Ebates is a wonderful site that pays you to shop online. Whenever you make purchases online you can link into ebates and earn cash back! I have been using it for years and it DOES pay! This is not a scam. Ebates even has a little button that will install on your tool bar and remind you to link into Ebates to earn cash back on your purchases! It is time to ring in the New Year with some cash back bonuses! Sign up and try it for yourself!
In the hustle and bustle of my busy life, Kaitlin Gardner appeared out of no where inquiring about becoming a contributing writer at Faith and Family Reviews. Not one to usually turn down help, I accepted her offer!
Kaitlin Gardner owns AnApplePerDay.com She started her blog to explore her passion for a green living lifestyle, and healthy family living. She and her husband have just moved to rural Pennsylvania, where they enjoy exploring the countryside to discover interesting and out of the way places. She is also learning how to paint watercolors.
Look for Kaitlin’s first post tomorrow and please give her a warm welcome to Faith and Family Reviews!
Atlas, our Babydoll ram lamb and third lamb (we still have our loaner Oopsie), arrived on our farm on April 28 at eight weeks old, which is the recommended age of weaning and going to a new home. We brought him home in the back of our “truck”, like we did the other lambs.
We already got our papers for Atlas, since he is a registered Babydoll sheep. We are still waiting on Juno’s, her breeder sends all her lambs in at once.
It has been fun watching our son and all our children fall in love with our sheep.
In October I went into the city of Chicago for a business meeting with Moms.com and after the meeting we walked to Willis Tower. The photos below are of Chicago at night from Willis Tower. It was really cool.
Willis Tower, or the formerly known Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States. Sears was actually the company that built it to house all its employees in one place.
The Sears Tower became Willis Tower when a London company rented out a large space in the building and had the option to rename the building in its contract. And that’s exactly what they did.
When you visit Willis Tower you get to watch a little movie on the history of the building before you are escorted up to the Skydeck. On the Skydeck you can walk around, shop for gifts, look through the telescopes and walk out onto the “ledge”. The Ledge is a glass box basically and when you step out into it you can look down at the city of Chicago through glass. I was not brave enough to walk out onto the ledge, minding heights as I do.
I definitely recommend you visit Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) the next time you travel Chicago.
This summer our egg business really took off. We could not keep up with the demand for our eggs, even at $5 and $6 a dozen. We allow our poultry to free range as well as feed them certified organic feed making our eggs a “premium” product. To accommodate the growth in our egg business we bought a couple of batches of 6 month old pullets from two other farms. Bad choice. We knew the risks but wanted our egg business to keep growing and not drop off. Our intentions were good but the result was fatal to our egg business, as well as our entire flock of poultry.
Our laying flock was healthy. There was nothing wrong with them. Then we started to notice sick chickens. The ones that were sick stopped laying. They showed signs of being lethargic, sleeping a lot, coughing, wheezing and like they had a cold in the eye. The pullets we bought obviously brought an illness to our healthy flock because this illness showed up within two weeks of bringing home the second flock of pullets. 
We were very concerned for the safety of our customers, our broilers and our turkeys. No vets in the area deal with chickens so we had to go to a university veterinary lab. The closest one to us is the University of Wisconsin. Two hours away – one way. We took the vets two live birds to help them make a diagnosis. Live birds allowed for fresh tissue analysis and a more accurate diagnosis. My husband made the trip on a Friday in September.
Within a few days we had our answer. Upper respiratory infection. Sometimes fatal, especially to broilers who have a smaller trachea (or esophagus) than laying hens. Good news? This infection is not harmful to humans. The eggs and meat could still be sold. Bad news? Even when the birds recover from the infection, they remain carriers of the infection and can spread it to any new birds we brought onto our farm. Results? We have to cull (kill) our whole flock of laying hens and turkeys. Even our breeding turkeys. Our turkeys never exhibited any signs of the infection but since they were exposed, they are carriers too.
We had sick chickens for about a month. The infection went through our flock quickly and usually lasted a few days. It was basically a “chicken cold”. Who would have thought, right? There was nothing we could do for them….other than separate the ones who were getting picked on. The vet told about an antibiotic but didn’t actually recommend it since the birds were now carriers.
This “chicken cold” has been devastating. Our egg business was to the point of buying all the feed for our animals, except our horse, dog and cats. We are hoping all our customers come back in the spring.
Our plan? We plan to start fresh with baby chicks in December and have eggs available in the spring.
We will buy more turkeys in the spring and choose some to keep for breeding purposes.
We will never, ever buy chickens from unknown farms again. And may this be a lesson for anyone considering purchasing chickens from another farm to add to your current flock…DON’T.
Five and a half years ago my husband came home through our front door at about 9am, which was uncharacteristically early considering he left work at 5:30-6:00AM and usually returned at 3:30-4:00PM. When I asked him what he was doing home so early, he replied, “I was laid off.” It was such a shock. Robert had worked at the store since he was in junior high. We worked for the first owner from 1981-2005. Then when the second owner bought the shop in 2005, Robert at times felt he had less job security. But seriously, we never saw the lay off coming.
Robert was out of work for about 20 months. I cleaned houses for a couple of months and started our virtual assistant business. Then his original boss, whom he had worked for over 20 years called him saying he had a new buyer for the store. You see, the second owner still owed the original owner money so when he went out of business in 2009, the store reverted back to the original owner. Clear as mud, eh?
He’s trying hard not to crack a smile in this photo in case you didn’t notice. 
My Husband Lost His Job….Again
We accepted the job because we had high hopes of the store succeeding under new ownership.
This current lay off was better in the fact we knew it was coming. Robert’s job allowed him to see the numbers in the reports he ran and I’d say early in the summer he called it by saying he gave the shop until mid-August. He was a little off in that he had a job until about the end of August, as he was officially done a week and a half ago.
It’s was a topsy, curvy ride waiting for the axe to fall, so to speak. It is a bittersweet end to a job Robert enjoyed. He really liked this last owner and we thought the store would make it but alas, the industry has changed so much with the advent of the internet. Mom and Pop stores cannot compete with their distributors or online competition. Just look at your home town’s main street. If you have empty store fronts like we do, you’ll see what we are living.
We are not sure what God’s plan is in all of this. It is definitely stretching us.
Robert is applying to jobs. I’m working more. I just learned that I have a job as a hostess of a new moms forum, which will help bring in a little extra money. We are trying to get caught up around the farm while Robert is home…but that is a never ending task because there is always something to do!
Have you ever been unemployed or faced a lay off? How did you survive?
Raising money for an event or campaign is a tough job, especially when it comes to ordering shirts. Planning, collecting money, getting sizes, meeting with the designer, then making the time so everyone gets their product. Lots of time and effort, Teespring.com is here to help! How you ask? It’s simple.
Launch a campaign, design your own tee, pick the price you want to sell it for, choose a goal for selling, and an end date. Then spread the word via your own unique web link then post it it to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and email!
When people order their shirt, they click on the unique link, pick their size, pay for it and best of all, your shirt can be delivered right to everyone’s door! Then if you are a business you can withdraw the profit. If you did this for a fundraiser, the profits are paid directly to the organization! It’s that easy!
Consider Teespring.com for your next fundraiser!
“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Healthgrades. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”
Looking for a great doctor or hospital and do not know where to turn? Well, there is a great website that can help! Healthgrades is a wonderful website that provides information on doctors and hospitals.
All you have to do is type in the doctors name or specialty and your zip code and Healthgrades will give you providers within your specifications…. it’s that simple!
After you search for your provider their name will pop up or if you searched for a specialty a number of providers will pop up… then Healthgrades not only gives you their information but gives you a rating on the practice as well. Patients can rate the practice and give them 1 – 5 stars. I don’t know about you but I like to know that the doctor I am going to got 5 stars!
I think this is a wonderful service to find providers for health services… I have used the service and have been very pleased with new providers I found on the sight and have been pleased to see that my existing providers are getting high ratings!
I personally like to research and meet doctors/hospitals before I have a visit or procedure… Healthgrades gives me the option of finding out and narrowing down my choices. Although I do not think I would replace an in person office visit to meet a doctor with Healthgrades I do think it is a great choice to narrow down choices of who to see for a consultation. One other thing I found that it is great to look up a provider based on the recommendation of others. I can type in a provider that someone else suggested and find out what multiple people are saying about the same doctor… this is a great service!
I do not think you will be disappointed in healthgrades.com … try it out and see if you can find what your provider is rated. Do not like your current provider or their rating… browse Healthgrades for a new provider. Quick simple and easy to use!
You can also find out more about Healthgrades by Downloading d Healthgrades’ Women’s Health Report 2013 and review the material presented. They have factual information as well as highlights of the 2013 award recipients in different areas. I was certainly pleased to fund my provider/hospital on the award recipient list. Download the report to find out more information and find out the award recipients in your area. You can find the report at: www.healthgrades.com/quality/womens-health-report
You may or may not remember I took on a newspaper route in late December 2012. It’s been interesting, but I am grateful for the weekly paycheck that helps out while waiting to be paid for my other “solo gigs”. I discovered a lot of things about people who deliver newspapers in the last five months and thought it made an interesting enough blog topic and a way to share a little more about my day between 2:30 and 5:30AM…..plus some of my winter frustrations.
What You May Not Know About Newspaper Delivery
We have to hand bag the papers.
We have to stuff the papers with the flyers and often a second insert.
We have to travel in all kinds of weather – winter is the worst.
We have to walk over icy areas with little or no ice melt.
We often get complaints from people who say they didn’t receive their paper, but the wind may have blown it a little to the left/right or in the street. So look a little harder before you file a complaint against your newspaper delivery person.
We do not get paid enough for having to drive hours in the snow, sleet and ice to deliver your paper. We are risking life and limb for a bundle of paper. Think about it.
We get up in the wee hours of the morning to deliver your paper on time.
During high gas prices, our pay is probably used for a quarter to a third for gas, as gas allowance only covers barely an extra tank of gas for the month.
We are independent contractors and not employees of the paper – at least I am.
We have to double bag the newspapers on rainy days, which takes us longer to bag.
We do get use to the odd hours, sort of. At least I think I have, but I still take a nap! The joys of having three teen daughters in the house!
When I started I suffered from sore shoulders and hands from throwing and folding newspapers. That has since subsided except on days when the paper is really thick.
Rural routes can often be 100 miles and take a newspaper delivery person 3-4 hours to complete! That amazed me when one of my co-workers told me that.
In town routes are usually heavy on newspapers but shorter in miles. Like mine. I have 18-25 miles to travel and 80-275 papers to deliver on any given day. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are my heaviest day. I have to admit Monday, Tuesday and Saturday are my favorite days to deliver on my own since I get home by 4:30pm. On Wednesdays and Sundays my older daughters are my helpers and I enjoy those days only because I have their company…and help!
Overall, I am thankful for my little newspaper route and the fact that I have one in my town so my drive time is not as long as those with rural newspaper routes.
Our wee farm is growing….again! We got some baby Freedom Rangers about four weeks ago and turkey poults two weeks ago…..
This is the first time we are raising meat birds other than turkeys. The Freedom Rangers will be meat for customers and our family. This may be the only batch we do this year. We’ll have to see how they taste and how they grow. They are a slower growing breed compared to the ever popular white broiler we find in the meat section of grocery stores.
We were gifted with a surprise package of Midget White turkeys. We had not ordered our turkeys and then we get a call from the Post Office saying we have some baby birds. After listening to messages we discovered the hatchery we bought from last year had a major system error and sent out last year’s orders by mistake! Since it was their error there was no charge. A blessing in disguise, I guess, since we had not yet decided what we were going to do about turkeys this year.
Our breeding pair of Midget White turkeys, which we kept from last year’s batch, are doing well. Brownie, the hen, has been laying an egg a day. A neighbor actually just dropped by and picked up 13 of her eggs to see if he could hatch them out in an incubator. He’ll be picking up another 7-10 next week. We’ll see how that goes. Brownie has actually been sitting on her eggs, as well as some chicken eggs, for the past three days. It’s the broodiest we’ve seen her so here’s to hoping she hatches out some baby chicks on her own. Now that would cause some excitement around our little farm!
Happy Wordless Wednesday! (or not so wordless )
