Down on the Homestead May 9 - 15

[forestdale]

Hello homesteaders and Happy Mother's Day to all the ladies here.

I've had a lovely day so far - it's 3 pm on Mother's Day afternoon. Turns out that my son had to work today so he's cooking dinner when he comes home. He and his brother gave me a mini muffin tray (that I've wanted for a while but I told them I refused to buy one because it was too expensive) and a Pixies CD. I LOVE the Pixies, maybe some of you ladies remember them from long, long ago. Even my son loves them, we often swap CDs. I had breakfast made for me by dh and he gave me some flowers and a box of chocolates. My step son came over for morning tea with my dil. I made some apple mini muffins just before they arrived so we got to eat some of them warm straight from the oven. Life's good.

I told you ladies that last week my DH went on his first long driving trip since his stroke. Well, everything went okay except for one thing - he lost the car!! I know I shouldn't laugh, but even now it makes me chuckle. He left the car in the car park of a huge shopping centre and when he came back he couldn't remember where he put it. He rang me up in a panic and I told him to go to the parking attendant - he must have been a nice bloke because one of the attendants drove dh around until he found the car. Phew! (LOL) I think the only remnant of the stroke is this short term memory loss. DH now often forgets things but maybe it's one of those things that will get better with time.

The rest of this day I've spent doing a little tidying up and reading.

I hope everyone of you has a lovely Mother's Day.

[homesteadmamma]

Good morning and Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Bethany, sorry to hear your dh lost the car. Thankfully there was a nice attendant around to help him out.

Not sure whats happening here today. I was sleeping nice and soundly and my oldest son phoned to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Needless to say I was happy, but wish he had done it a wee bit later.

The kids want to make a cake for me so that will be interesting. They had so much fun baking my birthday cake, I think this could become a habit. I don't mind though, they have fun doing it.

I do plan on cutting more squares for the quilt I'm making.

Thats it for now, I may be back later.

Have a wonderful day everyone, down on your homestead.

[MJsLady]

Goooood Morning!!!!
Bethany, the losing the car thing, I do that every now and then! LOL I know at the time it is not funny but afterwards I always chuckle at myself!
CJ sounds lovely!
Well My dh sent me an ecard that declared Mother's day is for wives too! What a sweetie he is!
Today I was going to water the garden but MJ has declared that I will do no yard work today... how do yo explain that it isn't work if you have fun doing it???
A friend gave me an electric trimmer yesterday. It is used but hopefully it will get the grass down some, better than the idiot stick!
Drew may be going to a bbq with CJ and his mom. MJ is a touch upset that he would leave on mom's day but CJ's mom is his adopted mom too!
It is cloudy and windy out this morning!
I do plan to put up 1 load of laundry and make brownies. Other than that I have no plans so far!
Have a great day ladies!

[homesteadmamma]

Sis, you listen to MJ and not do a thing today, not even laundry!!!

[guest2]

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Today I woke up in a panic. It was 8:21 a.m. and that is the time that we had to be out the door to leave for church. Jeff told me that I was sleeping so soundly that he turned off the alarm clock and wanted to just let me sleep as long as I needed to. He's very sweet! Needless to say though, we did not make it to church this morning.

Jaysn made us all pancakes for breakfast and gave me a nice card that he created earlier this morning. Chris had taken me out for lunch earlier in the week and Josh got me a Legalos poster (yep, I got the cute blond elf on my bathroom door now ). Jeff had gotten me the DVD "What Women Want" and we stayed up late watching that last night. Jeff also took us all out to lunch yesterday and we spent the afternoon with my MIL, FIL, SIL, niece and BIL.

Today we have been working in the yard. Jeff and Chris are terracing the big front flower bed for me. Jaysn mowed the back lawn and weeded out another flower bed. Josh weedeated for me. I potted up some geraniums and trailing ivy into an old pot and it looks wonderful! I also did some weeding and fertilized the vegies in the garden.

Tonight we are just planning on relaxing a bit. I have been called for jury duty tomorrow so I need to get a good night's sleep.

Be blessed!

[canadian gardener]

Happy Mother's day all. Having fun, went to church, Dh gave me a nice card, ds brought me a flower and dd left a card (she is off on a field trip for 2 weeks deep inside a park). I got a deal on some steaks and dh is bbq them contrary to my menu plans which as Tina taught me long ago, work better when they flex.

[canadian gardener]

Big news in mine and Tina's province. Health strike is now over and further doom and disaster looms!

What you may wonder??????

Well it isn't a forest fire, things are cool and damp for a nice change! Which actually may help the current disaster!

So what is the current disaster you wonder??????







GASP







A BEER STRIKE!!!! The plant that makes one of the specialty beers is on strike, and the news is fussing that OH MY, IT MAY SPREAD!!!!!

Oh dear.


Doom looms! Wassail and warbling may cease from the local waterholes. Weirdness may strike BC! Oh well maybe that happened already.

[dmvezina]

Good morning! It was so nice to wake up and see the sun this morning. Yesterday I heard it would be cloudy in the morning. It is supposed to rain later this afternoon or evening, so I'm going to try and get as many loads of laundry out as I can. I have one in the washer now.
My dd-12 has an appointment at 9am, so I will be gone for about an hour and a half. Today is housecleaning day for me. I need to change the sheets, vacuum/sweep, wash the floors, dust, empty the small trash cans, windex and I'd like to make a snack for the kids. I follow Flylady and this is zone 2 which is the kitchen. So, hopefully I will get that started today.
Yesterday was a really nice day for me. DH did everything, even ran the dishwasher, emptied it and even washed dishes! Now, he NEVER washed dishes!! So that was a great present by itself! lol
I'm waiting for my ds-6 bus to get here. Then I need to go water my gardens and hop in the shower to go pick up dd at school for her appt. I'm hoping to get that load of laundry hung out before leaving too and another into the washer.
I like starting my morning off chatting with you! It seems peaceful and puts my day into perspective.
Breakfast was doughnuts that I got for $1 a box and some gogurts that I got really cheap too.
Dinner will be open faced roast beef sandwiches with gravy, whipped potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls, pumpkin bread and fruit cups. I love providing my family with healthy, well rounded meals. THey don't always like it, but at least I know I'm feeding them good! lol
Well, ds's bus should be here in a couple of minutes, so I need to run.
I hope you all have a great day today!!

[homesteadmamma]

Good morning everyone on the wonderful sunny morning. It was just beautiful here yesterday and looks like another great day.

Dawn I'm with you. I always start my morning out with the ladies from the village. Its always so uplifting to see what is happening with everyone.

Margery - gasp!!!!

Today I need to bake bread, buns & muffins. I'll have to grind some grain before I get started. I'll wait until the kids are up though, otherwise they will think an jet has landed. Although the Whisper Mill is quieter than other grain mills, it still does make a noise.

I also need to get laundry started and the sheets out on the line. There is a gentle breeze today, so everything will dry quickly.

I"m also working on quilts. Were having another Pioneer Christmas, so I have to keep going on my quilting and crocheting. Seems early to be working on Christmas gifts but I can't leave it until later because thats when we have all our craft sales and I'm busy with painting.

Have a great day everyone.

[Heather]

Good morning ladies!

I had a wonderful day yesterday. We travelled to my parents and DH's Mom's. We had great visits with both and were so glad we did. When driving home late last night we drove through a terrible thunder and rain storm. The lightening lit up the sky! Today the sun is shining and the temperature is alreadty at 22 degrees C.

I have laundry on the line and more in the wash to go out. We had Delaney's birthday party here on Saturday with 10 little girls....I am taking down the streamers and balloons and such today. What a busy, hectic and fun day that was.

Chicken is in the crockpot for supper. We'll be having leftovers for lunch and I'm going to try and get some baking done this afternoon.

When we were at my parents Mom pulled out some old pictures and a diary of my Grandfather's brother. The journal/diary was from 1901 - 1904 when he died at age 29. There was an entry each day, couple lines each day and it was so interesting. Right from church on Sunday's to clearing a bush to selling a calf for $3.00, oh it was amazing. Mom is going to copy the diary for me so I can have one of my own. It was so sad though, he wrote in his journal right up until 6 days before he died...he wrote how he was working in the fields and had to stop from severe pain in his stomach...his wife took over writing for the next 6 days, each day getting worse, the day before he died they saw some progress and the next day (which is my birthday) he passed at 11:20 am. I cried~! Reading parts of this journal was stepping into my great uncles life and reliving it through him. I can't wait to read it all.

[canadian gardener]

The beer strike is worse-- it's affected the supplies of Labatt's Blue, and other major beer labels today! But the provincial govt is holding off intervening in it at least on the morning news!!!! It hasn't reached emergency measures act porportions, but you can tell the announcers feel this is a SERIOUS situation on a par with the hospital strike of last week.

And on my homestead, dh and I are hanging on, in the face of this tragedy! We don't drink much beer, but oh my we FEEL for those affected across the province. Can it GET any DRIER?????

ahem.

I may be a bit quiet the next few days, last night my step gran, Dulce who taught me pretty much all I know about gardens phoned, she is coming to stay this morning for a week, and I'm racing to get sheets on her bed, the monday wash done,

and I've been so lazy, I never bothered to do the grocery shopping on Friday, put it off and put it off, so I'm doing a fast one this morning as soon as the stores open.

this is what happens when I think, oh I can rest, I'll get to it next week. HAH, the universe over heard and landed me with an unexpectedly busy week.

However I'm looking forward to her visit. She is 87 and a lot of fun. I love her and we will have a great time together. One of the advantages to her visits, is we both take afternoon naps before going out to visit her elderly friends for tea.

Disadvantage is that every day is a "car day" in which I take dh to work at 630 am and pick him up at 4.

So I may be a bit quiet again-- sorry ladies. I'll check in, but I may not catch all the happenings, birthdays, prayer needs and so forth. If you think I need to pay attn to something hit me with a pm or tell me in this thread, it's my first stop of the day here.
Love to all
Margery

[Strawberry]

Good morning! It's a cloudy rainy morning and it makes me want to curl up in bed with a good book but the show must go on.

I had to drop off ds#2 at college by 7:15 so we could register for fall classes. I just got home from picking him up. He got into all the classes he wanted and for 3 classes it costed us $725

I've got bread dough rising and I should make some cookies too. Laundry and bathrooms to cleans and that will probably be it. I don't clean too much the day before babysitting; I'll clean after they leave.

Margery - I hope you have a wonderful visit with your step-gran

Hope everyone has a great day!

[forestdale]

Goodmorning ladies.

Margery, I beer strike in Australia would cause a riot! I hope you have a lovely visit with Dulcie.

Heather, what a great family heirloom for you to have. I'm sure you'll love reading through this link to your past.

CJ, what other crafts do you make later in the year that you paint?

Dawn, I'm with you in providing healthy food for my family but you'll have to tell me what a fruit cup is

Like many of you this is usually my first stop of the day. My son left to go to Sydney early today. I'm not sure when he left, but when I got up at 4.45am he was gone. So with dh at the store and me in the house alone, it'll give me an opportunity to have a good clean up. I'm soaking ds's chef's uniforms now and they should be ready to wash and hang out later this afternoon. It's been ages since I cleaned out the laundry so I'll do that, vacuum, wash the floors and tidy up my bedroom and the living room. I also want to go through my books and magazines so I hope I get enough time to do that. I have a few things to do outside as well.

The sun is coming up now, it's 6.03am and it looks like another fine and sunny day.

Enjoy your day.

[guest2]

A BEER strike????? OMGoodness! I'm so glad the colleges here are getting out for the summer or their might be rioting over that one in the 2 college towns near me. Idiots! Sorry about that momentary outburst, we had rioting on one of those campuses a few years back when the college cracked down on underage drinking. The police riot squad was called since the "idiot drunks" were setting big dumpsters on fire, breaking windows, etc.. One of our friends who is a police officer was hurt when a student hit him in the legs with a board with nails sticking out of it. It was really awful and even made the national news (how is that for good publicity???).

Everyone sounds very busy as usual. Hope you are all having a lovely day!

My jury duty was cancelled today. The boys had already left with Jeff for work, so I had to go and retrieve them. It turned out well though because we ran into an old friend that we love and have not seen in ages, so we invited her and her SIL out for a BBQ this weekend!



Chris went and mowed a lawn when we got home from town before the rains hit. Chris still has another lawn to do this afternoon and we are just praying the rains hold off a bit more.
Jaysn is working on his CLEP prep stuff and Josh is doing his math at the moment. All the boys had gotten most of their schoolwork done this morning while they were with their Dad.

This afternoon Jeff has an appointment to get his stitches taken out from where they removed a lump off the back of his head. it was just a blocked hair folicle, so he is fine. I still need to make something for dinner since we have band practice this evening. I'm thinking meatloaf sounds good!


Be blessed!!!!!

[doodlebug]

Hello everyone! I haven't been around much lately but hope I'm back for a while. Today was in the '80's and humid here. Oh I hate the humidity in VA and it's depressing to see it this hot and humid in May. I helped dh work on some lights at church today. We will have to go back tomorrow and finish up as we ran out of parts. Dd is studying for her final exams and we'll be finished up with homeschool for the year next Monday I think I get more excited about finishing up the school year than she does, lol.
I spent some time today going in circles with the post office people I've mailed two packages out of the country in the past two months and neither of them got to the person they were sent to. So the PO tries to convince me that the packages are stuck in customs in the other countries, yeah right They even tried to discourage me from filing a claim; said it would take weeks and weeks to hear anything; they couldn't do anything about customs, blah, blah, blah I think I'll be doing a lot more business with UPS and a lot less with the PO from now on, ugh! This has me really stressed out.
Well, gotta go water my container garden and try not to melt from the humidity, lol. Hope everyone has a nice night!

Oh, almost forgot! Does anyone know how to trap a frog??? We have a frog that has moved in next to our house and he is the loudest, most annoying critter. Oh, the sound he makes is awful, and in the middle of the night when we are trying to sleep! I can't seem to get a glimpse of him so was wondering if anyone knew a sure-fire way to trap the noisy thing so I can take him back down the hill to the creek where he belongs.