My Weekend

Oh man! What my weekend was like! The generator  we bought  to run the ac to stave off the heatwave threw a rod at four a.m.. We let it go til morning. We found a diesel generator a few hours away from us for six hundred dollars. We checked it out online and found that this was a good deal so we decided to get it.   Took out a loan for it. Found out hubby was already  taking a loan often to pay for gas for the genny that just blew! !! Took all the kids  with us on what we thought was a 3 hour trip one way but turned out to be a 4 hour trip one way. Drove up on a tire ready to blow any moment.  Got the genny. Had to eat out cuz so late. More money spent!  Got home at 11p.m-- in the rain --Hubby set it up with us holding lanterns on a moonless night.   It didn't work! Figured out it was the battery.   So we took Hubby's  truck battery out and charged it so yes it ran. However the rain caused us to put the thing in a further spot than we planned and it didn't reach the house! Off to Walmart at midnight to get cords and clamps!  Finally at one a.m it was done!  Fun Saturday!  Sunday we got up to go to the laundromat and on the way home the tire blew! We coasted home on basically a rim but praise God we got there!! Hubby found a used tire the next day and we are good to go for awhile. Monday morning got off to a "wonderful" start with my dog almost killing my hen. I don't know if she will make it or not. We are watching. Now of course we are beyond dead broke and I must admit it scares me a bit. But  the Lord is gracious and I am looking forward to the blessing we will receive! It has already started. Today I found a tomato plant that I had not planted but had grown there- probably a bird transferred the seeds- and we have tomatoes! And get this-  we don't need to worry about a trellis because it is growing up a chain link fence! That, ladies, is God!                                              not the one I bought but close enough.

7 Months Into Homesteading

 Our first seven months of homesteading brought us bell peppers, melons, and stevia plants. A new crop of kittens and 9 new chickens. We had 12 chicks die due to cold weather, and regularly had a raccoon visit our chicken pen! (thankfully leaving with nothing)

 Zinnias, lilies, and marigolds rounded out our flower pot additions as well as the wild honeysuckle, pink roses, red fluted flowers and black eyed susans that lined our driveway.

 We learned how to build a fire, dodge a rooster, and navigate an uphill mud pit of a driveway.

 We cooked beans, eggs, and rice endlessly, collected water in town and prayed for cool nights to sleep in.

 We built a composting bin and filled it with egg shells and fruit scraps in exchange for black diamond soil.

 We learned to recognize the smell of rain, the brightness of planets, and the identification of different animal tracks.

 Snakes drifted in and out of our property and birds flew over head at a number we had not seen in the city. Squirrels and rabbits made their hiding places nestled in our jungle of greenery and our three dogs regularly tried to oust them from these spaces.

 We got hot, cold, dirty, tired, hopeless, hopeful. We moved too fast. We moved too slow. We went right when we should have gone left. We depended on each other and we depended on no one.

 I bartered for jam and wood siding while he built a barn and drove a truck. The kids collected eggs and swam in mud puddles.

 Snow fell and tornadoes touched down and we lost pictures of the past, all while building the future.

 We were homesteaders and we were gonna make it or die trying!

linking with Barn Hop, FarmGirl Friday 

A Proverbs 31 Wife at Work

I am so excited! I have a new advertiser and I could not ask for a better one!!
There is a sweet gal, Allison Sculthorpe, who sells the beautiful Lilla Rose hair accessories. My daughters and I are addicted to them!
I never do business with anyone whose products I don't stand behind or who I don't feel is a good match for this blog- or for me personally either!- so I chatted with Allison a bit to get to know her. (I already knew I loved her products!)

Anyway here's a little bit about her.
My name is Allison and I'm a young wife of almost 2 years to a wonderful godly man  I am also a stay at home mom to my daughter Abby who is 9 months and I'm expecting another baby in January of 2014. I am completing my AA in college online so that I can stay home and I became a part of Lilla Rose because it allows me to stay home as well and make a little extra money. My husband and I aspire to have a large family and to minister to young single pregnant women and mothers who have been turned out of their homes and need encouragement in becoming responsible and turning their lives around. My husband is a Navy pilot and is currently on shore duty and has 3 more years in the service before he is going to get out after serving 10 years, so we should not have to move at all. I live in Jacksonville, FL close to my large family and have 10 brothers and sisters.

See why I like her? 

Anyway, she and I thought this might be a good venue for her to show you her lovely Flexi Clips and other hair jewelry.

So without further ado,here is my most recent clip

This is called The Roman Stone.

This is called A Horse Named Rose . (I included this one also because my daughter Hannah was already wearing it and begged to be included lol)

These of course are just two of the gorgeous Flexi Clips available .Please see Allison's site for more. And don't forget to check out the bobby pins, the O-Rings and the hair bands and sticks.

Please do yourself a favor and check out Allison's site Lilla Rose .

I really feel strongly about supporting businesses like this because as we all know it is a tough economy  and we as Proverbs 31 wives need to find ways to help our husbands while still fulfilling God's commands to be a keeper at home. And Allison has found such a way.

Today on the Homestead

Today is a hot one! But praise God the generator is running and we are cool.
School went well today. For Bible we read how God always hears us but dometimes says no. That doesn't negate the fact that He is listening tho!
Math was math and history was reading about the Zuni Indians. I found a great book at Goodwill that I am reading to them.
Then some creative writing and we were done!
The kids are settled in, reading their own books about colonial times and living on the prairie while I am posting this. I think next we will find a dvd to watch.

The chickens are all fed and watered, so are the cats and dogs, plants watered, and  supper is planned- spaghetti and corn on the cob- and the day is flying by!

How is your day?

Water, Precious Water

                                                       

Well ! Guess what! We have been so blessed ! Someone has offered for us to fill our water jugs up at their place for free! We have been paying  to fill up those 1 gallon jugs from the store and this necessitated a trip into town daily.  And invariably the jugs get smashed somehow and then you need to buy new ones , thus adding to the cost. This gets old quick.

When this friend found out he offered to let us fill up at his place, right down the road.! We will be getting 5 gallon jugs and filling these up instead. The first thought I had was "Bathtime!" Remember when I described bathtime  here ? This will be so much better!
I have an oldfashioned  cast iron bathtub that we will fill with water and heat a fire under it, which will keep the water hot for about an hour.. The tub is outside so we will build a privacy tent around it. I'll put a pic up when it gets done :) (hubby doesn't allow much in the way of pics  on this blog  but I think this will be ok.)

So things are looking up on the homestead! We will be drilling a well whenever we have the money but that will be awhile- probably over a year!- but this gift from God and John will make the wait a whole lot better!

Hard Times on the Homestead

Ok I know my hard times are nothing like others'  hard times and I certainly don't mean to equalize them. I just feel badly about my tough situations because I am in them.

We decided to hook up to electricity just to run the air conditioner.We hated to  but we were "dying" and it'll only get worse. Alas, we live so far out and such that it is impossible for us to get power EVER. So we will really truly be off grid as long as we live here. (which will be a long while)

So we bought a room ac unit and hooked it to the generator and one day was great! Then of course the generator broke.  So we fixed it 3 days later and ran it for 2 days when it broke again. Sigh.

It costs waaaay too much to run the thing. We figured it would cost $600 a month just to run the ac. We don't have $600 a month. Sigh.

So it is hot. Sigh.

We aren't doing much of anything because we are hot. Then we get bored. Then we get hungry. Not much on the shelves so Sigh.

One thing we do have on the shelves is eggs! My hens are doing me proud!
We are thinking about adding meat birds to our flock  next. Silly I know but that is a tough decision for this former city girl to make!!

I want a cow too for milk and just because I do. :)  But it is a huge responsibility so I am waiting. Besides the fact that I have no pasture til we get one cleared!!

I am cooking a lot of things with beans and rice lately. Staples save money . And believe me , I need to save money. Sigh.
bean soups, scrambled and fried eggs, oatmeal, rice and beans topped with cheese,rice and chicken thighs when they are on sale, (we are not able to buy cold items and stick them in the cooler since the heat melts the ice way too fast), pancakes,veggie soup, salads - those are the main things we are eating.

What about you? How are you dealing with the heat , or do you have air conditioning ? (and can I come visit?)
 What are you eating lately?
Comments make me smile so leave me lots!!



                                                 

A Mother's Faith

                                                         

My dear friend Mrs.White  has written a book! When I found out I was so excited to read it and I wasn't disappointed!

Mother's Faith: Essays, Lamentations, and Encouragement From a Christian Mother of Waywards is written by a  mother with a heart for God, a heart for her children and the desire to see those 2 hearts combine. And yet alas, they don't always. 

Mrs. White lets us inside her thoughts as she witnesses her children make poor choices, as she sees them go against God's Word, as she sees them settle for second best and all the while she is praying them closer to the kingdom. All the while she is remembering how things were when better choices were made and little ones turned expectantly towards mama for guidance, which always came from above. Oh how this mama's heart remembers!

As a mother of waywards myself- wayward doesn't necessarily mean estranged - I can relate.I can feel the heaviness of heart that Mrs.White describes as well as the feeling of relief when a mother remembers who is ultimately in control.

I would recommend  Mother'sFaith to anyone  who has a wayward child or to anyone who longs to make their home a place of refuge for their family. A place that any child, wayward or not, wants to remember in their heart and cherish as a memory.



Oh and check out Mrs.White's blog, The Legacy of Home.  You'll love it!! She even has a giveaway going on right now!