My weekend got off to a great start since I was off work on Friday for Texas Independence Day. It was an optional holiday at work. If I had gone in to work, I would have earned comp time, but I had the option of not going in and that sounded like the better deal to me!
Modern Day Redneck and his family were coming to visit on Saturday so I had plenty to keep me busy getting ready. Yeoldfurt and I had the pleasure of meeting MDR and Mrs MDR a few months ago when they dropped their oldest daughter, BEB, off for her freshman year at Texas A&M. We were looking forward to seeing MDR and the Mrs again, but this would be the first time we would get to meet the girls so we were really looking forward to it.
If you are familiar with Modern Day Redneck's blog and have been reading his posts for any length of time, you will know that he is very proud of his three girls. After meeting the girls this weekend, I can tell you that he is not just blinded by fatherly love ...those are some truly awesome young ladies!
When I found out a few weeks ago that they would be coming to our place, I decided to make lasagna for dinner while they were here. I made a grocery run that Tuesday before and accidentally grabbed two big packages of MONTERREY JACK instead of MOZZARELLA cheese. They're both WHITE cheese and I was in a hurry, what can I say? I discovered my mistake when I got home and resolved to pick up the CORRECT cheese on Thursday ...which I did. Unfortunately though, I did not have the foresight to put the MONTERREY JACK in the freezer and far, far away from the MOZZARELLA cheese in my fridge. Nope. That would have made too much sense. Instead, I put them next to each other in the fridge and again ...they are both WHITE CHEESE and I was in a hurry Friday morning so I grabbed the wrong one!
I did not discover my mistake until the lasagna was made and I was cleaning up the kitchen. I grabbed the bag of cheese and there in big block letters were the words MONTERREY JACK CHEESE. When I realized I now had a FIVE-POUND pan of lasagna made with the wrong cheese, a couple of rather non-churchy words escaped my lips. Okay, it was really only one rather non-churchy word repeated several times in rapid succession.
I confessed my mistake to MDR in email and left it up to him whether to forewarn the rest of the family that the lasagna would have a bit of a southwest twist. I told him I hoped it would still be good ...I thought it would still be good and that I experiment on Yeoldfurt with recipes all the time. But I was a little freaked to be subjecting HIM and his FAMILY to such an experiment, especially considering it was not a PLANNED experiment. He graciously laughed off my concern with "I don't know if there is such a thing as wrong cheese. No worries." What a nice family those Rednecks are!
All's well that ends well though. We had a great time catching up with MDR and the Mrs, and really enjoyed finally getting to meet their three girls. Yeoldfurt also managed to get the tractor running again so he no longer has to roll round bales by hand. Yup, it was an exceptionally good weekend!
Showing posts with label Friends/Family/Festivities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends/Family/Festivities. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas Wishes and a New Recipe
This will be an especially joyous Christmas for us because we will have all three of our grandchildren here at the same time, for the first time ever. With one more on the way, next Christmas promises to be even more special.
I'm sharing below a poem written in 1976 by Norman Wesley Brooks. A friend posted it on Facebook. Thirty-five years after it was written, it's still a good message.
I seldom make desserts except at the holidays or on special occasions, so it's fun to try something new once in a while. Yeoldfurt came home with a recipe for Caramel Apple Cheesecake the other day. He got it from a co-worker who just raved about it. Since we will have a full house for Christmas this year, I decided this would be a good time to give it a try. It's in the oven now and smells wonderful.
The recipe called for regular graham crackers but I used cinnamon grahams. Combine crushed graham cracker crumbs and sugar, add melted butter and blend well. Press evenly into a 9-inch pie pan, using the back of a spoon to press the crumbs up the sides of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
Reserve and set aside 3/4 cup of the apple pie filling. Spoon the remaining filling evenly into the cooled pie crust. Combine the softened cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy and smooth. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating until well blended. Pour cream cheese mixture into the pie crust and spread evenly over the apple pie filling. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until center is set. Cool to room temperature.
Mix the reserved apple pie filling with the caramel topping. Next time I make it, I will dice the apple slices to make it easier to spread them evenly over the top. If the mixture is too thick to spread evenly, heat in a saucepan or microwaveable dish for approximately one minute. When smooth and spreadable consistency, pour evenly over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
The above is the original recipe, which fills a 9-inch pie pan and supposedly serves eight. Whoever wrote the recipe obviously doesn't know how much my husband and son-in-law like cheesecake. I doubled the ingredients and made it in a 9x13 pan. It still looks yummy, don't you think?
I'm sharing below a poem written in 1976 by Norman Wesley Brooks. A friend posted it on Facebook. Thirty-five years after it was written, it's still a good message.
Let Every Day Be Christmas
Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
Let us always remember the reason for the season,
and let us each do our best to let every day be Christmas.
Photo credit to Dan at
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=587
~~~
I seldom make desserts except at the holidays or on special occasions, so it's fun to try something new once in a while. Yeoldfurt came home with a recipe for Caramel Apple Cheesecake the other day. He got it from a co-worker who just raved about it. Since we will have a full house for Christmas this year, I decided this would be a good time to give it a try. It's in the oven now and smells wonderful.
Graham Cracker Crust
1-1/2 cups graham crackers, finely crushed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
Cheesecake Filling & Caramel Topping
1 21-ounce can apple pie filling
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 eggs
1/4 cup caramel topping
Reserve and set aside 3/4 cup of the apple pie filling. Spoon the remaining filling evenly into the cooled pie crust. Combine the softened cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy and smooth. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating until well blended. Pour cream cheese mixture into the pie crust and spread evenly over the apple pie filling. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until center is set. Cool to room temperature.
Mix the reserved apple pie filling with the caramel topping. Next time I make it, I will dice the apple slices to make it easier to spread them evenly over the top. If the mixture is too thick to spread evenly, heat in a saucepan or microwaveable dish for approximately one minute. When smooth and spreadable consistency, pour evenly over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
The above is the original recipe, which fills a 9-inch pie pan and supposedly serves eight. Whoever wrote the recipe obviously doesn't know how much my husband and son-in-law like cheesecake. I doubled the ingredients and made it in a 9x13 pan. It still looks yummy, don't you think?
Sunday, November 27, 2011
So Much to Do, So Little Time
First, let me say thank you all for the nice sentiments left in the comments on YOF's post about my birthday. And thank you, Mayberry, for the birthday wishes you left on the last post on my blog. Yes, as KX59 pointed out on YOF's blog, 'a birthday post on HB’s blog (was) noticeably absent.' I don't think one should announce one's own birthday. It seems inappropriate somehow. Maybe that's just me. But I had a very nice birthday, even if I am 'Captain Kangaroo' old now. It started out with YOF letting me sleep in and ended with him taking me out for a burger and back home for a movie on Netflix. In between rolling out of bed two hours late and getting taken out for the evening meal, I had a few cards in the mail, several phone calls and a great many comments and well wishes on Facebook and the blogs. I've always been a little uncomfortable with being the focus of attention so tend to enjoy everyone else's birthdays much more than my own. But this birthday was just nice. It was very quiet which was very nice, so thank you all.
Now, today ...life goes back to normal. Along with the usual laundry and housework that I do on Sundays, I need to devote some serious effort to organizing my office because it will be the center of our little Christmas celebration this year. We found out yesterday that our grandsons that just moved back to Houston will get to spend a few days with us this Christmas. My daughter and her family are driving over Christmas Day also and it will be the first time the grandsons get to meet their cousin, Isabelle. I will have a house full of grandkids at Christmas and I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday. It's been a long time since we had overnight guests and we've never had quite this many at one time. So much to do, so little time. But having all my grands here for the holidays will make it the best Christmas ever for me.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a joyous Christmas with your family and loved ones.
Now, today ...life goes back to normal. Along with the usual laundry and housework that I do on Sundays, I need to devote some serious effort to organizing my office because it will be the center of our little Christmas celebration this year. We found out yesterday that our grandsons that just moved back to Houston will get to spend a few days with us this Christmas. My daughter and her family are driving over Christmas Day also and it will be the first time the grandsons get to meet their cousin, Isabelle. I will have a house full of grandkids at Christmas and I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday. It's been a long time since we had overnight guests and we've never had quite this many at one time. So much to do, so little time. But having all my grands here for the holidays will make it the best Christmas ever for me.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a joyous Christmas with your family and loved ones.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Worth Every Stitch
Keebler was a big hit with the granddaughter
so I guess maybe my first sewing project in 30 years came out okay!
so I guess maybe my first sewing project in 30 years came out okay!
As you can see, they are already best of buds!
I was gone for four days and three nights and Yeoldfurt did an outstanding job of taking care of himself and the homestead. He did a fine job today of spoiling me rotten too. This was his regular day off and my last day of vacation and we took full advantage of the opportunity to spend time together.
I was gone for four days and three nights and Yeoldfurt did an outstanding job of taking care of himself and the homestead. He did a fine job today of spoiling me rotten too. This was his regular day off and my last day of vacation and we took full advantage of the opportunity to spend time together.
We went into the Big City to pick up a few things he needed for his shop and he treated me to both lunch and dinner. Lunch was a sit down meal, but dinner tonight is a box of spicy fried chicken and dirty rice from Pop-eyes. If you have never had Pop-eyes chicken, you will just have to trust me ...it's good!
While we were in town, we got an estimate on painting my little car and were pleasantly surprised at the quote. Looks like it's only going to cost a little over half what I thought it would, so my overtime money
will take care of painting the car and buy us that deep freeze we've been wanting.
Ahh, life is good!
will take care of painting the car and buy us that deep freeze we've been wanting.
Ahh, life is good!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Keebler, the Lion
I did not know when I started this project quite how challenging this pattern would be or quite how rusty my sewing skills have become. It has been thirty-something years since I really did anything more complex than a hem. But perseverance won out in the end and I finished the project. This is Keebler who I hope will end up being one of my little granddaughter's favorite cuddle buddies.
My granddaughter may come up with her own name for him and whatever she wants to call him is fine with me. But he will always be KEEBLER to me. I will explain why later.
The nose gave me fits from the beginning and I'm not sure I understand what I did to make it work well enough to explain. But I was finally able to fashion a nose out of the odd shaped bit of fabric and get it sewn in place so that it actually looks like a lion's nose. It even looks like the nose on the on the front of the pattern envelope. I would have settled for it just being recognizable as a nose. To have it end up looking like the one on the picture is unexpected bonus. I did have to deviate from the instructions quite a bit as they said to baste the nose in place on one side of the center of the muzzle and then stitch the two sides of the muzzle together with the nose sandwiched between them. I have a fairly nice sewing machine but it's not industrial strength. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be able to handle two layers of fleece (the two sides of the muzzle) plus four more layers of fleece made up by the folds in the nose. So I used the machine to make the seam up to the nose, then finished it by hand. I used heavy coat thread for the hand work, so hopefully it will hold up to the rigors of a toddler. Handwork is my comfort zone, so it was fun to include some of that.
The day I finally conquered the nose, I also lost my head ...for a while anyway. I got the nose firmly attached to the muzzle and started looking for the pattern piece labeled 'head' ...but it was nowhere to be found. I always pin all the pattern pieces before I cut to make sure I will have enough fabric. Then I always cut all the pattern pieces at once and leave them pinned to their piece of the pattern until I'm ready for them. But I searched through all my cut pieces three times and NO HEAD. Each pattern piece has a number and the head was number four. I even took all the unused pattern pieces out of the envelope and made sure I had not just failed to cut that piece. But there was no number four in the envelope. Ugh!
I knew the pattern company had not shorted me. Pattern pieces come all printed on one or two big sheets of tissue paper. You have to cut them apart to make individual pieces so you can arrange them on the fabric. I knew the missing pattern piece for the head had to be around here somewhere but I was running out of time to get this project done. I have my sewing machine setting on my grandmother's old writing desk which is tucked into a shallow alcove in my office. I thought the missing piece might have slipped off the desk while I was wrestling with the nose so I got out the flashlight and looked behind, under and on both sides of the desk. I didn't find it. I did find my cloth measuring tape though ...so the effort wasn't totally wasted.
Frustrated and baffled, I went back to the instructions to see if I could improvise. This pattern has four variations ...a lion, a monkey, a dog, and a cat. The lion is the only one that calls for the number four pattern piece for the head. The other three variations have a similarly shaped head, with only a minor difference on one end. I figured that, in a pinch, I could substitute the pattern piece for the head that the other variations called for and just 'eyeball' the minor difference to make it work. My only concern was that though the two 'head' pieces might be shaped very similar, I would have no way of knowing until I tried to attach it to the muzzle if the scale was the same. But I was running out of options so I got set up to cut a 'head' from the other pattern piece.
I have a 75 watt halogen bulb in a floor lamp beside the cutting table and wanted to turn it on so I could see better while I was cutting. I had to walk around to the back of the table to reach the switch on the floor lamp and as I stepped behind the table, I heard the familiar rustle of tissue paper. My missing pattern piece ...the number 4 head piece! It had apparently slipped off the table when I was laying the pieces out on the fabric. I didn't notice it was missing when I was cutting out the other pieces because there are 13 different pieces to this variation of the pattern and they are not consecutively numbered. The carpet in my office is circa 1985 which was smack dab in the middle of the 'earth tones' era in home decor. Typical of the 1980's, the carpet is a deep sculpture in a sandy tan, almost taupe color ...very similar in color to the pale tissue paper pattern piece. So I was able to cut the head from the correct piece of pattern after all.
In retrospect, the only parts of this lion that I made by following the instructions exactly were the legs. I modified the tail to make the fuzzy end more 3-D and fashioned furrowed 'eyebrows' from remnant fabric rather than just embroidering them as the pattern suggested. I did embroider the eyes and used the same brown embroidery floss to fashion the toes on the end of his floppy legs. Thinking back on the process, he's about 50 percent 'by the book' and fifty percent me figuring a way to make it work or a way to make it work (look) better. And that brings us to the story of how he got his name.
A friend of mine left a comment on my first post about this project, suggesting that if I ran into problems with the pattern, I should just 'Fudge, fudge a lot, you're a big girl now, you can fudge the pattern, the girl will never know!!'
Well, fudge I did. First with the nose, then the tail, and almost had to fudge the entire head. I fudged on the assembly process, stitching by hand almost as much as on the machine. I even fudged to create a 'suspended' stiff interfacing in the mane so that I could stuff on both sides of the interfacing and it would feel soft all the way around, but would have an inner support that would keep it from being floppy. Yes, this lion is the product of a whole lot of fudging. Get it? Keebler Fudge? I know, I know ...I have a warped sense of humor.
I am pleased at how he turned out and even more pleased that I got him finished with a whole day to spare before I leave for my weekend with my granddaughter. I work all day tomorrow but then I'm on vacation until next Wednesday. It will take me most of the morning Thursday to clean up my sewing room and turn it back into my office ... and the rest of the day to pack and put some meals in the freezer for Yeoldfurt to have while I'm gone. Assuming the threat of fires has lessened by Friday, I will leave early that morning and be back Monday before Yeoldfurt gets home from work. I will miss him but I'll make sure he has plenty of clean laundry and plenty of meals in the freezer until I get back. I'll have a nice supper ready for him when he gets home Monday evening and we'll be able to spend Tuesday together since that's his regular day off and I'll still be on vacation. By Tuesday, we will have been apart just long enough to miss each other's company and we can spend the day spoiling each other rotten. Life is good.
My granddaughter may come up with her own name for him and whatever she wants to call him is fine with me. But he will always be KEEBLER to me. I will explain why later.
The nose gave me fits from the beginning and I'm not sure I understand what I did to make it work well enough to explain. But I was finally able to fashion a nose out of the odd shaped bit of fabric and get it sewn in place so that it actually looks like a lion's nose. It even looks like the nose on the on the front of the pattern envelope. I would have settled for it just being recognizable as a nose. To have it end up looking like the one on the picture is unexpected bonus. I did have to deviate from the instructions quite a bit as they said to baste the nose in place on one side of the center of the muzzle and then stitch the two sides of the muzzle together with the nose sandwiched between them. I have a fairly nice sewing machine but it's not industrial strength. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be able to handle two layers of fleece (the two sides of the muzzle) plus four more layers of fleece made up by the folds in the nose. So I used the machine to make the seam up to the nose, then finished it by hand. I used heavy coat thread for the hand work, so hopefully it will hold up to the rigors of a toddler. Handwork is my comfort zone, so it was fun to include some of that.
The day I finally conquered the nose, I also lost my head ...for a while anyway. I got the nose firmly attached to the muzzle and started looking for the pattern piece labeled 'head' ...but it was nowhere to be found. I always pin all the pattern pieces before I cut to make sure I will have enough fabric. Then I always cut all the pattern pieces at once and leave them pinned to their piece of the pattern until I'm ready for them. But I searched through all my cut pieces three times and NO HEAD. Each pattern piece has a number and the head was number four. I even took all the unused pattern pieces out of the envelope and made sure I had not just failed to cut that piece. But there was no number four in the envelope. Ugh!
I knew the pattern company had not shorted me. Pattern pieces come all printed on one or two big sheets of tissue paper. You have to cut them apart to make individual pieces so you can arrange them on the fabric. I knew the missing pattern piece for the head had to be around here somewhere but I was running out of time to get this project done. I have my sewing machine setting on my grandmother's old writing desk which is tucked into a shallow alcove in my office. I thought the missing piece might have slipped off the desk while I was wrestling with the nose so I got out the flashlight and looked behind, under and on both sides of the desk. I didn't find it. I did find my cloth measuring tape though ...so the effort wasn't totally wasted.
Frustrated and baffled, I went back to the instructions to see if I could improvise. This pattern has four variations ...a lion, a monkey, a dog, and a cat. The lion is the only one that calls for the number four pattern piece for the head. The other three variations have a similarly shaped head, with only a minor difference on one end. I figured that, in a pinch, I could substitute the pattern piece for the head that the other variations called for and just 'eyeball' the minor difference to make it work. My only concern was that though the two 'head' pieces might be shaped very similar, I would have no way of knowing until I tried to attach it to the muzzle if the scale was the same. But I was running out of options so I got set up to cut a 'head' from the other pattern piece.
I have a 75 watt halogen bulb in a floor lamp beside the cutting table and wanted to turn it on so I could see better while I was cutting. I had to walk around to the back of the table to reach the switch on the floor lamp and as I stepped behind the table, I heard the familiar rustle of tissue paper. My missing pattern piece ...the number 4 head piece! It had apparently slipped off the table when I was laying the pieces out on the fabric. I didn't notice it was missing when I was cutting out the other pieces because there are 13 different pieces to this variation of the pattern and they are not consecutively numbered. The carpet in my office is circa 1985 which was smack dab in the middle of the 'earth tones' era in home decor. Typical of the 1980's, the carpet is a deep sculpture in a sandy tan, almost taupe color ...very similar in color to the pale tissue paper pattern piece. So I was able to cut the head from the correct piece of pattern after all.
In retrospect, the only parts of this lion that I made by following the instructions exactly were the legs. I modified the tail to make the fuzzy end more 3-D and fashioned furrowed 'eyebrows' from remnant fabric rather than just embroidering them as the pattern suggested. I did embroider the eyes and used the same brown embroidery floss to fashion the toes on the end of his floppy legs. Thinking back on the process, he's about 50 percent 'by the book' and fifty percent me figuring a way to make it work or a way to make it work (look) better. And that brings us to the story of how he got his name.
A friend of mine left a comment on my first post about this project, suggesting that if I ran into problems with the pattern, I should just 'Fudge, fudge a lot, you're a big girl now, you can fudge the pattern, the girl will never know!!'
Well, fudge I did. First with the nose, then the tail, and almost had to fudge the entire head. I fudged on the assembly process, stitching by hand almost as much as on the machine. I even fudged to create a 'suspended' stiff interfacing in the mane so that I could stuff on both sides of the interfacing and it would feel soft all the way around, but would have an inner support that would keep it from being floppy. Yes, this lion is the product of a whole lot of fudging. Get it? Keebler Fudge? I know, I know ...I have a warped sense of humor.
I am pleased at how he turned out and even more pleased that I got him finished with a whole day to spare before I leave for my weekend with my granddaughter. I work all day tomorrow but then I'm on vacation until next Wednesday. It will take me most of the morning Thursday to clean up my sewing room and turn it back into my office ... and the rest of the day to pack and put some meals in the freezer for Yeoldfurt to have while I'm gone. Assuming the threat of fires has lessened by Friday, I will leave early that morning and be back Monday before Yeoldfurt gets home from work. I will miss him but I'll make sure he has plenty of clean laundry and plenty of meals in the freezer until I get back. I'll have a nice supper ready for him when he gets home Monday evening and we'll be able to spend Tuesday together since that's his regular day off and I'll still be on vacation. By Tuesday, we will have been apart just long enough to miss each other's company and we can spend the day spoiling each other rotten. Life is good.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Few Things ...
...can dishevel a house quicker or more thoroughly than two grandsons descending for a whirlwind weekend visit. They were only here three days and two nights but the only room that looks good this morning is the room they slept in because ...GOOD BOYS that they are, they made their beds and picked up their room every morning before wandering out to the kitchen for breakfast. They rode the horses several times, made a serious dent in Yeoldfurt's stash of 22 cartridges, and ate just about everything that wasn't nailed down. If we are able to arrange for a week long visit in the future, I can see we're going to have to stock up a lot more than we did for this short visit!
The oldest is a natural with a rifle, nailing almost every target he went after. He has outgrown the Cricket 22 we bought a couple of years ago and was shooting my singleshot bolt action that I inherited from my dad. That rifle has been through three generations so far and is now in the hands of the fourth.
The youngest is eager to learn and will be as good as his brother with a little practice. Both boys are right-handed but left-eye dominant. The oldest has figured this out and shoots left-handed to give himself a better aim through the sights. The youngest still insists he has to shoot right-handed which means he throws his head way to the right trying to get his left eye lined up with the sights. He'll figure it out and when he does, he'll be a crack shot like his brother.
And this is how I found the boys every morning. Worn out from the activities the day before, resting up for whatever the new day would bring. Short visit, but good times.
The oldest is a natural with a rifle, nailing almost every target he went after. He has outgrown the Cricket 22 we bought a couple of years ago and was shooting my singleshot bolt action that I inherited from my dad. That rifle has been through three generations so far and is now in the hands of the fourth.
The youngest is eager to learn and will be as good as his brother with a little practice. Both boys are right-handed but left-eye dominant. The oldest has figured this out and shoots left-handed to give himself a better aim through the sights. The youngest still insists he has to shoot right-handed which means he throws his head way to the right trying to get his left eye lined up with the sights. He'll figure it out and when he does, he'll be a crack shot like his brother.
The youngest is my can't-get-enough-saddle-time-cowboy right now. Even the triple digit temperatures didn't keep him from wanting to ride at least once every day. He's fearless regardless of the size of the horse he's on and I can see I'm going to have to watch what I let him see me do on the horses. We were riding separate horses the first evening and he saw me kick my feet out of the stirrups and jump off when I wanted to get down. He figured that's the way it's done so off he jumped. I turned around just in time to see him land on his feet and grin at me. He's barely three feet tall and the saddle he was sitting was five feet off the ground. He must have noticed the panicked look on my face and said, 'What?' Silly boy ...I'll have to watch what I do when he's looking.
The youngest is still lightweight enough for our kid-horse, Katie, to pack around. I am right there with him for moral support and to get the horse saddled up but Katie is the one teaching the youngun to ride. She has a bum knee now so we don't let anyone over 50 pounds on her back. Katie is in hog heaven with a kid on her back. That horse would positively have her feelings hurt if kids are around she didn't get ridden and, believe me, there's nothing more pitiful than watching a 1000-pound horse pout! The oldest grandson and our grand niece both learned to ride on Katie and we still have the 9 month old granddaughter coming up through the ranks. But after all the grandkids are too heavy for her, we may have to borrow some pint-size neighbor kids to keep Katie feeling useful.
And this is how I found the boys every morning. Worn out from the activities the day before, resting up for whatever the new day would bring. Short visit, but good times.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Mini-Vacation
I'm off today, tomorrow and Wednesday but the 'To Do List' is long. There are only two projects on the agenda today ...really only one project but it needs to be done in two different rooms. The guestroom and my office are in desperate need of a complete overhaul. De-junking, deep-cleaning and reorganizing. None of that sounds like fun to me, but it has to be done.
The guestroom hasn't been occupied by an actual guest in a long time, so the two beds have slowly accumulated 'stuff' that just needs to find a home. When I re-vamped our bedroom a couple of months ago, the guestroom became a handy place to move things while I painted. Somehow after the painting project was done, there were still a lot of things laying around the guestroom. Exhaustion or my lazy streak won out and I just closed the door and forgot about it ...until recently. Now our grandsons are coming to visit 4th of July weekend and the guestroom is in a shambles! I pick them up Friday after work, so this project is a priority.
The other room to be overhauled is my office. Just another catch-all space in the house. We refer to it as my office, but it's also my sewing machine and where we set up the dehydrator. It was originally intended as a formal dining room by the couple that built this house and there is a wonderful walk-in pantry in one corner. It's wonderful in that it's 5 feet deep by 6 feet wide, with four 12-inch deep shelves on three of the walls. Great for storing all kinds of things ...a nightmare if the shelves are full but disorganized. Unfortunately, that's how I would have to describe it right now ...a disorganized nightmare. My hope is to designate each of the three walls for a specific function. One wall would hold all of my equipment such as the two canners, the Foodsaver, canning jars/lids, and various empty plastics that I can use for food storage. Another wall would would hold all of my sewing and craft materials. The third wall would become the short term food storage.
Right now, we keep a only few days worth of staples in the kitchen cupboards because space is limited in the kitchen. The rest is kept in the food storage area we built in the shed down the hill. I make an average of three trips to retrieve this or that from food storage during the week. That doesn't sound like a lot of hassle but there are days when my feet are screaming and one more trip down the hill would just do me in. So my hope is to designate about a third of this walk-in pantry for it's intended purpose ...a pantry. I would stock these shelves with enough of our most commonly used staples to last about a month. What gets put on the pantry shelves would come from what's already in storage in the shed. I would restock it about once a month, again pulling from the food storage in the shed. New groceries brought into the house would get date marked and put in storage in the shed so we would be able to keep everything rotated. It will sure make things easier on me for those days when I just can't make it down the hill but it will also ultimately make more space in storage so we could possibly expand our current 12-month by at least an extra month.
Tomorrow ...Day Two of this Mini-Vacation ...I'll be gone all day. I need to get the oil changed in two vehicles and get an inspection on one of them. That may not seem like a lot but it will pretty much take the whole day because of logistics. When Yeoldfurt leaves for work tomorrow morning, I'll follow him in another vehicle. We'll leave one of them off at the shop when they open at 8:00 and I'll use the other one to drive Yeoldfurt the rest of the way in to his job. It's another 20 miles so it will take me an hour or so to drop him off and get back to the shop. Hopefully by then, the first vehicle will be done and I can leave them the second vehicle. The second one will take longer because there's a burned out tail light to be replaced and then the inspection. The shop, like anywhere else, tends to get busier as the day wears on. By the time I drop the second vehicle off, half a dozen other customers may already be ahead of me in line. So I'll a few hours hanging out at the courthouse with my old work buddies until the second one is done.
In other words, I will be totally not productive, just goofing off and killing time as far as projects around the house go. When the second vehicle is ready, I'll go pay the bill and pick up both sets of keys, then head off in the direction of Yeoldfurt's job. It will probably be two or three hours before he gets off, but I there are plenty of places to kill time in that neck of the woods too.
Yard work is the big project for Wednesday. The three inches of rain we got last week has really transformed things. Our yard has been brown and crunchy for weeks but is now green and growing. I hope to get the yard mowed, the raised bed weeded and the shed branches down to the burn pile. I much prefer yard work to house work, which is why I have to save the yard work for last. One thing would lead to another and I would never get around to the house work. So I don't dare start the yard work unless and until both of my indoor projects are done.
So far, it's not sounding much like a vacation, is it? But I had my 'play time' earlier this weekend. While Yeoldfurt was off at the blog shoot in Lockhart, I was driving to San Antonio for an overnight with my daughter. First things first, I spent some serious cuddle time with my little granddaughter, Bella, Saturday morning. She and her mom had a commitment that afternoon and I had a wedding to attend so it was only a few hours, but delightful for me. The bride at the wedding I attended is the daughter of one of my best friends. Her mom and I have known each other for more than 30 years and I was glad I was able to share that moment with her. It was a lot of 'special' to fit into one day.
My daughter is in the choir and her husband plays bass in the Praise Band at their church, so they always go early and attend both services on Sundays. I went to the early service and kept Bella with me instead of putting her in the nursery ...a little extra cuddle time for Grandma. I passed Bella back to her parents and said my goodbyes after the early service, then drove 30 miles out to Boerne to visit another dear friend. I've only known this lady for a few years, but it seems like we were friends as soon as we met. She happens to be my son-in-law's grandmother which is how we met. That makes us 'family' now too, a double blessing for me.
My desk at work will be knee-deep when I get back on Thursday but I'm glad I took this time off. Even if I only spend two of the five days playing, getting a few things is its own reward.
The guestroom hasn't been occupied by an actual guest in a long time, so the two beds have slowly accumulated 'stuff' that just needs to find a home. When I re-vamped our bedroom a couple of months ago, the guestroom became a handy place to move things while I painted. Somehow after the painting project was done, there were still a lot of things laying around the guestroom. Exhaustion or my lazy streak won out and I just closed the door and forgot about it ...until recently. Now our grandsons are coming to visit 4th of July weekend and the guestroom is in a shambles! I pick them up Friday after work, so this project is a priority.
The other room to be overhauled is my office. Just another catch-all space in the house. We refer to it as my office, but it's also my sewing machine and where we set up the dehydrator. It was originally intended as a formal dining room by the couple that built this house and there is a wonderful walk-in pantry in one corner. It's wonderful in that it's 5 feet deep by 6 feet wide, with four 12-inch deep shelves on three of the walls. Great for storing all kinds of things ...a nightmare if the shelves are full but disorganized. Unfortunately, that's how I would have to describe it right now ...a disorganized nightmare. My hope is to designate each of the three walls for a specific function. One wall would hold all of my equipment such as the two canners, the Foodsaver, canning jars/lids, and various empty plastics that I can use for food storage. Another wall would would hold all of my sewing and craft materials. The third wall would become the short term food storage.
Right now, we keep a only few days worth of staples in the kitchen cupboards because space is limited in the kitchen. The rest is kept in the food storage area we built in the shed down the hill. I make an average of three trips to retrieve this or that from food storage during the week. That doesn't sound like a lot of hassle but there are days when my feet are screaming and one more trip down the hill would just do me in. So my hope is to designate about a third of this walk-in pantry for it's intended purpose ...a pantry. I would stock these shelves with enough of our most commonly used staples to last about a month. What gets put on the pantry shelves would come from what's already in storage in the shed. I would restock it about once a month, again pulling from the food storage in the shed. New groceries brought into the house would get date marked and put in storage in the shed so we would be able to keep everything rotated. It will sure make things easier on me for those days when I just can't make it down the hill but it will also ultimately make more space in storage so we could possibly expand our current 12-month by at least an extra month.
Tomorrow ...Day Two of this Mini-Vacation ...I'll be gone all day. I need to get the oil changed in two vehicles and get an inspection on one of them. That may not seem like a lot but it will pretty much take the whole day because of logistics. When Yeoldfurt leaves for work tomorrow morning, I'll follow him in another vehicle. We'll leave one of them off at the shop when they open at 8:00 and I'll use the other one to drive Yeoldfurt the rest of the way in to his job. It's another 20 miles so it will take me an hour or so to drop him off and get back to the shop. Hopefully by then, the first vehicle will be done and I can leave them the second vehicle. The second one will take longer because there's a burned out tail light to be replaced and then the inspection. The shop, like anywhere else, tends to get busier as the day wears on. By the time I drop the second vehicle off, half a dozen other customers may already be ahead of me in line. So I'll a few hours hanging out at the courthouse with my old work buddies until the second one is done.
In other words, I will be totally not productive, just goofing off and killing time as far as projects around the house go. When the second vehicle is ready, I'll go pay the bill and pick up both sets of keys, then head off in the direction of Yeoldfurt's job. It will probably be two or three hours before he gets off, but I there are plenty of places to kill time in that neck of the woods too.
Yard work is the big project for Wednesday. The three inches of rain we got last week has really transformed things. Our yard has been brown and crunchy for weeks but is now green and growing. I hope to get the yard mowed, the raised bed weeded and the shed branches down to the burn pile. I much prefer yard work to house work, which is why I have to save the yard work for last. One thing would lead to another and I would never get around to the house work. So I don't dare start the yard work unless and until both of my indoor projects are done.
So far, it's not sounding much like a vacation, is it? But I had my 'play time' earlier this weekend. While Yeoldfurt was off at the blog shoot in Lockhart, I was driving to San Antonio for an overnight with my daughter. First things first, I spent some serious cuddle time with my little granddaughter, Bella, Saturday morning. She and her mom had a commitment that afternoon and I had a wedding to attend so it was only a few hours, but delightful for me. The bride at the wedding I attended is the daughter of one of my best friends. Her mom and I have known each other for more than 30 years and I was glad I was able to share that moment with her. It was a lot of 'special' to fit into one day.
My daughter is in the choir and her husband plays bass in the Praise Band at their church, so they always go early and attend both services on Sundays. I went to the early service and kept Bella with me instead of putting her in the nursery ...a little extra cuddle time for Grandma. I passed Bella back to her parents and said my goodbyes after the early service, then drove 30 miles out to Boerne to visit another dear friend. I've only known this lady for a few years, but it seems like we were friends as soon as we met. She happens to be my son-in-law's grandmother which is how we met. That makes us 'family' now too, a double blessing for me.
My desk at work will be knee-deep when I get back on Thursday but I'm glad I took this time off. Even if I only spend two of the five days playing, getting a few things is its own reward.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Oh, What a Great Day!
We always have a 'To Do' list for Saturdays and today, we got it all done. That in itself made it a good day but what made it even better was that the first thing on the list was a fun thing ...riding. That's something we don't do enough of these days and that we haven't done together in a long time.
I think we enjoyed today so much partly because last week was tough for both of us at our respective jobs. In both cases, it was your typical work-related, boss-engineered fiasco exacerbated with a healthy dose of office politics. Total nonsense and so not productive in the work place. By Thursday evening, it had taken it's toll on both our moods. But Friday, as I drove in to the office, I decided I was going to do everything I could when I got home to make it an easy stress-free evening for Yeoldfurt. Saturday is the one day out of the week when we are both off so we try to make it count.
I had to do the grocery shopping on the way home, but I hurried through the aisles and didn't waste any time getting everything put away and dinner started as soon as I got home. While dinner was on autopilot, I went out and took care of all the critter chores whic is a 30-45 minute ritual every evening. By the time Yeoldfurt rolled in, all he had to do was get comfortable and meet me on the patio. I had his favorite beverage on ice and waiting for him. We always spend an hour or so on the patio in the evenings this time of year. The temperatures are bearable and the sunset is spectacular. This is our time to catch up on the happenings of each other's day and make plans for the days ahead. When we had our session last night, we decided there were three things we wanted to get done this Saturday ... RIDE the horses, FINISH the electric fence (minor tweaks) and one town errand.
When we first started talking about it last night, Yeoldfurt suggested we go into town first and get that out of the way. But the place we needed to go doesn't open up until 10:00 a.m. and I knew we should probably get our day started long before then. So reminding him that since the first thing on our list was the one thing we could count on accomplishing, I suggested that we ride first. We are always up with the chickens, so to speak, and it's always coolest in the morning so that's the best time to ride. The horses are also already right here by the house until we turn them out in the morning so it's also the most convenient time to ride.
Plans are just plans. Sometimes life gets in the way and plans have to change. But today, everything fell into place perfectly. We were both up an hour before sunrise and I had started my experimental batch of 'Leather Cookies' in the Excalibur. By 8:30, we were dressed and out the door to feed the little critters and gather the horses. We brought the two horses in that we were going to ride and turned all the others out to the pasture. By 9:00, we were saddled up and riding. Yeoldfurt's mare is the buckskin named Lucy. She's half-mustang and can be highly opinionated. She hadn't carried a saddle, let alone a rider, for about a year so she was a little more opinionated than usual this morning. But after she lost the first argument or two, she settled down to business. By the time Yeoldfurt stepped off of her, she was willing and even enjoying the attention. He had only been on her about 30 minutes but it was a good ride and a good refresher since she'd had so much time off. I stayed in the saddle a little bit longer, working on some fancy stuff with my mare. She's neck reining now and her sidepasses are getting better and better. I guess her sidepasses have always been fine. She knows what to do ...it's really me who is getting better and better with my cues. If I get my cues right, she does great. If she's sloppy or hesitant, it's because my cues were off. She probably appreciates me finally figuring it all out!
We spent a while grooming them after the ride and gave them both a handful of sweet feed for a treat. By that time, the 'Leather Cookies' were ready, so we let them sample those too. Lucy will eat anything you offer her but my mare tends to be skeptical of anything new. They both LOVED the leather cookies though. They ate three a piece and were looking for more, but we had to draw the line somewhere. We turned them out with the other horses and got ready to run our town errand. Even the town errand went smoother than we expected and we were back home in an hour. I fixed us a light lunch, we took a short break, and then we were ready to start on the fence work.
Fencing is a never-ending chore when you have livestock. Setting posts and stretching wire is slow and back breaking unless you have a crew and a tractor or bobcat to run an auger. But today's chore only involved replacing and repairing fasteners on the electric fence. Yeoldfurt started at one end and I started at the other. The poor dog is used to tagging along with us whenever we work around the property, but we're usually working side by side. With us heading off in opposite directions, she didn't know who to follow. It didn't take long though and we met in the middle to finish up the job. It was about 5:00 in the evening when we were done and we sat down on the patio with some cold drinks, taking a break to reflect on what a good day it had been.
Just when I couldn't imagine how the day could get better, we got an email from our tax consultant that we're getting a nice refund this year. That means we can fund some of the goals we set for ourselves in January, like buying a freezer and getting a couple of calves. There will probably even be a little 'mad money' left over for each of us. I think Yeoldfurt has some ideas on how he'd like to spend his and I know I have ideas on how I'd like to spend mine. Yup, today has truly been a great day!
I think we enjoyed today so much partly because last week was tough for both of us at our respective jobs. In both cases, it was your typical work-related, boss-engineered fiasco exacerbated with a healthy dose of office politics. Total nonsense and so not productive in the work place. By Thursday evening, it had taken it's toll on both our moods. But Friday, as I drove in to the office, I decided I was going to do everything I could when I got home to make it an easy stress-free evening for Yeoldfurt. Saturday is the one day out of the week when we are both off so we try to make it count.
I had to do the grocery shopping on the way home, but I hurried through the aisles and didn't waste any time getting everything put away and dinner started as soon as I got home. While dinner was on autopilot, I went out and took care of all the critter chores whic is a 30-45 minute ritual every evening. By the time Yeoldfurt rolled in, all he had to do was get comfortable and meet me on the patio. I had his favorite beverage on ice and waiting for him. We always spend an hour or so on the patio in the evenings this time of year. The temperatures are bearable and the sunset is spectacular. This is our time to catch up on the happenings of each other's day and make plans for the days ahead. When we had our session last night, we decided there were three things we wanted to get done this Saturday ... RIDE the horses, FINISH the electric fence (minor tweaks) and one town errand.
When we first started talking about it last night, Yeoldfurt suggested we go into town first and get that out of the way. But the place we needed to go doesn't open up until 10:00 a.m. and I knew we should probably get our day started long before then. So reminding him that since the first thing on our list was the one thing we could count on accomplishing, I suggested that we ride first. We are always up with the chickens, so to speak, and it's always coolest in the morning so that's the best time to ride. The horses are also already right here by the house until we turn them out in the morning so it's also the most convenient time to ride.
Plans are just plans. Sometimes life gets in the way and plans have to change. But today, everything fell into place perfectly. We were both up an hour before sunrise and I had started my experimental batch of 'Leather Cookies' in the Excalibur. By 8:30, we were dressed and out the door to feed the little critters and gather the horses. We brought the two horses in that we were going to ride and turned all the others out to the pasture. By 9:00, we were saddled up and riding. Yeoldfurt's mare is the buckskin named Lucy. She's half-mustang and can be highly opinionated. She hadn't carried a saddle, let alone a rider, for about a year so she was a little more opinionated than usual this morning. But after she lost the first argument or two, she settled down to business. By the time Yeoldfurt stepped off of her, she was willing and even enjoying the attention. He had only been on her about 30 minutes but it was a good ride and a good refresher since she'd had so much time off. I stayed in the saddle a little bit longer, working on some fancy stuff with my mare. She's neck reining now and her sidepasses are getting better and better. I guess her sidepasses have always been fine. She knows what to do ...it's really me who is getting better and better with my cues. If I get my cues right, she does great. If she's sloppy or hesitant, it's because my cues were off. She probably appreciates me finally figuring it all out!
We spent a while grooming them after the ride and gave them both a handful of sweet feed for a treat. By that time, the 'Leather Cookies' were ready, so we let them sample those too. Lucy will eat anything you offer her but my mare tends to be skeptical of anything new. They both LOVED the leather cookies though. They ate three a piece and were looking for more, but we had to draw the line somewhere. We turned them out with the other horses and got ready to run our town errand. Even the town errand went smoother than we expected and we were back home in an hour. I fixed us a light lunch, we took a short break, and then we were ready to start on the fence work.
Fencing is a never-ending chore when you have livestock. Setting posts and stretching wire is slow and back breaking unless you have a crew and a tractor or bobcat to run an auger. But today's chore only involved replacing and repairing fasteners on the electric fence. Yeoldfurt started at one end and I started at the other. The poor dog is used to tagging along with us whenever we work around the property, but we're usually working side by side. With us heading off in opposite directions, she didn't know who to follow. It didn't take long though and we met in the middle to finish up the job. It was about 5:00 in the evening when we were done and we sat down on the patio with some cold drinks, taking a break to reflect on what a good day it had been.
Just when I couldn't imagine how the day could get better, we got an email from our tax consultant that we're getting a nice refund this year. That means we can fund some of the goals we set for ourselves in January, like buying a freezer and getting a couple of calves. There will probably even be a little 'mad money' left over for each of us. I think Yeoldfurt has some ideas on how he'd like to spend his and I know I have ideas on how I'd like to spend mine. Yup, today has truly been a great day!
Friday, February 18, 2011
TGIF
It's finally Friday, oh happy day! I ended up missing three days of work last week due to the nasty flu bug. I went back to work this past Monday, but have been dragging all week. You know how when you know you're going on vacation, you can kind of prep your desk at work for your impending absence, so the fallout won't be quite as bad when you come back? Well, nasty flu bug gave me NO WARNING and my desk was already severely backlogged. So when I showed up at 7:00am this past Monday, one of my co-workers asked me if I brought a shovel. My desk was that deep.
I made a dent this week, but it would take me at least another week to just get the backlog down to where it was before I got sick. I'm not going to get that opportunity though because the office is closed next Monday for President's Day. My work load (applications for child support services through the Attorney General's Office) roll in around the clock. Some people submit paper applications, either in person or by mail. But applications can be submitted online too. So the work just piles up. Next week I will have only four days to accomplish five days worth of work and try to whittle down the backlog. The following week, I have to go out of town for training for three days, so I'll only have two days to accomplish any actual work. Anyone who thinks 'government jobs' are cakewalks ought to try one sometime. That sure hasn't been my experience!
But now it's Friday and I'm not going to think about my desk or my backlog for three days. Tomorrow is Yeoldfurt's birthday and we're going to celebrate. He found a demonstration on blacksmithing he wants to check out and while we're in town, I'll take him someplace nice to eat. We may even do a movie. Netflix is a great deal but every once in a while, it's nice to go on a movie date. Whatever Yeoldfurt wants to do tomorrow, we'll do. It's his day.
I made a dent this week, but it would take me at least another week to just get the backlog down to where it was before I got sick. I'm not going to get that opportunity though because the office is closed next Monday for President's Day. My work load (applications for child support services through the Attorney General's Office) roll in around the clock. Some people submit paper applications, either in person or by mail. But applications can be submitted online too. So the work just piles up. Next week I will have only four days to accomplish five days worth of work and try to whittle down the backlog. The following week, I have to go out of town for training for three days, so I'll only have two days to accomplish any actual work. Anyone who thinks 'government jobs' are cakewalks ought to try one sometime. That sure hasn't been my experience!
But now it's Friday and I'm not going to think about my desk or my backlog for three days. Tomorrow is Yeoldfurt's birthday and we're going to celebrate. He found a demonstration on blacksmithing he wants to check out and while we're in town, I'll take him someplace nice to eat. We may even do a movie. Netflix is a great deal but every once in a while, it's nice to go on a movie date. Whatever Yeoldfurt wants to do tomorrow, we'll do. It's his day.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Snow Two Years in a Row
Snow is not a common occurrence in central Texas. To have a measurable snowfall two years in a row is really something. Moisture in any form is always welcome in a rural agricultural community. The sight of a thin blanket of snow over land that's been plagued with drought for several years running is beautiful. So as soon as Yeoldfurt had the water flowing again at the house, I took the camera and the dog and headed for the big pasture.
My excuse was to check fence which is always a good practice after any windy weather. But the truth is, I just wanted to forget the troubles of the last few days and enjoy the scenery. Since snow is so rare in these parts, winter here is usually dull and barren. Just dormant vegetation in multiple shades of brown against the variegated gray of winter skies. To see all that dullness dressed up in white from fresh fallen snow is just breathtaking while it lasts.
The catch pond had been completely dry most of the summer because of the drought. A week of heavy rain in November brought the water level about halfway back to normal again. Hopefully, we'll have better rainfall this spring and summer.
The thing about walking dogs in the country is that they get to lead the way. We take our dog with us whenever we walk the property or even if we just walk up to the road to get the mail. She never takes off and one word from either of us stops her in her tracks or brings her to our side. She's revels in the freedom of no leash and I smile at the freedom of having absolute control with no leash.
The purpose of the venture was to observe the winter landscape but it wasn't long before we were being observed by the horses.
Being herd animals, when one horse is interested enough to stop eating, instincts take over in the herd and it isn't long before the others are checking you out too.
If they all stop eating long enough to snort and stare, it won't be long until someone is elected to come check you out. Dancer being the low mare on the totem pole almost always draws the short straw. She circles off to my left, probably intended as a diversion.
Then the others move in from the opposite side. You remember these two from Devious Deeds, I'm sure! When things are boring, they pester one another so much you'd think they couldn't stand each other. But when an adventure is afoot, they are always together and always right in the middle of it. They move in to my right in an obvious attempt to flank me.
There were plenty of downed limbs on our property and the neighbors, but none that damaged the fenceline so it was just a nice walk in the woods. But after about 20 minutes, my face felt stiff from the cold so we headed back. I was cold and I could no longer feel my toes. But I was smiling because I knew I was going to be able to enjoy a long hot shower that evening ...all thanks to Yeoldfurt, my very own Dragon Slayer!
My excuse was to check fence which is always a good practice after any windy weather. But the truth is, I just wanted to forget the troubles of the last few days and enjoy the scenery. Since snow is so rare in these parts, winter here is usually dull and barren. Just dormant vegetation in multiple shades of brown against the variegated gray of winter skies. To see all that dullness dressed up in white from fresh fallen snow is just breathtaking while it lasts.
The catch pond had been completely dry most of the summer because of the drought. A week of heavy rain in November brought the water level about halfway back to normal again. Hopefully, we'll have better rainfall this spring and summer.
Looking back toward the house and barns, the snow was already starting to melt as the temperatures were finally above freezing. The afternoon forecast called for sunny skies and temperatures in the low forties.
The thing about walking dogs in the country is that they get to lead the way. We take our dog with us whenever we walk the property or even if we just walk up to the road to get the mail. She never takes off and one word from either of us stops her in her tracks or brings her to our side. She's revels in the freedom of no leash and I smile at the freedom of having absolute control with no leash.
The purpose of the venture was to observe the winter landscape but it wasn't long before we were being observed by the horses.
Being herd animals, when one horse is interested enough to stop eating, instincts take over in the herd and it isn't long before the others are checking you out too.
If they all stop eating long enough to snort and stare, it won't be long until someone is elected to come check you out. Dancer being the low mare on the totem pole almost always draws the short straw. She circles off to my left, probably intended as a diversion.
Then the others move in from the opposite side. You remember these two from Devious Deeds, I'm sure! When things are boring, they pester one another so much you'd think they couldn't stand each other. But when an adventure is afoot, they are always together and always right in the middle of it. They move in to my right in an obvious attempt to flank me.
I was never a threat to them and they were never a real threat to me or the dog. It was just a silly game of sneak attack, invented as a way to warm up on a cold winter day. Either they got bored because I wasn't playing 'scared' for them or they worked up an appetite from their little game because they were back to foraging in a matter of minutes and the dog and I continued our walk down the back fence line.
There were plenty of downed limbs on our property and the neighbors, but none that damaged the fenceline so it was just a nice walk in the woods. But after about 20 minutes, my face felt stiff from the cold so we headed back. I was cold and I could no longer feel my toes. But I was smiling because I knew I was going to be able to enjoy a long hot shower that evening ...all thanks to Yeoldfurt, my very own Dragon Slayer!
Friday, February 4, 2011
How It Really Was
Last night when Yeoldfurt came home from work, he was met at the door by a very bedraggled unhappy wife. We had been three full days without 'indoor plumbing.' I have been known to primitive camp for a long weekend from time to time and I have roughed it out of circumstance and necessity in a house with no lights or electricity for as much as a week a few times. But when I was camping and roughing it, I wasn't also trying to pull off a 'professional' appearance at an office job every day. This past week was tough. I am no barbie doll that has to have all the frills and froo-froo every day ...but that doesn't mean I have no standards for cleanliness. By the time Yeoldfurt got home from work last night, I was not clean, my floors were not clean, my counters were not clean, the laundry was piling up and I just had a melt down.
Yeoldfurt, being the gentlemanly knight that he is, let me blow off my steam and 'wring out my rag' as my sister calls it and then promised me it would get better. Today, he made good on that promise. It was still bitter cold but he was outside with my hair dryer first thing this morning, trying to thaw out the water line feeding the house.
It took quite a while but he finally got a drip going. It was slow at first, intermittent at times, but it was progress and I was happy. We left the spigot open and went in the house to warm up.
We opened the taps in the house too so air could work its way out of the lines. Thirty minutes later, we had water. It was wonderful!
When Yeoldfurt mentioned in his first post this morning about HB not being happy ...he was understating the facts out of kindness to me. When he made light of his day's accomplishments in his last post this evening ('another dragon bites the dust'), he was just being humble. Ain't he sweet?
Yeoldfurt, being the gentlemanly knight that he is, let me blow off my steam and 'wring out my rag' as my sister calls it and then promised me it would get better. Today, he made good on that promise. It was still bitter cold but he was outside with my hair dryer first thing this morning, trying to thaw out the water line feeding the house.
It took quite a while but he finally got a drip going. It was slow at first, intermittent at times, but it was progress and I was happy. We left the spigot open and went in the house to warm up.
When Yeoldfurt mentioned in his first post this morning about HB not being happy ...he was understating the facts out of kindness to me. When he made light of his day's accomplishments in his last post this evening ('another dragon bites the dust'), he was just being humble. Ain't he sweet?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monkey Bread and Cinnamon Rolls
I discovered Monkey Bread when I was in my early twenties. Someone brought some to an office Christmas Party, I got the recipe and it has been a holiday tradition in our home ever since. Over the years, I've found the same recipe by different names ...Cinnamon Bubble Ring, Cobblestone Cake. It's all Monkey Bread with a fancier name. I like to bake it in a fluted bundt pan because I think it's prettier but you can use a 9x13 rectangular pan or two 8-inch round or square pans. I've even seen it baked in a 2-pound coffee can. Just spray whatever pan you will use with Pam (or similar) nonstick cooking spray before you add the dough.
The recipe is very simple. You need:
4 cans refrigerator biscuits
(Pillsbury or store-brand, doesn't matter)
1 cup sugar plus 2 Tbsps cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cube butter, melted (not margarine or butter substitute)
Put the sugar & cinnamon in a large ziplock bag
Open the canned biscuits, cut into fourths
Drop the dough pieces a few at a time in the ziplock bag
Shake to coat, then put them in pre-sprayed baking pan
When all the dough pieces are in the pan,
Combine the brown sugar & melted butter
Pour evenly over the top of the dough
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then cover top with foil and back an additional 10-15 minutes
To serve, place an appropriate sized/shaped platter over the baking pan and invert. Can be served warm or cold and makes a good breakfast bread.
I have been making cinnamon rolls for several family members and friends at Christmas for almost 20 years. I usually half the dough and make two 8-inch pans (approximately 12 rolls in each pan) from one recipe of dough. I also make a Monkey Bread or two, usually at my daughter's request and usually using my fluted bundt pan for the Monkey Bread. While I was thinking about Monkey Bread the other day, it occurred to me that I could stack the rolls on their sides in a bundt pan and I would have pull apart cinnamon rolls! A cinnamon roll ring! When it was done baking, it would fit on a normal 8-inch dinner plate or round serving platter and it would be easy to use a fork to pull one (or two) rolls off at a time. Ahh, decadence and convenience all in one pan!
This is what the rolls looked like after 45 minutes raising time in my Excalibur dehydrator...
I was able to bake them together in the same oven, but since the rolls in the pyrex were already so close to the top of the dish, I had a lot of bubble-over during the baking process. A waste of buttery goodness and a mess in the oven! Using the 1-pound loaf pan next time should eliminate that problem. This is what they looked like after baking. We haven't sampled them yet, but I've been making these rolls for so many years, I can tell by looking if a batch came out good. These will be good!
The recipe is very simple. You need:
4 cans refrigerator biscuits
(Pillsbury or store-brand, doesn't matter)
1 cup sugar plus 2 Tbsps cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cube butter, melted (not margarine or butter substitute)
Put the sugar & cinnamon in a large ziplock bag
Open the canned biscuits, cut into fourths
Drop the dough pieces a few at a time in the ziplock bag
Shake to coat, then put them in pre-sprayed baking pan
When all the dough pieces are in the pan,
Combine the brown sugar & melted butter
Pour evenly over the top of the dough
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then cover top with foil and back an additional 10-15 minutes
To serve, place an appropriate sized/shaped platter over the baking pan and invert. Can be served warm or cold and makes a good breakfast bread.
I have been making cinnamon rolls for several family members and friends at Christmas for almost 20 years. I usually half the dough and make two 8-inch pans (approximately 12 rolls in each pan) from one recipe of dough. I also make a Monkey Bread or two, usually at my daughter's request and usually using my fluted bundt pan for the Monkey Bread. While I was thinking about Monkey Bread the other day, it occurred to me that I could stack the rolls on their sides in a bundt pan and I would have pull apart cinnamon rolls! A cinnamon roll ring! When it was done baking, it would fit on a normal 8-inch dinner plate or round serving platter and it would be easy to use a fork to pull one (or two) rolls off at a time. Ahh, decadence and convenience all in one pan!
I was had a day off a few weeks ago and Yeoldfurt was at work, so I decided to give it a try. My fluted bundt pan that I use to make Monkey Bread held all but five of the rolls. So I used a small rectangular Pyrex dish to stack the remaining rolls. The result, I hoped, would be a pretty and easy to serve Cinnamon Roll Ring and (mini) Cinnamon Roll Log.
This is what the rolls looked like after 45 minutes raising time in my Excalibur dehydrator...
As you can see, there was not much 'head space' remaining for the rolls in the pyrex dish. These rolls always rise a bit more during baking so next time, I will use one of my 1-pound loaf pans instead to give them a little more room.
After they're raised, I always sprinkle the tops of the rolls with cinnamon and sugar, then cover with a generous layer of brown sugar. The last step before baking is to melt a cube of butter (not margarine or spread) and pour over the top of the rolls. When I was making the recipe in two 8-inch square pans, I would use 1/2 cup melted butter on each. Since the bundt pan held considerably more rolls than the pyrex, I poured approximately 3/4 cup butter over the bundt pan and the remaining 1/4 cup over the pyrex.
I was able to bake them together in the same oven, but since the rolls in the pyrex were already so close to the top of the dish, I had a lot of bubble-over during the baking process. A waste of buttery goodness and a mess in the oven! Using the 1-pound loaf pan next time should eliminate that problem. This is what they looked like after baking. We haven't sampled them yet, but I've been making these rolls for so many years, I can tell by looking if a batch came out good. These will be good!
Using the bundt pan and 1-pound loaf pan will streamline my holiday baking from now and I think it makes a prettier end product as well.
This batch went to my office with me the following week and when the email came around two weeks after that announcing an upcoming Breakfast Staff Meeting I was asked by several co-workers if I was planning to bring another batch to the meeting. I guess they were a hit! I'm happy because it's so much faster and easier to bake them this way and I think the end product is pretty.
Yes, pretty matters at least to me ...if I can't make it pretty, I won't want to make it. If I don't make it, nobody gets to eat it. So pretty matters. Yeoldfurt was a quick study on that one. Ha!
This batch went to my office with me the following week and when the email came around two weeks after that announcing an upcoming Breakfast Staff Meeting I was asked by several co-workers if I was planning to bring another batch to the meeting. I guess they were a hit! I'm happy because it's so much faster and easier to bake them this way and I think the end product is pretty.
Yes, pretty matters at least to me ...if I can't make it pretty, I won't want to make it. If I don't make it, nobody gets to eat it. So pretty matters. Yeoldfurt was a quick study on that one. Ha!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Comfort Foods
Most of us have memories centered around a special dish or food that we enjoyed when we were growing up. A special dessert your grandmother used to make, a supper dish that was a family favorite, even something special your mom used to make for you when you'd been under the weather. Comfort foods. As good for the soul as they are for the tummy! Baked Macaroni and Cheese is one of those dishes for me. I worked full time the whole time my kids were growing up and I am ashamed to admit when I served them Macaroni and Cheese, it almost always came from a box. They loved it, but they didn't know any different. If I had started them out on Macaroni and Cheese the way my mom made it and then introduced them to Kraft Shells N Cheese in a box, they would have thought I have complained loudly. There is just no comparison.
Since both CHEESE and PASTA (any shape will do) are pretty high on Yeoldfurt's list of favorite foods, this dish is one of his favorites. When my mother made this, she didn't put meat in it because she generally served it as a side dish to meat, and she started with a thick White Sauce made from scratch, then melted cubes of cheddar cheese into it. I've added meat to it as a matter of convenience (one dish meals mean less work and less clean up!) and I usually melt some of the spicy Mexican Cheese version of Velveeta for the sauce ...also as a matter of convenience. If I didn't have a full time job that kept me away from home 10 hours of the day, I would make my cheese sauce from scratch too, but even with Velveeta, it's still really good.
There was one thing my mom did as a garnish that I have never done for Yeoldfurt. She would beat an egg with about two tablespoons of water and a little salt & pepper to make an egg wash. She would set that aside in a pie plate. Then she would put about a cup of crushed saltine crackers as a coating in a separate pie plate. In the meantime, she was melting a cube of butter in a small skillet. She would slice one good sized tomato in five slices (there were five of us), dip the slices in the egg wash, dredge them in the crackers and then fry them in the melted butter until they were golden brown on both sides. Just before she put her macaroni and cheese in the oven to bake, she would put these fried tomatoes on top as a garnish. It was a pretty garnish and oh so good!
When Yeoldfurt was leaving for work today, he mentioned that he'd like some Macaroni and Cheese for tomorrow's supper and I told him about the fried tomato garnish my mom used to do. His eyes lit up so we'll find out tomorrow night if he likes it as much as he thinks he will.
As I said, my Macaroni and Cheese is based on the way my mom made it, but tweaked to accommodate our busier lifestyle and Yeoldfurt's penchant for spicy. Yeoldfurt asked me to share the recipe, so here you go:
Spray sides and bottom of a 9x13 deep baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, set aside. Cook pasta, drain and set aside. Cook bacon slices in oven at 375 degrees until crisp, approximately 20 minutes. Set bacon on paper towel to drain and pour drippings into a medium sized skillet. Add sausage and diced onion in skillet over medium heat until sausage is slightly seared and onions are translucent. Melt cheese cubes and 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave, add 1/2 cup milk and blend well. Put cooled pasta in the 9x13 baking dish. Add sausage and onions and mix well. Pour melted cheese over top and stir to coat all of the pasta. Set aside while you make the fried tomatoes.
When you start frying the tomatoes, you want to set up an assembly line because they will cook very quickly. Melt the butter in the same skillet you used when you cooked the sausage and diced onion. Crack a raw egg into a shallow dish, add two tablespoons of cold water, and beat well. Add salt & pepper to taste. Crush the saltines and put them in shallow dish ...a pie plate works well. You need to have a couple of layers of paper towel on a plate next to the skillet to drain the fried tomatoes when they're done. Once everything is ready, set up your assembly line ...tomato slices, the egg wash, the pie plate of saltine crumbs, the melted butter in the skillet and the paper towel to drain ...in that order. The tomatoes will only take a few minutes to cook once you get started, so now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After all the tomatoes are fried and drained, arrange them on top of the macaroni and cheese. What the heck, if you're feeling decadent, pour the melted butter from the fried tomatoes over the top too. Everything is better with butter, right? If that feels a little too decadent, you're just kidding yourself ...it's not like this recipe would ever make it into the Heart Healthy magazines! Now sprinkle the crumbled bacon evenly over the top and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. A nice tossed salad and some fresh or canned fruit for dessert and you have a complete, well-balanced meal.
If you want to make this ahead, you can cover it with plastic wrap and it will keep for several days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen for several months. If you plan to freeze it but want to use the fried tomato garnish, I would freeze it without the fried tomatoes and make them fresh before you bake it.
Since both CHEESE and PASTA (any shape will do) are pretty high on Yeoldfurt's list of favorite foods, this dish is one of his favorites. When my mother made this, she didn't put meat in it because she generally served it as a side dish to meat, and she started with a thick White Sauce made from scratch, then melted cubes of cheddar cheese into it. I've added meat to it as a matter of convenience (one dish meals mean less work and less clean up!) and I usually melt some of the spicy Mexican Cheese version of Velveeta for the sauce ...also as a matter of convenience. If I didn't have a full time job that kept me away from home 10 hours of the day, I would make my cheese sauce from scratch too, but even with Velveeta, it's still really good.
There was one thing my mom did as a garnish that I have never done for Yeoldfurt. She would beat an egg with about two tablespoons of water and a little salt & pepper to make an egg wash. She would set that aside in a pie plate. Then she would put about a cup of crushed saltine crackers as a coating in a separate pie plate. In the meantime, she was melting a cube of butter in a small skillet. She would slice one good sized tomato in five slices (there were five of us), dip the slices in the egg wash, dredge them in the crackers and then fry them in the melted butter until they were golden brown on both sides. Just before she put her macaroni and cheese in the oven to bake, she would put these fried tomatoes on top as a garnish. It was a pretty garnish and oh so good!
When Yeoldfurt was leaving for work today, he mentioned that he'd like some Macaroni and Cheese for tomorrow's supper and I told him about the fried tomato garnish my mom used to do. His eyes lit up so we'll find out tomorrow night if he likes it as much as he thinks he will.
As I said, my Macaroni and Cheese is based on the way my mom made it, but tweaked to accommodate our busier lifestyle and Yeoldfurt's penchant for spicy. Yeoldfurt asked me to share the recipe, so here you go:
Meaty Macaroni & Cheese
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
(save the drippings!)
1/2 cup diced fresh onion
2 cups sausage links, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb Mexican Velveeta, cubed and melted
1 cup milk (add 1/4 cup at a time, mix well after each addition)
4 Tbsps butter
Fried Tomato Garnish (optional)
1 large firm tomato, evenly sliced
1 egg plus two tablespoons water, well beaten
1 cup Saltine cracker crumbs
Salt/Pepper to taste
1 cube butter, melted
This is what it will look like assembled & ready to bake:
When you start frying the tomatoes, you want to set up an assembly line because they will cook very quickly. Melt the butter in the same skillet you used when you cooked the sausage and diced onion. Crack a raw egg into a shallow dish, add two tablespoons of cold water, and beat well. Add salt & pepper to taste. Crush the saltines and put them in shallow dish ...a pie plate works well. You need to have a couple of layers of paper towel on a plate next to the skillet to drain the fried tomatoes when they're done. Once everything is ready, set up your assembly line ...tomato slices, the egg wash, the pie plate of saltine crumbs, the melted butter in the skillet and the paper towel to drain ...in that order. The tomatoes will only take a few minutes to cook once you get started, so now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After all the tomatoes are fried and drained, arrange them on top of the macaroni and cheese. What the heck, if you're feeling decadent, pour the melted butter from the fried tomatoes over the top too. Everything is better with butter, right? If that feels a little too decadent, you're just kidding yourself ...it's not like this recipe would ever make it into the Heart Healthy magazines! Now sprinkle the crumbled bacon evenly over the top and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. A nice tossed salad and some fresh or canned fruit for dessert and you have a complete, well-balanced meal.
If you want to make this ahead, you can cover it with plastic wrap and it will keep for several days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen for several months. If you plan to freeze it but want to use the fried tomato garnish, I would freeze it without the fried tomatoes and make them fresh before you bake it.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Hope, for a Change
There is such a glut of bad news around the world and still so much wrong in this country. But our personal situation has improved so dramatically over the past few months that I can't help but feel a little optimistic as we approach the New Year. It's been so long since I felt anything even remotely resembling optimism that I'm reveling in it. That doesn't mean I think we should slow down on prepping. Quite the opposite. I'm more committed than ever to being prepared in every way possible ... for whatever may come.
We had barely begun our prepper lifestyle in 2008 when our personal situation took a nosedive. Tragedy seemed to be followed by one crisis after another. Little did we know at the time, it would be a full sixteen months before things would turn around for us. If we had not been prepping in earnest for those few months before the first crisis, we would not have come through as well as we have. But even during the long hard months, we added substantially to our skills and knowledge. During all but two or three of those months, we continually added to our preps as well. Last month, we finally reached our goal of a full 12-month supply of food and personal necessities. Now if we can just keep it organized! So this is my list for 2011.
First, my Challenge Goals ...things I hope to accomplish, believe I can accomplish, but know I will have to dog myself to get them all done.
PURGE
This will be my biggest challenge goal for the coming year. I want to purge, purge, purge, and then purge some more. I have accumulated a lot of STUFF over the years that has just followed me from place to place but never gets used or appreciated. These are things that are useful, just not being used. I keep them because they are sentimental ...they were my mother's or my grandmother's or my dad's ...all of whom are no longer in this world. I still have two sisters and as I sort through these things, I will give them first dibs on anything they want. What they don't want, I will find new homes for or give to charity. It is ridiculous and selfish to hang onto that much stuff if you are never going to use it. My mother, my grandmother and my dad would all heartily approve.
GET ORGANIZED
Once I whittle things down, I want to get what I keep ORGANIZED. I have a wonderful insulated, air conditioned storage shed that's subdivided into four rooms. All of the doorways between the rooms are open but the visual separation of the walls lends organization to the space and gives me plenty of room for shelves. The smallest of the rooms is approximately 10x10 and the slab in this room is about 8 inches lower than the other rooms. We call it the Step Down and it's where we have our food stores. Between the air conditioner and the insulation, everything stays dark and cool year 'round. It's as close to 'root cellar' conditions as you can get in central Texas, and is ideal for long-term food storage. The rest of the space is approximately 20x20, divided into three rooms. Those three rooms are half to three-quarter full now, but everything is just piled in there in no apparent order. The only reason I have any clue as to what's in there is because I had to shuffle things around when we prepared the Step Down for food storage earlier this year. The food storage room looks great. Now it's time to organize the rest of the space.
MINIMIZE (me)
On a personal level, I want to shed some weight this coming year. Besides the obvious health benefits, I have the motivation of a closet full of clothes that I used to be able to wear! I started working on this back in June and am nearing the halfway mark. I've lost enough to feel motivated and encouraged to continue. And now that the two big EATING and COOKING holidays are behind us ...I'm hoping the last half of this goal will be easier than the first half!
So much for my Challenge Goals, now for my Standard Goals. These are the ones that will pretty much stay on the list year after year in one form or another because ...well, because we are preppers. That's what we do.
RECONFIGURE RAISED BED GARDEN
It's currently arranged as one 16x16 bed with 'walk boards (1x12's) dividing it into eight sections. Yeoldfurt wants to dismantle it and set it up as four separate beds with wider walkways between them. He has some wonderful salvage goods from his work that will be used to line the walkways. We are discussing ways to build them up (deeper) as well. They are currently 8 inches deep, and I would like to get them to 12 or even 16 inches deep. More 'leg room' for the veggies but also not as far to bend down for me! Always thinkin'....
Our first year with the raised beds was 2009 and we had a nice harvest in spite of a delay in planting and all the emotional turmoil we had that year. We had high hopes for the harvest in 2010, but were somewhat disappointed in the outcome. The crops that did great the year before were so-so this year and the only thing that did really spectacular was the cucumbers. I now have almost 40 pints of pickles from one 3x7 bed. The weeds, the ants, and the grasshoppers were all a constant battle last year. We are hoping to improve the odds in our favor by reconfiguring the beds and improving accessibility while minimizing backstrain. Yeoldfurt has been talking about a mobile dripline watering system and we also have a possible solution for the ants and weeds that is cheap, eco-friendly and recyclable.
IMPROVE CHICKEN COOP
I'm still in the thinking stages about this one so Yeoldfurt might raise an eyebrow when he reads about it here. My ideas are usually born half-baked and go through a gazillion or so gyrations before they finally evolve into a real plan. I'm used to the way I think, so it doesn't bother me to start out with Plan A and finally end up doing Plan Q. It's a woman's perrogative to change her mind, right? It's another one of those Venus things. But I've learned it's best to think on them for a long time before I approach Yeoldfurt. The first few years of marriage taught me pretty quick that he stresses out way too much on these kinds of mental journeys. So I try not to even mention my ideas to him until I'm a good ways into the alphabet and am pretty sure I'm done changing my mind about things.
My ideas for the coop are not labor intensive or expensive, and nothing I can't do all by myself if Yeoldfurt wants to turn me loose on it. I think we're both happy with the structure and design of the existing coop. But we have had two chicken snakes stealing eggs so far this year. There may have been more, we just didn't happen to catch them. We know how they got into the coop and Yeoldfurt has taken some steps to rectify that. But since I'm the one that's squeamish about snakes and really not wanting to deal with that again, I've got a few more ideas on the subject. I also want to fix a 'nursery' in one end of the coop. There's a section at one end that the previous owners here used to raise parakeets. It's about 4x4 with a walk-through door leading into the main coop. We have a free-standing broodbox that we bought as a kit from Tractor Supply (half price because the box was damaged ...only paid $25) and I want to modify it to mount to the wall in the small room in the coop. Being a relatively small area, if I cover the walls with insulating material, it would be easy to keep warm as a nursery area for young chicks. Just some ideas. I also want to break up the floor in the coop, bring in new sand and just generally clean things up. See? Nothing real major!
DEBT
Get rid of it. That's the goal. We don't have any other than the mortgage and we want to get rid of that as soon as possible. We have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with a decent rate, but I would have loved to have refinanced when rates were at their lowest last summer. We pay extra every month and are on track to pay off the 30 year mortgage in less than 20 years ...but being able to refinance at an even lower rate would have made the pay off that much quicker. Now that Yeoldfurt is employed again, we will talk to a local bank (locally owned and on the 'good bank' list) about refinancing. Even if we only drop a fraction of a percent on the interest rate, it will be worth it to get away from the BIG BANK.
INCREASE
I'm happy with where our food stores are now. A 12-month supply is as much as I want to try to keep track of to ensure nothing gets wasted. But I would like to add to our cash reserves and increase any nonperishable non-foodstuffs ...oh, say ammo and reloading supplies, for instance? Now I know Yeoldfurt's eyes will light up at that! Ha!
NEW SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE
You can never have enough of either of these things, in my opinion. Last year, we learned to make our own laundry soap. This year, I hope to add shampoo, conditioner and liquid body wash to our soap making repertoire. We still have a dozen or so dead trees from last year's drought that need to be felled and Yeoldfurt has promised to let me give it a whirl. Not that cutting a tree down is rocket science, but having it land where you want it ...or not land where you don't want it requires some knowledge and skill and I think it would be something useful for me to learn. But I'm pretty sure he'll want me to practice on the ones farthest from the house and fences though ...yeah, I'm pretty sure.
So that's it, my formal list for the coming year. I decided to post it partly to help me think it through and partly in hopes it will keep me honest. I've never been much more than haphazard about New Year's Resolutions ...either setting them or following up when I do set them. But maybe if I get serious about setting some goals ...publicly committing to my goals ...just maybe I'll be more serious about the 'following up' part as well.
So for 2011, let's prepare for the worst but hope for the best. May we all have a blessed New Year!
We had barely begun our prepper lifestyle in 2008 when our personal situation took a nosedive. Tragedy seemed to be followed by one crisis after another. Little did we know at the time, it would be a full sixteen months before things would turn around for us. If we had not been prepping in earnest for those few months before the first crisis, we would not have come through as well as we have. But even during the long hard months, we added substantially to our skills and knowledge. During all but two or three of those months, we continually added to our preps as well. Last month, we finally reached our goal of a full 12-month supply of food and personal necessities. Now if we can just keep it organized! So this is my list for 2011.
First, my Challenge Goals ...things I hope to accomplish, believe I can accomplish, but know I will have to dog myself to get them all done.
PURGE
This will be my biggest challenge goal for the coming year. I want to purge, purge, purge, and then purge some more. I have accumulated a lot of STUFF over the years that has just followed me from place to place but never gets used or appreciated. These are things that are useful, just not being used. I keep them because they are sentimental ...they were my mother's or my grandmother's or my dad's ...all of whom are no longer in this world. I still have two sisters and as I sort through these things, I will give them first dibs on anything they want. What they don't want, I will find new homes for or give to charity. It is ridiculous and selfish to hang onto that much stuff if you are never going to use it. My mother, my grandmother and my dad would all heartily approve.
GET ORGANIZED
Once I whittle things down, I want to get what I keep ORGANIZED. I have a wonderful insulated, air conditioned storage shed that's subdivided into four rooms. All of the doorways between the rooms are open but the visual separation of the walls lends organization to the space and gives me plenty of room for shelves. The smallest of the rooms is approximately 10x10 and the slab in this room is about 8 inches lower than the other rooms. We call it the Step Down and it's where we have our food stores. Between the air conditioner and the insulation, everything stays dark and cool year 'round. It's as close to 'root cellar' conditions as you can get in central Texas, and is ideal for long-term food storage. The rest of the space is approximately 20x20, divided into three rooms. Those three rooms are half to three-quarter full now, but everything is just piled in there in no apparent order. The only reason I have any clue as to what's in there is because I had to shuffle things around when we prepared the Step Down for food storage earlier this year. The food storage room looks great. Now it's time to organize the rest of the space.
MINIMIZE (me)
On a personal level, I want to shed some weight this coming year. Besides the obvious health benefits, I have the motivation of a closet full of clothes that I used to be able to wear! I started working on this back in June and am nearing the halfway mark. I've lost enough to feel motivated and encouraged to continue. And now that the two big EATING and COOKING holidays are behind us ...I'm hoping the last half of this goal will be easier than the first half!
So much for my Challenge Goals, now for my Standard Goals. These are the ones that will pretty much stay on the list year after year in one form or another because ...well, because we are preppers. That's what we do.
RECONFIGURE RAISED BED GARDEN
It's currently arranged as one 16x16 bed with 'walk boards (1x12's) dividing it into eight sections. Yeoldfurt wants to dismantle it and set it up as four separate beds with wider walkways between them. He has some wonderful salvage goods from his work that will be used to line the walkways. We are discussing ways to build them up (deeper) as well. They are currently 8 inches deep, and I would like to get them to 12 or even 16 inches deep. More 'leg room' for the veggies but also not as far to bend down for me! Always thinkin'....
Our first year with the raised beds was 2009 and we had a nice harvest in spite of a delay in planting and all the emotional turmoil we had that year. We had high hopes for the harvest in 2010, but were somewhat disappointed in the outcome. The crops that did great the year before were so-so this year and the only thing that did really spectacular was the cucumbers. I now have almost 40 pints of pickles from one 3x7 bed. The weeds, the ants, and the grasshoppers were all a constant battle last year. We are hoping to improve the odds in our favor by reconfiguring the beds and improving accessibility while minimizing backstrain. Yeoldfurt has been talking about a mobile dripline watering system and we also have a possible solution for the ants and weeds that is cheap, eco-friendly and recyclable.
IMPROVE CHICKEN COOP
I'm still in the thinking stages about this one so Yeoldfurt might raise an eyebrow when he reads about it here. My ideas are usually born half-baked and go through a gazillion or so gyrations before they finally evolve into a real plan. I'm used to the way I think, so it doesn't bother me to start out with Plan A and finally end up doing Plan Q. It's a woman's perrogative to change her mind, right? It's another one of those Venus things. But I've learned it's best to think on them for a long time before I approach Yeoldfurt. The first few years of marriage taught me pretty quick that he stresses out way too much on these kinds of mental journeys. So I try not to even mention my ideas to him until I'm a good ways into the alphabet and am pretty sure I'm done changing my mind about things.
My ideas for the coop are not labor intensive or expensive, and nothing I can't do all by myself if Yeoldfurt wants to turn me loose on it. I think we're both happy with the structure and design of the existing coop. But we have had two chicken snakes stealing eggs so far this year. There may have been more, we just didn't happen to catch them. We know how they got into the coop and Yeoldfurt has taken some steps to rectify that. But since I'm the one that's squeamish about snakes and really not wanting to deal with that again, I've got a few more ideas on the subject. I also want to fix a 'nursery' in one end of the coop. There's a section at one end that the previous owners here used to raise parakeets. It's about 4x4 with a walk-through door leading into the main coop. We have a free-standing broodbox that we bought as a kit from Tractor Supply (half price because the box was damaged ...only paid $25) and I want to modify it to mount to the wall in the small room in the coop. Being a relatively small area, if I cover the walls with insulating material, it would be easy to keep warm as a nursery area for young chicks. Just some ideas. I also want to break up the floor in the coop, bring in new sand and just generally clean things up. See? Nothing real major!
DEBT
Get rid of it. That's the goal. We don't have any other than the mortgage and we want to get rid of that as soon as possible. We have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with a decent rate, but I would have loved to have refinanced when rates were at their lowest last summer. We pay extra every month and are on track to pay off the 30 year mortgage in less than 20 years ...but being able to refinance at an even lower rate would have made the pay off that much quicker. Now that Yeoldfurt is employed again, we will talk to a local bank (locally owned and on the 'good bank' list) about refinancing. Even if we only drop a fraction of a percent on the interest rate, it will be worth it to get away from the BIG BANK.
INCREASE
I'm happy with where our food stores are now. A 12-month supply is as much as I want to try to keep track of to ensure nothing gets wasted. But I would like to add to our cash reserves and increase any nonperishable non-foodstuffs ...oh, say ammo and reloading supplies, for instance? Now I know Yeoldfurt's eyes will light up at that! Ha!
NEW SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE
You can never have enough of either of these things, in my opinion. Last year, we learned to make our own laundry soap. This year, I hope to add shampoo, conditioner and liquid body wash to our soap making repertoire. We still have a dozen or so dead trees from last year's drought that need to be felled and Yeoldfurt has promised to let me give it a whirl. Not that cutting a tree down is rocket science, but having it land where you want it ...or not land where you don't want it requires some knowledge and skill and I think it would be something useful for me to learn. But I'm pretty sure he'll want me to practice on the ones farthest from the house and fences though ...yeah, I'm pretty sure.
So that's it, my formal list for the coming year. I decided to post it partly to help me think it through and partly in hopes it will keep me honest. I've never been much more than haphazard about New Year's Resolutions ...either setting them or following up when I do set them. But maybe if I get serious about setting some goals ...publicly committing to my goals ...just maybe I'll be more serious about the 'following up' part as well.
So for 2011, let's prepare for the worst but hope for the best. May we all have a blessed New Year!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Truly Thankful
This uniquely American holiday is a time when we gather with friends and family and count the blessings of another year. For some, those blessings might be the bounty of fame or good fortune. Others might simply be thankful that a particularly rough time is finally past. We all experiences highs and lows in our lives and I believe we should be grateful even for disappointment and sorrow because those are the contrasts that gives meaning and depth to our joy.
I am grateful for my husband who has seen me
at my worst and, amazingly, still loves me.
I am grateful for all my friends who really know me
and love me anyway.
I am grateful for my family who I believe are the
'friends' God chose to put in my life.
These are the real blessings
for which I am truly thankful.
When you count your blessings this Thanksgiving Day,
I hope you will realize that the people in your life
are your greatest treasure and be truly thankful.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
What's Come Over Me?
I'm not sure what's gotten into me today. I woke up with a compelling urge to clean house ...really clean house. While I don't believe that I brazenly neglect those domestic responsibilities, let's just say I'm not known among family and friends as a compulsive clean house nut! But today, I'm motivated.
Maybe it's the cooler weather. Autumn is still hanging on, but only by a toenail. The nights are routinely down in the 40's now and daytime temperatures above 70 degrees are becoming a rarity. Some people get inspired to do 'spring cleaning' ...I have always leaned more toward 'fall cleaning.' It makes more sense to me to do deep cleaning in the fall. For one thing, the weather is cooling off so you can work pretty darn hard for a few hours and not run much risk of working up a sweat. But the main thing for me seems to be the threat ...er, I mean prospect ....of holiday visitors descending upon your household. We wouldn't want family or friends to think we didn't live in perpetually spotless conditions, now would we? I guess I've only been mildly successful in that regard since, as I mentioned ...I'm not known among family and friends as a compulsive clean house nut! But still ...deep cleaning in the fall rather than the spring is how I roll.
Since Yeoldfurt started his new job, his schedule finally seems to have settled so that he has Tuesdays and Saturdays off. In some ways, we miss having our two-day weekends together. But in other ways, it's been good. With only Saturday as our mutual day off, we tend to appreciate the time together and use it more wisely. When he's off on Tuesdays and I'm at work from 6:00am to 4:00pm, he has the luxury of a big block of time to use any way he pleases without worrying about what I might have in mind to do. Same thing for me on Sundays. With the time change, it's dark here by 5:30, so I've had to start feeding the livestock at 5:00 every evening. So I spend Sunday mornings and afternoons catching up on paperwork and housework and ...if I'm lucky ...whatever yard work needs doing. Then at 5:00pm, I put the chickens to bed and feed all the outside critters. I'm done by 5:30 and have plenty of time to get cleaned up and go to the 6:30pm evening service at church. When I leave for church, supper is started and on autopilot ...usually a crockpot meal ...so it's ready in minutes when I get back at 7:30. Yeoldfurt gets home about 7:15 so we still have our evening together.
In the two and a half months Yeoldfurt has worked at the bakery, they've changed his days off two or three times. But for now, it's working well for me. With both of us having one day while the other is at work to take care of all our main chores, we are free to do whatever we both want to do together on Saturdays. If his schedule changes again, I'll adapt ...but for now, I'm liking it.
Laundry is always a big part of my chore list on Sundays. A normal week is two or three loads if I just do sheets and the clothes hamper. If I do rugs too, well ...it just depends. Today is a rug day. The washer has been going non-stop for the past four hours. In the meantime, I stripped everything that wasn't bolted down (literally) out of the bathrooms and have scrubbed the shower stall, toilets, baseboards and counter tops. I don't mean a lick and a promise with a sudsy mop either. I mean on my hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water and lots of elbow grease ...just like your momma did it. Well, like my momma did it anyway! I have gone over the floors by hand, but will go over them again with a mop and some clorox, then again with just clean water before I'm done. I'll do the same for the kitchen after I finish the bathrooms but have to wait until the last load of laundry is done because my access to the washer and dryer is through the kitchen. Once all the floors are done, I'll be vacuuming from one end of the house to the other. I dusted yesterday, but will probably have to dust again when I'm done with the vacuuming as I'm sure I will have stirred up a bit more!
As the title of this post implies, I really don't know what's come over me to be in a such a cleaning frenzy all of a sudden. But I'm not going to waste it. I just hope I really do get some visitors this holiday season so all my labors won't be in vain!
Maybe it's the cooler weather. Autumn is still hanging on, but only by a toenail. The nights are routinely down in the 40's now and daytime temperatures above 70 degrees are becoming a rarity. Some people get inspired to do 'spring cleaning' ...I have always leaned more toward 'fall cleaning.' It makes more sense to me to do deep cleaning in the fall. For one thing, the weather is cooling off so you can work pretty darn hard for a few hours and not run much risk of working up a sweat. But the main thing for me seems to be the threat ...er, I mean prospect ....of holiday visitors descending upon your household. We wouldn't want family or friends to think we didn't live in perpetually spotless conditions, now would we? I guess I've only been mildly successful in that regard since, as I mentioned ...I'm not known among family and friends as a compulsive clean house nut! But still ...deep cleaning in the fall rather than the spring is how I roll.
Since Yeoldfurt started his new job, his schedule finally seems to have settled so that he has Tuesdays and Saturdays off. In some ways, we miss having our two-day weekends together. But in other ways, it's been good. With only Saturday as our mutual day off, we tend to appreciate the time together and use it more wisely. When he's off on Tuesdays and I'm at work from 6:00am to 4:00pm, he has the luxury of a big block of time to use any way he pleases without worrying about what I might have in mind to do. Same thing for me on Sundays. With the time change, it's dark here by 5:30, so I've had to start feeding the livestock at 5:00 every evening. So I spend Sunday mornings and afternoons catching up on paperwork and housework and ...if I'm lucky ...whatever yard work needs doing. Then at 5:00pm, I put the chickens to bed and feed all the outside critters. I'm done by 5:30 and have plenty of time to get cleaned up and go to the 6:30pm evening service at church. When I leave for church, supper is started and on autopilot ...usually a crockpot meal ...so it's ready in minutes when I get back at 7:30. Yeoldfurt gets home about 7:15 so we still have our evening together.
In the two and a half months Yeoldfurt has worked at the bakery, they've changed his days off two or three times. But for now, it's working well for me. With both of us having one day while the other is at work to take care of all our main chores, we are free to do whatever we both want to do together on Saturdays. If his schedule changes again, I'll adapt ...but for now, I'm liking it.
Laundry is always a big part of my chore list on Sundays. A normal week is two or three loads if I just do sheets and the clothes hamper. If I do rugs too, well ...it just depends. Today is a rug day. The washer has been going non-stop for the past four hours. In the meantime, I stripped everything that wasn't bolted down (literally) out of the bathrooms and have scrubbed the shower stall, toilets, baseboards and counter tops. I don't mean a lick and a promise with a sudsy mop either. I mean on my hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water and lots of elbow grease ...just like your momma did it. Well, like my momma did it anyway! I have gone over the floors by hand, but will go over them again with a mop and some clorox, then again with just clean water before I'm done. I'll do the same for the kitchen after I finish the bathrooms but have to wait until the last load of laundry is done because my access to the washer and dryer is through the kitchen. Once all the floors are done, I'll be vacuuming from one end of the house to the other. I dusted yesterday, but will probably have to dust again when I'm done with the vacuuming as I'm sure I will have stirred up a bit more!
As the title of this post implies, I really don't know what's come over me to be in a such a cleaning frenzy all of a sudden. But I'm not going to waste it. I just hope I really do get some visitors this holiday season so all my labors won't be in vain!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Catching Up
I'm not sure if anyone noticed but I haven't posted in about three weeks now. We decided to take some time off and catch up on a lot of little things around here that have needed attention. We finished preparing the new food storage area finally and will begin moving our food stores there next weekend. It will take us the better part of a day to get it all of it moved and set up in the new storage area, but there are benefits for both of us in making the change. For me, the new location is at least twice as much space and solely dedicated to the preps and food storage. It's also about fifty steps closer and over time, those fifty steps can really add up. For Yeoldfurt, the biggest bonus is getting full use of his shop again. Every man should have his own shop and he should not have to share the space with non-shop items. That's my philosophy anyway and I'm pretty sure he agrees.
We're still chipping away at all the downed brush and limbs scattered along the driveway from the ten pine trees that died in last year's drought. They were 60-70 feet tall and were only topped about 30 feet up the trunk. So after all the brush is cleared, the trunks will have to be cut down, cut up and hauled to the burn pile as well. It may take us all winter to finish completely but it will eventually get done.
Last week was a little rough for Yeoldfurt because I was out of town all week taking care of our new granddaughter. Her parents have both gone back to work and they let me come and stay with her so we could delay her debut at daycare by one more week. I had a wonderful time with all of them and will cherish the memories, but I sure was happy to see Yeoldfurt when I got back home. I think he was happy to see me too. We share the chores around this place and when one or the other of us is gone for more than a day or two, it gets to be quite a load on the one that's left behind. I got home Friday night and we took it pretty easy on Saturday ...just spent the day together and enjoyed each other's company. Yeoldfurt did manage to get some maintenance and repair work done on the electric fence in the front paddock Saturday afternoon. We need to do the same in the big pasture too. That's another job that will require several weekends to finish up.
When you live out in the country, there is never a shortage of projects waiting for your attention. On the agenda for the next few weekends is turning and mulching the raised bed garden, making some minor improvements to the chicken coop, and a final mow and cleanup of the yard. We have a very short 'winter' in this part of Texas. The cold weather doesn't last that long or get that cold and snow is a real rarity here. But you can always tell it's winter because the lawn doesn't grow, so you don't have to mow! It's a good thing too since that leaves more time for all the holiday baking and festivities.
Today was my first day back at work after the week long vacation. My desk was in better shape than I was expecting, but then maybe my co-workers were just hiding the REAL PILES from me so I wouldn't panic on my first day back. Hopefully not. We eat a cold salad for supper several times a week and that's all Yeoldfurt is expecting today. But I think I'll make him a grilled cheese on some of the homemade pepper bread as a surprise. He loves grilled cheese and I think it will make him smile.
We're still chipping away at all the downed brush and limbs scattered along the driveway from the ten pine trees that died in last year's drought. They were 60-70 feet tall and were only topped about 30 feet up the trunk. So after all the brush is cleared, the trunks will have to be cut down, cut up and hauled to the burn pile as well. It may take us all winter to finish completely but it will eventually get done.
Last week was a little rough for Yeoldfurt because I was out of town all week taking care of our new granddaughter. Her parents have both gone back to work and they let me come and stay with her so we could delay her debut at daycare by one more week. I had a wonderful time with all of them and will cherish the memories, but I sure was happy to see Yeoldfurt when I got back home. I think he was happy to see me too. We share the chores around this place and when one or the other of us is gone for more than a day or two, it gets to be quite a load on the one that's left behind. I got home Friday night and we took it pretty easy on Saturday ...just spent the day together and enjoyed each other's company. Yeoldfurt did manage to get some maintenance and repair work done on the electric fence in the front paddock Saturday afternoon. We need to do the same in the big pasture too. That's another job that will require several weekends to finish up.
When you live out in the country, there is never a shortage of projects waiting for your attention. On the agenda for the next few weekends is turning and mulching the raised bed garden, making some minor improvements to the chicken coop, and a final mow and cleanup of the yard. We have a very short 'winter' in this part of Texas. The cold weather doesn't last that long or get that cold and snow is a real rarity here. But you can always tell it's winter because the lawn doesn't grow, so you don't have to mow! It's a good thing too since that leaves more time for all the holiday baking and festivities.
Today was my first day back at work after the week long vacation. My desk was in better shape than I was expecting, but then maybe my co-workers were just hiding the REAL PILES from me so I wouldn't panic on my first day back. Hopefully not. We eat a cold salad for supper several times a week and that's all Yeoldfurt is expecting today. But I think I'll make him a grilled cheese on some of the homemade pepper bread as a surprise. He loves grilled cheese and I think it will make him smile.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What I Hope I've Learned
We've all seen and shared sentiments that say we should always kiss our loved ones goodbye because we never know if we will see them again. The basic philosophy being that we will not have to regret not making sure the people who are important to us know how we feel about them. I agree with the philosophy but I've always only thought of it from the perspective of the person who is left behind ...I've never considered it from the perspective of the person that's passed on.
When our friend, Tony Cassise, of Did It My Way passed away recently, the outpouring of sadness and loss felt by his friends made me realize that Tony not only did it his way ...he did it extremely well. He lived his life in a way that should be an example to all of us. He was not afraid to get righteously angry when the circumstances called for it. But he was just as quick to be kind and helpful when he saw an opportunity. A good example of both aspects of his character can be found in his April 2009 post, A Friend in Need. He did followup posts on the subject and, in each case, he went over and above what most of us would do for one another in similar circumstances. That was what kind of man he was.
Judging from the memorial website that his family did for him, I would say Tony imparted his values and strength of character to his children. That's his legacy. Most people won't remember their loved ones for what things they accumulated or what accomplishments they had. They will remember them for who they were ...for how they were with other people, in both happy circumstances and not so happy circumstances.
We all have bad days. We all fall short of even our own expectations some days. But if we can remember that every day might be our last day, maybe we would be kinder to each other, quicker to offer encouragement or assistance, less prone to judge and condemn. That's the lesson I hope I've learned from Tony Cassise.
When our friend, Tony Cassise, of Did It My Way passed away recently, the outpouring of sadness and loss felt by his friends made me realize that Tony not only did it his way ...he did it extremely well. He lived his life in a way that should be an example to all of us. He was not afraid to get righteously angry when the circumstances called for it. But he was just as quick to be kind and helpful when he saw an opportunity. A good example of both aspects of his character can be found in his April 2009 post, A Friend in Need. He did followup posts on the subject and, in each case, he went over and above what most of us would do for one another in similar circumstances. That was what kind of man he was.
Judging from the memorial website that his family did for him, I would say Tony imparted his values and strength of character to his children. That's his legacy. Most people won't remember their loved ones for what things they accumulated or what accomplishments they had. They will remember them for who they were ...for how they were with other people, in both happy circumstances and not so happy circumstances.
We all have bad days. We all fall short of even our own expectations some days. But if we can remember that every day might be our last day, maybe we would be kinder to each other, quicker to offer encouragement or assistance, less prone to judge and condemn. That's the lesson I hope I've learned from Tony Cassise.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Unsolicited Blessings
From the outside looking in, the last year and a half has had more downs than ups for us. We seemed to have had one personal tragedy or crisis after another for about three months in a row. We finally got to the point we were afraid to look up to see what might happen next. But looking back on it now, I can more clearly see the blessings scattered throughout the hardest times. Some of the blessings were small ...a smile, a kind word, a bounty from the garden, our first eggs from the hens. Some of the blessings were huge, not necessarily in size but in timing ...saving us at the last minute from yet another major setback. At the time, it felt like a roller coaster ride gone out of control. In retrospect though, all of the blessings were perfectly timed, perfectly spaced for our needs ...not necessarily our wants, but our needs. God does not promise us a smooth ride or no hard times in this life. He just promises to be with us while we go through them.
Now that times are finally getting better for us, our primary focus is to repay the kindnesses that were extended to us. As Yeoldfurt mentioned in his post this morning, we will be using APN's "Pay It Forward Bucks" to accomplish that. Our gratitude toward those who helped us when we were so down is heartfelt and we hope that those we pass the 'bucks' on to will be equally blessed with our gift. I believe though that their greatest blessing will come when their own situation allows them to pay it forward themselves. It truly is better to give than to receive.
Money is easy to repay because it's measurable and tangible. But there were other kindnesses, intangible things that were equally valued and appreciated when we were struggling. Gifts as simple as a few kind words left in a comment, encouraging words in comments or email, bits of knowledge and wisdom that were relevant to our struggles at the time, even long distance tech support in the wee hours of the morning ...you know who you are! All of those things were equally responsible for helping us through the hard times and were so appreciated. Those will be paid forward as well at every opportunity. I hope to repay them with interest because I believe we all need to look for ways to help and encourage each other ...don't wait for a need to be mentioned before you do what you can to help someone. Your efforts won't always be appreciated or acknowledged. Sometimes, your efforts might even be completely misunderstood and unappreciated. But that's not the point, is it? Your blessing is in the giving so it doesn't matter if the recipient has the reaction you expect or desire.
Go scatter some unsolicited blessings of your own today and see if it doesn't bless you many times over in return.
Now that times are finally getting better for us, our primary focus is to repay the kindnesses that were extended to us. As Yeoldfurt mentioned in his post this morning, we will be using APN's "Pay It Forward Bucks" to accomplish that. Our gratitude toward those who helped us when we were so down is heartfelt and we hope that those we pass the 'bucks' on to will be equally blessed with our gift. I believe though that their greatest blessing will come when their own situation allows them to pay it forward themselves. It truly is better to give than to receive.
Money is easy to repay because it's measurable and tangible. But there were other kindnesses, intangible things that were equally valued and appreciated when we were struggling. Gifts as simple as a few kind words left in a comment, encouraging words in comments or email, bits of knowledge and wisdom that were relevant to our struggles at the time, even long distance tech support in the wee hours of the morning ...you know who you are! All of those things were equally responsible for helping us through the hard times and were so appreciated. Those will be paid forward as well at every opportunity. I hope to repay them with interest because I believe we all need to look for ways to help and encourage each other ...don't wait for a need to be mentioned before you do what you can to help someone. Your efforts won't always be appreciated or acknowledged. Sometimes, your efforts might even be completely misunderstood and unappreciated. But that's not the point, is it? Your blessing is in the giving so it doesn't matter if the recipient has the reaction you expect or desire.
Go scatter some unsolicited blessings of your own today and see if it doesn't bless you many times over in return.
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