Abundant Blessings Farm

Whew! What a week!!

Sorry to be away so long from my blog friends! It's been waaaay too busy around here. I like a nice, simple, quiet life...and this past week has not been at all like that!

Sunday was our clean out the trailer day. Now, we moved here over four years ago. With that move, we loaded up a semi trailer full of our belongings. (also had a trailer load behind the Burb, and another load in a UHaul....hey...my Honey lived in the same place all of his life...and he has many varied interests....we had ALOT of stuff!!) This semi trailer has remained rather full since our move. We go out and search for what we need....sometimes we find it, more times we don't. On this day, we determined to clean off the top shelf. (Honey and Thomas put in a wood deck that went most of the length of the trailer). We did it!!!!! We had many, many, many boxes and bags that we drug out of there! The shelf now contains just a few of the boxes of things that we cannot part with and don't have any other place to store.

After we unloaded the trailer, it was time to move the "stuff". The girls and I did most of this while Honey and Thomas worked on yard things, moving the cows and other such manly endeavours.

The front porch now has lots of smaller boxes on it....for a yard sale, eBay or whatever. The bags and boxes of clothes have been sorted...the boxes of house stuff sorted. I still have not found two Pampered Chef items...the food chopper and the apple peeler, corer, slicer do-jobbie. Sure would love to find them!!!!

Monday brought a trip to the dentist. This was a return trip for Rebecca and Mary, who both had cavities. We will be changing dentists for their 6 month cleanings....I am not impressed with this one any more. First, it's a long drive over there. Second, they will only make appmts for two of my children at a time (even though the last four times we've been there, it was no problem to do so). With the cost of gas continuing to rise (we're at $3.59 a gallon now), I just can't keep making unnecessary trips. And second, Mary came out from her filling telling me how awful it tasted. This was after Rebecca came out and as she was sitting there, a tiny piece of her filling came off....(not a biggie..it looked like just the side flaked off a bit). Well, I asked Mary if I could see her filling...she opened her mouth and under her tongue were several pieces of filling! I guess they didn't rinse her mouth or something. No, I didn't say anything to the receptionist (who has the personality of a door knob!)...we just left and rinsed her mouth as soon as we got to the Burb. Not cool...that's my baby!!!

We left there and went to do a couple of errands. Then off to McDonald's for a very rare treat of lunch out. The children played a bit...then we were off to Amish-ville. Found what we were looking for....a cute gift for my MIL's Mother's Day gift...and STRAWBERRIES!!!! I wanted 2 gallons of the wonderful, sweet, yummy berries. They only had one ready....then she said, but we can pick you more! So picking they went! Can't get much fresher than that, eh?! They were more than worth the wait! When we left, we went a different direction than normal and so enjoyed the scenery. I just love the simple-ness of Amish-ville. They are people, just like you and me....I'm not really fascinated by them so much as their lifestyle. I don't really agree with some of their ways or reasons for them...but I do love how they take care of each other...how they take care of their homes and farms....that sort of thing. The same sort of thing you would have found in the pioneer days of America.

On the way out of Amish-ville, we stopped at a store. There, I found.....BIRCH BEER!!!! Now, if you're not from PA Dutch country, you won't have a clue what birch beer is....since I am from there, and since I am PA Dutch, I love the stuff!!!!! It is the most bestest tasting soda ever! I usually only get it when my folks generously treat me to it when they come back here from NY. Oh, to be able to get it here!!! And...on their deli sign, I saw lebanon bologna. Again, you probably won't know what that is if you aren't from that area....but it's nothing like the bologna you see at the grocery store...it's fantastic!!!! But, they were out of it...I'll definitely be stocking up on that when we next make a trip over there!!!!

That trip made for a later than desired arrival home....

The next day we were home for the day. Love those days!!! We worked on school work (will we ever finish this school year?? I fear not!!). That night was my monthly Mom's night out. Can I just say....I LOVE MNO!!!!!!!! This month was especially fun....the restaurant had a trivia night. It was table against table....the homeschool Moms took the game!!! Yepper...we won first place!!!! That's right....Lotta Kids....won!!! (between the 8 of us we have 37 children!). We had so much fun that we are going back there again next month! Of course, we had to have the parking lot meeting as well...making a get home time of about midnight for me. It's only once a month...and I so enjoy it...that my Honey doesn't really mind my staying out late.... gotta love him!

OH! On my way out the door for MNO...our dachshund, Penny, began birthing her pups!!! She had one before I left...and I called home several times to check up on her. She's my baby....she has decided I am hers. It's so neat to have a pet just want to be with you so much! Anyhow, I came home to find 5 of the most adorable, tiniest, loveable-est pups with my Penny! We have 3 girls and 2 boys. They are just incredibly cute!!!!!!

Now, we are to Wednesday...a day at home. After we finished school work, I worked some on sorting through the bags on the porch. Then it was time to begin supper. After supper, it was back to the porch...till my thoughtful friend called to ask if we wanted the last of burger meat she had from the last cow they had processed. Ummmm...YES!! Grass fed beef....no hormones, no grain...no nothing? You betcha'! So, Natalie, Mary and I got ready to go....and decided to also visit another friend who was thoughtful enough to bring our wheat order home with her over the weekend. Two stops...and I came home with 150# of wheat and 22# of beef. Not a bad trip, eh?!

Yesterday, we went to town, which is 20 miles north of us....we had several stops to make in town. We went to the thrift store to donate clothes. We had 16 bags of clothes to donate! It was all clothes we brought with us when we moved. It felt so incredibly good to get rid of all of them!!! What a load!!! And what alot of room they took up. Toby told me to only get rid of what I could handle...cause I was getting to the boxes of infant clothes. I just couldn't part with the infant clothes. So, we kept three boxes of infant clothes...the girl box, the boy box and the cloth diapers, maternity clothes, blankets box. I don't know if we will ever get to use those things ourselves again, but if not, we can pass them onto Rebecca one day....

Then we stopped at Walgreen's......didn't find all the we went there to buy...but did find a deal on Toby's red rice yeast. Love deals!!! Then it was off to CVS....as we were listening to the radio before heading into CVS, I heard them say, ".......(our town)...take cover, there is a tornado warning". I was quite thankful to be in town instead of at home....we have no place to take cover. All of our walls are exterior walls. If we had been home, we would have run to over to my friend's home to take cover in her basement. There was no damage here...must have been lots of wind due to the stuff strewn about our yard. And rain...the creek was washed clean of all the trimmings that Rebecca and Thomas had done the other day.

We left CVS and went to Wal Mart. The sky looked spooky. Wal Mart and Home Depot are next to each other, seperated by their parking lots. Literally, over HD, it was dark and black, over WM, it was cloudy but sunny. Strange. We walked into WM, passing alot of employees outside on their cell phones. The greeter told us that the store was officially closed for business due to the tornado warning, but we could stand in the middle of the store by the fitting rooms if we chose to stay. Well, we thought we'd just stay since the warning was to expire in 15 minutes, at 1:45. So, we stood there....and waited. We did pick out a swimsuit for Mary....then we heard that they extended the warning till 2:15. That's when we decided to hang out at HD instead of WM!

Got to Home Depot....to find that it was business as usual. Found Toby, who was busily trying to finish up before he left at 2:15 (he had a bit of a long lunch the day before so he had 15 minutes to make up). We bought a water filter and talked with some other employees...then headed back to WM. All was back to normal there when we returned.

The plan was to meet Toby at the optical dept so we could both order new glasses. Except when he got there, the optical dept was closed for lunch...the sign said they'd return at 2:15. But it was 2:30 at this point! What do we do?? Well, we wandered around looking for a few birthday presents for parties this weekend. Still not open. So, Toby and Thomas went to the Subway there and had a drink while the girls and I shopped. We did our monthly big shopping trip. When we finished, the optical dept was now opened. We went there to pick out glasses.

We had upgraded our vision insurance last year....Toby wears progressive bifocals...and they can be rather costly. When the optician learned we had insurance, he starting telling us that they normally pay $130 towards frames, but nothing towards lens. He was quite surprised when he called to get authorization to find that they did pay $130 towards frames, but also paid ALL of the lens price! So, we didn't have to pay anything for our exams or glasses!!! Yippee!!! Toby's would have been $450, and mine $250! Thank you, Lord, for good vision insurance!!!!!

After all of this, we finally headed home. It was nearly 6 before we got home! The children took care of unloading the Burb and putting away all of our purchases while I started supper. We sat down to eat at 7. We NEVER eat that late.....

So, it was a late night to bed....but I stayed up this morning...today is our last Keepers/Contenders meeting for this year. We are studying manners and I need to read over the book I have for this again. We'll also be discussing our banquet. A friend who lives near Amish-ville is bringing me 4 gallons of milk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for that!!!!!!

My MIL and SFIL are to arrive this afternoon! They are on their way from FL to MI for the summer. We're looking forward to seeing them!! They may even be here when we return from Keepers today. How cool is that?!

Tomorrow holds a birthday party for children of a dear friend. It's a combined party for two of her children. I believe just the girls and I are going...not sure....

Then, of course, Sunday is Mother's Day. Sure wish my Mom were here for the special day...but she's always with me in my heart....

So...that's where I've been...sorry to be away so long!!!!

Untitled Comment

{ 07:22, Friday, May 9, 2008 } { Posted by homesteadinthemaking }

Wow!!! You have had a whirlwind week. I am so happy about Penny and her pups. We love new babies. I know what you mean about the gas. Ours is $3.46 right now. I don't even know if we will vacation this year because of it. I hope your weekend is great.
Blessings,
Trixi

Untitled Comment

{ 02:28, Friday, May 9, 2008 } { Posted by countrylivin }

I've had a busy week like you've had this week. It's scary but our gas is 3.75/gal where I work part time!!! It's downright sickening how high the gas prices are going! I've never been to PA Dutch country but hopefully someday I will be able to visit!
I love reading your blog! We have a miniature dachshund who is being very naughty. He jumped out the LR window. But thankfully he came right to me when he saw me. Congrats on Penny's puppies! I want to get a female dachshund to mate with Copper! They are my favorite doggies!

Sunday

{ 01:13, Sunday, May 11, 2008 } { Posted by Cathy }

Hi Laurie,
Wanted to wish you a very happy Mother's Day.
I'm thinking of you today on this special day.
I love ya my friend,
Cathy