[homesteadmamma]

Well another week has come and gone and were past the middle of May. It just doesn't seem possible that half of May is already gone.

Before I forget, I want to thank all of you for sharing your days down on your homestead. Its so much fun to come here and read the Homesteading News.

Today is dull and were suppose to get rain so we won't be doing anything outside. If it doesn't rain, dh and the kids will go fishing, as fishing season is opened now.

Dh is working on my bike right now - I think there might be a bearing or two gone. UGH!!

I plan on making this a day of rest. My body just isn't getting any better and I had a horrible night, so dh is off for 2 days and I'm going to make the most of it.

Hopefully everyone is going to have a great day on their homesteads.

 

[Heather]

Hi there!!

Sorry you aren't feeling much better CJ, good time for your DH to be off, do take care!:hugz:

your bike.....you are wearing it out!!

BTW, I love this thread too!!


Just got back from church, the Sunday School children spent the hour raking and cleaning up the flower beds, did a great job!!

DH and boys are out starting to work on pulling out the old fence. DH also has to straighten the blade on the lawn mower as it appears someone RAN OVER A BIG ROCK!! No one seems to know who did it though!! Oh well, it'll get fixed. DH has to leave tonight so our long weekend is cut short so I am getting his clothes etc. ready this afternoon.

We are having anice warm day here today with sun poking through.:smball:

 

[QuilterMom]

Yesterday when we got to the dinosaur store it turned out their a/c was broken and it was miserable in the store (over 90 degrees!). I looked around, but ds was hot and got very cranky so it wasn't the wonderful learning experience for him that I had envisioned. Then I did the unthinkable - since we were already in Cocoa Beach, I went swimsuit shopping! I did find one I liked though and bought it - I was going to have to go to Cocoa Beach to get one anyway. When we got home we had a bit of excitement. Dh took the dogs out in the backyard and there was a big snake in the yard! Poor Chloe Bear got bitten on the nose. She's okay and it wasn't a poisonous snake (a call to the emergency vet confirmed that). Dh tried to kill it, but ended up just chasing it off instead. I HATE SNAKES! I can't stand the thought that one was in my yard!!!!! Last night I made 2 panfuls of chewy granola bars (one for us and one to take to Sunday School this morning).

After church today we went to 2 open houses. One was in pitiful shape - 2.42 acres, 4 stall horse barn in very poor condition, landscaping and grounds in poor condition, house in poor condition, but the pool was great - all for the newly lowered price of $309,000 . The 2nd home was under contract already but I wasn't overly thrilled with it either. It was 2.66 acres, part of it marshy and unbuildable, broken barbed wire fencing, lots of land still to be cleared and undesirable landscaping, no screened porch (just a concrete slab) and no pool - all for $188,000. We drove around for a bit looking for other properties for sale, but most all have contracts on them already.

Dh is about to mow the yard and I'll help him get all the grass cleaned up and ready for yard trash recycling pickup tomorrow. I also need to trim our mexican petunias a bit (having to trim them every weekend).

 

[mrscornbread]

Hi Homesteaders!

Pretty good day here on my homestead, no bread baking this weekend, my free time is valuable so I have to pick and choose. I'm gonna tackle a piece of the papaya wall if everything works out.

I signed up to be a flylady, so far I have shined the sink and gotten dressed to the shoes two mornings in a row, a few other little tricks helped me pull of a relatively productive day

That Da*# Darwin paper only took 12 hours of my life, but it is done, all but the bibliography page, easy one there. Got some studying left, but I need breaks, it helps me digest it, so I will paint a little in between chapters

Dh and I went and did a little stockpile shopping. I am also putting together the plans for Nicole's "dorm-warming" party. I have lots of dern near free chips, salsa, and cheese...gotta look into a few other goodies. This is gonna be the best party ever for her all done on a budget. Wow, I love you guys for teaching me so much!!!

Dd babysits for 8.00 per hour!!! She is leaving for college July 2 and I am planning to take over her weekend job at least. I babysat them last night and was here at the house from 7-9, then across the street at their house from 9-12:30 they went to bed at 10:30 so I just studied in the peace and quiet and made an easy 40.00!!! This will certainly help things alot~~

Feel better soon CJ
Glad the sun is shining for you Heather
Quilter Mom
sorry about that snake, I had goosebumps just reading it...also I would really love to have the recipe for chewy granola bars!

 

[Heather]

Finished the fencing, yeah!! Looks so nice! I also stained the wood for our new picnic table, can't wait to get it together!

QuilterMom-ewww, snakes, I am terrified of them!! That's too bad about the properties you are looking at. Are you looking for acreage?

Robin- so glad the paper is done!! Celebrate! And:thumb: on the weekend job!!

 

[QuilterMom]

Robin - Here's the recipe. I got it off Frugal Mom's before the site closed down.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 ccups quick cooking oats
1 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips, optional

Cream the butter and sugars. Add the honey, vanilla and egg; mix well. Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture. Stir in the oats, cereal, and nuts. Add raisins or chocolate chips if desired. Press into a greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until top is slightly browned.

*** I make this using only chocolate chips (no chopped nuts or raisins). It's one of my dh's faves.



Heather - Yes, we'd love to find a house on some acreage here. We have looked at vacant land (up to 5 acre lots), but the prices are outrageous since we're in a coastal community and then you still have to look at the expense of clearing the land, bringing in fill dirt, county impact fees (which have increased dramatically since we built our house 3 years ago), bringing in a road to the property (the county is no longer doing this for free), etc and then you have to add the cost of building a house, digging a well, putting in a septic tank, etc. on top of all that - not to mention you have to be really careful with land here since marsh land and wetlands are quite common. So.......... we'd really like to find an existing house on some acreage (1 to 5 acres), but the prices have skyrocketed since interest rates have been so low and a realtor told us once the prices go up they usually stay up even when the interest rates start to go up again. Our home has significantly increased in value since we built because we have a .42 acre lot (unheard of in a subdivision - typical lot sizes here are .13 to .20 acre), we are in a desirable location, etc. but our city council could soon ruin that for us. They are trying to rezone the land that adjoins our subdivision (and adjoins our backyard) to allow up to a 4 story tall apartment complex to be built there. I will NOT live with people looking down into my backyard. No way! We chose this particular lot for the privacy it offered (not to mention the enormous backyard) and if I lose that privacy then I no longer wish to live here. We would also love to live where ds can have a horse (not allowed in our current zoning plus we don't have enough room) - ds keeps saying he wants us to move to a farm.

 

[sunshine]

Well, it's been a rainy day here- not much got done. I did notice that the grass is going to have to get mowed in the next day or so. It's really getting tall.

I'm still feeling puny, so I didn't even try to do anything else.

 

[Missy]

We got a lot done here today. Dh got tired of our rickety stairs in fron and on the side of the house too, so he took them out and built out front a new set of stairs...with a small deck on it. (the house had origionally had just ttwo stairs leading up into the house on all the doors) and he built a new set of stairs on the side of the house where our sliding glass door is...and these ones are as wide as the entire sliding door is. It looks really good.

When he pulled up flat stones while clearing the area to build the stairs, i took those stones and built a little wall and made a new gardening spot in our yard. I like the way it came out, I just have to find seeds to put in there. I have some great soil in the back yard that i brought to fill in the new spot with...took me three wheelbarrow loads to do it.

 

[homesteadmamma]

Melissa, WTG on the new steps.

QuilterMom thanks for that recipe.

Well its a holiday here and dh is home, so all I have planned today is washing dark clothes and folding the clothes I washed yesterday.

Its only suppose to get to 9 C (45F) and its suppose to freeze tonight. Its been so cold at nights.

Dh and the kids caught some fish last night and were so excited. Ds#1 has really taken to fishing this year. Last year he sorta goofed off, but this year he is taking the fish of his line, off of dh's and dd's. He had to measure his fish when he got them home and then helped his dad clean the fish, something unheard of last year. Dh thinks its pretty cool!!

I plan on doing a bit of quilting today, seeing has it'll be so cool outside.

Hope everyone will have a good day on their homesteads.

 

[sunshine]

Not much planned here today- I'm supposed to get my great-nephew at some point today. He's been with his maternal grandfather for the last week, and now is to come here for a week while his parents are on their honeymoon. I'm just not sure when and where I'm supposed to get him!

It's cloudy here today, but so far- no rain. I'm going to try to do a few loads of laundry between the rain showers.

 

[QuilterMom]

I was really hoping for rain today and so far we've gotten none. I went outside to turn on the sprinklers this morning and they wouldn't come on which means the relcaimed system has run dry yet again. *sigh* I wish our city would allow us to have wells for watering our lawns, but they won't.

Ds and I are still plugging away on a dinosaur unit study for homeschool and he did really well today. The rest of the day so far has been pretty lazy - too hot to do anything!

 

[homesteadmamma]

We woke up to a very cool morning, but its warmed up quickly and is suppose to be nice for the rest of the week. Last night it froze again!!! UGH!!!!

Last night we sat and watched a hummingbird feed at the feeder. They are so very tiny but we were able to watch him/her for a good 1/2 hour. We have 2 hummingbird feeders, one in our back kitchen window, and one at our side window in the kitchen. Its so much fun to watch this little guys - they are so dark but have a red throat that you only get to see when their wings are flapping.

Today I walked up to get the mail and shouldn't have. Once again my foot is bad so the neighbour will be getting the mail for the next few days.

I'm washing bedding, some material I picked up the other day and hanging everything out to dry. Its nice and windy, so it won't take long for everything to dry.

I also need to get into the flowerbeds again and do some weeding. There are a few dandelions that refuse to die!!

Have a great day down on your homestead.

 

[sunshine]

Cool this morning- and now sunny. Of course it's still too wet to do much and I have to work night shift, but nice to see the sun

 

[QuilterMom]

Ds and I went to the grocery store and BJ's this morning. I went to the freezer to get out a loaf of bread yesterday and surprise! there wasn't any more! I picked up a few things to take with me to the homeschool convention so I won't spend so much money on food while I'm there. Other than that today is one load of laundry after another and pickup up around the house. I do hope to squeeze in a homeschool lesson before the day is over, but if we don't it's not a big deal.

The reclaimed water still isn't working (today's not a day it's available anyway, but it still wasn't working as of last night) so I have a bowl under the a/c condensation drain and am using that to water our newly planted hibiscus and other plants in the yard that need the water. The grass is starting to look pitiful, but we can't afford to run up the water bill (highest rates in our county because our city has to purchase the water from a neighboring city and they mark the price up and pass it on to us).

 

[homesteadmamma]

Wednesday today, halfway through the week. I always call Wednesday halfway day!!!

It is promising to be another great day here, with the sun shining and warmer temperatures, even at nights for the rest of the week. I'm hoping that spring is finally here!!! Last night again was really cool and I had to turn on the heat again this morning. I only leave it on to take the chill off and then turn it off right away. I hate having to use the furnace at the end of May.

I got all the clothes, washed and hung out to dry yesterday and then folded them last night and ironed the ones that needed ironing.

Today, I'm not sure what I have planned as of yet. I do want to do some yard work and probably will cut the grass later this afternoon. Also want to get out in the porch and doing some work in there, but right now its still pretty cold in there.

I also need to get downstairs and do some decluttering down there. That is one area I haven't gotten to yet and there is still stuff from the previous owners down there, all junk of course!!! There is a rod iron shelf down there though that I need to bring upstairs and see if I can clean it up. We also brought up an old cupboard (antique actually) up and I should really get starting on repairing it. I love doing that. The drawers need fixing and it needs to be painted and some gluing done on it, but once it is finished, I'll have another cupboard for my sewing room!!!

Have a great "halfway day" down on your homestead.

 

[Missy]

I got to take the covering off the newly planted stuff, we had to cover them all since temps dropped down to below freezing....grrrr. It actually snowed just a little bit away from us. it's the middle of May for gosh sakes!

I got a gift certificate card yesterday in the mail from a family member, so today i settled on what i was gonna get. Took some deciding and changing my mind over and over again. I finally decided on another rose , a palm (for my bathroom), and a 6pk of pansies, and some bulbs- a mystery bag of bulbs, they all looked the same, but they didn't say what they were in the bag, lol. It will be fun to see what comes up. So that's what i did for fun today. not for fun i did a load of laundry, dishes and swept the kitchen. I also went to see my therapist...but since i couldn't find my keys, i had to take a taxi.
So that was my day on this Homestead.

 

[homesteadmamma]

I was able to get the grass cut, although my foot is really sore. It did feel good to get outside and do something.

I also dug up the blocks in the front of the house because were replacing them. Also dug out the quack grass that was growing between those ugly blocks!!!

Planted some Joe pop-ups which will spread yearly around my rose bushes. I love those things and they are so easy to take care of.

Didn't do anything on the basement or the cupboard.

 

[Heather]

This morning I had a chiropractor appointment and while in town I picked up some bird feed, we were out and I miss the birds!! Spent the rest of the morning doing laundry and tidying. This afternoon dd and I went to the horticultural meeting in the village. I hadn't been to one before and the speaker was wonderful! A lady from our church, lovely lady, picked me up and she secretly paid for my membership! What a great surprise. Each person got a bag of glads before they left.

Filled my bird feeders, went to the post office, delivered eggs and dug up one flower bed when I got home.

Going to have a long, hot shower and go to bed early tonight!:bath: :rest:

 

[Mom23boys]

Trying to catch up here on my homestead. After work today, Chris and Dakota had a doctor's appointment. After taking them, we stopped on the way home to pick something up to eat because I knew I had some cleaning to do. So I am trying to get things in order before the weekend. Chris has a baseball tournament this weekend and we won't be home much. I am ready for baseball to end already...ha!

Anyway, things have been well this week on the homestead. We only have 6 more school days and we are out for the summer. I plan on doing more yard work.

 

[homesteadmamma]

Michelle, good to see you back posting. I've missed you!!