The smell of fall

I love the smell of fall, especially the smell of campfires. I love the smell of the leaves and the cold brisk air. It is by FAR my favorite time of year. I could give a hoot about summer, the heat is ridiculous and unnecessary. People feel they have to wear less than appropriate clothes and I could go on and on. But, fall.....Ahhhhhhhhhh!
Right now I am smelling a burial pyre that poppa did for one of our piggies who unfortunately lost its life too soon. :( We found her not doing well when we got back from Home School Camp. )The next morning she was dead. When Poppa was taking care of her he found what he thought to be bite wounds on her rear flank (this sounds like the goats all over again). I feel better though thinking that something killed her, as opposed to her dying for some unknown reason. Any way it was a needless death, we are debating what to do with the remaining hog. Breed or butcher? We are leaning towards breeding, however, we need to build a (thing she has her babies in, can't think of the name of it) before we would breed. These big girls are wonderful momma's but do occasionally lay down on a piglet or two. To avoid that you build a "nesting box" that is slanted so the momma can only get in so far, and , the babies can get away from her. I am not sure right now I am ready for that step. The thought of being stuck with 14 piggies and not being able to find buyers for meat scares me :)
We are doing My Fathers World for school this year. We are doing Jake and Charley together. Both in the first grade. It is working out REALLY well. I love this curriculum , it is totally focused around God. I think it is so important to show our children that God is truly part of our every day lives and not just someone that we worship on Sunday and have an obligitory Bible study mid week.  My Fathers World really seems to do that better than anything else we have used so far.  We started Abe in Kindergarten but we are going to hold off on him for another year ( he's only 4) and start he and Adelaide together. I like pairing the kids up and doing it that way. It makes things a bit easier for momma, and poppa :)
I have been a baking FOOL since the weather has cooled off. I made several pies (including my first raspberry pie, for our neighbor who has been kindly mowing our yard) and 2 custard pies. I tell ya there is nothing better than a home made custard pie, with home made from lard pie crust. The custard was a little "lighter" than it would have normally been, I used left over egg whites from the noodles I've been making. Although the heavy cream made up for the extra egg whites ! YUMMMY! I have yet to make a pumpkin pie, although with the cinnamon rolls I made at the beginning of the week I used pumpkin pie spice as opposed to cinnamon alone. I prefer the traditional way but poppa liked it better. I use the PW reciepe and it is AWESOME ! I can eat these cold and with no icing, they are still fabulous! What is your favorite "fall" thing

Skirts and Cleaning

Wow, where did June go? I realize my blog got totally neglected last month! So sorry about that!
   Where to start? First I think I'll start with the skirts; there is something to be said for wearing them. That's for sure. I have had people ask me about my faith (Titus 2:12-14). I have had a man get out of his truck in the pouring down rain to open my door. I am not saying that these things would not have happened if I was wearing pants, but I feel that it is much less likely. There has been one or two times where I have not worn skirts but the focus was still on being feminine. I feel more feminine and hope that I am setting an example for my girls. Skirts are cooler, and they are honestly more comfortable. I was always told this by my ever loving mother, but , in my vast wisdom, thought she was crazy!
    
     I came across a blog a few weeks ago called Simple Homeschool. This lady had some GREAT ideas as far as home management was concerned.  She does 2 things I have started to implement. 1) Once a month cleaning. did you hear me?? ONCE A MONTH CLEANING! How awesome is that! I have had so much peace knowing that I don't have to clean my house every day (yeah right) or every week. She picks a day, she doesn't do school that day. Has a game plan laid out. Doesn't cook dinner. She cleans the WHOLE HOUSE. I picked Thursdays since that is usually our pizza night (makes dinner easy for me). My first thursday was about 3 weeks ago. I didn't get the whole house done, but, I got the 3 major areas. Living room, kitchen, bathrooms. My thought was to divide the day into 2. On the 4th thursday of the month, I would clean the 3 major living areas. On the 2nd thursday I would do the 3 bedrooms. It worked really well!! Well I haven't done the bedrooms yet, that is this coming thursday. It gives me such peace in knowing when I need to clean, instead of always thinking I am behind and I HAVE to do something. Of course you spot clean when you have a mess, and I vacuum the living room everynight because of Big Dog. The major things though are only once a month. Now if you all already do this, I am so happy for you. I wish you would've told ME! If I could only get someone to pay me......
   
      The other thing she does is De clutter for a month. She has 12 areas in her house ( I could only come up with 12 if I counted individual closets, the basement 2x, and the car port) Each month she takes the entire month and focuses on 1 room. Some people will say declutter for 15 minutes in one area, set the timer, when it goes off stop and walk away. YEAH RIGHT! I cannot do that. If I have started something I feel the need to finish it. This way I have a whole month to do one room. If I want to get it all done in one day, great. If not I have at the most 31 days, and at the least 28 days to get it done. This has been so great for me.
    
     A few years ago I signed up on Flylady and was COMPLETELY overwhelmed with emails, I got like 10 a day. That really turned me off to her. A friend mentioned her to me again the other day and I got on her FB page where she has a daily "flightplan" of goals to help you get things accomplished.She also does a 30 day plan to help you make things habit. My struggle here is she has daily steps to get you started. Day 1 - shine your sink (done) Day 2- dress to your shoes (ok who does this?? I don't like shoes ~unless I haven't swept !~) . Can't I do both of these things in the same day? I want to hurry thru and get them all done NOW ! When I get on a roll its hard to hold me back ! We will see how this goes, I am hoping to make it thru the whole month, without forgetting about it!

     Tomorrow is Charlotte's 5th birthday. I can't believe she is going to be FIVE! I will have to blog about that one later! Love and hugs to all!

Spring has Sprung

Rain, rain, rain! It has made the ground so soft, so much easier to work with than usual. Yes in places it has been just downright sopping, but, I would rather have the rain than none! My hair on the other hand could do without all the humidity! Oh well!
     It has been a VERY fruitful spring so far here on the homestead. Almost 3 weeks ago, Toastie my cat, had kittens, 6 adorable kittens. There are 2 males and 4 females, she had them in a box in our bathroom (like any good cat should).  Two nights ago she decided for whatever reason she wanted to move them. I imagine it is because she felt I was taking to many liberties with picking them up and petting them. I was started to let the kids pet them and I assume she just felt they would do better under my nightstand. As long as I know where they are, I am fine with that!
     We have had a brooding hen ( a black silkie) for about five weeks now. I have never seen a brooding hen in action before, it is VERY neat. Basiclly she sits in her nesting box ALL DAY, she seemed to have started laying on one or so of her eggs. Now that the other hens know she is brooding, they climb up in the box with her and lay their egg (pretty much on top of her) and she scoops that egg into her clutch and sits on it. This hen DOES NOT get up. We have a hen that *thinks* she is a brooder but she gets bored after about 2 days and gets down. I suspect she has ADD and just can't sit still that long.  :) Anyway this hen had about 10 eggs under her at one point. Unless you mark them ( which we should probably start doing) there is no way to know which egg is which. So you just wait for a chick. A chick hatched last friday, it is such a cute little thing. It seems to be doing well. This is an experiment, letting her hatch her own eggs. We will have to see what the chicks disposition is like , my philosophy is "everyone does better with a momma" so we will see!
---------WARNING EXPLICIT CONTENT--------- I wanted to update the chick section of this blog. Last night I brought in a bunch of eggs from our ADD hen. I told Stewy that since she doesn't sit on them consistently we need to make sure they are taken from her.  He started cracking the eggs ( there are sure to be embryo's in them we are just uncertain of the stage) he cracked an egg and it started chirping!!! I almost started crying as I said, "STOP STOP!! Take it back out and put in under the momma!!!! " So hopefully, we didn't damage that one to badly and it will hatch in a few more days!!------END EXPLICIT CONTENT-----    Sunday we added a new line of mammal to the farm.  I purchased 2 GOS (Glouchester Old Spot) and Large Black (creative huh?) mix hogs.  These both are rare heritage breeds and are meant to be raised on pasture (which is better for them anyway than raising them on grain , IMO) The meat with these guys is said to be much richer and smoother. Now, I already LOVE pork so a better tasting pork sounds GREAT to me. They are also AMAZING rooters. As long as they stay where they are supposed to, we plan on putting these girls to work having them turn over the land. We can then reseed and move them to another area of pasture. Between the chickens and the pigs, I am anticipating GREAT things! We got two females. My intent is to see how the summer goes with raising them. If we decide that pigs aren't our thing ( like we did with goats) then we will butcher both girls. If I like the idea and it works out well we have talked about butchering one and breeding the other. I named them "scrapple", the one that I anticipated that we would be eating, and,  "sweetie", the one that I anticipated that we would be breeding. However their dispositions did a little flip flop and Scrapple is the one who wants the attention and Sweetie is the one who thinks she is being murdered when you try to pet her.  They come when they are called (it's so fun to watch them come running). They have big floppy ears that act as blinders, so they are not as jumpy as some other pigs that you've seen. This is a neat new venture that I am very excited about!
    As far as the humans go, we are all doing well. The kids love the animals (especially the kittens) and #1 is always eager to go get the eggs for us. They are all such a big help (some days more than others, but we are working on that). We are still doing school and will continue with at least math and reading all year around. We plan to take breaks here and there as needed. That is the beauty of Home Schooling is you can do what is best for your children and for you ( but more of that for another time) .
    Enjoy the rain, God has given it to us for a reason.  Yes, it makes things hard to mow, and yes, there is lots of mud; but, there are SO MANY worse problems we could have. So my recommendation is go with it! The August dry heat will be here before you know it!

How YOU feelin??

     I started reading a book called Adrenal Fatigue  By Dr. James Wilson. It was recommended to me by a friend. She had started making diet changes and really started feeling so much better. So I thought I would look into this whole adrenal fatigue thing.  While reading the book it turns out that (according to the test in the book) I have moderate adrenal fatigue. My guess is that most all of the working moms, home schooling moms, have a certain level of adrenal fatigue. The thing is, it's something that can be fixed with diet, exercise, sleep, vitamins, etc. All the things that you need in your life anyway.
     So I started eating better, I cut way back on my carbs and cut out a bunch of sugar. I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee. I actually stopped caffeine all together ( and didn't have any migraines!) I increased my veggies, trying new ones that I hadn't tried before (endives, I don't recommend them) I LOVE Brussel Sprouts, always have. I got fresh ones though and not the ones that are frozen in a bag with "sauce" . I have been steaming things left and right. The book recommends trying different veggies and cooking them all different ways. Cooking the same vegetable different ways releases different nutrients. My alfalfa sprouts are growing in the kitchen right now. They should be good to eat tomorrow. I say all this to say.......
       I fell off the wagon Thursday night.  You see,  Thursday is our pizza night. Pizza sounded so good! Now, I could've just had one piece and stopped (I didn't ) and you know that with pizza you have to have soda ( my soda of choice is of course PEPSI!) After our dinner, we were watching our movie and I thought "Oh! we have ICE CREAM!!" So we ate ice cream. It was yummy.

~Oh wait..... did I tell you how GREAT I felt on Thursday ?(before I fell off the wagon)  I had felt so great because I had been GOOD for like a week or so!..... On top of eating better, I had been samba-ing around the house for about three days to the Rio Soundtrack. (The kids love it! especially Adelaide) My abs are killing me BTW...~
    
      So after my bingeing on Thursday I expected to not feel so well on Friday.  I actually felt OK. When I talk about feeling well I want you to know this is not just a "physically" well, but a "mentally" well.  I felt good on Friday but definitely not GREAT like I had felt on Thursday. Today is Saturday and I have felt like CRAP! Emotionally ,in a puddle on the floor and feeling like there is not a thing that I shouldn't eat.
     I say all of this to say. I am going to hop back on that horse in the morning. 1) Finish reading the book ( not just read enough to be dangerous , that's how I take my antibiotics! )2)  Eat better for me and for my family.3) Help my family eat better too!
      I really recommend checking out the book and see if any of the symptoms fit your life. Tired, wired,( actually Tired or Wired is the name of another book recommended to me, I haven't read it yet) weight gain, depressed, tons of other things like fertility issues, fibromyalgia, diabetes, there are all sorts of things that are effected because of your adrenal glands. It's worth a look! You never know what you might find! 

Nit-picky

     How important is it for you to be right? How important is it for you to make your voice heard? I had a struggle with this yesterday
     My wonderful, caring, considerate, husband was not doing things the way * I * would have done it.  I really let it get to me. He wasn't doing anything wrong, it definitely wasn't hurting anyone and I got all bent out of shape about it.  WHY? What good did it do? All day I tried to just let it go. For some reason I couldn't let it go until I talked to him about it. Thankfully he heard me out and did not get his feelings hurt, even though were the situation reversed I most likely would have.
     I am reminded of a quote I read from Debi Pearl " no man has ever crawled out from under his wife's criticism to be a better man- no matter how justified her condemnation". He doesn't go around the house telling me all the things that he wishes that I would do differently (sometimes I think it would do me good).
     I am making a resolution to adjust my heart. Before I start getting carried away with the things that he does or doesn't do, I want to look at myself and try and see things through his eyes. What do I do that drives him crazy? Laundry undone, dishes in the sink, floors unswept ( although not usually all at the same time ;) ?
     I challenge you, next time , before you criticize think of something you could do to help fix the problem. Next time the trash isn't taken out and it is overflowing try tying up the bags yourself, then take them out of the trash can, (that wasn't so bad was it) , might as well just walk it outside! Are you still alive? ( I only say that because the first time I did it, it didn't kill me either)
 I am sure that not all of these things apply to every household, I am sure though that you have your own things you could insert. Next time instead of blaming him, look to yourself. 

Being Feminine

I have had so many blogs on my mind and heart for a while now. With a gentle nudge from a friend I opted to go with this one.  First let me say that with most all of my blogs this is my opinion. I have a lot of opinions. I am not meaning to offend anyone or say that my way is the best way. Just another way.
   

      When you think of feminine what do you think of? A girl/woman with long hair? A woman wearing a dress or skirt? I used to think that being feminine (and modesty)  was more about what was on the inside than what was on the outside. How do you know which bathroom to go into at the restaurant? Because one of them has a dress on!
      I have always been more of a "tomboy" I never liked the idea of parading around in a dress, and doing "girly" things. I wanted to do what the boys were doing. Growing up, there was a period in my life where I was made to wear dresses or skirts. Unless I was doing something that was more practical to do wearing pants. (like riding a horse or hiking, etc). That lead me to rebel as soon as I was able! From that point on I very rarely wore dresses, only if it was a fancy occasion.
     I have recently been giving this whole modesty and feminity thing another chance. It started out because of my girls. They both LOVE dresses and skirts (well Adelaide likes skirts, Charlotte has no love for them). I on the other hand, most ALWAYS wear pants. Lets face it. One of my biggest concerns is having my 3rd born come up behind me, when out in public and lift my dress up, or go to the bathroom and accidently tuck my dress into my underwear!  I just felt that as a mother to 5 young kids it was more "practical" wearing pants. 
       How will my girls become Godly, modest, feminine women if I am not modeling that for them? Sure they can learn it from someone else. Why would I want someone else to be the influence in my childrens lives? God gave these children to ME to raise. He didn't give them to someone else! I am responsible for the way they dress, act, and live.
     That being said, I have revamped my wardrobe. Now I am not saying that I am ALWAYS going to wear dresses or skirts. I can't say that. I don't think that it is something that I HAVE to do. I do feel better about myself though when I am wearing something a little more dressy then my cotton knit capris ! Charlotte about peed her pants when I came out of the bedroom the other day wearing a dress (it was a casual dress). She said "oh Momma, I LOVE your dress, can you twirl?" Bless her heart! She was so thrilled that her momma was wearing a dress. If I can do something so simple to encourage her and build her up. Why not do it?
     If you are interested in a wonderful blog on modesty go to her site www.yourcourageousliving.blogspot.com She is a woman much older and wiser than I. She is in the season of her life where she can help us younger women to understand why we should not  dress in a way that is provocative to men and our brothers in Christ. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out.
      I hope that you have a great week. I hope that it won't be another month before my next update! There are lots of exciting things happening here at the homestead!

Power Tips

These are from a lecture I went to a the beginning of the month. The topic was "Being a Better Mother" the speakers name was Diane Sandusky.

                                                          POWER TIPS
1. Start your day by praying for patience and calmness for yourself and your children. Teach them to remember their Creator in the days of their youth.

2. Take a look at yourself, someone made a difference in you, so you can make a difference in your child.

3. Take TIME for yourself, have a 10 minute "power party" daily. Have a cup of coffee , tea, chocolate, etc.

4.Communicate with your friends. Many of them are facing the same struggles, they really are! You could have a double "10 minute power party". A cup of tea and friends.

5. Keep your sense of humor. It will calm your nerves and endear you to your children.

6. Remember to have plans, but, also remember that plans can and will change, its okay!!

7. Make bedtime a pleasent experience. Many children open their hearts at this time.

8. Be thankful for each day and learn something that will make tomorrow better.

9. Understand that sacrifices will have to be made at times.

10. Your children will make mistakes. Allow them to grow, let them choose sometimes.

She recommended putting them on your fridge. I did exactly that, I laminated them first though, there is always stuff flying around in my kitchen :)