First off, computer time has been limited...our regular computer totally gave up the ghost...the mother board kicked it. I have resorted to using my husbands laptop until we are in the position to get another one. Fortunately, I did not lose to much when she died.
The highlights of my time away from this....
The fourth of July, the kids had the opportunity to ride a float for the parade with their mom. The younger two enthusiasically rode with her, the oldest was skittish and stayed with me to watch the parade. It was a typical small town type parade, with the oldest thrilled with the military floats. After the parade, a barbeque with friends of ours. (a tradition that dates back over 10 years now).
For the past few years our local churches pull together a 2 1/2 day Christian Music Festival. I took the older two to see KJ52 and got a giggle as I stood with my grandchildren as they rapped away. I think I was the oldest in the crowd. Not my favorite but the kids sure loved it, which made it worth every moment.
The best thing was seeing them enjoy the "Newsboys" my oldest (a whoping 10 now) has loved them since the veggietales movie Jonah came out. I had hoped for years to be able to take him to their concert...Praise be, God answered my simple little prayer.
My husbands family had a mini reunion in Kalispell mid July, I opted not to go, and in seeing the pictures am grateful I did not. I would have caused a stir right away when one of my nephews was wearing a shirt referencing womens anatomy and I would have asked him to change right away. The "highlight" of the weekend (according to my brother-in-law) was my 4 year old nephew swearing up a storm! I don't get this world, instead of correcting him, they laughed.
After this we gutted about 1/4 of our house, down to the studs, including the walls. We have been working on that, reinsulating where needed, building new walls, (changing dimensions and layout) slightly. We ended up having to replace the subflooring in the bathroom as it was rotted so badly near the tub. We have already put in a new tub and are prepping it for tile, and as I write this we only have 2 small pieces of sheetrock to put in before we start with the mudding. We have been purchasing what we need for quite a while so the only thing we will have to buy is tiles...which I have found at a resale store for less that 1/2 the cost of a retailer.
Needless to say this makes schooltime a little chaotic, but it is coming together.In the meantime, the kids have each had turns at plumbing,electrical, sheetrock, and framing so far. Once the remodeling is done, we shall move the princess to a new room (painted in pink of course) and I shall reclaim her current room for office and school supplies, from there I will have my closet space in the laundry room for storage other than school stuff....I shall be glad when we see the end of this project as most of my dining room is now doubled in my living room...I told my husband it looks like a house a hoarder lives in and it is driving me up the wall.
As of the end of August, DH is officially unemployed. We are praying as "they" are working on him getting orders effective October 1st. We hope and pray that he can get just four more years on orders as then he can retire, as for right now it is in the hands of God..In the meantime he is submitting aps but nothing yet.
On top of this, I have started canning some of our meats from the freezer. We still have some of the venison from last year as well as some deals that I have picked up along the way. Archery hunting started last week, and my beloved is trying that for the first time. We will roll from that into rifle hunting and he has multiple tags including elk...I pray his hunts will be safe and sucessful that we can refill our freezers and I shall learn more of canning. I am truly grateful to a woman at our church who gave me 14 dozen canning jars!
In reading about canning, I am going to try something new...canning butter...I am curious to see if I can get it to work. Today I purchased some 1/2 pint jars and hopefully next week I can put up 4 pounds of butter and 6 quarts of chili, and 6 quarts of spaghetti sauce. I get most of my canning info from www.backwoodshome.com. It is an awesome resource for just about anything to do with homesteading, either fulltime or just aspects of it like we are doing now.
Once I can get hubby away from the remodel for a day, I need to till up garden space for next year and plant some berry bushes from seeds I have picked up along the way. We have been given about 20 trees (mostly aspen) that I want to get transplanted, and my little ones want to plant some of the cherry seeds they saved from when they were in season. I actually want two spaces dug up, one for an herb garden and one for veggies.
My search to try to do things as frugally as possible has meet with a new thing in our home. I made a batch of cereal. The kids love cold cereal in the morning but they go through it so quickly (and I am sure the contents in the packages are being reduced) The kids like it, hubby wants it cut into bars to have with a glass of milk instead of eating it like cereal.
THE RECIPE:
3 cups milk
2 Tbls honey
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
Mix the milk and honey until smooth, add other ingredients and stir well. Spread on 2-3 cookie sheets, between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes until golden crisp (you may have to break of at the edges as you go). Cool and break into flakes or grind with a course blade. Store in an airtight container...makes about 6 cups. If I can get the kids to eat this regularly I shall save the presweetened, chemically altered, crud for snacks and treats.
On top of this, I have had to run errands for my dear mom, she is not having a good year! Her heater/ac went out, her water purifier started leaking, we still have not been able to resolve why her garage door opener will not work, and her car has been in the shop, it needs a new engine and wont be available until the middle of the month. One of her beloved kitties is ill, so I have been running Shutlz to the vet. We have weeded her yard (my father put in all gravel for her as it was suppose to be maintenance free....right! best weeds we ever grew...I'd rather just go and mow grass once a week) and we have yet to get in and help her clean out her garage (this has not been done since my father died and now she is overwhelmed by the task).
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