Homemaking on the Homestead

  Well the countdown continues!!   My son will be on leave and arriving home on Saturday!   Everyone is so excited to see him.   The painting is coming along well and should be done very soon.   And we have been enjoying some beautiful days here in the PNW .   Yesterday the temps were in the upper 80’s!   I loved it..    but I know it won’t last as those are more like July temps than May!   But what a blessing to be able to enjoy them now!   The kids and I spent the afternoon down at the pond.   Jacob with his usual creativity made a raft..   he found scrap plywood and then got all the life jackets we own and tied them with rope onto the plywood and it worked!     Dinner last night was rib eye steaks on the grill..   yum!   We have been very happy with the cow we bought the meat has tasted delicious!   The night before we did burgers on the grill..   yum on those too! ...

  Our big plans for this holiday??   Painting!!     And delivering goats.   Tobin and I started the day by taking 2 of our goats to a friend’s house.   I sold her two does and she did not have a way to pick them up.   When Tobin came home from work, we loaded them up and away we went.   I have now sold 6 goats and have 3 or 4 left to sell.   Then I will be down to 5… Yea!!     We got home, I fed Tobin..   he took a nap and now is painting the upstairs stairs..   normally he said he would do it after the walls were done..   but with so much less traffic at home he decided to take advantage of this.     Emily and Leanne are still house sitting and my boys went to a friends house to spend the night so that just left Sierra at home.   She packed up her things and brought them downstairs so that she would not have to go back to her room .. and Tobin started painting.     While he ...

Here was our dinner tonight:       Split Pea Soup with bacon Tossed Green Salad w/blue cheese dressing Buttermilk Biscuits Cantaloupe   Sierra was my kitchen helper tonight.   She is 11 years old and quite handy in the kitchen.   It is nice to be able to serve a healthy, tasty meal to my family in a fairly short amount of time.   Granted I could have opened boxes and packages of food and maybe had dinner sooner, but I would have lost lots of quality and probably spent more $$ than I did.   Here is how we put this dinner together in an hour (it may have been an hour and 15 minutes)..   I started the split peas cooking and once they were boiling I cut up about 4 slices of bacon an ½ an onion and fried that till it was crispy.   I added this to the soup.   Then I had Sierra gather the salad veggies and begin making the salad.   While she was making the salad I made the salad dressing.   When that was done I starte...

  Well the painting project has started..   well at least the prep for it.   Tobin had the boys working to wash walls and he is scraping layers of paint off the doors and has one door painted.   We tried a new color for the doors and really like it.   It is an off white/tan color.   We only bought a quart of it to see what we think.. Last night we both agreed it looked very warm and nice.   We have some wainscoting that goes up the stairs and a banister up stairs around the stair way.. all that (and the bedroom doors) will be painted this color and the rest will be white .. which is our standard color.   We both don’t really like a lot of color on the walls but after all our years of white we decided it was time for a little color.   Someone emailed me about paint..   you know I am not the paint expert in our home.   Tobin has always done all the painting up until a few years ago.   I painted our main floor hallway and th...

    Well here we are with another Monday ahead of us.   I have to get Emily to her GED class and that is my only outside obligation.     However my inside work list is fairly long.   We have been working to clean out the upstairs (the kids all have their rooms upstairs) since back in January.   Not constantly mind you but just as we can.   Tobin said he wanted to have the kid’s paint the upstairs hallway, and Emily spent the weekend cleaning Hannah’s room and moving in to it. Plus we have family coming to stay with us…..   So between all these things we have the needed incentives to get this area worked on.     Not to mention that Tobin is planning to remodel Sierra’s bedroom this summer and she is such a little pack rat!   So she has been going through her things and reducing and after she tells me she is done then I will go in and we will go through it all again!   LOL..   I know her.. ...

  I have been on an exercise kick lately.   Back in March I purchased a pilates dvd (this is the one I am using: http://www.ellenbarrett.com/pyl.htm   but I bought mine on ebay for less)..   I was not sure about them, but decided to give it a try..   well 2 months later all I can say is WOW!   These things are great!   I can really feel the improvement on my muscle tone in only a short time.   I totally recommend them to anyone wanting to tone up muscles.   ----   I also purchased a couple of Leslie Sansones walking dvd’s (again I got these on ebay).   I have the one, two and three mile walks.   I love these things.   Really besides getting a bit more fit one of the things I have really enjoyed about this is that my daughters Emily and Leanne have also joined me.   So now almost every day we enjoy our little mom/daughters exercise time.   We walk 2 or 3 miles and then do 30 minutes of pilates.   So far...

  The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous!!   Lots of sunshine and the temps are warming up; just some lovely spring/summer days.   That has been quite inspiring lately.   Today however, is scheduled to rain..   at least the garden can appreciate this rain!     The week is going well and we are slowly adjusting to Tobin’s new schedule.   He is loving the extra day off that the night shift provides (it is 4 – 10hr. shifts), and is getting so much done around the homestead.     On Tuesday Tobin rototilled the garden again and we started planting.   We (the kids and I) planted tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and flowers.   Sierra and Isaac really wanted to plant flowers.   Leanne helped them weed an area by our green house and turn over the dirt, fertilize it and then they planted some seeds.   Soon we will be enjoying naturisms, wild flowers, carnations and sunflowers. ...

  You Are a Hot Fudge Sundae Classic, simple, and divine. Why mess with perfection? What Kind of Sundae Are You? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Emily insisted I stop here in my busy day   and take the Sundae test..  so here it is!!   These little tests can be so fun..  I guess I could say I like things classic and simple..  and am not real into change..  so apparently I must be a boring sundae!  LOL...  

  I figured it was time for a Monday update.   Today I had to appear for jury duty..   yuck..   fortunately for me, I was released.   Sooo..   I came and took care of kids and my home.   We have lived in this county for 11 years and I have been called 3 times and Tobin 2 times..   and they say it random! I don’t buy it..   I personally know people in my county that have never been called!   Someday I may feel like I can afford the time to participate in jury duty but for now.. it really does not work well, so I am thankful that I was able to come home.   I have been winging it this last week with out a menu.   Not usually my favorite thing to do.   However I have been working hard to make the right amount of food so as to not have too many leftovers and when I do have leftovers do my best to incorporate them in another meal.   For example, one night I made rice to go with some polish sausages. ...

It seems right now that I am dealing with many things.. and life is full.   I have not had a chance to blog much lately and this afternoon my sweet sister in law, Debbie called me and said..   hey sis.. is everything ok??     Haa..   ha.. I need to blog so that my family won’t be concerned!   LOL..     Thanks for the phone call Debbie..   it was just what I needed today!!   This last week had many events but the one that stands out the most was my sweet daughter Emily’s 17th birthday.   Wow, where do the years go!   Emily is one child we always give special thanks for..   she had strep throat at 6 weeks of age and whooping cough at 8 weeks..   it was not diagnosed correctly at first and we almost lost her..   so her birthday prayer always includes a special thanks for her being here today with us.    Emily is my creative child..   her creativity does not come out with paint or other art...