The Start of a Homesteader Mom
Updates
Things are going great with Tristan. He has hit maintenance today. I blogged about it over at the homeschoolblogger. My blogI am doing good with the pregnancy. I was spotting but my midwife said she could tell it was a sensitive cervix so I am a little more at ease. Next appointment we hear the heartbeat and I cannot wait. I did have an ultrasound where everything looked great. But that was then... I cannot wait for another listen yk?
Homeschool has 2 days left for Alyssa's Kindergarten. I am saving them for a rainy day! :) Why waste the beautiful ones when I can just do it later! Anyways. I cannot believe it, 2 years under the belt. On to Grade one! Wow...
And this is short but sweet, I am off to bed. Check my homeschool blog out to catch up on me. I promise to update this one more frequently! I am tired though. I was up all hours last night with Tristan coughing and had to get up at 5 for clinic. So I am ready to fall asleep! Later :)
Blowing the Dust off in here...
Hey Homestead bloggers! I have not blogged in here in a while. Life of homesteading has taken a different turn for me. With moving to our new home in the city and Tristan's Leukemia journey, topped with a case of winter blues... we have a homesteading slump!Good things going on in my homestead life...I finally did get a new stove! I can cook in the oven without burning. But now I am using electric. The slick new flat tops... I BURN EVERYTHING! aurgh! Someday I am going to laugh at my cooking adventures! I cannot figure out if it is my pans that mom bought me or the electric cooking. I do not seem to burn on my old pans but it could be I am just happening to be there more when I use them. Sometimes I walk away from the stove for a second and BOOM my rice burns. Or my corn beef hash is ALWays STUCK! And that is so fatty to begin with! Who burns that!??! me!
But we have become a little more convience and quick instead of the money saving natural ways. DH has encouraged me by saying that it is only for a SEASON in our lives. So I can deal with it. I am thinking tomorrow I want to bake some bread though to make myself feel better! I have not made bread since Tristan got sick in October! I need to make some strawberry freezer jam too! But I will wait for summer for that. But I am making TONS when I do! It was our favorite!!! On fresh baked bread.... YUM!
Our home improvements are going slower than we had hoped. With Justin being on workmans comp he has had to stop anything hard to fixing the house. He does a little rewiring here and there but makes me do all the lifting! I wanted to scream when he decided to put up a chandilier! Here honey, Hold it up for me while I connect the wires!
He is lucky that 9 bulb huge thing did not come crashing down on his head! I about DIED! I am a weakling! That was mans work! No more of that! So now he is stuck only doing the little things. He hurt his back so there is not much he can do for now. But he should be good to go soon. He is getting better by the day with physical therapy. We just want to baby his back so he does not have a life of back problems. Trying until he gets released not to do anything to hurt it more. We are thinking sometime this month he will be good to go. Also with Tristan things have stalled too. But that is ok. Life throws us curves. And I am learning to be more flexible.
Tristan is doing well. Chugging along with Treatments.
Homeschooling is going well too. I am halfway done with my second year of homeschooling. I am glad I started with Preschool. Sonlight Preschool was only about an hour a day. Kindergarten was a little more complex. I just got my first grade stuff and it looks like it is another big leap for us. A Lot more time consuming. I am very pleased that it has been an ease into learning.
Anyways... I am still here! And wanted to come over and clean some cobwebs from my blog!
Holiday Bundle from Jocelyn's blog
Jocelyn is having a contest!She asked us to write about a past memory. I am not sure if it has to do with Christmas or just a memory. So I will post a holiday one.
My favorite Christmas memory is when my parents did not have much money. They would ALWAYS tell us there was not going to be many Christmas Presents under out tree. And every Christmas our tree was overflowing with presents under it. God provided! The thing that made it really special is how humble it was how he provided. My parents saved their "trash" or box tops and such for a lady at our church. This special lady - who I have no clue who she was since years have past, would turn everything in and get those giveaways that they had so many of back in the 80s. We would get stuffed pillsberry dough boys (my favorite!) Fruity Pebbles boxers and more! But to us, it was a treasure! I know my parents wished they could have given us one of every new toy on the market but it just did not matter to us! We were blessed completely by this lady and my parents working together. Our Christmas's were ALWAYS AMAZING!
I also remember going to Nursing homes with my mother to visit shut ins. There was one special guy I loved to go see. This older man would hide candy in his drawer and share with me when I came. I loved it! I remember sadly when he was not there anymore. It was very heart breaking. I plan to take my own kids to visit nursing homes someday soon. I have to be careful with Tristans immune system for the time being but my daughter gets to visit with my parents sometimes when they go to give some people communion as my dad is a pastor.
So those are two of my favorite memories around the holidays.
Free Pizza! lol
Well I got free pizza out of the deal with my oven. We ordered Papa Johns and it took too long to get here I guess. We did not complain or anything but we got a free coupon in the mail. Saying our last visit was not up to their standards. How nice was that!So I started back on my PCOS diet. Easing into the met. Urgh. My stomach does not like the adjustment period. I have however lost 8 pounds this week. But can I just say, I do not even care about eating anymore. Sure I do but I do not look forward to it like I did before. Blah. I am tired of veggies and fruit. Shhh don't tell my kids.
Exercising too. fun fun. YAWN. I am tired.
Hopefully I can stick with this and get my body back to normal. I am not ovulating at all right now. Which is making dh and I tired of the ttc game. And I think dh is leaning twords being done. I am too but it is a decision I really do not want to make. I know I half want to be done and just move on. But I think all you ladies can understand the heartache that goes with that decision. So nothing is final yet. or will be for a long time.
Well I think I am going to drag my kids to the park before the rain stops so I better get myself a shower. Later guys!
ramble ramble
I just finished up baby sitting my two month old niece. The kids did awesome with her! I even got them bathed and in bed! lol I know, give me a medal huh? No seriously, it is a nursing baby who is never away from her mom much yet. I say we did pretty good! My problem? The kids fight over holding her. I should have NEVER let Tristan hold her that first time! He just adores her.I am working on my landscaping but this weather is not working with me! We want to do so much around here.
Dh is asking me to come to bed to talk and cuddle. So I am off!
Woohoo new blog look! And whats happening in my neck of the woods.
Wow it has been a LONG time since I redid the homestead blog. I really was fond of the sunflower look. But I decided to bite the bullet and update it in here. I think it was about time. I still had my dd as 3! She has been 4 since Sept! And ds has been 2 since Feb.Life is going great for me as a homeschooling Stay at home mom. We are winding down our first year of homeschooling. I am anticipating Kindergarten next year. We will be working through the summer. This is a year by year decision. I feel Alyssa wants to this year and so do I. I have lots I would like to cover before jumping into her K things. So we will go light on the schedule but still going through the summer. Will I do this every year? I doubt it. I am sure as she gets older she will WANT a break. But at this age she asks for school on Saturdays! I put my foot down there and say no way! Mommy needs to relax! Besides that we have done over the 180 days this year. Most PreK students do not even come close to that in their 3 day a week program.
So Exercising is going well. Dieting on the other hand is not so well. That is ok. I want to loose 20# but I doubt we will ttc until August.
I might start watching my niece 2 days a week until July. I have not said for sure but I think I will. She was just born in January. So it will be nice to trial run having a baby in our mix. I am kind of excited. Because hey, only 2 days a week. That is great! Slowly see how Tristan does with a little one. Right now he loves her. But having her in his house all day long? We will see. I think he will be a GREAT big brother someday. He always has had a tender spot for bunnies and puppies and babies. Plus he does go to a nice sized nursery at church each Sunday from 9-noon. That long because we have worship practice first and I am on the worship team.
I am landscaping a little here and there. But go figure I got everything planted, not finished but planted, and it snowed again. Stinkity stink stink stink! Praying my plants live. If they get frosted and they are perinelles from the neighbor that she thinned out, will they come back up next year? Or will they never take? Dad gave me a real cute statue to add to my plants. It is a little girl feeding ducks. I had one I got from an awesome friend of a mother and little boy. I love it! So it thrilled me to get another statue.
And that is life. Do you like my new blog look?
Updates on my life
Well this week has been a long one. If you stop by my Homeschool Blog you will see that my dh's grandma is not doing well. So that as most of you probably know is pretty hard on the family and draining. We are in the in lingo stage between her being here and in Heaven. She is working hard, laboring, to leave this world.I have been doing well at walking 3 miles each day. This morning I missed it though but we did a LOT today. Busy busy. I am only down 2 pounds or so though. Well that is a start.
Dh took us out to dinner tonight though. Why does he do that!? Man do I love Red Robin burgers! Anyone ever have their burger parmesana? I take off the onions and peppers though. It is amazing! Ooooh I am feeling it in my jeans.
I got a mop. Why is this a big deal? Because two clorox mops down to breaking... I finally had to go out and get an old regular mop again. Well not the white string kind. It is a sponge kind. But even had to buy a bucket. So much for my easy peasy moping with the throw away head stuff. TWO of them breaking I decided to throw in the towel... er mop. Dh let me spring for the one with the scrub brush thing on it too. And an angled handle! Wooee we are living large! I MIGHT take a picture for you if you are good.
And I really must be off to bed. I need to come back here soon though. These pictures are seeming really old. At least get some new ones of the kids up on the side. I still like my top banner too much to change it.
MIA, korker instructions and other ramblings
Wow it has been forever since I posted over here! I sooo hope you dont feel neglected my homestead friends. If you ever miss me
hop over to my homeschool blog and see if I posted there recently. I even updated the look of that blog! Now don't get jealous over here. I just really like this look still!I have been getting lots of nice comments about my post on the hair korker instructions. If you missed it click here to check my post out. I am happy it has been so helpful to so many people.
Life on the homestead is good. We tried to buy a house recently. But things did not work for us. The people who were going to buy our trailer could not get the loan. I am not sure what Gods will is but I am fine until he shows us. It was disappointing but you know how that goes. Don't want it if it is not Gods will!
I am starting to think gardening! But have not thought too hard about it yet. Homeschooling fills my days. Alyssa is doing so well! Check out my homeschool blog to check on her school.
Hi Blogger Friends!
Wow friends, dh is on vacation and life is just computerless for me! lol I find I can get it for updating homeschool tracker but other then that he is on it or we are doing TONS of things together or that needed done as a family.He got the yard all cleaned up. It looks amazing around here. I got a lot done inside that is normally last thing on the list. And Alyssa is really enjoying her daddy being home. She knows he is home until the day after Christmas. Last night I said excitedly, only 4 more days until Christmas! She started bawling. I was shocked. I said what?! what is wrong!? She said but what about daddy being home! Awwww! Poor girl does not want to rush to Christmas one bit! Melted my heart.
Are you all ready for Christmas?! I am excited. I love Christmas. It has been so nice that my dh had the week before Christmas off. I think God smiled on us and gave us nice weather too! I feel like I already got a Christmas Gift.
Speaking of my dh and I. We have been doing sooo well. I have been reading Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie O Martin and Homeschooling But Still Married by Todd Wilson. They are both amazing books. My dh commented that he is not sure what I am reading but it is working.
Hi all you friends in blogger world! Long time no blog!
I was reminded yesterday by my friend Tamara :::::Hi Tamara::::: That I have not updated my blogs in a while. Life around the holidays are just soooo busy.This is my first year home with my kids. I am enjoying ... well saying every min of it would not be true... so almost all of it! lol My kids are at the age where they love each other but fight like mad! My mom told me there were many many days when she would tell my dad she thought we all out hated each other. I can see what she was talking about and my babies are only 1 and 4!
Tristan will be 2 in Feb. As soon as Christmas is over I will be cracking down on planning his birthday party.
Alyssa and I have been doing a month of advent for homeschool. I admit it keeps getting pushed aside. But as each book I have says, advent is fun and exciting. If your life gets so busy that you cant fit everything in by all means dont force it. And I am not. Because that will just make it a stressful time. I have dreams of this perfect advent devotions and crafts etc. I think that will come with the years. With a 1 and 4 year old nothing is ever as planned.
Alyssa is becoming my little kitchen helper though. I have a kids cookbook that goes through the alphabet. We so far made Apple Crisp, Banana Bread, Choc Chip cookies and Delicious Drumsticks! We missed Elephant Ears yesterday. I think I might try to get them in today. The reason we missed it yesterday was in anticipation of friends coming over. But they cancelled until today. So not sure if we will make them today either. Today is fudge brownie day but I dont really want to make them. They wont get eaten. I will Not miss Gingerbread cookie day though! I have never made those and I am all excited about it.
Justin is back to work full time.
A few weeks ago Justin hurt his stomach by ripping the muscles at work. He was on a 3 pound weight restriction. As you could imagine that made life rather hard. He was only allowed to work 4 hours light duty. I think he rushed it but he is back to work full time now. It was hard to get used to him being home but after 2 1/2 weeks of adjusting I was finally enjoying it! lol I am a big schedule person and it is HARD for me to change. Now he is back to work and I will miss him being home so much.
That is where I have been though. Dh's light duty meant lots of computer time.
Dog Whisperer
I just watched like 6 episodes of the Dog Whisperer. HA! I love that show! I don't think my mom reads my blog so I can say - I know what she is getting for Christmas! They do not have his show on their cabel but I know they need it.
Patches is my old dog. He is a pitbull/britney spanial mix and man does he rule that house. Mom so needs to be on that show. I watched it thinking that man - these women are just like here. The thing is you love them so much but you are totally confusing them by your behavior. Just like kids need certain security in knowing what is going to happen etc. Dogs need to feel certain ways.
Anyways. I love that show. Just thought I would blog about it.
Blogging and food talk.
I was laying in bed last night thinking about what I wanted my blog to be. I guess I really wish I could contribute more to it than I do. But it is soooo hard to find time. Homeschooling Alyssa is #1 priority in a day. And everything else lines up. Blogging is getting a last place but that is ok. I know you all love me even if I don't blog as often as I would like to.
This morning I put some sourkraut in the crockpot with Keilbasi. I use Silverstar, it is made here in Pittsburgh and MAN is it good. But I forgot to turn the crockpot on! 
Thankfully I caught it in time.
I am trying hard to workout and eat healthier. The tub of icecream and brownies I made did not help this weekend though so I gained back a pound. lol oh well. Back on today. I need to find something to eat. I am starving - ok so like I have ever starved in my life. Funny how much we think we NEED food when we go an hour or so past meal time. That is pretty sad.
Where I have been, Clothes from Dana and My Kids Have Clothes On!
It is HARD to find time to post on my boards and blog lately. Sorry if I seem neglectful. That is not my intent as I read blogs and message boards but when it comes time to post the kids have usually decided my times is up and need something. A one and a half year old does not have a long attention span to entertain himself! lol
I got BLESSED with two huge boxes of clothes from Dana this past week. This is Tristan trying on a hat! lol He liked it!
On my homeschool blog I have a blogger friend who always comments on my kids being naked! lol So look! I have clothes on them!!!
I am here but groggy.
Everyone is sick at my house. Alyssa started the ball on Friday and now Justin and I are joining her. I am not sure about Tristan. I am praying he is not. We are just plain miserable!
I am trying to finish up last min plans for her birthday party. The poor kid wants a my little pony party but I can't find a pinyata. Sure online but we are down to 2 weeks. This is our first GIRL party theme! I am thrilled. So far she has had Noahs Ark, Shrek, and Land Before Time. FINALLY a Girl party!
My mind is too foggy to think of more to blog about. I have lots but I am zonked. I will post more later. I just figured I would post so you all did not think I forgot about you :)
Just rambles
Today I take Tristan back to the dentist. His follow-up checkup. I think his teeth are looking great! Thank you all for the much needed prayers. I hear not to be too confident from friends experiances but for now I will just trust God and not worry.
Last night I cleaned up the house real nice. The only thing I have to do is go through Alyssa's clothes.
I made more laundry soap the other day when I said I was going to. It turned out a little different than last time. But it is getting much easier to make.
Oh I found a clearanced oil of pumpkin spice at Micheals! I am thrilled. I burnt it last night in my soap stone simmer thing and man did it smell nice!
Long Rambles. Sorry.
Well I have a very busy week this week. So I bleached the kitchen floors and did my dishwasher early today. Alyssa and I have dentist appointments to get our teeth cleaned today then it is off to the party store to get the supplies for her birthday this year.
I think she wants My Ltl' Pony, but that could change. So far she has never had a girly party and I am dying to give her one. We have done Noah's Ark, Shrek and Land Before Time (Dinosaurs). I saw the have a new Land Before Time set out, I just wonder if she will decide that is the one when she sees it.
Anyways, It is the Butler Farm Show this week. Our church is selling water to benefit the Fire Dept. We want to buy them an unbudgetted item. I am doing a shift on Tuesday and Friday.
I started singing at church since I am a SAHM now. I did not want to take time from my kids after I worked full time and not see them at all on Tuesdays. But now that I stay at home I am happily singing for worship. My dh designs our church web site. You can see a sample of our worship from Sunday there. He did not think to video clip (vc) it until the last song and just a snip. This week he is going to tape 3 songs so people can get a sample of our worship. So that will be uploaded next week. I will let you know when it is up.
The link if you want to hear it is http://www.clcbutler.org/worship-preview.html You have to click the play button to get it started. I am singing the harmony. I am to the left and you cannot see me because SherylAnn is in front of me. I swear I am there. Listen hard you can hear the harmony if you have an ear for it. I am the only other singer so if you can hear it, it is me My dh told me he did not move to get me in the picture because I always complain I look bad and he thought I would be glad I was not in it.
...
Well... ok. I feel two ways about that, either he truely thinks this or he also thinks I looked bad. Either way, it kinda makes me feel bad. Because if he was like me always saying he looked bad in pictures, I would encourage him that he didn't - not cut him out of things. That just makes me think I must. By the way, I have no problem with pictures if taken right. It is the candids that are taken at the worst angle on bad hair days. I actually curled my hair and did makeup on Sunday and thought I looked pretty nice. 
So that is my hormones talking. Hopefully I look decent next week because now that everyone keeps saying - why did you cut Linda out??? (the worship leader etc because he cut his WIFE out, normal people usually focus on the people they have in the band) I just know he is going to go the opposite and get too much of me! URGH (poor Justin just cannot win but don't tell him I admitted that)
Anyways - thanks for reading my rambles. I think we sound good and am proud. I am glad I got to hear it like that because I only hear the speakers feeding back to me all the vocals real loud when I am up there. I don't hear the full effects. It was nice to hear the harmony did not sound so bad. I was practicing it saturday at home myself. I only learned harmony to 4 songs on Tuesday and only practiced them once. So I wanted to practice. He said - um honey, you dont sound very good. 
Obviously he was never in chorus!!! You are supposed to not sound right alone! It is not melody. So I was a tad self consious about doing my parts on Sunday. Nice to hear how it sounded full.
We got a Bowflex! lol
We got a bowflex. Yes in our tiny trailer. It folds up into the corner when not in use. It is towering over me right now as I type. It is not horrible but takes the whole living room up when you use it. lmbo. We will eventually build a shed.
The boxes it came in went the length of my hallway! 10 boxes in all!
Alyssa benched 20 pounds and pulled down 10! She was just pretending here. (of course! lol)
I did 100 pull down and 80 benched but no pictures!
Friday Feast
Appetizer
Fill in the blanks: I love when I get to go out for icecream like my dh took us out for tonight.
Soup
Name something you use to make your home smell good. I need to work on this more... My Clorox wipes scent the counters... lol I have pumpkin candles that I adore but they are going to be gone soon... sniffle sniffle.
Salad
If you could receive a coupon in the mail for 50% off any product, what would you want it to be for? A SERGER! Or a Room for a Serger to go into... a craft room! oh yeah that would be nice...
Main Course
Besides sleeping, what do you spend the majority of the hours of your typical day doing? Cleaning up Messes my son makes - we don't call him Destructo for nothing!
Dessert
What can you hear right now while answering these questions? The hum of our airconditioner and My husband snoring behind me on the couch.
wowzas I went on a cleaning spree today
lol for me anyways. It is so hard to do things with the kids. But I got a ton done today. I bleach mopped all the floors, I still need to vaccume and make dinner though. I washed bed sheets and bathroom rugs. I put away lots of toys, did laundry, dishes, etc etc etc.
A productive day.
But the worst part.... I got the kids from playing in the backyard and we all started to walk down to get the mail and a bird POOPED ON MY HEAD!!! It was GROSSSSSSSSSSS!
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Tristan - 3
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