Good Morning!
Weather here is still a bit dreary, but is still quite nice. We have been productive in the house and have tried to stay home to keep from using gas! With prices jumping 12 cents in one evening it is hard to justify going out for much of anything... but today I must. We like our milk and I need milk so I can make bread, so we must venture out today. That and it is our annual Antique Alley down our towns main strip and far beyond... it is always great fun and I am getting ready to head that way now. I don't plan on buying anything unless there is something TOO delicious that I can't pass it up. I wish you all the greatest of days and that this weekend will be terrific for you as well.
Our dog had a lovely day yesterday. He has a large kennel that he used to share with our previous dog, both GSP. We have trouble buying straw for it since we moved here 4 years ago. Usually when I go to the highway to pick up ds I buy straw, because the shop is very similar to the store in our hometown where we used to buy straw. You know a shed high off the ground with a ramp out the front, been there for years.
Yesterday we had organised that it was "straw or bust day". DH was to buy the straw after his work. He usually stays behind to catch up, but went out looking for straw. Just before this I was driving to school and saw some outside the shop in a large square. DH drove along just after that. He brought it home, but really it was lucerne hay I think.
The overnight temps are quite cool, he really needed his straw. When dh came home later, he put in the straw and "dog" jumped out and ran around him, excited.
Thursday's are one of my FAVORITE days... I am not sure why. I believe I was born on a Thursday, I know I was re-born on a Thursday (Thank you Jesus), so there are two pretty terrific Thursday happenings for me... But other than that, I usually don't go anywhere on Thursdays, I usually make a pretty nice supper, something a little more labor intensive since I am at home all day. I just like Thursday's.
Today's Thursday, looks to be a nice one as well. I had my quiet time already... YEAH! The little ones are stirring, and it looks like it will either be terribly dreary or rainy. Rainy days are GOOD for quilting and embroidery, something I need to be working on... OH and I have a top to make for Cameo, she is so excited about the top, I have to finish it by Sunday.
Here is a little sneak peek at something we have in the works. We have a rather smallish house and our storage space is EXTREMELY limited. So my husband and I have been talking about adding something to help with our storage problems, especially since we are planting a garden about 3 times larger than we have EVER planted! We are working on putting in a Root Cellar We have the hole dug, Thank you Daddy (remember all that equipment in my back yard?), it will be a 12x12. I am VERY excited about this project, I have been reading up on it and it is supposed to be one of the cheapest forms of extra storage and perfect to keeping excess fruits and veggies and to keep our canned goods from our harvest. Plus, should we have any bad storms, it will be an ideal place to seek shelter, a lot safer than our closet. Because the hole has been there for a couple of weeks now, the children have a NEW favorite place to play. War commences with a couple of children in the trenches and a couple behind the piles of clay. They have had lots of fun there.
Well, my friends... I must tarry, I have a quilt to finish, children to love and educate, food to prepare, and a garden to tend...if the rain holds off... and then I need to get started on a wedding gift. I hope you enjoy your day and appreciate the simple things today...
Love to each and every one!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas
Now please don't laugh at our attempt at making kolaches. We are Australian and don't know what a good kolache looks like! They were very yummy though. Very filling and good for a large family. This is the recipe we used with the pineapple filling.
My vintage item is a dinner set I collected little by little from ebay. I started with bowls (pictured a week or so ago) that I found at an op-shop. My Nana had the same design, it is Johnson Australia. It also comes in pink and blue. I love running a knife around the edge. My Nana had the colours in the side plates.
I also have yellow tea cups, and I enjoy seeing them in the cupboard.
I have lots of these, the only complaint is that postage makes it difficult buying them on ebay, but I was happy to pay it. I have been using it for nearly five years and used the bowls before that. We use the large bowls nearly every night for pasta and soup etc.
Please click on the top picture to see other vintage items.
I am having so much fun with this knitting machine and I love the speed in which I can get some of my knitting done up with.
On Saturday, while I was at work, I was asked to make a felted purse. The requirements: it needed to be small (she wants it to hold her wallet, cell phone and keys) and it needed to have a flap. So, on Sunday I sat down and knit one up - I'll be taking it to her on Friday when I go into town, but here is a sneak peek of how it turned out:
Here it is, on the machine - by the time I was done knitting it, it reached almost to the floor.
This is showing the label of the yarn that I used, it's Sean Sheep armytage (I love using this yarn for felting because it felts up really, really nice).
Here I have finished knitting the purse, folded it into thirds and clamped it (I got those little clamps from Princess Auto - who knew they sold knitting supplies there, right, lol) so that it is ready to be sewn together.
I took it over to Lori's house so that I could get it felted and here is how it looks when the flap is down.
And with the flap up.
I took this picture today, my beautiful assistant insisted that it be modeled, lol.
My day was lovely yesterday, busy... but lovely nonetheless. I believe that laundry was started as my feet touched the floor.... but it was a gorgeous day for laundry, I was able to wash the sheets and quilts and line dry everything.
I had roasted the chicken bones from Monday nights dinner and had a beautiful stock ready for our Chicken Soup.
I tended to the garden and my plants, I weeded the herb garden and watered my luffa sprouts
The children and I made noodles for our soup.
A rack that I had purchased to use in my cabinet organizing doubled up and became the perfect drying rack for our pasta... We enjoyed the homemade noodles so much, I plan on making those again and trying my hand at other types of whole wheat noodles.
The worms are doing exceptional and we tossed in some strawberry tops
I helped the children set up a tent for their camp-out.
With the temperature dipping so low last night, and such a large chance of rain, and the fact that I REALLY didn't want to sleep on the ground last night, I knew quite well that it wouldn't be a real camp-out...
But... I couldn't tell them just yet, look at them, could you? We had our family devotion after Shannon came in from visitation, I love to hear the children pray. Abram has been praying for his family and such, but now since there has been heavy equipment working in the future pasture... every night he thanks God for excavators and dump trucks and dozers.
Shannon and I watched the last bit of Braveheart last night. You know you are getting pretty old when it takes you at least 5 separate nights to watch a 177 minute movie... It is Shannon's ALL time favorite movie, and it is very good. Gruesome at times, where I hid my head, but very good.
While I watched the movie I worked on my quilting... Finally, I laid wearily down beside my favorite person in the whole world... Shannon and I talked and snuggled and then I prayed and went to sleep, it was a beautiful day and I am thankful to have lived it.
May 18 - May 24 The Pouring Teapot This week is all about sharing about teapots. Do you have one? two? or three? maybe more? Is it for display only or do you use it for tea? What is the tea server you use most? Your favorite teapot (or is it something like a quart jar?). Tell your teapot story, give it's history, and tell what it means to you. You can share more than once if you'd like. Antique, new, Asian, English, or something inbetween --- we'd love to know!
Imagine two shearers, two helpers, their father and elderly uncle, a wool throwing table, brooms, lots of noise from the shears, maybe a dog or two. Then at morning tea, one of the helpers wives comes with a large metal tea pot, mugs, milk, sugar and loads of cakes including beer cake & jam drops. The section near the wool, the spare piece of floor in the shed, that actually has lino on it is now where we eat and drink. This is my memory of not this teapot, it was the standin. It was very enjoyable and well ordered. It is the best tea I have had.
I am really leaning toward seeing about converting one of the upright freezers in the workshop to a refrigerator. It's the cheapest route right now that I can find, and while I don't suppose I'd mind a nice new fridge, I don't want to spend the money to get one. An older, used one might not be bad, but you take your chances on if it will last...or work any better than what I have in the kitchen right now.
Obviously, we need to rethink our way of life around here. Not having left-overs to deal with would certainly help the fridge situation. We can purchase, or re-bottle, smaller amounts of condiments we use regularly...mustard, ketchup, salad dressings and mayos. I don't need to keep eggs in the fridge. I'm not storing them that long...even buying them, I buy a case every other week. That isn't so long. I could easily them up with noodles, baked goods and even freeze some now and again.
I don't know about the milk, though. That has me wondering still. I don't typically have alot of dairy in there....some block cheeses for slicing for sandwiches, sometimes sour cream and/or cottage cheese. We have pickles and jam in there (I can most things in quarts...). Lunch meats are moved from the freezer each week for the menfolk's lunch needs. My butter is from Sam's right now, the 5# bucket. I am really looking at this from a different angle now after reading and talking with folks today. I think we can make a change to no or very limited refrigeration needs pretty easily. Guess I'm just a bit nervous to actually take the plunge.
Refrigeration alternatives
I have gotten so caught up in the various ways of perfecting refrigeration that I have failed to realize that one of the best schemes is to reduce the need for it by pursuing alternatives. Anybody who uses a refrigerator seldom considers what mankind did before the refrigerator was developed. Some may remember cutting ice from lakes, storing it in well-insulated buildings, and the daily task of transferring small chunks to the “icebox” in the house. But let’s go back still further in time.
In the pre-icebox era, how was food preserved? Basically, people used one or more of four techniques: root-cellaring, canning, dehydration, or controlled supply. Let’s look at them one at a time.
26. Build and use a root cellar.
The secret to the root cellar is that it’s tucked down into the midst of the biggest thermal flywheel we know—the earth. In a 12-hour span, air temperatures may vary as much as 100 degrees F above ground. Several feet into the earth, however, there may not occur a one-degree change. Season to season, the same in-earth spot may vary by only 10-20 degrees F.
Finish this article and find several others at Backwoods Home...
Because the hole has been there for a couple of weeks now, the children have a NEW favorite place to play. War commences with a couple of children in the trenches and a couple behind the piles of clay. They have had lots of fun there.
Here it is, on the machine - by the time I was done knitting it, it reached almost to the floor.
This is showing the label of the yarn that I used, it's Sean Sheep armytage (I love using this yarn for felting because it felts up really, really nice).
Here I have finished knitting the purse, folded it into thirds and clamped it (I got those little clamps from Princess Auto - who knew they sold knitting supplies there, right, lol) so that it is ready to be sewn together.
I took it over to Lori's house so that I could get it felted and here is how it looks when the flap is down.
And with the flap up.
I took this picture today, my beautiful assistant insisted that it be modeled, lol.
We enjoyed the homemade noodles so much, I plan on making those again and trying my hand at other types of whole wheat noodles.
We had our family devotion after Shannon came in from visitation, I love to hear the children pray. Abram has been praying for his family and such, but now since there has been heavy equipment working in the future pasture... every night he thanks God for excavators and dump trucks and dozers. 
Finally, I laid wearily down beside my favorite person in the whole world... Shannon and I talked and snuggled and then I prayed and went to sleep, it was a beautiful day and I am thankful to have lived it.
I'm here to learn more about gardening, preserving, and general homemaking. I have 5 wonderful children, we homeschool and live in New England.