Rocking Horse Restoration

As I have mentioned in earlier posts I come from a long line of... savers, packrats, hoarders?  I am not sure what the accepted vernacular is but either way we have stuff, lots of stuff.  My dad has saved several of my childhood toys, keepsakes, and school projects.  This pony was given to me by my grandpa when I was about 2 and because my dad held onto it my kids will now be able to enjoy it (the little girls anyway).  I stripped the poor pony of the very little bit of hair that was remaining in his mane and sanded him down to raw wood.  He had been ridden many miles when I was young so I also tightened any loose screws and repaired a damaged corner where our dog had used him as a teething toy. 

I used Chalky and CO chalk paint powder with some blue paint that I had in the garage left over from painting our guest bedroom.   This was my first experience using chalk paint and I loved it!  It covered so easily and dried quickly.  

That's daughter #2 helping with daughter #4 in the background.

I use a Jacobean colored sealing wax from Chalky and CO to seal the paint after I painted and distressed the project giving it an antiqued look.  Then I used a dark gel stain on the handles and rocking feet. 

The next step was to use some yarn and a staple gun to give this little guy a new mane and tail. 

I gathered my supplies and began the process.  I looped the yarn around my hand 8-10 times and then cut the loops on one end.  I stapled the yarn to the horse midway up the length of the strips and repeated the process until he had a full beautiful mane.   To do the tail I looped the yarn around a piece of wood about 10" long about 20 times and cut the loops on one end just as I had done with the mane.  I secured it to the horses booty with a staple.

I am so happy with the way he turned out and I am so excited to see my little girls playing with him and enjoying a toy that his been in our family for 30+ years and will hopefully be around for many years to come.  

Diffusing Essential Oils

I love using essential oils.  I use them as a natural and chemical free alternative to harsh household cleaners.  I add them to the beauty products that I already use to enhance their effects.  I ingest them, I rub them on and I diffuse them.  Diffusing essential oils is an efficient way to disperse the oils into the air that we breathe.  Each oil has a different effect or impact on every person.  I use lavender in our diffusers at night to help my family wind down after an active day.  I diffuse Elevation blend during parties or family gatherings to promote a light happy mood.  I diffuse On Guard blend during cold and flu season to help ward off those pesky germs that spread the yuckies.   I use the Aroma Ace diffuser offered by doTERRA and I love it!  It is so easy to personalize the experience you receive while using the device.  You can set how potent the aroma released from the diffuser is, how often the diffuser turns on and how long it runs for each cycle.

The diffuser is $173.27 retail/ $129.95 wholesale and comes with a 15ml bottle of On Guard Blend ($42.67 retail).  It can be purchased here: www.mydoterra.com/kyliebyerly.  The diffuser also comes with empty bottles so that you can create your own blends to diffuse.  Here are a few blend recipes that I and my family enjoy.

doTERRA offers several other diffusers as well.  Check them out and see if there is one that you would like to have in your home!  www.mydoterra.com/kyliebyerly 

How does our garden grow?

First peach blossoms of the year!

When you have been blessed with 4 beautiful daughters like I have you soon realize that these amazing little creatures who bring so much joy and purpose to your life... EAT and I mean EAT a lot! They are hungry all the time and groceries aren't cheap.  We have, as you know from my earlier post found here http://kyliebyerly.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-taj-macoop-project.html, purchased 16 chickens so we will be eating eggs for every meal... forever and that will help cut the grocery bill a bit but we needed to do something more to lower grocery costs each month.   (Partial) Solution: massive vegetable garden!   

My handy hubby tilled up a large rectangle of ground roughly 24' wide and 100' long while daughters #3 and #4 supervised.  Yes daughter #3 is wearing the baby's blanket as a cape and rocking a pink plastic pirate eye patch.  She's dramatic.

After my handy hubby tilled we began planting.  After all the seeds/bulbs are in the ground we have a row of tomatoes, a row of yellow tomatoes, a row of white potatoes, a row of red potatoes, 3 rows containing 6 types of peppers, 1/2 row radishes, 1/2 row of broccoli, 1/2 row of cauliflower, 1/2 row of garlic, a row of white onions, a row of yellow onions, a row of carrots, a row of celery, a row of iceberg lettuce, a row of romaine lettuce, 2 rows of cucumbers, 2 rows of watermelon, and 5 rows of corn!! We will also have beens and peas but they will be planted on the side of the house where there is more shade.

 

It was breezy and cool on planting day so we had to "build" a wind wall to protect little baby from the elements. 

Winter before last my handy hubby and I "remodeled" the stair case in our living room.  We replaced the wooden balusters with decorative metal ones and resurfaced the hand rail and step edges with a darker color stain. After the project we had more than 40 wooden balusters that we no longer needed, but being my father's daughter and my grandmother's granddaughter (thanks for the packrat gene!) I couldn't bring myself to junk them.  Thankfully I did listen to my grandmother's voice in my head and kept them because they make great row markers!  

In addition to our awesome vegetable garden we also have some fruits: 3 peach trees, 2 blueberry bushes and 4 raspberry bushes.  Our next project is to demo 2 sections of yard to be replaced with strawberry plants.  Yummy!

Feeding 4 Little Byerly's isn't cheap but between our chickens, veggies and fruits we are off to good start!  Also, I feel that working outside, in the dirt with our hands is beneficial to us all.  The girls learn just how much work it takes to put food onto the table and we all get to spend quality time together.    Daughter #1 loves that she gets to get muddy and daughter #2 loves that she gets a tan.  She is 11 and priority #1 is appearance.  Daughter #3 absolutely loves picking raspberries with her daddy and riding the tractor with him.  Daughter #4 loves just being outside!  My handy hubby and I love that we don't have to pay $4.99 for a tiny box of blueberries or $12.99 for a 5 dozen pack of eggs.  I also love that I know exactly what is added to the soil and sprayed onto the plants that my family eats!

Detox Bath Salts

One of my favorite ways to relax and wind down after a busy day is to take a hot bath and read a good book.  I love bubbles and quiet time!  One of the extra benefits of my bathtub time is that I can rid my body of some yucky toxins while I am in there.  I add detox bath salts to make this happen.  They are easy and inexpensive to make and I love what they do for my body.  In addition to the detoxing quality of the salts you can add even more therapeutic benefits by adding Essential Oils to your salts.  Add Lavender for a calming effect or Deep Blue for sore muscles.

Detox Bath Salts

4 ounce Plastic PET or glass  container
2 ounce Baking Soda
2 ounce Epsom Salt
1 tbsp Ginger
3-4 drops Essential oils of choice

I start by gathering my containers and supplies.

I fill my container about 1/2 way full with epsom salts.

Then I add the ginger and essential oil.  I chose Citrus Bliss for this batch.  It has an uplifting effect on me.  

I fill the rest of the container with baking soda, put the lid on and shake, shake, shake it.

 

I add 2-3 tbsp of the salts to my bath water and soak for 20-40 minutes.  Be sure to drink lots of water during this process to help carry the toxins out of your body.  Enjoy!

The "Taj MaCoop" Project

The Taj Ma Coop

We were walking through the local feed and hardware store looking for... well to be honest I don't even remember why we were there.  Regardless of the intended shopping list: we came home with 15 adorable little fuzzy soft chirpy stinky chickens.  That's right I said chickens.  We are not farmers.  We are not ranchers.  We have a cat (that my husband tolerates at best) and a fish tank.  Now, however, we are trying our hand at having chickens too.  Chicken farming is an exciting new adventure for our family that poses more than a few problems or lets call them opportunities to learn.

Learning opportunity #1:  Where do chickens live?  Chickens begin there lives in a brood box, consider it temporary housing for babies.  My handy hubby whipped one together in an afternoon, no problem.  He pieced together some spare lumber from around the place and build a brood box that can be easily converted to a shelf for the shop once the chicks out grow it. Easy enough.

Learning opportunity #2: What is needed for chickens to live in the brood box?  A lot actually.  Chickens need to be very warm so they require a heat lamp.  Also, the hubby built our brood box high enough that they are level with the shop window so that they could see out and feel the warm sunlight.  Can you say spoiled?  The chickens will be in the box 24/7 so there needs to be a place for them to potty.  Add some straw or wood chips to the flooring to catch/ soak up the droppings.    They also need food and water.

Learning opportunity #3:  What do chickens eat?  Well, that depends on how old your chickens are.  We started our little guys off on Medicated Chick Starter to give them the best nutrition available for their age.  We have since switched to Organic Scratch designed for larger birds.  Now that the chickens have eaten they are thirsty.

Learning opportunity #4: What do chickens drink?  Water you say.  That's what I though too.  All animals drink water.  Well, chickens are rather high maintenance in this department.  They do drink water but are much healthier if the water contains a lil' somethin extra.  We use this...

Learning opportunity #5:  How do you build a chicken coop?  Well, if you are my husband you research dozens of different coops on the internet, you read through several blueprints and floor plans (yes chicken coops have multiple floor plans) and then after all of that research you wing it. Haha.  Not only do we draw up no plans other than the one floating around in my handy hubby's head but we also change the plan several times throughout construction.  I will say that it turned out beautifully even though it took up much more of my time than I would have liked and cost more in materials than I had anticipated.  My handy hubby overbuilt and meticulously detailed what we now affectionately call the "Taj MaCoop".   Hubby did good and did most of it himself.  I helped out every day but had to pause every few hours to nurse and change the baby or get the sassy pants 4 year old a snack, drink, toy, or change the tv channel, etc. 

Step 1 of Chicken Construction:  Framing. 

The handy hubby actually did most of this while the girls and I were snowed in with the flu at my sisters house over spring break- full story in an earlier post.    He built the floor first and then mounted it on a skid of 4"x4"s so that we can drag the coop around the farm with the tractor to clean under it or move it if we decide to.  He then decked the floor and framed the walls leaving openings for our windows and man door.

 

 

Step 2 of Chicken Coop Construction: Sheeting the frame.

We added OSB board and covered it with siding to be painted later to match the shop.  

 

Step 3 of Chicken Coop Construction: Roofing

This is our first attempt at roofing so we were a bit nervous about trying it but we did it: tar paper, shingles and drip edge. 

Step 4 of Chicken Coop Construction: Paint

I painted the interior of the coop bright white because chickens are suppose to lay better in a bright environment.  I painted the exterior gray to match our shop with brown trim and a red door.  

Step 5 of Chicken Coop Construction: Windows

Luckily we had a few dozen old windows laying around from a previous unfinished project so my handy hubby ran them through the table saw to square their old ragged edges and I painted them to make them look spiffy.

 

Step 6 of Chicken Coop Construction: Finishing Touches

My handy hubby glued down some laminate flooring to help protect the floor and extend it's life.  We mounted all the doors and closures and touched up the paint. 

Step 7 of Chicken Coop Construction: Moving it outside!

My handy hubby wrapped a chain around the legs of the skid and hooked it up to the ol' John Deere and drug the entire Coop outside and into place.  Daughter #1 spread some shavings around inside to make our ladies feel comfy cozy and right at home.  We then had to carry the girls 1 by 1 out to their new home.  They love it!  The Taj MaCoop has 6 hen boxes, 2 roosts, a man door, 5 windows, chicken door with ramp, hen box access door and food/supplies storage the length of the coop with 2 exterior doors.  My handy hubby even wired an outlet box into it so we can plug in a heat lamp or light if needed.  He also installed a couple of vents to help keep the air flowing inside.  These are some spoiled birds!

Learning Opportunity #6: How do you catch chickens in order to get them back into their coop at dusk?   

??? If i figure it out I will let you know. :-)