A Work in Progress

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.

Gettin' Closer

{ Posted by Kris }
{ 7:18 PM, Saturday, November 29, 2008 } { Posted in Daily Farm Life } { 1 comments } { Link }

Well, its official--we will be moved from here by April 1st! I am so excited even though there is soooooo much to do to prepare for the move to our 18 acre farm!! Hubby and I are working on a plan for a home, since the land does not have one on it--we have some things in the works--we were really hoping that this place(my dads home) would sell and I could take the money he was going to pay me commission and either buy something used or use it for a down payment on something--but it doesn't look like its gonna sell--so we feel its time to just come up with plan number 2-- We are still trying to sell the place, but we are not gonna 'bank on it' anymore--I am just so excited about the moving on all that land with all that potential--LOL--yes, it needs work, but with time we will get it done!

~Kris

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.

Stuff to die for?

{ Posted by Kris }
{ 10:14 AM, Saturday, November 29, 2008 } { Posted in Points to Ponder } { 4 comments } { Link }

As I watched my evening news and heard of the tragic death of a wal-mart employee it made me sick! A human being trampled to death by shoppers! Is stuff really that important--that other people could kill someone for it?? I don't get it--Have we as a society have lost so much of our roots and grounding in the word that we have all but lost sight of the holiday season?? I guess so!--I totally get that Christmas is not even when Christ was born--but aside from all of that it is a day that some of us have set aside to observe Jesus' birth--again I will reiterate I am a simple person, with a simple life, on a simple little farm, with simple little critters, that simply love the Lord--STUFF is not my cup of tea--for pete's sake a man was killed for material possessions--Wonder if the plasma t.v. or the ipod was worth his life??? People actually got angry when they were told the store had to close due to an employee death!!--WOW! -- Sad thing is--the family of that man will not have him this year--but the people that killed him will have their families and their stuff!!-- I guess I am more simple minded than even I care to admit, because I truly just do not get all the hub-bub with shopping and great deals-- Its just possessions--when we leave this ol' world to make the trip to heaven it can not come with us, so what is it gonna matter?-- Many purchase expensive gifts for their children on credit cards and are still paying on it well beyond next Christmas-- We pay hard, cold cash-- We have taught our children that if you don't have cash, you don't buy it--if its that important to you--save your cash for it-- Black Friday sales are really kinda silly--they mark down 'stuff' to get shoppers in to purchase it--people buy it and in 6 months no one remembers they have it--LOL--This year someone lost their life for worldly possessions--This is not taking into account the people shot to death at Toys-R-Us--We have got to get our priorites in order--time is short--stay home--hug your children and tell them you love them--that my friends will mean more later down the road than any package under the tree!!! And the best part--It's Free and no crowds to kill ya!

~Kris

A Great Thanksgiving Day

{ Posted by Linda }
{ 05:21, Friday, November 28, 2008 } { Posted in Family } { 1 comments } { Link }

We had a super great Thanksgiving with most all my love ones here. Our new little granddaughter sure made for a special time. I didn't get to hold her much b/c of cooking but GreatGrandma sure did .

We had 14 people in all, 5 being our grandkiddies, our new SIL parents even shared our Thanksgiving with us, what fun. His Mom got right in the kitchen and help make gravy while her DIL (our DD) was helping with the other goodies. I loved it.

Lots of food and of course we overate. In the warm afternoon we all went walking on the trails (except new grandbaby, mommy and greatgrandma) and checked out the Outpost. In the 50's, I was sure tempted to camp out but I will wait for the snow.

Heres our cutie,she changes a little bit each time I see her.

We have the cradle which my Dad gave me for my babies, in the living. Not knowing at the time how many more beautiful babies would be sharing a sweet nap. A ture Blessing.

I did some junk store finds and found this neat hat holder with hats, perfect for the kiddies playclothes in the spare bedroom. I'm decorating it up Christmascy for them this weekend.

Here they all are in their new/old dress up clothes, hamming it up for gandma. The littlest guy didn't have any playclothes so he found a knit hat to put on, thata work. So I will be looking for lots of play clothes for them.

What fun they have dancing and singing in the living room.

Tomorrow DH and I will go to town and find a Christmas Tree. We use to take the family out to a Tree Farm and cut the most beautiful tree on the farm, (we always told ourselves this). Some would be whoppers up to 14ft tall , using extention ladders to decorate. But we have scaled down to 9ft and 10ft trees after the kids left home. Last year I think I got a tree leaning against the Hen House store while my sister looked on in the warm truck. This could be payback from a time when Mom, sis and I were getting a tree and sis got out in the rain as we had thumbs up or down for the perfect tree. Poor wet sis,

Oh and all the orange comes down, orange wreaths, orange pumpkins, oranges decorations and even the orange slipcovers in the living room. Its red and green time. Inside and out. And speaking green we are scaling down the lights on the house this year, kinda sad but DH needs a break. I put up the garlin and lights over the front door and will be putting out the sleigh and iceskates and pincones. But if I get a second wind I might put up more lights and light the trails. Just not sure yet. Less is more but then again someone told me more is more and less is really less. And then we got the being green going on too.

Chickens:

Oh boy are they doing well, up to 20 eggs a day. Nothing like cracking an egg for the Thanksgiving peacan pies, just freshly laid that day.
Go Girls Go!!!

Just for fun:

In some past post I share of a group I have joined late this summer. Mary Jane Farm Connection. I was new to the magazine and new to the forum. What a great connection from the get go. This "get er done" Mary Jane inspired me to make up my Outpost, she and other "out their women" inspired me to camp out for 13 weeks in my own Outpost. Make a reading tree for my grandkiddies and take a bath in the woods again like I use to.

Now I'm on a major cleanup here on the homestead, when you got a big roll off dumpster , its major clean up. One thing that I was going to toss out was my kids Barbie dolls, oh they were a mess and no way I want my grandkiddies playing with these , so why would I give them away to good well. Yucky, I tell ya, they were in very bad shape.

Now just before the toss I had a moment, a moment that I could not do, I'm throwing away my girls dolls : (, how could I do such a thing. Then the light bulb came on, I thought how Mary Janes Farm and the sisterhood is all about women Who Can and to raise little farmgirls Who Can as well. So why not clean up these dolls and make farmgirl Barbies for my own gandgirls to play with, a good wholesome image and recycle at the same time. And there it was, Farmgirl Barbie, Mary Jane style.

I shared with my farmgirl friends in Mary Janes forum and it was a hit, with the thread stating "What do you do with a big bag of wild-haired naked Barbie dolls?" Many ideas and others wanting to do the same with their DD Barbie dolls, and many wish they had not thrown their dolls away.

Heres a picture of one of those dirty wild-haired Barbie dolls that I cleaned up and made an apron for her (Mary Jane believes in aprons, there is power in an apron). She is called Farmgirl Barbie the Herb Gatherer

Barbie cleans up pretty nice.

Now all this gets even better.

Mary Jane herself has an artical about this in her Nov /Dec magazine.

I was so surprise that she liked my idea that she featured it heading and all "What do you do with a bag full of wild-haired naked Barbie dolls. Her write up was wonderful and I'm so honored to be mention in your magazine. Thank you Mary Jane .

This is a wonderful magazine so do check it out. I got my copy at Borders but you can also subscribe. Check out her forum to Mary Janes Farm , lots of wonderful Farmgirls, all ages from all over the world, country and city. Talk about Kindred Spirits. You will find many there. I sure did.

Happy Holidays to you all , thank you for stopping by.

My heart and prayers go out to those in India. What a sadness this brings. A sadness for the loss but also a sadness that many have so much hate in their hearts to do such things. May Peace On Earth happen soon.

Blessings
linda

What a wonderful day

{ Posted by Kris }
{ 9:21 AM, Friday, November 28, 2008 } { Posted in Daily Farm Life } { 0 comments } { Link }

Our Thanksgiving was all I wanted and more--quiet--relaxing--and blessed--the day outside was beautiful with the temp in the high 60's almost 70! We enjoyed a traditional holiday meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade cornbread dressing, corn, green bean casserole, homemade hotrolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and sweet potatoes!! Yummmm, yummmm--My mom and step-dad were here with us--my oldest dd wound up going to her dads with my blessing--this is the first year he has done a dinner and so it was with my blessing that she spent time with him--I am so grateful for the wonderful day we had--not sure it could have been any better!!! I hope you all had a blessed day as well!!

~Kris

how to cut a [free] turkey

{ Posted by Morning Sunshine }
{ 10:00 AM, Thursday, November 27, 2008 } { 2 comments } { Link }

We are not BIG turkey fans around here, but when the local grocery gives you turkey vouchers every time you shop, and you get some extras from a friend.... well, I got a 16# turkey for $.02. Free food, really.
but - we are only 5 people, who have a hard time eating a 5# roast chicken in 3 meals. So, how does one deal with 16# of meat? Even free meat. Well, a little research gives some ideas......

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--436/cutting-up-a-whole-turkey.asp
great illustrations of how to butcher a turkey. Give it a minute - for some reason this site was slow to load even on my usually fast connection.

and the USU extension service has this PDF:
http://extension.usu.edu/boxelder/files/uploads/fn290.pdf. (I hope this works - I have never linked to a PDF before...)
this is cool because it claims that you do not have to fully defrost the turkey to butcher it, and then you can refreeze the portions... definitely helpful in my situation. It does mean that I will have to work fast though, and have freezer space ready and waiting. Still..... a handy thing to know.

Oh, and assuming we can manage a 5# chicken in 3 meals, a 16# turkey could conceivably last us for 10-12 meals. Not bad for 2 cents!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

{ Posted by HSB Front Porch }
{ 07:39 AM, Nov. 27, 2008 } { Posted in A Word Fitly Spoken } { 0 comments } { Link }

To each and every one,
Happy Thanksgiving from our homestead to yours!
May God bless you today and always.

My Cup Runneth Over...
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger
Heritage Acres Farm

Sharing The Gift Of Thanks

{ Posted by ~Rebekah~ }
{ 06:37, Thursday, November 27, 2008 } { Posted in In The Family Room } { 0 comments } { Link }

It's officially Thanksgiving and I couldn't go without wishing friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving from Doug and I.

As we start our turkeys, prepare the trimmings and open our homes for guests and loved-ones to arrive, lets not forget the things we are thankful for today. We all have SO much to be thankful for. I look at my own menu and as I saw the news today on those who are going without, I am reminded of just how much we actually have.

Believe it or not, we've actually cut down on some things, yet as we dig in to our apple and pumpkin pies, I am reminded of those who go without, others who haven't any loved ones to celebrate with, those without warm clothes and even those who's family members are away serving our country.

Lets take the time to reach out to someone in our lives, whether it be a neighbor, volunteering at a local shelter, or even donating to charities and fundraiser's this year. You each make the difference and have a special gift.

I have much to be thankful for this year and I am most grateful to God for His unconditional loving-kindness. but also for the protection on family and friends and the blessings He gives us all each day. Life isn't always easy, but it's His kind and gentle hand that reaches out and gives us hope that we may share that hope with others.

May you all be blessed each day, May He continue to love and guide you through the joys and trials, May He work within you to strengthen you, grant you peace, comfort and most importantly may you share all you have with much love and thanksgiving, in Jesus Mighty name.

I leave you with an uplifting scripture during this time of Thanksgiving. May you all know that you are loved deeply!

Serve the Lord with gladness:
come before His presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord He is God:
It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise;
be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endures to all generations. ~Psalm 100

IN NEED OF YOUR PRAYER>>>>>>>

{ Posted by GrandmaRosie }
{ 4:38 AM, Thu 27 Nov 2008 } { Posted in I BELIEVE } { 5 comments } { Link }

As some of you know my lovely little grand daughter, Velvet Rose, age 11, lives with me. She has been here since around the first of the school year. Velvet suffers with Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD and ODD. In early Sept. she was hospitalized for being suicidal. When she was released she came home with me instead of her parents. She has made great progress here with her grandpa and I. But on Tuesday she had to admitted to the hospital again.

She has been having bouts of very manic behaviour followed by severe depression. This is a way of life for those having Bi-Polar disorders. She is a precious little girl who loves Jesus and her family very much. Please help us pray for her to be healed. I know God wants her to have a more stable life. She needs peace of mind only He can give her.

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