Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jane (PlainJane) and I am the blessed and happy wife to Jeff and doubly blessed mama of two perfectly wonderful daughters. Please join me as I share our Lifestyle of Learning through Christian homeschooling and homesteading on our little hobby farm with our prairie girls.
Amber (Bookworm) is our dd15/10th grader.
Our perfectionist and over-achiever. She loves reading, playing violin, all things vintage, riding her Paint horse, and being a farm girl.
Anna (Ladybug)
is our dd12/7th grader.
Our "girls just want to have fun" girl. She loves to play and has a great sense of humor, but also enjoys cooking, music, and riding her QH pony.
I haven't had much time to sit down and think through a post lately (started one), so I thought I'd just post some recent photos...
I am really lovin' our hens this year, they are over-achiever layers. I was able to give away 4 1/2 doz. eggs this weekend. (Pictured: Our rooster, Col. Sanders; and one of our Plymouth Barred Rock hens)
Anna doing her Teaching Textbooks math.
This afternoon ~ my baby Sundance gets his first rider (Anna) - 'Mr. No Big Deal'.
Schoowise/Healthwise: Well, school started out great this week with putting in a full day Monday, but it all went down hill from there... we have been battling either a cold/virus or a very mild H1N1 for all three of us girls with a low-grade fever, cough, the works. Thankfully, we started doing better yesterday and this morning the girls woke up with NO fevers. Woohoo! I'm doing much better too with some chest congestion (not good with asthma), but else perky as can be. No matter what, I still don't believe in getting the flu shot.
Farmwise: Lost another hen yesterday! That makes our 4th hen disappearance this summer. The naughty things wander down to the woods/river and I'm sure are a tasty meal for a fox or coyotee. That leaves us now with 5 laying hens, 1 rooster, and little old Brownie, our banty that just wants to set on eggs. I suppose we will have to get more chicks again next spring. Meanwhile, with all the rain & snow lately, even if we felt good enough, we can't ride horses - just too slippery.
Funwise: Even though we are mostly homebound, I did manage to order some books...
Thomas Edison (In Their Own Words) (Scholastic) - I'm really into great men of the past right now and read some really great reviews about this book.
World of Inventors: Thomas Edison - Okay so I know 2 books about Thomas Edison is a bit much, but I had a hard time deciding and this one includes a really cool kit to make a "kinetoscope"
World of Inventors: Alexander Graham Bell - And while I was looking at Edison books, I came across this one too. Too fun! In this one we make an intercom.
School is just too fun!
A couple of days ago when the girls were sacked out with fevers, Midnight spent some quality time with Amber - notice him pointing out the cat in the magazine (he did that all on his own).
Just a typical scene around our place this time of year. These two wild turkeys meandering across our lawn and their babies in the weeds nearby.
We just returned from three glorious days at our favorite Wisconsin Dells waterpark. We go every year and this one had to be the most relaxing one yet. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely. We usually go during school season when there is hardly anyone there except us homeschoolers, so Sunday the place was packed, but by Tuesday, when Wisconsin schools started, things cleared out nicely. The waterpark lodge that we stay at is HUGE (America's largest - it's like 6 big waterparks in one) and is always adding new things - here the girls are trying out their new bumper boats (the girls are in the middle in the yellow & orange bumper boats). While Jeff and Amber like the wild, fast, and scary rides; Anna and I prefer the wave pool, lazy river, and hot tub. It was just what we needed after a very busy and stressful (with Peanut's declining health & death) couple of months.
WOW, what a GREAT book!!! I HIGHLY recommend all Americans age 18 and over to read this book to know what to expect in America's economic future and how to protect your finances in these end times. At the very least, I believe at least the person who handles the money in each home to read this book and put it's advice into practice. There is alot of good yet in our country, but financially our country is going down the tubes - along with your money. This is not a light read (yet, the concepts are well explained) - but I belive it would make a good addition to a 12th grade/college Economics course and contains critical information for us all.
Now fun and games are over - on to getting my school schedule in order (although the planner I am, I think that's fun) - we will begin the day after Labor Day (next Tuesday). Have a great day in the Lord!
Okay, I did a dumb thing a while back and I'm wondering if someone could help me...I don't use a cell phone very much so I have one of those "Go" phones for "Just in Case of an Emergency". Well, I went to Walmart a while back and bought a refill "pay as you go" card for $25. I don't usually buy that big, but I think that was the smallest denomination they had at the time...anyway, I get home and rub off the number in back like usual and proceed to call in to get my phone refilled and after a bit of confusion, I finally realize that I bought an AT&T card and MY phone is T Mobile. AUGHHHH! So, if any of you out there happen to have an AT&T Go Phone, I have a perfectly good card that I can't use and I can't return since I scratched off the silver off revealing the PIN number. Let me know if you can use this.
To my dearest friend, Sally, in Arizona and all of you who have been experiencing a drought this summer, this is for you...
Turn up the volume and hear it pour! The lack of clarity of the video is just the abundance of rain coming down. We had drought-like weather most of this year too, until about a month ago, now we are getting the rain. It's too late for our garden, but it's nice to see green again. It's been raining pretty hard most all day today - since before we got up early this morning. So far today we have gotten 3" of rain and it's still coming down - puddles everywhere. Minneapolis and three other areas were hit by at least 4 tornados with some damage this afternoon. My husband called a while ago to tell me to watch the weather as it was headed our way, but I think most of it will be going to Wisconsin. Jeff works on the top floor of a glass office building and they even had to evacuate to the stairwell, away from windows for about 15 minutes - three different occassions today. Such excitement! Oh, btw, the small building is the sauna/playhouse my husband is constructing. He calls it a garden shed, but I don't think there will be any room for garden stuff in there too.
Chippy, our "pet" chipmunk in the Boundary Waters.
Okay, Chippy has nothing to do with this post, but I just think he/she's cute. lol
Yesterday during horse riding lessons the girls cantered (the gait between a trot and gallop - a slow gallop) their horses for the first time while on their backs. Perhaps not a big deal for some, but it was a little scary around here -- you see, we don't have the most ideal set up on our farm. Our land is mostly rolling hills and the paddock where we train is on a slope, not to mention our very fine beach-like sandy soil makes things precariously slippery at times. Added to that, our horses still get a bit (understatement) nervous at the whole cantering idea, and it makes all of us nervous to even try this new next step in our training -- but we did. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. Amber's horse did slip on the sand once and started to go down, but thankfully caught herself halfway down and Amber managed to stay on (slight heart attack for mama) and Anna's pony reared with nervous fright once but Anna did just fine (thankfully she has a good saddle that holds her in) and she barely noticed. It would be so much easier if we had a nice BIG, FLAT surface, but we work with what we have.
I just PRAISE GOD for keeping the girls safe yesterday (and every day). We love our horses and enjoy them very much, but things can go oh so wrong in a matter of seconds. Every time we are with the horses, that time is bathed in prayer and we thank God for His watch and care over us.
Now, back to my happy place... Anna's pet "Lily" in the BWCA.
My baby modeling his new halter.
There probably won't be any horse play today as we have already had one thunderstorm this morning and more to come today & tomorrow. Just staying home and ironing, cleaning, filling out dental forms. Anna is making rhubarb bars. Have a good day!!!
So some of you are asking what we will be eating while hard-core camping in the great BWCAW (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness)...so here it is.
First let me explain that my husband LOVES the wilderness, he LOVES camping, hiking, canoeing in the summer, and snow shoeing in the winter (opposites attract don't ya know), so to him, this is the ultimate vacation. In his single days, he use to do trail clearing for the DNR in the Boundary Waters, so when he does solo camping trips, I never worry about him as he knows his way around and is great at survival skills. However, he has three girly-girls in tow this time, so "he says" he's going to go easy on us. The plan is to canoe (in one 4-person canoe) two miles from the outfitter's and stay at one of the closest campsites, set up camp, and then take day hikes out from that base. And since Jeff will be doing most of the carrying, the key is "lightweight", so packing is to a minimum - wearing the same grubby clothes two days in a row, smelling like campfire (it's cool up there, so at least we probably won't be sweaty).
When it comes to food, I know some people go all out - usually couples (no kids), who don't mind lugging in fresh fruit & vegtables, seasonings, and perhaps a cooler for steak and other perishable goods - they have quite the gourmet meals; but not us -- it has to be non-perishable, lightweight, and just to add a little more challange to the mix, we have a mom who is hyper-allergic to some preservatives like sufites and a daughter who is a bit more picky than the rest of us. Thankfully we will only be gone 2.5 days, and we will eat at restaurants on the way there and back, but we still had to come up with food for four people for 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, and substantial snacks. So here's our list...
Breakfast:
Individual packets of instant flavored oatmeal
Granola bars
Small baggies of dry cereal
Beverages (All meals): Water (lake water - Jeff has a purifier); Hot Chocolate; Hot Apple Cider; Kool-Aid Singles
Snacks/Meals:
Fruit Roll-ups
Trail Mix (Walmart)
Beef Jerky
Small jar of peanut butter
Squeeze jar of jelly
One bag of 6 bagels
Dinner:
Suddenly Salad (made without oil)
Instant Flavored Rice (Update: we are leaving a couple of the packets of rice behind and dehydrating some apples instead - why didn't I think of that earlier)
Brats (pre-cooking at home & froze for dinner the first night)
Smores (1 pk. graham crackers, 6 bars of chocolate, pre-counted 22 marshmallows (seriously - Jeff wouldn't take a whole bag - lol - we are rationing marshmallows)
So as you can see, if you can't eat it raw or just add water - it stays home. Not exactly health food! And Jeff was cracking down on only bringing what we would eat, so we had to pre-determine exactly what we needed for each meal, so when you look at the stash, it is pretty measly for 4 people - us girls are going to starve, but that is just how my man camps and I guess that is what we will do too. (I did insist on bringing all 6 Hershey bars though and he knew not to cross me there).
This is it (+ 9 brats) - food for 4 people for 2.5 days.
So that's it - no big camping secrets revealed here. If you go to various websites, they tell you what to pack for camping, but come on, who are they trying to kid... who is going to portage a couple pounds of potatoes or a dutch oven (a heavy cast iron cooking pot)? If you are truely roughing it, you have to think of what you can dehydrate - or in my case with allergies, be on a semi-fast; but that's good for me, right?
Sorry I haven't been on much lately -- I'm finally ready to start my busy summer - just in time to realize it's almost over . Here's what we have been up to lately...
My in-laws just celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. They requested we just have a quiet family dinner at a local restaurant - it was a nice time. My MIL still sings with her two sisters as a gospel trio - pretty popular with the old timers here in our area - they even cut a cd. My FIL and his brothers sold their construction company a few years ago and he has now retired to farming.
This past week I have been busy painting our family room. Here is a photo of it in transition. It use to be harvest gold (right) and it is now what I call "nutmeg brown" (on left). I think the gold went better with my decor, but I like the new, clean look. I still have a short hallway to finish up and then I still want to repaint the floor of our front porch (same color - it was just blistering), and also tape, spackle, and paint a nook in our garage near our mudroom door (and have DH put up a bench & coat hooks). I enjoy doing decorative painting and have a few more projects up my sleeve, but I think this is all I can squeeze in this summer.
Here is just a cute photo I captured Sunday evening of Sprinkles our barn cat taking a cat nap in the bird bath.
And lastly, today was Hay Day -- while the girls and I were out galavanting around town, grandpa dropped by with the first load of hay (100 bales). He helps a neighbor of his put up hay and we get first dibs on buying some from him. This is from his first cutting - usually in MN hay farmers get at least two cuttings - sometimes three per season. The third cutting is always the best hay and usually more expensive, but you take your chances as whether there will indeed be a third cutting due to weather. With this year's local drought, I wasn't going to take any chances and bought right away from the first cutting, that way I know I am well stocked for winter and don't have to worry about shortages or price hikes. I always like 200 bales in our barn before the first snow fall and that will last me easily until the next summer/fall - even if we have a rough winter. I paid $2.50/sm. bale Jeff is feverishly stacking them in the barn right now as we may get a bit of rain shortly (watching the radar) - he will make it!
Thanks for stopping by!!! Have a good day/evening!
It's been a fairly busy week and I'm woefully behind on my posts, but I am going to try to journal a few of our happenings before we head off to our next thing...
This past weekend we went up to Grandma & Grandpa's (in-laws) and took their jetskis out for a spin. It was only about 74 degrees, but the water seemed warm. Here is Jeff & Amber coming in from a buzz around the lake. After that, I had temporary technical problems with the camara, but yes, the rest of us took turns too.
A daily scene...our baby chicks are growing up and being pests - we shoo them off the front porch multiple times a day. They have all but destroyed my hostas for the year. Jeff says our next dog will be a hurding dog to keep the chickens in their place :). They are still too young to lay eggs, but I'm hoping that we will start seeing some in September. One blessing, we don't have a mean one in the bunch - a couple of them even come running up to us and want to be held.
Anna on her pony, Kitty
As you know, much of our time is being spent working with our horses this summer. The girls and horses are making much improvement and we couldn't be more pleased. Here is a little bit of what we were doing last night.
Pony Love
Waiting while big sister has her turn.
Amber taking her turn on her horse, Annie.
Yes, it was July 16th and the girls were wearing jackets. It was only about 63 at the time and today's high is suppose to be only about 60 - it feels like fall (global warming don't ya know).
Other happenings -- we will be leaving soon to the nursing home to serve; my in-laws are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary this weekend so I'm busy with some things for that; and I'm getting ready to do a lot of painting around the house -- I am about to re-stencil Anna's name above her closet doors (it was painted over a couple of redecoratings ago) and I have now bought paint for the family room and will start that soon.
Oh my, I have sooo much to do. It seems like summer just began (or at least I'm finally ready for it) and now the stores have out the back-to-school stuff. I'm not ready!!!
Usually our horse trainer comes around 2:30 p.m., but because of the extreme heat of yesterday and now today again (a feels like temp. of 100 to 105), we are expecting her around 8:00 a.m. so we can get our lesson in before it heats up too much. The rest of the day we will probably be spending it mostly in the basement (where there is no computer ) where it's cool. We will be out misting the horses a couple of times today too to help cool them down
...and the forecasters were predicting a cooler than normal summer. (I love it when God shows them who's boss). lol
I'm really thankful for this heat - I'm thawing out from our extremely cold winter and spring. Now if we could just get a bit more rain.
Here's what's been going on in our neck of the woods...
More Horse Riding, of course.
Everyone gets their fair turn.
All tuckered out.
Anna keeps working with Kitty, teaching her to bow. She is coming along well - but it seems like Anna can only get her to bow her head or bend the knee, but not both at the same time - at least not for the camara.
We had a garage sale last Thursday & Friday - the girls enjoyed weaving around the tables when there wasn't any customers (which there was a lot of lull time).
A mouse made it's appearance in the garage at the start of the sale, but never fear, our trusty mouser has it cornered.
With plenty of down time at the sale, we did a little work in our hosta glade next to the front door.
View from our front entry through the screen door.
I love our Dianthus, we have 3 of them and they give so much color and fragrance.
Isn't this rose bush a beauty? - full of blooms.
Our hummingbird feeder hangs above the hostas. There is a constant stream of visitors here throughout the day.
Thanks for stopping by - I'll do a Daybook a little later today. Have a good day!!!
Whenever I find something neat, I like to pass it on just in case you might be interested too. Here are a couple of my latest finds ...
First, while on an extensive search for some sheet music of "The Happy Day Express" (one with cords - haven't found that yet ), I came across this ; and even though my girls are older now, I think I'll still get these CD's - they have a lot of good songs that bring back wonderful memories that I still enjoy singing.
Here are the links to listen to sample clips of all the songs...
You can also download any song you wish separately on your MP3.
Secondly, us girls have really been into skirts lately. We do sew on occassion, but let's face it, I'm no seamstress - and my girls would like some more nice conservative skirts before they grow old and I figure out this sewing thing, so I happened upon this site recently...they have "long dresses and skirts without slits and tops that cover". So when you don't have time (or skill) to sew or need something in a hurry (like we did), I recommend these people. Their prices and quality are comparable to what you might find in a store (but you probably won't find these modest items anywhere). I still prefer The King's Daughters for high-quality made-to-order clothing, but this time we were in a hurry for matching skirts for a up-coming 50th Anniversary photo and these skirts would work just fine. (You may find other seamstresses of modest clothing here).
(I'll insert a photo here of the girls wearing their new khaki skirts later)
And lastly, I've been wanting to tell you about a product (totally unrelated to the above 2 items) that I discovered a few months ago that REALLY WORKS for dry feet!
My Story: A few years ago we had a 10' above-ground pool (without pump). We never had any success with it and it took on a beautiful rust & slime appearance - only the bugs liked it. Without lots of expensive chemicals that I didn't know how to use and a pump, we were doomed! So come fall, I gave up and just emptied the thing. However, not realizing what I was doing to my body, I held down one side of the pool in my bare feet to let it drain. Welllll, that little act in turn exposed my feet to some nasty bacteria of some sort and I develped really dry feet. I went to the foot dr., but I guess the only cure for it is to take medication for a year or so, but oh by the way, it may ruin your kidneys in the process. No thank you! I tried a few natural soaks, but nothing seemed to work until a few months ago, I bought some Flexitol Heel Balm at Walmart. Now, I gotta tell you, when I bought this stuff, the bottom of my feet were at their worst - sooo dry they cracked deep and it was painful to even walk - I could peel layers of dry, dead skin off - really gross, so I had nothing to lose. So, imagine my surprise and delight when this simple over-the-counter cream actually began working almost immediately and within about 2 or 3 weeks, my feet were completely back to normal. Now, I have to say, the cream doesn't completely heal my feet, I stiill rub it on perhaps once a week, but it's so nice to see a simple product do as it claims - I highly recommend it.
Okay, so I'm not getting paid or anything to tell you about these things -- just gabbing. You know, sometimes the best stuff comes just by word-of-mouth from friends. What do you really, really like?
This past Friday some friends of ours (a family from our Ruby Girls group) were asked to put on a Mother's Day program at the local nursing home and they graciously invited the rest of our Ruby Girls Bible Study to join them. The girls had the privilege of sharing their musical and recitation gifts during the resident's coffee hour.
Here Bookworm and two of her friends are playing "It is Well With My Soul" along with piano accompaniment and...
Ladybug and more of the Ruby Girls (and a brother) sing along.
It was a very fun time and I think the residents enjoyed themselves.
Someone (anonymous?) asked if I would share my recipe for hamburger gravy from my last post. I would be happy too. I just put this recipe together a couple of years ago after reminicing about my favorite hot lunch meal in public school. I was a pretty fussy eatter when I was young and usually brought the same boring bag lunch to school most every day (I was afraid to tell my mom that I need some variety), but whenever they served mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy, I could hardly wait until lunch time - perhaps because I'm such a meat and potatoes kind of gal; anyways, here it goes. It's not exactly how I remember it, but pretty close....
Brown hamburger in large skillet (1, 1.5, or 2 lbs)
You can also add chopped onion & garlic to hamburger & sautee until tender (we like a lot)
Add: 1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup & some water and/or broth (depending on how much meat you have - but until it's more gravy like - see below about broth).
I always save/freeze leftover broth whenever I bake chicken or beef in quart-size freezer bags. I just take out a beef broth bag and add to the mix and add additional water if needed. OR, if you have some leftover gravy from a recent meal, you can add that. Last night I had some leftover KFC gravy in the fridge that I added. You could probably use beef boullion too, but since I'm allergic to all those preservatives, I have to stay more natural.
Stir all the ingredients together with the browned hamburger & heat until bubbly. Season to taste.
That's it! Serve over a large serving of mashed potatoes for a hardy meal.
This is one of us girls' favorite meals - hubby is more of a pasta, pizza, lasagna kind of guy, but he still takes a big helping without complaint.
Anna doing her Teaching Textbooks math.
This afternoon ~ my baby Sundance gets his first rider (Anna) - 'Mr. No Big Deal'.
It was just what we needed after a very busy and stressful (with Peanut's declining health & death) couple of months.
Anna's pet "Lily" in the BWCA.
My baby modeling his new halter. 
though and he knew not to cross me there).
. Here's what we have been up to lately...
My in-laws just celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. They requested we just have a quiet family dinner at a local restaurant - it was a nice time. My MIL still sings with her two sisters as a gospel trio - pretty popular with the old timers here in our area - they even cut a cd. My FIL and his brothers sold their construction company a few years ago and he has now retired to farming.
This past week I have been busy painting our family room. Here is a photo of it in transition. It use to be harvest gold (right) and it is now what I call "nutmeg brown" (on left). I think the gold went better with my decor, but I like the new, clean look. I still have a short hallway to finish up and then I still want to repaint the floor of our front porch (same color - it was just blistering), and also tape, spackle, and paint a nook in our garage near our mudroom door (and have DH put up a bench & coat hooks). I enjoy doing decorative painting and have a few more projects up my sleeve, but I think this is all I can squeeze in this summer.
Here is just a cute photo I captured Sunday evening of Sprinkles our barn cat taking a cat nap in the bird bath.
And lastly, today was Hay Day -- while the girls and I were out galavanting around town, grandpa dropped by with the first load of hay (100 bales). He helps a neighbor of his put up hay and we get first dibs on buying some from him. This is from his first cutting - usually in MN hay farmers get at least two cuttings - sometimes three per season. The third cutting is always the best hay and usually more expensive, but you take your chances as whether there will indeed be a third cutting due to weather. With this year's local drought, I wasn't going to take any chances and bought right away from the first cutting, that way I know I am well stocked for winter and don't have to worry about shortages or price hikes. I always like 200 bales in our barn before the first snow fall and that will last me easily until the next summer/fall - even if we have a rough winter. I paid $2.50/sm. bale Jeff is feverishly stacking them in the barn right now as we may get a bit of rain shortly (watching the radar) - he will make it!
A daily scene...our baby chicks are growing up and being pests - we shoo them off the front porch multiple times a day. They have all but destroyed my hostas for the year. Jeff says our next dog will be a hurding dog to keep the chickens in their place :). They are still too young to lay eggs, but I'm hoping that we will start seeing some in September. One blessing, we don't have a mean one in the bunch - a couple of them even come running up to us and want to be held.
Pony Love
) where it's cool. We will be out misting the horses a couple of times today too to help cool them down
More Horse Riding, of course.
We had a garage sale last Thursday & Friday - the girls enjoyed weaving around the tables when there wasn't any customers (which there was a lot of lull time).
A mouse made it's appearance in the garage at the start of the sale, but never fear, our trusty mouser has it cornered.
With plenty of down time at the sale, we did a little work in our hosta glade next to the front door.
View from our front entry through the screen door.
Isn't this rose bush a beauty? - full of blooms.
Our hummingbird feeder hangs above the hostas. There is a constant stream of visitors here throughout the day.
), I came across this 
