Living the Simple Life

Monday's Work

Posted by amanda
10:55, Tuesday, June 30, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Another HOT/HUMID week has gone by here in NC. One week closer to the COOL fall season. Only 12-13 weeks to go? Sounds good to me. I know I am to be thankful for the summer season, but for some reason this summer is *getting* to me, the heat/humidity that is. It is also taking a bigger toll on hubby at work. He came home yesterday totally drained from the heat/humidity. He works so hard for his family in this heat and I LOVE him for being the man/provider that he is.

Too many people have called him a workaholic. I disagree totally with that statement. No one in their right mind would want to be out in 94* heat with an index of 98*-100*. That includes my husband. He just happens to be one of the few men in our area who specializes in heavy machinery. Being that man, he is the one they come to for his speciality work. It's hard physical labor in whatever type of weather and my husband NEVER complains, just makes silly jokes about it. I am a blessed woman indeed to have found such a man.

Hubby also had his 44th birthday this past Sunday. He chose homemade lasagna for his dinner and strawberry cheesecake for the birthday cake. The kids decorated the kitchen with balloons and other decorations. They waited until he went to get his morning shower to decorate so they could surprise him. I think it did. It was a wonderful day for a wonderful husband/Father.

Monday was a busy one. Monday's are the busiest day of the week for me. I did the usual outside chores starting at 6:15. Here's what I did.

Milked Anna-Belle
Fed and watered Anna-Belle
Fed and watered the chickens
Went inside to strain the milk and chill it
Back outside to pick the remaining corn
Fed Anna-bell a special treat (corn stalk leaves-she acts like a child does when getting ice cream or candy)
Back inside to get a load of towels washed
Got a shower
Started breakfast
Ate
Gave the kitchen/living room a good cleaning
Mopped the kitchen floors
Mopped the bathroom floors
Hung out towels

All of this was done before 10 a.m. I then sat down to rest and fell asleep for about 15 minutes. It totally revived me..

I then sat down to check e-mails and catch up on some blogs. I then did the following:

Cleaned my room
Cleaned the bathroom
Started another load of clothes
Taped the vaccum plug with electrical tape (some wires were beginning to fray)
Cleaned out the cooler used for chilling milk
Went through some school books for the coming school year
Chose some books for DD and DS to read this week in honor of Independence Day

I then made lunch for the kids and I. PB sandwiches and a pop tart for snack (YUMMY!)

Cleaned and swept kitchen again (that happens 3 times a day around here)
Put a chuck roast into the crock pot for today's dinner

It was then about 1:30, so I took my afternoon *power nap*. That lasted about 15 minutes and revived me enough to get into DS's room and do some serious decluttering/cleaning. I came out with 4 bags of clothes that he has out grown in just a few months time. They ware now in the car on their way to goodwill.

It was HOT in that room. It is the one room in the house that has poor air circulation. I was dripping with sweat the whole time. I had to keep taking breaks just to cool down. But I got all of his other clothes humg up in the closet and I could actually see the bed again. When I was finished with the clothing part, I called in DS (10) to finish the rest. He did a great job. I don't have to cringe today when I walk by that room.

After all of that was done I took another break and looked through some books that I bought for the kids 3 months ago. (I found them in son's room and forgot they were there.) DS had read all of the one's I got for him though.

It was then about time to go back outside and milk Anna-Belle again. Went out and milked her and gave the animals fresh cool water. Came back inside, strained milk and chilled it and then got my 2nd shower of the day.

I then got supper reheated in mircrowave while DS (10) got his shower. We ate supper, cleaned up and got ready for VBS. That was from 6:30-9:00. DS got to make a bird house during their craft time. (He LOVES anythiong to do with birds.)

Picked him up at 9, went home and straighted up some more, then went to bed at 9:30. Wow! What a day and it was only MONDAY!

Today is a wee bit slower, hence the post.

Have a blessed day in THE LORD!

Monday

Posted by Cheryl
10:06 PM, June 29, 2009 .. 1 comments .. Link

This morning after Harold left for work, I had my devotions. I finished up the last four chapters of Hosea. I then made up my menu for the month of July. The first 6 days I already had planned as we are having family up the first part of July. I will do the shopping for company tomorrow, and then my regular grocery shopping later.

In addition to go shopping tomorrow, we need to pick up some things for Harold's birthday on Wednesday. We are also picking up another 10 Buff Orpington chicks.

Once the girls were up and we had breakfast, we picked peas. This was the last picking. We actually pulled the plants up while we stood and then picked the plants. It sure was better on the back. While we shelled the peas, we watched several Ozzie and Harriet episodes. We ended up getting 6 bags for the freezer, and enough for supper. We also did some cleaning in the house.

The girls worked on painting the scarecrow's head. Now they just need their dad to fasten the head on. When Harold went to work this morning, he stood the headless scarecrow against the small door in the barn. RaeAnne was out checking the temperature today. Yeller had gone in the big door of the barn. He started to howl and bark. RaeAnne ran away thinking that there might be a skunk in the barn. She finally went back to Yeller and found that he was barking at the headless scarecrow.

This morning I put two old layer chickens in the crock pot. We used that meat to make a chicken casserole. I made up a white sauce with the broth and some milk and added noodles, peas, chicken, and carrots. I sprinkled it with parmesan cheese just before I put it in the oven. We also had beets, corn, and a cabbage salad.

While Harold did chores around the place after supper, the girls and I picked raspberries. We ended up getting 16 pints. We had to get the pint cups down from the rafters of the barn. It sure made it easier to pick into rather than bowls. It is best to handle the raspberries the least amount of times possible. I will can some tomorrow and RaeAnne will make a couple of rhubarb/raspberry pies for Harold's birthday dessert.

Us old ???

Posted by m j
07:55, 2009-Jun-29 .. Posted in Home .. 0 comments .. Link

Janet and Mya went home today, . But while Janet was here we had some fun shopping. We went bra shopping and clothes shopping. The best part was no kids!!! Just us two. It was so fun and nice.

We had one lady laughing so hard she had tears running down her face. It was because Janet was telling her how much we have in common. We are born 6 weeks apart, Janet is the older one. Our atm pin numbers are the same( we did not set it up that way). Janet broke her leg 12-27-93, I broke my leg 12-27-07, the same leg, the same way(slipped walking), same surgery , but my leg has more hardware. There are so many other things that are the same too.

So anyway, we are out shopping Janet is looking at some shirts and I said no those look like something grandmas would wear. Janet says you are a grandma!!!! Thanks Jan, I did not feel like one until she said that!!!! It was then out shopping we both saw that we are getting older and saw our age. We are going to be 40 years old this fall. Where did the time go?? The past 25 years just flew by and we got older.

Then Janet made a few good points. 1. is we survived with out cell phones, the kids just don't believe that. 2. is we lived with out texting!! , if we had it back then we would have to learn how to spell better. 3. is that we lived with out computers to help us with our school work, there was no spell check , there was the "look it up in the dictionary", if we knew how to spell it we would not need to look up.

Blessings Mj

A Beautiful Sunday

Posted by Heritage Hill Homestead
11:43, Sunday, June 28, 2009 .. 1 comments .. Link

Direct my footsteps according to your word. Psalm 119:133

It has been just a beautiful day today! The weather was so nice and everyone appreciates it after the week we have had with the heat!

I had an early morning meeting at church, came home and went back with hubby for the morning service. A wonderful lady was there today and really brightened the day for us all. She had a stroke last August and has been in the nursing home since, today was the first day she came to church. It was such a surprise to see her sitting there when we walked in............she is in a wheel chair and can not really speak, just a few words, but you could tell she was happy to be there and see all of us. And her husband was just grinning from ear to ear all morning, he was so happy to have her there with him! God has a plan for her, we certainly do not understand it, but he does!!

We ate with Mom at the local cafe, then came home and relaxed a bit. I went out and rounded up some chickens to take and get tested this afternoon. I took 1 rooster, 4 production red pullets and 4 Maran pullets. They have to have a blood test in order to enter them at the county fair. We will take them for the grandkids to enter.

One of our county fairs (we have 3 in our county) was last week. The heat was unbearable those days!! Nick didn't enter his goats at this one, but I went to watch the goat show and it was hot. I was kind of glad he didn't take his because of it.

I better get off to bed..........this week is going to be quite a crazy busy one!!! Many extra things going on in our little community for the 4th of July. We are getting a float ready for the parade, baking extra for farmers market, have 4 special pie orders, want to make cookies for a contest, our church is having a supper with fireworks on Friday night (have to make a side dish for that and make sure my work is done here so we can go!) Sigh............tired already. Good night

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Quiet Sunday

Posted by Cheryl
11:16 PM, June 28, 2009 .. 5 comments .. Link

Today was a very quiet Sunday. The girls had a youth group activity between Church services this morning and evening. Harold and I came home and had steak, cooked in the crock pot, mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy. It was to quiet. We did get a nap in and then did a few things around here. I cleaned out the shower house. He did some watering on the lawn. He ran all the pop ups before Church this evening. The rain birds will be going all night. That should help cool the house down at night. We are suppose to be in the low to mid 90s this week.

We had missionaries to Brazil come and speak at our Church tonight. The girls had a great time today. The had tacos for lunch and then they went bowling. After they were done, they went to the youth leaders house and watched a movie and ate popcorn.

So busy! Taking advantage of Boston while I still can.

Posted by Sarah
02:57, Sunday, June 28, 2009 .. Posted in General Life .. 0 comments .. Link

I know I haven't written in forever so I thought I'd check in quickly.

We are making our 3,000 mile move to Idaho in just 24 days! We are both SO excited and happy. It will be great to see my parents again on a regular basis (though we will both miss Todd's parents very much, but they will be coming to visit), and to live on the lake, and relax into a slower pace of life.

Lately I have not been baking bread as much but have been experimenting with a lot of Asian food, which is SO much fun. I go to Chinatown often as it is on the same subway line I live on, a few stops past where I work. There is a fabulous grocery store there that is packed to the brim with all kinds of goodies: fresh fish and crab swimming in tanks, varied and cheap produce (stuff regularly runs $.50 - $2.00 less per pound than at the normal grocery store, and you can get all sorts of exotic things), frozen food, walls of noodles and rice, seasonings and canned goods, and even some inexpensive kitchenware. I got a pack of 15 pairs of chopsticks once for a dollar, and it's also where I got my *huge*, double decker steamer for $15 which I use ALL the time and love. Most things are written in Chinese and everyone speaks Mandarin, only occasionally in English, so there's a lot of guessing involved on my part, but it's fun, and only rarely do I pick something out that I genuinely don't like. I do have a friend from work whose parents are from Taiwan and Hong Kong; she doesn't speak Mandarin herself, but she's grown up eating Chinese food, and comes with me sometimes to point me in the right direciton.

One of my new favorite things to make is a kind of miso soup that I made up: Miso (a kind of soybean paste) and water make up the low-calorie, protein-rich broth, to which I add bok choy or spinach, oyster mushrooms or any kind of mushroom if I have them, hardboiled quail eggs, and udon noodles. Very quick and easy to make, delicious and filling, and inexpensive! A good pint of miso is about $4 and lasts *forever*, and makes lots of soup.

Today for lunch I made up some soba noodles (Japanese buckwheat noodles) and ate them with cucumber, bean sprouts, and rice vinegar. The beauty of Asian cuisine is that it's fast, healthy, and a little bit goes a long way!

Anyway. I'm off to continue packing. So close to the homestead dream!!

It has been a long time...................

Posted by Heritage Hill Homestead
11:23, Saturday, June 27, 2009 .. 3 comments .. Link

Direct my footsteps according to your word. Psalm 119:133

I have been missing here for way too long. Three months ago today was my last post, so it is about time I get back. I have checked in and read some blogs along, but just not taken the time to post. Several of my homestead friends have inquired about me and I am thankful for your friendship and appreciate your concern!

Things are going well. Hubby has just passed the 3 month mark following his heart surgery. He is feeling better than he has for a long time. We are so thankful for his recovery. God is Good!!

We are busy with Farmers Market season. I am doing a lot of baking and the garden is doing fairly well. Some of it we got in late due to wet weather and hubby's surgery. We have harvested radishes, onions, beets, peas, some green beans, and 1 tomato!

I have just weaned some of the baby goats, a few needed to wait a few more weeks. Next year I hope they will be born much closer together. We lost a doe recently so I now have a bottle baby.

As of this evening.............an incredible heat wave has just broken! Out just before dark and it was beautiful out!!! For 7 days it has been nearly unbearable to be outside. Temps in the mid to upper 90s and up to 100, with heat index around 105-110. Early mornings chores could be accomplished, but as it usually cools down in the evenings during the summer...........that just didn't happen this time. The other night I heard the weather man say that at 10 pm the heat index was still at 95! I have been wondering how folks years ago could sleep with heat like that?? I am very thankful for air conditioning!!!

I need to get to bed, this heat has worn me out, and we have a busy day tomorrow. I have an early meeting at church tomorrow.

Glad to be back, and I will try to keep up regularly again, I have missed my friends here!

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Saturday

Posted by Cheryl
9:39 PM, June 27, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

This morning Harold baled the alfalfa. RaeAnne followed along the baler making sure things were okay. While they were outside doing that, Emily and I made breakfast. We had Streusel Raspberry Muffins, fruit, and scrambled eggs with some bacon in it. After breakfast, Josie started to pull the rest of the carrots out of the ground. I worked on filling in low spots around the shower house. Harold and RaeAnne bucked the bales while Emily drove the tractor. They got everything in two loads and it is stacked and under the tarps.

I helped Josie sort through the carrots. I have two grocery bags half full in the fridge. We will use them for eating fresh the next few weeks. I also have another small bag of little carrots. We needed to pull all the carrots as I need to plant green beans in that row. I will scrub those and use them in soup. We used some tonight in our beef stew. The girls peeled and blanched the rest of them. I bagged them up and we got another 10 bags. Thirty-five bags should do us for the year. I still have some canned from last year.

Emily and RaeAnne started working on a scarecrow for the squash patch. RaeAnne had started a paper mache balloon the other day. They put a couple more coats on that and then painted it for the scarecrow's head. I am not sure when they will finish it up. They have a youth activity after Church tomorrow morning. We will pick them up when we go to Church in the evening. It will be weird coming home and only having Harold and I here.

Harold worked on the Suburban all afternoon, along with checking on the water in the garden. Emily and I helped some. I made 6 loaves of Oatmeal bread this afternoon. We had some for supper with our soup.

Angel Food Ministries

Posted by karen in MS
03:20, Saturday, June 27, 2009 .. 3 comments .. Link

I picked up my Angel Food boxes this morning, and once again I am very pleased. This wonderful ministry has cut my grocery bill in half (at least!!) while still providing us with wonderful food. Here's what I got this time.

*****I bought 2 regular boxes, so double everything on this list

1.5 lb. Ribeye Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)

2 lb. Homestyle Lasagna Dinner Entrée

2 lb. Beef and Bean Burritos (8 x 4 oz.)

2 lb. Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast Chunks

28 oz. Jumbo Beef Pattie Entrée with Gravy

1 lb. Lean Ground Beef

1 lb. All Meat Hotdog

10 oz. Individually Wrapped Sliced Cheese (16 slice)

20 oz. Shoestring Fries

1 lb. Broccoli Cuts

12 oz. Peanut Butter

1 lb. Rice

1 lb. Pinto Beans (dried)

1 lb. Margarine Tub
(Zero Grams Trans Fat)

32 oz. 2% Shelf Stable Milk (I save these)

Dozen Eggs

Dessert (frozen blueberry pie)

Then I bought 2 additional boxes.

JUNE SPECIAL #3
11 lb. Chicken Combo Box $22.00

4.5 lb. (avg.) Perdue Whole Bird
3 lb. Split Chicken Breast
2 lb. Breaded Tenders
1.5 lb. Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast

JUNE SPECIAL #4
Fresh Fruit and Veggie Box $22.00

        1 each Sweet Vine-Ripened Red Seedless
               Watermelon
1 each Large Sweet Vine-Ripened Cantaloupe
2 each Large Tree-Ripened Mangoes
3 lb.       Premium Tree-Ripened Valencia Oranges
1 lb.       Premium Vine-Ripened Kiwi Fruit (5-6 Kiwis)
4 ears   Premium Super-Sweet Yellow Corn
2 each Premium Fresh Zucchini Squash
2 each Premium Fresh Yellow Squash
2 lb.       Premium Sweet Vidalia Onions
1 head Premium Fresh Green Cabbage
1 head Premium California Iceberg Lettuce
3 lb.       Premium Idaho Baking Potatoes
1            Bottle Zesty Italian Salad Dressing & Marinade
              (16 oz.)

I spent a total of $104 for all of this food, and it will last me the month with only a few additions. It is a WONDERFUL ministry and is not income based. Anyone can do it. Here's the website if you would like to check it out. Please note that all of their distribution centers are not listed. The one I go to is not. If you are looking for one that is closer to you, just call the nearest one and they'll be able to tell you where the other centers are. They are almost always churches. Also, if you tried them in the past and were dissatisfied, try them again. Their selections are much better now. Oh, and they now have allergen free boxes, Processed to eliminate the eight top serious allergens: Peanuts, Soybeans, Milk, Eggs, Fish, Crustacea, Tree Nuts and Gluten (wheat, rye and barley).    :)

Angel Food Ministries

Tomato Update

Posted by karen in MS
03:01, Saturday, June 27, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Well, my tomatoes, I think, are going to make it. Like I said in my last blog entry, we dug them up, potted them, and moved them into the greenhouse. They went into a slight shock (to be expected) but they are recovering nicely. I am so thankful.

In the garden we've been adding more wheat straw. I'm hoping this will help. We do have a slight chance of rain on Monday (30%) so I'm praying God will bless us. WE need it soooo badly!!

On a brighter note, I've put up 7 quarts of dill pickles and 8 quarts of sweet pickles. We opened one jar of the dill and they are really good. :)

Right now I'm saving up watermelon rind to make watermelon rind preserves. I found this youtube video and I'm going to give it a whirl.

Watermelon Rind Preserves

I'm also going to make some green pickle relish. I've picked quite a few green tomatoes off of our dead/dying plants and this will be a good way to use them. I may even have enough to make a green tomato cake. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and it got rave reviews. :)

INGREDIENTS

* 4 cups chopped green tomatoes
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.
4. Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.
5. Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.
6. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

And that's about it for now. I'm praying everyone is safe and well. If you live down south, STAY OUT OF THE HEAT!!!!

May God hold you all in His mighty hand and bless all of those that love Him .