Mavis TV | One Hundred Dollars a Month

Is My Chicken a Rooster?

January 3, 2013 27 Comments

silver laced wyandotte rooster

Okay everyone, I’m pretty sure Pablo is a rooster, but after 16 weeks he still has not made any crowing sounds or behaved in an ungentlemanly like manner. Picasso follows Pablo everywhere and all the other hens love him/her.

silver laced wyandotte rooster tail feather and hen

Picasso is on the left and Picasso on the right.

We made a quick video this morning so those of you with rooster knowledge can weigh in. We’ve never had a rooster before, but I’m pretty sure Pablo is a roo, even if he hasn’t made noise. Is it possible to have a nice rooster that doesn’t crow? Have we spoiled him that much?

Let us know what you think.

~Mavis

Filed Under: Chickens, Mavis TV Tagged With: chickens, one hundred dollars a month, raising backyard chickens, video

Video | Bartering with Mavis – Is Anybody Home?

October 16, 2012 10 Comments

Before I headed over to Francisco’s house the other day to barter, I stopped by my neighbor Mrs. Active Wear’s house. Now the one thing you have to remember about living in high maintenance suburbia is, not everyone wants to barter with you {with or without the camera video present}.

My neighbor Mrs. Active Wear is pretty awesome. I can call her at 6 am and ask her to drive my kids to school because I’m too lazy to get dressed, and she’s usually willing to bake 750 cupcakes with me any day of the week. In exchange I let her borrow random crap and she spies on my kids for me whenever she sees them talking to someone new.

It’s what I would call a win-win relationship.

But I don’t think bartering is her thing. LOL.

Filed Under: Bartering, Mavis TV Tagged With: barter kings, bartering, Mavis, Mrs. Active Wear, video

Video | Bartering with Mavis – Is it Hard to Barter with a Vegan?

October 15, 2012 18 Comments

My goal this week is not to spend a dime at the grocery store. This of course means I’ll be doing a lot of bartering with my neighbors.

Last night I showed up on my neighbor Francisco’s doorstep and asked if he wanted to barter with me. Francisco is a vegan, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to go home with.

Looking for more of my super awesome videos?

You can see them all HERE.

Bartering Rules!

~Mavis

The Art of Barter: How to Trade for Almost Anything ~ Amazon

Filed Under: Bartering, Mavis TV, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: barter kings, bartering with mavis, mavis butterfield, one hundred dollars a month, Vegan, video

The Results – Can You Bring a Pie On an Airplane?

August 25, 2012 11 Comments

Filed Under: Mavis TV, Travel, video Tagged With: Boise, can you bring a pie on an airplane?, mavis butterfiled, travel, TSA

Channel Your Inner Pilgrim Episode 2 – Free Zucchini

August 16, 2012 10 Comments

Thank you random lady from New York who gave me a hot doughnut.

Yesterday my friend Heather and I went to Seattle to take class provided by the Seattle Tilth {I’ll tell you more about it a little later}. While we were there, I decided to Channel My Inner Pilgrim, and give away 7 giant zucchinis from my garden.

I’m up to my ears in the stuff, so I decided to see if anyone in Seattle would take a free zucchini from a crazy lady in a pilgrim costume. I was pretty shocked at the results. Giving away free zucchini, was much easier than giving away free carrots. Who knew?

Filed Under: Gardening, Mavis TV Tagged With: channel your inner pilgrim, Gardening, Mavis, mavis butterfield, Pike Place Market, Seattle Garden Blogs, video, Videos

Mavis Travel Blog – 7 Countries in 7 Days Part 3

August 4, 2012 11 Comments

I’m beginning to wonder if this trip was a good idea or not…

~ Mavis

Filed Under: Mavis TV, Travel Tagged With: amsterdam gay pride parade, mavis travel blog, travel, volvo overseas program

Mavis Travel Blog | 7 Countries in 7 Days – Part 2

August 3, 2012 14 Comments

I bought a new car. I know, I know, the more thrifty thing to do would have been to buy a used car, but I didn’t. I’m not into fancy clothes, spending boatloads on groceries, and I like to shop thrift stores and garage sales. So for me, buying a new car is obviously one heck of a splurge.

Back in 2000 I bought a new Volvo wagon, which I loved. I drove it for 9 years straight until the HH decided to sell it one day because he thought it was on the verge of dying {which it wasn’t}. I was so ticked off. I was even more ticked off when THE VERY NEXT DAY I spotted the man who bought my car, wearing Teva sandals with black socks and smoking in it. In fact, he is still driving my old {perfectly running} car around town.

Anyway, to make a long story short, it was time to get a new car. So I bought the same car. And this time, I took advantage of the overseas delivery program.

Did you know that when you buy a new Volvo they give you the option of picking it up in Sweden? Yep. They sure do. Buy a Volvo and get 2 free plane tickets to Europe, 15 days car insurance, 1 night hotel accommodations, a free factory tour and a Swedish meatball lunch. Plus, they ship the car back to the US for you at no additional cost. How crazy is that?

So here we go. We are off on another crazy adventure!

~ Mavis

Filed Under: Mavis TV, Travel Tagged With: gothenborg botanical gardens, Mavis, one hundred dollars a month, travel, volvo, volvo overseas delivery program

Bartering with Mavis – How to Barter with Your Neighbors

July 27, 2012 34 Comments

The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird was complaining yesterday that we “don’t have any food.” Booo Hooo. So I went over to Mrs. Hillbilly’s house to try to score some “food.” You know, the kind that doesn’t have dirt all over it.

Filed Under: Bartering, Mavis TV Tagged With: Barter Kings A&E, bartering, bartering with mavis, frugal living, mavis garden blog

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park – New Zip Line and Ropes Course

July 18, 2012 6 Comments

Yesterday, I took The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and Monkey Boy to try out the new zip line course, “Zip Wild” at Northwest Trek. The Girl is afraid of heights, and I thought this would be a great way to overcome them.

I don’t know about you, but I think dangling form 60 feet in the air is pretty sweet. I mean, you’ve got a safety harness on for Pete’s sake, how dangerous can it be?

This was the third time I had done a zip line, but it was the first time the kids had done one. Monkey Boy was pretty pumped about it, but The Girl was a little more apprehensive.

The original plan was to have Monkey Boy wear the Go Pro Cam but in the end I ~~got stuck with~~ wore it. Which is pretty rad because you can’t exactly wear a head cam AND glasses at the same time. So I quickly had to decide between glasses or Go Pro.

Here is a totally boring video.

The whole course took about 1 hour to complete, and the kids and I had a blast. No one fell, threw up, or broke any bones. I’d say it was a succes, wouldn’t you?

Oh, and I almost forgot. We also saw a pair of bald eagles.

And a wild monkey too.

Peace Out Girl Scouts. Life is short. So get out there and have some fun!

♥ Mavis

GoPro HD Helmet Hero $249.99 ~ Amazon

Filed Under: Mavis TV, Travel, Vacations Tagged With: Adventures, high ropes course, Summer Travel, travel adventure, zip lines

Mavis Garden Blog – Channel Your Inner Pilgrim Episode 1 : Free Carrots

July 13, 2012 54 Comments

I’m pretty sure my family is not going to be able to eat 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables this summer. So I’ve decided that each week, as my crops ripen, I’ll give some of it away. For free.

I hope you enjoy the video.

♥ Mavis