so many plans

we've been in our house for almost three months now. after having to hire out some serious mold removal and reconstruction of the house, we are finally beginning to settle in.

funny how settling in is so much like upheaval right now!

i started re-organizing the kitchen today. what i had initially set up has just not been working too smoothly. the dish cupboard has arrived to an arrangement i think i'll keep. and i'm giving an old idea another shot (it's failed miserably twice before): each member of my family will have one set of dishes and responsibility for them. in other words, we won't dirty all the dishes in the house every two days. but instead will dirty and wash the same few dishes over and over again. and HOPEFULLY this will cut down on mess and work in the kitchen. my work anyway. i guess it will increase everyone else's work, as i am currently washing all of the dishes myself. but many hands make light work, right? and i really want my kids (and husband) to learn responsibility for cleaning up after themselves. my best friend is doing this and it works for her small family so far, so here goes!

on top of everything i want chickens! i have a design and i just need to buck up and go out to salvage material to build a coop and run! i imagined taking my time with this until my awesome friend (who has chickens and a beehive and sews and totally inspires me) told me she has four recently acquired hens that will become chicken soup if she doesn't find a home for them. apparently she has taken in lots of unwanted chickens from others and just has too many now. these four have been kept in a free range yard with just a coop, no run, and have interacted a lot with people. two black and two white, super friendly laying hens sound soooooooo good! and they need a home! i hope! i hope!

some favorite new websites before i collapse into bed:

backyardchickens.com
farmama.typepad.com
lisarayner.com