The Zoo

Pretty Jam Top Tutorial.

This is really cute. Just the thing to top off those pretty jars of homemade goodies!! Check it out.

LuckyKate Crafts

Our 4th of July - a parade - loose pigs-moving-ER for Dad

I hope everybody had a great 4th of July weekend!  Ours was very busy but pretty good overall.

Thursday (the 3rd) we spent time helping my parents move and their trailer was moved from their old place to their new place. 

Friday (the 4th) our Lilli was in a 4th of July parade.  She rode on a float and waved and smiled to everybody.  It was very cute.  It was a float built by her dance studio and all the girls aged 3-8 years were on the float in their dance recital costumes.  The older girls walked behind the float and danced all through the parade.  It was a very good idea and a great advertisement for the studio.  Those little girls looked too cute up there in their costumes.

After the parade we came home and Lauren took a 3! hour nap!  We wanted her to get her nap out as we knew we'd be out late for fireworks that night.  We still had to wake her up, even after 3 hours.  She did good though, even if we did wake her up.

We headed to Lance's Aunt's house on an inland lake for the evening.  We missed most of the other family visiting because we were so late arriving, but we had a fantastic time.  It was too cold for swimming by the time we got there, but Lilli was able to fish and play with Julian, Lance's brother's grandson.  They had a great time together and played and played all the time we were there.

Lance and Lilli even rode around the lake on Lance's brother's pontoon boat.  They had a nice time.  I stayed with Lance's Aunt and Lauren.  Lauren is just a little young for enjoying a 45 minute ride in a pontoon and I'm not sure it would have been an enjoyable experience for me either (while keeping her from climbing overboard).  LOL.

We stayed for fireworks and they were very nice as well.  The lake association puts them on each year and this is the second year we've attended.  I LOVE going.  It's very nice and relaxing with no crowds and the company is great too :)  I love visiting his aunt and  I hope we are able to go often this summer.

Saturday the 5th - the girls and I headed over to mom and dad's around lunch time to help with moving and settling in.  Lance was going to come along later (after doing chores around here) to help move heavier items.  When the girls and I arrived at dad's, we realized how bad his back had gotten.  He'd been having pain and a hard time walking in the last week (so bad that his knees would buckle from the pain in his back), but he couldn't even walk when we got there.  He decided a trip to the ER might be a good idea. 

The girls stayed with mom while I took dad to the ER.  We checked into the ER at 1:30PM.  We didn't get into the room to be seen until after 6PM.  They did a CT scan but told dad that they couldn't give him any pain meds because he's already on all the really good ones.  He may have the really good ones, but he doesn't find any relief from them.  The pain is always there.  They did give him a script for a muscle relaxer and said that it may help him sleep/relax and that may help the pain some.  The CT scan showed things we already knew, but it did show a bulging disk as well.  They want him to follow up with an MRI w/dye.  He also has a narrowing of the sack sorrounding the spinal cord.  The ER Dr said that is sometimes painful as well.  They gave him a dose of Dilauden(SP?) and Finergen (SP?) (along with an IV) and that really relaxed him.  He slept quite a bit after thatt.  They gave him a second dose about 5 hours after the first.  Then they gave him a shot of Morphine for the ride home.  He was doing good until the shot of morphine.  They gave it to him on his sore hip and the nurse was horrible.  She jabbed it in hard and then pushed the meds in quickly.  Dad was sore most of the way home just from that.  We filled his script at the pharmacy in the hospital and then we left.  It was 11:30ish.  We'd been there 10 hours.  I felt so bad for dad.  It's never fun to sit in an ER waiting room, but it is ten times worse when you have a sore back.  We took his own wheel chair from home and wheeled him everywhere he needed to go.  I don't really think he's much better, but he is walking today (the 6th)...very slowly and with a lot of pain.  :(  The muscle relaxer really doesn't make him sleepy, but hopefully it's relaxing something in his back so he can rest easier.  :(

Lilli spent the night since it was so late already, but I brought Lauren home, even though she was already asleep.  I'm sure she'd do fine, but I'm not sure how much sleep everybody would get.

We got home around 1AMish and were asleep before we hit the pillow.  Lance never heard us come home even though RC barked at us.  LOL

Sunday the 6th-  Lance woke and took care of Lauren while I slept in.  It was wonderful!  I slept until about 9:30ish (woohoo!) and then I took a super hot shower.  LOL.  Lance was outside mowing the lawn with Lauren when I finally got up and about.  We did chores and headed for my parent's house for a day of moving.

We stopped on the way and picked up a bucket of chicken, fish, fries, mashed taters, cole slaw and rolls, soda and ice.  My parent's haven't had a fridge so their eating has been limited to mostly meals out or snacks.  They've been using a cooler for important things and they just had their stove hooked up on Saturday.

My brother Tom called while we were on our way and he and his wife and boys came to help with the moving.  I was so happy to see those boys!  I'm not sure I would have been much help to Lance with some of the things he needed to move.  He did move the fridge completely by himself before they arrived.  We did get that all hooked up for mom and dad so they are pretty well set up now...foodwise anyway...LOL.

My Aunt and Uncle came for a visit after seeing the old place completely gone.  LOL.  I'm sure that was a shock.  The trailer is gone now, as is the pole barn.  It looks pretty vacant now and is a shock even if you are expecting it, for somebody just stopping by, it's probably quite a blow.  They helped with moving things from the trailer to the new place and we were very grateful to have them :) 

A friend of the family called Lance today and left a hilarious message about the old place.  They'd stopped by for a visit only to find everything gone.  He's a hoot anyway and his message had Lance laughing out loud in the car.  We did the right thing and told them we had no idea what was going on and hadn't seen my parents for about a week or so.  Ha.  Just kidding.  Well, we said it, but we fessed up shortly after.  LOL

I think we moved most everything that was left.  There is a large piece of the wood swingset and a wood privacy fence that dad wants but we didn't have a big enough trailer today.  We are hoping somebody can help with that tomorrow.

Our electricity was out for 2 1/2 days over the holiday.  We ran our generator and it cost us $40 per day!  We had to have it on for our freezers.  We have 3 freezers full of meat not counting our fridge/freezer in the kitchen. 

Lance went down to do chores while the power was out and found pigs out of the fence.  The pigs realized it wasn't hot and they were out and about having a nice time.  Lance rounded them all up while we were at my parent's house and then he plugged the fence charger into the generator.  LOL 

Lesson learned.  Charger gets plugged in when the freezers do from now on.  Ha.

I hope everybody had a nice and safe holiday weekend. 

I do have some pictures but I can't currently find my camera.  I'm honestly not sure where to look...I thought it was in the diaper bag but it's not.  Lauren might have moved it or mom might have set it up if she saw Lauren had it at their place.  I'll post pics when I find it and have some time :)

I don't always take the time to say it, but my husband is great.  He works hard.  10 hours a day lately, PLUS another 2 hours of driving time to and from work.  He gets up at 4AM to leave by 5AM to get to work by 6AM (about an hour drive).  He comes home around 5:15PMish and works hard taking care of our critters (which I have suggested scaling down on so he isn't working so hard all the time).  I know he must be exhausted, as I know I am tired and I don't even get up at 4AM.  I just wanted to take the time to mention how much I love my husband.  :)

4th weekend projects.

Happy Independance Day...We must remember

  Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

 --Ronald Reagan

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law
under God is acknowledged.

      -- Ronald Reagan

But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. - I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. - I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. - Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Abigail Adams

A Treat for Star-Gazers

Here's a real treat for all of us amateur star-gazers!  Homeschool blogger, "Jay from Cleveland", has a neat presentation up on his OTHER blog, http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/classicalastronomy/555979, of the July sky in animation.  Be sure to click on the link above, watch the presentation and THEN go out tonight and see how many you can find!

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

DIY...Build A Solar Food Dryer..Mother Earth News

Check out this great article.

Build A Solar Food Dryer

How I see it

Todays quote....George Bernard Shaw

Liberty is the breath of life to nations.
~George Bernard Shaw

Hello Friends

It's amazing that July is here already!  I seem to stay so busy lately and have not had much time for the computer.  My mother and stepfather are coming tomorrow to visit a couple of days.  It's been a long time since they've been here and we're looking forward to a visit.  I went to the grocery store today and found some bargains, thankfully.  The menus in the days to come will include homemade bread,  my favorite chicken salad recipe, chips with homemade onion dip, a blueberry coffee cake, spaghetti, french bread and salad, smoked ham, cornbread, fresh corn and peas and green beans, chicken pie, cauliflower, cabbage, grilled burgers and sausage, sweet potato fries.....etc.  I found that new Kraft Olive Oil lower fat/cal  mayo 32 oz on sale for 2 for $5.  Well each jar had a $1 off coupon too!  What a deal!  They had 5 left and I grabbed all of them.  I've got lots more to post but I'm running out of time.  So more later!  Oh, here's a peek at the new chicks.  There are 6 in all but the others are under the mothers' wings.  Yes, instead of one hen wanting to be the mother we have FOUR that have taken on the role from the very beginning!  They even sat on the eggs together.   ~Sweet~

Deliberate Shopping

Deliberate Shopping

We don’t always have a lot of time. Shopping is time consuming and tedious at best. BUT there is something to be said for deliberate shopping. What is deliberate shopping? Simply put it is taking time to shop. Be conscious of your purchases. Take time to compare prices and check labels for ingredients. Don’t always buy what you know. Right now prices are changing rapidly and frequently. Once a month take time to shop deliberately. Be certain what you are purchasing is the best bang for your buck.

If you do this at least once a month, you will begin to notice you actually enjoy this time of shopping. For me, I cannot do this effectively with others in tow. So, the hubby and I make plans that I will have an hour or so to shop on my own once or twice a month. My future goal is to have time to do this once a week, because the results are bigger savings and a less chaotic mind. This simple activity makes frugal living a blessing in disguise. Make time to do this and your wallet will thank you because your money will be right where it belongs!

These are my thoughts.

Leslie Valeska

~Contributing Writer