Mom sent me some clothes for Paige and while we didn't get on the web cam... Mom, here's some pictures of Paige.  She loves them and is already saying she wants to wear them to church and she is mixing and matching with her own combinations.  Dresses with pants and she is having a ball.  Steve said they were nicely made and thought they are great for Paige.  I will need to move buttons on the shirts, as the straps are too long, but that is a small thing and hopefully I can get that done in short time.   Mom made these all for Paige... when she told me she was making some dresses, I did not expect this many nor the shirts and pants as well.  I was happily surprised.

So, here's the pictures... enjoy! 

Thanks Mom!

~Melissa

Is that life is revolving around this fire.  Every day is seemingly affected by it.  It is just crazy how one small incident that took just minutes to happen has somehow touched so much of our current life.   I am trying to change that, however it seems a bit hard.  Part of each day needs attention spent on cleaning up... if I don't, we won't get past this. 

Today, Dh and Megan helped a friend sort his sheep out.  He had a hand injury that is limiting what he can do, so help was needed.  While they left this morning, I cleaned the bathroom linen closet.  It is now clean, but I had packed away much stuff and I will still be working on putting things back.  But I am glad it is clean.  Towels are all back and not packed away.  Spare bedding is slowly returning as it gets washed. 

After our morning work, we left for town to do some errands.  I picked up the package from the post office from my mom for my daughter.  We have not opened it yet... Paige is still sleeping at the moment.  I got some buns from the bread store for the funeral lunch that we are helping with tomorrow.  I got some money from the bank for my two kids that are working at camp and apparently BROKE.  We then went browsing at Menards to pin down ideas on items that need fixing. 

All this... do we stay with the same color or something new???   I'm not sure we determined much to be honest with you.  We plan to hit a couple other home improvement shops and hope to make some decisions in the next week or two.  Steve wants to get started so it gets done sooner than later.  But we haven't heard from the insurance company as to what they are covering in full, so we wait to make sure we get paid for the estimates we sent in.  What i found today is that I forgot to add paint to the ceiling tile price... that will add another $100 to the overall cost.  I also priced out the cheapest wallpaper to replace and we're leaning towards one that is about $5 more per role...so $15 more overall, but still.   Each little bit adds up. 

 Tonight we brought lots of samples home and we just sighed, not really able to make a decision.  Too much running through our heads at the moment.  

I'm learning to just take each day... just one at a time. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

I finally made the raspberry cobbler..I asked for help..Now here is a picture.. It came out great.I aslo have raspberry swirl ice cream on the side..

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Before I baked it in a 9x9 pan

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It's all baked off

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Already to eat with raspberry swirl ice cream.. that was dessert tonight and we also had the burgers with homemade buns..

Well, the wheat's still green, but during the last two weeks, two wonderful things have happened!
1) We have POWER, as in electricity (pictures coming later, when DH returns to the West Side).

2) We moved the storage shed from its home above (where the pole barn is going to go) down below, next to the cabin, so it can be a garden shed in the future. It took all day. We had to find and trim 4 logs to use as rollers under the shed. Then DH used the tractor to both pull it gently down the slope and also to keep gravity from moving it too quickly. Here's a picture of it half-way down:


Click the Show and Tell graphic to visit CANADAGIRL'S S&T meme!

Today I made my first hamburg rolls. They didn't come out to bad ..Next time I think I will make them alittle fatter..It made seven rolls..What I did was take my favorite bread recipe put it in the bread machine on dough cycle. When finished shaped the rolls somewhat and baked them in oven for 30 minutes on 350.

Blessings Sister Brenda

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This is the dough  and then I rolled out my first burger bun..

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Second they are all baked off. Once they are baked cool and put alittle butter on top and split in half

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Here is the burger all done ready to eat..

Come back soon!

 

While we were on vacation, down in New Mexico, we went to Cowtown Boots to buy Eric some… well… boots. It was actually a late birthday present. He had already gotten his hat so all he needed was some real, authentic cowboy boots. Just so happened to by a cowboy store right there in town so we all went.

All of our Littles have cowboy boots and hats. You should see the lot of them. Today they all got dressed up to play outside as I’m assuming Cowboys and “bad guys”. Haha

There were many, many pairs of boots to look at when we went to Cowtown Boots, but these were my favourite. They look tough enough to ride a horse, yet they have a simple prairie look about them. Iffen I had the money I would bought fer myself. Not to mention the fact they were a purrty shade of green and brown that gave them that old-fashion look, and they lace up. Like ‘em?

Cowboy Caleb had fun being surrounded by all them boots. He tried a dozen pairs on before we had to stop him from shuffling through. I followed him down an aisle to see what he was doing and he said, “Joshalyn, where all them boots go?” as if he couldn’t find a pair…

We have several black mulberry and one white mulberry tree on the new farm. They are delicious especially the one the bugs like. They don't bother the one tree that is not too sweet. You really have to shake the mulberry to make sure you are not eating the bugs too.But they are so good to taste.  I thought I had a picture of the trees but it turns out it is only a pic of the Japanese Beetle invasion

. These are all beetles on this tree. The plum tree has been stripped bare of its leaves.

Blessings.

My dil is due to deliver within a week so I probably will not get scads of new recipes on this visit. If you check my old old old blog articles you will find some olod pics and recipes especially from 2005 or 2006.

But for all interested parties here is what we have been eating in Sunny California.

Breakfasts -  First we had whole grain flax cereal topped with strawberries and blueberries. The second day we had yogurt with strawberries and blueberries. Also whole grain raisin toast with cream cheese. Of course natural blueberry flavored green tea or raspberry leaf tea to drink. I have been drinking hot tea lately because temps are around 60 ish in the am and in the evening.

Lunches - Rye bread with pastrami, spinach leaves, cucumber, and tomatoes. Carrots on the side.

Dinner - First we had farmer's market roasted chicken and potatoes. A truck goes to the markets around here which has a roasting area for chickens and the potatoes inside of it. People who buy their fresh food can also take home dinner. It is delicious and freshly made as the rotissarie keeps spinning out more roasted chickens. Second night we had tortillas filled with  Spanish rice and fresh chopped avocados. Choice of toppings were shredded cheese and sour cream. Fresh salsa with chips was a side dish. Delicioussssssssssssssss. This is something I would like to try when I go back to my d's house. We usually have beans and rice but it was good also topped with the avocado. But getting avocado in small town Illinois may not be as easy. Do you get the feeling that I have gone to a California spa over here? 

I did go to the Universe Spa yesterday to get my nails done. They cost a little more than the other nail spas on the main street here but it was well worth it. They do have different levels and prices but I just took the regular treatment. I have been a few times getting my nails done but I have seen that they have gotten lax at doing a nice job.  They seem to rush through it to get to the next customer. Universe Spa had pleasant music playing, plenty of help to take you right away, they offered you tea, and gave you a warm neck thingee.  The chairs were the old version which gives a pleasant soft rolling massage instead of beating you to death. It also had three differing levels of intensity to choose from. The lady I had did a great job on my toe nails also. While your toes are being done you can also get manicures. There is room between the chairs for another lady to do your hands while your toes are being done. I passed on that since I have no nails left really after all the packing and moving we were doing. It was a great experience and worth the extra money for this somewhat vacation I am on.

Oh and my dil's doctor's appt. went well today and she has dilated to 3 and is thinned 50 % for those of you that understand that lingo. She has been cramping on and off for a week or so already. Please pray for her to go in to natural labor with no assistance being needed to bring on the labor and no early water breakage.

Blessings.

 

OK...I'm going to see if I can get this to work 'cause the link is LONG!

Staples is having their annual Teacher Appreciation Days.  I take advantage of this every year.  In case you don't know, homeschoolers CAN get a Staples Teacher Rewards card/key ring tag!!  Be sure to let the clerk swipe it at every visit.

Here is the link that you can go to and find out the date of your local Staples' Teacher Appreciation Day.

Hope this works...

http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/tad_2008/?storeId=10001&cm_ven=Glamour&cm_ite=teacherday&cm_mmc=email_retail_TRW-_-CORP_TRW-_-TRW-_-TeacherDay&cm_lm=ex:WOLFHOMESCHOOL@NETZERO.COM

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><