Hodge-Podge

This will be a mishmash of a post, mostly because there are a number of very unrelated thoughts going on in my head at the moment. So consider yourself warned.

First up, two fix-it projects. Remember the under-the-counter lighting Mr. S installed a while back that he was so proud of? Well, one of the brackets that holds the cord up underneath the cabinets kept falling out. We'd stick it back up only to have it fall out again in a matter of days or hours. Mr. S assured me he was going to make a trip to the hardware store and pick up items to fix it...but then a week passed, and another one, and I got impatient. I also got creative.

To fix this problem (it is rather annoying to have an electric cord hanging down on your counter, after all), I grabbed a twist tie, a thumb tack, and a hammer. I folded the twist tie in half around the cord and twisted a few times to make a slightly loose loop. Then I put the two ends of the twist tie together, and twisted them to make another, smaller loop - smaller than the base of the thumb tack. I lifted the whole contraption up, moved the twist tie along the cord under the cabinet until it was in a spot to hold the cord up and off the counter. I placed the thumb tack into the middle of the empty loop and hammered that baby into place under the kitchen cabinets. Fixed in less than 5 minutes and didn't cost a dime!

The second fix-it project (I don't have pictures of - sorry!) involved the door handle on our bathroom door, which decided to fall off and not go back on. After at least a month and a half of 'just dealing with it,' Husband asked me to call our landlord to come fix it (and in the same breath mentioned it was likely something he could do himself, but what good is a landlord if you don't put him to use?). Personally, I'd rather do it myself if I can. So I did. We have a door that closes off the main living area from the hallway to the bathroom and bedroom. I noticed on the back of that door there was an 'extra' handle that matched the one on our bathroom door (but, oddly enough, not the one on the other side of the door it was originally on). I took the handle off the back of the hallway door and put it on the bathroom door instead, then took the old knob from the bathroom door and put it on the back of the door we rarely use. Genius!! Problem solved.

Alright now for something totally unrelated. Who wants to talk about chickens?

Source: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What? Yes, chickens. Husband been talking for some time now about wanting to raise chickens once we have a house. With a yard. To be perfectly honest, minus a few reservations I was mostly on board with the idea. I like knowing where my food comes from, how it was raised, and that it's healthy. Additionally, I enjoy animals and think the prospect of going out into my own back yard to get eggs for our home is pretty sweet. I'm slightly worried about bothering neighbors, and raccoons bothering a hen house. But then I read this post yesterday by Rachel from Memories of Mine to Thine and decided my hang-ups were way lame. You really should read her post - not only has she given significantly more thought to the subject (and done more research), she owns a brood of hens! After reading her post and watching the video she included, raising our own chickens is a no-brainer. But what to do in the meantime (because we don't have our own house, let alone a back yard yet)?

Rachel mentions some good options: checking out farmer's markets and building a relationship with the farmers there, Googling the brands carried at your grocery store to find out more about the source and ultimately finding a safe one. There was one she didn't mention, though, and that's Co-Ops. Here in MN, at least, farmer's markets are seasonal, but many of those very same farmers source eggs at the Co-Ops in town. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the Seward Co-Op has a great page explaining what a food cooperative is and how it works.) We aren't yet members of Co-Op, but there are a number close-by from which to choose.

For now, we'll be frequenting our neighborhood Co-Ops more regularly and purchasing all our eggs and meat there. It's a bit more expensive than our grocery store, but we don't buy that much meat. And more importantly, I'd rather pay more to support farming practices I agree with and have a better idea of where my food is coming from than continuing to overlook the problem. What do you think? Would you raise chickens?


I don't remember the last thing I was going to write about. I know it had something to do with another blog I'd read yesterday... Yeah. Not coming to me. So you're saved from one more random thing being added to this post. Has it cooled down where you are? It sure has here, and I'm enjoying the fall-like weather. I hope you are, too.

~ Ms. S