I went and picked up a chicken coop this weekend. And then I ordered 25 day old baby chicks. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into, but I think it should be fun! They won’t be arriving until sometime the week of September 25, which is good, because I still have a lot to do. I cleaned off the coop, so I’ll be able to paint it next weekend. I also need to build some nesting boxes and put in a pole for them to roost. I’m not showing any before pictures until I can show some after pictures too. It’s just too ugly right now.

I packed up Lou, and she’s on her way to Washington:

Her new owner’s name starts with an ‘M’, so I added a glittery letter.

I wanted to make more monsters this weekend, but I started working on an outfit for my sock monkey, and didn’t have time for anything else:

Since she’s still a work in progress I’m not going to worry about the blurry picture, when she’s all done I’ll try a little harder to take some clear pictures. I think I will be adding her to the shop. Aren’t her puffed sleeves cute? And her little handkerchief apron? I didn’t get her little purple-ruffled petticoat in the picture, but it’s cute too.

My dad was attacked by a Chinese catfish. Yikes! He’s okay though.

This is going to be another one of those posts about 20 different things. First of all, thank you so much to very kind reader Vicki who got me my magazine! I feel much better now. I’ve got a little package of goodies to send, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it to our post office during their two business hours tomorrow (10:30-12:30), so it may not get sent until Tuesday. And thank you to other commentors who also offered to share their issues with me. I love the internet :o)

Another reason I love the internet is that it is helping my brothers, sister and me keep up with my parents, who left for China last Sunday. They’ll be gone a year, and I made blogs for both of them to write about their experiences, hopefully every day. My mom’s is here and my dad’s is here. My dad loves anything John Deere, hence the title, I think my sister might have mentioned something about that before. He’s also a small-town in Idaho boy at heart, so I’m sure spending time in a big Chinese city is going to be very interesting for him. I know I can’t wait to read all about it.

Somebody bought Lou today! I’m going to miss her, but I’m sure she’ll be happy in her new home. I hope to make a few monsters this weekend and maybe another surprise or two for the shop. I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to earn enough money with my etsy shop to buy a plane ticket to visit my parents, ideally around Chinese New Year, which I believe will be around the end of February. Doesn’t that sound fun? Also part of my plan is that I use up all the Stuff that I have to make things for the shop to sell to buy a plane ticket. It’s the ultimate recyling project, don’t you think? What would be even more wonderful is if I could earn enough to have a day or two layover in Tokyo, which would just be heaven. Actually, a week there would be heaven, but I don’t want to aim too high.

Speaking of selling and using up stuff, I decided to sell some yarn on eBay. I love this RY Classic Cashcotton yarn that I bought earlier this summer, but the color didn’t turn out to be what I needed. I love the color, it just wasn’t what I wanted for the project I got it for, so if you need some pretty pink yarn, go for it! I’ll probably list a few more balls later.

This weekend we are going to pick up a little shed we bought to use as a chicken coop. That’s right, we’re turning chez Lucy into a little farm. Mr. Lucy found this shed on Craig’s list, and I went and looked at it the other night. It’s pretty ugly right now, basically two by fours and plywood and a corrugated tin roof, but I think It has potential, and I was able to talk the guy down $25 from his asking price. I’ll be sure to show some before and after pictures. Hopefully we’ll be able to order some chickens next week. Can you believe it!? You order day old chicks in the mail and they are sent to your local post office. You just go pick them up and bring them home and start feeding them and keep them in a big box with a heat lamp until they get their grown up chicken feathers. The minimum order is 25, so I’ll just raise them all and try to sell about half of them once they’re big enough to go outside. My chicken mentor is my aunt Phyllis. Here are some of her chickens:

These are some of her little bantam hens. They’re so cute and they lay little eggs. Hmm, they would be just perfect for my bento box! Actually, I think I’ll have to wait until next summer for the banties, they don’t have a lot left right now, mostly just assortments that you have to buy 25 or 50 of at a time. I want to be able to choose a few of this and a few of that when I get them. So for now I think I’m going to stick with regular sized chickens and get a bunch of Araucanas (they lay pretty colored eggs-shades of blue, green and beige) and some other, assorted varieties. Oh, and just for the record, we’ll be eating and sharing the eggs, but I have no plans to start butchering my own chickens.

One last picture before I stop:

This is also at my aunt’s house. She has the most beautiful garden you have ever seen. Go look at all my pictures from my visit there in June at Flickr (I can’t link right now because Flickr is down).

I really hate asking for help, but I’m desperate. What is the great tragedy, you may be asking yourself? I have over 4 years of back issues of Marie Claire Idées magazine. I’ve been faithfully going to the bookstore at the start of each season and getting the new issue. But suddenly there are no more copies to be found at any of the five very large bookstores I have been visiting over the last month or so. I have been stalking the magazine stands, and I never saw the summer 2006 issue. Is there anyone out there that would be willing to check their local B&N or Border’s? I would gladly pay large sums of money and/or swap a pirate’s booty worth of loot for it. Plus, you would have my undying gratitude. I mean, four years! How can I live if my collection is missing an issue? How I ask?

Sigh. I guess I’ll have to finally go subscribe.

I know this has been linked in a lot of blogs already, but I thought I’d continue to spread the joy. I dare you to watch this and not smile. I don’t think it’s possible.

I added Lou to the shop today.

Lou has several older siblings in various homes across the country. Lou herself actually traveled to Ohio for Plush Rush. Her big sister Olive went home with somebody, but Lou flew back to California and has been hanging out with me. I have plans to work on a few more monsters this weekend.

When I was adding Lou to etsy I realized that I hadn’t connected my Paypal account to my etsy account. Doh. I hope no one wanted to order something with Paypal. It’s all fixed now, luckily.

I’ve really enjoyed reading other bloggers talking about Pure Style, and living simply. I am slowly trying to simplify and pare down. One of the things I hope to do by making and selling things is to use up all the Stuff I have. I feel so weighed down. But it’s not easy to let go of things I might need someday. I live in a very small house, we don’t have a garage, but we have a little shed and a tiny guesthouse. Lately it seems like whenever we want to find something we look everywhere, moving piles, making messes and shifting junk around. I don’t like the feeling that my stuff is such a controlling part of my life. So I am letting go. And it’s hard.

I listed my piano on Craig’s list yesterday. It’s 30 years old, and my grandfather bought it for me when I was young. I took piano lessons for four years as a child, and never really had the touch. I could play, but I wasn’t anything special. So someone is coming to look at the piano on Saturday morning, and they might just take it with them. I never play it, I never will. I can only do so many things in the hours I have each day. Our living room is way too small for a piano. I know it is the right thing to sell it cheap so some other person can use and enjoy it, but it’s still going to be hard to let it go. Could somebody please reassure me that I’m doing the right thing?

I guess we can call this a lower-case grand opening. I’ve listed a few things on etsy, and have a little more to add and a couple other items underway and to be added over the next week or two. Please visit the shop here. I may try to take some new pictures of my glittery letters I’ll be selling, they didn’t come out very well. They really are much cuter in real life (and at only $6, which includes domestic shipping, quite a bargain :o):

I made lots of these last Christmas and used them as gift tags. I don’t know if anyone is still enjoying their gifts, but absolutely all of my gift recipients have their initials displayed somewhere, and they look at them every day.

One project that I finished up, but that is not for sale is this:

It’s a little craft/garden apron form my niece, so she can keep her tools and seed packets handy if she helps her mom in the garden. I’m working on one for her mom too. I think I like it, it’s hard to know if it’s really as cute as it could be without being able to put it on her. I hope she likes it.

The sofa cushions aren’t all finished, but you get the idea:

I think it looks good. This room is going to be seriously colorful and fun. I hope it will flow well with the rest of the house. This is going to be one of those very long, bit by bit projects. I was already going that direction, but the addition of the orange pillow just confirmed it, I think.

I want to give one more recommendation for this stitchery kit. The instructions were very easy to follow, I think you could be a beginner and not have a lot of trouble learning how to embroider using one of these kits (I did choose the most difficult one, there are some other very cute ones that would be even easier). The linen fabric is really lovely, and you get a piece for the pillow back too, the pattern markings were very crisp and clear, and colors of the wool yarn were just perfect. What are you waiting for? Go get one!

In between all my stitching and sewing, I carved some tiny rubber stamps:

I thought they would be fun for stamping ribbon for tying up gifts.

I’ve been working on some other things too, and I’m going to be opening up my etsy shop sometime this weekend. I’m calling it my "Save up for a plane ticket to China" fund, although after the last couple months of vet bills, car repairs, new washing machines and various other unexpected expenses, it could just be considered a "Get all the bills paid so I stop having anxiety attacks about the finances" fund. Either way, I have some fun stuff to sell, and I hope you will visit and spread the word, I would really, really appreciate it!