Grocery Shopping

Today was big day grocery shopping. Between Walmart and Ingles I spent 225.00. This should last us two weeks. It included everything - food, toiletries, dog food, cat food, etc. Everything. I know I will have to return for milk (we go through almost three gallons a week). Still pretty astounded with the prices. The cheapest roast was 10.00, of course I didn't buy it. The least expensive meat is the ground beef which I know none of us should be eating. I do have 3-5 meatless dinners planned. Will do a two week menu plan later in the afternoon. Right now need to get cracking on laundry and cleaning house. Right now living in a pig sty.

Revised for menu plan:

Saturday - Rotisserie chicken
Sunday - Cheese Tortellini
Monday - takeout while installing backdrop for play
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - B-cue chicken
Thursday - Fettuccini alfredo
Friday - Soup and Sandwiches or leftovers
Saturday - Teen girls group meeting at my house, serving homemade pizza
Sunday - Popcorn shrimp
Monday - Manicotti
Tuesday - Hamburgers, oven fries
Wednesday - Tacos
Thursday - Four cheese ravioli
Friday - homemade pizza

Medieval Times

Today we attended a very special field trip. One that was expensive but well worth the trip. A couple of months ago Tonya Prater from http://www.thetravelingpraters.com/ emailed me to let me know she was heading up a field trip to Medieval Times in Atlanta and wondered if we were interested in attending. For a few reasons I said definitely: I really wanted to meet Tonya (love her blog and reading about all her adventures), we really had not taken a big field trip this year and felt it was time, and we have just started reading about the Middle Ages so it seemed a perfect fit. This morning we awoke early and drove in to Gwinnett County about 1 hour and 15 minutes from our home to meet Tonya and her group. Tonya was very nice and looked just like her photo.

Photos were not so easy to take because of the dark lighting throughout the foyer of the castle and inside the stadium. Sorry for the bad quality.

The above photo is of something quite unexpected; an Eurasian Eagle Owl. I could only get a picture of the back of him. He was born in captivity and can only be found in certain parts of the world like Europe and Mongolia. He weighs 9 lbs. That is one big owl and he was quite beautiful. She also had a Falcon that performs in the show.

Grace kept repeating to me over and over during the show "This is Awesome"!

Because of the movement and lighting, some of the photos didn't turn out well.

We were seated in the blue section; therefore, we cheered for the blue knight. Unfortunately he did not win the competition.

Halfway during the show a dancing horse performed for us. Very beautiful and graceful. Such a great time we had, so glad we went.

Rest In Peace Sweet Bella

Sweet Bella had to be put down today. She was progressively going down hill each day and today was so weak couldn't stand up anymore. It was best for her. After we finish with the Alice in Wonderland production in the beginning of April we hope to get a couple more bantams that will be in their own coop.

Five Children and It

Yesterday we finished our Literature choice of Five Children and It. Today we watched the movie on Netflix Instant. We did like this book (read the unabridged version). I think Grace ended up enjoying the movie more even though the plot was different and some characters were added that were not in the book.

After watching the movie we took notes to compare and contrast the book and movie. On Monday Grace will write a short paper.

What Hubby and I Worked on Today

For those of you that are interested, Bella is still with us. She had been shut up in the coop since Sunday and was really not happy about it. Not eating or moving around much. But obviously we couldn't put her with the rest of the flock. Today hubby constructed a quick, small coop just for her to be out in during the day. At night we will still put her in the coop for safety reasons from predators. She perked up right away and ate some. I also started adding an antibiotic to her water. Hopefully she will continue to progress each day and heal. Will keep you posted. If she recovers we will get her another adult female bantam to keep her company.

I went over to a friend's house today and we finished three of the four skirts for my summer wardrobe. Hoping to not have to wear shorts very often. I need to give a big shout out to Kelly for sewing them. I only pinned the pattern and cut the fabric.

Some Thoughts

• Today Grace sent in all her information and drawing to the big contest that Google is sponsoring. Hubby and Grace have been handling it all but I think the name of the contest is Doodle 4. The theme is "What You Want to Be When You Grow Up". Of course Grace wants to do something creative so her Google template was all about drawing, painting, and anime. Lots of great prizes are available if you win, even at the state level.
• At my wits end with math. Not looking forward to it again in the morning. Half the concepts Grace doesn't keep in her brain. Always seem to be reviewing and not making much progress with new concepts. Looking forward to purchasing Teaching Textbooks 7th grade for next school year and just sitting her in front of a computer and letting it do all the teaching.
• Helped hubby with painting of the Alice and Wonderland set tonight. Still so much to do. All of it should be up by mid March to practice with.

Bella The Chicken Update

I feel at this point that Bella will probably continue to go down hill. As I mentioned in the previous post I really think that she prolapsed when she couldn't expel the egg. Her rear end still looks quite nasty and infected. She is drinking water but not eating much or moving around very much. Just tends to stand in one place. Did apply some hydrogen peroxide and neosporin to the affected area. Wondering if I should soak her in some warm water again. I feel like this is mostly my fault. Didn't really think her mating with a bigger rooster would make that much of a difference in her egg size. My friends have bantams roaming around with many larger roosters with no problems. If she continues to go down hill, hubby will probably euthanize her before he goes back to work for the weekend.