Billyhomesteader

7-2-09 Up-date

Kristi was board earlier today and decided to play wii.  She played monopoly with Hope!  Hope is our soon to be 10 year old golden medical alert service dog.  We train the dog to all kinds of stuff some funny and silly but this is too much!

Titus is doing great in his service dog training.  We took him out for the first time to go shopping and he was wonderful.  If we stopped and looked or spoke to someone he would lay down with out being told to.  I thought it was odd, so I kept testing him.  I would walk and stop not look at him he would just lay down .  That is amazing for a six month old puppy to do on his first outing in stores.  I wonder if Kristi is going to teach Titus to play monopoly??

We start training them as soon as they are born.  Also having good parents helps too.  It took me two years to find his parents, to find the lines I was looking for.  Now we need one more female golden.  We might get one from Alex's breeder.

Blessings, Mj

My Garden, Inspired by Tasha Tudor

It has been 2 years since I went to Vermont and met up with several total strangers!  Well, they weren't complete strangers.  I had known them from the internet for at least 5 years prior.  I felt like I knew each one of them.  We all gathered in Brattleboro, VT and then took a little trip to see Tasha Tudor's garden.  It is great fun to be able to say I've walked in her garden!  We had a great time.  Memories I will cherish always.

Here is my own flower garden, a work in progress, inspired by Tasha's garden book and then that lovely walk through it for real.

That is the south side of our house.

Some gorgeous irises.

The one below is unreal!  Purple and lavender!

anxious heart...July 2, 2009

Tomorrow (Friday) at 1045am, we'll be going to the high risk OB for a checkup, to deal with the diabetes numbers as well as maybe fit in an ultrasound to date the baby. 

We could really use your continued prayers.  We're praying our little one is developing on target and HCG numbers are continuing to double.  I pray daily with thanksgiving for our little miracle and ask the Lord to strengthen my womb as the baby's home for 8 months and help give me an environment with less tension.

God is good and I know He created this miracle.  Seeing other women who have PCOS as I do and hearing their excitement tailed with skepticism is making me slightly anxious though.  I have had to take several steps back from mothering sites with women who deal with PCOS as I do.  I just find it hard to keep faith in Gods plan and not look to the "what if's". 

I'm early and sometimes I have wondered why I'm not feeling this way or that way.  But in the end, I know God is creating and developing this little miracle and I cannot RUSH Him, nor should I question or control His outcome.  I have gathered over the years that HE knows best and loves me SO much.  This waiting stuff has me out of my comfort zone.  I cannot control my surroundings, nor any outcome.  Isn't it just like God to say, "hey!  I created YOU, I know what I'm doing and you need to get your hands out of the control box and let ME do what I DO". 

I can hear His gentle voice reassuring me that all is well and think of how much I REALLY love my Heavenly Father.

At a time when everything is up in the air, HE is the only thing that is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  I can ALWAYS count on Him and HE gives me peace in my spirit.

Even as I type this, I see my Title and think, what have I got to be anxious for?  God says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; -Philippians 4:6

Thanks for listening as I share my heart with you today.  I look forward to tomorrow with hopes that we will see our little one in the ultrasound and hear his or her heartbeat for the first time.  Oh Lord, Hear my prayer.....please grant me this desire to hear my babys heartbeat and for us both to see that he or she is doing well under YOUR great hands as The Great Physician.  Thank you for this gift Lord and thank you for the greatest gift of Salvation.  I pray our child/ren will grow up seeking YOU and be Godly young men and women.  To YOU be the Glory Father.  Praise be to God.  Amen!

Goats.. HELP PLEASE

When Ike was so sick with pneumonia I brought him and Mike in the basement we put down carpet and hay and clean it twice a day it didn't smell bad..But now it smells terrible.. The floor is concrete and there was some boards where we fenced them in..

I have bleached with a bush and I've also used pine sol and it still smells..Today I've opened up the windows.. I have put baking soda down on the floor and left it now for many days..

We have had rain for many days and its damp.. could that bring the smell out??? I'm lost..

Help I don't know what to do..

Thanks Blessings Sister Brenda

Kristi and Mya's new adventure in pictures

Okay, Janet is in trouble she let Kristi and Mya run free on the mountain.  Worse yet with a camera .  Here are some pictures of the adventure.

1. Is Kristi finding out there are more than one of her:

2. Mya discover pine cones, do pine nuts come from pine cones??:

3. Is Kristi playing cars (she is the car)

4. Maybe I will be a better car sitting down??

5. Better yet I will play speed bump!! Did I send Kristi with her insuance card???

6. Mya discovers a cow and gives it a kiss !!

7. Milk comes from here ???? I know the poor thing , will she ever get over the shock???

8. Then they made friends with the locals:

JANET!!!!, we do not let the girls play speed bump in the middle of the Road!!! /.    We need to let the girls out of the house once in a while.  Poor Mya was so lost as to where milk comes from!! And did not know what a pine cone was!!!   Poor Kristi she thought there was more than one of her!!  Look at the locals nails on that local, see how long they are?? They could hurt the girls!!

Sorry but I had to write and show the pictures , they are so cute.  I will show more latter.

Blessings Mj

Pay It Forward.........

If you are wondering what this is all about and to join the fun go and check over to seem what Pay It Forward is all about at Forward To The Past

See you over there :)

A Morning Walk

Avocado Salsa...I could eat this all by my self

Avocado Salsa
Yield: 4 Servings
Sort of a combination of salsa and guacamole, this dip is sure to please lovers of both. If you like your salsa hotter, add another jalapeno or a few drops of Tabasco sauce.

1 avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 c Tomato, Chopped
1/2 c Red Onion, Chopped
1/4 c Green Bell Peppers, Chopped
1 Jalapeño, Finely Chopped
1/2 t Garlic, Minced
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil

Combine the vegetables in a medium bowl. Mash the garlic with salt in a cup or small bowl. Add the vinegar and oil to the garlic. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss to combine the ingredients. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Tropical Montana

This pair of swallows is nesting in the corner of my garden in a bird house I put up last year.  I have definitely noticed a reduction in the mosquito population.

Tending the house below.

Here's one of the babies looking out at me.  There are at least 2 in the bird house.

 Who couldn't love that face?

The parents, keeping a watchful eye.

This last one I took by sticking the camera lense inside the opening of the bird house.  It came out dark, so I tweaked it a bit.  You can make out one of the babies.

Dogs and Burgers Cupcakes info ~ recipe and picture

now this has to be the cutest cupcake I've ever seen with so much detail.. I wish I didn't have dial up..

If anyone makes these please let me know and post a picture.

No BBQ is complete without hot dogs and burgers. No grilling necessary!


Watch a step-by-step video demonstration of this recipe.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	Hamburger Cupcakes
	2 vanilla wafer cookies
	1 Keebler Grasshopper cookie
	Yellow and red icing in tubes
	Green tinted coconut
	Slices of green gumdrop (optional)
	Orange juice or lemonade concentrate
	Sesame seeds
	1 baked cupcake
	White icing
	Multicolored nonpareils
	Hot Dog Cupcakes
	1 circus peanut
	1 caramel square
	Yellow icing in a tube
	Green tinted coconut
	Cut-up green gumdrop (optional)
	Orange juice or lemonade concentrate
	1 baked cupcake
	White icing

1. For Hamburger: To build the hamburger, start with an upside-down vanilla wafer. Add a dab of icing to attach the Grasshopper cookie, then a squirt of yellow icing, a squirt of red icing, a sprinkle of tinted coconut, and 2 thin slices of a green gumdrop for pickles (optional).

2. Top with the second vanilla wafer cookie, right side up (glue on with icing if needed). Rub the top "bun" with juice concentrate, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Frost the cupcake with white icing, place the "burger" on top, and sprinkle on nonpareils.

3. For Hotdog: For the bun, cut a wedge in the circus peanut. If the caramel is soft, roll it into a hot dog shape. If it's hard, first soften it in your hand or in a microwave for a few seconds.

4. Caution: the caramel can get hot! Place the "hot dog" in the bun and squirt on a squiggly line of yellow icing.

5. Garnish with green gumdrop "relish," if you wish. Frost the cupcake with white icing, place the hot dog on top, and sprinkle on nonpareils.