June had a lot going on, but July promises to be crazy. Not only is Monster turning 1 but Chuck is turning the big 3-0h. It means lots of planning and partying. There could be worse things, right?

The Baby:

Both Monster and Mom survived a pretty horrible stomach bug recently, but other than that things have been good. He loves spending time outdoors and might just be in love with the water. We did learn that hiking longer than an about 45 minutes is a no go because Monster does not like to just sit in the carrier that long anymore. It’s okay because soon he will be walking and he can do a bit on his own. Besides, it’s starting to get too hot for moms liking so we will probably be switching to more watery fun until the fall temps start to creep in.

House & Garden Projects:

The gardens are in and growing. It’s slow going this year due to some kind of wacky weather, but I’m starting to feel like this will be the norm. Its going to take some getting used to. At least the garden is in, and thriving (for the most part). Fingers crossed that July brings something other than salad greens. Even I am starting to get sick of salads.

As for the house, big things are happening. We are moving the guest room/office upstairs to the bonus room (formerly Chuck’s man cave). It’s now a multipurpose room. The old guest room is becoming Monsters bedroom, complete with a cool mural that I hope will come out amazing. Sometimes I take on things that are totally unnecessary, but I never really did a nursery for him, so this is going to be like my second shot. The new baby is getting his old room, and once we find out the gender I’ll be doing some updating for it.

On top of this more smaller house projects, like grouting the loose tiles in the kitchen and placing molding are happening. I swear I will do a kitchen reveal sooooon. I just need a few more things in place. It’s already been a year and a half, whats a few more weeks right?

The Chickens:

We are still missing a lot of feathers on the bottom and back area from the spring molt. Like so many feathers that there’s completely bare skin. What gives? How do I fix this? Not only do they get to forage most of the time, but I’ve been giving them back their crushed egg shells, and extra mealworms. I don’t see any evidence of mites, and it’s not all the ladies, just a couple. Please! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I’m still (yes still) working on that 1-year post about what we have learned keeping chickens.

The Podcast:

Minimalist party planning is a thing, and we cover basically everything about it in this episode with Jenn from Hello Brio. There’s also some great minimalist lifestyle tips and sustainability talk as well, all things near and dear to my heart. Listen to it now on iTunes, or on gatheringspodcast.com.

Looking Forward:

Kind of already went over this above. Whoops!

Stats:

Spent on Groceries in November:

$428.43 – This is up from the last couple of months. Not entirely sure why, but I think the outdoor markets get to me. I’m so much more likely to buy things we don’t need when I get to walk the stalls at the outdoor markets, it’s th vibe I swear.

The cost of Garden Supplies 2017:

$162 – This includes all of 2018. Nothing new this month.