Chicken Wars

 It all started with this cement chicken statue.  Several years ago, Kyle showed me a hen just like this at the Town and Country store.  Around mother's day they have several lawn statues to choose from.  I liked it, but wanted to think about the price.  Well, when we went back it was gone.  So every year afterward for about 2-3 years I went looking for this chicken.  Kayla thought his was funny, so where ever we were she would point out chickens to me.  I told her (over and over) that I wasn't collecting chickens, I just wanted the cement one.  The more I told , the more chickens were pointed out.

Hence, the chicken war.  So, to one up Kayla, I bought her a T-shirt with a chicken and a kitchen towel for her bridal shower.  I guess you could say, I poked the bear.  I brought with me a chicken the first time Kyle and I spent the week at Kayla's.  Well, maybe I brought 2.  Anyhow, she has gone all out and bought several chickens.  She hides them all over my house when she visits.  She even left one in my office when they came up this fall.

 Kayla, has an advantage.  We have lots of hiding places in my house.  She has a small ranch house that she rents, so I don't have the "in plain" sight advantage.

 So maybe, I hide them in and around things at her house.  This past visit, she brought back the stash.

 I found chickens all over my hours, when she left.  This chicken war makes me smile.  It lets me know that Kayla has been there.  Even though I miss her being in our presence more, I have these little bits of ornery girl.

I have some of the collection until our next battle of the chicken war.

Trying New Things: Sausage Making

What do two empty nesters do after all their children head back home from Christmas?  We make sausage.  Kyle bought me a meat grinder for my kitchen aid for Christmas.  He likes to play with toys.

 When we got our hog butchered they sent us home with 15 packages of pork steaks, that we would have had made into sausage.  Bummer, so Kyle said we would just make it ourselves.

 Growing up on a farm, we processed our own meat a lot.  When Kyle and I were young married we did this with my dad and grandpa one weekend.  My family did a salt and pepper sausage.  Grandpa told dad that he should put enough salt in the bowl to track a rabbit.  Interesting way to measure.

So every time I dumped salt into a batch of sausage, I would say, enough to track a rabbit, but I measured with my teaspoon first.  We did use the method dad and grandpa did by making a small patty and sampling until we enjoyed the taste.  We only had to remove one ingredient to make it to our liking.  It was kind of fun.  We have 1/2 the steaks left to do this a second time in the future.

New Beginnings: Happy 2020

With the New Year here and new decade to start, I find myself reflecting.  What types of goals are realistic?  What might I stick to?  Do I want a word or phrase to work on?

Kyle and I decided that we will join in on the children and youth goals, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are rolling out this year.  Although are children and youth are grown adults we can still learn from this program and apply it to our adult lives.

Here is a link, if you are interested.

So my goals for myself are going to be within these topics.

Spiritual

1. To study the Come Follow Me Program this year.

2. attend the temple 12+ times

Social

1. minister with my partner at least 6 times in person

2. To improve relationships at work and with family

Physical

1. to make better food choices and lose some weight

2. to increase the amount of exercise that I do weekly from little to none to a more regular habit, to go hiking more, and maybe even swim at the Y

Intellectual

1. to develop new skills to be helpful at work and gain new experiences in leading a building

2. to gain new knowledge for genealogy research and clean up my family search account

The best part of New Year's Day is hope.  Hope in a new you, new challenges, new living, but most of all, the ability to see a better you.  I like learning to become better, I like goals, I like trying to become more like my Savior.  I have learned that I can do that, one new year, one goal, one trial at a time; and with each baby step, comes more learning, more wisdom and quiet reflection on the blessings we have earned.

I love fresh starts, repentance for old habits, faith for better things to come.

Happy New Year, Happy New Decade, let's try and be better!