Finding My Way Home

Fourth of July Plans & Menu

                              I have been planning our weekend.  Tomorrow we will enjoy a quiet day at home.. just family ( all 12 of us!).  We always enjoy a special meal on America's B-day.. so this year I will be making grilled steaks ( a rare treat) , baked potatoes, homemade baked beans, watermelon & homemade apple pie! It's not the fourth w/ out homemade apple pie! 

      Sunday our Church is holding an evening meeting and then a potluck meal. I'll be brining watermelon, lemon meringue pies and spinach salad. The girls are making cookies & cupcakes.  We are also going to bring a pinata & water balloons!  It should be a fun evening!

      Fourth of July is one of our favorite holidays!  We sure enjoy celebrating and taking time to remember how blessed we are in this land of the brave and home of the free!  I am also thankful for the freedom and perfect law of liberty thru Christ our Lord ! Jesus died so ALL men could be set free!  How grateful  I am for that!  We are no longer under the bondage of the law -- but are free thru the grace and liberty in Christ! Thank you Jesus for your precious blood shed on calvary so all men can be free!

  Hope you all enjoy a blessed Holiday!

Gloria

Cute Children and pets pictures

My Mom sends me some cute e-mails.  I love these one and had to share with you all.

Who is walking who?

I look like you or is it you look like me?

Ah, can I keep him?  (the dog is asking):

Um mom, why am I wearing clothes and his is not??

Look Mom at what I learned :

Just one little bite that's all:

Are you sure they taste like chicken??

Are you sure they are in here???

That's all for now, Blessings,Mj

New things in the shop...

Some new things have been added to my shop as of this morning...
Positively Patriotic Quilted Tote
Simply Beachy
And I am working on one now with a vintage flour sack.
I think it is going to be adorable! :)
Just added!
Vintage Flour Sack Bag of Thistles

Thanks for looking and may you have a Fabulous Fourth of July!

7-2-09 Up-date

Kristi was board earlier today and decided to play wii.  She played monopoly with Hope!  Hope is our soon to be 10 year old golden medical alert service dog.  We train the dog to all kinds of stuff some funny and silly but this is too much!

Titus is doing great in his service dog training.  We took him out for the first time to go shopping and he was wonderful.  If we stopped and looked or spoke to someone he would lay down with out being told to.  I thought it was odd, so I kept testing him.  I would walk and stop not look at him he would just lay down .  That is amazing for a six month old puppy to do on his first outing in stores.  I wonder if Kristi is going to teach Titus to play monopoly??

We start training them as soon as they are born.  Also having good parents helps too.  It took me two years to find his parents, to find the lines I was looking for.  Now we need one more female golden.  We might get one from Alex's breeder.

Blessings, Mj

Kristi and Mya's new adventure in pictures

Okay, Janet is in trouble she let Kristi and Mya run free on the mountain.  Worse yet with a camera .  Here are some pictures of the adventure.

1. Is Kristi finding out there are more than one of her:

2. Mya discover pine cones, do pine nuts come from pine cones??:

3. Is Kristi playing cars (she is the car)

4. Maybe I will be a better car sitting down??

5. Better yet I will play speed bump!! Did I send Kristi with her insuance card???

6. Mya discovers a cow and gives it a kiss !!

7. Milk comes from here ???? I know the poor thing , will she ever get over the shock???

8. Then they made friends with the locals:

JANET!!!!, we do not let the girls play speed bump in the middle of the Road!!! /.    We need to let the girls out of the house once in a while.  Poor Mya was so lost as to where milk comes from!! And did not know what a pine cone was!!!   Poor Kristi she thought there was more than one of her!!  Look at the locals nails on that local, see how long they are?? They could hurt the girls!!

Sorry but I had to write and show the pictures , they are so cute.  I will show more latter.

Blessings Mj

Snagglepuss

Snagglepuss is a term of endearment that I use to anyone that I love who has lost baby teeth...
Yesterday afternoon. I had two first time snagglepusses
By the end of the evening... these two (Carlie Jean and Eli) had lost TWO of their front two bottom teeth and Cameo lost one of her eye teeth.
:)
What a fun evening.

Family, Friends and Food for the Fourth (nd an update too)

Well I just got notification that my side of the family is having a big BBQ at my brother's house on the evening of the Fourth.  I am thrilled since hubby's family is all busy and doing their own thing.  His mother and father will be at their church's 3 day meeting, his oldest sister is in Washington and unable to come home but will be home in a few weeks for Grandma's 90th bday, and his youngest sister and her hubby and daughter are in California at Disney!

Of course I asked what I could bring and my SIL told me maybe a salad or a dessert.  So I plan on taking both. LOL  Not sure what kind of salad to take, and I have a simple dessert recipe I will make (it is red white and blue).  Hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill sound so good right now.  And I know several of the other dishes will be potato salad and baked beans, etc.  One gal there doesn't cook, so she usually brings the pop, or ice and sometimes a large tub of icecream depending on what we are all having. 

We aren't shooting off any fireworks there though.  One of the twins is scared of fireworks, 2 of the other kids are with their dad for the weekend and won't be there either.  So it is the one if the twin who likes fireworks, and Noah, who is only 3 but loved them last year, so I unless he decides to change his mind, LOL, I think he will be ok with them again this year.  After the BBQ, several of us will drive back to town and watch the citywide fireworks display at the lake.  We won't buy much this year....maybe some snappers, some smoke bombs, and some other smaller items for Noah.   I just can't see spending alot of money on big bangs this year when we have so many things we could spend the money instead.

Matthew got called today for a small electrical job.  The guy wants an electrical hookup for a camper put in behid his barn by this weekend.  So Matthew is running a little late tonight getting that done.  He was hoping it was a 10 minute job, but knows things happen and it might take longer.  Oh well, we need the money to take care of part 2 of fixing my car's air conditioning.  (Part one was putting in a new fan, which he did last night.  Part 2 is???  LOL  I have no idea.  I know the fan works now but no cold air.  Maybe it needs freon?? Who knows.  That is hubby's job)

I have discussed having a yard/garage sale and then canceled it thinking I would just have an auction (a HS friend has an auction business and is going to hold a consignment auction), but now I am thinking I should just open up a Ebay shop, and possibly put some stuff on Etsy as well.I think in the long run I will end up getting more money for the items.  I will just advertise that I go to the post office once or twice a week, etc. so I don't have to go every single day.  That would be crazy. On days I have many packages, I will ask a girlfriend to watch Noah, or drop him off for an hour at grandma's shop.

Speaking of grandma's shop.....she has offered me one of her large display windows to put items in if wanted.  I told her I would speak to Matthew, pray about it and get back to her.  I know I won't make alot of money from it, because her shop is kind of out of the way, and not many people walk around there either.  However, the customers that come into her shop for Speech (She is a Speech Pathologist) might see something and buy it, or order one in a different color, tell their friends, etc.  I was thinking of putting some vintage items in the window, and making up some aprons and shaggy blankets to display and sell there.  I am getting excited about the opportunity to make some money to help with household items and Christmas, etc.  When I get the shops up and running, I will post the addresses here for all of you!!!

Matthew (who is the king of putting things off, starting projects and then not finishing them, etc.) has turned a new leaf.  I am not sure what happened, but I am not about to ask and screw this up.  LOL  Projects like Noah's bedroom upstairs that have sat for over 3 years without being finished are now being worked on!  He comes home from work and instead of colasping in his chair with the laptop, he asks if there is anything I need him to do!  Mostly it is small stuff like, take out the trash, take this box upstairs, etc.  But recently he has fixed part of the air conditioning on the car, fixed the leaky roof, replaces a filter on the furnace/air conditioner, and my favorite, bought and hung a ceiling fan in Noah's new bedroom!!!  The later was all his idea and he was so pleased to be able to buy the fan with his extra money coming in from electrical jobs.  :)  Makes me smile to see this part of Matthew blossoming. 

Noah has been talking up a storm!!!  I can't believe in the last couple of months since his birthday screening in April, how much he has developed.  He is definately not the same little boy.  He is doing better every day.  Last night I told Matthew that he had been talking up a storm all day long and learning new words every day.  Later on Matthew said, how do you turn HIM off??  LOL  We both had a great laugh over that one.  The little boy that wouldn't talk earlier except for mom, dad, cookie, candy, etc. little words, is now talking 4 word sentences, answering questions with words instead of sign language, and asking for items instead of pointing and grunting.  God is so good to us.  I love this little guy.  And yes, there are times you want to turn him off still.  LOL  But most of the time, I love hearing him talk (now not only in English but a little Spanish and Chinese due to a few tv shows he watches)

Well, that's all for now.  I should go. 

Vanilla Ice Cream

I recently made vanilla ice cream and it was delicious!!  I wanted to share my recipe with you.   You can now find all my ice cream recipes (eggless recipes and non dairy too) and ice cream making directions here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makinghomemadeicecream.htm    If I have more recipes to post I will be adding them to that page.   

Vanilla Ice Cream

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
2 T vanilla (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too.. :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored. Add vanilla and mix again. Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using). When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container. Add whole milk until you reach the "fill line" on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or click on the above link for general instructions.

dry toast

July fun!

   Tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary.  We both have to work but have Friday off, so we are going out for a nice dinner to a place we go only for special occasions. 

   On July 4th, we will go to Hubby`s parents.  They have a heart shaped, man made pond that you can ride paddle boats on, fish or swim if you like to swim with fish and mud.  I don`t know how to swim and I wouldn`t like other things swimming with me anyway!  We have lots of good stuff to eat, and play volleyball and just visit with friends and relatives we may not have seen since last year.

   Our vacation starts July 3 till the 20th.  We have some kitchen work to do,  I want to paint the cupboard doors, and we want to paint the bottom part of the living room walls below the boarder white.  I just love to make small changes, it makes such a big difference.

  We will also be taking curtains down and washing the windows in the whole house, an every year thing.  We do summer cleaning, not spring because it`s when we have time.

  I got a new to me reconditioned dryer on Monday.  Our old one broke during the winter.  I will still hang things outside if it ever stops raining, but it`s so nice to be able to dry the small stuff and everything if I need to.  I had forgotten how nice and soft they get and how nice they smell.

   I hope I relax and unwind enough to be able to sleep better while we are off.  I usually only sleep 5 hours or so, and wake up at least 3 times a night, and sometimes it`s hard to get back to sleep.  Then I count the time I have left if I could get to sleep right NOW!  But, it doesn`t happen.  Then I feel like my feet  are stuck in the mud all day, and I have to walk and move quick at my job.

   It is getting late and I am cutting myself short on sleep time again.

   Have a wonderful July 4th, everyone!

                  That Girl