Down Mulberry Lane

My Life: Tuesday

I created a new category for when I just blah, blah, blah about our sometimes tedious, daily life.  Some people find it fun to listen in on other's days.  I'm not sure I'll post everyday, but rather, when I have time. 

Today, Dh was up early.  I awoke at 6:36 and he was making breakfast and ready to head out the door.  I talked with him a few moments before he left.  I then was feeling rather tired from a not so good night sleep.  My youngest had a horrible night.  Fussy and whiney and I am just thinking it was that birthday cake that she got into with the "pink" frosting and little bits of candy pieces in it.  No one around here really likes cake, but the girls like to decorate it.  We had a birthday meal on Saturday for 2 of my girls' recent birthdays.  We serve the cake and then after everyone leaves, we throw the cake away.  Sad, I know!  LOL.  Anyways, little one had licked into the frosting and I took it away and asked my oldest to throw it out to the chickens and she procrastinated a bit and I look over and little Paige is again digging in the frosting.  So, I take the cake away again.  But the damage was done.  A very hypered child who could not get to sleep well and then awoke at 1:30 and remained awake (crying and fussing) until 3:30 am.  To which I just laid next to her in her bed and read my Bible.  I didn't get much sleep. 

These food intolerances are just getting the best of me and my husband is so willing to work with me right now, but the older kids are fighting it.  They still want their chocolate, their candy, etc.  We don't eat much and I'm sure that's why they feel they should be allowed it, but if little one gets into it and gets too much (like more than a bite)... we have a horrible evening and an awful night's sleep.  I am slowly using up what is in the house and I only purchase the delicacies for the olders for special occasions.  That is the plan, however, I am well stocked from Farmer's Market and not using up the vanilla chips and a few other items that just seem to hang around forever.  I keep wishing a mouse will get into them so I can throw them out!  LOL.  I am too frugal sometimes.  I am so very close to throwing out what is left of the "poison" in our house, cuz really it is poison for my little Paige.  Today, I found a bag of M and M's (and Mom you're going to love this! ) ... I threw it away!  

Even though I was tired, I got my 45 minute walk in this morning, looked rather bleak and cloudy and I was debating on waiting due to talk of rain, but I didn't get rained on and it worked out well.  I use this alone walk time for my prayer time and it has been so nice. 

I then cleaned out my closet and my dresser.  I got rid of 90% of my clothes that are not in my season.   I kept a couple comfy outfits for the barn work.  I also kept a couple black skirts for those times that they say... "Ummm everyone singing this week needs to wear a black skirt.  "  Also, I figured if I paired a couple items (a dark brown skirt, black skirts and a white skirt) with a top in my color season, it wouldn't look so off, because it isn't right on my face.  I offered my brown skirt to my autumn daughter and she is contemplating taking it, even though it has such a "high waist".  Since she was a toddler she has hated pants or skirts hanging at her waist.  She tried it on and it looks nice on her, so that is why she is contemplating taking it.  I ended up with a recliner full of clothes and a walmart sized sack of throw-outs.  The girls have looked through the clothes, but most of the clothes are not in their season's colors either.  Now I need to find someone who might take all these clothes.  My girls are dismayed that I am actually getting rid of the clothes.  Some are very nice clothes, but even they say they don't look nice on me.  It is funny that now when I open my dresser it is quite empty looking.  I look in and find it interesting that all the clothes just sort of mix well together... a nice color blend.  Not the hodge podge mess it was.  My closet is half as full as well.   I have enough clothes to get by.  I'd like one more "nice" church outfit, so I can alternate from week to week, but other than that, I think I can shop leisurely for items to fill out my wardrobe.  In sorting through the closet, I found skirts with no matching tops or tops (dressy) with nothing to wear with them.  But now I have a plan and it should fix itself soon enough.  I'm not overly worried about getting it all done/purchased right now. 

I have quite a bit of projects on the fore-front.  I am trying to get all ready for winter.  Soon, Dh will be putting the camper away and I see my kitchen cupboards have mixtures of house and camper dishes, as does the camper.  I still need to empty the soaps and liquid items from the camper so that nothing freezes, cracks and makes a mess.  Oh, there are a lot more things to do, but I hate to list them all and then have you all find out I hadn't accomplished a bit of it!  LOL   Some days it feels as if I'll never get it all done, yet when it comes right down to it... we manage to get the important stuff done. 

Yesterday I canned some applesauce.  6 pints, plus one for the fridge.  Canning is really slow going for me this year as my new stove/oven is electric and a glass top at that.  My smallest canner fits on the glasstop, so the most I can fit is 6 pints or 3-4 quarts in one batch.  The glasstop heat is uneven and cooking jellies and even applesauce has been torture for me.  LOL.  I don't recall now how many times I have stopped the entire process to clean up a spillover before it pits the glasstop.  Then to heat the canner to boiling takes a great while longer than on my former gas stove.  I just think of how long the stove was running yesterday and wonder if the cost is really worth it.  

The first batch of applesauce however was so nice.  I mixed macintosh apples with some yellow delicious and it was really nice.  I put a 1/2 cup of sugar in for the entire batch.  I think I could have gone sugarless, but the girls thought it was a bit too tart. I rather liked the tart/sweet flavor, but when they were happy with only a half cup of sugar, I was thrilled... that is so much less than the 3-4 cups we used in last years batches!  It was just enough to take the edge off the tartness.   

This morning I cleaned out the garage.  I only have left to put away the bikes up into the top of the barn (they are being stored in the garage until then, since we still use them).   I hope to get ahold of the electric company and see if they will haul our old fridge away (that is resting in the garage).  They advertise a $35 rebate for a working fridge and at the moment we know no one who wants it.  I also need to get rid of an old dishwasher that no longer works (also in the garage)... then the garage will be ready to use for winter.  Dh will be so surprised when he finds out. 

I've also put away 2 more boxes of "fire" boxes.  I still have quite the pile out in the outdoor mudroom!  I need to get it done before winter as well.    That way, when Dh heads out to the garage, he won't be tripping over all those boxes!  Well, my plan for the rest of the day is to develop a menu for the coming month, develop another plan for getting dishes done.  My oldest is in college and some days the homework is so full she can't help and at the moment this is killing her younger sisters who feels she should do her share of the work regardless!  Lastly, if I have time, I hope to either get a few more boxes put away OR work on the camper/house dish problems.  I will see which I am drawn to by days end! 

Warmly, ~Melissa

thanks and one more question

10:36 PM, September 24, 2008 .. Posted by safords

okay... it worked! But it worked so well that the entire blog went to the new font.:-) Any ideas how to change just the title and keep the others the same as before? I have a list of fonts like you said and the first one is in " " but the rest of them are just there... they don't do a thing. I see that your blog has different fonts in use.