When you have nothing to say why say anything?

But if you really must know what I’ve been up to as of late.

There’s the not so good…

I have some thoughts to a solution to the Social Security shortfall. Pretty sure it would be unpopular to all of those who are affected, but overall I believe it has the potential to be a huge money saver, job creator, and help us be healthier. I should outline my plan and send it to the President instead of just telling all of my family…

And my disappointment in knowing I was going to be let down, again. I’m not always a good judge of people on first impressions, but it doesn’t take long for me to see them for who they really are. And all in an effort to make me mad is just sad. I’m not mad, just disappointed – in myself!

I want to scream at the financial aide department of my [former] college for screwing up my last day as a student. This does have a profound effect on the interest on my loans. Their stance – my final loan was at the end of November. But my last day as a student was the end of January the following year! Then why do all of the letters (in general, not collections) ask if I am a full time student again? Obviously it’s not about whether or not I took out a new loan. Two months! Grrrr

Don’t even get me started on my brother. We’re not talking. Actually, he’s not talking to anybody, but even if he were, I don’t want to talk to him. Why? I have nothing nice to say. I’m finally listening to my mother.

And there are good things…

My chickens (all 3 of them) are doing much better after their traumatizing night a few weeks ago. Not sure what it was, but whatever it was slaughtered most of my chickens. The only survivors: the small rooster, one hen, and the baby (who is a hen!).

I’ve been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to review some really cool things lately. Many with giveaways, so you can get in on the fun, too.

I’ve started outlining and drafting a series of short stories geared to children age 6 – 9. Topics will cover the serious, such as death and loss, and the not so serious, such as the change of seasons.

Oh, and let’s not forget I have won a few things in instant win games online this week. The most fun was the 90 My Coke Rewards points I won in the Monopoly game (won 3 times in 1 day). I also won a $10 Amazon GC, a Xeko plushie (stuffed animal of sorts?), Halls cough drops, & a pen.

Just not a lot to add to the value of this blog…

And now I’m off to get ready to take Amanda’s car in for new tires. Maybe there’s a blog post in there somewhere. No? You sure? Yeah, you’re probably right.

What about you? What have you been up to lately?

Reflection: If a Blogger Doesn’t Write a Post and No One is Around to Not Read it, Did it Make a Sound? is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

This one’s staying close to mama:

I spotted four total while out there and mama is very protective of her babies. There have been around 20 eggs under her so I won’t be surprised if we see a few more babies pop up.

We Have Babies! is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Springtime in Virginia ~ in pictures is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Hold the phone!

Do we want to go to work? Do we really want to go to the mall and shop? Maybe we do want to get home from our trip, but do we really? Or are these just programmed responses dictated by society?

The media advised us to not go out this weekend as the roads were still dangerous. The malls did not open until noon. Many stores did not open at all on Saturday, though. I commend Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Aeropostle, American Eagle and any other store that took into consideration their employees and decided to not open Saturday [in Roanoke and anywhere else in the path of the storm]. Still, several people determined to go shopping were there and quite disappointed. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. Wants vs. needs people.

That’s heavy, man!

I have worked through five winters since being in Virginia. We don’t get that much snow on our side of the Blue Ridge [I'm just east]. So no, I did not want to go to work or shopping or anything else when it snowed. This was the time to spend with the kids sliding down the hill in our backyard and making snow angels when we would collapse from all the hiking up the hill.

After spending twenty-some odd years in South Florida I tend to really enjoy all of the changes in the seasons. Oh, and I still remember sledding down the hill when I was wee little. The last winter I spent in New Jersey was when I was 6 years old!

Trivia

The first winter in Virginia we did not have sleds. We used the sides of moving boxes covered with heavy duty trash bags. The kids still talk about it as being the most fun we ever had sledding.

My Video Diary

This looks so much better in best quality on my laptop. Note the bunny tracks ~ really cute ~ and the rooster guarding the tree. I had to gather Mr. Rooster and carry him back to the coop. We think he may have gotten a bit disoriented due to the snow. Oh, and since no one would take pictures I had to get a little creative at the end. Enjoy!

Note: All images are of our property. The old worn-down house is an old schoolhouse. One day I would love to restore this and make it a library, but it needs a lot of work and $$$. Ivy had a blast running through the property and chasing us down the hill when we were sledding.

Sledding, Bunny Tracks, & Lost Roosters or What I Did On My Winter Vacation is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

I shot a 3 minute video today using Megan’s FLIP camera. Then I put the camera up and hit the hill! The going down is so much fun, but that hike back up the hill is one crazy workout. Dwayne says we need to invest in a ski lift. Okay, maybe not, but it is a trek to say the least.

Tomorrow will be more sledding and maybe even an attempt at a snowman. I’ll be sure to post more pictures, too.

Snowy Chickens and a Simple Christmas Tree is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

We had a lot of fun. The girls and I hit the freebies at CVS on Thursday. I did not have to worry about getting their early since my parents live in such a small town. Everything was in stock. Then we ate lots of turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. And of course my mom had pie. There was apple pie [with and without raisins] and pumpkin pie. My aunt made cookies shaped like turkeys and there were brownies.

On Friday the girls and I were at the mall a little after 4 am. We stopped in JCPenney first and collected our free snow globes. My mom collects these. Then we drove over to Target and waited. Just before 5 am we went to get in line only to find it was wrapped around and behind the building. Needless to say, we left.

We drove back to the mall and got food. Then we hit Sears, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and a few others. We did not make too many purchases. I did get stopped by one of the Dead Sea people and tried to leave without buying anything. All I can say is these sales people are good. I took the girls to get hair cuts then we walked over to the people selling hair straighteners. Amanda wanted them to re-straighten her hair. We left with three straighteners and various hair stuffs. These things are amazing! We left after that.

We made one last stop at Publix for some Black Cherry soda ~ the best around ~ and this is always a must for any Florida trip. I tried to take a nap when we returned, but my parents had other plans. We headed out to a working farm and orange grove. I have to say, these oranges were so good. Fresh picked and oh so tasty. We brought back six small boxes of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons. I also got some orange blossom honey ~ farm fresh.

Mom made a ham dinner for us on Friday and there was leftover pie and a Carvel ice cream cake for dessert. I think we can all live for a few weeks on all the food we ate on our trip.

We left Saturday around 11 am and arrived back in Virginia around 9:30 pm. Sunday we were greeted by our chickens and today I have to go by the vet and pick up Ivy. I really miss her. Amanda and I took Megan back to Radford yesterday and hit more traffic on I-81 then we did on any of the roads coming back from Florida the day before.

Today I am working on finishing up NaNoWriMo [2400 words to go as of this posting] and will be a bit MIA for the next three weeks as I finish up my final college class ~ which is going to kick my ass ~ and get ready for the holidays.

Well, so much for my super quick update. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, ate lots of turkey, and enjoyed the company of friends and family be it close to home or far away.

Image courtesy of fmsparis.

Super Quick Update is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

So, yeah. Today I went shopping with Amanda. I would post her picture, but we have this deal ~ I don’t post pictures of her and she doesn’t post those really unflattering pictures of me ~ no problem. I have been wanting a new Scrabble game because I love Scrabble and my board is some 30 years old and I think it’s missing some pieces. It was off to Target for the $20 Deluxe Edition with the carry case & a free Scrabble card game to boot! I cannot wait for Christmas!

Class of 2009

I started my final college class towards my Bachelors in Accounting. YAY! I need to find out everything that is required of me, but I should be an official college graduate in December. My final class is Government & Institutional Accounting. Next order of business, find a job to help pay off all of those student loans that will come a callin’ in six months.

NaNo Novel Update

I have cracked the 35,000 word barrier and am getting some positive feedback over on my writing blog for those few excerpts I have bravely shared. I have lost a bit of my direction, but am okay with that. I will figure it all out and work on the editing and reworking after November has ended and my college studies have completed.

On another writing front, I will be picking up 3 shoe boxes of love letters and pictures when I visit my parents over Thanksgiving. The letters are correspondence from my grandparents while they were courting [isn't that a phrase that should be revived?] and when my grandfather went off to fight in WWII. I am really excited about this. I really am a romantic old sap at heart.

Which Came First The Chicken Or The Egg?

In March we decided to get some chickens. We started with 24. We had 7 roosters and 17 hens. These were mostly Rhode Island Reds, some Bantams, and four were Leghorns. This summer we lost one of the leghorns when she was hit by a truck. After that we debated what to do with the 7 roosters, which were really worrying the hens with their constant, uh, desires. We decided to cull them down to 2 roosters. Not as bad as you would think, but not something I would want to do again if at all possible. That left us with 2 roosters and 16 hens. Then, this past week we lost 3 more hens ~ 2 of the leghorns & I think a bantam. We think a hawk got them.

Our purpose for the chickens is to get eggs, for us to eat and to sell. Lately we have been getting 8 – 9 eggs a day. Today we got one that had no shell and no yolk. It was also quite small. This is the second egg we’ve found this size, the first with no shell.

In Case You Haven’t Seen It

I originally found this posted over at The Succulent Wife’s Favorite Things. This commercial has had me and my family laughing all weekend:

Shopping ~ Graduating ~ Writing ~ Chickens & Eggs [shells are optional] ~ & Finally, A Little 'Clean' Humor is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Our First Eggs is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

All day long I look out the windows to see chickens walking the property, scratching for food, resting in the shady areas.  Some are brave and get a little close to the road.  Poor Ivy dog goes nuts with this strange invasion of birds on her turf.  Tonight I captured Amanda running with the chickens since I find it quite amusing.  Hope it brings a smile to your face, too.

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Running of the Chickens feat. Amanda is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Today DH felt it was time to let the chickens out of the coop, so to speak.  We have 4 roosters and 20 hens.  Most of the chickens are Reds while 4 are leg-horns (white).  To me they are all pretty.  I spent some time today photographing the chickens outside of the coop, some from afar and some up close.  They seemed to have spent a majority of their time under the coop with the occasional venture into the wild unknown.

Nobody Here But Us Chickens is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010