Age Old Question

For as long as I can remember, people have pondered the age old question - What came first, the chicken or the egg?  Well, in Shawn's Barn the answer is easy--the chicken.  The question now is "Where are the eggs?"  I have been running a small little "fresh egg" business.  I have a few regular customers but word is spreading.  My six older girls have been pretty good about supplying me with merchandise but it was easy to see they were going to eventually need some help.  Soooooooo.......I bought 12 new little baby girls early this spring.  I raised them and named most of them because that is just what I do.  I name my chickens and my goats and anything else that will let me love them.  I have even noticed different personalities in the flock.  There is just one thing that I haven't noticed --EGGS.

Okay, ladies, time to squat and give me some eggs.  You girls are HUGE.  Yes, HUGE.  You are eating me out of house and barn.  I now know what a wattle is and the many different combs a chicken can have.  I have pampered you and talked to you and cleaned up after you.  Time to do your part.  Please, please, please give me some eggs.

In the meantime, the six old ladies in the barn are getting tired.  They look at me with their little round chicken eyes as if begging for a hyster-chicken-ectomy.  They have worked hard, but hey, we're a team.  I'm probably the only person in Lincoln Parish that would be really, really sad when I eventually lose a chicken.  Tommy has threatened a couple of times to make a big pot of chicken and dumplings.  Don't worry girls, mommy has your back.  Just lay me a few eggs, please.

The pictures are of two of the old ladies.
                                                            

What Makes a Family

Anyone who knows me well can tell you that my favorite TV show is “The Waltons”.  Last night as I watch the final show of the final season followed by the first show of the first season, I began to think about what it was that I liked so much about this series.  I know without a doubt that it is the family.  I was blessed to come from a good family.  I had parents that loved me and sisters that were close enough in age to become my friends and playmates. When I left that safe cocoon that was my first family, I began a search for my “second” family that would take me down roads and lead me in directions I could never imagine I would experience. Getting married and having children was the easy part, but I found out that family extended beyond those wonderful beings that God allowed me to bear.  Family is about love, sharing, listening and caring.  It has nothing to do with DNA.  I have a wonderful “second” family.  It is full of people that don’t share my genetic code as well as those that do.  I have a husband that completes me like the missing piece of the puzzle I have been searching for most of my life.  My third child was born to another woman, but I love him and care for him like my own.  A day isn’t complete unless I know where all three of my children are.  My daughter married the person she loved since the first grade and I love him too.  I worried over him when he was sick and stressed for him when he had exams.  My son-in-law and I come from different worlds but he is a comfortable fit in my family.  Our son Joe has brought another member of our family to us.  I cannot imagine my life without my future daughter-in-law.  When I think about a family gathering, she is always in my mental picture. 

I had the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world.  I loved her deeply.   We were different and she didn’t always approve of me or my decisions, but she didn’t judge me.  We shared the end of every day together for over three years and I miss her more than words can say.  Today, when I tend to her grave, I still feel her.  She was family.  My family extends in many directions. There will be more additions someday.  My children will marry and hopefully there will be grandchildren.  As I think about where I am today, I think the thing that I have learned is that biology has nothing to do with being a family.  It is more about being there and showing love and understanding.  It is about making time for those we care about and showing an interest in their lives.  I thank God each day for my family.

Then and Now

This was/is me.  I was younger then and as I remember it, very content and happy.  I have been doing some reflections of the different phases in my life.  I guess I am a lucky person.  Even though there have been times that I regret, decisions that were wrong, and choices I wish I could redo; I went through each phase much like I did as a child, content and happy.  There were does dark periods in my life when I was sad but at the end of each day I found a place inside of me that got me through and in that, there was contentment.  I think that I am just a happy person.  I don't like being around negativity because it feels foreign to me.

These are my kids minus Joe who became my son later in life.  So much of my life was devoted to raising them and loving them. This phase was such a great phase because being a mom is the best job I ever had.  I had to work very hard while they were growing up so I didn't always have the time to do everything I wanted and we did not have much money, but I loved every minute of raising my kids.  It wasn't always easy but it was always wonderful.  I loved being a danceline mom and a band mom.

I have so many passions in life.  My kids and my husband are two of them.  My photography business and my little farm are two more.  I have always been a tomboy.  When I was little my mother paniced because I asked for a football and a full set of pads for Christmas.  She was worried about that.  I got the football and a Barbi.  Hey I love dolls also and have a nice size doll collection. Here is me intently watching a high school playoff game in New Iberia.  I am a passionate Ruston High School football fan.

Now I am in my latest phase but hopefully not my last.  My kids are grown.  I don't just love my husband, but I am in love with him.

Life isn't always easy.  We face problems each day.  There have been illnesses, legal matters, hardship, loss, etc.  All of these things are the things that make me realize that I am alive.  Yet I have loved moving through the phases of my life and waiting to see what adventure tomorrow may bring.  Life for me has been a complex tapestry of events all woven together into a wonderful experience.  Without the bad times I would never have appreciated the good times.  I have kissed the cheek of my daughter on her wedding day as I handed her to the care of the man she chose for her great adventure. I have watched a jet fly overhead knowing it carried my son to a distant land.  I have transitioned over and over and I would not trade one moment of my life for anything.

Anchors A-Weigh

So I have been faithfully following my diet plan for a week and a half.  I have lost a little weight and have now graduated to stage two which means I get to alternate my solid protein days with days that include select veggies.  The funny thing is, I like my solid protein days.  I've gotten used to them.  I am supposed to weigh myself every morning.  This goes against the conventional thinking of only weighing once a week.  I'm not sure that I like this every morning thing, because my scale really isn't budging right now.  Losing weight is very difficult for me.  I haven't been able to get my walks in this week.  This is a big "no no" for the diet.  With my summer hours, I now work until five each day and have to be at work earlier.  I don't get home to after six and by the time I feed the chickens and goats, there isn't time to do much of anything.  I have a list a mile long of things I have to do.  I have picture orders to send in and pictures to work on.  I have to practice my piano because I am sure I'll be called to play in church any Sunday now.  I don't understand these people who sit around with nothing to do once their children grow up.  I know I was busy back then but I am much busier now.  I only get about five hours of sleep a night and that is usually interrupted so I don't think getting up any earlier is the answer. 

The good news is that the diet is "sort of working".  If the scale moves downward, even slowly, that is better than it moving upward.  I have discovered that the Dukan Diet is the You Can Diet, because it is doable.  As long as I don't confuse it with the Dunkin Donut Diet, I should be okay.