Canton Flea Market.... Look at my finds....

Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 07:40

Yesterday was the bi annual Canton Flea Market.  It is a huge flea market that happens the first Thursday in May and the first Thursday in October.  They have over 1000 vendors and around 40,000 people go through it in one day.  I have never been before but have heard about it all my life.  Well, now we live about 30 minutes away so I went this year.  It was amazing!!!  I took my kids, which is something I wont subject them to again.  I could have stayed and looked all day but only stayed til lunch.  Here are my great finds. 

I got this mailbox.  I pray I have a home soon to put it at. LOL

I just thought it was the cutest thing.  It was such a steal.

Here is my bat house.

I got this for $19.99.  For this size online they are around $50.00 - $100.00.  I was so excited.  We knew that when we move to the new house the first thing we wanted was a bat house to control mosquitoes.

Then ofcourse this is what the boy/son bought.

As Dh and I are not even race fans, this will be going on the wall in the boy's room.LOL

Then youngest DD bought a purse and a $5.00 necklace.  I saw lots of Christmas ideas/cheap,  that I will be going back in October to get. 

Have a great weekend!!!!

Blessings,

Trixi

Drumrollllll please......my new mixer (pictures)

Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 03:38

On my other homestead forum, I had posted the question what kind of mixer would you recommend.  Let me preface by saying that I have made my whole wheat bread in a bread machine on the dough cycle for years.  It has really served me well but I could only make a loaf at a time.  Well, my bread machine has had it.  I have to very carefully put the pan into the machine or the bottom will fall out and all my ingredients with it.  So I had been researching bread machines and mixers for literally months.  We decided on a mixer because it just would be so much more useful.  My oldest daughter is taking a cake decorating class, so it would be very helpful for her.  The majority of people recommended a Bosch Universal but I wasn't totally sold and for $350.00+, I wanted to be sold.  I have a hard time spending that kind of money, considering how hard DH works for the money.  If my wonderful hubby hadn't just insisted I buy one I would probably still be dreaming.   I loved the style of the KitchenAid Pro. 600 but it didn't get rave reviews on bread making (my whole purpose).  So I kept looking.  I finally decided on this one and it came today:

It is a 5 quart Viking Stand Mixer.  It has an 800 watt motor.  It came with the dough hook, whip beater and a V beater.  It's great!!!  There are several reasons why I went with this one but one of the main reasons was that they are made right here in Mississippi.  I love being able to support the state we love so much.  Here are the pics of what we have done so far:

Chocolate Chip Cookie bars

And a loaf of bread that is cooling.

Here it is in its new home:

There are a few negatives; while it is narrow it is very deep.  The bowl is very tight in the base.  It may loosen with time but overall we are verrrrry happy.  My oldest daughter is now making a cake from scratch for her cake decorating class tomorrow. 

Blessings,

Trixi

Our full circle journey to a life of homesteading........

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 07:45

Deanna over at Hands N Hearts posted this topic, What is you homestead testimony?  So here goes.  Here is the post I did on this topic July 19, 2006:

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/spencerschool/20637/

I feel like the overall theme of that post almost 2 years ago was homesteading out of a sense of fear.  I think my thoughts on the topic have changed a little.  I still believe all that I wrote, that we are living in perilous times.  However, at that time my sweet hubby had just been back from Iraq 7 months.  We were all going through adjustments and really deciphering what type of life we wanted to have.  We were literally starting over.  Before DH was activated to go to Iraq, he ran his own business and we were somewhat successful in it.  We did not consider, not having plenty.  When he was activated we had to close the business and did not know what he would be doing when he got back.  Those were tough (mentally) days.  Now, Dh is full time Army National Guard and we have much less, as far as material resources, but we are so much happier with what we have.  The biggest lessons we have learned are having very little to no debt, learning to be self sufficient, and relying only on God.  Before the activation, we lived in new homes in cookie cutter neighborhoods that my Hubby built.  When hubby left we moved to a small acreage with a small house on it.  We immediately fell in love with that lifestyle.  The kids were happy and we were happy.  Who would have known it?LOL  We like Deanna was talking got a few animals and off we went.  Well, that wasn't the best way to go about it but it did help us to fine tune. 

Fast forward to present, we have since moved to a very small rural town about an hour+ South of our previous home.  We have had to rent for the last 9 months and are currently in the process of hopefully purchasing a home.  We had to decide what is enough acreage for our needs.  We have gone with a small acreage again.  Our biggest contribution to the homestead way of life is gardening and putting foods by.  This is our true passion.  So how much land do you need to garden and put up enough food for the winter?  For us about 5 acres was enough.  We did not want to have to fool with pasture land and bushhogging.  We don't plan on keeping lots of animals.  We do keep chickens and this is plenty for that.  We could even get a small dexter cow or two if we wanted but we don't plan on it.  We like to camp with the kids and we don't want animals who have to be tended to 2X a day.

I use to have a definition of what homesteading means to me in my sidebar, here is what it said: 

A Homesteader means a great many things to a great many people. 
To me it has nothing to do with owning a piece of land.  It is a
way of life.  There is a simplicity in homesteading that I have
not known in any other part of my life.  It is a love of God, family and
community.  It is reviving the things of a past generation and
time.  Homesteading is putting all things in order of priority with God being first.
By homesteading we are seeking a more simplified way of
living.  We are learning to make do and be thankful, with what
we have been given.  We are also learning to be more self sufficient.

I think that sums up the way we live.  Not everyones homestead is going to look the same but it is a matter of striving for a more simple life. 

Blessings,

Trixi

My two cents on the raid in Texas

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 12:33

I haven't seen very much chatter about the raid in Texas on the LDS compound.  I have thought on this and talked with my children about it and have come to the following conclusion.  If the charges that have been raised against these people are accurate; child rape and abuse, then ok they need to be taken away and those men prosecuted.  Zero tolerance!! 

However, if all they had was one unsubstantiated phone call, how does that justify the ripping away of 416 children from their mothers.  Not all of these children were involved and after seeing news reports the husbands/fathers even agreed to leave the compound instead.  Don't get me wrong, I feel like this is a cult religion.  Infact, we just watched September Dawn this weekend and I feel even stronger about this.   

However, we live in a country based on freedom of religion.  I fear that little by little we are loosing our rights as Christians.  It has the mask of snuffing out cults but when will it be that Christianity is a cult.

Who is to say that in 20 yrs.  a family who choose to live off the land, homeschool, and homechurch will not be considered a cult.  That is my family.  I just fear that my grandchildren will not be able to enjoy this simple lifestyle that my children enjoy because some power that be decides that it is not the right way to live.  Let me reiterate, that if abuse is happening in these compounds, it should be ended!!!  

I don't want to see us become a country that attacks a religion because the people are different.  I found it odd that the big uproar was girls having children at 15 and 16.  Have they not watched the news or walked into a public school.  We have girls in our public schools having babies at 11 and 12.  Where is the uproar?  Let's put those girls momma's in jail. 

 It just seems a little one sided to me. 

We went to a neat church.... have any of you heard of...

Posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 08:51

We moved here now 8 1/2 months ago and have still not found our church!! We have been driving home an hour and a half to fellowship with likeminded believers. I have wanted to find somewhere here that we can worship when we can't go home and just to meet new people. Anyway, it has been a disappointing search to say the least. We have found ourselves on many occasions asking ourselves do people our age even go to church anymore. I am not real interested in my children making lots of friends but we would like some acquaintances in the community. Every church we had visited the people have tried to force their programs and youthy type things down our throat but then there would be no substance to the service. We are not interested in entertainment. We are interested in hearing the Word of God preached on a Sunday morning.

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