The Economy Is Affecting Milk Production Too

Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 10:00 by amanda - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/business/02dairy.html?_r=2-

Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33

A Family Cow Discussion Board

Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 09:27 by amanda - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Yet another interesting site.  http://familycow.proboards32.com/-

Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33

Heifer Diary

Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 09:20 by amanda - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

http://www.real-food.com/heifer_diary_2008.htm#December_21,_2008_Sunday-

An interesting blog.

Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33

Week Four Reflections

Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 06:31 by Charity - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I did not get near as much house work done as I planned durning that week but thats ok everything was still waiting for me afterwards. Durning the kids break and after Christmas we all have been working on getting every room in this house clean. My husband has been a great help durning his break working on one room while I am working on another or while I am watching baby. All the kids have been helping too either by watching the little one while we work or helping pick up around the house.

Things Accomplished

• Our room cleaned
• Dishes caught up
• counter cleaned off and wiped down
• Lots of laundry done at laundry mat
• Living room worked on (we will be working on this room again)
• Boys room worked on
• Mp worked on
• Laundry room swept and stratened up
• Tub and toilet scrubbed
• Meal plan done for week
• Two week groceries gotten
• My daughter birthady presents bought

Today the plan is to work some more on mp room, living room, and boys room. We may also get a new washer today and some paint for the living room. All of next week we will continue to work on the house. The kids start school next week but DH still has next week off until sunday I believe anyway he will be here to help get cuaght up. Sunday I hope to get back on track yet again on my journey to healthy living and posting.

Goals for 2009

Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:03 by Country Cabin Living - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I have dicided to make some goals for 2009 . That way I can work towards my goal and not punish myself if they don't get finished .

1. Putting God in First Place for 2009, read the bible more .

2. Health is very Important (I am having a few problems now).

3. Cooking and eating more Healthy Foods .

4. Family Exercise Program ( We all need to lose some weight).

5. Pay off any debt that we can this year .

6. Still working towards being Self- Suffient off our land.

7. Pantry Stocking (Being prepared for the slow falling economy).

8. Garden Planning ,buying more jars from Thrift Stores, etc.

9.  Buying a Wood Cook-Stove ,and a Hand Water Pump.

10. Built a Solar Shower (for outside), and make rain barrels(For animals water) .

11 . Sell the extra Cars we don't need (extra cash).

12 . Making some Home Sew Items to sell(extra $$) and for Christmas Gifts of2009.

13. Sell the extra House we have ,(was going to keep it for a rent house ,but it is to far away to keep up with ). 

14. Stay home more and spend less . Shop once a month for all our needs !!

Our New Year's Celebration

Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 at 09:12 by blessed mom - 7 Comments - Post Comment - Link

    It's hard to believe another year has begun! It feels like just yesterday we were welcoming in 2008 and here we are beginning 2009!  Where has time flown?  I remember when I was a young child it seemed like time passed so slowly....... I remember thinking it would be "forever" before my birthday or Christmas....... and now I find myself saying " wow, here it is again!"  Know what I mean?

   Well we enjoyed a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration.  Nothing fancy, just family, but none the less very fun! My sister sent us a huge package full of new games and it arrived on New Year's Eve!! Perfect timing!  She is such a wonderful sister - she is very thoughtful and always sends the kids little cards and games, etc. I am blessed.   We stayed up way too late...... ( I think I crawled into bed at 3 am!) and had fun playing all the new games, listening to music, dancing the conga and eating! 

   Here are some snapshots of our fun evening........ this was taken right after our big huge box arrived! The kids were so excited!  Look at all the fun fun games Auntie Teri sent!!

   We decorated with streamers, party hats, and some noise makers. :) 

Some yummy snacks.........we had some sparkling cider to drink and toast with when 12 AM arrived!

Playing cards........Jacob, Rebekah, Samuel & Paul.....

Playing chines checkers.......rebekah, paul, rachel & jacob.......... haven't played chinese checkers in years!

 The twins playing checkers........

 Peter & Hannah playing  "Connect Four"........

We have a tradition that on New Year's Eve the kids can eat the gingerbread houses we made earlier in the Christmas season........ it's something they really look forward to. :)

Happy dancing kids..........

                                              Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!

Something new we did this year, was we made a big list of all the things we were thankful for this past  year........ here are some things that were shared :

Paul :  "I am thankful we don't have to pay the entrance fee to get to heaven -- Jesus did that for us because the price was too high for us to pay. "   * Amen to that, Paul!  Jesus did pay the complete price for eternal life with God! *

Rebekah:  "Our new wood stove that provides such warm heat!"  *  Rebekah loves to stand behind the crook of the stove......there a spot just behind the stove on the tile hearth that she really really enjoys.... we are really enjoying the radiant warmth of wood heat!*

Rachel:  " Freedom to worship"...... * Rachel is so right! There are 54 nations that Christianity is "illegal" and bibles are not allowed to be distrubuted or read.  To read more about our brothers & sisters  in Christ,  who are being persecuted for Jesus go to www.persecutedchurch.org

Jacob:  " Homeschooling"........* Wow! I was suprised when Jacob shared that! Sometimes he complains about the reports I make him type up and all the math he has been doing lately......but I am happy to know he is thankful! Homeschooling is a way of life is so many ways, and our family will be beginning it's 11th year of home education!

Peter:  " Water, food & a roof over our head"...... * Amen, Peter!  Children always remember the simple blessings that many times we adults take for granted.  So many have no access to clean water or food. He knows that first hand from the expierences we tell him of his fellow Guatemalans who live in such dire circumstances. We are thankful for our food our clothing and a warm house to live in. Especially after expierencing a furnace break down in the cold winter!*

Mom:  " For the blessing of being able to pray & worship and also for trials"........ * This year has brought us close to the Lord in prayer and we have learned how to worship the Lord.  I am also thankful for the many trials we were blessed to pass thru this year.  They draw us ever so close to Jesus. *

                                    ___________________________________

I know for many of us this time of year is a time to reflect on the past year and to think ahead and make goals and resolutions for the coming New Year. Our family is no different.  We have our "hopes" and "dreams" and "prayers to be asked and answered" for 2009. 

My heart's desire is to see my family wear out our bibles this coming year........ from continuous use........ for truly the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path........... I also hope that our voices will be hoarse from all the praising and singing we are going to raise up to our great & everlasting God this year!  I want to wear out our hands in serving the poor, the naked, the afflicted, those in prison and the fatherless and lonley.........for truly "when we do it to the least of these, we have done it unto Him"......

Oh I have so many hopes and dreams for this coming year!  There are many loved ones in my life who do not know our precious Lord and  my great hope is that their hearts will be open and their eyes opened to receive the gift of salvation thru Jesus.  He is the way the truth and light and NO man cometh to the father but by Him!  ( John 14:6)

I hope that each one of you enjoy a blessed year, a year full of JOY in the Lord and a year full of blessings -- remember, trials and challenges are blessings "in disguise" ...... embrace each one of them! They are an opporotunity to draw close unto our Lord and really seek His face!

I also look forward to another year of blogging here at HSB! This will be my 3rd year blogging here and I can honestly say this is a wonderful community! Each one of you are a blessing to me! Thanks also to my wonderful readers, who post publically and privately to me.  Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts here with me.  You bless me in so many ways!

May God bless you &  yours in 2009!

~ gloria ~

A Simple Reminder: PEACE (AKA decluttering and organizing)

Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 at 03:07 by Gabbie - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I received my Country Woman magazine in the mail this morning.  I love this magazine because they have a variety of things to entertain me from recipes to patterns for a fabric purse (made from placemats), to stories and pictures.  This month, there is a section entitled: GET ORGANIZED!   They must have written this just for me!!!!   Do they have a secret spy camera in my kitchen cabinet??? Or perhaps in our bedroom/ office/craft room???  Where ever that darn thing is, I have to find it!  LOL

The author talks about her tip to creating PEACE in the household with organization. 

P: Put like items together

E: Eliminate items you don't need, use, or love

A: Assign a home for everything

C: Contain within designated spaces

E: Execute these steps periodically

I really do believe this article was written especially with me in mind.  And especially Eliminating items you don't need, use or love is directed to me!  I am guilty of keeping things for the memories they have.  My father was HORRIBLE at this as well.  When his mother, my grandmother died, he kept her winter coat and purse.  A guy keeping a coat and a purse!!!  They had memories to him.  Well that is fine, keping SOME things for memories, as long as they bring GOOD MEMORIES!  I on the other hand chose a cookie jar (Smiley the Pig....I love it) and her rolling pin!  Those bring so many good memories for me of Grandma, cooking and baking in the kitchen. 

But through the years, I know I have saved things.......that don't have such good memories.  Are you like that too??? For instance, what about those size whatever jeans you think you might get back into some day???  LOL Get rid of them!!!  By the time you do get down to that size again, that pair of Jordache jeans with the zipper and bow on the back of the pants leg will be so out of style!!!  Or how about those guilt Christmas gifts we keep??  You know the ones.  We didn't like them when we opened them, but we keep them around just in case Great Aunt Mary should come by one day and asks you....."What ever happened to that gorgeous (read here gaudy) peacock figurine I gave you last year for Christmas???"  Send it on to Charity and next time sweet old aunt so and so asks you about it, tell her a little white lie that it broke and you hated to see it go.  LOL  Or better yet, use it as a White Elephant gift next year for Christmas on the OTHER side of the family!!  (We do this.  LMSO  My side of the family has a card game in which everyone puts in a gift of $10 or less.  After everyone has a gift in hand, you draw another car and on and on until all cards are gone.  Each time your card is called, you can steal a gift from someone else.  It is hilarious.   So when we get gifts from hubby's side of the family, we put them in that gift exchange the following year! LOL)

I know several of you have said Fly Lady is "TOO MUCH".  All her reminder emails, etc. are a little too much for me as well.  But I love her, her ideas and support and encouragement.  So when I was at the library, and saw her book: Sink Reflections.  I am reading a section now about decluttering (what is that like) and she goes to explain what the 27 fling boogie is( you pick up a trash bag, set your timer to 15 minutes and grab 27 things in the house that can be thrown away.  You aren't supposed to think about it, just put it in the bag, and then directly take the bag to the trash)  She also talks about going through a room and doing something with the items that you don't want, use or love out.  You put things in a box of where they go, to the trash, to charity, etc.  I have these wonderful thoughts of putting everything on the backporch and having a large garage sale and making a little extra money with it.  But Fly Lady knows me well, and suggests that we give it to someone else and give it a whole new life instead of hanging on to the clutter till summer when we can have a garage sale (that most of us never get around ot having! LOL).

So one of my goals for this year, is to room by room, get my house organized and decluttered.  Fly Lady says you can not organize clutter.  LMSO  WHAT A LIGHTBULB MOMENT WAS THAT!!!  You can only move it , toss it, or donate it.  So, I am going to work on a 27 fling boogie now and then, and gradually my house will become one in which everything has a place, and that item is there.  No more will eb the days of trying to find my favorite black shoes, or hunting for the scotch tape.  No more will be the days when you buy another pack of razors because you can't find the ones you just bought a week ago.  No more are the days when I buy another spool of thread because I can't find the color I need, and then after finishing up the project I find the first spool!  LMSO 

My house isn't bad.  I don't want anyone to think my house is a disaster area.  Friends also say how nice the living room and dining room looks (because I am diligent at keeping them clean), and no area of my house is ever really dirty.  It is just the stacks of fabric and computer games that need sorted through and organized (and some will be donated), the boxes of whatever that needs stacked neatly and labeled.  The upstairs closets that need cleaned out and stuff tossed away!  (Because if we haven't needed it in 3 years, why are we keeping it up there??)  When my mom and dad died, and we went through their house, I was horrified, not by dirt, but by THINGS they had.  THings they probably hadn't seen since moving in the house 20 some years ago.  Things they didn't remember buying, or receiving.  Things that they didn't want to give up because it was easier to just put it in the closet, in the basement on a shelf, or in the attic area above the garage!  I promised mysefl then, that my children wouldn't find such a mess when I died!!!

Besides....the clutter we have in our homes is not helping us.  No, it is hurting us.  Clutter in the home makes us depressed, makes our family think you don't care as much about taking care of it or them, it can make you sick if you aren't careful about dust and mold, etc.  And if these things and items we are keeping mean SO MUCH to us, then why are they not put up, protected, or put on display so we can enjoy them.  My SIL has a quilt from each grandmother that was made for them when they got married.  (I have the same.)   Hers are in a box in a storage area, well kept, but hidden.  Mine are here and there.  We use them, we hang them on the wall on quilt racks, and lay them over the bannister for all to see.  I love the quilts and I want them taken care of until I can hand them down, but I don't want them hidden!!  But on the other hand, I have certain things that are put away because, I HAVE A 2 1/2 YEAR OLD!   LOL  I know better than to put china or crystal out somewhere where little hands can grab it and break it.  It is on display in my china cabinet and someday when Noah is older, we can use it.  Until then, it is look and don't touch.  LMSO 

Well all.  I am finally off to declutter my sewing area.  LMSO  Another words, this email was my pep talk to myself.  I hope perhaps I pepped you up to clean, declutter and organize as well though!  This email was my sneaky way of putting off the task of organizing the craft and sewing area.  Hopefully it won't even take as long as I think.  In my head I think it might take me 3 weeks to accomplish this.  So, if I am not online for a while, could someone please page my hubby and tell him to look under the pile of fabric and notions or under the sewing table for me???  LOL  :)

I have been busy!

Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 at 12:03 by Gabbie - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I sat down and redid my menu for the month, the budget and my goals for the year of 2009.  I also have a list of sewing and crafting projects and a schedule for them so hopefully I will have all the presents done that I wish to give away for Christmas this year. I also have a weight loss calendar going as well.  (I would like to loose at least 50 pounds this year....but would like to push for 100.  Sounds like alot doesn't it???  But break it down and that is only 1-2 pounds per week!  Definately doable!)

  If you think that is crazy, well....so do I!! LOL  If you asked me a year ago if I would ever be this organized, I would laugh at you.....hysterically!  I can't guarantee everything will work out perfectly like I have planned, because things (like life in general) happen to throw us off balance.  But at least I have a plan!!  Most people don't start off with one, and then wonder why they didn't get anything accomplished for the year!!!

I am starting off this year with a clean slate.  No more beating myself up for not loosing weight last year (I did loose 20 pounds, but I should have been more diligent and lost more....oh well.  New year....NEW ME!!!), or for not saving more money, making more homemade Christmas presents, etc.  This is a new year, and the slate is clean.  Clean as we are from sin because Jesus died for us.  He tosses our sins as far as the east is from the west.  He wipes them from his book and his memory, as if they NEVER happened.  HOW WONDEFUL!

So this year, I plan on spending more time with my Heavenly Father in Bible Study, church, and devotions.   I plan to spend more time with hubby by planning monthly date nights (without Noah), and more playing with Noah and planning fun events with him.  (He is really getting into tumb ling around here at home.  Maybe I can look into tumbling things online and teach him, or enroll him in a class.  I think he would love it!)  I want to spend more time with friends and my extended family also!

And sometimes, it is the simple things in life that pleases myself and my family.  I want to stick to my cleaning schedule and bless my family with an organized home.  Bake more for my family, and friends.  Make more homemade, heart felt presents and cards for holidays, bdays, anniversaries, etc. (and actually remember to send the cards this year too!) 

I want to learnt o crochet this year.  I always wanted to in the past, but made every excuse in the book.  LOL My mom crocheted the most gorgeous things....and now that she is gone, I want to learn even more.  So, if I need to learn from a book, or a friend, etc.....it needs to happen this year.

I want to read more, travel more, sleep more (LOL), learn more.  I want to smile more this year.  The last few years have been hard loosing so many family members to death.  This is a year to celebrate what we DO HAVE, and not mourn what we don't.  No more whining about not having a new car, but smile and be ever so thankful for the OLD car we do have.  After all....IT IS PAID FOR!!!

This is the year, to pay off a personal debt we have, and become debt free except our mortgage.   Matthew is starting a new part time job this year doing electrical work.  He won't quit his current job until he can support the family, but we are both pouring time and effort and ALOT of prayer into this new endeavor. 

Yes, this year, is going to be a good year.  God has surely blessed us in the past (in our marriage, our finances, in our children, etc.) and he will do the same this year!!!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Posted on Thursday, January 1 at 11:34 by Jennifer - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

A goal for this year 2009

Posted on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 05:32 by m j - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Hubby and I talked about ways to save money this year.  One way we thought of was to save on our food bill.   I love to save money on food , but I been lazy about it.  We spend any where from $1000.00 to $1500.00 a month on food.    So this area is a big one to save in. As is fast food.  We are going to cut way back on that.  No more well we feel like ???? and then go get it.  We are going to make the Mexican food , Chinese, or make a good steak dinner.   But we still will go out but with my coupons, I will tell about those another day.  Because who knew you could get a $25.00  dinner for only $2.00??  I found out how.

Some of it will still be high because of my food allergies.  Wheat free foods cost more than normal ones.  A box of Mac~n~cheese for me is about $4.00 a box.  My bread is $4.99 a loaf.  I can make my own and I do, but for toast and sandwiches I use the bought one.  I am good about buying my bread though.  We order it from the maker and get 3 cases at a time.

So we are going to try keeping a budget of $100.00 a week.  That is just for food not household things or animal food.  Animal food is a another high bill.  That bill is as much as our house payment.

I am writing a menu out for the next two weeks.  I am trying to use what we have in stock and also buy what we need and try to keep the stock up.  Any advice would be great.

God Bless, mj