Country Mama at Heart

Summertime Family FUN

AMC Theatres are offering $1.00 movies all summer long on their Wednesday 10 am showings….

Enjoy your summer!

http://www.amctheat res.com/smc/ movies.html

Lisa

www.homesteadoriginals.com come by and visit !

How does your garden grow?

Well, we’re getting potatoes in the dirt today….yay!  I think we’ve finally past the freezing temps overnight…in fact we are ’supposed’ to get a nice 80 degree stretch for a few days around here–won’t that be heavenly, after such a long snowy winter! 

What are you planting this year…and are you planting more or differently with the lovely economic picture out there?

Share, I’d love to hear about it–and has anyone planted their spuds in old tires? I am this year…and lots of em–so I hope it works well! LOL! From the many sources I’ve read about planting this way–it seems it’s very easy and yields great results!  I’ll have to post pics as we plant and post….lots of fun, we can’t wait for Summer here!

Happy Gardening!

Lisa 

Homestead Simplicity : A Primer, Ebook giveaway contest!

Looking for a little simplicity? Seems a lotta folks are these days!  We’ve got it, by way of our Ebook, Homestead Simplicity: A Primer, and YOU can win a copy!!

How do you win? Just post a comment here (only entries posted at our HOMESTEAD ORIGINALS Blog will be counted--so make sure to click HERE to post your entry :) , with your first name and email addy….you’re entered!  Want another chance to win……?  BLOG about this contest and get TWO more entries, just post your comment with your name, email and link!

NOW–want even more chances to win?  We’re running this contest the whole month of May!  Each Monday I will draw a winner out of the ol’ hat, so if you don’t win one week, come back and leave your comment/post again the next week….try, try again

Thanks for playing along~

Lisa

Godly Woman

I love this poem.......thought I would share......

A Godly Woman

The Bible speaks to everyone who follows in the Way,
But some parts are specific in the things they have to say.
The fathers are encouraged, and those alone in life,
And there are admonitions for the mother and the wife.

I always linger over these; they speak to my estate.
They offer me direction in the small things and the great.
To be a godly woman is the goal I want to reach,
And so I need to study what the Scriptures have to teach.

A woman who is called to be a mother and a wife,
Who takes the cross and purposes to live a godly life,
Is ever growing in the faith she’s chosen to profess,
And there are certain qualities she covets to possess.

The godly woman stays at home, her duties keep her there.
She rises while it yet is night and gives herself to prayer.
Her days are full of service and her heart is full of love;
Her mind is full of gratitude and praise for God above.

Though not employed outside the home, she has no mind to shirk,
She eats not bread of idleness, but fruit of honest work.
Her brother and her sister, her parents and her neighbor,
Her husband and her children share the blessing of her labor.

The love her husband feels for her is easy to reflect,
And she not only loves him, but she gives him her respect.
In her his heart may safely trust; she does him only good;
When he confides his inner thoughts, he finds them understood.

She’s mindful, too, of Eden, where the woman was deceived.
She knows it’s not her place to teach, as others have believed,
Nor to usurp authority, but listen with subjection,
In meekness and humility, accepting his direction.

When all the church assembles in a solemn, formal way,
The godly woman listens to what the brethren have to say;
And if she hears a statement made that makes her sit up straighter,
The question forming in her mind she asks her husband later.

Still, there is a congregation where her voice is often heard,
And her children are attentive as she teaches them the Word,
When she sits within her house, and when she walks along the way;
When she lays them down at night and when she rises with the day.

The godly woman is discreet, not seeking other’s praise;
She’s modest in appearance, and she’s modest in her ways.
She isn’t prone to gossip, but her neighbors know she cares,
And any help her hands can give is certain to be theirs.

The godly woman isn’t gay; she’s left that all behind.
She’s pleasant and she’s cheerful, but she has a sober mind.
Her covered head, her simple dress, her modest mien are one;
Her singular adornment is the good that she has done.

When years of faithful laboring have bent her body low,
She’ll teach the younger women in the way that they should go.
And verily, I say to you, she’ll have a rich reward.

Oh, make of me that woman, Lord! And guide me in that way.
Behold, thou art the potter, and I the softened clay.
Encourage me where I am right; rebuke me where I’m wrong.
I read these Scriptures often and I ponder on them long.

by Janice Etter

Homemade Pizza Crust

Looking for an easy, yummy HOMEMADE Pizza Crust…..?  We mixed this up in our BOSCH mixer……with the dough hooks……

2C Hot Water

2tsp. sugar

1tsp. sea salt

2Tbsp Olive Oil

3C Flour

1Tbsp Yeast

Mix ‘er up and let it stand while you prep the rest of the pizza. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Roll out your dough, press onto greased pans or baking sheets–you can add your sauce and all your toppings and bake (or you can prebake for 8 minutes @ 425)–we baked ours until the cheese was bubbly…and it was perfect!

If you are Gluten Free (as some of us are here!) PAMELA’s Mixes (Amazing Wheat Free Bread Mix) makes up an INCREDIBLE GF Pizza Crust too, follow directions on the package and then prep as you would a regular pizza…..and ENJOY! Deeeeeeelicious!

Lis 

Homeschoolers TOP TEN List

This came from Barbara Frank @ Cardamom Publishers, her “Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter, you can also see the entire article here :

http://www.cardamompublishers.com/ten-tools-for-homeschooling-parents.htm

But this is her “TOP TEN LIST” for homeschoolers…….

Here are nine of my top ten tools for homeschoolers:

1)      school boxes

2)       a wall of bookshelves (or TWO-lisa)

3)      a lateral file

4)      a plan book

5)      an answering machine or voice mail

6)      a calculator

7)      a VCR or DVD player

      a computer

9)      a copying machine

     As for the tenth tool, I’ve saved the best for last. It’s PRAYER, of course! We would not be homeschooling today if it weren’t for prayer. Panicked prayers, hopeful prayers, and prayers for patience (lots of those prayers) —–I’ve prayed for guidance before buying curriculum, before joining homeschool groups and before teaching. All ten tools have been blessings to me as a homeschooling parent, but the most important one by far is PRAYER!

AMEN!

Butterfly Nectar

The Clothesline...

A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you’d see the ‘fancy sheets’
And towels upon the line;
You’d see the ‘company table cloths’
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby’s birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You’d know how much they’d grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, ‘Gone on vacation now’
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, ‘We’re back!’ when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way..

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody’s guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

Cute–Don’t know the Author–but Cute

Lisa

Another Giveaway Contest at Homestead Originals!!

another GREAT GIVEAWAY from Homestead Originals!

I love love love quality, beautiful books, with classic, lovely stories for my children…Salem Ridge Press is the ticket for JUST those kinds of books!  Daniel Mills, the gracious Publisher at Salem Ridge, just gave us a set of their latest titles, Mary Jane: Her Book, and Mary Jane: Her Visit to giveaway to one of our blessed blog visitors! 

These are gorgeous, hard cover, beautifully written stories about little Mary Jane, and her life as a little girl, serving her family–OH you’ll just have to go over to Salem Ridge Press’ site and check out the sample chapters here.

My girls are LOVING their set! 

Thanks to Salem Ridge Press for sponsoring this great giveaway!  Sooo….what do YOU have to do to win these lovlies?  Just post a blog comment, right here, that you’d like to win  (with name and contact email) and you’re entered!  Like to get a second entry?  You can–just POST this contest on YOUR BLOG, come back leave me the link and your name/email, and voila–you’ve got 2 entries for this lovely book set!

Let the FUN begin–I’ll post the winner, next Monday, April 14th, 2008

So go to our BLOG RIGHT HERE -- to post your comment/entry to win-- comments must be posted at this link to be valid :)

Lisa