Missing....not...I am just in action

My poor neglected pitiful blog! Ohh how I miss you so. Maybe one day there will be a moment that I can care for you and treat you as an owner should. Until then, I will be up to my eyeballs with laundry and general home clean up and food fixin', ohhh and watching the most adorable and plainly the most perfect children (ROFL), homeschooling those adorable children, working for the best boss EVER while teaching her obviously perfect children as well because cumon' we are related ya know! I am also looking into trying to get a part time job on the weekends as well. I go back and forth between making sour lemondade and sweet lemonade out of our situation. This weeks status is: make SWEET lemonade. I tend to be very moody so don't hold me to it. This happy go lucky blog post could self destruct in 5-4-3-2-............................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Until we meet again, hope all is well with you. When I have a few more hours in the day I plan on uploading some great photos of all the fun things we have been doing. I should even take a picture of myself cleaning. I am sure the mental image is quite embedded into my children's memory bank while trying to sell our house. Ohh well. Sweet Lemonade thought............. " Cleanliness is next to Godliness" Ooo that sounds terrible really. I guess I am not close to God a good portion of the time. But I eventually get there for a brief moment. Then I just sit and watch until I go back to step one again for the 1 millionth time of the day. It is the fact that I get there right. That is what's important.....right. RIGHT!! Lie to me ya'll. But the MOST important thing that I do is be with my family. That trumps it all!

Well, with all this rambling I could have made a good post on our whereabouts and such. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe.............................. don't hold your breath though because you just may pass out!

CYA!

If You Think You Can, You Can! (Yes I am a copy cat and I am proud of it!)

Yes, I am STRAIGHT up pulling a TOTAL copy cat!

The last thing that is actually blog worthy to post is about the harvest of our garden and learning even more about canning.

It is late and I am not feeling creative. What I really want to do is just document the SUCCESS we had with our garden and that we learned how to can.

So without even more aimless and stupid rambling, here is the EXACT post that my sister posted on her blog about our canning adventures! Enjoy!!

If You Think You Can, You Can!
by A.F

My sister and I decided that we wanted to can most of what we grew in our garden. Both of us had watched our mom can, but had never really canned ourselves. (Well, that's not exactly true. My sister did a little water bath canning last year, but neither of us had pressure canned before.) So when our mom was out here last May, we asked our mom to buy us canning supplies for early birthday presents. (My birthday is in August, and my sister's is in September.) So she did.

Here is our lovely new pressure canner.

And then we grew stuff - tomatoes and green beans mostly. We had decided to plant roma tomatoes so that we could do tomato sauce. Well, as you might recall, our tomato situation was mixed. We planted one row of 12 plants in May, but we didn't have many cages, so we lost quite a bit to rot from being on the ground. But we still harvested about 500 tomatoes. In late June, we planted another 10 tomato plants. And then we proceeded to have the coolest summer ever. So we have only harvested a few tomatoes off the second batch, and who knows how many we will get before the frost. We used this squeeze/de-seed/de-skin contraption (It is a Back To Basics Food Strainer. It is AWESOME!) and put them in gallon bags, and then we stored them in our awesome friends' freezer. (Thanks Joy!)

We ended up with about 16 bags of tomato stuff, but it wasn't sauce yet. Because you have to boil the tomatoes and reduce them by 1/2 before canning it. It was a little disheartening to see half of our hard work just evaporating away . . . .

After boiling it down, we put it in quart jars and then put it in the pressure canner. We thought it would be complicated, but it really was easy to use. Each of us ended up with 6 jars. We may end up with a few more if the second batch of tomatoes ever turns red.

Some of our tomato sauce before we put it in the pressure canner

Then the green beans. We planted the beans early on, like back in the middle/end of May. Along with Peas. And they never really grew. So we tilled again, and tried the beans again. The second batch of green beans grew much better. I don't know how many green beans we've picked. We did a hot pack of the green beans, and then pressure canned them for 25 minutes. We have canned 14 jars (7 jars each) green and should have at least 6 more. So each of us will end up with 10 quarts.

Our green beans

It doesn't sound like we harvested much, and part of that is the boiling down that you have to do for tomato sauce, and part of it is that we are dividing the jars between our two families.

But the important thing about this year is not how much we are canning. It is that we are learning how to can.

Homeschooling Adventures and then some!

We are in the 3rd week of homeschooling and my new "job" helping homeschooling all the kiddos and watch the littles (F and F). It is still an adjustment to be all peppy and ready that early in the morning I have to admit. I know mock all you want. I am NOT a morning person. Even though I am doing it, I still don't like being social in the mornings. I function really good mid morning. Maybe by doing this I will become more of a morning person? This is how our day goes:

6:45 am-7am Wake up
6:45-7am Shower and get ready
7am-7:50am Get all kids up, fed and ready. Get J out the door to catch the bus to go to K
8:00am-8:15am try and get all things packed and ready to head out the door
8:30-8:45am Arrive at my sisters house
9:00-9:20 Homeschoolers read classic literature and preschoolers do reading time too.


(I am also feeding F and F during this time)
9:20 Devotional and prayer for homeschoolers.
9:15 Preschoolers do journal and then snack. By 9:30 or so, preschoolers are downstairs with A (my sister).
9:30- 10:30 Story of the World (History) This past week, even though we are talking about Mummies next week. They REALLY wanted to make themselves mummies. Gotta love homeschooling for that! Since we didn't have enough TP for everyone someone was chosen to be the mummy. K was the lucky mummy! They had a great time! So far we have done many projects including building a model of the nile, writing hieroglyphics on clay, making up our own hieroglyphics, coloring things relating to Nomads etc. We will be discussing Mummies and Pyramids this next week. I have several projects planned for this unit as well. We hope to even go up to the children's museum in Indianapolis for their Egypt display and activities.



10:30 Put F (boy) down for nap
10:30-11:00am Spelling
11:00-11:30am Grammer or Story writing
11:30 Feed F (girl) lunch
11:30-11:45am Lunch for homeschoolers and preschoolers
11:45am Preschoolers and homeschoolers do recess and P.E
12:oopm Preschoolers leave
12:30 Homeschoolers go do: Math,


Science, Botany, Music and Art with A
12:30-2:30 I take care of F and F (the toddlers) while A guides the homeschoolers.
Usually during this time F (boy) wakes up and is fed lunch while F (girl) goes down for a nap
3pm Go home to pick up J off the bus, chill out and make dinner prep

Phew! Makes me tired looking at it but it is a good tired! I think everyone is really having fun. A (my sister) hasn't fired me yet either! Yipee! In ALL the things that are goind on in our life, this is a blessing in many ways!!

When I get the camera back, I will post the other pictures as well. I am really hoping to document our journey. Enjoy!

When we asked for a break.....this isn't exactly what we had in mind!

A few weeks ago, (I know I am behind....give me a break why don't you....oh sorry about the pun again! LOL) N was riding his bike outside with his siblings. N just learned how to ride his bike finally after many years of wondering if he would. We didn't want to really push him but always tried to do our best to encourage. Finally his brother K, learned in one day and that set the tone for him I guess. Whatever works I say!! Well, N was riding and then he fell off his bike. He fell hard and then the bike hit him. That is when N's leg broke. J came running in telling us N was hurt. T ran outside and called to me telling me he was really hurt and couldn't move. Ok, that is NOT what a mother wants to hear EVER! I ran as fast as I could. T was putting N in the car and said he was off to the ER. Never have I been this worried....ok I was alittle stressed when J had her surgery but I was just worried. That night for some reason, I was just panicky! I looked at his leg and knew right then it wasn't going to be good! And then I went off and said something really silly too. I told him to not look down. WHAT?! Did I really just say that out loud to a son that was also panicking and hurting! OH MY! T was right. I needed to stay home. Otherwise, maybe they would have had to give me something to help me breathe! LOL Still to this day I don't know what my deal was. Not that I don't care but I try and stay calm in those situations and if I need to freak out, I go somewhere else or I wait until later. So......yup it was broke. He broke his tibia and will be in a cast for 12 weeks. 8 weeks for one and 4 on a walking cast. Really this happened at a good time. After summer was over and before winter. See.....there is always something to help you stay positive hugh! Now fast forward to today. Tomorrow he will have to be put under while the dr. readjusts the bone and manipulates it. He didn't like the way it was healing and wanted to do something now than have to do something bigger later. Tomorrow he will have a whole other cast on. I have been very proud of this boy. He is usually not one to do things that are hard physically...it is just the way he is. This has forced him to do more. I can't carry him and this will give him better endurance and become stronger. Again..... a blessing. I think!

Here he is at the hospital before the splint, with the first splint and then the real cast.









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You will be missed!

My dear sweet Grandma D passed away a couple of weeks ago. My father called while I was picking beans from our garden. He said that my grandma would likely not make it through the night. Seconds later while we were still talking, he said that our aunt had come out the room and said that she had passed. I remember telling my father that I was very sorry to hear but I knew that she was in a better place. She has wanted to be reunited with her sweetheart that died almost 15 years ago. I knew that this would be very hard on my mother even though she knew it was coming and had prepared for it for awhile. I guess that is something you don't really prepare for. Preparing how you are going to feel when you lose a loved one. I told my father to tell my mother how much I loved her. I also knew the whole shock of not having to care for someone alot was both reliving (knowing that her mother was much better where she was) and hard. I have heard that people that are caring for loved ones going through a mourning of not being needed as much. Knowing my mother the way I do, I am sure that this will happen to a degree. She is good about taking care of others though. She will keep enabling and even though we razz her about that quality, we all like it when it comes to our turn being enabled by her! LOL

Once I was home that night, I had the thought that went through my mind of, "What do I want my mother to know before she passes?" How much she has taught me and how much I love her UNCONDITIONALLY! I also think it is human nature to also feel the need to think about how others would feel at your passing and what would they remember.

So, that night I was sad to think that I will not see her again at this time. Instead of getting really sad about it though, I thought of ALL the wonderful memories I have of my grandma!

Here are a just a few memories of my Grandma:

1. Her teaching me how to paint on pillow cases.
2. Her teaching me to quilt.
3. Her MAKING quilts for us.
4. Her love of theater.
   
5. Eating fresh food from her garden in the summer time especially swiss chard! Mmmm.
6. I loved her yummy homemade canned applesauce.
   
7. All of the family dinners that she organized so often.
   
8. Playing croquet in the back yard.
9. Sleeping in her spare bedroom and feeling like queen because the bed seemed so big at the time..
   
10. Having slumber parties at her house.
    
11. Her inviting me to come live with her for a short time while my parents had moved here.
    
12. Her ability to always think about the positive.
13. Her and Grandpa going to visit T (hadn't met him before) at the MTC before he left on his mission.
    
14. Her love of doing service and things in the church.
15. Her snoring... I am sure she still is doing it. She can do it ANYWHERE at ANYTIME!!
    
16. Our family reunion to Fort Robinson in NE and another large on in Utah.
17. Her energy and spunk while playing a good game of dominoes. First time...she is nice. After that, she showed NO mercy! LOL
18. Her desire to spend time with my kids.
19. Her and I picking out my wedding dress together.
    
20. Her love of her dear sweet husband. She wanted so badly to return to.
    

I am sorry that I was not able to be at your funeral but know that I was there in spirit! A represented our family well! We love you dearly and thank you for blessing our lives!

May you rest in peace Grandma!! I hope your reunion is WONDERFUL!!!! You will be missed!

The Secret

Ok so I know that I am a perpetual self help-aholic! Either it is quite sad because I think by virtue of doing so and proclaiming to the world that I engage in these books, activities or what have you, that I fool the world that I actually think I need to change in some way. Then they are all deeply confused when they know that I am just as dysfunctional as I was the last week. Or it is sad that I am so pathetic that I really DO need to embrace these self help philosophies etc.

Actually, I don't think I am so bad but I guess I am a believer in that we can always be trying to become better. Reminding myself line upon line, precept upon precept. Baby steps in the right direction.

Well, I think at least every so often I come back to the harsh reality that things have been pretty hard for us. I am sure that you could search the archive of the blog and find several entries of our challenges.

Not that this is a HUGE revalation but a good friend lent me the movie, "The Secret" Either she thought that I really needed to find out what the secret was or she thought it was right down my alley. Well, I think it was both. The Secret=The Law of Attraction. In short, you bring about what you think about. The power of the mind is a powerful source in our lives. Because I believe so strongly in this you would think I would have it mastered. What I have learned in the last few days of really trying to apply the "Secret" in my life is........ it is hard. The easy part is using affirmations, thinking about my dreams etc. The hard part is REALLY not thinking of negative thoughts. I would not claim to be an optimist but I would not claim to be a pessimist either. I claim to be a realist. That can be good and bad.....mostly good. Because of that I still hold some negative thoughts ie.....enough already on the trials or somewhat of a poor me attitude. Using the secret and thinking about what you want, need, desire etc. can all be achieved through positive thinking. Thinking BIG!

So..... all week this week, it reminded me alot of every time I am pregnant and start practicing my birthing affirmations telling myself that I can do this. My body was designed for this etc. Using the secret this week, I have over-rode lots of even little negative thoughts and turned them around. I haven't had very many negative thoughts because the state of my mind IS positive. Like I said, I am a realist. I also though have tried very hard through all this to stay positive. Always ending my statements with others, "It's ok, everything will be just fine." It will be for our good." That is good but I am really pushing out the negative and really visualizing the positive and working on realizing my dreams. Baby steps.

One of the statements from the movie said, " Your life is a catalog. Dreams CAN and DO come true" Or something like that! LOL

Sit down and write out your dreams, wishes and aspirations. By thinking about what you want, you can bring it about by using the LOA!

Now stepping off my "Secret" soapbox.

Back to school!

Well, I am so behind on what I have wanted to post about. Between cleaning the house for showings and managing the household alot I haven't blogged. I have been dutiful and read others but neglected ours. Next week before the next wave of school hits, I hope to at least show some highlights in pictures of what we did before the summer FLEW by.

J is the only one going to public school this year. It is funny because there is a difference in our house. Most of the time you just hear. I am going to school. My kids would be the ones to ask where. Meaning at home or at ps. We have homeschooled in the past and LOVED it! When we moved here I just felt that we should take a break and put the kids in school. There was more reasons too ie having a baby etc. I am not pulling them out because I don't like the school they have gone too, because the second one (due to when we moved to a different house) was way better for at least N. The other school was just fine and has been improved alot. There are great teachers and great people there. It just didn't fit for N. I was pleased when N really hit it off when he moved schools. You would think why would I want to mess up a good thing. I didn't so I thought and prayed and thought and prayed. It would be fine. I would bring them back home. To some people they would think that why would she being doing this on top of everything that is going on. Well.......................... alot of my readers already know this but if you don't, allow me to explain a bit. (I will try to be more readers digest about it). I would like to add some income due to our finacial situation not being the best. If I went to work somewhere else I would still have to spend $ for daycare leaving me with little left. I personally didn't feel right even though I was going online trying to look for a job. It didn't set right.....for me that is. So, my sister approached me with the idea that leads us to our homeschooling the older boys. She has been hs'ing her oldest girl this last year. Now she and I decided to homeschool both our oldest. She runs a daycare/preschool out of her home. I will be her new "assistant". I will generate some $ while doing something I enjoy, spending time with my kids and they will be around their cousins more. Now the tricky thing is.......................................................will we decide that we hate eachother after a week or two? Will I drive her insane? I keep praying not! The kids are SUPER SUPER excited on both sides. I was wondering if J would feel left out but she is soooooooooooooooooo excited to go to K. I would love to have her home too but right now I know my limits and I think for many reasons this will be very good for her!! Next year if all goes well then she will be home with us too! We are excited about our new journey. We are trying still to make room for joy. To come what may and love it! Find JOY in our trecherous journey that we have been on for awhile. T is looking for another job just to help us make ends meet better. The blessing WILL come. I don't know when but I hold on to the fact that it will. Knowing that the we are on HIS timetable not ours.

Soooooooooooooo without further ado................................ Here is my not so little baby. I remember the day she joined our family. I know I get frustrated with her and her moody self but I love her to pieces too! Have fun J!!!!