Down on the homestead - Nov 13 to 19

**Strawberry** · 11-13-2005, 11:38 PM

Wow! I can't believe this thread hasn't been started yet.

We had a wonderful visit with dh's dad and stepmom. Usually our visits with them are a bit stressful but this visit was great! Dh did very well with the change in our routine; he's very tired now but he coped well.

I'm exhausted for some reason so I'll be taking it easy for the next few days. I guess I'll just have to sit around and read some books

Hope everyone had a great weekend

**dwallyfam** · 11-14-2005, 07:27 AM

I spent the day cleaning up after my dad. He wants his fall housecleaning done so I was doing it. Also was cleaning up a bread machine that I was given. Tried to use it but need to see if my friend still has the instructions. Otherwise I slep

**QuilterMom** · 11-14-2005, 07:58 AM

Dh and one of his co-workers worked on the kitchen all weekend. All the cabinets are in except the island - yay! I got everything put away in the new pantry yesterday and hope to get some things moved to their permanent location today. I unpacked all our fine china last night and some of it has been washed and is ready to put away. They also did some work in other rooms and unfortunately discovered that the new blinds that were supposed to be cut to the measurments we provided were cut incorrectly and one set won't close properly. Ugh!

I overdid it yesterday so I have to pace myself today and dh will just have to get over it that not everything he wants done is going to be done by the time he gets home tonight. His co-worker I think is coming every night this week to help after work (just riding home with dh) so that means he'll be eating dinner with us which puts more on me as well (dh is the official 'cook', but if they're going to get anything done at night then dinner will have to be mostly ready when they get here - aughhhhhhh!).

Have a wonderful day!

**homesteadmamma** · 11-14-2005, 01:15 PM

We had a wonderful weekend. We went to dd's farm on Sat. The kids had snowball fights (yes they have snow), checked out the horses, play games and then we had a spaghetti supper. Dd is so funny though. She isn't use to cooking for 10. We ended up having to run into town and purchasing another box of spaghetti.

Yesterday Chelsey had a music recital with a Manitoba composer. This mamma and pappa were just beaming when she played. Her teacher came over when it was finished and said how proud of her she was, that she had done a great job. It reminded me of how thankful I am for answered prayers in her life. All the kids did well though. One kid especially could make his fingers move incredibly fast. He was awesome.

Today were in for a huge storm with 20 cms of snow, high winds and cold temps, -10C. I think winter is here to stay.

I still need to get last night's dishes done, finish homeschooling with the kids and do some quilting. Tonight I'll be shovelling snow at the po, along with cleaning.

Tina, nice to hear you had a good visit.
Kim, glad to hear your cupboards are getting done.
Dwallyfam, welcome to the homestead thread.

Hope everyone has a nice Mon.

**Mom23boys** · 11-14-2005, 01:28 PM

Tina, I hope you find time to relax and take it easy.

dwallyfam, enjoy that bread machine!

Kim, yippee! Your kitchen is almost finished! I bet you are so glad!

CJ, sounds like you had a nice visit with your DD this weekend.

Yesterday was a busy day at home. I rearranged the LR, decluttering as I went. I rearranged Chris' and Dakota's room....decluttering it as I went too! Chris helped! I also started decluttering the kitchen. It seems like the more I declutter the more I accumulate. I am not bringing it into the house so someone else must be!

Today is a work day for me. The weather is suppose to change tonight from the 80's to the 60's. I sure wish it would make up it's mind. We have been up and down and up and down with our weather lately. You never know how to dress.

I hope everyone has a great day!

**Michele Annette** · 11-14-2005, 01:50 PM

Hi Everyone!

Michelle- I hope work is going better for you!

CJ- I want a snow storm now. I have been ready for winter since Nov. 1 and it's warm. Not complaining too badly

, I just want to get "into" the season if you KWIM. I'm ready! Stay warm and cosy

Kim- I'm glad you are able to enjoy your kitchen soon! I hope you feel better!

dwallyfam- have fun with baking bread!

Tina- I'm glad the visit was nice for you and your DH's family!

DH has been hobbling along with his brace on. He shouldn't we actually walking so he still uses the crutches from time to time.

He is so determined that nothing will stop him. Today he's hand delivering our Thanksgiving invitations.

DH has taken over my kitchen duties as per his request. He wants me to have more free time to do what I need/want to do. I haven't touched the stove since Thursday and it's been great. I've managed to get quite a bit done . DH is going to the grocery store today and said that he's making me chicken parm. for dinner. Sounds great to me. I get to make Thanksgiving dinner, but he said he would shop for me.

**Strawberry** · 11-14-2005, 02:18 PM

Hi everyone!

CJ - I love hearing about how parents are so proud of their children. I was thinking of your dd and wondering how her recital went. I'm so happy everything went well.

Well, today I'm resting and making some plans. I have a big challenge for myself and I'm making plans. Doing lots of paper work today

Later I need to take dh for some lab work and then pick dd up for college. Otherwise I'm home

I really need to make some bread and muffins for lunches this week. Tomorrow I'll make some ginger cookies.

I can't believe how fast Christmas is approaching. I usually have much more done before now but with dh's injury, I haven't had the time or energy to prepare. I am making a plan (that's part of my challenge) and I WILL be ready before Dec 1. At least that's my goal.

Now I must get off this computer and start putting my plan into action

Hope you all have a great day

**PrairieRose** · 11-14-2005, 03:16 PM

Hello homesteaders!

Haven't posted here in a few days but wanted to touch base with everyone.

Gripey has finished with his health tests, today being the colon scope and it turned out well. Whew! We've been a bit concerned as he's had a pain in his side that has come and gone..... . Dr. says nothing to worry about so we're going to assume he knows what he's talking about. A lot of our time has been dedicated lately to medical tests and dr.'s visits but I'm sure lots of you know how that goes. Now we'll see how this insurance pays that we've had for over a year and haven't used until now. I may be having a scope done as well as my mammogram. I'm a little behind on that one, should have had it done several months ago. The deductables should be met now so I'll probably do it before the end of the year.

Gripey spent most of the day in the backyard on Sat., cleaning up leaves and trash. He's been watering like crazy b/c it's sooo dry. I've been doing housework and laundry this afternoon since we got home from the hospital and will make some chicken fajitas for dinner.

It's looking like we won't have as large a crowd as usual for Thanksgiving so there won't be so much cooking going on. Ds and ddil won't be here due to a recent move and the cost of airfare

He told us last evening that they are planning on going with their church to New Orleans to spend that holiday cleaning up a neighborhood. I'm so proud of them.

I hope everyone has a great day.

**Mamaw** · 11-14-2005, 06:34 PM

Happy Monday everyone!
As you know, last week I spent with my DD and new DGD. It was such fun! The baby is wonderful and I just love her to pieces already. And her big sister is doing very well with her. She will be 2 on thanksgiving and we had tons of fun this week. We went to the park, played in the piles of leaves, rode her little bike, made Indian headbands and did Indian dances and baked sugar cookies. For such a little girl, she sure has a lot of energy! LOL

Over the weekend, I had oldest DGD here with me and my DS and DIL came in also. The family had a birthday party for my BIL so we all attended. It was a great family time and such fun. Now sadly, they have all gone home!

So I am back at home and back to the work grind. Coming back after being off a week is difficult since the work just piles up and is waiting for you. So this week will included several late nights in the office.
DH has gone off with friends to do some goose/duck hunting and DD is out with friends and working so I have the house all to myself. I really should get some chores done but I am pretty tired so I plan to get a bite to eat, take a long hot bubble bath and lights out early tonight!
This week I also need to get my hair cut and run a few errands, bath the dogs and clean up the house somewhat! Then on Friday it is the drive back to DD house to be with the grand children. We have tickets to a Winnie the Pooh show and will be taking DGD to it on Saturday. Then Sunday will have a family birthday party for her. So it should be fun even though it involved more driving/travel!

Oh well, what can you do
Well I am off to eat and sleep. Hope you all have a great Monday and take care, stay warm and safe

**QuilterMom** · 11-15-2005, 11:20 AM

Ds and I had to run a few errands this morning - pick up a package at the post office, Publix, and Walgreens. Thank goodness he can help me open the front gate! It's too heavy for me now (a big cattle gate). I was able to get dh's last Christmas present while we were out as well (well, technically I'm still waiting for something for him and ds to arrive by mail) so I am finished with everything except stocking stuffers - yay! We're halfway finished with ds's homeschool lesson, but I am worn out and had to take a break. We'll finish that up and hopefully I can get more put away and moved around in the kitchen later. Dh's co-worker had an emergency come up yesterday afternoon so he wasn't able to come help dh last night. I hope he can come tonight - dh gets more done when he has good help! The granite place is also supposed to come tomorrow morning to measure for our kitchen counters and hopefully we'll have them in a couple of weeks. I was hoping the kitchen would be finished by Thanksgiving, but it's not going to happen.

Have a wonderful day all!

**AmyBoz** · 11-15-2005, 03:35 PM

Today we are having parent conferences, so I was with parents from 8-1 and go back for more tonight from 6:30-8:30. Why is it that the parents that you really need to speak with never show, and the parents of kids who are earning A+'s with their eyes close always show? Although, it is really nice to get to tell parents how well their children are doing. They get so happy and proud.

Then, we had our book group meeting at school. We're reading "Why do All the Black Kids Sit Together in the Cafeteria?" It's an excellent book on racial identity and adolescents. I teach/live in an extremely diverse community and we felt, as educators here, we could definitely learn more about race relations and identity. It's a great read.

I came home then and got dinner ready to pop in the oven at 5:00, swept and dusted the living room, cleaned the kitchen, ran a dishwasher load, and put away a basket of laundry. I'm about to go get the kids from school.

Tonight I have massive amounts of coupons to clip while I watch tv, if I'm not too tired after conferences. I think I may be. I've not been feeling rested in the mornings, so I may need to go to bed a little earlier.

I've been feeling mild Braxton-Hicks contractions throughout the day, so I've been trying to drink a lot in order to keep them at bay. I don't know if its because I'm just very stressed today or what. I'm sure it's fine, it's just uncomfortable.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their Tuesday!

**Strawberry** · 11-15-2005, 03:45 PM

Take some time to rest Amy

It's been a busy morning with phone calls. GRRRRRRR the bank lost some paper work that need approval by day. I did make a photocopy but the insurance company wants originals.

So far I've got two loaves of bread in the oven, bathroom cleaned, made many phone calls, two loads of laundry finished, made chocolate pudding for lunches and packaged some chicken I bought yesterday.

Later I need pick up a few things for dd's birthday dinner, buy her a present, take dh's to Home Depot for a few things and pick up dd. I'm glad the snow has stopped. We were under a heavy snowfall warning for 20 cms. Thankfully the roads are now plowed.

Tonight I'm hoping to cross stitch and make more plans for my challenge.

Have a great day

**Mom23boys** · 11-15-2005, 07:10 PM

Michele, what a thoughtful DH you have to want to help you so you can have more time for you!

Tina, good luck on your challenge!

Lisa, glad to hear your DH's test went well.

Mamaw, glad you were able to spend time with your DGD's.

Kim, I am glad you have a "little" helper to help you with the gate.

Amy, I hope you are able to get more rest.

Our weather has really changed. We woke up to 70º temps and tonight it is suppose to be down in the 30's. I pulled out some extra blankets and throws to bundle up with. I am trying to avoid turning on the heat as much as possible.

**SHOPGIRL** · 11-16-2005, 12:03 AM

Tuesday, November 15th

I'm so tired today. I stayed up too late last night. By the time I finally fell to sleep, I think it was 2 a.m., then the alarm went off at 6 a.m. I hit snooze again and again, then crawled out of bed about 40 minutes later. I had to be out of the house no later than 7:08 to make it to work on time. I hate early morning meetings. So tonight, I'm totally exhausted. So, I know I'll be in bed within the hour.

I have PT conferences on Thursday and Friday so I've been busy scheduling appointments. I've found this works out so much better and we get a better turnout this way. It's just more work for me.

I was able to move up my eyebrow wax appt. I usually go every month, but I didn't look all that great so I moved up the appointment.

It was cold, rainy, and we even had a tornado watch tonight. It was one of those dark, gloomy nights which made travel terrible. Tomorrow, we're suppose to get snow. I'm already missing the warm, sunny, crisp fall days.

My dh is out deer hunting. . .I haven't heard from him in two days so I wonder how his trip is going. He's coming home tomorrow night.

I kept the heat set at 61 while I was gone today. I didn't get home tonight till 9 p.m. and it was freezing. I turned it up to 68, then turned it back down to 64. I'm sitting in the office with the Vornado space heater right now feeling mighty toasty.

**QuilterMom** · 11-16-2005, 12:01 PM

Good morning (almost afternoon)! The guy came to measure for the kitchen counters this morning and he was really nice - don't you just love when someone pleasant comes into your home?! So many times they just rush in and are not friendly and I hate that. It was cool to watch how he did it. I honestly thought he would just literally measure, but instead he made templates out of strips of wood. Very interesting. It took a couple of hours, but we are one step closer now to having a completely usable kitchen! The flooring will be done at a later time when dh can get to it (the hall, living room, dining room and kitchen all flow together so once dh starts he'll do all of them).

Ds and I will run a couple of errands after lunch. I need to go to the small health food store near our house in search of some shampoo and conditioner. Hopefully they have the brand I'm looking for since they have the lowest prices on hba items of all the health food stores here. Then we're off to Publix again. When I was there yesterday I didn't know organic cheese was on unadvertised sale and only took a few coupons with me. Ds loves cheese so I may as well go back and stock up some more while I can.

Tonight is Awana and then Lost! Michelle - Was it just me or did you hate how last week's show ended? I did NOT see that coming!

Have a fantastic day everyone!