Hi Everyone!

    Spring is almost here, I can feel it coming and I have a lot of plans. First off, I am on a diet again. I have decided that I am going to keep it simple. I am counting calories and counting fat burned during exercise. I am also attempting to lose the weight s-l-o-w-l-y over the next 3 months. All I want to lose is 24 lbs. so I am going with 2 lbs. a week. If I lose this much, I will be a skinny minnie at only 134 lbs. I have a wedding I am going to in June and will see friends I haven't seen in 6 years, so I am excited to drop the weight by then. My excercise goal is 250 calories burned a day. So I go on the treadmill about 35-40 minutes pushing hard the whole time. I am documenting every bit of food eaten, every bit of exercise done.

    Next up is my garden. I went to my local botanical garden this past weekend and picked up a bunch of heirloom seeds during their annual seed swap. I also sat in several workshops and plan to attend more in the coming months. I feel that right now, it is more important than ever to learn these skills. Who knows what the future holds (except our Lord God in heaven) and the Lord has been prompting me for the last few years to learn these skills. I learned a lot last year with my first garden ever and I am excited to start my new one this year with even more space dedicated to it. I would like to keep track of my plans on my blog, so check back for my online garden journal in a few weeks.

    Finally, here is the crazy part. I am getting chickens. I have a small city yard, but that is NOT stopping me. Chickens are totally legal in my city, probably are in your city too! I can't wait until I have 5 acres and a mini-farm to learn this stuff or enjoy the benefits of healthy eggs so I am going to get started. I plan to build my coop in the next few weeks and put it behind my garage. We will be getting 3-5 chicks sometime in March or early April. I want to get several different varietys. I have two options for getting my chicks. 1st There is a lady who will be putting in an order for her farm who offered to allow me to add a few chicks to her order since there is a minimum of 25 chicks per order. My 2nd option is I will drive to a hatchery that is about 2 hours away and pick up my chicks. Here are the chickens I would like to get:

Pearl-White Leghorn

Silver Spangled Hamburgs

Rhode Island Red

Black Star

Rose Comb Brown Leghorns