Getting ready for Bethlehem tour this weekend MY house smells so good but oh so messy!
Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 07:56
This week has been the focus of getting candles ready for the Bethlehem tour that we are a part of.. It is put on by a local church and its free to tour. I am the candle lady for the market place! I have wax everywhere in my kitchen and baskets of handmade ornaments tarts, handrolled cinammon roll candles to be iced with vanilla scented wax.. My cabinets have specs of wax on them and in back of my stove. I think I have waxed the floor enough already!!!!!!!
What a job! But really the focus is telling the community the true meaning of Christmas... There is over a 100 ACTORS involved and countless hours making sure that it looks real! And it does. Well its off to do more! Take care all!
Scents for the candles:
Buttermint, sugar cookie, snickerdoodles, cinammon stix, cinammon rolls, christmas wreath......
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Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to all of you on here!
Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 06:27
Happy thanksgiving to all of you and may the Lord bless you in this time! I have done a whirl wind of cooking and am exhausted and ready to just relax! I am so thankful for what the Lord has done for me and given me!
I took the little house quiz ( go figure I am LAURA)
Now I need to take the food quiz and the pilgrim/indian quiz!
Take care!!!!!!!!!!!
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Christmas quiz! I filled out!
Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 07:23
1.
Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate
I like eggnog but not too much.. Cappachino!!!!!!!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree.
Santa is mom and dad! We really dont do the Santa thing!
3. Coloured lights on the house / tree or white.
I have a white tree with clear lights, gold, and pink none outside!
4. Do you hang mistletoe.
No my kids would say YUCK! I think my hubby would too! LOL
5. When do you put your decorations up.
Normally thanksgiving day but this year the attic swallowed the tree and the decorations!
6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert).
Potato sausage and lutifisk white gravy potatoes, ustakaka and pickled herring! Swedish dinner was always a favorite when I grew up!
7. What is your favourite holiday memory as a child.
Peeking into the wrapping paper! Going to my aunts for christmas!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa.
I was raised that he wasnt real. We celebrated Christ's birthday!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve.
The kids get to open one!
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree.
We have pink, gold and white with precious moments!
11. Snow - Love it or dread it.
I love the snow! But in Kansas its getting rare! I really got excited when we had over 10 inches a couple of years ago!
12. Can you ice skate.
I have iceskated 3 times in my life! Rolller skating was my favorite.
13. Do you remember your favourite gift.
I remember 2. My oldest son was born on the 20th of December! I got my mothers wedding ring set from my dad a year after she died! It means the world to me!
14. Whats the most exciting thing about the holidays for you.
Our family participates in a Bethlehem weekend tour with over 100 actors!
15. What is your favourite holiday dessert.
Mincemeat pie! My mother in laws fruit cake and cream cheese sugar cookies
16. What is your favourite holiday tradition.
Sleeping in on CHRISTMAS! being with family!
17. What tops your tree.
A star or an angel
18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving.
Giving definitely.
19. What is Your Favourite Christmas Song.
Mary did you know,,,, and oh HOLY NIGHT!
20. Candy Canes Yes or No
Flavored candy canes! Cinammon especially!
21.Do you have a favourite ornament or decoration.
All the ones on the tree!
I enjoyed this one! Keep the quizzes coming!!!!!!
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Need help! Fluffy sweet potatoes
Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 06:50
If anyone has a good way to make fluffy sweet potatoes I need a recipe or way to do them! I dont need the nuts on it. I cant afford the nuts! I just had some really good ones at a church dinner and didnt know who made them to ask them. They were so yummy and I am tired of the old way of doing them... THanks!' Happy thanksgiving to all!
Charessa (kansas)
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Sickness, Cheese making and getting ready for Christmas Bethlehem Tour! what a week!
Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 06:19
Its been a long week of sickness and busyness for the holidays.
I ended up catching a nasty flu last weekend that had me in bed for the duration of Sunday and Monday with the vertigo on top of it. I did too much on Saturday! I ran all day without eating hardly anything and then trying to eat that night. BIG mistake!
Well this week has been focusing on getting some cookies in the freezer for the holidays. I made chocolate chip cookies, cranberry raisin currant oatmeal cookies, cream cheese sugar cookies and oatmeal raisin with cinammon. I also made the amish friendship bread starter and seperated it out into 6 bags for giving away and freezing. I made 5 loaves of bread with some starter. Banana bread made with the starter is YUMMY!
I made cheese Thursday and seasoned it with onion powder, garlic, and Hidden Valley Ranch mix! Yummy too! 1 gallon of milk heated to 185 and then 1/4 cup of white vinegar added and let sit for 20 minutes strain in cheese clotth and let hang and drip for 1 hour. Refrigerate.
I am currently going to make a dessert and veggie dish for the Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow at church. We have Bethlehem practice tomorrow also.
Candles and ornaments are my next project for the Bethlehem weekend. Cinnamon roll candles and wax ornaments that smell for the tree or gifts. These are cut out with cookie cutters!
I cannot hear out of one ear which has been a side effect of the vertigo. I do not want to go to the doctor and be put on prednizone so I am trying to take care of it homapathically. I pray that it works. Alll I hear right now is noise!
The stove project is done and we now have nice warm wood heat piping into the house. It is so cozy and warm!
I was given a turkey for thanksgiving and now have everything for the holiday meal! I purchased 13 pounds of sweet potatoes at 33 cents a pound and will store some in my basement for Christmas too!
God has been so good to us! I will Praise HIM! He takes care of his children sometimes in the neatest ways! Well I am off to cleaning the house and cooking!
NOTE: church potluck went great and great fellowship! We practiced for Bethlehem and it really finally got me in the spirit of the season and preparing!
Today, Moday I am planning for Thanksgiving dinner for the inlaws and my hubby's bachelor uncle and our crew. So there will be lots of cooking for the next few days getting ready for Thursday.. One joy that I had this weekend is purchasing an antique sewing rocker at an auction for $15 dollars! I also came away with antique blue mason jars (which I collect) and antique pictures of people from the early early 1900's. I want to research and find out who they were. Some names were on the back of some!
God Bless!
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Shopping day and stocking up! Finding more and more high food prices!
Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 08:11
Well today was the good ole shopping day that lasted from 9 am to 3pm and I am tired! I realized that the good ole Aldis is not the place to shop for alot of deals anymore! I did find good deals through a lady that had dried fruit and nuts for sale at a local home.. I stocked up on dried cranberries, currants, raisins, pineapple and dates.. Nuts are just to much to afford for us! I also shopped for wheat berries at a local merchantile for bulk foods rye and spelt to make flour.. I would love to buy 50# bags but dont know where to ask or go here in eastern kansas without going broke..
I started an amish friendship bread starter for gifts and yummies. Cant wait to bake my first batch. I have done away with alot of extra spending and we only go out every two weeks to get a burger on payday. Finding the cheap way to eat out just as a treat and a break from cooking.
We spent about 1 1/2 hours in Home Depot trying to get the rest of the supplies for the woodstove project.. 300 dollars later we should have everything to get it piped into the house. Whew! what a project!
We are getting little showers the past few days and the wind is turning north tonight and it feels cold in the house.. I am ready to call it a day and cuddle up in my warm comforter and fleece blanket and sleep! But First its hot buttered homegrown popcorn and french vanilla capachino (sp**)
My thought for the day: It is prevelant that Satan is on the prowl.. Knowing that through Christ's blood we have protection~ THank you Lord for your salvation, your mercy, your forgiveness and your grace! Thank you for your protection and the power we have through YOU ! All hail the power of Jesus' name!!!!!!!
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getting to know each other blog! HI everyone!
Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 02:33
1. What is your occupation right now? Wife, mom, teacher, referee for kids LOL
2.What color are your socks right now? White
3. What are you listening to right now? Kids asking questions not doing school work!
4. What was the last thing that you ate? spicy chicken burritos
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes that is what I learned to drive with!
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? MY Hubby
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I spotted it in another blog!
8. How old are you today? 35
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Nascar when I do watch it!
10. What is your favorite drink? Coffee
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes! But its blonde and I color it to keep it that way!
12. Favorite food? Mexican!
13. What is the last movie you watched? The nativity story
14. Favorite day of the year? Christmas and Thanksgiving
15. How do you vent anger? I go to a different room and read!
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Strawberry Shortcake
17. What is your favorite season? Fall and spring when we plant the garden
18. Cherries or Blueberries? raspberries!!!!!! Blueberries are ok!
19. Do you want your friends to blog this? Would love to get to know most!
20. Who is the most likely to respond? Hopfully alot!
21. Who is least likely to respond? HMMM!
22. Living arrangements? Husband and myself 3 boys 1 girl, 1 bird 2 cats and a whole lotta stuff!
23. When was the last time you cried? When my husband was gone hunting to wyoming a couple of weeks ago
24. What is on the floor of your closet? TOO MUCH JUNK!
25. What did you do last night? go to church
26. What are you most afraid of? snakes!
27. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? cheese and lots of bbq sauce and onions!~
28. Favorite dog breed? Yorkie, Not really a dog person
29. Favorite day of the week? SUNDAY
30. How many states have you lived in? 1
31. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
32. What is your favorite flower? Roses
There you have it! Consider yourself tagged!
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the smell of woodsmoke, warm cookies and fresh air!
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 05:31
As our woodstove pipes out smoke for a test running of the woodstove, the smell of wonderful memories come flooding back! We used to have a woodstove in our former home and I missed everything about it. Especially the different smells of the wood burning.
The days have been rainy and I have tried to make bread for 3 days to no avail (part of learning) it does'nt rise in humidity and rainy weather. My mind has been blue with thoughts and havent slept much in the past few days. Satan has been trying to have a hay day with me! I am much better today!
We made another batch of butter this time filling 2 butter molds. The first butter was good but needed more salt added to it.. I have plenty of supply of buttermilk for bread, buscuits and pancakes. My girl wanted a taste of it, she had never tried it! She quickly said EWWWEE! I am glad it was only a tablespoon of it!
Today my 10 year old daughter made a batch of chocolate chip and peanut butter chip cookies all by herself and they were good! I am so proud of her! Of course her brothers and daddy quickly gobbled several warm ones, Cookies just dont stay around with teenagers and hungry boys!
I am taking the two smaller kids to Patch the Pirate club tonight. I need out of the house. I have been cooped up in here since Sunday afternoon..I dont like to go to much to town but it rained for 2 days and cold weather is coming in this weekend.
Friday will be shopping day for us and I am planning to go to our local organic merchantile to see what wheat berries, spelt flour and some other different flours are going for these days. I will be shopping for a special friend of mine who is home from the hospital. She has had lymphoma and is recovering. But she has had several set backs with infections and such.. I try to help her and her husband by getting things for them if I am at the Merc.. I want to get some different spices also for baking and cooking. One of our favorites is Spike! Its great seasoning for alot of veggies and meats..
I am trying to think up ways to help even more with saving energy and so forth. I want to put up a temporary clothes line somewhere in the house or back porch for rainy nasty days... The woodstove project is taking more money than we thought to get it into the house (the heat piped in) but I know that it will pay off in the long run~ Propane would be a killer on us this year! I am grateful for the under 2.00 a gallon gas that we have around here! I am hoping that it goes lower like what I heard it was in Missouri 1.68 a gallon..
I also started an Amish Friendship bread starter for some of my friends. I thought this was a good time to do it with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming.
Well I must be off and running again to get ready for church! I have enjoyed reading so many of the blogs on here and getting great ideas for the holidays and other things! God Bless!
I have currently read a series of books that are interesting by Linda Hubalek
Trail of Thread
THimble of Soil
Stitch of Courage
I have taken so many ideas from these books and I have really learned so much from these homesteaders who lived only 20 miles from our farm. Its Kansas History!
Charessa (Kansas)
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Making butter day and day of rest!
Posted on Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 08:47
Well today is Sunday and the family went to church. I had to go to the grocery store while we were in town due to I had used all my fast rising yeast and I tried to make bread from some yeast I had in the cabinet from the bread machine. Well lets just say that I wanted to make hamburger buns and extra bread.. THE yeast had died! It didnt rise even over night! Well I baked the stuff anyway. The bread will be used for bread crumbs for stuffing and some for an extra treat for the ducks, geese, and chickens..
I set out heavy cream from milk to make butter 48 hours ago and it was time this evening to turn it into butter. It made a nice block of butter in my butter mold. I am waiting for it to solidify now so that I can take it out and use it. I set out more cream for making on Tuesday. I use my blender to get the cream started into butter and then shake it in a jar to make it stick together. I found 2 antique wood butter molds at an auction about 5 months ago and lined it with wax paper to help pop the butter out.
Tonight I am home alone. The family went to evening service and I stayed home. I have had my symthoms of vertigo coming back and get dizzy. I have to take motion sickness medicine for it. But, I think that I am coming down with an inner ear infection. My face feels like it has pressure on one side. I had it once before and dont want to go to the doctor again. Its expensive and I dont like the perscription he put me on last time, (prednizone) Makes me a grouch. I pray that it will subside soon!
My hubby worked on the woodstove project this afternoon. We still need pieces but will wait til Friday which is payday.
God is so good to us! I am so blessed. He is showing me so much I can do for my family without spending alot. Doing it like the old homesteaders! Christmas will be slim but I know that it is not about us. Its a celebration of Christ!
Well tomorrow will be baking bread with good yeast and freezing some. IF my kids dont eat it all first!
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Saturday back to selling firewood!
Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 03:47
Today we took a load of seasoned oak that Chris and the boys split to the auction they have every Saturday in Ottawa. It is cold and the wind about takes your breathe away. We decided that since we were late getting there we would not unload the wood but sell it on the trailer. It brought 50 dollars less than we had planned for a cord of wood but we told the auctioneer we would deliver for a dollar a mile. We ended up delivering to a family in Rantoul 10 miles away. I was so excited and thankful that this man was so generous and kind, talking to my husband and getting to know him. He then handed him the money for delivery and it was almost the 50.00 dollars that we had wanted more out of the wood, mind you we only traveled 10 miles but the Lord was looking out for us and knew that we need that extra litle bit for the supplies for our wood stove piping that we need.. So my hubby made a trip to Home Depot to see what that money could get us in supplies.
This is the time of year we start cutting wood for extra cash for the winter. The boys and hubby now will go cut wood every Wednesday and take into the auction every Saturday. Wood is not selling good right now but it is getting cooler and we know people will scrambling to buy here soon when the snow flies~!
I was also blessed to get eggs today. My friend that sells them says that people are swarming her to get eggs before thanksgiving. So I told her to count on 3 dozen for Friday. I want to get alot to make some noodles to freeze and make pies for Thanksgiving. 2 of the kids went with their grandparents today to combine as much as Grandpa can get done due to that fact that rain and snow are coming in first of next week. It has been hard to try to get the combining done due to rains every 4 or 5 days...
I hope to accomplish my pioneer week challenge next week. I thought that Thanksgiving could be the challenge. Cook the turkey on the smoker and bake in there too! The rest can be cooked on the fire box. More work for me! But the kids love it!
Tonight I am trying my hand at making homemade hamburger buns, I will see if it works! Never tried before.. This will be interesting. I hope my yeast is not too old that I put in it,, I need to buy some more!
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Loving the homemade soap ideas
Posted on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 05:10
I almost forgot to mention that I make my own laundry soap and cleaners. I do make lye soap sometimes and I need to make another batch soon.. It is amazing how the simple made cleaners and soap are so much better at cleaning! I am amazed. There are alot of people that think that I am crazy and that the simple way is cheaper but it is. The laundry soap beats all the soaps that you can buy in the store I think!
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First day of blogging about our little farm
Posted on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 02:42
I have been interested in homesteading ever since I started reading Little House on the Prairie books as a kid. I always wanted to live off the land. My husband is a dairy farmer and works for some German Baptist families 6 miles from our home. We enjoy all the free milk! I make butter from the cream and want to try my hand at making cheese soon! We homeschool our children with the Robinson Curriculum so they learn alot of the old ways of reading, writing and arithmatic.. Last year we studied the homesteaders and wagon trains. We did a full week of living that way! It was wonderful and they want to do it again with new challenges. We used kerosene lanterns and cooked outside, did laundry outside by washboard and lye soap and heated water for dishes which were a small set for camping, and pots and pans. We even to baths by heating the water outside and hauling it in.
We have chickens which we get a few eggs from and when they are not producing good we purchase or barder from my friend down the road. I make our own bread every few days for our meals. My husband hunts deer for meat and we have a garden that is 30 by 100 that we grow various veggies and corn we barter for from the German Baptists at the dairy. We have 20 rabbits and one goat (angora) some milk and beef cattle and a horse. I would love to get a couple of sheep..
I can pickles, applesauce, and some other items. I am not as experienced with canning. I do alot of freezing items. I would love to have a spinning wheel and loom to do my own weaving but finances dont allow us to. We live on one income and I try to make the best of what we have. We do buy items from auctions that help.
My next goal is to grow rye and my own wheat and oats. I would love to be able to be self sufficient within a year.We are putting in an outside woodstove to pipe heat in... Propane was killing us last winter and the Good Lord supplied a means to do it more efficiently.
Well I will tell more later..
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