OOPS! I totally didn’t realize yesterday was Friday! Oh well, here it is…

Today’s confession:

I am always late. Everywhere.

It doesn’t matter how early I get up. I doesn’t matter how much I did to prepare the night before. It doesn’t matter if I have clothes all laid out and the diaper bag all ready to go.

As soon as I get the kids loaded into the van, something happens.

The baby’s diaper explodes, or she spits up all over her clothes. Somebody all of a sudden has to go potty. A cup spills, an animal need rescuing, the list goes on and on…

So, forgive me, if I was supposed to be there thirty minutes ago. I am running late. I try! As the Lord as my witness, I try!! But being on time just isn’t happening.

Plan on it.

How do you perfect moms always get where you are going with time to spare, anyways? Am I the only one with this problem?

If you have a blog, and aren’t too embarrassed to spill the beans to millions of viewers, write up a short post confessing that less than perfect housekeeping secret you’ve been sweeping under the rug! Copy the Fess Up Friday logo and paste it into your post, then leave your link below to share with others!

This can be about cleaning “shortcuts”, mommy mistakes, recipe flops, forgetful minds… anything to get a laugh! I do reserve the right to delete any links to crude or inappropriate materials. Please leave a link directly to your Fess Up Friday post, and not your home page.

If you don’t blog, or would rather share your secrets anonymously (com’mon, they can’t be that bad!), you can leave your silly story in the comments section.

I’m not looking for a long post. Just a short admission reminding us all that we are all doing the best we can, and sometimes that just has to be good enough!! It won’t take long, and you’ll feel so much better getting it off your chest, *smiles*. So, you have no excuses!

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I did things a little differently this year. Last year was a total disaster! I started my seeds in potting mix, over watered, left them without light for too long, and eventually they all died. Not a single seedling survived the torture they endured at my hand.

My mother-in-law actually brought me some tomato plants, out of sheer pity I think. They did pretty good, until all of the tomatoes got Blossom End Rot! I didn’t go completely without tomatoes though. I was totally shocked to find a couple of beautiful tomato plants randomly growing in the goat’s pen! I couldn’t believe the goats turned out to be better gardeners than I was! At least now I know that goat poop is great for tomato plants!! That’s good to know this time around.

So, here’s what I did this year:

I had these cute little terracotta pots, so I decided to use them for some of my seeds. I’ve also saved little yogurt cups to start more seeds in. You can start seeds in just about anything that will hold water.

Seeds grow best in a soilless medium. One highly recommended mixture that you can put together yourself is made up of equal parts of fine vermiculite and milled peat moss. Since my husband could not find any vermiculite at the store, we opted to buy a $4 bag of Miracle Grow seed starter mix, which is made up of peat moss and perlite.

Once the pots were full, I watered them a bit to make sure they were thoroughly damp. Using a pencil, I made 2-3 holes in the “dirt” of each pot, about 1/4″ deep. Then I dropped 2-3 seeds into each little hole, and covered them back over.

I put the pots in a plastic container that I’d saved from some baby spinach we’d purchased. What’s cool is that the container has a lid that snaps on, creating a perfect little greenhouse.

Remember, when you are starting seeds you need to cover the pots (or flats) with plastic (or zipped in a ziploc bag) and keep them out of sunlight for the first few days while they germinate. They need to be in a warm place; I like to set them on top of my fridge.

In a couple of days the seedlings should emerge. Then I will move them into the light. Watch them daily, these little guys come up quick and if you leave them too long without sunlight they will grow tall and leggy, and will be weak.

If you’ve been following me you know I tend to do some experimenting. Last year my seedlings did not grow well in the window sill. There just wasn’t enough light getting to them. This year I’m going to put one group of seedlings under the grow light on my AeroGarden, in their own container. I’m thinking that should work well. I’m also going to set some seedlings out in the new cold frame my husband just built for me. Hopefully the fragile plants will get enough light this time around, and get off to a good start!

I’m trying Brandywine Heirloom tomatoes again. I’m also going to seed some Amish Paste tomatoes.

*Crossing my fingers that they grow better this year!*

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If you’ve never heard of a Neti Pot before, let me explain what it is. The pot itself looks somewhat like a genie’s lamp, and is usually made of ceramic. You fill it with a saline solution (warm salt water) and use it to flush out your nose.

I have to admit, I was somewhat apprehensive about using this thing. I mean, there’s something a little intimidating about the idea of pouring water up your nose. I imagined myself choking on saline, and spewing it out everywhere! No, I wasn’t looking forward to trying this one out.

Yet, inevitably the day came when I woke up with a stuffy nose, and after trying every other natural cure for sinus congestion unsuccessfully, I knew it was time to give the Neti Pot a try.

I locked myself in the bathroom so nobody would walk in on me. There was nothing attractive about what I was going to do next.

I followed the directions to the “T”, scooping the salt crystals into a cup of warm water and then adding that to my Neti. The kit also had some herbal drops that came with it, which I also added in.

Taking one last deep breath, I leaned over the sink, tipped my head sideways, and put the tip of the pot to my nostril. Slowly, I began pouring the solution into my nose. And right off the bat it went down my throat and I had to stop and spit it out.

Yuck!!

I tried again, and the same thing happened. See, what is supposed to happen is this:

You lean over a sink, and tip your head sideways so that one nostril is directly above the other. Then you put the tip of the Neti pot to your upper nostril, and slowly pour the solution in. Keep breathing through your mouth. The saline flows from your upper nostril and drains out through the lower nostril. It looks like this,

A little weird, I know. Let me just say, she makes it look easy.

It definitely took some practice. I found that leaning forward a bit helped. What didn’t help was the fact that I was severely congested, and I’m pretty sure the saline couldn’t even drain correctly and was being redirected down my throat instead. It took a lot of blowing my nose before I made progress with a slight trickle of saline passing through.

Anyways, there was no immediate relief. However, about an hour after using the Neti I did notice that my sinuses did seem to be a little clearer. I used the pot twice a day for two days, and by the third day my cold was gone!

I definitely credit the Neti pot and the herbal drops that went into the saline solution for my quick recovery. My poor husband didn’t get over his cold as quickly. He chose not to try the Neti pot, and got to suffer with sinus congestion for a whole week.

Though it wasn’t fun to do, and took a bit of practice to get the hang of, it was worth it. Though weird and unflattering I will definitely use the Neti Pot again at the first sign of another head cold.

Have you ever tried using a Neti Pot? I’d love to hear what you think about this ancient cold remedy!

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Sure, you could go out and spend $13 on Ziploc Vacuum seal bags, or other expensive gadgets. Or… you could use this handy little tool:

That’s right, the every day straw.

Here’s how to use this breakthrough technology…

Put your food to be frozen into a ziploc freezer bag. Zip the bag almost all the way, leaving an opening just big enough to slip a regular drinking straw into the bag. Use the straw to suck the air out of the bag. When the bag has shrunk around its contents all that it can possibly shrink, quickly pull the straw out and zip the bag closed.

Voila! A vacuum sealed bag!! That’s how I do it, anyways.

My husband gets a kick out of watching me sucking the air out of bags with a straw. Hey, whatever works, right?!

Oh, and be cheap about it. Don’t go out and buy a bag of straws. Just save one the next time you swing through drive thru! That way you can rationalize the fast food splurge with the savings in vacuum seal bags.

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Well, there are many ways to reduce our electricity usage. But today I’m going to talk about the first thing I am working on to bring down our bill.

Lights.

We’ve always been good about turning a light off when leaving a room. Even the kids are in the habit of flipping that switch back down. But it never occurred to me, until recently, that perhaps we don’t need to have so many light bulbs on per room. Have you ever gone through your house and counted exactly how many light bulbs you have? You might be surprised.

As I went through our home the other day, I counted 60 light bulbs! Do we really need nine bulbs in one bathroom? Or nine in the kitchen? So, I set to work unscrewing all but 15; one bulb for each room- three for the kitchen.

Lets do some math. Your power bill is based on how many kilowatts per hour you use in a month (KWH). What you are charged per hour depends on where you live. You can figure this out by looking at your power bill and dividing your payment due by the total KWH used. Mine comes to 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

The average light bulb is 60 watts, right? If you left that light on for one hour, you would have  used 60 watt hours, or .06 kilowatt hours. So, according to what I get charged per KWH, I would have to pay .006 cents for that one hour. Doesn’t sound like much does it?

But multiply that by the 60 bulbs I have in my home and by about 5 hours of usage per day (just guessing on that one), and my cost would be around $2 per day. Multiply that by the days in the month… you see where I’m going with this. We are paying somewhere around $50-$60 per month for our lights.

If I’m going to try to reduce my monthly power bill, turning out the lights is a great place to start!

So, I went through the house unscrewing bulbs in every room. All of the bedrooms have an overhead fan/light, as well as a lamp on a dresser. I unscrewed all of the overhead lights, and left the one bulb in the lamp as the main light source. I also replaced the lamp bulbs with the new 13 watt compact florescent bulbs.

I did the same in every other room in the house- leaving only one bulb on, and replacing the 60 watt bulb with a compact florescent one, except for the kitchen- I left three lights on in there, one was the bulb over the stove.

I knew that if I didn’t totally unscrew the bulbs, that out of habit we would walk into the room and flip the light on. And it would be hard to stop doing that. Sure enough, later that evening when the kids went to their rooms there was mass confusion! “Mommy!! My light doesn’t work!” I showed them both how to turn their lamps on, and explained that we don’t really need to have four lights come on when we enter the room, and that we’d be doing our best to save money on the power bill.

Even I have found myself walking into a room and flipping the light switch on. And when nothing happens I remember to use the lamp. We’ve been doing this for five days now, and you know, it’s amazing how little light you really need! One bulb in the bathroom is plenty. And a single lamp as the main source of light in a room is surprisingly sufficient.

We are so spoiled as Americans. Nine light bulbs in a bathroom… seriously? It it truly necessary? And it’s so funny to me that I never questioned that! I simply filled the fixtures with bulbs, and dutifully replaced the burnt out ones.

Well, now I am seeing things in a whole new light! (Ha ha) I’m anxious to see how our power bill is effected over the next few months.

(As a side note, please read this warning about using compact florescent light bulbs. They do contain mercury, so be very careful not to break one!!)

So what do you think? How many bulbs do you have in your home? Do you think you could live with half that amount of light?

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This… this is okay. No harm done, right? (Well, as long as my mother-in-law doesn’t mind a goat on her truck!)

But remember this? Totally not okay! Get off the van! By the way, she climbs to the very top and naps up there too. Booger.

But it gets worse.

My front and back door are filthy from muddy hoof prints.

The beautiful wreath I had decorating my front door has become lunch to the goats on several occasions.

The chickens scratching in, and destroying the nice mound of mulch around my baby fruit trees.

The pig has decided that her favorite potty spot just so happens to be immediately beside my back door steps- our main entrance. Great. Not exactly an inviting aroma.

And then there’s the clothes line…

Not only does the puppy yank my clean clothes off the line and drag them into the dirt below… the pig also thinks it’s a fun game to jerk my pants down and shake them violently in her mouth while I chase her around the yard trying to retrieve the now filthy garment. Even the goats get in on the action, assuming that I’m simply hanging up a yummy treat for them nibble.

At times, it’s the picture of chaos.

Oh yeah, and try running to the car from a muddy pig on Sunday morning while wearing your best skirt and high heals. Fun, let me tell ya!

For heavens sake, if you’re gonna free range your animals, keep them fenced in their own area! Make life easier on yourself and designate an “animal free” zone. Just one more thing I wish we’d done before we got the animals!

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In light of our new financial situation, I shared that I would be canceling the internet in order to save as much money as we can until my husband finds full time work again. I am incredibly humbled to share with you that one of my dear readers has blessed me by paying for one month of internet service! Which means, I’ll still be able to post daily for a while. Yay!!

Many more of you either commented, or emailed me personally, suggesting that I set up a Paypal  “Donations” tab on the sidebar so that you can help keep me up and running until we get back on our feet. At first, I totally rejected that idea. I hate asking for a “hand out”!! But, I heard your sincere desire to help me continue blogging daily, and I considered that maybe the Lord wants to use some of you to bless us.  So, after prayerfully seeking what I should do in this regard, I’ve come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be right for me to deny a blessing to you if you feel led to give.

I have been in the situation when I truly wanted to bless somebody, and I just knew it was what the Lord wanted me to do. But when that person, out of pride, denied me the honor of giving to them, and rejected what I had to offer, I was honestly heart broken. I know that when you obey the Lord and use what He has given you to bless others, He will restore it unto you tenfold! And I don’t want to take that from any of you.

So….. I’m going to put up a donations button. JUST until my husband finds full time work again. Please do not feel any obligation to donate anything. Only give as the Lord leads. I know times are hard right now. Everybody needs to be saving all of the money they can. But if you enjoy this blog enough that you can’t stand the thought of only once a week postings, or if you just want to be a blessing to our family in a time of need, then I will be honored to have your support!

I am already amazed at how the Lord is blessing us through others. My husband has been offered several little odd jobs to do, and I’m finding lots of things to list for sale on Craigslist. I know the Lord will continue to provide for our every need.

Thank you guys for your continued faithfulness to my blog. I’m just a normal mom sitting behind the computer screen typing the things of my heart. It is so fun for me to have all of you along with me on this journey! Bare with me as we travel this bumpy road.

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(Please ignore the unsightly pallets in the background, just another project in the works!)

More and more often I am finding myself confronted with the question, “Are you really gonna be able to do it?”

“Yes,” I say with determination. Yes. We will eat the pig.

But in the back of my mind I realize that it’s so much easier said than done. I do realize this. But, if you know me at all, you know that I am one who does what she sets out to do. Though tempted at times, I am not a quitter. I am stubborn and persistent.

And I am determined to follow through with the plan.

I am, however, afraid that there is an even harder question that I must face…

Are you gonna be able to do it? Or, at least, watch me do it.

I’m a little concerned that you guys are growing a bit, well… attached… to Mrs. Pork Chop!

Common’ guys, you knew what she was for when we got into this mess to begin with! You gotta be strong with me!

If you are going to live the homesteading life, even if only living it vicariously through us, you gotta take the good with the bad!

But I have to admit. It’s gonna be hard. Really hard. I mean, just look at that face! She’s like a loyal dog… just a lot more trouble.

Boy, I hope I don’t cry like a sissy!

We still have a few more months to go though, so you softies out there have a little more time to prepare yourselves.

This is life. Just don’t hate me when it’s all said and done!

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Yes!! I was so excited the other night when I made my first batch of homemade mayonnaise, and it came out perfectly!! (Well, after a couple of tries, anyways.) One more thing I don’t have to buy pre-made anymore!! Woohoo!

It really is easy. There’s no reason you can’t do this  yourself! Just pour some stuff into a blender and mix for about three minutes. And it will cost you much less than buying a jar of it already made (and full of yucky preservatives!) at the store.

I challenge you to try this yourself at least once! I’m hooked.

Here you go!

Homemade Mayonnaise

• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp white distilled vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 dash paprika (optional)

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

In a blender, add all ingredients except the last 3/4 cup oil. Blend on low for 2 minutes. Then, with blender still running, take the cap off the lid and slowly pour the remaining 3/4 cup oil into the blender as a thin stream. (Pouring too quickly will cause your mayo to be runny.) Caution: splattering may occur (ask me how I know)! Continue blending for a few more seconds, or until thickened; it doesn’t take long. Store in the fridge, preferably in a glass container.

Makes 1 c. mayonnaise.

My husband is a total JFG Mayonnaise snob. He’ll have nothing but that! So I was very pleasantly surprised when he licked a spoon with my homemade version on it, and thoughtfully replied, “Hmmm… it’s good!”

He likes it! Yay for me!! One less thing we have to add to our grocery list. That makes me happy.

I’ve noticed that some store bought mayo has sugar added to it. If you like a sweeter mayonnaise, you might try adding a little sugar to suit your taste. You can also use Canola oil instead of vegetable oil.

Enjoy!!

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Once behind closed doors, I looked at Jerry questioningly. He hesitated for a moment, and then tears filled his eyes as he quietly said, “They let me go today at work.”

Fired.

Immediately my heart was filled with compassion for my husband, and I hugged him tight and kissed him several times. He said, “I was fine until I saw you!”

I asked, “What reason did they give?” He said, “Staff reduction. They let two other guys go too.”

Deep breath. Wow. Okay. Lord, you can handle this.

We are fortunate that my husband still has his part time job. He got on the phone to call his supervisor to see if he could pick up some extra time with this side job. He said they are only allowed to work a part-time employee 28 hrs/wk, but that they would try to work him as close to that as they could.

If he works the full time allowed for part timers he’ll make about $1100/mo. That is if they have that much work for him to do.

More than half of that would go to pay our mortgage. Drat that stupid mortgage!

Another deep breath.

But you know… we’re okay. I’m not worried.

I just wish I knew what was ahead. Is this just a bump in the road? Or should I buckle up for an off-roading adventure? Is it time to break into our food storage, or should we continue to save that for even harder times?

So, this is the game plan: Monday morning I’m going to start making phone calls to cancel bills and services… including internet. Which obviously means that I won’t be blogging as much.

I know. It’s a big bummer. We just can’t afford to keep the internet knowing that we may need that money to keep a roof over our heads. We have family who have internet though, so maybe once a week we can hop on their computers and do what we need to do.

Cell phones will be turned off. We may have to cancel the home phone too, but it’s only like $13/mo, so we’ll keep that for as long as we can, for emergencies.

I’m gonna start asking around to see if anybody has a mini fridge that we can borrow. I’m thinking that if we only keep a few items that need to be cold, then we can unplug the main fridge/freezer and save on our power bill. We’ll probably be taking drastic measures to cut our power bill in other ways as well.

Pray that our garden grows well this year!

We bought an incubator today so that we can begin increasing our chicken flock size for meat and eggs. We figured, well, you know the saying, “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime,” something like that anyways. Well, in our case it’s, “Teach a man to use an incubator, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” *smiles*

It’s funny, really. Over the past week Jerry and I have been talking about whether or not we could afford for him to quit his part time job so that he could be home more to help me with working the land and the animals. After looking over our already very tight budget, we decided that we just could not afford to do so. Last night, we prayed that the Lord would lead us in the way we should go.

We can only take this as an answer to our prayers. But, wow, we totally didn’t mean for him to lose his main job!

Whatever is to come, we take comfort in knowing that the Lord is faithful. He will provide. He has a reason for this, and it will only be for our good. So, what is there to fear? What is there to worry about? He provides for the birds and the flowers… how much more does He love us? I praise the Lord for answering our prayer, even if it was not in a way that we would understand.

I am hoping that I will be able to keep the blog up, and posting on Facebook. I’ve really enjoyed meeting you guys on a more personal level. But if it’s only once a week for a while, hang in there with me!! I have a feeling that our adventures are just beginning!

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