Vote!

Happy election day everybody!

I hope you will take the opportunity to vote today (if you haven't already).

I hope you will choose to vote for candidates who believe babies are people & not punishment and as such have right to life.

I hope you will vote for candidates who salute & honor our flag as the symbol of our country & all who have fought & died for our right to freedom.

I hope you will vote for candidates who believe this is still a Christian country, founded on Christian beliefs, where people have the right to work hard & make something for them selves & their families without having to "share the wealth"

I hope you will vote for candidates who want our country to remain great.

I hope you will vote for candidates who believe in our continued support of Israel

"I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;" Gen 12:3

Blessings.

A great idea

My husband had a fabulous idea.

We live in a small house which has some unique challenges. Over the last 4 years we have discussed different things we could do to improve the house & give us more space. Our kitchen is a nice size, with lots of cupboards but it is kind of weird. It is almost 2 seperate rooms. The stove, fridge, and sink are on one side and then there is a wall of cabinets  & there is another "room" with the dishwasher, another sink & more cupboards.

My husbands great idea is to enclose the second "room' & make it into a walk-in pantry. I think that is such a great idea! We would take out the second sink & dishwasher & that would give us room to have the washer& dryer in the pantry as well. Currently my washer & dryer are in the mudroom which is tiny, dirty, crowded & freezes. Not  a good place for them. So the thought of having them inside is exciting. (yes, I find pantries & inside washers exciting )

We would tear out some existing cabinets & put up wall to wall shelves. We would have to block off  1 doorway to the living room & build a small wall with a door on the kitchen side to make the pantry. We would have room for all the canned goods & buckets of rice & wheat inside. We could shift everything else around & I think it would make the kitchen much less crowded.

We also hope to remodel the rest of the kitchen soon. We need a new floor (hoping for wood laminate) & we need to replace the countertops. I also want a new sink--a really big deep farm sink. We want to move the counter down a few inches to make room for a side-by-side fridge.

Our house was built in the 20's or 30's but has no period details. It was remodeled in the late 60's  so our first year here I tore down hideous wall paper & painted & removed carpet. Now we want to do some bigger things & bring some 'charm' back. We plan on using a 1930's theme in our over all remodel.

We probably won't get it done for a few years but we have a plan .  We (still) have to finish our new roof & then I am hoping we can start on the new pantry & actually get that part done this winter. But we shall see....   It's still a fabulous idea .

Blessings.

Caving II

Our oldest came up for a few days this week. Yesterday, while Dad was working, Mom  loaded everybody up & we went to the caves. We did 3 new caves & one old stand-by. Yes, that's alot of caves. Especially when you are 7 months pregnant .

Everybody had fun tho, so it was worth it.

Oneof the new caves had the coolest skylights

Aren't those awesome?

Here we are after finishing the first cave

Biggest brother & littlest brother

Crawling thru the last cave of the day

We decided one of the caves would be more accurrately named "Bat Crap Cave"

A good time was had by all.

Blessings.

Boys & Their Dogs

Where there's a well...

Our well pump died on Tuesday .

So we spent all day Tuesday pulling it. 100 feet straight up. Pumps weigh a lot. We got it pulled & made a trip to town for parts just before dark. My husband hooked  up 'redneck plumbing' for that night. We have a seperate irrigation well at the barn so he hooked up a hose to that, dragged it up to the house & stuck it in the bathroom window. We used that to flush the toilet & fill the tub. Redneck plumbing makes for a very messy bathroom.

Wednesday we got to install the new pump. Much simpler & quicker than raising the old one but still took all day. And one more trip to town for 100 ft of new electrical wire. We finished again just before dark.

Water is a fabulous thing. As soon as the water was running I washed the dishes, did 2 loads of laundry and scrubbed the tub, toilet and sink. I felt much better .

Today we were actually able to return to our normal lives. School, chores, baking bread, making butter & ice cream (we have LOTS of cream right now).

Never underestimate the power of running water available at the twist of a faucet.

Blessings.

God's Bounty

My garden bit the big one this year, so I had practically NO veggies to put up. I did get some zucchini "gifted" to me that we froze & there is one row of carrots waiting to be pulled & frozen. But our fruit has been abundant. As a matter of fact I am so sick of canning right now it's not even funny .

Today I put up apple butter & pears.

My feet hurt just looking at the jars.

So far our provisions include:

20 qts applesauce

3qts apple butter

11 pts apple butter

8 1/2pts apple butter

11 qts pears

11 pts plum jam

6 1/2pts plum jam

7 pts apricot jam

2 pts blackberry jam

3 1/2pts blackberry jam

9 qts apple pie filling

4 qts dried apples

3 gal bags dried apples

We still have lots & lots of apples so I think we will keep on drying & freezing pie filling.

The kids have been working right along side of me & they have been such a help. And hopefully, when they have families of their own, they will be able to pass on this knowledge. I learned it the hard way. Trial & error, totally on my own. And there wasn't even internet to turn to then!

I am tired & my feet hurt, but I am so thankful to the Lord for giving us this bounty. In a few months when there is snow on the ground & we can open a jar of summer fresh fruit to enjoy it will be totally worth it.

Blessings.

Birthday Nightie

For her birthday, my oldest son bought his little sister and her doll matching nighties.

How cute is that? Here they are posed in their rocking chairs

As soon as they arrived in the mail, my daughter had to put them on. And we had to do her hair in the matching braids. She even tried to con me into cutting her bangs so they would be total twins.

She's a happy girl.

Blessings.