I missed my camera so bad today…

It was a historical moment! Well, almost! We all went camping sort of, me and T. and L. just for the day and the older two and F. spent the night. We found this lovely little state park campground 15 miles away, right on the lake that is not too expensive and we had a really nice day.
We hiked a little, it was a easy trail  that even the little ones could do, but about a mile and half  or so. There was a playground, and we built a nice fire, read books and played around. We cooked hot dogs, marshmallows, biscuits on a stick and beans and rice in a cast iron pan and had hot tea. (The boys love to eat, what can I say? Most of it surrounded food!)
It was alot of junky food, but we all ran around alot and it was good! I brought two dirty, tired boys home and bathed them and the others called me several times, but are doing fine out there.
They were all so cute and having so much fun, I really wished for a camera. I took a couple of pictures on my phone, but it made me see that I really have to just buy one even if it is not the best!

Neat giveaway….last day

Fruitful vines wall decoration giveaway
Check it out! Tanya has some beautiful stuff and  they are giving away one piece by her!

Menu for week

We had to buy some flour this week so it cut alot out of our budget!
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Wednesday: Spanish rice and chicken, tortilla chips, salsa, salad
Thursday: Borcht, bread
Friday:  Taco salad
Saturday: Spaghetti, meatballs and salad
Sunday:  Crock pot Taco soup
Monday: Tator Tot casserole, green beans
Tuesday:  Enchiladas, spanish rice and salad
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Some books i read this week:
Pick a New Dream by Lenora Weber
Tarry Awhile by Lenora Weber 247 pages (It was like seeing old friends to read these books! They are some of the favorite books from my childhood that i can read over and over. Beany is so real and it is more real life stories, with all kinds of different issues because of lack of communication, irresponsibility,  or lack of money. They are fun and they are a great place to learn frugal meal planning!
One quote I  thought was a big difference to show how our times have changed was in Tarry Awhile. Beany is engaged to be married and it seems all around them people are rushing into getting married and she and her fiance are waiting until he has his degree.
"And there is another thing. i hear these married guys on campus, whose wives are working and footing the bills, and they live n fear and trembling of their getting pregnant. it kind of makes me sick. I mean, we want to have kids and well, it seems so wrong for what is called a blessed a event to be a tragedy." page 84 of Tarry Awhile
I also read Crimson Roses by G.L. Hill. 319 pages- I love her books too! They make me want to go re-vamp my wardrobe in cute little dresses that are neat and look nice! 
Dogwood by Chris Fabry it was like 300 something pages. – It was a very different book, I did not expect the ending at all! Talk about a weird twist!!
The Sovereign’s Daughter by Susan Warren and Susan Downs – 286 pages- It was a "what if" story of if The Last Czar had smuggled one of his daughter’s out and a servant took her place and died in her place. It was very interesting, but highly unlikely.
Wiser than Serpents – Susan Warren 347 pgs. – Another Susan Warren book with Russian characters.  i love the sprinkle of Russian words, but wonder if people enjoy it as much if they do not know what she was saying!

Jam making 101 with children

1. First locate fruit- make sure there is no extra things in the fruit box besides fruit
2. Wash jars- load dishwasher with jars- start and quickly check on 4 year old to make sure he is not getting into something or using your peaches as baseballs.
3. Start water boiling for peeling peaches- run down to check on boys as they are climbing on something they should not be. Run upstairs again, water is boiling.
4. Locate lemon juice, stainless steel spoon and start   peaches so you can peel them. Wonder if  the time you caught your 4 year old and 6 year old with the lemon juice if they mixed sugar in with it.
5. Peaches are peeled, chop and measure them. You miss your glass measuring cups you broke last week, but use the one remaining. Start cooking with lemon juice and pectin.
6. Remember you forgot to measure sugar, run to get sugar and run back to quickly stir in between dashes.
7. Catch 4 year old with something  red on fingers. Stick him in corner where you can see him, while stirring jam.
8. Realize that you need to boil more lids and rings, dash to garage to find them.
9. 4 year old is wailing he is hungry. Tell him to have patience, while you add sugar to now boiling jam.
10. Bring jam back up to a boil, leaving for a second to heat up leftover spaghetti for said 4 year old.
11. Arrange jars on counter, realize frantically you did not lay out the wide mouth funnel and go through  drawers looking while dashing back to keep stirring. Can’t find it!
12. Decide to ladle jam in jars without funnel, while glancing at 4 year old to make sure he is not getting spaghetti on new shirt, I tip a jar of jam over, because I am doing it one handed. Jam is starting to pour down the clean cupboard! i rescue some jam, but lose a bunch.
13. i carefully wipe and put lids on jam and arrange them in canner. 4 year old wants to go somewhere else besides kitchen and since I cannot chase him, I hurry.
14. Jam gets into the canner somewhat crooked, but there was two inches of water over it, that is what counts I figure……another batch, you think? (I find the wide mouth funnel in the drawer where it belongs, hiding and it escaped my frantic search!)

I got 14 jars, not all pints of peach jam made in spite of many interruptions and we will see if it turns out after all that!!!
i got some really nice jelly jars from a garage sale for free and paid $3 for a box of lids and rings. Some of them are antiques I cannot use, but maybe I can sell them!<p>
My oldest son is in pain because after trying a gymnastic antic that failed when he fell off his bunk bed head first onto his head, his neck and upper back hurts. I talked to the doctor and she would like to see him so I will be going there tonight. "sigh" I also drove about 30 miles to get a free art easel. It is nice!

i think i got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning!

or something! I just feel out of sorts today. I felt all weird this morning, I think i got too much sun this weekend, then this afternoon went and sat in the sun again while the boys played at a fun birthday party they went to. It was nice and they had fun!

i just feel so drained! I am so, so tired……i just wish I could sleep and sleep and sleep some more!
<p> instead I am going to make a list of some specific jobs I have to get done and get them done! How does that sound for a goal? I have to figure out how to replace a bathroom faucet. I am not sure if is a hard job or not, but I think i broke ours!
I have peaches to take care of and school to start. Do we have to start school this week?

I feel like I have not posted in awhile…

and if something ends up in lower case it is because my shift key is acting up!!!
Anyhow, life has been well, busy to say the least.
We had some friends from church that moved away and they left quite a bit of stuff in the garage to get rid of so some ladies in the church and others decided to have a garage sale for them. It was alot of work over three days and I am really tired out.  they did well at least!
On Friday I had decided to bake some bar cookies, one pan for us and one for P. to sell at the garage sale. So was almost done and  T. and my nephew started arguing so I turned around and must have knocked something so that my two glass measuring cups  fell out and shattered everywhere. I had to throw everything away, and clean and clean and clean to get rid of any glass. It was very sad, but  I did not want to take a chance! i ended up remaking bars and a brownie mix later that night for him to sell. Oh my! Now, i have to buy new measuring cups! I used those every day pretty much!
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I am still in the process of getting my school room done. i am beginning to doubt I will ever get it done, but there is a light at the end of the long tunnel.  I need to do a few more shelving things and get things in order finally and put away in a organized way so i can start school!
<p> I discovered today that i am helping alot more than I thought with a bridal shower and wedding and the person that generally helps is so overwhelmed she cannot help too much. I am struggling with knowing what to do as I do not want to take on too much either. So, I have the shower on Thursday, wedding on Saturday and then MOPS starts on Monday, and the homeschool kickoff is monday as well in the first week of September. Oh, also i have a book review and contest to post that day too!!  i am thinking that I may have to do the baking before then so it will be a simple thing to just pull stuff out of the freezer and serve, rather than worrying about doing it all that week. I am supposed to bake quick breads for the shower and organize the baking of cookies for the wedding reception too. One thing I found very funny, and I am not sure if it will strike any of you as funny.  It may be how I grew up, in a large family 2-3 dozen cookies is nothing……
Someone said today that they have a recipe that makes 5 dozen cookies and if they make that big of a batch of cookies something about letting their  family have some and having plenty to share. In our house, growing up a  regular batch of cookies makes at least 10 dozen, if not 15…….If I bake cookies, I do not ever bake less then 8 trays of 15 cookies usually. I freeze some usually so they last while, but if I make a recipe that is small and says 5 dozen cookies, I would always double it!
Well, when you have at least 12 people eating, everyone could have two-three cookies and they were gone and I would have to bake again right away.  That is one snack time!!! So, anyhow, I have to re-shape my thinking I guess when it comes to cookie baking!
<p> So, life goes on here! I still have not bought a new camera, but we did get a new table and got a great deal for a nice table. God really blessed us with it! So, maybe I might have the money to buy a camera now from what I saved on the table! <p> i got kind of sun burnt yesterday, I guess the last days of summer have been great! The boys went swimming yesterday and today as it was the last days the pool was open, well, P. went yesterday and they all went today.
<p> Well, I am out of flour…I have to check on my blog when I last bought all that flour, but i have to buy more. I think it usually last 6 months! I can grind my own, I guess!
<p> Some of the books i read this week:
Wind River by Toni Morrisey- 302 pages
Copper Star- Suzanne Woods Fisher-287 pages- story of  young german woman who comes to America as she was part of the resistance in Germany, but was also a Jew.
Some books that i have not read in a long and time and decided to re-read them as they are always good.  Francena Arnold is a very interesting author with deep hard hitting stories.
Then am I strong- by Francena Arnold- 252 pages -A story of a young lady who has had vision problems and trouble conquering fear.
Straight down a crooked Lane- by Francena Arnold 256 pages- In this story Mary Jo meets and marries a young man very young against her parents wishes really and discovers the hard way how life can still have joy, but can be like going straight down a crooked lane sometimes. 

Menu for the week

Wednesday: Chicken vegetable soup, homemade bruschetta and bread (I was given some fresh basil so that was a treat)
Thursday:
Sloppy Joes, Cucumber salad and roasted potatoes, cookies
Friday:  Meatball sandwiches, salad, peach crisp
Saturday: Mashed potatoes, meat gravy, green beans
Sunday:  Spaghetti, meatballs, salad,  garlic bread
Monday:  Stir fry  with rice
Tuesday: Boiled yellow potatoes, zucchini, beets, cucumbers if there are any in the garden

Books from long ago and 1000 comments!

Wow! I never expected I would see that, 1000 comments is pretty good for me who is not really known to anyone! <p> On Friday we were walking and stopped at a little homeschool store on the way for a rest  and i bought two books  to read aloud this year, but one as I was walking, the name looked so familiar! As i looked some more, I got excited as I realized that it was the same author that had written a book I read long ago and really enjoyed.  I could never remember the title or the author really, just what the cover looked like and they were a little different, but really enjoyed it. They took place in Germany after the war ended  and the girl had great danes.
I got this book called The long Way Home by Margot Benery-Isbert, which is the author of the book I had read.  I think her dog died in the war and she she ended up helping with other displaced dogs or something. Anyhow, I was excited over this little thing, as I figured I would never figure out the book.<p> I am working on read through that book, but only while I have extra time by my computer, so it may take awhile, but I read a few other books this past while, not as many as I would like!
Summer of Joy by Ann Gabhart 347 pgs.
Painted Dresses Patricia Hickman 342 pgs.
The Outsider by Ann Gabhart  342 pgs.
The days of Ofelia by Anita Dianmant 226 pgs. (older book about a  lady who moved to a Hispanic country and a little girl she befriended)

Thankful to live here

I know  there are many things about where we live that we find reason to complain about, but the last few days  i have watched some of the Olympic games. I have always enjoyed this, but was stuck by sadness when I heard the commentators talking about one of the young Chinese gymnasts lives. They were saying how she was 20 years old, and when she was three years old, the government came and decided she would be a gymnast. I am not sure if she showed talent in it or not, but since then she only has seen her parents once a year. They said a few years ago, she called and begged them to let her come home and quit and her parents said no.  they somehow benefit from her being a gymnast which has celebrity status there. <p> My heart just felt so sad for the young girls who are torn away from their families and have  their coaches become their families, but not only that, a family with so little human nature or love that they desired status over their daughter, which was probably their only child. <p> It made me just so thankful that although our country has many problems, we are blessed in so many ways. I do not have to worry that my child is going to be taken from me to be a celebrity, even though they may show talents of one nature or another. 

Busy weekend…but very fun

We had some friends who came down to visit us from Canada, so I did alot of driving all over and we went visiting  in ID and my parents house. It was fun.
We went to dinner over in ID. which is really not far from my parents, at a friend’s house. T. had so much fun as it was safe, there was piles of dirt, trikes to ride and fun things to do. It was so nice! We went back to moms and spent the day visiting. I made tacos with shredded meat  and homemade salsa, they ate with chips. The boys went swimming alot as my parents bought a nice above ground pool to swim in. It is a little chilly, I guess, but the boys enjoyed it.
<p> We then came home and I brought the company with me. It was fun to have a house that everyone could stay in and sleep comfortably. There was lots of space to spread out and we fixed breakfast here. We got a nice break and treat when we all went out to dinner. It was fun! It was loud of course, as there was a very large group, like over 25 people there. But my sister was our waitress and not only is she a very pretty waitress, she is a excellent one too! She had a mess to clean when we were gone, but I think the tip she got made up for it! It is nice to pay the tip to someone you know, isn’t it?
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I am tired  as I do not think I have talked that much in over a year…. When you see people  that have known you for that long too, it is funny! We have known them for almost 25 years, well at least the husband!
I had 10 people staying here though and it was so peaceful though!  I really, really enjoyed it! Now, I really need to get that table!  I actually found out today a tip on someone who had a table for sale, so I am going to go look at it! <p> So, in brief, my fun weekend and I have a bunch of things I need to do this week to get ready for school, plus I have paperwork to get in for my doula work that has to be done this month. That sort of stresses me as I am not sure if I did it all right! We will see!