Been a long time, friends

Wow - how many cliches could I insert here!

I've deciding to rekindle the old blog - and to start things off, how about a little catching up, shall we?!

(By the way, if you're in my blog feeder, I've been lurking.)

Last we spoke, I was starting seeds from scratch. That turned out well. Very well!  We actually were up to our eyeballs in tiny plants. I couldn't give them away fast enough.

But since then, lot's has changed. Here's a quick run down:

My marriage has ended. No need to elaborate. It was a long time coming and something that had to be done. For me and my sanity. For my kids. If you were to encounter us together, we get along fairly well. Dare I say we make better friends than spouses? Yes, yes we do.

I have had another baby - mmm hmmm. Mom of 6 now. Delaney is almost 6 months old.

The kids and I had to move.  It was quite traumatic for all of us, yet we had no choice in the matter.  7 months into the "new" house and we've settled in quite well. Sometime soon I'll be writing about the new house and why it's such a blessing. The chickens moved along with us... the labradors didn't.  They are happily running on 13 acres - lucky dogs!  We do have a new dog, a pug named, Pug.  Or Buddy. Or Bugsy. He has many names and responds to them all.

I coupon, a lot. I photograph, a lot. I love on my kiddos, a lot.

Looking forward to getting back to blogging and chatting again.

2010: The Year of HAPPY

2008 was the Year of Loss

The year I lost my idyllic mom-life. The year I lost my business. The year I lost dear friends. The year I lost my trust in the system. The year I lost so much.

(In way way, it was the year of gain: I gained 35 pounds by not dealing with the loss.)

2009 was the Year of Grief

When I suffered one loss after another, instead of dealing with the emotions that surrounded the events, I stuffed it down, way, way down. Buried deeply so I could just motor on, moving thru life, dealing with the day to day stuff that consumed me.

But when you stuff, eventually, it has to come back out. And it did. Hard, fast and overwhelming. Over and over, the grief came out. It made me physically ill. It brought my life to a grinding halt for months. It was the most painful year of my life. One that I vow I will never repeat.

But in the grief, I did find joy. I found many things to celebrate and I found my self. My true self. The one who deserves so much more.

I no longer will be a people pleaser. I will no longer go with the flow, not questioning what my gut is screaming about. I will no longer suffer silently. I will no longer give to others at my expense. I will re-frame my life and my dreams. I will rebuild what was lost. I will reclaim what is mine. I will rise above and soar.




On New Year's Eve, I declared 2010, the Year of Happy
I will only do things that make me happy.




Before After

As a tribute to my resolution, here are a few things that made me happy in recent days:

I re-did my laundry room. No more ugly yellow wallpaper, in stages of removal. No more reminders of the project I abandoned 5 years ago. I chose a gorgeous shade of purple plum, despite what others commented on, because it makes me happy.

I grew loofa.

I took photos.

I raised puppies.






In the upcoming year, I will share other things that make me happy. Stay tuned.

What I see Out My Window

Ah, Fall... such a gorgeous season!!

This is the view out my front window (ahem, it WAS the view, until the wind/rain dropped all the leaves.)

I absolutely LOVE red leaves! We planted a Red Maple and a Red Oak the first month we moved here. 5 years later, the color is fabulous! About the time the Maple looses all it's leaves, the Oak turns. Ah, fall. :D

Still here, I promise

Hi~~ This is me, waving at you!

I've not fallen into a crack in the road - just hit a speed bump that slowed me down a little. :D

Remember when I posted about the volunteer potatoes ~ the ones that came up from last year? Well, I needed to mulch the garden and also plant things that needed to go in, so I dug up the volunteers. 12 pounds of potatoes - all because during last year's harvest, some potatoes got left behind. That's frugal gardening, I do believe!!

I'll be back posting soon ~ thanks for checking in

Etched In Stone

Yesterday, in my fine town, a man walked in to a church and shot another man, in the forehead. He killed a husband, a father of 4 and a grandfather of 10. He killed Dr. George Tiller. An abortion doctor.

No matter which side of the issue you are, this post isn't open to debate.

It is, however, my story. A deeply personal one.

Have you ever heard the theory that we are all born with a chalkboard? Everytime something is said to you, good or bad, it gets recorded. Sometimes, the writing fades over time if you don't hear it enough. Other times, what's said over and over eventually gets etched in, deeper and deeper until it makes you who you are.

I believe this. I've struggled for years to erase things on my slate that others thought about me and said to me, things I know to be untrue. But, there are some things that are etched so deeply, there isn't enough spackle to fill in the fissures.

On an ordinary summer day, when I was nine, my mother turned to me and casually said,

"Did you know that you were supposed to be aborted?"

My earth stopped and I was in some kind of a vacuum. What? What did she say?

"Yes," she went on, "your dad only wanted one child, so when he found out I was pregnant with you, he wanted to have you aborted, but I said no."

She went on to say that there was a doctor who was in agreement. Supposedly there was a sonogram showing me as having no arms or legs - just a torso and head. This was used to try to convince her that an abortion was a good idea.

Knowing the narcissist that is my mother, I wonder if she said it for shock factor (probably) or to get me to hate my birth father (probably), to garner sympathy (of course) or to hurt me.

I didn't know how to respond. I mean, I was 9 and I just heard that I was unwanted and should have been dead. What do you say to that?!?!

Over the years, she has said it a few more times, each time, forgetting that she'd already told me. Everytime I heard it, it etched deeper, and deeper. She even said it to me during my pregnancies.

Had I been aborted, I would not be here. My five wonderful, delightful, blessings from God would not be here.

When I hear the word Abortion, it etches this even deeper into my soul.

I wasn't wanted. I wasn't supposed to be alive. The pregnancy was to have been terminated. I was to have been terminated. Eliminated.

Choices.

I believe that every human is on earth for a reason. It's up to each person to make their own choices and discover what they need to. I'm not here to judge. What you choose is your business.

I just wonder, who was eliminated, by choice? What futures will never be?

I don't wish to open this up to discussion or debate. Yesterday, my world was a firestorm of personal opinions and debates and I sat by, quietly watching, listening and praying.

All I ask, is if you have people in your life that you care about, look deep into their eyes and see what has been written on their slate. See what's been etched and what you can help to erase. It's never too late to change the slate.

Changes

Jerry changed his work schedule last week and we're just not settling into a routine... at all. His hours are shifted as are his days off. Consequently, all my routines have been thrown into a swirling pot. The kids are out of school for summer. And, for the first time in 8 years, I'm working from home.

It all adds up to upheaval. Not that's it's bad.... I LOVE having him home, even if he is asleep when we're awake. I just can't get a grip on a new schedule.

I'll be back when things aren't so upside down.

Someone Special

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I did. Above is a lovely card made by Cole. Inside, he shared several sweet sentiments and the back was so cute too.

It shows a chicken eating a worm and it's from his line of "Hungry Chicken" cards. LOL

Every Mother's Day (and Christmas too) someone very special has helped in choosing my gifts. She is a creative, kind and compassionate lady. My children enjoy spending time with her and talk about her almost as if she's a dear auntie. But, she isn't a relative. She's the art teacher at school. Mrs. H has a knack for leading the kids in art that allows them to be creative but the art is useful. I mean, who else could have the kids make a ceramic bird feeder (complete with drainage holes!) for Mom's Day?! Every year, I look forward to receiving more goodies that she had a hand in. My dear hubby isn't much of a shopper and really, doesn't do gift giving. That's a whole 'nother post, but suffice to say, it's taken me a lot of years to be okay with not getting gifts from him. Yes, I know gifts don't equate love, but that's not how I was raised and it took a lot for me to overcome the disappointment of not getting store-bought gifts. The artsy, homemade gifts that I LOVE and CHERISH come about thanks to Mrs. H. So, Mrs. H, when I'm 85 and still admiring these lovely gifts, I will be thinking of you and praising your goodness!!

Aubrey and I attended our first ever Mother ~ Daughter Tea. It was so nice! Muffins with Mom Day complete with songs by the Kindergartners. She painted the darling heart shaped dishes (thanks again Mrs. H). They remind me of friendship charms - one for me and one for her and when we look at our hearts, we think of each other. I have some fun little things planned to use these. Oh, and the tea pot has a poem that slides out and a tea bag ~ so we're going to have a tea party the next boy-free weekend we get. (Thanks to Boy Scouts!)

The gifts just keep coming! Someone else at school had the great idea to sell these little plants in coffee mugs for $1. And, Jerry got me the pink flowers. Plus, he made me a wonderful french toast w/ sausage breakfast to eat in BED with a newspaper and birds chirping outside my window. Who could ask for anything more?!

The afternoon was spent with Phelan and family. Cole got to ride solo and the girls got to ride with Phelan. And hold tiny kittens. And eat delicious, fresh-from-the-oven bread. And play with the not-so-tiny goats. And see Courage up close (she is a beauty!). And talk about plans for beef cows. And hang out with friends. And so much more. A very nice afternoon in deed. Even with the cold, windy day. The bonfire was excellent. I don't think I've ever had a bonfire on Mother's Day before. Seeing my kids so happy is truly a fabulous gift. Spending time with people I admire and appreciate is just the icing on the cake.

On the way home, I saw several Cardinals. They remind me of my Texas Grandma. Whenever I see them, I know it's her way of sending me love. I love you too, Grandma.

Oldest son and about 90 kids from his school, spent Friday night sleeping in boxes & Saturday raising money for a homeless shelter here in town. They got a surprise donation of a $200 check from one gentleman. I have no idea who it was, but Sir, you ROCK! You were the talk of the day! The kids had a good time, learned about a very real need in our community and discovered that 40% of the homeless are under 18. It's events like these that get them to see the world out there is really in their own backyard.

We had a great weekend ~ hope you did too.

There She Blows

Thanks to the winds, the mini-greenhouse got blown over, spilling dozens of plants. I was able to salvage most of them, but I did lose about 2 dozen tomatoes. Not to worry ~ I have hundreds more growing. But, what a mess! It happened during the rain that dumped 5 inches on us.

Question: What would a reasonable budget for food be, for a family of 7?

My Answer: $400 a month.

Let me explain. We are in the process of eliminating debt using Dave Ramsey's proven method. We have a long ways to go, but we're dedicated to the mission. We decided to see a financial counselor to get a check up, so to speak. She went over our budget and suggested we cut the food budget in half. Um, WHAT?! 7 people should eat 100% of their meals on $200 a month? I have a pantry, but it's not THAT well stocked right now.

We didn't guesstimate correctly last fall when we were canning. It was the first year we decided to actually can enough to last us until this year's harvest. We under estimated on everything. So, I'm shopping more than I thought I would.

Also included in that budget are seeds & plants that will produce (raspberries & blueberries to name a few.)

I'm a very careful shopper and have a price book plus I'm now couponing in hopes that I can save money every place I can. (I used to just buy the store brand or at Aldi's but I'm discovering that I can often get better deals on the name brands by using coupons during a sale.) Also included are the products I use to make my own laundry soap, shampoo, conditioner and cleaners.

What isn't included in that budget is the cost of feed for the chickens, cats, dogs, and other pets. She insinuated that we might want to get rid of all the pets in order to apply that money to the debt. Again, I see her angle, but the pets (and chickens) add to our quality of life and we won't be getting rid of them. Plus, my chickens feed me. :D

I don't know why this is still rubbing me the wrong way (we met with her in Feb.) but it is. I guess I'd just really like to know how a family of 7 can eat 84 meals on $200 a month. I do buy 25 pounds of rice at the Chinese market and I am growing beans, so heck, we could do the beans-n-rice meals that Dave always spouts about, but I'm sure that we'd be sick of them by day 3.

We eat a ton of veggies. In the summer, we eat stir fry nearly every night. If it's not stir fry, it's grilled veggies. We love them. In the winter/early spring, we don't eat as many because it's not in the budget (have you SEEN the prices at the stores lately?)

The other thing we do to help offset the budget is barter. I have swapped eggs for Elderberry plants & baked goods. One of our sons helps a neighbor in his garden in exchange for veggies. Bartering is a great way to get more food without paying for it.

What do you think? Is my $400 a month too much?

Needs vs Frustration

I've been reading some blogs that seem to be in the same boat as me. Maybe this will help somebody.

I haven't shared a lot of personal life here because, well, it's personal! But here goes: 2008 was, by far, the WORST year of my life. My kid's lives were so heavily impacted that for 2 months I waivered on the brink of needing to be put into a mental institution. I've always felt I was born to be a Mom and I take that job very seriously. My kids mean the world to me. So when they hurt, I hurt too. The enormousness of what happened was so huge it was crushing.

Then, my career suffered blow after blow after blow and the fall out of that is still impacting us. Then, a dear, dear friend was killed in a freak accident doing what he loved (he died with a smile on his face and that gave me peace.) Less than a week later, another friend was killed. In October, my chronic illness went beserk due to the stress (it's in remission when I remain stress free) but with all that was going on, I wasn't able to stave off the flare up. It nearly put me back in the hospital.

But, I survived it all and now am sweeping up the pieces of my shattered life and trying to figure out what to do next.

I was hunting in the library for a book when I saw this one: The Secret Laws of Attraction by Talane Miedaner. What caught my eye was a small note about take the quiz inside. I like these kinds of quizzes - they often give insight or confirm what you may have already known. If you want to take the quiz, here's a link to her site. (As an aside, I didn't read the subtitle close enough - the book is about getting the relationship you want - a dating book. *ahem* I'm married - but there still is good info in the book that can be applied to any relationship.)

My results were as I already know:

1) Need for Peace

2) Need to be Heard

3) Need for Control

4) Need to be Independent

What does it mean? Discovering my needs isn't anything new, but what she says is that if you can find out how to meet your needs yourself, you will stop looking to other people to fulfill them and you won't be as disappointed or frustrated. Hmmmm, she may have a point there.

Last year, I wasn't in control of anything that happened. I had to learn to roll with life and stop fighting for control. Everything that happened was completely out of my hands. I had to find other outlets for my control needs. My Peace was blown to the winds. No longer did I have refuge in my job or in my home - there was chaos everywhere I went. And, through it all, I felt like no one was listening to me/us. It took nearly 8 months before we found an advocate for us and we are finally on the road to recovery.

I guess my point is this: know who you are and what you need. If your needs aren't being met, you know it. You'll feel frustrated and angry. You are unsettled and everything seems so hard. But, life isn't meant to be hard, IMHO. Keep looking, keep fighting. You will find the solution. It just might take some time.

If I could live in a blog...

I found this blog by following bunny trails and I loved it...

Now, she's gone and upped the delishiousness of it all. I can almost SMELL those pies cooling on the window sill. And, the milk bottles and aprons, oh my!

You have to check out Sugar Pie Farmhouse.

It's not a homesteading blog, but it's a Farmhouse crossed with Martha Stewart, in a GOOD way (I know there's people who see no value in Martha, but sometimes pretty is nice!)

Snow Shots

The chickens don't seem to mind the snow... as long as they have a warm compost pile to sit on!

Peas, garlic & onions before and after snow.

We DID get snow!

This camera doesn't capture falling snow at all, but trust me, this looked so much more fierce than the pictures shows. LOL Jerry just can't stand to see snow pile up, so he prefers to shovel multiple times during snow storms. Luckily, there was 3+ inches of ice pellets underneath, so it was easy digging. We ended up with 6" of snow on top of the ice. On Friday evening, he had to run to the groccery store for junk food. I rarely buy it and he didn't think he would survive a blizzard without it. LOL He came home with 1 bag of chips, 1 package of oreos and 10 snack size candy bars plus a 2 litre of pop. Oh, and 6 cans of mandarin oranges. So much for the junk food run!

I don't like cold weather, so I was content to snap photos from my front door - this in my neighbors house across the street. The camera eliminated the blowing snow that I wanted to show. Oh well.

Every window on the north side of our house was encased in ice like this one. Once the sun came out, the whole house lit up! The ice has since melted from the windows, but we still have snow on the ground. It won't last long. Temps will be back above freezing today and tomorrow predictions are it'll get above 50. That's reason #847 of Why I LOVE Kansas - the snow does NOT hang around long. :)

How did you do? I was watching tornado warnings as well as flooding stories all weekend long for parts of the midwest. It looks like a wave of rain is going to deluge those areas again on Tuesday...

Batten Down the Hatches

This wind... this W I N D is driving me nuts!!

I'm noise sensitive - meaning, I have super sonic hearing. I can hear what people are saying 2 rooms away. And, don't even think about whispering because I'll still hear you. Being noise sensitive is interesting with 5 kids as I tend to crave solitude and silence. I rarely watch tv. I don't have a radio on in the car - when my kiddos were little, they were taught to be quiet in the car - and other carpool moms would comment on how well behaved they were unlike their own screamers. Well, I just can NOT handle loud noises or sustained noises.... like this wind that sounds like my roof is going to be airborne any second. It's blowing so bad I woke up in the middle of the night. I have an incredible headache from listening to the sustained winds.

Last weekend, the impending doom and gloom forecasted by the local weather gurus had us pegged for HAIL! LIGHTENING! THUNDER! TORNADOES! THE END OF TIME!! Just kidding, they'd never predict the end - the chance for drama would be over. Ironically, the only thing we got here was wind (and a lot of it) and some rain. That's it. No drama, no hail or tornado ~ not that I'd want any!!

Now, they are predicting that tonight into tomorrow we're going to be in a BLIZZARD! OF! EPIC! PROPORTIONS! Like nothing we've ever seen before! Anywhere from 1 to 12 inches! Blowing and drifting snows! White outs! Etc! ETC! ETC!!! Oh, and Sunday, it'll be above freezing and the GREAT MELT will begin!

Cole, the 10 year old, isn't a lover of winter. He prefers spring and summer and wishes we lived in New Mexico or at least Texas. Or heck, if we'd consider it, how about Hawaii?! So, this morning, he was grumbling about how ticked off he was that THEY were gonna cause us to have a blizzard RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF SPRING. Okay, that was too funny. We've had some spring-like weather, but it's not spring yet. I asked him who "they" are that he thinks makes the weather... he stared/glared for a while and then admitted that no people made the weather but he was tired of hearing doom and gloom weather reports.

I agree, I'm tired of it too. I say, let the chips fall where they may, we'll survive. All the news folks are saying to get to the stores to shop because you just don't know when you'll be able to get there with this blizzard bearing down on us. Ha! I don't have to run to the store to stock up for the 24 hour blizzard - heck we could eat like kings for about 3 months on our stockpiles.

But, in true Little House on the Prairie fashion, we'll be stringing a rope up from the back porch to the chicken coop, just in case, you know, it IS a blizzard and we gotta have eggs.

PS I just checked out the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz from the library. I'm interested in trying some of the great recipes in it. If you enjoy fermented/probiotic food, enter to win delish Salsa by visiting Drews site. (If you Twitter, I'm @mschnieders. )

Update: Okay, so it started off doing some spitting snow/rain with brief showers of hail. Mostly, it's just been ice spitting out of the sky. Makes for some slippery walking in the yard. I did go pick up the kids early - I prefer to beat the rush. :)

There is hardly any snow in any of this mess - just ice, ice pellets and sleet. This is our older dog Lilly, who doesn't mind the puppies as long as everything is done her way.

Oh, and my puppies are part kangaroo! LOLOL Whenever I move, they are hopping in front and all around me like little spring loaded cutie pies. Totally cracks me up - surprised I caught the image as they bounce like Tiggers. Currently, nothing is falling from the sky and the winds have thankfully calmed down!

Can't pick your neighbors

When we moved into this area several years ago, we noticed that the house to the east was nice, but junk everywhere in the backyard, including a lot of parked cars/lawn mowers/campers. Now, I'm not one to judge another's yard or lifestyle and hey, maybe they are into the three R's. (that'd be reduce, REUSE, recycle).

For the last 3+ years, we've done our best to be neighborly. We wave, we visit and we do our part to keep the neighborhood up. These neighbors don't wave back and in general, piss a lot of people off. I'm of the "live and let live" mindset, so I don't get my panties too twisted if they drive on the corner of my lawn repeatedly or they have inoperable cars on their driveway. As the HOA President, I field these type of complaints about them weekly, again, I assure people that life is too short to get high blood pressure over the bad apple of the neighborhood.

All of my laid back niceness has now been chucked out the window.

Their dog, a black lab, is an escape artist. She jumps the fence, walks thru open gates & sections of fence that were taken down. We have taken her back home numerous times. She barks, incessantly at nothing. I, too, have labs. They only bark if someone approaches our fence or if they see a dog on the road (lots of dog walkers here.)

I've put up with the escaping. Even have put her in our yard several times until they got home (didn't even get so much as a 'thanks for helping us out'). I've put up with the barking, even though it's outside my bedroom window day and night.

I love labradors. It's my favorite breed. A breed I understand and can deal with. The dog is bored. She isn't worked with. She isn't handled. She is smart and neglected.

Last Monday night, when she dug under the dividing fence and killed 3 of my free range chickens before we could stop her, that's when I got mad. Enough is enough. I held onto her collar until my husband could go and get the neighbor. All neighbor said was that he'd be out later to fix the fence. He didn't. Never offered to clean up the carnage. Never offered to pay for the replacement hens. No apologies. Nothing. He could hear my daughters and youngest son shrieking hysterically in the house. Never said a word.

A week has passed. Jerry decides to go over and talk to them again about the dog - barking, digging under the fence and the cost of the hens.

Mrs. Neighbor is the one who he spoke to. She is not a nice person. (I'm choosing my words carefully here.)

She said she doesn't like us having chickens (we have 10, totally within the legal limits and we don't have roosters. Hens are quiet, unless they are laying - then they tell the world. Our hen house is at the very back of our property. You have to be in the yard to even hear them as we all have 1 acre lots.) Her point is that people who have chickens are bad, poor and red neck. (Sorry, but when is poor or redneck a problem? Last time I checked, 21% of the world's population lives on less than $1.25 a day - that's poor.)

She said her dog is a lab, and labs attack birds, so too bad for us. I have labs too. 1 was a farm rescue (that caught his own food for months) and even he didn't attack them. The puppies are being trained, so far, so good. Our contention is that had our chickens flown into THEIR yard, yep, it was bound to happen and sucks to be us. But, her dog dug into OUR yard and that's where the problem lies.

She said it's ridiculous for anyone to pay to reimburse for the chickens and that $20 was asinine to pay. Uh, no, these were 6 month old, laying hens that were killed. 2 were leghorns (nearly daily layers) and the other was a Plymouth Rock. What if it had been a $1500 pure bred dog? Or doctor bills for an attacked child? Yeah, you're still responsible. You're the owner and what your animal does, has consequences.

He asked that they do something. There are options. Get rid of the dog. Train the dog. Install an electric fence or an underground fence so she stays away from our yard. Install a privacy fence she can't see thru - right now, it's chain link. Move. (yeah, I voted for that one.) Pay for us to move. (now we're into crazy-talk-territory.) Oh, and do something about the freakin non-stop barking. She said no to everything. Said her husband was sick and when he felt better, he may want to talk to us.

Jerry feels a fight is brewing. We've gotten a lot of advice - that we should've shot the dog (can't legally discharge a firearm inside city limits) and various ways of getting rid of their dog. Uh, NO, I'm an animal lover. It's not the dog's fault that it's doing this out of boredom and lack of interaction from it's owners.

I've reported it to the city - didn't get anywhere. Nobody showed up. Today, dog is indoors, but for how long?

Yesterday, it was nice - temps near 70 degrees. I let the chickens out to free range (what they're used to doing) only I had to stay outside with them the entire time as the dog was barking and digging like mad. Okay, I had some yard work and garden prep to do, but still, I can't be out there all the time. Because we raised them to be free rangers, they are used to it. They hang out in our backyard - it's almost half an acre. Plenty of room to run, scratch and do their chicken thing. Now, they can't free range without supervision. Correction, I don't supervise them, I'm supervising the dog. I tossed it's tennis ball multiple times and I talked to her. I petted her and worked on trying to get her to sit - kind of tough with a fence between us, but I do feel sorry for her. She doesn't deserve a life like that.

I guess there's no point to the post other than I'm frustrated. It's not the only thing going badly right now, but dammit, it's my yard and I ought to be able to enjoy it without fearing the neighbors domesticated "pet".

As a side note - if/when TSHTF, how much ya wanna bet they'll be lining up to buy my eggs?! Sheeple who buy into the "if it's not store bought, it's inferior" are never going to realize the incredible damage they do to themselves with all those store bought chemicals they ingest. I keep reading about how antibiotics are becoming less and less effective while virus are gaining strength. Did you know that 70% of the antibiotics despensed in this country are for animals?! That is shocking! I could go on and on about this as I'm very passionate about being mindful of what we consume and knowing what's in your food stream.

Enough for now. I've gotta go catch a wayward hen and put her back in the chicken run. Sorry sister, no free ranging for now. :(

Why I Love Summer

Doing a quick poll of a few friends revealed that most people like the season they were born in the best. I guess it's no surprise that summer is my favorite season with my birthday in August.



Okay, here's a few more reasons I love summer:

Socks - or lack thereof. Since 6 of us are anti-shoes in the summer the only socks I wash and hang out are Jerry's. During the winter, we fill an entire drying rack with them.

Sunshine and heat.

Going out to the garden to grab dinner fixins.

Eating ice cold watermelon on a hot day.

Braden's birthday on the 4th of July.

Spending entire days outside. Only coming in when we start falling asleep.

Hearing the distant sound of the ice cream truck.

Butterflies and bumble bees.

Birds splashing in the bird feeder.

Eating breakfast on our back patio.

Mowing the yard.

No school drop off and pick ups.

Summer seems a long way off ~ so until then, I'll enjoy spring.

We had our first daffodil on Sunday, spring can't be too far off.

Chris over at One Acre Homestead posted this new questionnaire. Visit his blog, leave a comment and play along on your blog.

Basic Questions About You
1-What is the biggest goal of your lifestyle? To be self sufficient

2-When did you start this lifestyle? Summer of '08

3-What was your main motivation? Michael Pollan's books and my need to do things myself.

4-Did you have any previous experience in anything you're doing now? I've grown a garden every year for about 18 years now. I was an avid Girl Scout earning nearly every badge they had.

5-Does your spouse/significant other (if you have one) share the same ideas? He could live in the woods by himself just fine. He isn't as far along in the need to prep as me, but he is much better at being a survivalist than me. He has an iron stomach whereas I wouldn't eat a bug unless I was starving. Also, I haven't been able to get involved in the butchering chores but I'm working up to it.

6-Do your friends and family understand and support these choices? What about your kids? Friends and family don't understand ~ they're asleep in my opinion. Kids, yes they do. All 5 of our kids wish we lived out in the country on a farm so we could keep more livestock.

7-How happy are you with your achievements so far? Absolutely! I have realized that I didn't can nearly enough food so I adjusted my garden plans to accommodate more production. Best choice that I've made so far: getting chickens. EASY and man, those eggs are delicious.

8-Are you more of a gardener, homesteader, prepper, health conscience, "green"' or a combination of several? I think I was a gardener first, moved to homesteader and am now a beginning prepper. I would say I try to make green choices (especially when it comes to utilities) but prepping is far more important to me right now.

9-Has this change of lifestyle affected your personality? We went to the grocery store today to grab some potatoes as our stockpile is gone. I realized that we have been shopping just the produce section. We make our own bread, buy milk fresh from a cow (thanks Phelan), have bought meat from local farmers, make all our own cleaners including laundry and dish soap. It's freed up money that we can put to paying off debt.

10-Has it changed your view of your life before? Well, I've always considered myself frugal, but now I'm hyper frugal.

11-What about how you view others that don't understand it or naysay? You can't convince people to see things your way when they're spenders. They'll come to the conclusion eventually. I have friends who are losing their home, but their car's payment gets paid every month. Hardly any food in the house, no garden plans but they eat out a lot. I don't get it, but to each his own.

12-If you could convince someone to live the way you do in ONE sentence, what would you say? That's a tough one.... Prep for a rainy day because the rain is on the way!

Other Questions-
1-How large is your vegetable garden? I actually have 4 gardens. One at my house which is 25' x 50'. I have 3 other gardens tucked in friend's yards since they don't garden. Total: I have over 1 acre in gardens.

2-Do you grow any fruits, and what and how many? Trees: apple, pear, plum. Bushes: raspberry, boysenberry. Plus strawberries, grapes and rhubarb.

3-Do you have any animals and what are they? (other than pets) 10 Egg laying hens and 25 meat chickens.

4-Do you can/dehydrate/freeze/store your own produce? Yes I do all of those. This summer will be our first summer to have an outdoor canning kitchen.

5-Do you work with mainly power tools or hand tools in your gardens and others? (wood cutting, splitting, tiller vs. broadfork etc...) My husband has chainsaws that makes getting free wood easy. We use hand tools in the garden at home but did use a tiller to prep the new gardens at the other locations.

6-Do you compost? YES! We have rabbits and chickens which give great compost.

7-Do you recycle? Yes

8-Do you consider yourself energy conscience? (conserving to save $) Absolutely

9-Do you make any of your own household cleaners? Yes

10-Do you make your own bread? Yes

11- If in an emergency situation, are you able to not leave home for a week? How about a month? A year?? We easily can do it for a week and once we get the hand pump for our well water, we could do it for a month and even a year. We have a few other items to get done with on the prep list to ensure the one year plan but we'll have them within the month.

12-Are you tired of answering questions yet? Ha ha, um, yes. But this quiz is better than other ones I've done before. I'll really be interested to read other peoples answers too.

13-If you prep, what do you consider to be your most useful tool/items Water bath canner and pressure canner. Husband says his gun and a good knife (or two).

14-Are you able to heat your home without gas or fuel oil? Yes!

15-Are you able to cook without gas or electricity? Yes, inside and outside of the house.

16-Again, if in an emergency situation, could you live in the wild or out of a tent? ( camping,hunt/fish, cook,etc.) Only if husband was there. He is a necessity in my prep plan. LOL

17-Have you ever practiced your prep skills? (turning off main power for a day or 2) How did you do? (this can include a power outage due to weather as a test) We lost power a few years ago during an ice storm. That was the first challenge but we sailed right thru it for 5 days. Boredom and cabin fever set in though.

18-Do you have the knowledge & skills (plus tools) to hunt and fish for food? Yes, but fishing would be tough as we live in the middle of prairie land.

19-If you don't prep, why not? I think Depression era folks called this saving for a rainy day or "you'll never know when you might need it" mentality. Everybody should prep!

20-Do you or can you sew your own clothes and make your own bedding? Yes I can although hubby is a better hand sewer than I am.

21-Can you field dress a deer, drink a coffee, smoke a cigarette, make a cell phone call, light a fire, AND answer all of my annoying questions at the same time? No on the deer, coffee and cig. I don't drink coffee or smoke and um, see the first #9. But, yes on a cell phone and light a fire using flint (skill hubby taught me) and yep, I can answer questions all day long. :)

lol thanks for playing!

Honey & Molasses ~ 6 Weeks Old

Meet the new additions to our family, Molasses (Mo for short) and Honey, 6 week old Labrador Retriever sisters. We got them from a neat urban homesteading family about 45 minutes east of us. Their mom is a 7th generation Chocolate Lab and dad is also a Choc lab. They were part of a litter of 10. Their home had dogs, chickens, cats, rabbits and kids - hmmm, sounds very familiar.

The boys decided on this ones name first ~ Honey. She is super sweet, but much more adventureous than Mo. Honey is the first to explore and she has an amazing vertical leap!

Since they had already decided on Honey's name, we needed a name for this sweet lady. I suggested Molasses, Mo for short. It seemed fitting. She is also very sweet, but a more laid back, slower temperment. She is the snuggler of the two and when you pet her, she sighs contentedly.

This is a photo of our 4th Lab, Bo and me. He was abandonned on a farm and rescued at 6 months old. He and his brother had to fend for themselves, so he was used to hunting up his own food. He hadn't had a lot of human interaction until we adopted him. He immediately fit right in with our crazy crew. The best part of adopting an older pet, is that they have moved beyond the chewing, not-housebroken, crying-at-night stage. If I remember correctly, it doesn't last long. (fingers crossed - I'm a bit tired right now from the midnight dashes out to potty.)

Bo was our first Choc lab. He was just the most happy-go-lucky, mellow and loving dog. He had the cutest face he'd make when he wanted to be extra loving ~ he'd scrunch up his nose and wiggle like crazy. It was his signature move! He did really well when we got the chickens last fall. I was a little concerned he'd resort to his hunting days, but after a few sniffs, he left them alone.

He was just 7 years old when his hips starting showing signs of giving out. (Labs have this common ailment - 3 of our 4 had their back hips give out.) Then, cancer took over. Just 10 days from the cancer diagnosis, we had to have him put down. His spirit was still strong and vibrant, but his body was so far gone that he had paralysis in his legs and he had stopped eating days earlier. It's never easy making the decision to let go, but part of pet ownership.

This picture was taken three years ago - he was just 4 years old. I have an entire series of shots with him not being a good model ~ i.e. licking, rolling, walking away, playing etc. He was already up for whatever we wanted to do. He loved going to the lake and swimming. He loved being off his leash to run and run and run. He loved doggy treats. He was easy to train and was like sunshine on four legs. He loved life so much and I'll miss him dearly.

Another Blog Gone

Since discovering the wildly amusing (and addictive) world of blogs, I must admit that there are some I read daily.... even if they don't post daily. These are the ones that I feel like I know them so well based on their blog alone, even if they do use fake names and I have no idea where in the world they are. Who cares? They're my blog friends (okay, they may not know me, but I know them and therefore, we are friends. ha)

I'm assuming that with the giant ice/snow storm that has much of the eastern U.S. shut down, that bloggers from the affected areas aren't posting. Which gives me time to flip thru and check on some of my fave blogs. ( I allot myself 1 hour a day for blogging - and spend 99% of it reading.)

Anyway, another one of my favorite blogs has bit the dust. Domestic Accident is no more. Her blog was eye candy... pink and black with a vintage looking avatar. She talked about her kids in a way that I can totally relate to mine. There was just so much to her blog that I loved... and now, poof, it's gone.

Lisa, I hope all is well in your world. I'm gonna miss ya.

Cha Cha Is Magical

My oldest son is hard wired to find fun things to do with his cell phone. The latest and greatest is Cha Cha. If you have ever found yourself needing an answer to a question RIGHT NOW and your go-to person wasn't available, Cha Cha to the rescue.

To try it out, I sent in a silly question and had a response in less than 2 seconds. A correct response, I might add. It's not mobile search, it's mobile answers, according to the website. Basically, on your cell phone, you send a text message to 242242 and put your question in the body of the text.

The funniest thing we've done with Cha Cha is settle an arguement. It can explain a phrase or quote. You can get current weather stats anywhere. I asked it to find me the closest gas station that was open on a Sunday evening in rural Kansas.

Regular text fees from your carrier apply, but the Cha Cha service is free. I think you can only ask 4 questions every 72 hours. Be sure to check out the website and the Tips & Tricks section. It has shortcuts for jokes, stock quotes, movies etc. Oh, and the confessions page is the great testimonials from other users.

Two other helpful services I have in my cell phone's speed dial list:

Google via text is 466453 ~ I use this when I need an address or phone number and I'm not close to a computer. Much faster than accessing the web via my cell.

Mapquest 1-800-373-3411 - gives you voice activated directions for free (also has a free download for blackberry users - from your blackberry, go to it's web brower and visit m.mq4m.com)

Ah Internet, How I've Missed You!

After 9 days of no internet at home (No thanks AT&T, we cancel you!) thankfully, Cox Communications to the rescue.

For the record, AT&T, my network interface card IS fine & dandy. So is my whole computer and all it's other parts. So, please, remove those canned lines from your "help desk" scripts.

Oh, and thanks so much for shutting off my cell phone just because we switched internet providers. That was nice of you. Where's my $$ for the interruption of service and the 42 minutes we spent on the phone with you before Charmaine finally understood that WE DIDNT CAUSE THE SERVICE INTERRUPTION and had the intellegence to turn the cell phones back on! Seriously, the 4th phone on this plan is the only source of communication I have with 1 person ~ don't mess with that!

Okay, while I've been stuck in the real world, wondering and thinking about all my virtual/real friends, I've composed a few posts. I hope to get them copied and pasted in between the baking and nursing (Emma is sick ~ day 4 of yuckfest and now Jerry has it ~ but like all tough guys ~ he went to work and is now wishing he was home, close to a bathroom.)

Anyway, I hope you are doing well, these last few days before Christmas. Don't worry about what didn't get done, because it doesn't matter. Family matters. Spending time together is what it's all about. Hugs to all of you!