October Already?

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I can’t believe the time just flies by like it does..  October is here?! Tobin and I were chatting yesterday and he made the comment that the heating season will begin in about a month and we will be back to starting fires every morning..  I had to laugh..  The windows in the house were open and the afternoon breezes were coming through and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and flip flops..  hard to believe the picture will look so drastically different in one month.   

Two weeks of school are done and we are getting into the groove a bit better.  During the summer I always have all the household chores under control.  The kids and I do the chores in the morning following my schedule.  I even print out the weekly schedule each week so I can pull out the day’s chores and we can cross them off as we get them done.  But then we start school and our focus changes and then I find that things in the house start to falter a bit.  So this year I made a list of exactly what chores I want to be done before we shift our focus to the school day.  The remaining chores on the list are done in the afternoon after school.  This is what my before chores list looks like: ******************************************
Before School Chores






Feed kitties and clean them and the food area up
Unload dishwasher
Deal with breakfast dishes and clean up
Sweep kitchen floor
Clean up laundry room
Empty recycling
Start laundry – either household laundry or personal laundry
Vacuum entry rugs
Sweep dining room floor
Do a quick run through the bathroom
Pick up the living room
Clean up any personal clutter in dining room and sunroom
*******************************

I have this hanging on the fridge..  I just focus on school stuff so much better when the basics are done in the morning first.  I can’t concentrate when the floors are dirty, clutter is sitting around, laundry piling up, etc..   So we all chip in and get the basics done first and then sit down in an orderly house and crack open the books!!  :) 


Garden: Thanks to several warm days more tomatoes started to ripen up!  Isaac and I went down to the garden on Wednesday and picked 60lbs of them!  Some were not quite ready so I have them ripening in the house.  But today I am sure I have enough tomatoes for another round of spaghetti sauce.  That will use up half of them.  After that I will do another batch of salsa, but that will have to wait until I pick up some cilantro from the grocery store.  I did end up getting 16 more pints of salsa canned last Monday.  So another 15 or 16 pints would be wonderful.  Any tomatoes I have left at that point I may just can .. we will see what I have left and if I get any more from the garden. 

Isaac and I also picked the first pumpkin!  It is big and orange :)  Isaac was particularly excited about this pumpkin.  It is the biggest one in my little pumpkin patch and he asked me if he could have it to carve it and I said yes..  so it is sitting on the deck now waiting to be carved by Isaac!

However the rest of the pumpkins growing are mine!  LOL..  They are actually a pie pumpkin variety.  I plan to make them into pumpkin puree and freeze it for our pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.  If I end up with more pumpkin then I need I will cube the rest of it and can it, it would make a great addition to soups and stews. 

Today my boys and I are also going to go down to the garden to do some clean up.  I have corn plants to pull up and maybe get some rototilling done as well. 

Baby kitty update..  Our baby kitties are doing well.  They are just sooo stinking cute!  LOL..  I went to the vet on Wednesday and got some wormer for them and bought a bottle of kitty formula.  They were so much happier after formula than they had been after drinking milk, so it was the right choice.  Of course it only took 3 days and they bit the end off the bottle.. so the bottle feeding days are over, but they are getting the hang of eating normally.. it they just would not sit in the of food while they ate it!  If the container has sides on it, they dump it over….  if it is flat, like a plate, they sit in it..  so many things to learn..   But in the meantime, it is beyond cute to have two little furry balls of fluff follow you around whenever they see you outside.. 

Before I end this blog post I have a story to share..  The other day I started my computer in the morning as usual.  When it all was loaded up I had a bunch of virus warnings and could basically not do anything at all with my computer..  could not access any files.  I looked at a few other issues, started up my virus scanner, etc..  Well my virus scanner found nothing, which I knew was not the case, I ran a second virus scanner but could not get on line to update it..  Finally I got online with my laptop and downloaded the latest version on a usb drive and took it to my computer and was able to update my version and run it again.. While updating my virus scanner online I looked up how to manually remove the virus myself.. and tried but with no success,  by this time I was feeling pretty frustrated, I had spent 2 ½ hours on this and still could not get the darned thing off my computer. My son Jacob wakes up and I tell him what is going on and my frustration.. and he says to me, hmm..  let me take a look..  and in less than 15 MINUTES  He had the problem dealt with and I was back in business! .. LOL..   It is a real blessing to have your own IT support right at home..  :) 

Hope you all have a great weekend on your homesteads!!

Comments

  1. donnaOctober 2, 2010 at 2:07 PM

    I just wanted you to know I have been practicing your idea of having certain chores finished before we start school. I read this in one of your post last year and just loved the idea. It really works for us. We continued doing it through summer. I encourage anyone to try it. I am interested in how you can your pumpkin. I have tried this before with no success. All the lids popped up. Thanks for sharing. God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LorieOctober 3, 2010 at 3:45 AM

    Great update. You sure have been busy with school, garden and home. I love your chore idea. I have such a hard time with that this year as daughter is gone to school and work so much of the day and son has so much to do with school and he works a few hours a week (in town) as well. I think I will try that and if everyone chips in, well perhaps it will take some of the load off me. Certainly is a different season for me.

    I too would love you to share your canning pumpkin as well. I have never tried, but have several pie pumpkins from the garden.

    I sure know what you mean about having your own IT support person in the house. My son helps me often, too often.

    Blessings,
    Lorie

    ReplyDelete
  3. AgnesOctober 4, 2010 at 6:40 AM

    how do you can pumpkin and how do you peel it, it is sooo hard.
    I got 7 pumpkins from my patch this year, it is so exciting to have my own pumpin!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 8, 2010 at 11:19 AM

    Isn't that the truth about the "IT Department"?! Crystal, how many tomato plants did you put out?

    ReplyDelete
  5. CrystalOctober 8, 2010 at 11:31 AM

    Wykate.. I planted 34! :) I would have had a lot more tomatoes if it were not for all the rain we had that caused a lot of them to rot before they were even ripe..

    ReplyDelete

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