A day at home...

Good Morning!  I love my home so much.  I love being a keeper of the home.  Yesterday was just glorious all the way around.  We worked out in the yard, we baked and worked in the house, we learned and loved and just enjoyed all of God's goodness. 
We plowed up another garden spot, it still needs some more work to be done on it, because it has a LOT of grass.
I want to put some more corn out but I don't know if I will be able to get it ready for this years planting.
Here Eli is working on weeding the cucumber and squash row.
We have finally found our baby kittens and my son loves to bring them to me while I am working in the garden.  He likes for me to put them in my apron...
The rest of this week will be fun, I am going to post a homemade mayo recipe, I have A Day in My Life post tomorrow, I will update about my worms and taters...  so stay tuned...
Have a great day!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:33 - Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - comments {6} - post comment

Mother's Day Memories

Good Morning Friends!
I truly hope that you enjoyed your Mother's Day Weekend.  We certainly did.  It was such a great time together.
Friday night we had a special dinner here at our home for my Mother and my Sister's families and then Saturday we worked around the homestead and then Sunday we went to church and spent the rest of the day being a family.
We went to lunch at a restaurant!!!
Such an event, we had to take a picture!
After lunch we went to our favorite creek and had some fun wading and playing about...
My beautiful girls
My wonderful boys
My Beloved Me...We had a truly lovely day and I hope you did too...
Have a great week!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:57 - Monday, May 12, 2008 - comments {6} - post comment

Saturday's Snapshot

I am beginning a new project... since I usually do not have time to blog on the weekends, I am going to be posting Saturday's Snapshot!
So even if I don't have any thrilling stories (haha) I will be posting a snapshot from our lives...

Here are my BEST Mother's day presents EVER!!!!!

Have a beautiful weekend, and Happy Mother's Day!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

11:44 - Saturday, May 10, 2008 - comments {7} - post comment

Vermicomposting

I have been promising pictures of my worms for a while now, this is a new adventure for us.  I can't say as I know all about it, but if you ask any questions, I will try my best to get an answer for you. 
First off vermicomposting is
Composting + Worms = Vermicomposting
Many of us have a compost pile already.  Compost is a wonderful way to recycle your leftovers and enrich soil for your garden.  With Vermicomposting you are doing it even more so.  The worms multiply they shed and they create a worm tea, which is a beautiful organic fertilizer... but that comes later.
First off, let's talk about how to set up your worm farm... small scale.  We are going to be moving our worms to a bathtub soonly, but for now we are using just a plain ole rubbermaid tote box.
Then once you get your tote, drill or cut some small air holes.
Then you want to take shredded paper, newspaper, cardboard and get it moist.
Next, fill with some good soil.  Now you want this place moist but not soggy, you don't want to drown your little fellas. Sorry, I don't have a picture of adding soil.
Then your worms...
You know that you have really started to change when you go online to buy worms rather than shoes or clothing... Here is what my worms looked like when they arrived.
"You mean to tell me you BOUGHT  worms???" A question from my sister Yes, I did buy these worms.  You can't use just any ole worm for this, you want a composting worm, and red wrigglers are just right for the job.  You can't just dig up worms in your backyard for this one.
Here is a close up shot, just for your enjoyment.
Nice, eh?  That is 1000 of those little guys.  
Now what do you feed them???
Anything that was once alive... fruit scraps, veggies, dead plants, paper, hair, the lone sock you find in your dryer, eggs and so on.  Be sure to limit citrus peels and onions, they are quite strong.
Our little guys are getting an old sock and some dead flowers, oh and an apple core...
It is better to cut up the food that you are giving them, it helps them to break it down faster... but I am just eager to see that sock go from a full sock to no sock... so that is why I left it in one piece!
Bon appetit
You want to dig the food down in there with them a bit, and stir them up when you feed them.
Also be sure to keep the farm humid and moist.  Don't let them dry out, a spritzer bottle would be a good thing to have on hand.
Finally take some sheets of newspaper and lay them across the top and moisten them, it helps to keep them down in the bin, so they can do their job. 
Then you can add your lid, and voile you have your worm farm!!!
When I transfer them over to the bathtub, I will make a new post with pictures on that too. 
And that is when I will be able to share with you about worm tea!!!
Have a great day friends!!

My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:31 - Friday, May 9, 2008 - comments {13} - post comment

Growing your own food...

Good Morning! 
One of my favorite things is growing our own food.  I love going out and planting, watering, tending to it and then finally seeing the beauty of the harvest.  It is a joy to go out and gather food from your own garden.  We started small many years ago, we planted a couple of tomato plants and the gardening bug bit me hard.  Since then we have added much to our garden.  I enjoy my time out there.  I know my food is not tampered with, it is not 'genetically enhanced' it is clean and good, if my children were to go and eat the strawberries off the vine, they might get a little dirt in their mouth along with the strawberry, but nothing more.
 So if you are a beginning homesteader or just a gardener wanna be, try something small and plant something this year.  Be it one tomato plant, strawberries in a pot, your own herbs, whatever. Just try something and see what happens, it is a wonderful thing to eat the food that has grown in your own back yard...
 We also need to be careful of this mass produced food, so if you don't grow your own at least you can buy locally from someone who does. 
Well, I am off to play in the dirt we have rain coming in this afternoon.  Have a wonderful day!

My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:07 - Thursday, May 8, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Spring Time Homeschooling

If you are like me the lovely spring weather calls to you, aches for you to 'come play outside'!  As homeschooling Mom's we can feel guilty for our desire to be outside when, we have to school the children.  We need to be doing school for X amount of time a day and yadda yadda...  Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we don't need to be schooling, that is not it at all.  What I am saying is while we have this glorious weather take advantage of it and make sure your kids do too! 

School is not a set environment, when it is a beautiful day get out in the sunshine!  Grab your kids sketch books and run!  Find a spot, have them look for anything that is interesting to them, a bird, flower, rock, tree, clouds, bugs, how something is built... whatever!  Let them draw what they like, and then talk about it together, what is it, if it is something that needs classification, classify it!  Learn about it together! 
If it is planting time, grab your plants and set out to the garden together.  Teach them how to plant, what they are planting, when it should be planted, how far away they should be planted from one another, when you should expect a harvest, how often you should water.  This is learning at its BEST!!!
If it is laundry day, take your laundry out with your littles, have them help by handing it to you while you pin it on the line, talk about how long it takes to dry in the sunshine, how much energy your dryer uses when you run it, how much money this is helping to save your family if you do this all month,  how warm is it outside today?  So much to be learned from Mom and Dad... So much can be learned from our little ones.  They have a natural God given desire to learn, a natural inclination to help if we would just cultivate it!
My challenge to each of you as well as to myself is to include your children, let them learn alongside you, learn to love and appreciate them as little ones.  We should teach ourselves to be patient and kind with our words, to instruct with love.  I know it seems easier to say, now you go play over there while I do this.  They are out of the way, you can surely get things done much faster by yourself, right?  We are robbing our children and ourselves when things are handled this way.  These are precious moments that we will never get back and these are prime opportunities to 'school', nurture, grow, love and make memories...
So don't feel guilty when the gorgeous sunshine is beckoning you out of doors or your plants are needing tending to in the garden...  Grab your things and your children and go school!  Some of the best times will be for the making!

My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:26 - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Kids are so funny...

Our Abram has been different than all the rest of our children, they all would take naps during the day and then sleep fine at night, going to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 pm.  Not Abe, he for the longest time would not fall asleep during nap time and then I would have wasted a rather long time trying to get him to sleep and I would feel crummy because I dozed off and he did not.  So I stopped trying to make him nap during the day, it helps to wear him out more and now he sleeps much better at night... I hate it, I know he needs a nap, but I don't know any other way around it. 
Well, we had been outside for a great deal of the day yesterday, gardening and cleaning and digging and such and after supper when I was cleaning up he wanted to color.  Look at what I found after he was coloring for a minute or so...
Sound asleep, crayon in hand, still leaned over the table, and still grubby as everything from playing in the dirt... So sweet I had to take a picture.
Have a great day everyone!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

07:44 - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - comments {7} - post comment

Fall in Love with you Peanut Butter Cookies

Good Morning!!!
I hope you had a great weekend, we sure did.  Just great... We went to a graduation party, we went to a cookout, we played games, we went to church, we went to a 'heated' swimming pool party, visited with family... full and fun was the theme of the weekend! And you would know that it truly was by the quietness in my home right now... all my wee ones are sleeping from the oldest to the youngest are taking in a little extra rest this morning and I don't mind one bit, they deserve it.
I wanted to share a recipe with you this morning, I call them Fall in Love with you Peanut Butter Cookies because when my husband and I were courting, I made these for him.  And I feel that it contributed to his falling in love with me!   So feel free to give these a try, but single ladies, be wary of who you make them for! hahaha!!!

Fall in Love with you Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter       
1/2 cup peanut butter    
1/2 cup sugar       
1/2 cup brown sugar packed  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda    
1/2 teaspoon baking powder     
1 egg      
1/2 teaspoon vanilla    
1 1/4 cups flour all purpose

07:45 - Monday, May 5, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

You used to do what??

Good Morning!
(This is an imported stump... I saw it at my Dad's work and asked for it... he laughed and said "Most people want them OUT of their yard!" And I said, "Well, you know me, I am not like most people." HAHA!! How true!  So here it is in my yard with some cosmos planted around... I how it looks!)
What a great day today is going to be! I look forward to all it has in store. 
Yesterday evening I did a little demolition work on my front yard.  Now know this... I have lived in this house for um... 12 years.  Out along the bank of my yard there are some Yucca plants. I don't hate one yucca plant, but when there are about 12 planted in one clump on the slope of my yard... I loath that!!! I have been trying to rid myself of the plants for the longest time.  I have dug them up myself and got rid of them, only to have them come back again!
So yesterday, my Dad brought over his excavator and parked it behind my house.  "Dad, you mind if I borrow that?"  I ask.  "Sure, if you remember how to use it." he replies.
Are you shocked  yet?  haha... for several years I worked with my Dad in his business.  I drove a dump truck, a roller/packer, and operated an excavator.  I have operated a bulldozer as well, but I am not great at that.
I asked Cameo to go and grab the camera to take some pictures, but being that she is a lot like her Dad, her skills when it comes to looking for something are not highly developed... hee hee. So sorry, no pictures.
Anyhow... we now have a bare piece of Earth on the side of our bank where the yuccas used to reside.  I HOPE I was able to get all the root out of there so they will not come back. 
Have a great day!
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

05:53 - Friday, May 2, 2008 - comments {8} - post comment

Po-ta-toes, boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew?

Hi there! How are you this morning?  I hope everyone is doing well... I am pretty good... I had an early morning wake up call from my youngest and I dealt with that and laid back down. When I did, I didn't fall fast asleep, but my mind was spinning with ideas and ways that I can help our home financially.  We live on one income and things are getting quite tight with the rising costs.  But I have to hold fast to believe that the Lord will provide and I just need to do what I can to keep a budget and be sensible with what God has already blessed us with...
One thing you can do is, you can check out the compiled list of helpful frugal hints on The Front Porch, it turned out to be a good amount of great information so swing by and check that out!
I have mentioned to you before how wonderful Shannon's grandparents are.  They have taught us SO much about gardening and we just keep learning.  This year they taught us about growing our potatoes in a tire!
What you do is find a sunny spot of land and fill in a little good dirt in the tire.  I know it is truly glamorous looking right?  Don't knock it till you tried it!
When you do, you add about 5 pieces of potato with good eyes and press them in the dirt, eyes up. (sorry I didn't get pictures of this step by step).  Cover the potatoes up with just a little bit of good soil. Water daily and watch for growth... before long you will have this!
Now what you do is add another tire on top and more soil to cover the leaves...

07:37 - Thursday, May 1, 2008 - comments {7} - post comment