I'm done !!!

Yipee !!!!! The wrapping paper is stamped and the gifts are wrapped. The stockings are stuffed. The ornaments are finished and the tree is decked out in all of it's homemade glory. Dinner is set. Today is the great cookie bake off and the pies are ready to go in the oven. Bear is so ready , he's counting the hours until Santa comes. All that's left is putting the stuff under the tree and of course cookies and milk for Santa, but I'm done. I can't believe it! I thought I'd be working on stuff right until the last minute.
I took Sissy out on Tuesday to finish her shopping and when we got home I saw that my wonderful Hubby cleaned the whole house, and the oven . YAHOO!!!!!!!! I love that man lol. That was the best present ever!!!!!!!!! I have tons of stuff to tell you and a huge amount of pictures to post but that will all wait until next week. Right now I'm off to enjoy the next couple of days with the family. I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday !!!!!!! Enjoy !!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to you and yours may all of your dreams come true!!!!!!!!

Buzz, buzz, buzz

Yep I've been buzzing around like a little bee trying to get stuff done. Here's just some of the list......

Write names on stockings: Done and it only took 2 years lol


Prep the stuff for the ornaments the kids want to make : Done except for the salt dough. I'll
wait til Monday when we plan to make them.

Make the wrapping paper: Hoping to be finished today.

Wrap gifts: hahahahaha I have to finish the paper first.

Post living room re-do pics : Maybe after I finish the paper.

Thank Amy for the awesome package: Not yet ... well I guess I just kinda did. I won one of her stocking stuff give ways ( pics after the holidays) and it is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Amy.

Find cards , write them out and mail: hahahahahaha soon ... hopefully before Christmas is over.

Resolve the problem with seller on eBay: Done ordered 2 gifts in October needless to say no gifts.... contacted eBay , they took care of everything and got us our money back

Re order gifts that we didn't get: Done thanks to Sissy. She jumped on overstock .com and found replacements , and the best part ?????? We saved $30.00. ( ha UPS just dropped them off)

Sew up gift bags: Excuse me as I fall on the floor laughing. Not this year.

Finish stuffies and monsters: Getting there.

Put up the tree: It's going up Monday. Sissy asked me to wait. Where am I putting it you ask? On top of the booth table lol. We're just going to put up part of it . I guess we'll see lol.

There's more to do but I seem to have a very loose handle on things. OK I'm off for now . More to come over the weekend....I hope : )Til next time stay warm.

Another contest......

Heather is having another great contest on her blog ..... go check it out

Wow ..........

It's been a while since I had time to get on here !!!!!! Thanksgiving was awesome .... Sissy surprised us and came home on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. We spent Thanksgiving eating and eating and well... eating lol. In between all of the eating we watched movies : ) Friday morning Sissy and I rolled out of bed at 3:30 and hit the Black Friday sales at Walmart. Not as good as years past but we did get what we wanted ........kinda. See we had to wait on line of an hour for a gift for Bear ( I'll post pics after Christmas) and missed a few things we wanted like the $ 7.00 video games and the $ 2.00 towels ( Buddy wants he's own towels lol). We did manage to get some games and I grabbed the $4.00 towels( which are much nicer). We really cleaned up with the 2 piece fleece pj sets even if I had to dig to get certain sizes. Grabbed a couple of things that certain kids wanted and a few that I thought they would like and we were home by 6:30. All in all not bad considering that except for a couple of small things for Buddy and the candy for the stocking I'M DONE SHOPPING !!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have to wrap lol. ( Ha caught a little boy trying to read this lol .... he even tried to look Innocent hahahahaha.)
So did you guy's go out black friday????? Get anything good ?????
OH guess what ???? I won some really great stuff from Amy's stocking stuffers I'll post when I get it . Ok I'm off to let out the chickens. Til next time have a great day

Contest

Heather over at My Frugal Family is having a great give away. Stop by and sign up , while your there be sure to take a look around she has a lot of great idea's.
Til next time , have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did it again !!!

I ended up moving the living room around yet again. I have a problem at least according to the rest of the family : ) I don't know why I do it lol. I was feeling closed in . I needed more room. Short of building another room ( which is something we've been talking about) the only way I could get it was rearranging again. I had a plan yep spent a couple of hours drawing out exactly where everything was going to go. Hahahahahaha not even close lol. Things didn't go as planned but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. And Guess what .......... I'm not done lol. Yep still cleaning , sorting and organizing. And after all of that I still can't figure out where I'm going to put the Christmas tree. Hubby told me not to over do it ha good luck with that. Boy does my body hate me right now. Meanwhile the rest of the house looks like a tactical nuke went off. So looks like today and more than likely most of tomorrow will be spent getting things back together. So good bye to dust bunnies and cobwebs. Time to throw open all the windows and freshen the place up. Maybe I'll play around with some of my knick knacks. Some stuff needs to be put away for the holidays any way.
So that's it for now.... off to clean lol. Til next time have a great day and stay safe.

Stuff

We've been rolling along here. Still have some more outside stuff to do. Than hopefully we'll be good until spring..... well besides shoveling snow lol. We still have to get to the last 10 Cornish rocks but we're thinking about only doing a couple at a time . It gets to be to much when we do a bunch at once.

In the kitchen
I've been drying a ton of fruit. Mostly apples and pears but I have found some mango's and bananas on sale so in they went. Been using the bread machine but the bread seems to get moldy faster than the other bread. I have to come up with something to keep that from happening. I'm starting to prep for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure who's going to be here besides Hubby , Bear and me, but I'm going to be ready lol. We're going to have cheese and crackers, veggies and drip, chips, pumpkin and apple pie. As far as the kind of bird.....well lol it could be go old turkey, a 10 pound Cornish rock or duck. I guess it depends on what hits the freezer last lol.

Craftiness,
I'm still working away . I have a good start on Mr. C 's blanket I'm just hoping that I have enough yarn . All of the yarn I've used has been from the tons of free yarn that M's mom gave me. ( and I still have a ton lol ) I think I have some more of that type of yard in storage I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Dear MIL asked me to make some dollies for her to give to my sister in law for Christmas. HAHAHAHA I've never made dollies so after some trial and error I think I have some thing they'll both like. I did get Bear's curtains done, just have to get our done. The softies are coming along, they're not perfect, but they look OK. I have to finish closing them up , tossed them in the washer and dryer, than add the faces. I really want to make gift bags out of the fabric I got after Christmas last year. I'm hoping to find the time.... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Homeschooling
We've had to move Bear from 3rd grade work to 4th grade. Now he seems to be more challenged. I guess we'll just keep shifting stuff around until he hits his groove. We're starting lap books next week. The first set will be on the 50 states. I feel that the lap books cover alot of subjects all at once. And gives him the creative side of things too. We still need to find something he likes for science.

Christmas
You all know that I've been cranking out gifts for months but there are still some things I need to buy . Now we're only buying for the kids and a couple of things each for Hubby and I. Well Hubby is done hahahaha, I'm picking up books and small stuff for me ( it is much easier on all of us if I just pick up my books other wise the kids and poor Hubby stand in the book store looking lost lol) So it's started. I picked up alot of stuff on sale or clearance. Bear and I where out shopping and he wanted to show me what Bakugan he wanted.... OK so we look. They where on sale $5.00 a set instead of $ 12.00 so ...... well I grabbed them. I know , I know that its terrible but it was one of those things ...... do I grab the ones he wants now ... with him here or do I wait. I figured if I waited they would all be gone and I was right. What was funny was that he got it lol "Mom at this price we can get 2 for one" Thankfully Santa can pick up the slack . Bear has been out growing he's clothes at a super fast rate. So again I took him with me and he picked out what he wanted good thing too because I was going to buy 8's and go figure he wears a 10 lol. But he didn't see the cool shirts I got him for a $1.00 each :). Bear even picked out a set of books he wanted. Books ....Books.... you want books for Christmas.... sure Honey grab what you want lol. So yes he knows about a couple of things he's getting but at least I know he'll like them.
So as it stands now , I have to do some more shopping but I'm thinking about doing it when I have the tires done on the van . Just me !!!!!!

OK enough about how cheap I am . I swear there must be a support group for the cheapskates lol. I've written a book and you guys must be bored lol. I'm off for now .Til next time have a great day and stay safe.

What's happening here

A ton of stuff as usual lol . We culled 10 chickens , have 10 more to go. We have 2 more roosters to do. C found some old shelving on a job sight and brought them home for us . Hubby has been busy installing them in the coup for the little chickens. All that is left is to cut a small door for them to use this way they can get in without having to deal with the big ones. Winter is on the way and we have the last of the prepping to do. Wood needs to be moved up closer to the house, our medicine cabinet has to cleaned sorted and re- filled. Still need to get gas for the generator , the " power out box " need to be sorted. The list goes on and on . I have been crafting too lol thus the lack of posting on my part. I finished the blanket Sissy wanted for Christmas. I 'm almost done with the last ( I hope) hat and scarf set. I just have to finish the blanket for Mr. C , and I have 2 baby blankets to make for a friend of ours that is having twins :0 . Than the sewing begins. I'm going to make new curtains for both bedrooms, than lol I'm going to start on the stuffie animals for some of the little kids. Oh and I have a couple of more projects that hopefully I'll be able to pull off by Christmas.

On the homeschooling front..... things are going good. I joined the local homeschooling group which has been great. We're working hard on finding out what works for Bear. Mostly trail and error but everyone tells me that this is normal and it takes time. Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water and so does he but we're rolling with it.

So that's it for now I'm off to move some stuff around in the living room . More to come . Til next time be safe and have a great day

I'm a bad Blogger

I know I'm a bad girl : 0 Things have been crazy lol I know what else is new right. I just need a couple of more hours in a day. So to make it up to you here are some of the pictures I promised way back when. These are some of the crafty things I've been working on and finally finished.

Picked these up last year after Halloween for 25 cents a piece.

Found this skull too 50 cents

This I got this year at the dollar store and well it fits our house lol lol

The next 3 are the finished product .A little glue and glitter . Yahoo !!!!!!!!!!!! See it's the little thing's that make me happy.



The busts and small glitter skull are what Bear found at the dollar store. He just had to have Medusa and Dracula lol.

Now on the crocheting front I'm made a ton of these bracelets. I did bead some but I can't find the pictures : ( I'll have to take some more. If all goes according to plan ( ha ha ha... plan.... ha ha ) I'll get them all beaded in time for Christmas.

I finally finished my " fake" granny square blanket





I made this poncho for Vikki

This is another Christmas present for one of the girlie's




And last but not least the blanket I made for Sissy before she went to collage

That's it lol . I have do have a bunch more stuff to make : 0 . At least 3 more hat an scarf sets to make. I found this awesome youtube video series on making theses really cool sock slippers. There are a ton of clips but he's really good . I hope the link works if it does you'll have to search he's uploads to find them believe me it's worth it . Now I'm hoping to make them just for the kids ( including Mr. C and Miss T) me and the Hubby .... we'll see :) .

OK I'm off for now. Til next time have a crafty day.

PS.... Blogger has been hiccuping for me today. Don't know why...... so if thing's look wonky sorry ; 0

September already!!!!!!!

WOW !!!!!!!! Time has just flown by. Been busy making peach butter , breaking in the new to us bread machine, dealing with Sissy's car trouble ( looks like the engine is shot) taking care of the animals, getting Bear ready to home school, getting Buddy ready for tenth grade and so on and so on lol .

Than we found her behind a local shopping center. Her name is Bella. Isn't she cute :) I just couldn't leave her there . We took her to the vet and she checks out OK except for a bite on the under side of her neck. We didn't know what it was until he shaved her neck . So we have to watch her but so far so good

One of the smaller hens finally ( after 2 attempts) hatched her first chicks. Bear and I went down Tuesday morning to let out the chickens than went out and did our shopping. We got home , unloaded the van , and than headed down to clean the coop and feed the animals. Chirp chirp Mom where is that coming from . Bear runs to the baby factory (lol lol lol ) and yells that mama is in the bottom of the coup, than he climbs up and sees 9 furry babies in the box. I ran in to look yep there they are. Ok I took the babies out of the box and put them in a clean one, now mama decides she wants to sit on them so she jumps in . Meanwhile Bear is keeping the other hens away because they aren't happy with the new additions. So here I stand with a box full of chickens lol, I couldn't leave them there, Hubby wasn't due home for hours , and we couldn't get the chicken run out of storage so... I took them up to the house. Now that was something to see me and Bear with ten chickens and a cat lol. Bella was very good and only went by them once . Thankfully Hubby got home and set the run up for me . Mama and babies are happy in their new home.

I'm off for now . Have a great day

Hanging in there

Since my last post alot as been going on. So hears to the short version lol. We finished the trim on the windows in the living room, front door, and put up the beam around one of the living room ceiling fans. Now we're done lol. C gave us a ton of furniture ( pics to come) and we had to rearrange again lol. Buddy and I did get Bear's room done before he left, Bear loves it. I guess it takes a boy to get a boys room just right. Sissy well.... after a ton of tests she has Lyme Disease, is lactose intolerant, and has hemorrhoids. Whew !!!!! is she on a lot of meds and believe me she's not happy about it. She's glad we know but says she's on more meds than her grandmother : ). With all of this stuff going on we where still able to get a load of stuff packed and Sissy and Mr. C took it up to her apartment. Just another trip and I think she'll be done. Of course we still have a ton of stuff to get together but we'll get there . Mean while, the fridge starts acting up ( yep the new one ) well Hubby had enough and tore it apart and guess what we found????? A chunk of foam wedged in the cooling vent . Guess that's why it wasn't getting cold growl. We did lose some stuff but well what are you going to do right. I have been able in the mist of all of the craziness to get some green beans in the freezer, dry some fruit, and a touch of crocheting done. Tomorrow I'm off to Vikki's to get Bear's homeschooling paper work together and get some pointers from her. I have been working on getting work together for him, now it's just a case of figuring out what works for us.

So thats the short version more to come, til next time have a great day

Getting there

Things here are moving along. Not as fast as I would like for some things and way to fast for others. We've been busy getting Bear ready for homeschooling. I sent out our letter of intent today . As soon as I get the paper work back I'm off to see Vikki. This way she can help me sort things out. At some point we'll get together with all of the other homeschoolers in the area. Now that homeschooling is under way I have to get a handle on the other chores we do. I've had to re work alot of stuff . Hopefully with some tweaking we'll get into a new routine and that routine will keep things rolling along.



The for sale sign is up and we've been getting calls. If it doesn't happen right away that's OK. We are holding firm on our price because we could if we had to stay here. Things in the house are tight ( I don't have a clue where we'll put a Christmas tree this year lol) but with some organizing we'll be OK.



The kids.......... well Sissy and Mr. C have gone down to North Carolina for a week. One more vacation before they head upstate to collage. This weekend I took them to my favorite yard sale to pick up the odds and ends they needed. And good thing we did they were having a blow out sale $5.00 a bag. Mr C finally got a TV for his dorm room. Sissy pick up all of the little odds and ends that she needed for her apartment. I picked up some cute Christmas ornaments , books , and a discovery channel planet earth CD ROM for Bear. Needless to say we got 5 bags of stuff lol. When they get home we'll start packing. Buddy and his girlfriend Miss T are going to Florida ( with her parents) on Thursday . They are coming here tomorrow to help us redo Bear's room, yes again lol I have a problem lol lol . We hope to make Bear's room more functional. It's funny to watch the older kids work on his room. They want things to be just so for their little brother.



In the house........ Well besides cooking cleaning and laundry it's pretty much the same : ). The big shop is coming up this weekend. Bear and I have been working on the list. I've been having him write stuff down for me , he really likes it , and hopefully his handwriting will start to improve. I 'm hoping to find more seasonal fruit to dry and or can. I need to make granola and short bread cookies too.



On the crafty front...... I've been crocheting up a Storm. I finished Sissy's blanket , two ponchos, started a poncho for Miss T, finished a hat and started a scarf. Yesterday I started make dish clothes for Sissy . Than I'll start make dish towels. I'm still trying to work out what to make every one for Christmas. I want to make some sort of ornament . I can crochet something or use the pile of wooden spools I have. I'm drawing a blank lol Any one have any ideas or links they want to share???????

Ok I'm done for now : ) Have a great day.

Finally.....

.... a little bit of down time. Things here are moving along at a super fast pace. Brother in law 2 came up with the kids and stayed with us the weekend of Sissy's graduation party . Her party was a blast. Of course I have to pick that weekend to put up 15 pounds of green beans, 12 pints of blue berries and than dry 10 pounds of peaches lol. I met with Vicky and talked about home schooling Bear. I'm going to head over to her place this week and get that ball rolling.

We've been doing some shopping for sale items. Sissy has been picking up stuff she needs for collage. We have been on the look out for stuff we can use for Bear and scored some great stuff. Oh and yard sales finally yipee lol. One of my favorites opened last weekend and we really lucked out. I've been looking for drinking glasses well I found a set of 12 great big heavy glasses for 6 bucks. We really needed steak knives so I started digging in boxes and I see a bunch of silver plated silverware. Sissy laughed and said my eyes got huge lol. So I grabbed all of it I could find along with 12 knifes and 2 sets of tongs. Than as we're getting ready to pay I see a really nice skirt . Sissy grabbed it and went to look for a shirt needless to say we ended up with a ton of clothes lol. Oh and I found 4 small Pyrex bowls, maybe refrigerator dishes, I'm not sure I'll post pictures and maybe some one will know what they are.Of course I grabbed books and the like. I have been trying to keep the buying down to a minimum. This weekend we went back , didn't get much some books, more clothes and a walking with dinosaurs computer game for Bear. Than we headed over to a Church to take a look at their thrift store. We picked up more clothes ( both Sissy and I are covered for clothes for a good long time) and sheets. I'm hoping the our Church will do their sale before Sissy leaves for collage, this way we can finish up the shopping for her new place.
Loads more going on but I'll save that for another post or this one will go on for ever: ). So til next time have a great day!

Craftiness

I've been working like a mad woman on a ton of projects and looks like there is no end in sight lol. Here's some pictures of what I'm working on .

I made 2 of these hat and scarf sets (exactly the same) for 2 special little girl for christmas.

Here are the squares that I made (instead of the grannie squares) for our bed. Now I just have to put the black trim around them than stitch together.

I made this over sized lap blanket for a christmas gift but Bear might get it lol lol. Not sure yet.

Mean while M's mom is cleaning out her storage room so along with the huge pile of yarn she gave me , she also gave me 2 trash bags with her old finished projects. Most of them just need to be tied off and they are ready to go. The rest are sorted and ready for me to work on . Most are baby items that I'm give to friends with well babies lol. Some are hats , scarfs, blankets. She made some really cool bathing suit wraps and bikinis ( anyone want a bikini and wrap??? seriously just let me know). Right now I'm working on a blanket for Sissy. When I started sorting the yarn ( still not done lol ) she found some she really liked and asked me to make her a blankie lol to take to collage with her. She didn't care how I did it so after some trail and error, I came up with " pattern" that she liked. I did start a rag rug but.... the damned thing kept twisting up sewing it together was a nightmare so M's mom gave me a huge crochet hook and a pattern to crochet one. Hopefully I'll get to that before the summer ends. And the list goes on and on. Pictures to come as I finish things. Have you been crafty lately????

Homeschool or not

Hubby and I have been giving some serious thought to homeschooling Bear this coming year. Why ???? Well with budget cuts alot of the programs are being cut. The school police officer is gone . And to tell the truth we don't like the way Bear has been acting. We loved all of his teachers but he's bored. At the beginning of the year the school does a test to see where each kids reading level is. By October they are unable to track him. He scored 20% over the district average in math. He was the only 2nd grader cleared to read the 5th and 6th grade books in the library. We did kinda home schooled him before he stared school. We couldn't find a pre-k school for him so we did it our selves. If thing s go according to plan we'll be moving at some point in the near future ( looks like we're going to move upstate a bit) and I'm not sure on the schools there. I do have some one I can go to for information, Sissy's Boyfriend was home schooled ( he just finished he's 2nd year of collage at 17). I'm going to meet his mom at Sissy's graduation party in a couple of weeks. Even the older kids think it's a good idea. Bear just gives me the " whatever". I guess we'll have to play it by ear uh. Any one have any advice?????
Gotta run and grab the laundry before it rains. Til next time , have a great day.

Weird and wacky weather

I don't know about you guys but the weather here has been screwy. It reminds me of when I was in Hawaii. Raining one minute sunny the next. We've taken to weed whacking instead of mowing because the ground is so wet that pushing the mower is a pain. The poor chickens look like drowned rats after every storm. So of the storms are really heavy. I don't ever remember getting this much rain . Even putting the wash on the line gets tricky. I know it's going to rain just never when . One of us have to be home to get it down if a storm hits. So I've had to use the dryer more in the last month than I used it all last winter. Bear has taken to trying to see whrere the rain is on the radar so he can get some outside play time in.

Ok done with the weather :) Til next time stay dry.

Yard sale haul!!!!

Finally some time to get the pics on here lol lol

Clear oval Pyrex bowl

Hubby wanted a old fashion percolator coffee pot, and of course more glass jars

I needed a pot for canning, I had 1 that was to big and 1 that was too small

A girl can never have too many crock pots,

or crock pot cook books :)

2 more vintage table clothes

A new to me quilt king size yippee I'm really in love with purple now lol

Of course I also picked up books for Hubby and I . Bear got a ton of dinosaurs, boxing gloves, books, a viking hat, and more stuff that I just can't remember it all. It was great day. One of my favorite sales is coming up on July 11th. Hopefully our Church will be around that time too. Til next time , have a great day.

I'm still here!!!

Just been super busy . We still don't know whats up with Sissy. Looks like more trips to the Dr's for us. I did get Bear to the Dr's and he had fifth disease Yikes. The fever did break and once he got the rash he was cleared to go back to school. My birthday came ( last Wednesday) and went lol. I've found that 39 isn't any different than 29 lol. And of course I ended up at the Dr's myself ( on my birthday lol) double ear infection and as the Dr put it a massive sinus infection with impacted sinuses . Yippee lol lol. But the day was good I was happy Hubby and the kids where here so we had a BBQ. Friday was Bear's last day of school now I have all of my kiddies back. I'm working on how to keep Bear busy lol . I did the shopping early so I don't have to deal with the summer crowds. The next trip will be at 7 am in and out lol. Sissy graduated yesterday. Hubby and I are so proud. We had some family come up to watch the ceremony. The rest will be up for her party in a couple of weeks.
Things are moving along here. We are getting ready to cull the Cornish rocks in the next couple of weeks. One of the ducks hurt it's foot so we've been keeping an eye on him. The little chickens are growing fast and are super funny. One of the Millie roosters likes to jump up on our legs and climb up to our shoulders and just hang out . I finishes the curtains for Bear's room and crocheted 2 hat and scarf sets to give as Christmas gifts. M's mom gave me a ton of yarn I mean a ton the pile is about 6 feet long, 5 feet wide and 5 feet high lol . I have to get that mess sorted out. We're working on the decorating here. I picked up a bard nailer so now we can get the wood up in the kitchen. All of the paint colors are picked for the living room. Now I just have to get the paint. Still have to pick paint for the rest of the rooms but one thing at a time right. Hopefully now that all of the craziness is done for now I can get back on track because the other house needs to be done and to tell the truth I don't look forward to getting in there. But hopefully when I get in there things will move along fast.

Ok I'm off for now . Til next time have a great day.

And so it goes.

Busy as usual ! Sissy is doing better but I think she went back to work to soon. She has another Dr's appointment today. The Dr had her appendix tested to find out exactly what happened. He might want to test her for crones disease. Hopefully today we'll get some answers. The big kids are done with school and now it's time to get ready for Sissy's graduation. Bear is sick . He started a fever on Sunday and is complaining his head hurts, sounds like a sinus infection to me. I'm going to call the Dr this morning and hopefully get him in. He's not happy lol lol . His school field day is this week but I'm not sure if he's going to be able to go.He's laying on the couch looking terrible poor kid.

I'm ...well buried in stuff lol. My to do list is huge but we're knocking some stuff out. After we put in the booth it kinda started the ball rolling on other home improvement projects. I have to paint some parts of the booth , than make curtains to skirt the bottom to cover the base. I all of the stuff together to make new curtains for Bear's room, and to make the curtains for the shelves in the living room. Now if I can just find the time. We also cut all of the wood to put up in the kitchen. Than staining the cabinets. Of course if we're going that far we might as well paint too lol. Mean while the first set of chicks and the ducks are growing like weeds. Looks like we'll be processing the chickens soon . The ducks have a while to go. The little chicks are doing great , they are the friendliest chickens ever.Yes I have to post pics hopefully in the next couple of days. There are a couple of yard sales this weekend I'm hoping to hit .We'll see how things go.

So those are the happenings at the old homestead. I'm off to get some housework done. Til next time have a great day.

Getting it together

Sort of lol. Things here are getting back to whats considered normal for here. Sissy's back to school today now it's crunch time and she has to get all of her finals done. She's sweating it a bit but I'm sure things will work out.Bear went on his field trip yesterday. The big kids are out of school next week. Bear's last day is the 25th . We are all looking forward to summer break. I got my new washer and dryer on Tuesday. Yipeee I'm so happy yes I know I'm weird lol . The wash is all caught up and I can breath a bit easier. I'm still working on the rest of the house. I made room in the living room for another surprise..... a diner booth. C is doing a diner redo and asked Hubby if we wanted a booth . Now we have a place to eat and to play. I need to make some curtains to use as a skirt. I'll post pics soon. While I'm at it I'm going to make new curtains for Bear's room and to cover the open shelves we have in the living room.I was able to finish the blanket for J's daughter and I started a hat for Hubby. Ton's more to do so I guess I'd better get to it. Til next time have a great day.

One of those days.

You ever have one of those days that lasts for 2 weeks????? That's whats been happening around here. First poor Sissy has been sick for over a month. After a load of doctors ( don't get me started on those morons) we took her to the ER and after much yelling we found a doctor that figured out what was wrong. It was her appendix. So out it came, the doctor is awesome and is taking really good care of her. She's doing really good but no school or work indefinitely. Needless to say she happy that someone finally figured out what was wrong but she wants to go to school and work :) Than lol the washer starts acting up. So Hubby pulls it apart cleans everything, greases what needs to be greased , puts it back together and thing are good . HA it crapped out yesterday in a big poof of smoke. Today Hubby went to find another one at Sears. Low and behold all of the models they had in stock and on the floor were recalled. Can't sell us one of those no siree ok so he orders one, that we can pick up on Tuesday. Mean while I'm home cleaning out the bathroom lol lol thinking that he'll be home with it hahahahaha. Add to all of this chaos our monthly shopping, a trip to Sam's club, the normal everyday stuff, moving the living room again ( that's a whole other post) and our female parakeet did a Houdini got out of her cage and fly out the back door. Than I get a call from the post office the chickens we ordered are there waiting :0.
Ok I'm done now lol . Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. All in all I grateful for all that we have the good the bad and the down right ugly lol. I'm off of here for now. Be back soon with a bunch pics and good stuff. You guys have a great day. Til next time.

Hey there....

Things have been as the kids put it "Mad Busy" around here. Where to begin????? Well the kids and their father had a huge falling out. My ex and his wife that is. And to make a long story short. The kids have been here more than there. Because our place is so small and both kids are teenagers, so Hubby and I gave them an apartment in the other house. Hubby had to do some retro fitting but he was able to set the place up so they heat and hot water with out us having to open the whole house. Than the fun started . Thank God we save everything. We were able to set up the whole place. Yes lol we had enough stuff to put together a 2 bedroom apartment lol and than some. Hell they even got to pick and choose lol lol . PACK RATS RULE LOL. This works out well for Sissy who is leaving for collage in August. She gets a head start on living on her own. Granted they are right next store :) and they drop off the laundry lol but it's a start. Lets see what else????? Sissy went to Boston on her Senior trip. Memorial day weekend was great . Nothing like a 4 day weekend. We played , hung out and of course worked around here.I went to hang out with my friend J. C and Hubby culled more roosters. Hubby finally got his retaining wall done down by the creek. Bear and I went a couple of towns over and went yard saling with my friend D (J's mom). Hubby took the training wheels off of Bear's bike and Bear was off lol . Hubby thought he was going to be chasing the boy up and down the road.Nope Bear hopped on and was good to go. Buddy spent his time between here and work. I made more jam, strawberry rhubarb this time.Than of course there is my ever growing pile of projects.
So with that I'm off for now. I have a ton of pictures to download and post. Til next time have a great day.

For the birds.

I'm in the kitchen doing some prep for dinner and the 6 birds start freaking out . So I run over and look everyone looks .... alrighty than.The bird are a bit weird at times. Go back to dinner and they start again, UGH now they aren't settling down so I start looking around and what do I see???????



This birdy sitting on the tree right outside the back windows.

Than it flies to the deck, back to the tree than back to the deck lol.

The whole time the bird were acting like some thing was going to eat them. Bird brains :)

What happens when you pick up stuff

I end up coming home with stuff like this.

They were running a clearance on ducks we only wanted 6 but I couldn't just leave the 7 th one there all by it's self. So 7 ducks lol. The top picture is their first time in the water. The picture below is just a longer shot of the pond if you look close you see the little quakers.

Than well........ they offered my Cornish rock chicks for a dollar each. Now these are heading for the freezer in a couple of months. They can grow to weigh 20 pounds a piece .Did I need to get 20 well.... no not really but they were a dollar lol lol lol

When we got them home

All settled in their new digs :)

No I didn't buy a rooster this is Casanova, my boy friend, the top man in charge, the king of the coup. If Hubby and I are down by the coup and Hubby move toward me Casanova lets him know that I'm off limits :0. He is a good hubby to the girls so he's a keeper.

And last but not least....Black and white poke a dotted mama. We got her with the rest of the convicts lol. She is so wild that we can't catch her. I'm lucky I was able to get this picture :)

She had a nest some where and now she has 8 tiny chicks . The chicks looked like little mice lol.

Now I'm off to go check on the babies. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!

And another week flies by.

And this is the first time I've been able to sit and post. How was every ones Mama's Day???? I had a great day. Bear gave me a grass plant, a cup with dirt and seeds ( so we can grow the flowers together) and a cute little book to write my favorite memories of him . So sweet. The big kid gave me a huge bag of bagels ummmmm.Than we spent the rest of the day hanging out.
The rest of the week went by in a blur. I finished crocheting that lap blanket and tossed it in the box with the rest of the Christmas stuff I've made. I got a good start on a birthday gift for my friends almost 2 year old. And I started another crocheted blanket this time for us. I was going to make a granny square blanket but to tell you the truth I just don't have the patience to mess with it lol . So instead I decided to make regular old squares. I have a bunch of single skeins of yarn , all multi colored, that I want to use . So I dug them out and got started. I'm going to post pictures over the weekend . Than just the normal stuff , housework , laundry, cooking , driving kids to school see normal. Running around to pick up some things lol you'll see what kind of things next post. I did get to make strawberry jam. It came out great. The gang loves it so looks like there will be more jam making in my future. Now if I could just get the rhubarb harvested.
So that's been our week here at the old homestead. I'm off to crochet :) Til next time have a great day.

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep thank god it's Friday ... what a week . Nothing bad just a long long week . Hubby went up state to an auction to get Sissy a car on Tuesday than they had to go up again on Wednesday to pick it up. Thursday it had to go to the shop thankfully they got it done fast and we picked it up later that afternoon. And she was off lol lol . It's nice that she has her own car now lol she can drive Buddy around. Today I had to run into town and pick up some stuff. Found 5 pounds containers of strawberries for $5.00 yippee lol. You know I had to grab 2 .Looks like I'm making some strawberry jam this weekend. I picked up some books lol lol . Grabbed so other odds and ends and ran home. We started looking for land we don't know if we'll go to PA or move farther upstate . Hubby can't make up his mind lol lol . We're looking for a really big piece of property. A house isn't really an issue. If one is there fine if not that's OK too. .And I'm tired:)
So I'm off .Til next time have a great day.

I must have a.......

sign at the bottom of the driveway ( that I can't see) that says "Mama's chicken rescue" .Why you ask .....well I'll show you.....


Can you see the 5 chicks ????? C's daughter was give 6 chicks for Easter and well let's just say one met with an untimely death and C's wife gave them to us . Thankfully we had cleaned out the old dog crate to get ready for the chicks we just ordered. They're still a bit small to put in with the older chickens. I do love all of the chickens lol lol but yikes . So I'm chicken mama yet again . Wait until the other ones get here than I'll really be chicken crazy.

I'm off for now lots more to come soon . Til next time have a great day.

Saving

A bunch of us sat around talking about the way things are going with the economy. When one of the girls asked why I didn't post my ideas. To be honest I really never thought about it. Some stuff is posted just in the normal course of my daily life . Other things are so ingrained that I really don't think about it . Over the years I've tried tons of different things some worked some didn't. I've had people look at me like I was nuts but oh well lol.I'm a firm believer in the saying "to each their own". So here are some of the things we do to save money.


I save small bills and at the end of the month I put half in savings. Than I split the other half between Christmas and yard sales envelopes. You all know that I do try to thrift or make all of our gifts. We also save all of our loose change roll it in the fall and use it to finish our Christmas shopping. If there is any money left( which happens more often than not) we put it into savings.


At the beginning of the month we but a pretty big amount in savings envelope. Unless there is a huge emergency we don't touch it. When the next month rolls around it goes into savings. This money is a combo of savings and/ or emergency fund. Because we don't have credit cards, we use this money for stuff like car repairs or replacing the fridge.

People always offer us free stuff all the time and we take it lol . If we can't use it we always find some one who can. The only problem with that is having the space to store it until it can be used. I can't tell you how much money we've saved. But I can tell you that just about everything in our house was given to us one way or another.

Our electric bill runs us about $50 a month ( last month it was $48) People tell us that's good considering that there is always some one home. Some of the electronics we have we don't always use. The stereo , the DVD player, PlayStation, or the surround sound unit aren't used every day. So we went around and put all of the "Energy Vampires "on surge protectors. We have a ton of surge protectors lol. This way nothing is left on " standby" We even put one on the computer so when we're done we can shut down everything including the printer and modem.

When I food shop I go to 3 stores plus the farmers market. I know the prices of just about everything we buy. In recent months I've have been thrown off because the cost of food continues rise so I will wait if I'm not sure .I keep at least 3 months of supplies in the house at all times. I also rotate all of our extras putting the new stuff in the back while moving the older stuff up to be used next. All of our clothes are either used or bought at a deep discount. The big kids buy most of their clothes but Bear out grows his stuff so fast that it makes more sense to spend less. Bear has play clothes and school clothes. When the school stuff gets to worn or stained we flip them to play than when they get to small I save them to craft with.

OK now that I've bored everyone to tears lol I'm gonna stop here . I'll just put this question out there..... What do you guys do to save money??????? With that I'm off to get some house work done. Til next time have a great day.

AWOL again :)

Spring has sprung and things have been busy here at the old homestead.The flowers are up and the herbs have sprung out of the ground with a vengeance. The weather has been beautiful . We went from 40 to 80. I thought there was another jail break when I couldn't find Sweetie ( one of the little hens) one morning. Hubby went down to take a look and found her in the crate curled up in a cute little ball. I'm to short to see in without standing on a rock to see her lol .When she got up to eat Hubby saw 10 little eggs. Maybe just maybe we'll see some chicks soon. The spring cleaning has started ( can you hera the family graoning lol ). Most of Bear's clothes have been switched out. Our clothes are next. Than it's on to the curtains. The fan's have been dragged out of storage. Cobwebs have been cleared and with the windows open the house smells fresh and clean. Good bye to winter. I've been working on the other house a couple of hours a day. Trying to get it ready to put on the market.

I'm having croquet withdrawals :) . My arm is a lot better . Soon I'll be swimming in yarn lol lol . I've got big crafty plans. I've been buying quilt squares. All I'll need is the fabric for the backing than hopefully I can start on that . I want to make rag rugs. We've been saving all of our old clothes forever lol and I swear I keep finding more. So looks like I'll be cutting and sewing some rugs . I still have a ton of stuff to paint up. I guess I better get hopping.

So that's it for now. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got us some more......

chickens. I went looking for the chickens that hubby wanted last week . After much searching I ended up on the web. After some more searching I found Cackle Hatchery. Looky what we have on order

Some Golden Laced Wyandotte's

Some Golden Seabright Bantam's

Some Mille Fluer Duccle's

And some Silver Duckwing's

The Mille Fluers and the Silver Duckwings are to replace the ones we lost. Hubby was so happy when I found them. The other ones ......well they're just cooling looking lol . Everyone thinks we're crazy lol. Last year when we got the Mille's and the Silver Duckwings we had people ask if they could buy them. Now Hubby wasn't going to give up his babies but we where hoping to breed them than sell the babies. Since that evil animal got them we have to start over. Oh well I guess them's the breaks right.

That's it for now . Til next time have a great day.

Well....... damn

Yeah damn .... you never guess what I did. Are you ready?????? I fractured my left fore arm :0
How did I do that you ask ????? I have no idea. I moved around Bear's room on Monday that night my arm was bothering me I just figured I pulled something. Tuesday more of the same but now there was a huge bruise. By Wednesday it was swollen, so off to the Dr's one xray later yep a small hair line fracture. UGH!!!!!!! I didn't get a cast thank god. Just a ace bandage, a splint and a sling . I feel like an idiot. Hubby just looked at me and said " How on earth did you do that and not feel it" . Just lucky I guess lol.

Easter was good we did the normal, eating until we couldn't move, the kids just hanging out and eat more candy then is humanly possible. Than we all passed out lol lol. The last couple of days have been quiet. I can't do much with this arm ( typing one hand truly stinks) so I'm just hanging out . Thankfully everyone has been helping out so things are rolling along. Ok I'm gonna get off of here much more to come. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!

Wishing.....

All of you a wonderful and joyous Easter.

Whew!!!!!

Time sure does fly lol . Well spring break started here on Monday . The big kids are in Florida with their dad and step mom . Us ........well we've just been hanging out. M finished moving back to take care of his mom. He had a full house of stuff but couldn't take it all sooooo lol Bear ended up with not only the computer desk but a dresser, wall unit and a set of metal cube shelves . We spent Monday re-doing his room . Of course he was all excited to get big kid stuff lol lol. What a job but it was worth every ache and pain. Now all of his books are in one spot and everything was sorted and re organized. Yippee!!!!!!!!! One room down and 3 more to go. Hopefully I'll be able to get to them in the next week or so.I haven't been able to get to the other house yet. The weather is just so weird it's still really cold in there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it warms up soon so I can get in there and get it started.
I've been getting ready for Easter. We have all of the goodies for Bear and the kids. I just have to pick up some odds and ends for Easter dinner and we're set. I still have to stuff the eggs but Bear can smell goodies a mile away lol so I'll wait until the last minute :) Tomorrow I have to run out to grab some stuff. Hubby wants to replace the 2 little chickens that we lost to an animal. They were his babies and he took it really hard. We also want some turkeys. I'm figuring 2 for us and a couple of extras for family and friends. Hubby is talking about getting some ducks for the pond . Our neighbors are going to freak lol lol since C just picked up ducks too lol. I guess it's not as weird as the goats and pigs we had last year right ?????Than stop and grab the rest of the fixings for Easter dinner.
Not much crafting going on here. I am working on a lap blanket for a Christmas present but that's it. M's mom sent over a big bag of eye lash yarn ( insert evil laugh here) I'm trying to figure out what I can make with it. Hopefully I can get some other stuff done in the coming weeks with pics of course. I found some really cute doll patterns that I can't wait to tackle. And lol I really want to make a quilt for our room. Do I know how to make a quilt?????? Nope but I'm hoping to figure it out. I've had a queen size batting( bought on sale of course lol ) in storage for a year I guess it's time to get my act together.Internet here I come lol.I try to remember to take pictures as I find my way around quilt making.

So that's about it for now. Til next time have a great day.

And the beat goes on

The last couple of weeks have been crazier than normal. I went shopping and we all know how much I love that. We really didn't need to much with the huge amount of stuff we picked up last month, and I still spent $200.00 :0. Yikes time to tighten the belt again I guess. Monday I did alot of running around. I went to see a friend , than stopped to pick up chicken feed, off to Walmart to pick up books( and got offered a job lol ), a stop at the farmers market to pick up pears, than home for an hour. Into the truck pick up Sissy help her move the rest of her stuff to the new place ( my ex gave us a small chest freezer so I grabbed that too), sent her off to the Dr's, helped the ex put her stuff away ( and I didn't kill him lol lol ) rolled into the driveway in time to get Bear. Needless to say I was wiped and wanted a nap.
Yesterday I did a lot of housework. So many little things that always need to be done. The weather was beautiful, so 2 loads of wash went on the line. I opened all the windows and aired out the house. I puttered and poked lol and got a lot done. This morning I have to change sheets, put a foam pad on Bear's bed, do 1 load of laundry, vacuum and clean the bathroom. Than I'm off for my weekly Wednesday visit with my bff ( Hubby calls it hen's day out lol yeah I beat him lol lol ). Thank God for my crockpot dinner is cooking away.

Well that's it for now, I need to get my butt in gear :) . Til next time , have a great day.

Chicken madness

The chickens .... well last summer C found a bunch of chickens where he was working. Of course we took them lol . From what we can tell they are some small breed of bantams. Now all of this time we've let them have free run in the yard . Until last week. I was heading out to pickup Sissy when I get to the end of the drive way and what do I see??????? 1 of the roosters with all 4 of the little hens crossing the main road :0. We get home and tell Hubby. So Hubby decides it's time to coup them. As he's adding their coup to the side of the main coup we got to listen to the car horns has they ran back and forth cross the road. OK coups done . Hubby waits until they all head in to roost and grab them ( these chickens can fly like peasants lol )and get them in their new home. So all's well right????? WRONG lol. The next morning I head down to free the chickens and the little buggers worked open the wire and escaped. Ok I tried to grab them ha ha ha than went to get Hubby. I stayed in the house to get Bear ready for school. Watching from the window I see Hubby get them from across the road back into the yard than the fun begins. Chasing them here and there .....cursing ...finally he comes up and let's Miss B out . Still watching Miss B rounds one up and drives it to the gate Hubby grabs it , than I see 3 heading up here so I toss on my crocs and head out to push them back down the hill. Just for the record crocs are not the best thing to wear when you are chasing chickens . So on it goes we chase them around the pond, around the enclosure, across the creek, repeat. A half hour later I think we have them all , Hubby yells 1 left... uh... OK where is the little bugger?????? Why she's under the coup. Okay we can't get in there and of course she's out of reach what to do???????? Send in the dog. I go around back. She gets in and gets behind her and..... she flies past Hubby. ( Insert cursing here) I take off running along the creek to cut her off she sees me and freezes , Hubby grabs her and puts her in . I head back up to the house to a laughing Bear who tells me " To bad I didn't grab the camrea I cound have used the pictures for blackmail" lol lol lol. It's he cute.Meanwhile we're looking to buy a couple of more chickens. Yes the madness never ends lol.
So that's it for now. Til next time have a great day.

Back in the saddle

I'm back !!!!!!! I still have a bit of a cold ( sucker will not give up the ghost lol ) but I'm almost back to my abnormal self ; ) . Everyone else is better . Thanks for all of the well wishes. So things here are moving along. When I was stuck on the couch I made Sissy a shawl. Than a girlfriend had some yarn she was never going to use so she gave it to me. I made her 1 year old a small pocket book. But in my sickness induced fog I forgot to take pics lol. The house is looking better thank god . Spring cleaning will start soon. Much to the family's horror. The big kids are moving again ( don't ask ) so we'll be sorting their stuff ( again horror).The weather here has been strange to say the least. One day it's warm the next it's cold. Last night it was a whole 12 degrees. I can't wait until it makes up it's mind and spring finally gets here. Tomorrow the kids have a day off so we're going to work in the Bear's room. "M" gave Bear his old computer desk. We're going to move it into his room tomorrow and put the desk in there now in storage until the big kids get settled, than it will go to Buddy.Bera is looking forward to the new desk but not the cleaning that he knows will be done lol.Sissy passed her driving test ( God help us all lol ) and Buddy got his permit. Now I can be driven around lol lol lol .
So that's it for now. The kids are off to school and it's time to get some stuff done, hopefully :). More to come . Til next time have a great day.

Sick

We've had a run of sickies here. Bear and Hubby ended up with nasty stomach bug. Bear was feeling better by Tuesday and went to school. Hubby was feeling better the next day . Sissy got sick on Wednesday but went back to school on Thursday. Buddy ... well so far so good. Me ??? I ended up with a head cold that is still hanging on. I was able to get the living room done on Tuesday with some help from "M" but the house is mess. I'm OK with the mess ( I must be sick ) . I'll get to to sooner or later.

Besides all of that things are good. I have a couple of other posts running around in my fogged brain. Along with some craft projects . Hopefully I'll get them straight soon lol ( meds do your thing). With that I'm off. Til next time . Stay well and have a great day.

Another week goes by.

Time sure flys when your having fun lol . Things are moving along here not as fast as I want lol . I just want everything done lol lol . Like now lol . The weather has been really nice the last couple of days. Now I have a bug in my bonnet......I want to re do the living room .... yes again lol. I bet you can see Hubby's eyes rolling lol lol lol. I've been really good. I haven't moved stuff in a while. Maybe spring is in the air... finally. I have it all planned out : ) you know what they say about the best layed plans lol. So I'm gonna start today after I take Buddy to work. Hopefully we'll ( notice I say we lol lol ) get it done pretty quick . We went to Sam's club this week . A friend has a card and asked us to go . We spent more money shopping this month than we normally do , but Hubby reminded me that there are a lot of things that we won't need to buy again until October lol . I've been doing some crafty stuff. I'm hoping to get some pics soon . Look a short post lol lol . More to come soon. Til next time have a great day.

A short one kinda lol

Hey there. Well things have settled down here a bit. We ended up having trouble with the furnace last Friday. Thankfully Hubby was able to fix it and we're back in business. The rest of the week has been pretty normal. Hubby and I went shopping on Wednesday. Now Hubby doesn't normally go shopping cause he hates it as much as I do, but he offered to go so why not. The kids were too funny Sissy and Buddy were saying prayers for him lol . As Bear was getting on the bus he made to sign of the cross over his Daddy and said God bless you lol lol . Now I'm not that bad.... OK maybe I am : ). I do move really fast when I go shopping . Maybe because I don't want to be there lol . I'm happy to report Hubby lived and made it home without any serious injury's. It was nice to have help loading the stuff in the van. I do like the once a month shopping thing but it can take forever to get everything put away.
This weekend is more of the same lol lol . I have cookies to make, more french toast sticks for the kids . I really need to get a handle on the house. With every thing that been going on here and the fact that for some reason I've been really tired things have slipped. Crafty well not to much over the last week but I did find some crochet video's yipee lol lol . Now I can learn some new stitches . That's about it from here for now. I'm off to walk the dog and let out the chickens. Til next time have a great day.

Crap

Ok first a bit of back round. Both Hubby and Bear sleep walk. Now Bear isn't to bad cause I can pick him up ( for now any way) and drop him in bed. But Hubby on the other hand well he's 6 ft ... I'm 5 ft 4 hahahaha so I have to be more creative lol. Needless to say I'm a light sleeper .On to Tuesday night . We went to bed around 9. Bear started about an hour later. After we chased him around I decided to just sleep in his room. OK so I settle him down toss my arm over him ( to keep him from getting away from me lol ) start to fall asleep and hear a click. UH??????WHAT????growl , hiss . OK drag my tired butt out of bed figuring that Hubby was wandering around ( still growling and hissing) walk into the living room and ..... nothing ...uh ??????? Check our room there he is snoring away. OKAY maybe I'm losing it ( God knows I'm friggen loony tunes lol ), Bear is talking, off to he's room get him settled, start to fall asleep and CLICK. WTF!?!? *Drag myself out of bed.... click. Search the house don't see anything go back to bed. CLICK. Repeat *. I don't know how many times I wandered around the house cursing and looking for what was clicking but at some point I passed out. Morning rolls around , Bear gets up and turns on the coffee pot lol mommy needs coffee. I roll out of bed grab a cup of coffee and toss a waffle in the toaster for Bear. UMMMM the waffle is a little soft fridge must be on self defrost. CLICK!!!!!! What????? CLICK!!!!!! Damn it !!!!!! Drag out the fridge ummm. CLICK!!!!! Hubby and I stand there CLICK!!!!! Bet you see where this is going. I open the freezer and .....damn things are defrosting. Shit.... Hubby and I grab the laundry basket and start moving stuff to the other freezer. Fridge is warm shit shit shit . Grab some milk crates toss the stuff in and pile them in the snow. (Bang bang bang the sound of me banging my head on the wall) Hubby works on it for a while but it's dieing slowly . Now I'm pissed off and over tired, Hubby is waiting for my head to explode , thank god he doesn't try to make me feel better lol he hopes for the best and waits until it passes. Do we buy a used one or new umm????? It was a hard call for us ,we really want to get out of here this year, to buy a new one but Hubby found one and got a great deal . So we spent all day yesterday cleaning and organizing the kitchen. We had to move the microwave, it used to be on top of the fridge but the new one is to high, so we ended up with it on the counter. How we have to remember where the microwave is lol lol . But we made it lol .

Now I'm off to start dinner : ) Til next time have a great day.

Hello there

First some pics....


New heating pad covers
Bear's Harry Potter robe

HAHAHA Franken robe

MIL's cape

Cape for MIL's bingo buddy lol

Some Christmas ornaments 10 cents a piece for some projects I have planned

Some wired Christmas ribbon cheap lol

Super cheap Christmas fabric

Things are moving along here at the old homestead. It's been another one of those long weeks. We did some shopping . Picked up a couple t shirts and sweats for Bear. Sissy grabbed 2 more shirts for work. Gotta love the clearance racks : ). Buddy had all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled so he was home most of the week only going to school to take tests. " C" took Miss B to the breeder to well lol breed lol. We got her back yesterday guess we'll see. Today we're going to start getting the canary's ready for breeding. No parakeets this year. Dalila died so we would have to buy another bird. I don't see that happening but you never can tell. Everyone has been enjoying the warmer weather, including the chickens. Looks like a have a couple of rooster boyfriends lol lol . When I go down to let them out 3 of the roosters ( including my first rooster boyfriend Casanova lol ) meet me and do the rooster dance of love lol lol lol . So looks like spring is in the air. But Hubby just told me that it looks like we're in for another weird storm. You know the kind , might be rain , maybe snow , how about some ice just to make things interesting. So looks like I'll spend sometime today getting ready just in case.

I did get most of the stuff done last weekend as you can see by the pic's. Still more to do but at least I'm putting a bent in it . The kids are on vacation this week so it's a perfect time to really get into the other house and get that moving. It's funny how things just pile up. So I'll do the old half hour at a time bit til it's done. The rest of the week well .... I'll just play it by ear. See what happens.

Ok I'm off . Til next time, stay save and have a great day.

Weekend plans

I'm hoping to get some crafty stuff done this weekend. First I want to do Bears robe. I finally found craft paper so I can make my own pattern. Next I want to make new covers for the heating pads. I have a ton of old towels that I can use. Plus I have a list of other crafts that I want to do but I'll play those by ear. Than the cooking , short bread cookies, 2 loaves of raisin bread, maybe some brownies. Bear wants french toast sticks lol and regular french toast to put in the freezer. Silly boy lol .

I did get the rest of the shopping done or so I thought. I forgot to grab dried cranberries for the granola I made for Hubby. But I did score some clothes for Bear at walmart. All of it was on clearance, two pants and shirt sets and a camo shirt $ 3.00, a pair of camo pants , hulk t-shirt, and 3 pairs of fleece pj pant for $ 5.00. All but the t-shirt and camo pants are getting put away , they are to big. But now I have a jump on school clothes shopping.

Ok that's it for now it's time to get dinner on the table. Til next time have a great weekend.

Chilly

Woke up this morning to see it was a whopping 3 degrees . I really look forward to going to let the chickens out ... not lol . I end up wearing 3 coats, Hubby's balaclava, and a heavy pair of gloves and hope I don't freeze : ). Than it's off to walk the dog..... yep we're dog sitting for "C" while he's working out of town . She's a pointer, super cute and every well behaved . Once the kids are all off to school I can hide in the house until Bear gets home.

So today is house cleaning day lol. I've let things slide a bit so.... I'm starting to feel a bit better now that we replaced the humidifier. Guess the house was to dry. I want to get everything done before the weekend cause we have big plans lol. I got most of the shopping done. Tomorrow I'm going to finish up and hit the 1 and only thrift store in town. They're having a 50% off sale so I figured what the hell. I need a thrift fix.

Tons of cooking happening here. Hubby likes short bread cookies so after some searching I found a really simple cookie recipe that with a bit of tweaking is perfect. I also found a really great raisin bread recipe. Than ( hahaha) I found a crock pot recipe of yogurt. Bear loves yogurt so I figured why not. It is great everyone loves it so no more buying yogurt and no more plastic cups going into the land fill.

Well thats about it I'm off for now . Til next time .

What a week

This last week was just wild. I feel like a headless chicken. First we had some trouble with the van than the truck. We lost a rooster to a fox and a chicken to the cold. The weather has been crazy. I'm sick of the ice and the cold . I do feel ( and pray) for everyone out there who is having major problems due to the wild weather. I have been having so troubles breathing. I have no clue what is going on. Twice now I've swallowed wrong and couldn't catch my breath,tried to do the old nose breathing trick no go . When it happened yesterday Hubby got me out side and that seemed to help. Talk about freaking your self out. I end up shaking and feel wiped out for a while. I guess I'll have to suck it up and go to the doctors at some point uh .

OK I'm done with the doom and gloom lol . I scored a couple of major deals this week. I picked up a ton ( about 20 yards lol ) of Christmas fabric for 50 cents a yard . Than I found twin packs of toothbrushes and toothpaste for 88 cents each. You know I grabbed the limit on both.Than I lucked out. Hubby wanted to make chili so I went to buy chop meat. I found two 5 pound packs( normally $10.00 a pack) that where both marked down $ 4.00 off . The catch was they had to be used by yesterday. No problem lol . We cooked up all of it got a huge pot of chili ( half to eat half went into the freezer) and ended up with 4 more meals bagged and frozen.I'm so happy lol . I even found the fabric for Bear's robe on clearance.

I'm still working on the capes for mil. I had to rip apart the first one three times lol but now I have it lol lol lol . So I'm almost done with #2 . Than I'll ship them to her and see what she thinks. She doesn't need the gift one til the end of the month but I figured if she got the early and wanted something changed I would have time to do it.

Ok I'm off for now . Talk to you soon . Til next time stay warm and safe.

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just found out that Sissy was accepted to Broome Community College. She had her heart set on Broome and we're all very proud of her. She is ready to go lol . Now mom has to deal with the fact that my little girl is off to college.

Same old : )

Well it's been a bit uh ? We're good. But I swear I've been running around like a crazed monkey for the last couple of days . My days seem to run together.

Last weekend was a blast . We spent 3 days just hanging out. Then Monday rolled around and holy cow .... it's been one thing after another. Had to pick up meds and drop off scripes. Took Sissy to the bank to open a checking account. Pick up meds again. Back to the bank lol .Today is the first day that I can hopefully stay in. I'm making progress in our room I think I'll be done by the end of the week. I did a small rearrange in Bear's room Monday. I think his computer is getting to hot ( it's been locking up if it's on to long) I hoping that moving it will fix the problem.


I was talking to my MIL over the weekend and she asked me to crochet her .. well lol not a shawl or a poncho I guess she wants a cape. 1 is a gift for a friend and 1 is for her. She said their arms get cold when they are playing cards hahahahaha oh and at bingo too lol . So I've been working on it since then . I couldn't find any thing on the net that wasn't too lacy . She doesn't want any holes . I'm so confused : ) . After 1 try I think I have it down maybe lol. We'll see soon I guess. I'm going to make another robe for Bear soon ( just waiting til the next time I go shopping)

So as you can see things are the norm here at the old homestead. Craziness still reigns supreme lol. Til next time have a great day.

Wow it's cold. I went down to let out the chickens boy did I get some dirty looks lol lol. They say tomorrow will be colder yet I guess we'll see. Looks like a good time to hunker down in the house around the wood stove and watch movies :) I've been busy working around the house. Once we got the tree down I moved the computer desk and cabinet back in front of the windows . Of course I had to clean the baseboards and tackle the cob webs lol . I started deep cleaning our room, it's coming along. Because I tend to take on to much in one day I've been trying to tackle small jobs. It does keep me from feeling overwhelmed so I guess it's working :) I

Bear asked me to make him a Harry Potter robe. I was a bit shocked but said ok . See Daddy started reading him the books again and now that he's older he's really into it. Than he says can you make a scarlet one and a black one. OK I understood the black one but scarlet????? When I asked him about it he looked at me and said " Duh Mom scarlet is the color of the quidditch robes" Well smack me silly lol lol. Now I'm not very good at sewing but I planned to learn more lol . I guess this as a good as time as any. I can handle the basics but..... needless to say I made a mess out of the red one. It's all pieced together. The Frankenstein robe lol lol lol. Everyone said it looked OK ( but I feed them and they're afraid I'll do something to their food lol) It looks like a robe if you don't look to close. I think now that I have an idea of what to do I'll use franken-robe to make a pattern.I looked up patterns on line and found one that I think I can use to help with the measurements. I'll post pics when I get the new one done ( yes of both lol).

So besides all that things are moving along . I'm going to get off of here I have a meeting at the high school and need to get ready. Hubby won't let me go out in my normal attire lol aka sweats and one of his tee-shirts. So I guess a change of clothes is in order lol. Til next time, stay warm and have a great day.

Goals in 2009

Our biggest goal this year is to move. Yep it's time. We never meant to stay here this long. We always wanted a bigger piece of property . Some where to have more animals, more space to move around , and a little bit bigger house. A garage, some barns or other out buildings. Space for Hubby to have a man cave lol lol lol . I'm really not picky as long as it won't fall down around our ears I'm good lol. This will be my 25th move .... yep 25. I'm really really good at moving , but I want this to be the last time. So that means we need to start packing , sorting , cleaning out the other house. What a chore that is going to be. I can be really brutal when it come to getting rid of stuff ( packing before the last move I filled a dumpster ) much to Hubby's dismay lol . He's more of a pack rat than me , not by much lol but he is :) Our place isn't too bad and most of what we have up here is being used. That means that packing here will be easy lol .

Other goals ....

Save more money (redo our budget)

Live as green as possible.

Cook , can and bake more. ( use the crock pot more)

Learn to do new things.

Organize.

Make and stick to a schedule ( kinda lol ).

Deep clean each room every month.

Craft alot more.

Make or thrift all of our gifts again this year.

I'm not sure how these are going to play out. I'm still working out the kinks . The other house is the biggest of the lot but I have to make sure that we find a good balance so we don't fall behind with the everyday stuff. Hopefully writing about it here will keep me on track, I'll be able to keep track of how I'm doing. I'll more than likely post about my progress weekly. I'm sure I'll need a kick in the butt every now and than :)

So that's all of them. I guess the our word for this year is Progress. And with that I'm off to make some progress ;). Til next time, have a great day.

Sick again .

I swear I just got over a cold. Wednesday I started feeling a little stuffy , I chalked it up to dry air in the house . By that afternoon my right ear was killing me . Like some one shoved an ice pick in my ear . OK not cool , had Hubby put ear drops in, took drugs, used the heating pad, added water to the pot on the wood stove, ran the humidifier. I still feel like crap. I think my problem is that I'm just to thick skulled to just lay down and rest, needless to say I feel like a limp dish rag and I'd better chill out today before Hubby ties me to the bed lol. Any way the storm came , school was closed, the storm went lol and now looks like another one is a comin lol . It looks like just snow which we can handle. Might be a good thing lol I'll have to sit still for a couple of days.
Ok I'm getting the evil eye from Hubby lol lol lol . Time to hit the couch and be a good girl hahahaha.You guys have a great day Til next time.