Solomon Homestead

Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer

My daughter finally finished college, after six years, lol

Well, she's done it, finally!!!!!  Kristy graduated high school in 2001 with honors and went straight to NSU. Thank God that the university is about 10 minutes away across our little town. She could remain living at home and didn't have far to travel. I made all my children wait until they were 18 before getting their drivers licenses, so she had just started driving.

She started college with an open mind and no real agenda. She was taking general studies courses at first until she decided that she wanted to become a nurse. It was always something that she thought about, so nursing it was. By the middle of the first year she had switched and started taking classes that would lead her to becoming a nurse. Three years into it she got a professor that was sooo mean. When I tell you the class started with 30+ students and within two weeks had lost almost half and that my daughter came home crying almost everyday, I'm not exaggerating a bit. She stuck with it though, until the women got into her face and literally screamed and spat  on her face for something Kristy was even taught.  The professor would skip over things in the books because she "expected" the students to know these things. Well how are they going to learn things that they aren't being taught? I told her to hang on that the year was almost up, but she informed me that once your assigned a professor,  your stuck with them for two years, until you've finished the program. That wasn't an option at that point for Kristy, she couldn't take it anymore.  She left school that day and did not return for a little over a year. I was so upset to say the least.  I even called the school and told someone the story. They told me that they heard several complaints per week about this women, but that they were so short handed, they had no option but to keep her on staff.

So for a year my daughter beat herself up for what she had done to herself.  I was disappointed but never let her see that. I'm not one to push my children into things that I myself probably could not do.  I prayed that she would come  to figure out what she wanted in life and work to get it.

While she was off, she did work at several odd jobs, but nothing made her  happy.  She knew that she had made a big mistake so back to school she went. She found out that she could get back into the nursing program but with a different teacher. She was so excited. Well two more years into the program all is going well. Her grades are fantastic, she even made the Dean's list once or twice. THEN, my husbands little nephew died in my daughter's arm. He was one year old and died of heart failure earlier this year. She was giving him CPR and couldn't revive him.

OK, once again she was tramatized. I'm sure you can figure out where this is heading. Yes, she dropped her nursing classes AGAIN, BUT she dicided that she would get that diploma.

She was short only one credit to graduate. She picked up a speech class and Monday night was her last class. She has to email in her last exam and she's done.  THANK YOU JESUS!!!! LOL

She now has  a great job that she loves. She is working for a home health care company as a data entry clerk. With her partial  medical background  she is good at this job. She works with nurses and some doctors, so she is in at least the area of her choice, lol. 

She called me yesterday from work and asked me if I would go and pick  up her diploma from the school on December 16th because she doesn't want to miss work. She isn't one for big ta-dos or events, so graduating with the large class was never an option for her. So for her long six years of hard ups and downs, I  get to go pick her diploma. I won't even get a picture of her receiving it, LOL.  But, as long as she is happy, isn't that all that matters to us moms!

An "Ordinary" Thursday?

Five o'clock in the morning I slip through puppy puddles on my way to the kitchen only to find our fire is out. Now where is some firepaper~~I find a couple pages and twist them into tightwads and grab a couple handfuls of kindling from the bucket I have in the kitchen just for such incidences. fire gets going while my tea water starts to boil. Puppies drag kitties around thinking they are the best squeaky toys ever. Old cats growl and swat at puppies. Kitties screaming for food and water cause the puppies ate theirs. Old dogs wanting in old dogs wanting out. Puppies in puppies out. Tea in teapot. wipe up yet another puddle. Go check my emails and start on a blog for homesteader and the power goes out ~~power comes back on. Fire needs stoking dear husband is getting up start water for his tea. Bawl out a puppy for picking on kittens and a couple others for eating the kitty food again!

My mind wanders(imagine that) to the days work ~~the cab of our truck has to be cleaned out and washed as puppies puked in it yesterday on the way to town. They can't seem to make it past Slide Mountain. The road is so windy. Anyways big deal wash the truck back seat, it is a super cab or cub cab whatever. One problem it is cold out so I have to run the truck for awhile to warm the cab up enough to wash it and dry it out again. And then put clean straw down as we prepare for the trip to visit Dennis' mom for her 80th birthday she is sooo excited about!

We have to have everything ready set to go by early morning as we have a grandson to take with us so he can go visit his daddy. Yes we are one of those perfect Christian families whose children have the nerve to make their own decisions~~not always wise ones. But at least we get to have this little fellow alot and he is part of this family and daddy gets to see him whenever it can be arranged. Mommy is good friends with all of us. So it is good for the most part just the seperated family thing. They never were married. We leave all this to God.

I also have a baby sleeper to cut out and sew and two cullotte skirts to cut out for a young lady. I won't sew them till I get back. Baking to do to take with us dishes, floors to clean always thanks to puppies I always have something to do. Laundry to do ~~okay there is another big job as the cats got locked in and one of them decided to use our bed as a kitty litter as she always goes out.So what you think~~not too big a deal except yesterday I did a bunch of laundry before going to town only to find that my dryer which is out on the porch is frozen and no time before leaving to thaw it out. So now I have two big loads of laundry to dry and all this bedding to wash and dry too.

I think I will go make my self a super woman or super duper pooper scooper cape ~~So I am off to a normal ordinary day and have to practise my flying lessons. Maybe if I stand on the kitchen table and jump off with the cape tied around me I will be able to glide to the mop. Oh hey I wonder if it matters what colour the cape is? Anyone know?

The LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

                  1Samuel 16:7             

May God Bless you richly as you go about your "ordinary" day! Love Roxanne           

Good Thursday Morning

Today is our busy day.  We go and clean Ms. Bo's house.  Then it's off to the bank, grocery store, nursing home, dollar tree & I may run by a friend's house to drop a movie & magazine off I said she could borrow.

I try to get things done all in one whack!  Gas is a good price here at the moment, but I don't want to get too excited or spend more just because it costs less.  It's running about $1.87 here!!!  I will need to fill the car up this morning, but now $20 will get me much further.

I made some chicken stock last night & have it chilling in the fridge now.  When I get home I'll need to skim the fat off & can it.  --I can't believe all those years I threw my bones & carcass right out.  I could have saved alot by making my own stock.  I use the recipe from the Nurishing Traditions book.

All of our animals are doing well here.  The pigs are really starting to grow! 

I got a seed catalog in the mail yesterday & that kept me busy all evening long.  I just love to read & pick out a couple of new things to try for the spring.  This year we are planning on selling some of our produce.  Probably on Saturday mornings just at our house. 

Well, I best get around.  Hope you have a great day!

MY MOTHER AND I

Oh how good it feels to sit down and look through blogs and let my mind just go...........

I want to thank those who have prayed for my mother and I.  Thank you so much.  She is in ICU still after having  surgery on October 27th.   I thought many times she was not going to make it but she has.  She should've only been in the hospital for a relatively short stay but had one complication after another with pneumonia and respiratory failiure and her body becoming septic and blood clots and the list goes on.  She had a tracheotomy and peg tube yesterday put in and will move from ICU to a long term critical care unit and then on to a rehabilitation home for a year the doctor said today.  This all has been horrifying.  My mother was a well person before all this and got around great with no serious health issues and was very active and happy.   She had just had new flooring put down in her house and had gotten new furniture for her den and sun room.  She was enjoying her new car and loved wearing stylish clothes and was in Church every Sunday to give you an idea of how Mama is and of how shocking this has been for us.

As for me?  I stayed with her constantly for 17 days and then a sister came from another state and has been with her while I came home and got some much needed rest.  I believe I have been at my breaking point and have been just teetering on the edge of somewhere I've never been before.  I covet your prayers for my mother and myself and my entire family.  

I hope, as time allows between trips back and forth, to blog about other things again.  I love my blog and I miss it.  I think it would be good for me to do so and it would help me get my mind off of things if I'm able to.  So come back and visit. 

Psalm 30: 11-12

Today's Tips --- Fruitcakes (start them now)

Today's Tips:

• If you plan to make fruitcakes for Christmas, you need to make them now, this week, because most fruitcakes have to "season" for at least a month and are even better if you can let them set longer.
  
  
• I know some of you would love to give them as gifts, but I suggest starting small until you have some success with them. The ingredients for fruitcakes can be expensive. If you buy a ton of ingredients and make several batches that subsequently flop you can be out a lot of money.
  
  
• Be sure to allow you fruitcake to age for at least a month before you put it in the freezer. Freezing stops the aging (or seasoning) process.
  
  
• Always bake at low temperatures: 250 - 300 degrees is best, but some recipes do go a little higher depending on their ingredients.
  
  
• Because they take so long to bake, line the pan with 1-3 layers of brown paper (you can use a brown paper sack) to prevent them from getting too brown and drying out. Make sure the paper comes up a couple of inches past the top of the pan.
  
  
• Fill the pan only 2/3 full with batter.
  
  
• To help prevent the fruitcake from drying out, place a pan of hot water on a lower rack in the oven while it is baking.
  
  
• To test whether it is done, insert a toothpick. If it comes out moist but not gooey, it is done.
  
  
• Let fruitcakes cool on a cooling rack before taking them out of the pan. When cool, dump them out of the pan and peel off the paper.
  
  
• You can bake in muffin pans or mini loaf pans, but be sure to adjust the baking time. It will be shorter.
  
  
• Don't store in a plastic container. The fruitcake will absorb old flavors that have been left behind in the plastic. Wrap in plastic wrap; then foil. Do not wrap with the foil touching the fruitcake because in some cases it can cause a chemical reaction.
  
  
• You can take any basic recipe and change what you put in it as far as the fruits and nuts are concerned. Just be sure you use the same amounts. For example if it calls for one cup of dried pineapple, you can replace it with mango as long as you use one cup.
  
  
• Always mix the fruit and nuts with some or all of the flour for the recipe before you put it in. This keeps all these things from sinking to the bottom. Do this with any recipe that calls for fruit or nuts.
  
  
• As with any recipe, read it from start to finish before you begin!
  

Today's Recipes:

Here are 4 fruitcake recipes that you might try. The first is not your usual fruitcake, but I thought it was perfect for our web site (Poor mans fruitcake ;-) ) and the second is a more traditional one. Number 3 is a no bake and the fourth, (No Fail fruitcake) I dedicate it to all the first timers.

Poor man's Fruitcake

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
4 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each cloves, nutmeg and salt
1 1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. gum drops, no black ones
3 cups raisins
1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and line two 9x5 loaf pans with brown paper. Sift flour, and spices. Cut gum drops into fourths, and mix those, the raisins and nuts with part of flour mix. Cream together butter, sugars and eggs. Alternately, add the flour mix and applesauce. Add soda to hot water and mix it into the batter. Then add the vanilla. Add gumdrops, raisins, and nuts mixture. Bake for 2 hours. If you use a tube pan instead of loaf pans bake 30-40 minutes longer.

Christmas Wreath Fruitcake

(Don't forget that you can take out anything like the dates or fruits and replace them with equal amounts of something you prefer.)

1 1/2 cup raisins
1 cup red and green cherries
3/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup candied pineapple, diced
1/2 cup coconut
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp.  lemon zest
4 eggs
2 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 300°. Mix first 8 ingredients. In separate bowl cream butter, sugar and add lemon zest, eggs and lemon juice. Mix into flour mixture. Bake for 2 hours.

No Bake Fruitcake

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
2 cups raisins
2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups candied pineapple chunks
2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup dried currants
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups almonds, chopped
1/4 cup candies cherries
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt
4 cups graham cracker crumbs

Grease a 9x13 loaf pan. Mix everything well and pour into the pan. Cover and let stand in a cool place for 1 week to age.

Never Fail Fruitcake

This is a big recipe but you can easily half it. Using half, you can make 22 cupcakes but, if you do, only bake them for 40 minutes.

1 lb. candied cherries, chopped
1 lb. dates, pitted and chopped
1 lb. candied pineapple, chopped
1 lb. pecans, chopped
4 (8oz.) pkgs. coconut
3 Tbsp. flour
2 (14 oz.) cans of sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 300°. Grease two 9x13 pans and line with brown paper or parchment paper.  Mix everything very well and press into pans. Bake 1 1/2 hours. Cool and remove from pan.

This was all taken from my newsletter:

Living On A Dime

Baby Its Cold Outside!

While puppies play and joyfully tear apart my house I stoke the fire trying to warm things up here. My husband gets up later than me. So I usually stoke the morning fire. He goes to bed later than me though so it works out perfectly as he usually stokes the fire for the night.

It was -11 when I went off to bed last night. The stars so cold and bright I told Dennis it looks like a 30 below sky tonight. Yup ~~well it is only -15 so not quite that cold. Praise the LORD for that.

Crisp sparkling snow and puppies full of energy. This is the way my morning begins. A hot cup of tea or two with breakfast plans in my head. Something for a lunch as we have to go to town. I would like to put something in the slowcooker to come home too but not sure if I will or not as not sure what time we will be able to make it home.

Two or three of the pups have sold so that will help pay a couple more bills!

Our boss thinks we should train the rest and sell them for even more. These little guys are so trainable that that could be a thought but not sure I have the time right now. Bathed all of them yesterday that was a fun chore. This morning I have all these soft fluffy shampoo smelling pups.

There is a load of firewood on the truck to deliver too. That is our life at the moment ~~lots and lots of firewood. I just checked the temperature and it has dropped to -17. Every so often I shiver here at the computer.

The kitchen fire is so nice and cozy. What on earth am I doing sitting here with my fingers getting cold and my toes turning into popsicle toes.

There is no turning back now winter is here. The swans left in the last snow storm. Guess they figure if the weather is going to be like that we are splitting this scene!

Haven't even had coyotes howling around the last couple of nights or mornings! I think everyone has a warm hidy hole. We haven't even seen a moose lately but I think when they see the round bale the horses are eating on and that we placed there in the meadow for that wild cow and the bull that we are trying to coax in so we can ship them up to the other ranch that we will be getting moose. It is cold enough now for them to start coming into the valley.

Well it is actually getting a little bit light out and I need to be busy doing things ~~like scrubbing the tub out after bathing all those pups. Feed animals and tidy up a few things here before we head out. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Prayerfully all of you have a warm cozy home to leave from as your day moves on and to come home too. A day of porridge and toast, chicken soup and biscuits, a supper of meat and potatoes with apple pie for dessert. A meal(s) where peace rules and love surrounds.

May the God of Peace be with You

            Roxanne           

Holiday mode...

With the cooler weather I'm starting to get into holiday mode.  For me, that means some baking.  I made some sugar cookies yesterday that are really scrumptious!  Here's the recipe:

Classic Sugar Cookies

1 cup crisco

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 T. milk

1 T. vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 small can icing (will only use about 1/4-1/2 can)

Turn oven to 350.

Beat shortening & sugar in large bowl, beat with mixture until creamy.  Add in egg, milk & vanilla until well blended.

Put dough in fridge until oven is heated. 

Then Roll up into small balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet & push down slightly. 

Bake about 9-10 minutes until set in the middle & very lightly golden.

Cool & frost.

We used strawberry flavored icing & they were great! *This is also the recipe I use for cut-out cookies.  You just have to divide it up in half & wrap in wax paper in the fridge for about an hour before moving on to rolling & cutting.

My holiday mode also usually means some decluttering before Christmas time.  So I'll attempt to get to some of that today.  I'm going to make a list of extra projects that I'd like to have done & actually do them.

~Clean out kitchen drawers

~Organize under the kitchen sink

~Kitchen cabinets

~Get winter clothes out & put summer ones away

~Kids need to do under their bathroom sink

~Get porches cleaned up for winter

~Get wood chopped & stacked (this will take all of us)

Well, if I can get these accomplished I'll be pleased.  It's really not that much, I just need to get motivated!

Christmas "get to know you"

1.) Wrapping paper or gift bags?  I have to say that every year I try and do something different in that department. One year I wrapped everything in brown mailing paper. Used raffia for ribbons, it was really pretty.

2.) Real tree or artificial? Most of the time it's artificial but this year I might get a real one.

3.) When do you put up the tree? A few days after Thanksgiving, around the weekend after.

4.)When do you take the tree down? The day after Christmas.

5.) Do you like eggnog? OH yes, but I can't have too much of it.

6.) Favorite gift recieved as a child? My Easy Bake Oven. It prepared me for my life as a mom, LOL.

7.)Hardest person to buy for? My husband, he is by far the hardest. He never tells me what he wants and then whatever I do get him, he always looks depressed.

8.)Easiest person to buy for? I would have to say that would be my wonderful daughter, Kristy. She loves anything that she didn't have to buy herself. LOL She loves old vintage things, so last year all she wanted was garage sale and thriftstore items. I had a blast shopping for her and she had a blast opening her gifts.

9.)Do you have a nativity scene? Yes a few small ones, but I would really love a nice one that I could set up on top of my entertainment center.

10.) Mail or e-mail christmas cards? Mail, with pretty Christmas stamps.

11.) Worst christmas gift you ever recieved? I would have to say a tread mill that my dh gave me one year. It was one of those manual ones. Lets just say it went back to the store. lol

12.) Favorite christmas movie? A Christmas Story. The "B B Gun Boy" as we call him, is  in my top five movies of all time.

13.) When do you start shopping for christmas? Early November, sometimes sooner.

14.) Have you ever recycled a christmas present? Probably so.

15.) Favorite thing to eat at christmas? Cornbread dressing and turkey.

16.) Lights on the tree?  Most years yes.

17.) Favorite christmas song? I'll Be Home for Christmas

18.) Travel at christmas or stay home? Always stay home, everyone comes to me.

19.) Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes I can.

20.) Angel on top of tree or star? Old fashion quilted star.

21.) Open presents christmas eve or morning?  Christmas Eve at the inlaws and Christmas morning at home.

22.) Most annoying thing about this time of year?  The crowds.

23.) Favorite thing about this time of year? Baking goodies and the cooler weather.

24.) Favorite ornament theme or color? When my dad died 26 years ago, I made an ornament with his picture in it, so that would have to be my favorite one.

25.) Favorite food for christmas dinner?  Same as #15.

26.) Favorite christmas tradition? Putting up the tree and drinking egg nog while listening to holiday music.

27.) What do you want for christmas this year. My family around me.

Merry Christmas everyone!