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I was wondering if anyone uses a blog for a business? I was hoping to start giving workshops and talks for homeschool conventions and groups. I am wondering how to go about it. I am not keen on self promotion but I think I may just have to get over that. I was looking at starting a more commercial blog with all the bells and whistles to promote me. Ahh! I feel that God is drawing me share our experiences and help others but I am scared about taking that step.... Okay I'll go pray some more and calm down. Thanks for any advice! God bless |
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Another winter has closed in on West Virginia. Where I live we get a series of snowstorms sometimes with ice all winter long. Though nothing like the huge amounts of snow I remember as a child living in the snow belt of Ohio. Still the subdivision I live in has not heard of snow removal. The van hates the snow so I just have to get use to the idea if it snows there is no getting out until God melts it again. In that light with the recent ice storms I prepped the house for winter. Hubby is still working away from the house for the week so I got to do all the man stuff. hehe! I checked out the fireplace. Winterized the doors and windows. I know there are many of you out there going hmmm?! I can do that in my sleep. Well I had no doubt I could do the work I just had never needed to. I always had some one around that stepped up and did it. I must admit sitting here in a warm home with food stored, wood ready, candles and blankets cleaned and ready in case of power outage. I feel a quiet accomplishment to my work. I am glad the Lord let me do these things. I do hope that those of you in hard hit areas are getting things back together! I lived in central Ohio for a time and can vividly remember the ice storms that closed down the whole place for days. The salt trucks were wrecking! Merry Christmas!!! I pray peace and prosperity to you and your family this coming year! |
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YEAH! Hubby and I decided that we needed to get serious about finding land and starting the farm. With the kids and now my disabilities we are most likely going to have to build our own home. I am trying to come up with an absolute minimum amount of acres that we could make our dream happen. So I am appealing to you to throw out some ideas please. The dream is this a one level fully handicap accessable home. With at least one building for animals and one building for my eBay business. We have a 7 person family. So I want a garden that we could use to save up our foods. A orchard and nut grove. Also we fell in love with Angora goats and love working with textiles so a small herd. Chickens and other birds are also on the list. I am thinking that if we had the dream ten acres we could be comfortable. Here is northern WV we might have to get more just because of the lay of the land. I have been told to look into federal grants and special loan programs given our disabilities. Has anyone used anything like this? Lots of questions today thank you for listening! God bless and peace and joy be with you this holiday season. |
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Hello everyone! How is your holiday season doing? Ours has included LOTS of food. I had plans for lots of friends and family as well but alas the snow kept most everyone away. Our littlest one was turning one and we decided to tie in the Christmas party. At one point the list had hit the other side of 50 people. It turned out to be a big weekend for office parties. But what really killed it was the night of the party the local counties went under a special advisery cautioning people to stay home. Geesh! Ah well we have tons of food. My kids are running and protesting at the mere mention of turkey though. The ham was a huge hit though so I'll freeze the rest of the turkey and sneak it in later this month. Oh one funny that happened. We are on a gluten free diet so no normal stuffing. We use cornbread. I started making the cornbread for the stuffing and realized that I only had blue corn meal. So I thought it was no big deal and went ahead and made it. That evening when the turkey and stuffing hit the table there was a moment of silence. My hubby said,"Umm dear what is wrong with the stuffing it's purply-blue" my 5 year old yelled,"elephant boogies!" No good deed ever goes unpunished huh! Well God bless dear friends and may you have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas season! |
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YES! Especially when it is the first big snow of the season. This year our first snow and a minor snow storm happened all at once. The kids are outside shoveling, throwing and in general making a huge mess in my front yard. Oh Well I have all winter until I have to deal with the ruts again. I am still waiting for the biopsy results. Anytime now through the end of next week is when they should be in. I hate waiting and patience has always been a weak point of mine. I am thankful that over the years the Lord has dealt directly with my lack of patience. I just need a gentle reminder sometimes. So I will cast away my worries which egg on my impatience and rest in the Lord. Take care friends God bless |
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It's official the month of October STUNK for me! At the begining of the month I was diagnosised with Lupus. Then we were told that the kids have a mitochondrial disorder. THEN! I was told that there is a growth on my thyroid. I am going today to get it biopsied. I am so glad that October is over. What will we do? Well we already knew that there was something wrong on a base level with the kids so this just puts a name to it. For me I take my lupus meds and I will watch myself carefully. As for the thyroid we wait. There is nothing to be done until we know what we are dealing with. Though I tend to be a worrier I am try to listen to God and "worry not". A lot easier said then done but a worthy goal. I have big plans for my littlest one's 1st birthday/ Christmas party at the end of the month. I am going to focus my energy on that for right now. My list though is getting to scary proportions! Last time my husband and I talked the head count was about 50. We have done that before so I know we can handle it. I am starting my cooking now and freezing it! Homeschooling is going along surprisingly well given all that has happened this month. We went to reading alot of books on the go, doing print offs rather than workbooks. I think the change was welcome. Everyone is reading better! Take care friends and God bless! |
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There are apples and squash everywhere! I have two bushels of apples, and squash stuck everywhere in the kitchen. I have been cooking apples for a week now. I am happy. I think the kids are starting to get appled out though. I am making crock-pot applesauce tomorrow. I promised them that I would freeze it for Thanksgiving. I found a GREAT deal at the local Southern States on squash. We have bunches of Delicata squash and bunches of Spaghetti squash. I even got a baby hubbard for under two dollars! This is outstanding not just for the food for now... BUT I had already written these down to get from the seed store for next year. Now I get to dry the seeds and I am ready to go! Woo Hoo! Speaking of gardening here in the north the season is pretty much over. boo hoo! I put on a bunch of sunscreen and with the help of my daughter we did a bit of mowing. We took the clippings on the garlic "a winter blanket". That thrilled the little ones.. My 5 year old and my 3 year old were tucking in individual garlic cloves. It was quite cute. Well dear friends have a great day! Lord bless you abundantly! |
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The family and I were very busy this weekend. My daughter's room is being redone. G and R both have breathing problems including asthma. I tried carpet cleaning the floor. Dragging and airing out the mattresses but nothing was working. In the evening and morning they kept having breathing problems. So finally we decided that we needed to rip out the flooring and throw out the mattresses. Thank the Lord we did! Saturday afternoon everything was ripped out and the windows were wide open for some fresh air. That evening we did NOT have any asthma attacks!!!! We have not had any since! Woo HOO! One other wonderful thing that happened. While we were out buying the flooring and mattresses. I went into the local produce farmers market. They have a wall full of 1.50$ older foods. I don't mind shopping there after all with 5 kids the food goes quick. They had lemons, potatoes, apples, and oranges all 1.50 for a small boxes of each. I loaded up. Then as I was leaving I asked about their apples. They had local apples 15.00$ a bushel. I bought one and took everything out to the van. My hubby says he will be right back. He comes out with a big smile a jar of cherry butter ( my FAVORITE!) and another bushel of apples. He said happy birthday! This week was our off week for homeschooling anyway. So it will be apple week! And lemon if I can find a scrumptious recipe for them. One down note I was called today by my dr and she said I do have lupus. I am having to start medicine immediately to help reduce this flare and prevent more flares. Yuck! But I would rather know and take action than hurt for no known reason and blunder on hurting myself. Well take care friends and the peace of the Lord be on you and your home. |
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Well I had my first appointment with the Lupus Center in Pittsburg today. I was firmly caught between hoping they would laugh at me and send me packing. And hoping they would see my problems and help. Well they saw the problems and we have a plan to help. Unfortunately that means my dr is running some tests to confirm but she believes that I have lupus. :( Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks the organs and it shows with certain rashes on your face and sun exposed areas. There is a high degree of fatigue and pain, muscle stiffness and joint problems. I am sure I am forgeting lots. I am still a little stunned. My dr told me that I have to avoid the noonday sun. I must become hyper sun vigilant such as driving during the middle of the day means that I need to be completely covered. I have to get a CAT scan of my chest. I am awaiting several tests. We will know more when all this info gets in. I would ask that you please pray for me. I will have wait for the tests. Deal with the results. Then I have to tell my family and friends. But I will say this now I am NOT going to give up my dream of a homestead. If my hubby has to put in lights so I work in the garden at night the solar ones are getting better every year! God bless dear friends and thank you so much for your prayers. |
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Okay first let me say that I can handle any thing a child or farm animal can dish out. The icky stuff the smelly stuff you name it. It may not be pleasant but I can do it. Don't tell my husband but when he's not around I can even kill spiders without the drama. LOL But..... This past weekend hubby and I were cleaning the outside of the house getting ready for winter. We had pieces of an old couch that hubby was picking up and moving to the trash pile. He pulled on one piece and a gray furry streak came out directly at me. It hit my foot then went up over and disapeared. Well so did I. I shot past my husband at a full sprint into the garage jumped up on a seat and did a little dance. The shame! Once I calmed down oh gee it was only a mouse but that first reaction got me. Now hubby is following me around going "squeak squeak"!!!!!! |
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Hello all. Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I had a visit with the dentist yesterday that I was praying for. For ten years I have had troubles with a tooth the military tried to root canal. They goofed. The next dentist while doing the procedure laughed about how she was still it training! She messed up too. So finally I ask for it to be pulled last year and the two dentists at the practise came in and told me horrible things that would happen. yada yada yada. They goofed it up too, but the horrible thing is last year there was an infection under the tooth they said would go away. I continued to feel horrible as the months wore on. So I got fed up and tried a new dentist. I had an infection so bad they could not pull the tooth I had to have medication to tame the infection first. So finally yesterday after almost two months on antibiotics I was finally able to have the pesky tooth pulled. Yes it is uncomfortable but I can already feel it getting better. The tooth was causing and protecting the infection from treatment. Weird but now it is gone thank you so much Lord I ask that I heal completely!
Other wonderful news I sold my first pattern on Ebay! I also sold some patterns to a family in town. So my tiny fledgling business is off! I am liquidating McCall patterns for a fabric store closing. So there are only about 5,989 to go. hehe I think I'll be doing this for awhile. If you are interested in any patterns I sell them for 3.00 each. They are brand new. Message me or email which ever is best for you. Take care dear friends. I am off to do house work. Dishes and clothing seem to multiple when I am not looking! God bless!
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I am the proud momma to 5 wonderful kids and one fabulous husband. We live in West Virginia. My kids are homeschooled and we run a bit of a circus around here. My little ones have a genetic problem that includes autistic behaviors and multiple medical problems. It has been a long journey for us so far. We have gotten stronger through the grace of God. Now you may ask what is with the cat herding title. If you can remember a few years ago there was a superbowl commercial. You saw grisly, dusty cowboys sitting around the fire recalling their hard day. Then you notice that they are herding cats not cows. For me a cat lover that was hilarilous! My image of cat herding is you gently push forward and the cats scatter to the four winds. Now imagine 5 kids in a grocery store. Three have high functioning autism but real sensory seekers and one with severe ADHD. That is a riot in kid form. I often feel sorry for the store and the other people in it after we tear through. That is until I have somebody lean in and tell me my kids are energetic but the nicest kids they have met. AHH! they are cute! As for why I am over on the homesteading blog. I was born and raised on dairy farms in Northen Ohio. I married after the Navy and my hubby and I watched over a herd of angora goats for a farmer that's barn burnt. We loved it. Since then we have tried to move towards that place in the country. It helps that our kids need only organic because the allergies they have. We want to have an organic farm with nut trees, orchard and some farm animals. Right now I am caught on the edge of suburbia. Yuck! But I am using this time to learn canning and storing away foods. Gardening and getting seed for next year. All sorts of general skills and knowledge I can get. I hope to make many friends out there! I would love to learn from you! So God bless you abundantly and give you peace! |