Hope you rang in the New Year in style! I know it's tradition to make resolutions but I have never been big on resolutions as I think good new habits can be formed at anytime during the year. Change for the positive should be a daily occurrence not just at the 1st.
So I tend to look forward I have great hope for a good year. Hope for a new home on our land, running water, indoor plumbing, hot water, and a garden as we settle into our new life. I hope for more love, more fun, more cherished moments, and more time with loved ones.
May you not lose HOPE this year. Be content, forgive quickly, anger slowly, and enjoy the simple things of life. Take time to notice. :)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
MERRY CHRISTMAS
From the S family to yours have a Very Merry Christmas this year!
For me Christmas tastes like my grandma's Christmas Date Nut Roll! When I was growing up we all looked forward to grandma's care package of Christmas candy. 10 years ago she quit making it as it was quite a chore for all she made from scratch. I am overjoyed that this year with my help she passed on her knowledge of Date Nut Roll. It has made our Christmas holiday so special. Now I can continue to make it yearly!Christmas means good food with family, games together, and decorating cookies with my children.We have never been big on Christmas shopping. We do a little but truly we are a service oriented family. We cook extra special meals and help loved one's tackle honey do lists that are never ending. (We miss you Grandpa & Dad!)
So mom's get out of the kitchen, dad's put down the work, kids turn off the TV and enjoy each other today, you never know when tomorrow may be taken away. Give someone a hug today!
What's Christmas to you?
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Our Winter Wonderland
I miss snow. If it is going to be below freezing it should be snowing. In my opinion :) So since we can't make it snow outside we settled for snow inside.
Sugar Bug cut out snowflakes to decorate and we put up twinkly lights for Christmas. We have no room for a tree so this is our next best. Plus I could only access two of the Christmas decoration boxes.
Doesn't this look cozy? Super D is warming is feet as it was a super cold morning! I just loved sitting at the table looking in at my family two sweethearts and doggies buried in covers sleeping and the sound of a crackling fire. How much more country can you get? :)
Hope where ever you are you are enjoying your family and friends this Christmas Season!
I'll add our annual Christmas Pictures soon! (after I take them)
Hope where ever you are you are enjoying your family and friends this Christmas Season!
I'll add our annual Christmas Pictures soon! (after I take them)
Monday, December 17, 2012
Life
So please do not feel neglected. I haven't even touched the computer in a week! I've been busy living life. I have been reflecting how much my life has changed in our move. So to give you an idea in Colorado my typical day would have gone like this:
~ Get up between 5:30-6:30
~ Make my tea and get on computer, to check e-mail, plan school, fill in work info, ect.
~ Greet my first child by 7:00 at the latest..I did childcare from home for years and my charges started arriving between 6-7.
~ Finish my computer work while charges play quietly and others arrive.
~ 9:00 make breakfast and by now my children are waking up
~ feed everyone and clean kitchen
~ get my kids school going
~ Clean something, start laundry, teach someone
~ 12:00 make and clean up lunch
~ 1:00 Naps! My favorite time of day.. I eat now and help my kids with school
~ See children off by 6:00
~ somewhere in there I've made dinner and we eat about 6:00
~ Clean kitchen again
So if you have kids you know that in this mess of a schedule you are changing diapers, feeding, teaching, preventing disasters, cleaning spit up and worse, rocking, and loving children all day. Dishes didn't get done everyday, but usually by Friday I managed to vacuum, clean 2 bathrooms, and keep us all from killing ourselves on stray toys.
I had conveniences of a dishwasher, washer and dryer, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and a grocery store 5 blocks away.
I had 10 years of diapers, feeding, and love from 20 plus children (not all at the same time:) I usually had 6 kids daily. My days were pretty much the same day to day and yet always new. Kids make life interesting!
Now fast forward to now and I haven't figured out what a typical day is but here's what has to get done daily.
~ Bring in firewood (sometimes requiring splitting first)
~ Get water jugs filled
~ Dump grey water
~ Feed and water Chickens
~ Get the fire started or keep it going
~ Cook meals and Dishes.
~ Sweep trailer
~ Kids School
Of course dishes are a constant. Cooking requires more planning as I have no microwave to quickly thaw meat and no oven for baking (yet).
I am in the best shape of my life. Ever wonder why when you read books like Little house on the Prairie they never mention exercise as a to do? They didn't need it. While I could lift a 40 lb kid they hang on when you get them up. Lifting 40+ lbs of dead weight is very different! I can lift a feed sack although I prefer Super D to do it. I have to carry wood and move a 5 gallon bucket of grey water daily. That 5 gallon bucket of water has gotten easier. At the beginning of summer I had to use a cup to scoop almost half the water out into my water can before I could lift the bucket. Now I can move the bucket but I still have to stop half way to my destination for rest. But eventually I'm sure it will be no problem.
I walk at least a mile daily just going to the outhouse, carrying wood, or water.
Now I'm not doing this all on my own, everyone has their jobs to do.
Super D has been working pretty consistently away from home the last several weeks which left me to get firewood. We had used all the smaller stuff from our stock so we were having to split the logs. Well for fun Sassafras got some pictures of my attempts!
Opps That's not right!
Ok that's better! Hitting these logs just right is trickier that it looks and no I didn't split this log but for the record I have succeed some. Thankfully we don't have to rely on my log splitting skills or we might be a little cold! Super D bought a rick of wood (a rick I learned is 4ft long and 8ft wide area of wood) so we have enough on hand now.
That box in the background is where our chickens are living right now. I'll post more about that soon!
For now I am enjoying what I call the simple life. It's not easy just simple as I don't have the stress of worrying about getting paid, what bill I need to pay first, and what kid is screaming bloody murder and why. I love not having to look at the clock everyday as I have no schedule to keep. We sleep until were rested and work until the necessities are done. Everyone does their part to keep things running. I have my family close and everyone is content as long as the fire is stocked and dinner makes it to the table. I can look out side at any moment and enjoy what God created, not just the side of the house next door blocking any view of nature.
This is my life now and I am thrilled to have it. Not that I didn't have a great life before but just feel like we've finally made it home.
~ Get up between 5:30-6:30
~ Make my tea and get on computer, to check e-mail, plan school, fill in work info, ect.
~ Greet my first child by 7:00 at the latest..I did childcare from home for years and my charges started arriving between 6-7.
~ Finish my computer work while charges play quietly and others arrive.
~ 9:00 make breakfast and by now my children are waking up
~ feed everyone and clean kitchen
~ get my kids school going
~ Clean something, start laundry, teach someone
~ 12:00 make and clean up lunch
~ 1:00 Naps! My favorite time of day.. I eat now and help my kids with school
~ See children off by 6:00
~ somewhere in there I've made dinner and we eat about 6:00
~ Clean kitchen again
So if you have kids you know that in this mess of a schedule you are changing diapers, feeding, teaching, preventing disasters, cleaning spit up and worse, rocking, and loving children all day. Dishes didn't get done everyday, but usually by Friday I managed to vacuum, clean 2 bathrooms, and keep us all from killing ourselves on stray toys.
I had conveniences of a dishwasher, washer and dryer, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and a grocery store 5 blocks away.
I had 10 years of diapers, feeding, and love from 20 plus children (not all at the same time:) I usually had 6 kids daily. My days were pretty much the same day to day and yet always new. Kids make life interesting!
Now fast forward to now and I haven't figured out what a typical day is but here's what has to get done daily.
~ Bring in firewood (sometimes requiring splitting first)
~ Get water jugs filled
~ Dump grey water
~ Feed and water Chickens
~ Get the fire started or keep it going
~ Cook meals and Dishes.
~ Sweep trailer
~ Kids School
Of course dishes are a constant. Cooking requires more planning as I have no microwave to quickly thaw meat and no oven for baking (yet).
I am in the best shape of my life. Ever wonder why when you read books like Little house on the Prairie they never mention exercise as a to do? They didn't need it. While I could lift a 40 lb kid they hang on when you get them up. Lifting 40+ lbs of dead weight is very different! I can lift a feed sack although I prefer Super D to do it. I have to carry wood and move a 5 gallon bucket of grey water daily. That 5 gallon bucket of water has gotten easier. At the beginning of summer I had to use a cup to scoop almost half the water out into my water can before I could lift the bucket. Now I can move the bucket but I still have to stop half way to my destination for rest. But eventually I'm sure it will be no problem.
I walk at least a mile daily just going to the outhouse, carrying wood, or water.
Now I'm not doing this all on my own, everyone has their jobs to do.
Super D has been working pretty consistently away from home the last several weeks which left me to get firewood. We had used all the smaller stuff from our stock so we were having to split the logs. Well for fun Sassafras got some pictures of my attempts!
Ok that's better! Hitting these logs just right is trickier that it looks and no I didn't split this log but for the record I have succeed some. Thankfully we don't have to rely on my log splitting skills or we might be a little cold! Super D bought a rick of wood (a rick I learned is 4ft long and 8ft wide area of wood) so we have enough on hand now.
That box in the background is where our chickens are living right now. I'll post more about that soon!
For now I am enjoying what I call the simple life. It's not easy just simple as I don't have the stress of worrying about getting paid, what bill I need to pay first, and what kid is screaming bloody murder and why. I love not having to look at the clock everyday as I have no schedule to keep. We sleep until were rested and work until the necessities are done. Everyone does their part to keep things running. I have my family close and everyone is content as long as the fire is stocked and dinner makes it to the table. I can look out side at any moment and enjoy what God created, not just the side of the house next door blocking any view of nature.
This is my life now and I am thrilled to have it. Not that I didn't have a great life before but just feel like we've finally made it home.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Chickens
Peep, peep, peep, That's what we wake up to every morning for the last couple weeks. I kind of enjoy it. Our little chickies are growing fast like all children and almost have all their feathers. Super D is going to be building them an outside home in the next week or so!
But to break this up a bit I thought I'd give you all a little info on chickens. Since I am by NO means a chicken expert I am linking to helpful sites I've found. If your wanting to raise chickens these may get you started.
Let's start with some basic terms. These are words I had to learn what they meant...
Bantam- These are smaller breeds than the "standard" chickens.
Broody - Broody hens can be recognized by their behaviour. They sit firmly over the eggs, and when people approach or try to remove the eggs, threaten the person by erecting their feathers, emitting a characteristic sound like clo-clo-clo and will peck aggressively. When broody, hens often temporarily cease eating or reduce their feed consumption is when a hen is wanting to mother a brood or group of chicks. A broody hen will lay more eggs but want to sit on the nest to hatch them. Some breeds have a higher tendency to go broody than others. Sometimes you want them to go broody so they will raise chicks for you.
We ordered our chicks from Murray McMurray. We picked Buff Orpingtons which will lay brown eggs and are good layers in the winter. They also make good meat birds. I highly suggest researching the breed you want as there are so many and they have so many different traits. Some are better layers than others, some are raised primarily for meat, and some are pretty good for both. Buff Orpingtons are a popular classic. Murray McMurray also includes a rare chick in orders from them (see them for details). I believe our uniquely colored one is an Ameraucana. This site has a chart that tells of 60 different breeds of chickens. Chicken breeds Chart
I really liked this site for a very general overview on keeping chickens Urban Chickens.
Although all these sites recommend against using newspaper as flooring that is what we did. It is what we had available that was easily changeable. We kept our chicks warm by setting up space for them next to the woodstove. While it has cooled off some at night we have been diligent in keeping the fire stocked so it rarely dropped below 75. That only at night. This may have contributed to us losing some of our chicks as they can't handle cold when they are very young. But we have done our best with what we have and are happy with the 15 chicks we have. Get a chick feeder as they go through feed and water so fast. We fill ours at least twice a day. They must always have water. We noticed that when one goes empty they make more noise just like children.
Now that your getting chickens you will need a coop. Or a place to keep them outside. From my research I have learned there are 100 ways to raise chickens. Even Super D and I have different ideas on how to keep our chickens. Alas, Super D has more experience than I do so I have to go with his judgment and we will work towards new ideas as we get the hang of it. Right now we bought a big bag of feed for our chickens but eventually we would like to make our own feed and have our chickens scavenging for much of their food themselves. We would like free range chickens for the most part but at the same time we don't want chickens all over our porch, picnic table, chairs, ect. So we will set up some boundaries for them. As where the chickens go you will have chicken poop. I hope this gets you started in information on chickens if your wanting to keep them and I will continue to update as I learn.
If you have questions about chickens or any thing else we are doing please don't hesitate to ask. I will try to answer them or at least point you in the right direction :)
But to break this up a bit I thought I'd give you all a little info on chickens. Since I am by NO means a chicken expert I am linking to helpful sites I've found. If your wanting to raise chickens these may get you started.
Let's start with some basic terms. These are words I had to learn what they meant...
Bantam- These are smaller breeds than the "standard" chickens.
Broody - Broody hens can be recognized by their behaviour. They sit firmly over the eggs, and when people approach or try to remove the eggs, threaten the person by erecting their feathers, emitting a characteristic sound like clo-clo-clo and will peck aggressively. When broody, hens often temporarily cease eating or reduce their feed consumption is when a hen is wanting to mother a brood or group of chicks. A broody hen will lay more eggs but want to sit on the nest to hatch them. Some breeds have a higher tendency to go broody than others. Sometimes you want them to go broody so they will raise chicks for you.
We ordered our chicks from Murray McMurray. We picked Buff Orpingtons which will lay brown eggs and are good layers in the winter. They also make good meat birds. I highly suggest researching the breed you want as there are so many and they have so many different traits. Some are better layers than others, some are raised primarily for meat, and some are pretty good for both. Buff Orpingtons are a popular classic. Murray McMurray also includes a rare chick in orders from them (see them for details). I believe our uniquely colored one is an Ameraucana. This site has a chart that tells of 60 different breeds of chickens. Chicken breeds Chart
I really liked this site for a very general overview on keeping chickens Urban Chickens.
Although all these sites recommend against using newspaper as flooring that is what we did. It is what we had available that was easily changeable. We kept our chicks warm by setting up space for them next to the woodstove. While it has cooled off some at night we have been diligent in keeping the fire stocked so it rarely dropped below 75. That only at night. This may have contributed to us losing some of our chicks as they can't handle cold when they are very young. But we have done our best with what we have and are happy with the 15 chicks we have. Get a chick feeder as they go through feed and water so fast. We fill ours at least twice a day. They must always have water. We noticed that when one goes empty they make more noise just like children.
Now that your getting chickens you will need a coop. Or a place to keep them outside. From my research I have learned there are 100 ways to raise chickens. Even Super D and I have different ideas on how to keep our chickens. Alas, Super D has more experience than I do so I have to go with his judgment and we will work towards new ideas as we get the hang of it. Right now we bought a big bag of feed for our chickens but eventually we would like to make our own feed and have our chickens scavenging for much of their food themselves. We would like free range chickens for the most part but at the same time we don't want chickens all over our porch, picnic table, chairs, ect. So we will set up some boundaries for them. As where the chickens go you will have chicken poop. I hope this gets you started in information on chickens if your wanting to keep them and I will continue to update as I learn.
If you have questions about chickens or any thing else we are doing please don't hesitate to ask. I will try to answer them or at least point you in the right direction :)
Friday, November 23, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ~ Philippians 4:6 NKJV
I tend to be an anxious person. I tend to worry about things I have no reason to worry about. I get flustered and short tempered when I'm running late to go somewhere. Instead I should be thankful! I am spoiled rotten. I have a home, good food, heat, a warm bed, a loving family, and all my NEEDS are met. I love there verse above as it reminds us to give thanks while making our requests. There are many times I've started to pray to ask for something but after giving thanks for what I have realized what I was asking for wasn't a big deal!
I hope this finds you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying the long weekend, if you got it! I forgot the camera yesterday so I don't have any pictures but wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and remind you to be thankful everyday!
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Mountians ?
Until 7 months ago I lived somewhere in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I keep being told that I am in the Ozark Mountains here in Missouri. I keep looking for the mountains. These mountains are big hills compared to the Rockies. While they have there own beauty they are not the peaks I am used to seeing. I miss the view of mountains. So while I may not be able to look out and see the snow capped mountains everyday, we did find a place here that has what I would call real mountains. They may not reach above treeline and get much snow but they were close and these views were wonderful!
And being I love fall the trees were out in all their splendor. I'm sure it was just for me, *wink, wink*
We had the cousins with us, Of course pictures just don't do these scenes justice.
See the peaks? Wait let me get the kids out of the way.
That's better :) And you can see for miles! I love it. At least we're getting closer to the mountains I grew up with.
This was a gorgeous Blue Heron we saw by the river. It was on our way to the mountains above but too cool not to show you. Plus he posed for us. :)
And being I love fall the trees were out in all their splendor. I'm sure it was just for me, *wink, wink*
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