kcat's Profile

We got chicks last August. We borrowed the things needed for chicks from friends (heat lamp, brooder box, feeders). having the chicks indoors was a lot of fun, especially for our 3 yo. holding them everyday got the chickens used to us and made them more docile. then we got a coop for "free" on Craigslist. We had to rent a truck, take off work and renovate it. One tip from our chicken-keeping neighbors was to make the coop secure. We dug a foundation, laid down cement blocks, wrapped the blocks in chicken wire that we bolted to the coop. This means that no animals can burrow into our coop so our chickens are safe and we can leave out their food witout worrying about rats. Chickens are noisy so talk to your neighbors first and give them eggs. Cleanining weekly makes the chickens and neighbors happy. We let the chickens out in the yard a couple times a week. They are a lot of fun. One chicken thinks she is a pirate parrot and flys onto my shoulder ever since she was a chick. Keeping chickens is fun, rewarding and quite an experience!

My favorite food blogger! I love her kitchen! It looks like a pace to linger over a cup of god tea.

We live downstairs but we are the landlords. The upstairs apartment is carpeted, wall to wall. We provided high-end wireless headphones. When we advertise our unit we look for someone quiet and quiet hours are in the lease. Then we got a kid. We try to be considerate neighbors to our tenant, but sometimes the noise...i.e. temper tantrums can get excessive. When the tenant gets noisy, I try to remember that is the sound of the second mortgage layment. ;-) and i make cookies for our tenant when it gets noisy here. We also try to keep open dialogue about noise...hey how are we doing? Or apologize for an early morning shower or late night action movie that got loud. This communication happens easily because tenants have laundry priviledges so we get to see each other. I think this is key - seeing each other regularly and being mutually rspectful. But when the rubber hits the road, we are the owners and we do make that clear.

Bookshelfbacked with art or really cool wrapping paper? Use the mobile concept and hang stuff? Do you have any collections? Like a scarf collection? Or anything else that can be hung or displayed? A friend once painted poetry and quotes on a bed sheet for me to hang on the wall. What about painting a board with chalkboard paint? Find some used folding closet doors that are like wooden blinds and paint them some outrageous color and stand them up in the doorway.

For me, it was deciding what goes into my home instead of using all the hand-me-down things like my grandmother's ugly brown dishes and leftovers from my parent's home. When you deliberately you have, it seems you own it more. I agree with other posters about caring and comfort of others. My two best friends have dishelved homes with random things in them. When we visit, I always wonder if they were actually expecting us since there isn't any physical sign of welcome. Gladly there is always other signs of welcome but in my 40s I appreciate comfort.

We got a freezer full of food from a co-worker, which was lovely and amazing! Don't forget your friends who became parents through adoption, as we did. In spite of not having had labor and delivery, those first few weeks were really intense. We were really grateful that all we had to do was focus on our baby and not the day's menu.

Last year, the big hit with my toddler was the magnifying glass in her basket. She wanted to take it to church! I got several magnifying glasses from the Dollar Store. So we had a back up when it broke. This year we have bunny shaped sidewalk chalk.

My 2-yo loves to use the hard boiled egg slicer to cut up bananas. She's good at cutting cheese on our slicer that is a wire on a wood block. My mantra for my "helper" is "I scoop, you dump." And I've learned to be ok with messes. The sink is a good, mostly safe play area too.