Little tidbits of my life

First Day of Advent

Posted by Schatzi
08:43, Sunday, November 30, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

Advent is a term from the Latin word "adventus" which means "arrival". It is a time of waiting for the arrival of Christmas, the coming of Jesus to earth when he was born as a baby at Bethlehem about two thousand years ago.

Advent is the new year of the Christian Church and the church season that leads to Christmas Day. Advent is the time when Christians remember that Jesus came into the world 2000 pears ago and that Jesus also promised one day to return in all His glory.

I'm not sure where this year has gone, it seems like only yesterday that we brought out our Advent wreath and lit the first candle. And here we are one year later....so much to be thankful for. And now the anticipation of Christmas. This is one of the most exciting times for our family...we enjoy all our usual traditions and the preparation leading up to Christmas Eve is an especially wonderful time.

I would like to hear how each of you begin to prepare for Christmas...and what do you do for each Sunday of Advent?

And so it begins

Posted by Kitty
6:06 PM, Sunday, November 30, 2008 .. Posted in Just my thoughts .. 1 comments .. Link

Tomorrow is December 1st and with that begins the gift giving for me. I not only have Christmas gifts to purchase but I also have over a dozen or so birthdays, including my husband and three kids. This madness will continue untill my dd's 26th birthday on January 31st. There is almost one every week with 2 nephews, 1 niece, my 3 kids, one dh, 2 brothers in law, a mother in law, a brother, a best friend, and a cousin or two for good measure. With times being the way they are, some of these special people will get some baked goods and maybe a card or two. All this gift giving also comes with a whole lot of baking added in too. That's not too good for someone who is on a diet, ME. I think that's going to be the toughest of all things to handle, not being able to eat cake and other goodies. Oh oh.

Well the weekend was a rainy one for a couple of days, so Zach and I decided it was a good time to take out the Christmas decorations and do up the house. I ended up going through each box and decided that I had way too much "stuff", so I've put aside a car trunk full of thrift store donations. It's all still good stuff that I hope someone else might need. I tend to keep ALL the handmade thing-a-ma-jigs that the kiddos made growing up. You know how that is, you just can't let go of those. That's the stuff you give to your new son and daughters in law. LOL I can't wait for that.

I waited untill today to do the outside of the house. I had to go get some new red ribbon and bows for the porch post. I love the red, green, and white look of decorations. I'm not much for shinny items or too many lights. I don't remember the last time I put lights on the outside of the house, probably years ago when my son Eric was helping and climbing the ladder for me. Since I broke my foot five years ago, I do not climb up anything higher than a chair, and even that gives me the willys. LOL.

Well everyone has finished supper, so I'll head off to do some dishes. Then later I think I will pop some popcorn and catch a Christmas movie or two. I saw White Christmas last night, LOVED it.

Here piggy ,piggy, Kristi and Ee

Posted by m j
05:36, 2008-Nov-30 .. 1 comments .. Link

I am sharing pictures of Kristi and her pet sow Ee. Ee is from our old sow Tuna. Kristi picked Ee out as soon as she was born. She told us with her cute little smile and batting her eyelashes " this is my baby". With that cute look how could we say no. Her brother begged Kristi so much to let him have her, but Kristi held firm on it, NO!!

This is Kristi and Ee when Ee was about 3 weeks old:

Don't they look cute!!

Here is Ee on her 1st birthday. Kristi made her a birthday cake :

Here is Kristi playing with Ee at night:

Here is a head shot of Ee next to Kristi:

Kristi hurt her knee one day and the Dr told her no horse back riding for 2 weeks. So what does she do??? See for your self :

A real piggy back ride!! We took a picture to show her Dr. her "New ride". Our Dr. knowing our family ( a bunch of smart butts, Dr. is also one) just laughed and went around showing the nurses and other Dr.'s her new ride!!!

Here is Ee's mom Tuna:

Last we have some of Ee's puppies (babies I every baby a puppy)

One more. This is Ee with her children Tommie and Heffa:

We still have Ee and Tommi , but we sold Heffa to a neighbor. We did not have enough room in our freezer for her.

God Bless, mj

Thank You, Friends

Posted by Organic Christian
03:00, Sunday, November 30, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

for all your prayers on behalf of Harrison, Kim's son.

He is coming home today with orders to rest, continue respiratory therapy, lots of fluids, etc...

This hit him so fast. Thursday, he was outside running around with the other children. He asked me for the inhaler ( we are all loaded with athsma). Friday morning, I spoke with Kim and she told me he was using the nebulizer. After 4 treatments in 12 hours and needing more ... that's when it was time to go to the ER.

We thank God for the wonderful medical team at the Children's Hospital .. And for God and His healing touch.

Thank you again for your prayers.

Jill (the big sister)

My Thanksgiving Week

Posted by Tiredmamaof5
01:14, Sunday, November 30, 2008 .. Posted in Everyday Living .. 0 comments .. Link

All's well that ends well. Thanksgiving was good around here. I made both turkeys and have a lot of meat leftover. It seems no one ate well, they didn't eat alot. That isn't normal for my family, but at least I have all this leftover meat and I can freeze alittle more than I expected for future meals.

My parents came over in the late afternoon and stayed for awhile. All in all it was a good day.

I didn't go black friday shopping. I looked through the adds on Thursday's paper and nothing caught my eye that would be worth getting up at 3:30 in the morning for and waiting in 20 degree weather only to fight people through the door.

I hate crowds of people so for y'all that know me, you know Black Friday crowds and me just wouldn't be a good combo

Yesterday, DH and I took the kids to my parents house and dropped them off for the day so we could do our Christmas shopping. My mother hardly ever watches my kids... well, all of my kids. She'll take my older two kids on occasion because she can sit them in front of the computer or video games and not be bothered by them for hours. Anyhow, I didn't give her a chance to say no to me and I guilted them by saying it is one of the few times they would get to spend the whole day with them since we are moving far away from them. That didn't work too well because I got a call saying she didn't know what to do with the twins This coming from a woman who had 4 kids of her own and she doesn't know what to do to keep them busy?

Ok, besides that, DH and I had a GREAT TIME!!!!! It was so refreshing for me! I actually walked through the toy aisle without someone asking me 50 times if I can buy them something. I walked through the aisles and didn't have to pull little hands off of toys. Ahhhhh, it was so nice to be the parent with no kids in toe... Ahhhhhhh, I'm still relishing in it, lol.

We ended up getting all of our shopping done. it is such a nice feeling knowing it is all bought and I don't have to go back to the stores and hunt down toys.

We are now decorating our house for Christmas. Tomorrow we will go get our tree. Usually we cut down our own tree but this year I told DH that we should just buy a small tree from a lot somewhere. i didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a tree when we are trying to save. But DH didn't like that idea and we will go cut down our own. We know a guy about 20 minutes away who is going to give us one for cheap so i guess it will be good.

Travalogue, chicken pox, swimming, and pancakes

Posted by Morning Sunshine
09:01 AM, Sunday, November 30, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I have 5 turkey carcasses in a cooler on my deck. I need to go get my pots and fill them with water for boiling. I should have done ti the moment we walked in the house yesterday..... but I was too foggy to think properly. sigh. so now, that is one day of simmering I have not got done, extending the process out later this week. I guess I shouldn't complain, since it will probably be a 7-8 day process anyway.... but still....
We got to my mom's on Thursday morning. My bro and his family showed up soon after. we ate veggies and cheese and then had dinner. I made my children have 2 bites of everything - even stuff I know they don't particularly like (squash, stuffing, sweet potatoes made even nasty-sweeter with brown sugar and maple.... it is so sweet and sugary it is gaggy! anyway....) And they ate it. Good little children.

Of course, I did that as well. Need to be a good example. But I let them eat as much of the other stuff that they wanted after that, so they filled up on mashed pots and turkey. And then we took a walk to the park where we walked (or ran or played) the food off. Then home for hot chocolate and pie. I managed to score 3 turkey carcasses from my mom's neighbors. My brother, who went to massage therapy school, but RARELY ever uses his talents to bless his family, was convinced to massage my back and shoulders while I sat on mom's massage chair in the kitchen. It felt good, but my back was so tight, he could only do so much. When he was done, I just sat there not moving, and my ds7 came over to do what he saw his uncle doing. he was very good. what a sweet boy I have.
Saturday morning, we left the children at grandma's to make gingerbread houses. We went to IHOP for breakfast. We went to a specific one close to the movie theater at which we had tickets fro Twilight at 10:30. Unfortunately, it is smack dab in a shopping center, and had a 30 minute wait "at least" - at 7:30 am!!!! So we decided to head to my SIL's to pick-up/drop off some stuff in the meantime. She pointed out that there was an IHOP right across the highway from her, so we went there; twice as big, and EMPTY (well, not completely) and we sat down just as dh's 30 min alarm went off. I had their yummy yummy "coffee cake pancakes" - the lemon blueberry (except I had strawberry) - and I LOVED them!
Then we went to the movie. I was very disappointed. First, let's start with all the garbage ads I had to sit through. Movie starts at 10:30. NOT. Ads start at 10:30.... movie at 11:00. As for Twilight itself, well, it was as true to the book as it could be, I like how they portrayed Charlie, the Blacks, Alice, Carlisle, and Jasper. It had a good Bella and Edward and I liked the kids at the high school. But I did not like the way it condensed the book. I guess there was only so many choices, but this reaffirms: NEVER WATCH MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS THAT YOU LIKE!!!!!!! I watched the first two HP's, but refused after that. I do not like the LotR books, so the movies were great for me. But I have not and will not watch the Narnia movies. The books are too much part of me, and my visions of them are the best, and I will NOT have those corrupted.
Then we went back to mom's for a few hours where I learned that my midwife's children have the chicken-pox. very exciting, and I was planning to head right over to expose my children.... but.... dh has never had them, and he is unsure about the wisdom of purposefully getting our healthy children sick. and, this is probably not the best time for getting the house sick with this. Especially since dh has not had it. We do not have time for THAT! Hopefully we will get another chance in the next few years. And we can decide what to do with dh in the meantime.
We went and did a bit of clothes shopping, and found our favorite pizza place closed - it was a small mom-n-pop shop with the BEST breadsticks you have ever had! They were immigrants from Bosnia, and they worked so hard to make it. Very sad. Then back to mom's where we got all the kids ready to go swimming. Oh dear, it has been too long. My little swimmer babies were afraid of the water! We used to go weekly, and my older two were swimming laps and playing in the deep (for them) without life jackets. They were 2 and 4 when we moved and quit. Friday night they would not let go of the edge. and dd2 was scared to death and would not let go of anyone. But by the end of the night, ds7 was swimming around easily (as long as he had on his life jacket) and dd2 loved the water and would "swim" (we push her away and tell her to "hum" when her face goes under) 3 feet to her other loved one. and dd4 - she refused to get out of the water until it was almost a threat of consequences. We need to find a pool here.
Saturday morning, I woke up, and took the olders on a date to breakfast (back to IHOP for more of those pancakes); g'ma came with us. we took some home to daddy and Lion (dd2) and then we played a game, cleaned up our room, packed our stuff and waved goodbye. Stopped at a friend's house for a moment, then on to home. And that was our Thanksgiving weekend.

Just Stuff

Posted by Carol
11:11 PM, Saturday, November 29, 2008 .. Posted in Day to Day .. 1 comments .. Link

Well, my broth simmered overnight and it smelled soo good in the kitchen this am. It's now in the frig waiting for canning tomorrow. I also froze 16 cups of leftover turkey. I used 4 cups of turkey for the turkey noodle soup we had for supper. I think we are turkeyed out for now so I think it's pork chops for tomorrow! lol

We had a very nice gentleman stop by the house today. He was looking for eggs for the "Mrs" and her Christmas baking. He even asked if I needed egg cartons. He had 7 cartons in this van . What a sweet fellow.

It also looks like we will be having some new additions to the farm. No, I'm not talking babies. I have found a few rabbits, chickens, a pig and 2 sheep ewes who need a new home. I'm lining up a time to pick them up. Hopefully sometime this week.

The other project I worked on today was a hat for Madison. She needs a green hat for the winter concert (yeah, they have to call it a winter concert and not a Christmas concert) at school. We are unable to find one that Madison feels is acceptable, so I searched online and found a crochet pattern for a beret hat.

I almost finished it today but its too big so I ripped it up and started over. Rich thinks I'm crazy starting over. It also had a mistake, you couldn't really tell but I knew it was there. It will only take a few hours to redo and I have until Thursday. I have lots of time!!

Well, I better get back to Madison's hat.
Good Night!
Carol

Your Prayers, Please

Posted by Organic Christian
06:52, Saturday, November 29, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

Harrison is in ICU at the Children's Hospital with pneumonia.

His oxygen level was at 83% when they got him to the ER at the local hospital. After a few hours of no improvement with treatment, the ER Doc thought it best to transfer him to the Children's Hospital.

Please keep him in your prayers.

Thank you.

my misery

Posted by Morning Sunshine
05:24 PM, Saturday, November 29, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I am sick. ugh
headache (I have an ice mask on right now.... but it warms so fast, and soon it will have to go back to the freezer)
earache (I put in some GOOT and that took care of the pain, but the ringing is still there anytime my children sing or hum repetatively - which is ALL the time, and normally, I love the songs they sing...)
sore throat (I am making some lemon herb tea with Eucalyptus honey - that is always good)
tired body (I am headed upstairs to sleep)
floaty head - do you know what I mean? My head and body feels like it is floating around, not really connected to anything. That probably has something to do with my ears, eh?
slight nausea - is this a symptom of whatever I have right now, or is it a side effect of all the mucus hanging out in my throat aggrevating my all-too-sensative-because-of-pregnancy-gag-reflex?

and other side effect - I cannot spell today. so I apologize for my worse-than-usual spelling. ow - I need more goot in my ears. good night.

Update on Christmas cards for soldiers

Posted by Heritage Hill Homestead
03:33, Saturday, November 29, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

After my post a few days ago about sending cards to Recovering Soldiers, I found out that is not going to work. Walter Reed gets so many that they cannot handle them, so the Red Cross has a program to distribute cards in many areas. Following is some information and the address to use. Please disregard the previous post I made, sorry for the confusion.

Also note that the cards must be sent by Dec. 10!

Another thought I had was to plan to do something for patients in your local V.A. hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mail for mending G.I.s swamps Walter Reed

By STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 8:10 PM

Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., gets so many holiday cards addressed to "A Recovering American Soldier" each year, they've enlisted the help of the Red Cross to handle them.

Hospital officials can no longer accept cards addressed to the hospital.

Instead, they're encouraging messages of support to be sent to the Red Cross "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program, which will help distribute cards to servicemen and women, including wounded soldiers recovering at military hospitals across the country.

Last year, Walter Reed teamed up with the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, which will screen, sort and distribute the cards to soldiers for free.

"This opportunity is such a great way for the public to personally support the military and say a special thank you for their service this holiday season," said Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern.

"I hope everyone will take the time to join us and send an extra card for the military," she said.

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10.

Only cards - which can be downloaded for free at www.redcross.org - will be accepted. No packages, long letters, photos or any other inserts will be accepted.

Last year, more than 600,000 cards were mailed to the troops. Red Cross officials said they expect more than 1 million to be sent this year - and many of them will end up at Walter Reed, the nation's largest military hospital.

"As we enter this holiday season - a time to celebrate with family and friends - it's important to remember the thousands of men and women who serve our nation in harm's way and those who are recovering in military and veterans hospitals," said Army Col. Norvell Coots, commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System.

"The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is a wonderful outreach effort and a great way to acknowledge the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform."

To send a card to the troops, address it to "A Service Member" and mail it to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Pox 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5464
Or log on to www.redcross.org for more info

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

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