Winterpast Homestead

How *not* to Wrangle Hogs

Fabulous Freebie

Homeschool Freebie of the Day has a wonderful free download today!  Little Hands Folded in Prayer is a collection of prayers for children from the 1800's.  Excellent resource for copywork, memorywork, etc.

Blessings,

Catherine

Daybook

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

OK so I have been discriminated against

Well the house we were to rent we are not getting. As the landlord put it ' I am sorry I would rather rent to a two income household"....  So here we are still living in the RV and doing ok for the most part. We did go to see another house in Lobelville, nice lady has it, only thing is the family who was living there needs to come get their things out still. Lordwilling we will be able to rent that house this week and finally have a house to live in and rent till we buy our own land and such.

Yes it made me angry that someone would think me as a stay at home mom , with a goat business, rental income and wanting to do more than that would be considered not having an income, mind you I get a small pension of my own and the kids SSI and Mark has his SSD. So where were we lacking income I am not truely sure.  I am just glad the new lady thought us to be good for tenants for the other house and it is nice too.

Sept 23rd, 2008 we made it to purebred statis with our mini nubians. We finally have 6th gen stock that are the first registered purebred mini nubians in the US.  We have 2 bucks and 1 doe that Magnolia gave birth to that morning.  I am thinking she may be rebred already as Reuben had to be kept in with her this whole time and they say that a doe can be receptive for the first 24 to 36 hours after giving birth...Have any of you heard that about goats ?

I will let you all know if we actually get the house...

Blessings

Linda

S'More Cookies

These sound soooooo yummy, I'm putting the ingredients on my shopping list!

No, I don't think they qualify as whole food...or even real food, but I just know they will taste great!

1 jar Marshmallow cream

24 graham cracker squares

3 bags chocolate chips

*my note- That would make a lot of cookies, so if not planning on giving as gifts, perhaps just start with a few graham crackers and one bag of chips.

Spread thick layer of Marshmallow cream between 2 graham cracker squares.  Melt chips and dip sandwiches into chocolate, covering all sides.  Cool on waxed paper and enjoy! 

I copied the recipe from a neat book, but I can't remember the title at the moment...I'll dig it out of the library basket and post it later.  It has lots of recipes and gift ideas, even gift tags to copy for your gifts!

In my efforts to eat healthy, I often try to tweak a recipe to make it more wholesome, so...

here's how I would change it if so inclined:

carob chips or at least cane juice sweetened chocolate chips

homemade graham crackers and marshmallows- Mary Jane's Farm Idea book has recipes for both!

But, for now, I'll just enjoy the junk food version and try to do better next time !

Bread bowls and Potato-Bean Soup!

Ah, the cooler weather and a fire in the fire place!

We just had a huge shipment of dried beans come in to our inventory for the online store - and of course, I have now been inspired to use our personal stash for the colder nights.

I made bread bowls today and have been cooking my son's favorite potato-bean soup to put into them for dinner.  This is a cheap, warm and hearty meal on the cool nights that my family has enjoyed each time the season turns chilly.

I think they are both going to be next month's newsletter recipes too.... if anyone wants it go to:  http://www.eatgrains.com and sign up.

Anyway - we have stacked the wood in the garage (a portion of it anyway the rest is outside) and brought in a sizable amount to keep the fire going all day. It really cuts our heating cost and makes the house cozy.

There was  SNOW just half an hour's drive from us yesterday! Amazing!  That is an early snow for NC!

Anyway - will blog more another time - fighting a little cold that my youngest shared with me....

Blessings!

Donna

Soapy Question

OK you soapmakers, I would love some help, pretty please!

I want to make a batch of soap for the first time.  Could someone please, please share a S-I-M-P-L-E recipe for an all vegetable based soap (without vegetable shortening) please?  I have olive and coconut oils here, and don't want to invest in other oils right at the moment. 

Thanks!

Catherine

Meal Plan Monday

We had a great week this last week.  Our little Lauren turned 2 years old, we went to the Zoo Boo, we had a great visit with my great Uncle Ernie in Holland.  All in all, it was a very nice week/weekend.

Here is our tentative meal plan for the week.  Our days do change sometimes if we don't have enough leftovers on leftover day, or if we have a lot of leftovers and it's not time for leftover night.  LOL

Here is the basic idea: 

Monday:  Stuffed Green Peppers - baked potatoes - peas

Tuesday:  Chili (for Lance and I),  Corn Dogs, noodles, green beans (for the girls)

Wednesday:  leftovers

Thursday:  Beef Stroganoff

Friday:  Supper at Lance's Grandma's (Halloween-Trick-or-Treat)

Saturday:  Supper at my parent's

Sunday:  BBQ Chicken - fried potatoes - asparagus

Here are our plans for the week (so far):

Monday:  Lance work 6-4, Lilli school 7:45-3:15. 

We may take the girls to get pumpkins after school, and we may carve them too, depending on time.

Tuesday:  Lance work 10 hours, Lilli school. 

Lauren will have a visit from the new Family Links lady at 8:30AM.  Family Links is a great 'free' program.  They come out to our house and give me tips on what to work on with Lauren at this age.  We did this program with Lilli too, and really liked it.

I have to pick up Lilli's fundraiser items when I get her from school.

We may carve pumpkins tonight if we didn't get them done last night.

Wednesday:  Lance work 10 hours, Lilli school.

9:30-11 - Lauren has playgroup and then I run her to my parent's house

Noon - I volunteer in Lilli's class

After school Lilli and I head to my parent's house to pick up Lauren and visit for a bit.

Thursday:  Lance work 10 hours, Lilli school (she has her fundraiser party).

I plan to make a baked spaghetti during the day for the potluck dinner at Lance's grandma's house tomorrow night.  I am also making a cheese/sausage/salsa dip that goes in the crockpot.  I plan to take that Friday night, and also make it for my parent's house on Saturday.  It's great with Corn chips or Tortilla chips.

Lilli has dance from 6-8PM.  She is going to wear tiger ears/bow tie/ tail with her leotard for a little 'costume'.  We are also going to take a little treat for her dance friends.

Friday:  Lance is off work.  Lilli has just half a day (Halloween party and costume parade).  Lance will watch Lauren while I help at school, and he'll bring her to town to watch the costume parade.  He may work on his wood trailer instead of going with us to my parent's.

We'll go to my parent's after school and to various friend's and family's homes so they can see the girls in their costumes. 

3:30-4PMish we'll head to Lance's grandma's for a potluck and trick or treating.

Saturday:  2PM we are heading to my parent's for an afternoon of visiting and celebrating Lauren's birthday.

Sunday:  11 - Lilli's horse lesson (weather permitting).

Happy 2nd Birthday Lauren Mae!

Lauren as a newborn.

You can really see her 'black' eyes here.  She was born with two black eyes.  They think it was because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her heartbeat dropped with every contraction.  They would have taken her by C-section even if I hadn't already had one planned.

Lauren at 1 year old.

Lauren Today:

She still has redish eyelids but they aren't really noticeable unless she is very tired or has been crying.  They are noticeable in the above picture (she was tired, not crying...LOL).

****************************************************************

Well, our little girl turned 2 years old today.  I cannot believe it.  I'm feeling a bit emotional about the whole thing.  She had a great day today.  She's been saying, "Happy Birthday" for weeks, but today she was really saying it a lot.  She went to my parent's house yesterday and they gave her a few gifts, so she was really beginning to understand that this birthday thing is pretty cool.  Too bad she doesn't understand that it's only one day.  LOL.

We dropped Lilli off at school and then took the long way (back roads) to Kalamazoo to pick up their pictures we had taken 3 weeks ago.  I set Lauren down in the toy aisle at Wal-mart and told her she could choose anything she wanted for her birthday.  She had so much fun.  We were there for over an hour and a half.  She walked and played and ran and chattered.  It was so funny.

After much deliberation, she chose a figurine of Goofy w/ Chip and Dale, and a figurine of Donald Duck w/ a lion ($5 each).  I chose a 'see and say' for her.  Her only other request was a sucker, so I bought that at the check-out counter.  She was one happy girl carrying her toys out to the car.  LOL

We are going to 'celebrate' her birthday on November 1st and we are giving her a dress-up trunk full of dress-up clothes and accessories. 

We aren't doing much for her birthday, just going to my parent's house and having cake and ice cream.  We are making a pinata, so we'll do that too. 

For 2 years old, Lauren is very advanced in a lot of things.  She copies almost everything that Lilli says and does.  It amazes me the things she comes up with sometimes. 

Tonight we were eating polish sausage for supper (leftover night but we didn't have any leftovers left...LOL).  Anyway, Lilli was saying how good the sausage smelled and I told her she should really try it, she might like it.  She politely said, 'no thank-you'.  A few minutes later I was explaining to Lauren that she would be going to dance with Lilli and I, but that Papa would be picking her up later in the big truck.  She looked at me and said, 'no thank-you, stay mommy'.  LOL.  That little turkey.

Lauren is talking all the time and is starting to put sentences together.  She also says please and thank-you at the appropriate times (most of the time) without being prompted. 

She absolutely LOVES playgroup and sings the songs from there all week long.  We only go on Wed mornings from 9:30-11, but it sticks with her and is a definite highlight to her week.  She struts in there like she owns the place and hugs the director and sits on her lap. 

She sings, 'Bubble Gum', 'Jack-in-the-Box', 'Baby Fish' (from playgroup), and 'Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star'.  She is trying to do the ABC song but gets it mixed up.  It's really cute.

She loves to read stories and we spend much of our day reading books.  She loves board books, but will also bring other, longer books from our book shelf to be read to her.  She is very patient and will usually sit through the entire book, and several books at a sitting.  She will pretty much sit there as long as we will read to her.

She loves to play, but usually wants somebody playing with her, or at least in the same room with her.  She loves Little People and she loves her wooden blocks.  She also plays with those little cheap animal figurines a lot.  She often pushes her baby dolls in the play strollers or grocery cart and takes them 'shopping'.  She also loves our play kitchen and often brings me food that she's 'cooked'.  LOL. 

She moves our kitchen chairs to wherever it is she wants to be in the kitchen.  If I'm cooking, she wants to be right there with me.  Doing dishes, she wants to help.  I'll often give her a bowl of something to stir  on our island while I'm at the stove, otherwise she wants to be there helping me the entire time.  She also helps with vacuuming (she has her own vacuum she uses), dusting, folding laundry, making beds...she's just a great help with everything.  LOL

She still loves her Beco baby carrier and we use it occasionally while making supper if she's really tired/cranky.  I'll put her in it on my back and she's a happy camper.  We vacuum this way sometimes too.

She likes to watch TV and her favorite shows right now are the Mickey Mouse Club and Dora.  The Wonder Pets, Sesame Street and Tigger and Pooh are up there too.

She still carries her Lovie and sleeps with it every night.  It's a stuffed goat and she's had it since she was just a couple months old.  She loves that thing.  She also has a stuffed Minnie Mouse that she sleeps with a lot.

We keep a sippy of water on her bed at night and she still wakes to get a drink through the night.  I suspect that her daily dose of Septra (for her kidney reflux) causes her to be extra thirsty.  I do believe she is sleeping better since having her tonsils out though.  She was waking 4+ times per night, and now it is once or twice, and very occasionally, not at all.

She loves to help Papa outside and especially loves to go for rides on the 4-wheeler.  The only way I can leave the house and wave goodbye to her without her screaming is if he's taking her out to ride the 4-wheeler.  LOL

It would be hard to say what her favorite food is because she is such a great eater.  She prefers warm meals over cold ham or sandwiches.  She will eat a very healthy helping of goulash, roast, steak/potatoes, spaghetti, almost anything really.  She will eat almost anything we eat.  She doesn't like tacos or burritoes though.  (non-spicy).  She just doesn't like the look of them...she won't even try them.  LOL

She wants to eat all the time.  For snacks she loves the typical goldfish crackers, cheese nips, fruit snacks and peanuts.  She also loves bananas and apples, grapes and most any fruit.  Pineapple is a particular favorite.

Her kidney reflux is at a grade 3 and we have an appointment with a urologist in Grand Rapids on December 10.  This Dr does an outpatient procedure called 'deflux' that we are hoping to have done for Lauren.  If it was successful, then she could go off of the meds directly after that procedure.  As it is now, she could be on the meds for the next 5 years, if not longer, while we wait for her to 'outgrow' the problem.  We are just not ok with her being on an antibiotic every single day for that long.

We are late getting into her 2-year well child appt as the pediatrician's office was all booked up.  So we have that appt on Dec 8.  She is due for shots that day, but I can't remember which ones right now.

This is really just all about Lauren since this is her special day.  I still can't believe she's 2 years old. 

(sigh)

Added a slide show! Wow that took me a while!

Well, I am certainly NOT the tech person in our family!

But if I do say so myself, I'm rather happy with getting it in there at ALL.

These are a few pictures of some of the baked goods that I"ve been working on using freshly milled whole wheat.  So I just wanted to share!

Best Blessings!

Donna