R&R

 

So, I was taillights pulling out of the farm at seven yesterday morning.  I drove to Portland, stopping as I wanted, going wherever I pleased.  It was amazing.

I stopped at a few small towns along the way.  Did you know they pump your gas in Oregon?  That was a new experience for me.

With the time zone change I even had an extra hour.  I checked into my room and went in search of Chinese food.  It was awful, but I did get my haircut while I was out.  (Remind me to someday tell my stories about getting my haircut in China.) As my last haircut, not by my own scissors, was last December I was due.  Jeannine, I miss you!!!

I was back in my room by about seven and just read for awhile sipping mint tea I brought with me from our grove.  It was truly luxurious.

I woke ridiculously early, but went back to sleep for a bit.  Now, I need to get ready and go have breakfast--that someone else will cook and clean up from! 

I am heading into the city then to explore a few sights and then hopefully will get to meet up with someone special.  Having been inspired by her words and life for years now, we are planning on getting together!  

I am just a LITTLE excited.  I skipped, mind you, to the van yesterday morning.  Not an easy thing to do, skip, in boots, but I did.  And tried not to be too giddy about the fact that I wasn't the one heading out to the barn to milk Buttercup.

I miss everyone at home.  I do.  And I am totally enjoying myself here.

(Bonnie-This beats your idea of a day off by far.)  ;)

Thank You, Dear Readers

It's been amazing to me to see all the new and beautiful faces smiling back at me in the little Follower box thingy and on Facebook. Thank you. I know we're all busy and it means a lot to me that you would take time out of your busy days to follow our lives on the farm. 

If you were here, we could go pick currants together, or can cherries in the kitchen, or just sit on the porch with our tea and visit. I would love it all! 

So, again, thank you for reading. It makes this new place a much less lonely place.  I appreciate each and everyone of you.

 

I am Blessed

to have such wonderful ladies who read this blog & leave such comments. Thank you all so very much. I never would have thought where blogging would take me over three years and almost 600 posts.


I have made dear, dear friends. Some have become friendships in real life. Others have expanded through the mail. It has truly been amazing. You all inspire and encourage and teach me so much.


How else would I have learned how to make all the stuff I do? I mean really. Two or three years ago I would have thought you were nuts to say I would make my own crackers, deodorant, hairspray, lotions, balms, vapor rubs, breads, bagels, mill my own flour, make almost all our food from scratch,sew aprons, and tablecloths, make journals, can food, stop using shampoo and conditioner, make my own laundry detergent & other cleaners, etc. etc. etc... Crazy.


Thank you one and all. More than anything I could learn to make, I have learned how to love and encourage and pray deeper by your examples and friendships. So again, thank you.

Your love & prayers during this special time mean so much to me and my entire (growing) family.

And, holy cow! Who would have thought over 85 of you would follow in Google Reader alone. I about fell over when I saw that one. WHO ARE YOU OUT THERE??? :) Delurk yourselves, please!

Summer Days

***Thank you everyone for your kind words on the last post. They mean a lot. Thank you for all your prayers as well. It is such a huge burden lifted.***

Last Tuesday, I helped host a party at Janna's house for our friend, Joanne. She is the one that introduced Janna and I about a year ago. Now she's off on a new adventure moving to Phoenix for one year. They both did posts on the party here and here and included links to other blogging buddies we know. Blogging has been a wonderful introduction to some wonderful ladies I wouldn't have otherwise met. I fact, I met Joanne through blogging, too!

It is hard to even think of saying good-bye to Joanne. I will miss her so much. SO MUCH!!! She has added such richness to my life. I am glad the move is to only be for a year. I think I'd have to go after her if she stayed longer! She really is wonderful.

This Tuesday Janna and I took the kids to Berry Patch Farms, our home away from home each summer and autumn. Seriously, if you are anywhere remotely close to Denver you should go there. It's so fun to pick the strawberries and raspberries, but they also have a ton of other organic produce. I tried so many new fruits and veggies since I first started going there years ago. I've learned so much, too!

We had such a fun day with our kiddos hauling wagons of berries and boys. Pumpkin and Anne are just a few weeks apart in age and I'm planning to marry them off when they are of age. Jack and Dumpling are a few months apart and they all play really well together. The wagons were a perfect height for Jack and Dumpling's All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.We even made a new friend that Anne christened Strawberry the Frog. Quick catching, Janna! After our hours of picking everyone came back here to our home for lunch.

After we ate the kids played while Janna and I put together a batch of Healing Balm. Since I'd already steeped the herbs and oils before we just melted the beeswax and adding the rest of the oils. She picked what extra essential oils she wanted for more fragrance to each jar and it all went together in a flash. (BTW-Janna~How was it once it set?)

I absolutely love this recipe!!! I've been putting it on scratches, bumps, bruises, and bites. It totally takes the itch out of bug bites for me. I'll steeped some more of the herb oil in the next few days to have some on hand for more batches. The directions are here for you. I took a jar myself for my gift at Bunco that night. They are getting used to my lotions and potions.

One of the gals asked me what else I'd been making that was new. I told her I had made deodorant that day. I had the ingredients in the kitchen. It took just a few minutes to mix up and seems to work great. I wasn't too sure about trying it, but I'm glad I did. Directions are here if you are interested. I mixed equal parts cornstarch and baking soda in a half-pint wide mouth jar. I stirred in about 5 tablespoons of coconut oil and some lavender essential oil. I'll experiment more next time with more or less oil, but it really works well so far! I guess there are women who just glow, I'm just not one of them. After gardening in the afternoon sun for over an hour yesterday and two workouts later, I'm happy with this stuff.

Yesterday I started my canning. This became this:
After being inspired by this recipe I added part of a vanilla bean to the first batch of jam using the jam recipe I had. Yum! I made the second batch just the plain way and look forward to tasting the difference. I'm thinking a fresh batch of scones are in order this weekend!

Oh, remember Bacon Bits? This was her picture last year with Pumpkin:

This year:
Yep. It's bad. And no, she's not pregnant! Guess she likes the food, too.

(Janna seems to be the only one remembering her camera lately, so most of these pictures are credited to her. She does a nice job, doesn't she?)

New Friend & One Stylish Boy

It's always good to post your picture on your website. You never know when you might meet someone whose blog you read! Last Friday night Sweetheart and I went to see a play at one of the schools I used to teach at. My former fifth graders are now juniors and seniors and were performing "Beauty and the Beast". (Yes, I'm old.)

As we were walking along the lobby waiting for the show I spied Janna. She is a friend of Joanne's who decided we should meet. We've emailed a few times and commented on one another's blogs, but hadn't gotten together yet. Sure hope we can soon!

Unfortunately, we just were able to introduce ourselves before she and her darling little princess had to go inside. We waited for awhile to see if we'd be able to get tickets as they we're sold out. At the end of it all, we ended up wandering around the nearby antique mall instead. We still had fun, even if we didn't see the play.

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Picture one red-headed boy with red and white socks, black, silver and white shorts, and a striped shirt with light blue, dark blue, orange and white stripes. Top it all off with Daddy's black and red baseball cap. That's my boy! You'll have to just picture it in your mind...Can I put a sign on him that says, "I dressed myself."????? Probably don't need to, every mom could figure it out.