This afternoon the children and I, along with our friends, went to visit a life size replica of the Jewish tabernacle. A group out of Oklahoma have been taking this replica across the U.S. and Canada for the past fifteen years to show others what the tabernacle looked like and God's purpose behind the set up, function, and purpose of the tabernacle.
Our tour started with a brief history of the tabernacle and the temples that eventually replaced the portable tabernacle. At this stop we can see a model of the tabernacle.
We then entered the courtyard of the tabernacle. Here we find the various pieces of furniture that would be there.
The altar of sacrifice is where you would bring you lamb to be slain in payment for your sins.
Good thing they were using a fake lamb. I don't know if Bonnie will make a good surgeon.
Inside the Tabernacle
Holy of Holies
Ark of the Covenant
Our guide did a great job describing everything in the tabernacle and its significance. She also did a wonderful job applying it to our lives today. Next year, we will be back in the Biblical/ancient times and I look forward to reading Exodus again with the children and discussing how God had Moses set up the tabernacle. I have always wanted to make a model at home for the kids to see. This same group sells the tabernacle models and I am praying that I will be able to purchase this for ourselves next fall. If not, I am so glad we had this opportunity to see this replica.
It is time again for the Annual Cotton Ginning Days in Dallas, NC.
This is a festival that I really get into. I am a country girl at heart and I love the site of old barns, antiques, the smell, look, and feel of our past. Here in Dallas is a steam powered cotton mill that they fire up every October. It is great to remember our past and how things used to be. The area around the mill is covered with antique to modern farm equipment, engines of every shape and size, anything cast iron, and more. Barn stalls are filled with arts and crafts. The arena has amusement rides and ponies for kids to ride on. People here don't ride around on golf carts but old lawn mowers. Tractors shuttle visitors to and from the parking lot. Banjo music plays and you can hear the old gospel hymns being sung. The historical society has moved some old farm houses and barns to the site to be restored and visited by the everyone. I can't say enough of Cotton Ginning Days.
This year we brought some friends along with us. The Maggarts and their boys and Bryce's friend, Jonathan, had fun at the festival. One of our most interesting finds was a pair of shackles. At first glance you would think they are just some old, iron handcuffs, but then I looked at the inscription on them. It said "For Negro Woman or Child". Yep, you read that right. These were slave shackles for a woman or child. Whether they were for their wrists or ankles I wasn't sure. The man displaying them caused me some concern. I wasn't sure what he stood for. He also had on display some old rusty pendants for the KKK and Nazis. I certainly hope he doesn't supports these groups but we are in the south and some still fly the Confederate flag proudly.
Ever since I was a little girl we have celebrated birthdays with Wilton cakes. You know those formed shaped cakes that you decorate with a star shaped cake tip. I currently have three tubs full of Wilton cake tins in all sorts of shapes and sizes. When I started having children I started doing Wilton cakes for my own children. Somehow though, my children are looking for something different. This year Brian wanted brownies and Bryce decided....well, let's be honest...I decided to try something different for Bryce and he complied.
Last Christmas, my mother gave me a book on decorating cupcakes. The cupcakes are very creative and being the artsy, craftsy person that I am decided that this could be a new creative outlet for me. For Bryce's birthday I decided to make these really cool shark cupcakes.
Here is a picture from the book. Aren't they so cool!! I mean who wanted to make something as cool as that?!
I started off by making the cupcakes from scratch. I mean...really from scratch.. like I made my own buttermilk from vinegar and milk and my own unsweetened chocolate from butter and cocoa. I scratched my way to some delicious chocolate cupcakes. I even made my own chocolate wafer cookies. The book called for chocolate wafer cookies for the shark fins but I couldn't find any. My creative mind said, "Hey, no problem. Just make some sugar cookies and cut them to the shape of shark fins." So while I was looking up the recipe for sugar cookies I found one for chocolate wafer cookies. Now this recipe must have been written by an elderly lady in the church. I say that because as I got knee deep into the mixing process I came across this line "add as much flour as you need to make a dough." What is that?! What kind of dough? Soft dough? thick dough? How doughy is cookie dough? Then I realized there was no baking instructions. No temp. No time. Great now I get to guess again. Who let this woman submit a recipe to this book? Miracle of miracles they turned out ok and from there I was able to make the fins. The only thing I didn't make was the twinkies.
The theory behind these cupcakes was that you make your cupcake then cut your twinkie in the shape of a shark, insert the fin, and glue to top of cupcake with icing. Once they are assembled freeze your cupcakes.
Since I made my fins from scratch they were too thick to insert into the twinkies and so I glued them on with icing as well.
Now so far so good. Everything looks good and like it might actually turn out. This is where everything goes south.
Instead of purchasing tubs of frosting, I made my own buttercream frosting. This appears to have been my downfall. The idea in this step is to melt your grey frosting in a wide, glass, cup then dip your frozen twinkie/cupcake into the melted frosting which will adhere itshelf to the twinkie making it look like a shark rising out of the cupcake.
Well, that is the theory anyway. What happened for me was that the icing was so heavy that it ripped off the fin and then the whole twinkie was sucked off. I eventually decided to place my twinkie on a plate and poured the melted frosting on top letting it cover the twinkie and fin. I then laid my frosted twinkie on top of the cupcake.
Mini chocolate chips made up the eyes, fruit rollup mouths, and icing teeth finished out the shark. Another thing, my frosting was light grey when I started but every time I nuked it to melt it down (it thickened up as soon as it began to cool) it got darker and darker. After four sharks I gave up.
I used a lot of blue icing to make it look like the sharks were creating a lot of waves. You know, like in Jaws!!
Every first weekend in October is carnival time in Stanley. Ever since we started having children I have wanted to take them to a carnival, but budgets are tight and so we never went until this year. Just the weekend before the carnival had been in Denver where Todd teaches and where we spend most of our time but Denver Days is way overpriced. Ten dollars just to park and then $20 to ride the rides...that adds up to $100 for our family at our small town carnival. Nope I am too tight for that. However, our little Stanley carnival fit the budget. When my kids saw that it was in town, I knew we had to visit. We immediately by passed all the vendors and went straight to the rides. The kids picked out two rides they wanted to ride on and off we went. The first ride was the giant Ferris Wheel. It was so much fun and a great way to see our little town from a different perspective. The second ride was the kind that you stand up against the wall, it spins real fast, and your body is plastered against the wall. I have no clue what the name of it is but you know what I am talking about. If you were to ask Bryce what it was he would tell you that it was the ride that almost killed him. It seems that as the ride began to spin, Bryce felt like he was being suffocated, he then began to panic, which compounded the problem. Brian who was next to him and fearing for his brother's life, had Bryce turn his head to the side and then Brian placed his hand on Bryce's cheek to create a wind block and tried to help Bryce breathe better all the while the ride is spinning. When it finally came to a stop, my poor panicked boys screamed and begged the attendant to let them off but he seemed not to care. It was utterly terrifying for my two young boys. I doubt they will ever go on it again. On a positive note, the attendant would not take their tickets so they decided that they could at least go on another ride and chose the spinning/flying teacups. Foolishly, I joined them. Did I mention I was a fool? I tried that thing were you stare at one spot so as not to get sick. Well, I didn't work! I stared at Bonnie but it wasn't long and I felt lunch trying to work its way back up. Not wanting to upchuck all over the place, I laid my head down and realized that Bryce was already on the floor of the cup. At one point as the ride was slowing down I heard the attendant ask if I was alright. I think I mumbled a "Fine" but I can't remember. Like a drunken sailor I climbed out of our still teetering tea cup and staggered home. Brian was still looking for more rides to go on but fortunately for the rest of us it was time for the carnival to pack up and go home. I had to almost drag Bryce to the van and by God's grace we made it home where three of the four of us found spots to lay down and crash until the world stopped spinning. I think I cured us all (except Brian) of visiting the carnival ever again.
Yesterday was Bryce's 8th birthday. We had the day all planned out. All three children had soccer games in the morning and following their last game we were to take Bryce's buddies home with us for hot dogs, cupcakes, and play time with friends. Unfortunately, all of us came down sick this past week. Since Monday, we have all struggled with an upper respiratory infection. Activities for the whole week were cancelled, school stopped, and we all wearily laid around to watch John Wayne, blow our noses, and suck on cough drops.
Despite the fact that his party was cancelled, Bryce couldn't wait to celebrate his birthday. He was the first one to suggest it was bedtime on Friday night knowing that the sooner he went to bed the sooner his birthday would come. At 5 a.m., Bryce came to wake Todd and I up to inform us that he was wide awake and ready to open presents. We informed him that it was too early and needed at least two more hours of sleep. So at 7 a.m. Bryce tried it again to rouse us out of our sleep. This time we complied and joined him and his brother and sister at the table. To start off the celebration, Brian set up his snap circuit set to play the birthday song and we all sang to Bryce.
Bryce then opened his gifts of Lego's Power Miners.
After breakfast, Todd went off to umpire some baseball games and the kids enjoyed the shark cupcakes that I made for the event.
We then took off to do some mystery shopping, visit Todd on the ball field with lunch, and then visit the carnival that had come to town. All in all Bryce had a good day.
My wonderful husband did the sweetest thing today.
While we were deeply engrossed in the life Warren G. Harding, my husband called and asked to talk to Bryce.
Bryce was a bit taken aback that daddy wanted to talk to him. He hadn't done any thing wrong. He wasn't in trouble, at least, he didn't think he was. So why did dad want to talk to him?
Todd then had his entire Pre-Cal class sing Happy Birthday to Bryce.
It was touching to watch the expression on Bryce's face. His lip began to quiver and his eyes began to tear up.
No...I don't really care to clean house.. Well, maybe I do sometimes. Cleaning the house can be a very fulfilling thing.
I did manage to gut and clean the boys' room. I should just sit in there and look at it for awhile because you know that five minutes after they return home tomorrow it will be a mess again.
I really want to put together a box of yard sale items from their room but that would mean hauling it up to the attic which is another disaster area. Which by the way is the result of my boys who decided to make the attic a play room....something about not being able to play in their own room.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have the boys pick up their room everyday, make their beds, put their clothes away, but it never stays that way. I have yet to teach my children how to keep it clean when they play.
So when they head over to a friend's house, I get to work. Furniture gets moved and all the knooks and cranies get cleaned.
With that all done, it was time for a nice bowl of ice cream and a movie with my favorite daughter who was home with me.
One of the reasons that I have made "Learning is Fun" as a theme this year is because I know I need more joy and laughter in my life and in my home.
But there are some days when it seems like life is pressing down on you. You want to throw the towel in or at least lock yourself in your bedroom and let the kids watch an "educational" video.
On those dreary, "I can't handle it," down days I like to sit down in front of my newest discovery - Tim Hawkins.
Have you ever heard of Tim Hawkins?
This awesome, Christian man is hilarious.
I just found another video clip someone had posted on facebook and found myself laughing so hard the tears were rolling down my cheeks (my eyes are still wet) and gagging on my lunch. NOTE: Don't eat and watch Tim Hawkins as the same time. It could be hazardous.
It was touch and go whether or not we would participate this year. I was pretty worn out after last year, but Bonnie just loves acting and I couldn't deny her this wonderful opportunity that our drama club offers. The boys opted out but what they don't realize is that after sitting through a whole year of practices and rehearsals they have just been exposed to more of Shakespeare's plays.
This year our drama club will be putting on Midsummers Nights Dream and the Merchant of Venice.
This will be the second time our club has put on Midsummers Nights Dream but the first time for this group of students to perform in it. Bonnie was chosen to play the part of Puck! We are so excited for her. In fact, we quickly got on the internet when we got home and found the perfect costume for her. Once we get it I will post it for you to see.
Both plays are comedies. Also, both casts are veterans to this club, so we are expecting some great things to come from this year's plays. Also the church that allowed us to use their facilities last year has asked us to come back and use their chapel again. Yeah!!
So here we go...lines to memorize, practice and rehearsal for the next several months...lots to do but the reward is priceless.
Our first week of school is over. What a relief to get that under our belt. To be honest I would have loved to have waited til after Labor Day to start but co-op demanded we start now and so we did.
It wasn't a full week mind you. I didn't get our math and language ordered until Monday but it still seemed like full days with all of our Inductive Bible Study, Spelling, History, Writing, and Reading. Bonnie has also started her Apologia Science on her own. I sometimes think that when we plug in math, language, and elementary science we will be doing school til the wee hours of the day.
The kids handled the days well and slowly got into the groove of things. We added daily house chores to the mix which wasn't well received by everyone but eventually they realized that their chores weren't going to kill them and they got them done.
I was really excited to see how well Bonnie and Bryce responded to their new spelling program. This year we are using Sequential Spelling for them. They share similiar spelling issues and they have no problem being on the same track. Spelling has become the number one subject to study, no more will it get pushed to the end of the day, but is first thing after our Bible study. Brian is using Abeka Spelling and received an 100 percent on his first test. He is so proud of the words he can spell.
History is still my favorite. This week was all events and people from 1900 to 1902 - Teddy Roosevelt, Wright Brothers, Ford, Einstein, and child labor. Next week we look at President Taft, more of Ford, etc. On Monday, we will go to the local library and view an exhibit of photographs taken by Lewis Hines. He was the reporter that exposed the child labor practices of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Our area was taken over by cotton mills after the Civil War and several of Lewis Hines pictures were taken of local mills. Some of these mills still operate today but most are closed. I tell you more of our visit later.
All in all, we are back into action. I am looking forward to a great school year.
It wasn't long ago that I didn't want to stop learning. I was so eager to keep going with our studies but summer time activities got in the way and boom...we stopped.
Now whether I want to or not we have to jump back into the swing of things. Co-op begins next Friday and we need to start studying the twentieth century. It will be a slow start for us however. Believe it or not, I haven't ordered my Abeka curriculum yet so the math and language will wait for another week or two. Abeka will be in town on Monday and I will order workbooks then. Until then, we will begin with our Tapestry of Grace Year 4 material studying Theodore Roosevelt, the Wright brothers, Einstein, and Henry Ford. As for spelling I picked up Sequential Spelling for Bonnie and Bryce. I might see if Brian wants to use it but he is a good speller and I picked up an Abeka Spelling Workbook at a curriuclum exchange this summer for him to use. Science this year will be Apologia's Astronomy for Brian and Bryce while Bonnie will be using Apologia's Exploring Creation with General Science.
My theme for this year is, "Learning is Fun!" I want to make school FUN for all of us. Mind you...we have to accomplish the required work but I want to laugh and have a good time with my children. We don't laugh enough together...reality check...I haven't laughed enough with them.
I asked my daughter what we could do to make school more fun.
Her answer...."Have snack time."
"Okay, what does that mean?"
"You know, mom, let us go in the kitchen and make snacks, like cookies and such."
Well, since I let them do that from time to time I guess that is doable. That really wasn't the answer I was expecting but I am glad to know the solution is easy. I will let you know if we are having any fun this year. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. My first instinct for our first week back to school was to jump in the car on Tuesday and drive the kids to Kitty Hawk for our study on the Wright brothers. It is only a seven hour drive. I think we can handle that. But reality says the van and the gas budget can't so we will make styrofoam gliders and be inventive here at home.
So here goes. Off to church in the morning then time to plan out the week, set up schedules, school time routines.
This is the lovely Kitty. She is really adorable despite the little friends that tagged along. Our dog, Cody is still walking around bewildered by this new addition. Kitty, however, could care less about the giant dog following it around.
It is hard to believe that she is growing up. Her feet are almost the size of mine. She is now in junior clothes and is asking to wear makeup. It doesn't seem possible that my little girl is growing into a young lady.
Bonnie was able to celebrate her birthday a little early this year. For several years she has been asking for a kitten. We have always said no for one reason or another. However, a few years ago when we moved from Michigan to North Carolina we told the children that after we settled we would get a dog and a cat. It took us a year to settle and true to our word we got our dog Cody a few weeks after we moved into our new home. Cody, however, needed training and time to mellow out and so the idea of getting a kitten went on hold. We have had Cody now two years and he is doing great. With him under control we decided that we could get the much anticipated kitten and since Bonnie has been the one asking for one all along we decided to let it be her birthday present.
Today, we began gathering all the needed kitten equipment. Kitty litter, food, toys, and poop scoops filled the van. Then the phone calling began looking for that kitten that someone wanted to give a way. Bonnie was a bit particular in what she wanted. Not just any cat. She wanted a grey cat with blue eyes. Well, the grey part, I figured, would be easy. The eyes, however, might not. After placing a few calls, I found a lady in West Gastonia who had a grey kitten to give a way. Everyone was excited about getting our new pet and so was I to be honest.
After a thirty minute drive we met our new kitten, Kitty. Kitty is a mix of alot of things it appears. We think she has Siamese as well as Persian in her. She is a grey but has hints of orange and white all over. She is absolutely adorable except for one flaw. After we drove thirty minutes and Bonnie fell madly in love the lady who was giving Kitty away informed us that she had fleas. FLEAS!!! We discussed the matter and decided that the damage was done and we would still take her and treat her for her condition. Our first stop on the way home was Walmart to pick up a truckload of flea fighting solutions....drops for her back, a flea collar, flea powder, flea comb and then another whole set of everything for our dog, Cody, figuring he will probably get fleas now. As soon as we got home, Kitty, Bonnie and I headed straight to the bathroom to begin the flea bath. For an hour we cleaned this kitten. Todd joined in and after three baths of various flea medications and a flea collar we finally declared her clean and 95% flea free. The collar, according to the packaging, will continue to kill fleas and eggs we missed. Bonnie and I then took our own flea baths, scrubbed the floor, steamed the floor, powdered down the steps and upstairs landing with flea powder and will probably bomb the house tomorrow just to insure not one flea lives in my home. For tonight, the kitten has been quarantined in the laundry room until we feel safe having it in the house.
Why or Why did we take on this challenge?
Only for the love of our twelve year old daughter.
Wednesday morning at 4am we pulled into our driveway after ten days of the best vacation ever.
It all started on Sunday evening when we left the house at 10pm to travel up to Biddeford, Maine to visit Todd's sister LaRee and her husband Bob. We pulled down the seats, made a nice bed for the kids, and started off on our first leg of the trip - destination Washington, D.C. We decided that since D.C. was on the way it would be a good place for us to stretch our legs on this 16 hour trip. So at 5:30am we pull into D.C., found a place to park, and got out for a little stroll around the mall. We visited the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. What a trip.
We couldn't do them all justice because we still had nine hours to travel that day, but we did manage to walk around for about two hours there. Finally, we made our way back to the car to load back up and head up north.
We ended up driving through Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Hamphire, and finally into Maine. Let's not forget the countless tolls booths. I am so thankful that we do not have those here. Finally at 8pm we arrived at Bob and LaRee's
It was so nice to finally be there and see both of them. The kids had never met their aunt and uncle but you would not have known that by how eargerly they greeted them with squeels of delight and hugs. We quickly got settled in and began planning our time there. LaRee had posted a Things To Do List on the wall and we set up a schedule to get in as many things as possible. First, they took us for a tour of the area. Bob and LaRee live within a few minutes of the Atlantic coastline and they drove us to coastal town after coastal town. Kennebunkport was one of the towns close by. They drove us up to former President George Bush's house which was quite amazing.
They then took the kids to the ocean. What fun that was. We weren't dressed to get fully immersed in the water but it was hard to keep the kids dry.
We then decided that the next day would be a good day for Bob to take the kids fishing so we needed to go worm digging. It was low tide and the kids and all of us went digging for blood worms. As an added bonus we dug up clams, looked for shells, and climbed the rock wall.
The next day, Wednesday, we went fishing on the Atlantic Ocean in Bob's boat. What fun. We didn't catch anything. It was also cold and rainy and we were not dressed appropriately. I still had my NC mindset about how to dress in July. Unfortunately, we weren't in NC anymore and the temperatures were a lot cooler there. Add to that rain and wind and you got down right chilly. It was still fun to be on the Atlantic though.
After a nice warm shower we headed to Pirate's Cove Minature Golf on Oceanic Beach for some more fun.
On Thursday, we loaded up on the Amtrack train and headed to Boston, Mass. to go and visit the Museum of Science.
We spent six hours at the museum. There was so much to see and do and we didn't even do it all. What a blast! The kids and us had so much fun.
Friday, we went shopping.
L L Bean
DeLorme Maps - Home of the Largest Globe
and Cabelos.
We then headed to Smitty's Theatre where you can have a full course dinner and watch the latest movie. We watched G-Force which the kids loved.
Saturday, we went lobstering. Bob plays hockey with a professional lobsterman. Captain Mack invited us all to go with him on his boat and pull pods, sort lobster, and band them. What a treat! Other than me and Laree feeling sea sick we all had a blast. Bonnie and Brian got to steer the boat, Todd pulled pods and helped reset them. Bonnie sorted lobster, banded them and placed them in the holding tank. By the end of the morning we had captured 16 lobster. Captain Mack brought along his eleven year old daughter, Jordan. Bonnie and Jordan hit it off really well. In fact, Jordan ended up spending the rest of the day with us.
After lobstering, we had lunch at the Lobster Shack with Captain Mack and Jordan and then brought Jordan back home with us to play. That afternoon someone had the idea to set up a slip-n-slide. With a big roll of plastic, sprinkler, and dish soap they were ready to go. Can we have any more fun?
While Todd and I enjoyed a dinner date, courtesy of Mom and Dad Ells, in Kennebunkport, Bob and LaRee took the kids Candle Pin Bowling. Evidently this is like regular bowling except the balls are a lot smaller and the pins are thinner.
Sunday started off with waking up at 4:30 to get everyone out to the beach to watch the sunrise.
Unfortunately, there was no sun that day : ( But the kids didn't complain. They still had fun looking for shells, rocks and sea glass. We decided that regardless of the weather we were going to play at the beach that day even though it was cold and rainy. The water was so cold, but the kids didn't care though. Todd and Bob had fun too with the kids. Bob and LaRee had boogie boards for the kids to ride the waves and ride them they did. Of course, we only lasted about an hour and had to stop or take the chances of going into hypothermia. We then took a walk at Scarborough Marsh, got in some more fishing and picked up some souveniors.
That night we feasted on lobster from the previous days catch. It was so delicious.
We were all set to head back home on Monday, but Bob and LaRee asked us to stay one more day to rest and get packed up. It didn't take much arm twisting and we consented to stay. Monday turned out to be a beautiful day with sun and warm temperatures. After cleaning up the car and cleaning up the place we went back to the beach for a good beach day.
And then another round of the slip-n-slide. LaRee had the idea of the kids putting on garbage bags to make them go even faster. : )
Sadly, it was time to go. Tuesday morning we pulled out this time our first stop was going to be New York City to see the Statue of Liberty. It turned out to be a drive-by as the traffic, people, and construction was more than we could navigate through but we still got to see her from a distance. We then headed to Philedelphia to satisfy my husband's desire for a Philly Cheese Steak. While we were there we walked over to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Then downtown Philly for a good sandwich. If it wasn't for our GPS, Todd and I would still not be speaking to each other but good ole Geeps told us where to go so there were no arguments. : )
So that brings us back to where we started, 4 am Wednesday morning we made it back home.
The time has come for us to go on vacation. This is something we don't generally do. Oh, we will take a week and go to my parent's house every year, but there is something special about venturing out on your own to unknown territory.
My husband's sister and her husband live on the coast of Maine. Every July they offer their spare apartment for friends and family to stay in and this year we decided to take them up on their offer.
We haven't seen LaRee and Bob for fifteen years. The children have never met their aunt and uncle, instead they only know them from their Christmas cards and gifts that come every December. So although we are still spending our vacation visiting family, it is like going on an adventure.
We plan to take advantage of this long distance road trip to visit famous sites along the way. Our first stop will be in our nation's capital. We won't go in and visit anything but instead will just stretch our legs and walk around the mall and see the buildings. Next April, we will go back for a detailed visit. We also are planning on driving through NYC, see the Empire States Building and the Statue of Liberty.
The best part of all will be seeing LaRee and Bob in Maine, playing in the ocean, boating and fishing, and whateverelse Maine has to offer us.
I can't wait and will be sure to post pictures when we get back in about ten days or so.
I love being out in the middle of nowhere with lots of land, rows and rows of produce, chickens milling around, meals made from scratch,...you get the picture.
My wonderful mother left the farm when she married my citified dad and never looked back, but evidently there is some farmer blood running through my veins.
Today, my daughter and I drove north to Shady Oak Farm in Newton to pick berries. I could have stayed there for good. We both loved being on the farm, the smells, the sounds...We had to giggle everytime we heard the rooster crow and the hens all cackle. (He sounded like he was having fun.)
It only took us only an hour to pick seven pounds of blueberries and a couple pounds of blackberries. It was a bit more challengin picking blueberries here versus up in Michigan. We are used to bushes that are about five feet high in MI. These bushes here were no higher than our knees which made some backstraining picking but worth it.
While we were there the farmer let loose his chickens and of course Bonnie had to see if she could catch one which she did. No, she didn't chase it down. Instead, she stood very still and it just came to her. She was so proud of her chicken. She can't wait for us to get our own. We still need a coop to keep them in but now with our home improvement projects under way we should have enough scrap built up to build one soon.
We, of course, will never have our own full fledge farm, so I am content to hang out at places like Shady Oak Farm. But I am grateful that we can grow alot of our own veggies in our own little garden and that I have a small bit of farmer blood running through my veins.
Remember all those pecans I picked last fall/winter?
And how I sold them at my yard sale?
Well, a friend asked if I wanted to share a booth with her at our local farmer's market to see if I can sell some more.
Why not?! I said. So for the past few weeks my husband and I have been shelling pecans in anticipation of making some profit from our bounty of nuts.
Today, the kids and I loaded up bright and early, like 6:30am, to head out for the Denver Farmer's Market.
We set up our table with its sign and waited to see if anyone wanted our pecans.
THEY DID!
All of my shelled pecans sold within in the first hour. Fortunately, I bagged all of the shelled pecans just in case someone wanted to do the hard work themselves, which some did.
Now it is time to shell some more pecans. I got a lot of work to do this week. I might have to buy a sheller to speed up the process. I have two more Saturdays that I can sell there and want to make the most that I can.
Thank You Lord, for the bountiful harvest of pecans!
I have decided that home improvement inspectors are paid to tell you what you want to hear!
When deciding on whether or not to purchase our house the inspector told us several things about the condition of this house that was not accurate.
For instance...when inspecting the foundation, we were told that we only needed to repoint the foundation. Just put some mortar inbetween the bricks to fill in the gaps.
Wrong...several foundation experts later...we need a whole new foundation. Like we need to jack up the house, pour new footings and put in all new brick work.
Another example... the inspector told us our electrical system was updated and fine.
Wrong....when we blew a fuse and Todd took the blown fuse into the electrical supply company, they laughed at home. Told us that those fuses are "widow makers" and our no longer made.
Needless to say, we put our hope in the inspector and bought this old farm house knowing that repairs would need to be made. Now we know that the repairs are a little more extensive than we originally thought.
So as we accept reality we know that we have to do this a little at a time and trust God's providence.
So far we have replaced the roof and updated the kitchen. This summer's project would be windows. Of course, we can't do all the windows at once but we deemed that the windows in the kitchen and dining room were the worst and the first on our list.
After searching various Habitat For Humanity Restores and building supply companies we finally found the right place to find good windows for little cash.
On Monday, we were able to purchase the windows and today my wonderful husband installed them. I can't tell you how excited I am to have these new windows in. They make such a huge difference. I am especially hopeful to see how they will impact our heating bill.
The windows in the kitchen and dining room area where old Levelor windows. They were difficult to crank open and we could not get them shut tight. Todd even tried screwing them closed, but there were still gaps in them. Not good on the heating and cooling bill.
My handyman husband did a greatjob tearing everything a part and framing in the new window.
From this view you can see both windows Todd had to replace.
The house without windows. Fortunately, it was a cool day. Overcast skies and low temps so even with a big hole in the house it wasn't uncomfortable.
Ah....such a beautiful sight.
Both windows are in.
Todd also installed the window over the sink the day before while we were off playing at the lake. What an improvement this has made on the house. It is so quiet inside now. Plus it is so nice to be able to open and close the windows. No more plastic in the winter to mess with, at least not in these rooms.
Next summer, we will try to replace the living room and upstairs windows.
This year's fourth of July was quite entertaining.
It started with the fireworks show at Todd's high school. Each year they put on a big show and vendors of good food and children's games fill the running track.
Only Bonnie and I were able to go this year. We had fun walking around the track and seeing who we knew and deciding what goody we were going to treat ourselves with. In the end Bonnie chose a frozen banana on a stick dipped in chocolate which was very good (she let me have a bite.) I ended up with a chocolate ice cream cone.
After several laps around the track, several of our friends showed up and we sat with them to enjoy the show.
On the actual fourth, Todd and I were going to take the kids down to Lincolnton for their parade and fireworks, but as our neighbors were leaving town they stopped by and offered all of their fireworks that they had stored in a barrel. Last year at their 4th of July party, a family member brought a huge box of fireworks but due to the downpour of rain they never were fired and have been sitting over there ever since.
My neighbor offered them to us and, of course, my nine year old sprinted over to his house to retrieve them. Needless to say, the boys could not wait for their daddy to come home from work so shoot them off.
At some point in my old age, I have become very cautious. I remember shooting off fireworks as a child but, of course, what we had were these little Black Cats and some chasers. Oh yeah, and don't forget the smoke bombs and black snakes. Nothing really major.
The stuff that my neighbor gave us was nothing of that sort. I am talking about huge boxes full of 20 to 30 aerial fireworks. Rockets that look like they can break through the atmosphere. This stuff was huge. It was on the same caliber of what we saw the night before at the high school. Fear of arrest for illegal contraband, grass fires, house fires pierced my conscious. At one point in our private celebration I went inside so that the boys could have their fun without mom stressing out in the backyard.
The boys, (all three of them) had a blast, but next year I think we will just stick to letting the professionals do it.
