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This is probably the last thing I will get to pick from our garden. It is suppose to get into the 20's tonite. I'll loose all my hubby's peppers. I don't like them. I have a ton already in the freezer. I've already shared them. They just keep coming back. I have a ton of blooms on my green bell peppers but will probably lose them tonite too. I picked lots of sweet potatoes. A couple are the biggest I've ever seen. They were bigger than my hand. I also picked a red pepper and a few small potatoes. I'll miss my garden. Oh well, it won't be too long and it will be time to plant again. Just a few short months until it's time to start the seeds indoors.
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I have always wanted to write a book. Right now, I'm putting one together on being a Keeper Of the Home. It will include instructions and tips on organizing, cleaning, homemade cleaning solutions, cooking from scratch, and much more. I'll keep you updated. |
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I'm so sorry that I've fallen down on posting. I totally forgot all about this blog. I'm kinda anxions to get more on here. I love reading others. Hopefully, I can keep up. If I repeat myself because I haven't been on and don't remember what I've already said, please forgive me. Happy Sunday in the Lord!! |
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Right now all we have are 4 dogs and about 60 chickens. We had 2 goats but lost our Nutmeg in childbirth back in February. We opened her up just to make sure the babies were gone too. She was having twins. They didn't make it either. They looked just like their mommy and daddy. The boy was white like daddy and they doe was brown like mommy. Because they are such social animals, we sold Billy (I know, original) to a local farmer for breeding. I'm sure he's really happy. lol!!! We are going to put up new fence in the Spring and get more goats, a couple of cows and a couple pigs. I can't wait. I may eventually add a milk cow. I'm looking forward to the fresh milk and cream for butter. For now, I will enjoy my chickens. I can't wait to get more chicks in the Spring and into the Summer. We'll sell the fresh eggs. It isn't much but every little bit helps. I love my chickens. They are so funny to watch. We had a hen that was setting on 10 eggs back in the Summer. A cougar got her in the night and the eggs got too cold. Even though I put them in the incubator, they didn't make it. (sigh) I've only got 6 hens left that are laying age. I'm only getting 2 eggs a day. I think the weather has them mixed up. I don't have lighting out there to hook up a heat lamp on colder days. I am going to try adding oyster shell to their feed and see if it makes a difference. |
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Can you believe it's almost that time again? I've been thinking about what to do this year. We don't spend lots of money on gifts. We don't believe in it. For my two oldest, I think I'm going to get them gift cards to restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and Wal-Mart. My son and his wife, Adam and I, agreed to not buy for each other last year. They had just bought a new home and it was already furnished with things from their apartment. They didn't really need anything. I was at a loss what to do for them and they felt the same way. They said they just wanted to spend time with family. What a great kid!!! Anyway, I think things like the gift cards will be great for them. I will also give them goodies that I make over the holidays and jars of canned food that I put up this season. Those are perfect gifts for those who are a little more difficult to buy for. I will do the same for my mom. She is on a fixed income and finds it hard to make ends meet. The grocery card will be perfect for her. I will also go to the propane company and put money on her account. This is how she cooks and heats. While she gets help from the gov't to put towards her bill, it is never enough. My sisters and I will help with this. I have no clue what to do for my dad. He has everything!!! I will probably do a gift card at his favorite farm supply store. I did this one year and he loved it. He also loves my baked goodies. For the women: mom, sisters, niece, daughter, and daughter in law: I am making hand towels for the kitchen with crocheted tops and crocheted dish cloths to match. I love my crocheted dish cloths. I will never buy them again. For the men: daddy, brothers in law, nephews, nephew in law, sons, I'm making homemade goodies like caramel corn, cheese corn, jerky, cookies, and salsa and chips. I will put all these things in baskets for any couple and add some of my home canned goodies as well. I refuse to spend lots of money on Christmas this year. I will buy presents for Adam, Tyler, and of course, Kaden. I will probably spend the most money on the grandbaby. What meemaw wouldn't? lol!!! |
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Bless my daughter's heart. She has moved back home once again. She was living with her boyfriend who turned out to be a frog instead of Prince Charming. That means there are two more living in our home as she also has our only grandchild. I love having them here. However, they are sleeping on a blow up matress in our living room floor and she doesn't rise as early as I do. It's taking some getting used to, but I'm willing to make the sacrifices to help her get back up on her feet. I guess this is what she gets for living with him before they were married. I just don't understand why these young kids think that's what they need to do. She certainly wasn't raised this way!!!! My prayer is that she will take the time to regroup her priorities and just enjoy being with Kaden. She has a great job and will be able to save up the money to get her own place soon. I don't expect this to be a long stay. Even if it is, I'm going to make the most of having my little girl and her little boy in our home. |
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I HATE to clean. So, I've been trying my best to get the home organized so it runs a little smoother and all my time isn't spent cleaning. My thought is...if I don't have that much stuff to clean...dusting, putting away, and so on...I can spend more time doing the things I love. So, I started with donations to Good Will and Salvation Army. Then I had a yard sale with my sister and niece. I made over 500.00 and only charged a 1.00 for most items. That shows you how much 'stuff' I had that I didn't really need. I took 3 van loads to our location and STILL had more stuff that I didn't have a chance to go through. I could still have another yard sale on my own. Right now, my plan is working. I don't spend nearly as much time cleaning. My motto is...an hour a day keeps the messies away. I can really stick to that now as long as hubby and son clean up after themselves. I bought some plastic drawers at a yard sale to organize stuff uner my bathroom sink. Things like my hair clips, ponytail holders, hair pins, and whatever else, now fit nicely in a small 3 drawer cabinet. I also have some drawers that are a little bigger to hold things that were normally thown around in a basket. Things like my deoderant, face cream, lotions, etc... I have a kaboodle for my make up. I also hung some inexpensive hooks from a dollar store on the back of my cabinet door to hold my hair dryer, hand mirror, and my comb. I purged everything else that I hadn't used in a long time. If I hadn't used it in 2 or 3 years, I got rid of it. It looks so much better under that cabinet. I didn't have a lot of other stuff in my bathroom, so there wasnt' much more organizing to be done. I would like to get Adam to hang up some hooks on the back of the door. I can use these for my robe and wet towels. As far as my living room and bedroom, I did LOTS of purging. I got rid of mostly ALL the decorations that were dust collectors. A few pictures and a wreath are all I need to make my bedroom pretty. Clean is what makes a room pretty to me. Did I mention I HATE to clean? The less I have to clean, the better!!! In my living room, I got rid of most of the primitive decorations I had made. I had them everywhere!!! I love to sew and I creat most of my patterns. I had a craft booth for a while. I would make 3 of each item. I would put one on eBay, one in my booth, and the other I would keep for myself. When I put those things in the yard sale, I had ladies scurrying to pick them up. One lady said she had hit pay dirt. lol!!! I have had the primitive look for years. I still love it. I just don't want as much sitting around. I have incorporated a couple of pieces on my new bookshelves that I put on each side of the fireplace. They were a great addition. I LOVE books and have lots of them. That's one thing I didn't purge. I just can't do it. They are full of information and I just love reading them. So, I compromised and got some better shelving with those bookshelves. lol! They still weren't enough. I'm going to have to get some to go in my bedroom. I still have a ton of books in my armoire. I'm not done with the organizing yet. It's a work in progress. In my kitchen, I did some purging too. I got rid of some of my pie pans. I don't really thing I need 15 pie pans. I love to make pies, but not that many at once. lol!! I gave them to my nephews girlfriend who also loves to cook. I didn't let go of them easily. I'm one of those people who says...what if I need it later? That's why I kept all those pans for all these years. Some I have never used. Purging in my kitchen was as great an idea as purging in my living room. I have so much more space now. One of the things that caught my eye when we bought this house was the kitchen. In fact, when we were looking, the kitchen was the first place I would go. If I didn't like the kitchen, I didn't look at the rest of the house. I knew I needed a big kitchen. If it was small, what was the point in liking the rest of the house. Anyway, my kitchen is huge. When we bought this house I though, I will never have all of these cabinets full. lolololol!!! Boy! Was I wrong!!! Now, with my purging, I have all of my small appliances under my island. I LOVE small appliances!! I love commercial grade too. I will buy the biggest I can get that sits on the cabinet. I have a place for everything now. It's great!! I don't like things sitting all over my cabinets. I like them clean. I get overwhelmed easily and like things put away. I think I would like cleaning better if I had a place for everything. That's what got all this started. I'm trying to find a place for everything. Like I said, it's still a work in progress. I'll post more as it all comes together. |
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Every morning we start with chores. I have mine and Tyler has his. Then we have breakfast. Then we do our morning Bible study. I home school Tyler, so his day continues with lessons. Mine continues with more chores, cooking, and whatever I have going on that day as far as selling stuff on eBay or sewing. I've spent an awful lot of time on the internet lately. That can be a real time stealer for me if I'm not careful. I've been organizing the house lately. You can read more about that in my Organizing the Home post. |
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This is our second bout with freezing rain. Last Monday, it was pouring down. There was even lightening and thunder. It continued all day and into the evening. Around 2:00 in the morning, I was finally tired enough to go to bed, and the power went off. Luckily, I had already turned my heating blanket up on high, on both sides. So my bed was pretty warm. I just put on warmer clothes and snuggled under my blankie. lol!! My son's blanket is really heavy so he was warm all night. By the time we got up, the house was pretty cold. Thank God! We have a fireplace. I wasn't able to cook. We are all electric otherwise. I had food here that I could have wrapped in foil and put in the coals in the fireplace. That might have been kinda yummy. I'm hoping it doesn't get that bad this time. Some people are still without power. My sister didn't get hers back on until Saturday night. Well, I just muted the TV so I could listen to what I thought I was hearing. Sure enough, it's pouring freezing rain out there. It's supposed to do this all day and into the morning. They are calling for at least 1/2 inch of ice. Anyway, back to my power outage story. My mother had tress and limbs down and it pulled the meter box out of her house. It also knocked the line down that runs her spring-fed water pump. She had no water or electricty for days. A couple at church was without electricity for a full week. They have 14 AQHA horses they had to care for. It was dangerous for anyone to try to walk outside, let alone try to take care of the animals. We all did what we had to. They are as important as we are. It looked ike a huge sheet of glass. It was beautiful but dangerous. I took some pix. If I remember I will post them. I feel like my post is choppy. My mind is on Nutmeg. So, I'm going to sign off and come back later.
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We woke up this morning and our goat, Nutmeg, is having contractions about every 15 minutes. I'm taking pix and will post some later. I'll keep checking on her every 30 minutes or so. We are having freezing rain here today. I wish she would have picked one of the warmer days we just had. I've never had goats before. I'm not sure what to expect. I AM sure that God created her and she is programmed to do this just like I was. lol!! I'm hoping her God-given instincts kick in and we can do this together. She is in a warm place...well, as warm as it can be outside in freezing rain temps.. I'm leaving her in God's hands and I will keep checking on her every few minutes. In the meantime, I'm checking my books and the net to see if there is anything I can do for her.
Have a great one!! |
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I have known for 3 years that God has called me to Women's Ministry. I grew up in a small rural church that didn't have one, so I didn't know what to do. God has been a wonderful teacher and has provided some great books and websites on the subject.
Still, I have been waiting, sometimes not so patiently, for the door to open and my ministry to begin. Well, last week, that happened. I, on a whim, sent out an email to my homeschool group and asked if anyone had the same old-fashioned views that I did. I wanted to know if anyone else in my area did, or wanted to do, things the way our ancestors did. It sometimes seems that those ways of life have been pushed aside and forgotten.
I had a wonderful response!!! So, we will have our first meeting next week. We will discuss organic gardening and no-till gardening. I think this is a great place to start and it's a great time of the year to begin. |
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I love Monday's!!! I know most people think I'm crazy, but it's the start of a wonderful week for me.
The weekends are crazy here. DH is home ALL day and we don't get much done except running around.
On Monday, I get him off for work and the week begins.
I have a wonderful Bible study that I go to and get to spend the day sharing God with great friends. We are all from different faiths and denominations, but we have one thing in common, we all love God.
I love hearing the different views and beliefs of my friends. No one tries to change your mind. We all have great respect for each other and our beliefs. We don't judge anyone's faith.
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