Down on the Homestead - Dec. 19 - 25th

**homesteadmamma** · 12-19-2004, 05:35 PM

Whew we are finally back up. I was having village withdrawals. I haven't been posting much, but I have been here reading as I can.

Today has been a quiet sort of day. I've been reading, doing some laundry and getting ready to go into the city tomorrow.

I just got back from cleaning the post office. Tonight will be playing some games with the kids and doing some reading.

Have a great evening everyone.

**guest2** · 12-19-2004, 06:04 PM

CJ

I spent a good part of the day restoring my computer after another crash and having to take it back to factory settings.

My computer mouse also went on the fritz so I am borrowing Jaysn's until I can find my spare.

Jeff is replacing some of my kitchen countertops and shelves in the kitchen today along with installing a new kitchen sink for me. It's my Christmas present!!!!

No more ginsu knife cut countertops (whatever possessed the boys to do that is beyond my understanding) and sagging shelves under the sink.

I'm having some struggles with some church issues at the moment (posted about it in the Haven) and they are weighing heavily upon my heart today. I know that God is faithful even when man is not.

Praying you have a blessed evening.

**QuilterMom** · 12-19-2004, 06:20 PM

for everyone! I haven't had the time to address everyone individually, but do read everyone's posts and think of you guys often!

I made some executive decisions today about cutting service to a couple of things that will save us over $500 a year. Dh isn't happy about one, but he'll get over it.

We've had a little time to talk today about moving away from here and I want to get some goals down on paper. I know moving away may never become a reality, but we both know that for us to have the kind of acreage that we really want we can't be here. We're not millionaires and probably never will be! Our neighbor to the south has added fuel to the fire for both of us today by playing loud music all day while working on building his front fence. This happens every time the fence is worked on (it's one with rock posts and it's taking forever for them to be built). Today's selection went from Christmas music to country (which I loathe) to death metal to rock. I worked outside all day and dh was out a good portion of the day so we both got to 'enjoy' the concert as well.

One comment that has come up from both of us today is that we want to live on enough land that we don't have to see or hear anyone else.

We're having unusually cold temps here. We're supposed to have wind chills in the 20's overnight tonight and then overnight tomorrow night the low is supposed to be around 31. I have been working all day at protecting the garden beds (I have tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, squash, zucchini, and sugar snap peas growing right now). We shouldn't have had to have worried about this kind of weather for over a month. Dh also got some of the limbs and such out of our woods today (back from when Asplundh came and trimmed around the power lines after the first hurricane). I didn't realize what a mess they left behind. Dh also cut down the oak in the back yard that we had decided to get rid of. All that remains now is the trunk. I got quite a bit of the limbs hauled most of the way up through the front yard. I'll get them out to the road for yard trash recycling pickup as I'm able.

We went and looked at Christmas lights last night and treated ourselves to Chinese for dinner. We're having the leftovers tonight - thank goodness because we're both too tired to cook!

Dh has also worked on ds's nightstand today. He's going to start staining it tonight. Ds has had tummy woes off and on today so we didn't take a chance going to church today since the service lasts an hour and 40 minutes! He seems okay, I'm thinking it's jus something he ate.

Off to poke around the village a bit and then take a nice, hot shower.

Have a great day everyone!

**slowtypinwoman** · 12-19-2004, 06:21 PM

Hi CJ, Sounds like you are having a relaxing day.

Hello to everyone Happy Sunday,

Well my day was full due to the village being down. I got all my holiday baking done and my gift bags made up to take to school tomorrow. My gift bags this year consist of :
~ spiced nuts
~ Pumpkin butter or blackberry jelly
~ mini pumpkin loaf
~ Striped pretzel sticks with milk and while chocolate
~ book thong
~ purse sized hand lotion tub

I was wondering if anyone else does something like this for their co-workers? I make one for all the teacher's rooms that I go into, the princpal, and Mike's principal and his wife. (who are friends of ours outside school too) I rhink I made 10 bags in all.

Yesterday we went to a Christmas party up the road from us and Alex stayed by herself for the first time alone. We called her every half hour. I was so proud of her. My baby is growing up.

During the day we went to town and did a bit of last minute shopping. It was a mess in town. We went to the dollar store to get some things for her white elephant gift exchange at school and I gave her a bit of money. She wanted to buy her G/fs a gift for Christmas. I tell you I love that child sometimes so much it makes my heart burst. She was so cute walking around looking at things for her friends. She made her choices and has them all wrapped to give tomorrow.

We have only 2 and a half day til break but sometimes those can be the longest days, right before break.

I still need to get some laundry done so we have clean clothing for tomorrow. And Alex is wanting her dinner. I'll say bye for now.
Have a peaceful evening everyone!
Marcia

**kimmee** · 12-19-2004, 11:13 PM

Hello my friends - I'm so happy the Village is back up!!
CJ -I'm glad you had a nice quiet day - hope you have plenty more in the next few weeks!!
Debbie- Wow- new countertops and A new sink!! I'm jealous - I am sorry about your church issues - trust is a very scary thing...
Kim- Love the new siggy quip!! With what you've been putting up with lately you need a kick butt attitude!!

Marcia- Your giftbags sound fabulous!! What a way to pamper your co-workers!!
Today the boys and I worked on our Christmas Village nearly all day!! It was quite nice - we found a few new buildings to add and then added some little scenes - sledders and ice fishing.
Bruce's mom brought over presents for us and visited for a little bit - bruce showed off all the work we have been doing in the basement and we got the latest scoop on his kids who don't talk to us anymore because we cut the purse strings

Had to make a few animal changes around here to promote some harmony and we got some barn & out building work done.
I talked to my oldest brother (Tony) for a long time today - its his bday - and it was really nice.
With exception to my mom's little antics we had a pretty nice weekend!! Schools out now and the kids are home for two whole weeks!!
Hope you all have lovely holidays on your homestead!! I am so excited!!

**DaisyLady** · 12-20-2004, 10:36 AM

A quick post to say hi all.

DH is now on holidays and so are the kids. I am still busy knitting but I am mailing out my parcel today (if we dare go out in the cold). Still have other knitting to finish and Christmas presents to finish.

It is -30 C with a windchill of -44 C. Not sure if our cars will start. Tomorrow is supposed to be much warmer ....a balmy -5 C

Have a great day everyone and I will try to catch up later in the week.

**QuilterMom** · 12-20-2004, 11:09 AM

Kimmee - I hadn't noticed any posts from you and was going to PM you this morning until I saw you had posted in this thread! Glad you like the addition to my siggy line. I saw it elsewhere online yesterday and it made me laugh.

Stay warm Chriss!

I am soooooooooo cold here, but refuse to turn on the heat. We can tough it out. It's supposed to warm back up on Wednesday. I woke up with a swollen eyelid this morning. I think it's a combination of the up and down weather (this often happens during this kind of weather) and being out in the wind all day yesterday. Ds says he feels achy all over, but you'd never know it by the way he's acting!

Not much going on here today. Ds is finishing up his math lesson (worksheet portion) and wants to make gingerbread men today. I'm anxiously waiting to see if Bell South really does show up today to bury the wire in the yard.

Have a great day everyone!

**guest2** · 12-20-2004, 11:28 AM

Goodmorning all!

Well, my kitchen is a disaster!

After Jeff got working on the countertops we realized that the old cabinets were too shallow for the new countertops so he had to rebuild the cabinets. Poor guy was getting really cold going in and out of the house and was not feeling that great to begin with and made a wrong angle cut on the countertop material and has been feeling terrible about it ever since. I did get him to turn the oven back on but my sink is not hooked up, my stovetop is still sitting in the dining room and I'm missing counters. Hopefully his boss will help him a bit after work today to figure out the right angles for the countertop cuts. Since we live in an older doublewide trailer, nothing that is "standard" fits right. I feel horrible for my sweetie because he really feels like he has let me down even though I know that he is doing his best.

Jaysn's friend from Colorado spent the night last night and all the boys are having a great time. Mark (the friend) came into my room last night just to sit and talk.

He has been doing this since he was about 4 and I just love our chats. He truely is like another son to me and I look forward to his visits. My husband and I realized the other day that Mark spends at least half his time here when he comes to see his grandparents and considers our home his also and us family. I think he enjoys the stability and love that we always offer to him.

Today I need to get all the dishes washed using the bathtub as my sink. The cats are going to think I've flipped out.

I had planned on doing some more Christmas baking, but I think I'll wait for tomorrow when my kithcen is back in order to do that. I have to work at 3 today and hopefully the paper that Jaysn delivers will be here by 4:30 so that he can deliver that tonight. As for the rest of the day I think I'll get some reading done, wrap some more gifts and try to figure out how to function without my kitchen when I know the house will be full of hungry teen boys today. I just know that we will have at least 3 extras since the school is out on break now.

You all have a blessed day!

**Michele Annette** · 12-20-2004, 12:40 PM

Hi Everyone!

It feels so good to be here!

I had to take a cab into work this morning because the car wouldn't start. I called DH on his work cell phone and he was too far away to get me to work, so I called a cab. DH was appologizing and really wants me to get a more reliable car once the first of the year is here. So we have been currently looking for a new used car. He will be picking me up from work tonight.

We got lots of new snow last night and it is still snowing today. We get Friday off this week for Christmas too! I have been feeling much, much better and last night managed to bake some cookies! Yeah! So tonight I will be doing more baking and sewing. DH is going to make the chocolate covered pretzles for me.

CJ- I'm glad you had a nice weekend!

Kim- I hope you are staying warm and I am sorry to hear about your rude neighbor!

Marcia- I do homeade treats in gift bags for coworkers and friends too. In my bags this year I have pitzelle cookies, chocolate covered pretzles, bullseyes (peanut butter balls), mini pumkin chocolate chip loaves and shortbread cookies. All of these treats are not in everyone's bag...I mix and match according to what people like.

Kimmee- I am so glad that you posted! I was hoping things weren't too stressful!

Chriss- Enjoy your holiday time with your family!

Debbie- I am sorry to hear about your kitchen. I hope it is all in working order soon!!

Well, I must get back to work. I hope you are all having a great day!

**matt&roxy** · 12-20-2004, 01:07 PM

Good Morning!!!!!

I still have this darn toothache! Not getting much sleep because of it and would love nothing more than to just sleep for more than an hour without waking up in pain!!!!!!

I love reading all of your posts, it warms my heart and always makes me smile

I'm getting bummed about christmas, not sure why, but I just am!!!! I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Today, I need to do.....

~Laundry(3 loads)
~Vacuum the living room
~Make up some carpet freshner
~De-clutter my desk(I can't see it)
~Run the dishwasher

Not alot!!! Thank God!

I thought about running to town and hitting some of the goodwill's, but I don't know if I will or not!

I hope ya'll have a wonderful day!!!

**guest2** · 12-20-2004, 01:09 PM

Roxy,
Praying you can get something done about that tooth soon.

**forestdale** · 12-20-2004, 02:26 PM

Hi homesteaders!

I haven't had a lot of time to post here lately, but I have been reading a few posts. Debbie, I've often thought that we must share a gene but when you said that about your boys cutting the counter tops my thoughts were confirmed. My boys did that too! I never knew why, neither did they. They just felt they HAD to cut the tops of the drawers when they were putting away the cutlery. Grrrrr. What is it with boys, surely girls are perfect.

but seeing as I never had a daughter I don't know.

I'll be busy again today. I've been working the last two days so I have to catch up in the house now. Today I'll be baking my special Christmas cake (the fruit has been soaking in brandy for two weeks) - I use Nigella Lawson's recipe from her domestic goddess cookbook, doing laundry, making a bay leaf wreath to hang on the front door, supermarket shopping and wrapping all the Christmas gifts. My son Shane burnt his hand at work last night so I'm going over to visit him too to make sure he's okay.

It was very hot here yesterday at 35Cand it rained all night after some tropical storms yesterday afternoon. Now it's hot and humid, yuck.

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas preparations. This time next week it will all be aover for another year.

Have a great day, everyone and stay warm.

**Michele Annette** · 12-20-2004, 02:28 PM

Roxy, I hope you are able to get your tooth fixed soon!!!

Okay, so I just realized that I missed the thread from the Village Herald for the private forum, from October!

I just PM'ed Sara and I hope I can join all of you who are posting there! I have no idea how I missed that thread...bummer!

Today I feel great! I am so glad that I am starting to feel healthy again!

Debbie- I hope Jaysn is feeling better. Did he get his medication this morning?

Rhonda- I hope your Son's hand is feeling better! Burns are the worst! Whenever I read your posts about your weather, it makes me wonder what it's like to be in a warm climate in Winter...it's so interesting to have it be hot during Christmas!

I hope you are all having a great day!

**babetteq** · 12-20-2004, 02:31 PM

well the house we were planning on buying got sold out from under us. It's okay though because we may be able to get a better one that's up for sale. It's on a smallrr parcel of land, but the house itself is in better condition. And the land backs onto crown land... which means we can use the forest.

my sweetie is fighting off a bug and napping through lunch. I'm knitting socks (a new skill that I'm very proud of... what sick person invented knitting with 4 needles?) I'm housesitting in trade for chicken. Christmas baking almost done, going to do some canning later on today... I'm almost out of soups... time to put a big pot into cans.

It's geting colder, but not terrible yet.

babs

**kimmee** · 12-20-2004, 05:23 PM

Rhonda - I have Nigella Lawson's cookbook (Nigella Bites)- I love it!! I was going to ask you a while back if you had it cuz it seemed that you made a reference to it - or something similar to one of the recipes!! By the way you should expect sometning from the states around boxing day - I was having trouble finding this one thing I wanted and now it won't get there for Christmas -

but it will be there at some point by the Masters and wonders of the American Postal Force

Hey - Roxy - I just went through that whole throbbing tooth and had thing - did you notice it likes to really raise cain after you go to bed ?? I found three Advil took the edge off but it was a lot better with a shot of Tuaca - they wanteed to drill it and crown it for $470. so I had it yanked for $80 - of course I am old enough to just have them yanked - I do feel your pain - its like a bullet. I hope you start feeling more Christmassee cuz you only have a couple of days!!