Quiet Life Homestead

What's been going on lately

Hey all, I sure haven't been keeping up here lately, even though I said I would.  Now I have to catch up on all that's been going on with you all. 

We now have neighbors living next to us.  They are very nice and have a boy inbetween our boys' ages so they play football and baseball all the time.  They used to homeschool and are new to the community.  Unfortunately, their mobile home blocks out our wonderful view of the trees and wildlife.  It takes some getting used to, but we knew we couldn't be here all by ourselves for ever.

I've been sewing like crazy (quilt tops) and am almost ready to start quilting (hand - I can't stand machine quilting).  I might as well admit it - I don't do well fighting all that material to try to quilt it on my machine.  It just seems easier to put a hoop on it and do it that way.  We still haven't started making clothing yet, for some reason I keep putting it off.  I need to stop that and just dive into it.

I've been crocheting dishrags and pot holders with all the spare yarn I've inherited.  Bethany would help, but right now she's working on making enough yo-yos to make a doll.  The boys and Charlie have been working on leatherworking projects, trying to get them done to sell.  The goal is for Charlie to be able to make a living on his leatherworking and magazine work. 

We took Larken to the vet last month to "get the works."  She had her dew claws removed (kept scratching her eyes trying to groom like the cat), spayed, current shots, heartworm test and preventative medication, and ended up getting eye and ear medication as well as antibiotics for the staff infection.  We didn't realize she still had the staff from last year, but apparently she did.  Tomorrow she takes her last antibiotics.  Also the vet said that she's allergic to most dog food and wants us to purchase some food that costs approx $70 for a 30lb bag!  Being an english bulldog, her mouth is really weird and so she has problems with small food - being able to chew it instead of just swallowing it.  We're currently looking for cheaper hypoallergenic food (venison and potatoes) as her first bag is almost gone.

Bethany's doing quite well, back to normal in fact.  She's been doing great remembering her pills and its nice to not have any appointments for a few months.  We go back in July for a check up. 

On the homeschooling front, we've gone 100% back to the Robinson method - with adding a few books.  The kids are progressing quite well in both the reading and in their Saxon math books.  We keep plugging away in spelling and are getting ready to do a bit of grammar as a refresher.  With all we're trying to get going, this simplification is really helping and it is refreshing to hear the kids remark on what they're learning.  Now if I can only find a way to get them studying the vocabulary..........

We planted some onions, not sure if they're going to grow or not.  The peppers haven't done anything yet either.  We found a new (to us anyway) vegetable stand type facility and will probably go there a lot this year.  We had planned on asking for permission from the land owner if we could pay a type of rent on the property next to us so we could plant a garden - but people moved in on it.

Also, the flowers (bulbs) we planted last year haven't come up yet.  I guess they must have been annuals (isn't that what they're called if you plant them each year).  At some point I'd like to get some more but will do research to see what kinds automatically come up next year.