A lot on my mind...

I know, it's been too long. I should have been writing more regularly, but life kinda takes over sometimes and you don't make time to sit down and write blog posts like you're supposed to. It's ridiculous how busy we let ourselves get, myself especially.

It's been an interesting few weeks here around Dealbh Cottage (yes, I decided on a name for our house). Dealbh is Gaelic for creative...which I think is a pretty perfect fit for our house and what Jeff and I do.

A woman I work for gave me 3 chickens nearly two weeks ago. Yeah, that's right. I have chickens now.

They are (from left to right): Tilly, Pearl and Chicken Boo. 50 points if you get the cartoon reference...

So I've been learning how to take care of chickens while Jeff has been designing and finally building their coop and run. We had always talked about having chickens at some point because goodness knows we go through eggs like it's nobody's business and free-range eggs are about 5-6 dollars a dozen...yikes. It just so happened that a woman I work for had gotten 10 and decided that was too many, so offered some to me for free. Awesome.

This weekend I'm headed to the market to try and sell my kids clothes and knick knacks I've been amassing. I still haven't sold anything online, but I am really hopeful about this weekend. I need to sell stuff so I can sort out Christmas this year. I'm finishing up some Christmas stockings for the market and perhaps will crank out another pair of boys' shorts before Saturday to add to my collection. Man, I hope this works out.

I also have been taking care of Jeff the last two days. Poor guy came down with a flu bug Saturday night and spent most of Sunday in bed with a fever and chills. Monday was a little bit better, but he stayed home from work all the same (which is good since he went in today for work and came home early because he's still not well). I am hoping that I don't catch whatever it is he had because I really don't want to be out for a few days. Just too much to do.

This weekend was also pretty scarring for me personally. The thing is, I work with old people. Some of them aren't doing well at all and a few of them have passed away after going into the hospital or changing care providers. Saturday night was one of those nights I will never forget. I went in for work (it was my weekend on duty) and we had just gotten this lady into bed when she stopped breathing. The next hour and a half was a blur of CPR, first responders, grieving family and frantic phone calls to sort out things. This is the first time I've watched someone die. Let me tell you what, it made me take a hard look at my life and what was important. All I wanted to do was hug Jeff and tell him I love him. I'm trying to be more purposeful in my day to day now that this has happened, but I can only do a little bit at a time. It's scary, makes one feel insignificant and weak all at the same time. The funeral is tomorrow and I still don't know if I will go. I feel like I should go, not for myself, but for the family left behind.

I will try to get on here more and will update after this weekend at the market and hopefully will have made some money.

Also, you should all be proud of me--I have made salads for dinner the last two nights. Booyah.

ps- the chicken photos were taken a couple of days after they arrived here...They're much bigger now and I'll put up some new photos soon.