearly done projects for my Etsy shop.  Finishing means weaving in all the loose yarn ends.  It's a pain.  

Keychains: done.

Purses: done.  

Hats: done.  

Table runners, afghan, other misc. items: still to do. 

 Labels for items: mostly done.  

I'm getting there.

Dinnertime Experiment Review #1

We've been trying something new at dinnertime lately.  Each of the kids gets a night of the week to help prepare dinner.  They get to pick what we have for a main dish and a side dish or vegetable from a master list I made up of recipes we like.  There were 5 main dish categories: soups, beef, chicken, pork, and fish or vegetarian.  We filled out a menu chart starting the first child with soup, the second with beef and so on so we don't have all soup for the first week, etc.  So far it's been a raging success.  Here's what we've had so far in the two weeks we've done this:

Cheesy Ham Chowder and Jell-o Fruit Salad

Fish Sticks, salad and broccoli

Cheesy BLT Pizza and zucchini

Cheeseburger Pasta and lettuce salad

Chicken Parmigiana, salad and cucumber

Sweet and Sour Ham, rice and broccoli

Cheeseburger Soup, biscuits(my son made these for a school assignment) and cooked carrots

Make-Your-Own-Salad-Night and asparagus

Chili Casserole and salad

My husband I have our cooking nights on the weekends.  Last night was my son's turn to cook, but since he was at a scout campout, we had leftovers instead.  He will have his turn tonight.  I haven't had any complaining from anyone about having to help make dinner on their night.  The kids are surprisingly capable.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  A few of them have been doing their own laundry for years now.  Part of them helping includes setting the table and helping to clean up after dinner.  I'm really liking this new system.

In Other News...

We had a Pioneer Trek Kick-Off Fireside on Sunday evening.  It introduced the theme of Trek and told us about what we need to wear, pack, prepare for, etc.  We have 90 youth going and I'm not sure how many adults.  The youth include graduating seniors and those kids who turn 12 by September.  So not all 90 youth are in Young Womens and Young Mens at the same time.  This is just for our ward.  We're getting excited.

Pansy is doing better with her wing.  She walks around more and is starting to make her normal sounds.  She's kept her bandage on very well.

I'm getting closer to opening my Etsy shop.  My goal is to open by the end of March.

I may be getting trained to be a radKIDs instructor this summer.  I'm still waiting to hear from the kids' elementary school to see when they want me to do it.  Should be interesting.

I got a Kindle Fire with all those coins I saved and have downloaded many free classic books on it.  I need to finish reading A Tale of Two Cities before I begin reading any of the books on the Kindle.  

I'm still enjoying watching police shows.  "You have the right to remain silent...."  Awesome.

The kitchen is clean.

My bathroom is clean, too.

Overheard

This happened during scripture study last night:

Dad: "I, Nephi,"

Daughter #4: "I, Nephi,"

Dad: "Having been born of goodly parents,"

Daughter #4: "Having been born of badly parents,"

There was much giggling followed by much apologizing to sad Daughter #4.

Chicken Care 101: How to Take Care of a Broken Wing

Well, it happened.  We had our first major chicken injury yesterday.  Pansy has a broken wing.  I had to look up on the internet what to do about it.  We ended up moving the wing back into place and wrapping it close to the body with an ace bandage and safety pinning it into place.  Poor Pansy looks so sad and is very subdued, so I know she hurts.  She just wants to be left alone in the nesting box.  It should take 2 or 3 weeks to fully set.  We just need to watch her closely until then and keep the other hens from bothering her.  They all are very interested in her bandage.  Poor thing.

Pictures of the Rats

Cluny and Remy

This is Cluny.  He has a single spot on his back.

This is Remy.  He has connected spots.