Remodeling outside, cooking/baking, and that sweet little girl

At our house, the big project the last couple of weeks has been the chicken coup -slash- storage shed on the southeast corner of our property. For a long time it was a scary, dark, evil little shed, tucked away in the farthest corner of our property, that I refused to go visit. Now I'm banging around, rolling out chicken wire, arguing with Nate about how best to build a run for the chickens. It's nice to see it repaired and made useful.

One of my brothers is coming over for a few hours next week (I think) to do some work around the house. I plan to have him clean, prime and paint the coup/shed, and to finish the stairs on our front deck. The last few days have been focused on getting the two areas ready for those tasks. I needed to cut some more pieces for the deck and purchase several parts (bolts, screws, etc.). The shed needed significantly more work -- weatherproofing wrap, siding, trim, etc. Despite several long hours yesterday afternoon and most of today, we're still not quite where we need to be. Monday afternoon/evening will also be devoted to getting the last few things ready before my brother comes on Tuesday.

Here are some pictures of the evolution of the shed:

In totally unrelated news: I once again tried out some new recipes this week. For dinner there was pulled pork in the slow cooker on Thursday, which was nearly a disaster except some brilliant suggestions from Nate saved the day. Lasagna "roll ups" yesterday (Friday), which were not as quick and easy as I expected, but were quite tasty. Somewhere in there I tried homemade oreos.... They turned out as yummy little chocolate cookies, not at all like oreos. I'm disappointed but at least it wasn't a failure. I also made some healthy breakfast "cookies" that I really hoped Baby Girl would eat (she didn't) but that, surprisingly, Nate loved and even wanted a second batch. Finally, this morning I made cheese crackers (kinda like cheezit imitations) that also seemed like they were going to be a disaster because the dough wasn't coming together and they weren't getting crunchy when they baked, but with patience and a little extra oven time they turned out nicely. Baby Girl ate a few of them. I'm not totally sure what she thinks... jury's still out for her.

(In the morning I am going to make an apple crumb bread... very excited about this one! I've got fresh apples from my mom and hopefully about 30 minutes of free time.)

Speaking of the baby, she's doing great, glad you asked. She's sassy, mullety, and fat. She's standing quite a bit now -- even trying to do it on her own without help. Wednesday at the "baby sitter's" house she had a tough day, then Thursday she had a great day. Go figure. I enjoyed hauling her around in the Bee, though. It's good exercise and fun.

Ah nuts, I just noticed the time. I better add the pictures and get ready for bed. Hopefully I'll find time to talk about fruit and bike carriers soon!