May 6, 2011

This month I finally started our Sam's membership. The way we shop, it works for us. We grocery shop once a month and I don't like to buy everything every month. Shopping for bulk makes it easier for me. I was really good too when I went. I got almost everything on my list and very few things that weren't. JB and I have been working on the design and material list for a home built "soup can storage rack". This will definitely make better use of some of my shelf space. I won't have to worry. About can stacks falling over or rotating. We are making a first in/first out style rack, load in the top and pull from the bottom. I have also been putting my Food Saver to work repackaging bulk amounts of rice, flour, sugar, and popcorn. The vacuum sealing combined with 24 hours in the freezer protect them from contamination from bugs, moisture, and air. It also allows me to purchase bulk but store it in convenient sizes for my kitchen containers.
JB fixed the tiller. It took a little work, but he got the new engine mounted and it runs great. Then a bunch of storms came thru so we haven't done anything else. It's been hard for me to get outside and get any work done. Between the kids being home and the new puppy, I am finding it harder than last year. Plus this year I have been putting housework first, weird for me. I haven't been going to pick blackberries either. Part of it was that I was really discouraged when I realized that the first area ready was sprayed and killed by the company that maintains the gas pipeline repressurization station on our property. I really wish they would have talked to us about it first. Several months ago they asked about brush hogging it, fine. But that's not what they did. They sprayed a plant killer. And the blackberries were almost ready too. These are all wild blackberries, not cultivated. I would be really mad if I had planted them and then they sprayed them. JB said that we are technically supposed to maintain that area, and I was going to mow it, after blackberry season. I need to talk to them about not spraying on my property again. Right now it's not a big deal, it's not near my garden area, but eventually we will be getting goats and that is right by one of the areas I will keep them. I will be rotating them around the property so they always have plenty to graze and help with the brush control. So in the future I don't want to risk poisoning my animals.

New Puppy

Yesterday JB was checking the free listings on Craigslist and found an ad for a puppy. A 6 week old Great Pyrenees Lab mix. The owner had gotten her while out of town and when she got back her landlord said she had to get rid of the puppy or move out. JB and Arianna went to meet the puppy last night and of course, brought her home. She came with the name Bella. She is mostly house broken already too. She is a very good puppy so far. Very sweet and playful. She is not intimidated by Jenny either, our 7 month old West Highland Terrier and Corgi mix. We do have to watch the dogs when they are out together. Jenny and Bella want to play but Jenny has 20 lbs on Bella so we have to make sure it doesn't get too rough. Since Jenny is Elijah's dog, Bella is supposed to be Arianna's dog. I am encouraging Arianna to take Bella out to potty and to play with her. I told Arianna that these activities will her her and Bella form that bond that Elijah and Jenny have. I am not trying to make her totally responsible for Bella, that seems unreasonable since she is only 5, but she can help. Bella might not have to sleep in the crate like Jenny. Jenny won't calm down and sleep with someone at night, she just wants to play. Last night when I finally took Bella out of her crate and put her in our bed she finally calmed down and slept better, instead of constantly waking me and JB up. I can't wait until Bella grows enough to be able to play freely with Jenny.

Snake Bite

We had a very traumatic night the Wednesday night. Elijah my 10 yr old autistic child got bit by a venomous snake. We never saw the snake, he never saw the snake and didn't know what bit him. He was in the backyard at dusk and something bit him. I was in the kitchen finishing up cooking dinner when I heard him through the open window. He was standing there crying and asked me to find the "enemy" that got him. Once I got him inside I saw that it was a snake bite and knew we had to go to the ER. JB made a last look around for the snake, I grabbed his Medicaid card and Arianna got her shoes on. I made sure everything in the kitchen was off, threw Jenny in the crate and we force Elijah into the truck to go. Elijah did not want to go and didn't understand how important it was that he go to the doctor. After we got to the hospital and finally got him to the exam room I had to keep him there. All he wanted to do was go home. The doctors got a good enough look to verify that it was a snake bite. They ended up giving him a sedative so that they could really examine him and do a blood draw for labs. The sedative didn't work very well, Elijah fought it. But I helped hold him still in a chair while they quickly drew the blood. After that Elijah finally calmed down and started to understand what was going on. I think the pain was getting to him. He willing started laying in the bed. He started talking to us and told jokes with Arianna. Elijah's blood work finally came back and was clear. They said that it was a mild bite and he got only a little venom, but not a dry bite. We had to stay a little longer after that because poison control said the bite area had to be monitored for 5 hours for change. Elijah's foot and ankle were swollen and red, he was bit on the top of his foot near his ankle. But it wasn't spreading and there wasn't any other discoloration. The biggest success was Elijah willingly lat the doctors look at his foot. He didn't even really fight getting his tetanus booster shot before we left. Elijah was so happy to leave when he was finally released, he even thanked the doctors for helping him feel better. On the way home JB and I were talking about how we think it was a defensive bite from the snake because it didn't hang around, bit and fled. Elijah then told us that the snake said it was sorry. After we got back in the house Elijah thanked us for taking him to the doctor. Thinking about that still makes me want to cry. It makes me feel so good.
Yesterday Elijah spent most of the day in the recliner elevating his foot, as he is supposed to. He does get up for small stretches, depending on how much his foot is hurting him he has also been using JB's wheelchair or my crutches. He has also been walking on it. His foot is not getting worse. We are so thankful that it wasn't any worse than it was. Elijah should recover well and doesn't seem to have become afraid of snakes. Arianna has expressed interest in now having pet snakes. I did have to explain why she can't have a king cobra, but that non-venomous snakes are ok.

Monday April 18, 2011

When the DirecTV supervisor came out he said that where we wanted to move our dish to was a great location. He rescheduled for a tech to come back out, and Wednesday it happened. The reception is so much better now. All the channels are coming in and there are no more frame slips.
Our front door had started to occasionally get stuck. The problem was that the door knob wasn't always working right. JB bought a set of 2 door knobs and deadbolts that use the same key. I already replaced the the ones on the main front door. I need to replace the set on the other front door that goes into the room I turned into my pantry. JB said that later he will get another set for the back door, one that we can key to match the front doors. I want to do the same when we replace the sliding glass door with french doors too. This is all important to me because when we purchased the house we only received keys to the front door. When we moved in, I drove up from San Marcos with the kids while JB wrapped up everything. Finish loading the u-haul, cleaning, and turning everything back over to the landlord. He didn't have to do all the work himself, because he could only help me so much we did hire a cleaning company and they had movers we hired too. It was a really good service for us. Anyways, we got here really early in the morning. I went to unlock the front door so we could go in and the deadbolt wouldn't turn and my key broke in the lock. My only key to the house was broken in a lock that wasn't working. I had to call a locksmith to get me in, he was able to make me a new key too. That morning I learned that if you don't use a lock it will freeze up, but WD-40 will fix it. I also learned it is way better to have a key to more than one door. I think it would be a good idea to have a spare hidden somewhere outside too, no where obvious though.
On April 7th or 8th my oven's baking element broke while we were cooking dinner. Atleast the roast was done when it happened. Had to rethink our meals, we use our oven a lot. Plus I try to bake our bread instead of buying it, plus muffins, cookies, brownies and such. We couldn't find a replacement part locally or a free to cheap working stove on craigslist. I broke down last Sunday and ordered the part. It wasn't supposed to come in until today, but we got it last Friday. It was so exciting to get my oven back this weekend. We had company and had already planned meals for the grill so didn't actually use it until last night.
Our friend and her kids came out and visited over the weekend. We all had a great time. Elijah was a lot more social than he has ever been with her kids. Between the 4 kids, they kept the dog too busy to get into trouble too, lol. My friend helped me out in the garden area for a while too. It was great to catch up and hang out. I also think it was funny that her kids wanted to stay. She's in the reserves and last year her kids lived with us for few months while she was away at a training school, she was able to come visit on weekends. The kids want to them all to come back to live here. :) It warms my heart to know that they did enjoy their time here with us. We have come to love them very much. It's hard for us to go visit them because of daily pet care needs and not having someone who can do it for us. We really look forward to their visits.
Over the weekend I walked down to see how the wild blackberries were coming along. I'm really glad I did, I didn't expect them to be so close to ready to pick. I think they should start ripening by the end of this week. I am really hoping to get a lot more this year. Last year when I found them they were in full swing, maybe towards the end. I only got to pick them for a week or 2 and it was so dry that towards the end I just stopped. I could tell that the dry weather was affecting the berries and they weren't as juicy as they should be. Still, it wasn't bad. It was my first experience with blackberries, and we got a good amount. We used them fresh in muffins and pancakes as well as just snacking on them and I made jam. We love the jam and have been looking forward to making more.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Yesterday we worked hard. I cleaned all the brush and leaves out of the area for the pole mount for the satellite dish. We dug the hole and put in the post and concrete. Today JB started working on the trench and conduit for the cable run to the house. He wasn't that far into it when the satellite tech came. The satellite tech looked around and said that there was nothing he could do, too many trees. So, it looks like we can't avoid it and have to take out some trees. I think we agreed to move it to a different spot so we don't have to worry about the big oak. That huge oak is the only one I'm really attached to. The tech's supervisor is coming out tomorrow to review and give us a second opinion. Standard. If nothing else we will talk more about what we need to do to make the situation work for us. Regroup and re-plan. Since the local channels are the only one's affected right now we are ok. Sucks, but it's not what we mostly watch. I'm not even upset about all the work we did for nothing. A small part of the yard looks better and I could always put a bird house or something on the pole, ooh, maybe a bat house!

Today my plastic pots I ordered came in. I feel better having them. I don't mind having spent money on them. I found the best deal I could and plan to use them over and over again for years. So far I have 45 tomatoes sprouted. No peppers yet, but soon I hope.

Home schooling has been going really well with Arianna. We have been working a little everyday. Since it is so new to her, Kindergarten, I am really letting her set her limits. Yesterday, she did 9 pages in her Math workbook. She's a little frustrated with the review in the Writing workbook. She doesn't want to practice writing her letters, "It's boring." She needs the practice with some of the letters, not all, and mostly lower case. Elijah is starting to show signs of being ready to start. I haven't pushed it on him, between the negative attitude towards school and being autistic, it seems better to me this way. I think it's working. He's learning about other things though, and he has been more curious since I withdrew him from school. He's starting to ask more questions and to do more for himself. Elijah still has a long way to go, but it is a start.

After all the cold weather and this last cold front today felt really hot. With the temperature achieved in the house, we would have usually turned on the AC. We are trying to hold off on it this year. We want to keep the electric bill down as much as possible. I can't wait until we can start on producing some of our own electricity. We have so many plans, but limited funds. We are trying to do the easier, less upfront costs, money saving projects first. Everything in due time.

Wednesday April 6, 2011

Seems like I was busy all day. Between the regular stuff and all the project type stuff. There was cooking everyone breakfast, washing laundry and dishes, watering my seeds, and my turn to cook dinner, JB usually cooks, oh and taking care of the kids and pets. The kids' workbooks for home schooling came in. Arianna was ready to get started, she did 2 subjects today. I also fought with the computer for a while because it didn't want to print for me. JB made a batch of cranberry sauce and I canned it. We still have a lot of cranberries from when they went on sale at the beginning of the year. JB has perfected his cranberry sauce so he makes it, but he has been feeling so bad that he hasn't been up to it.
Then this evening we realized that the big oak in the backyard that shades most of the house grew enough to block reception of local channels on the satellite. We don't want to trim the tree because the shade really helps in the summertime. So we decided we want to move the dish and do a pole mount in the yard. We picked a spot and started clearing that area of the small trees and vines. Tomorrow JB is going to go get the stuff for mounting the dish while I clean up all the leaves and brush. We are going to put up the pole and bury conduit for the cable ourselves. Since I worked for DirecTV as an install tech I know what needs to be done and that it is considered a custom install and costs a lot of extra money if the tech does it. Since we don't have a ladder tall enough I will have to have a tech come out and actually move the dish from the 2nd story roof to the pole, but that is just a relocate. We are going to later landscape around the pole to keep the kids away from it, and I have some cute little picket fence looking garden border to use with it too.
At last count today, 25 of the tomatoes have sprouted. I am looking forward to fresh produce. And my plastic pots shipped yesterday, so they will be here soon.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

It's been an unusual few days. There has been the normal beginning of the month errands to run. Also some crazy insomnia that has messed up my whole sleep schedule. I have canned more beans, we are loving those. My shopping included buying ingredients for more canning this month. I started getting some stuff for home schooling the kids, I just pulled them out of public school a couple weeks ago. I ended up having to order the workbooks I picked out to use off the internet. I did get some cool stuff locally though. I haven't had a chance to start anymore seeds yet. Hopefully, I'll make some time in the next couple days. I did buy another set of shelves for the pantry. I added those and put the groceries away on them. I am very happy with how the pantry is turning out. I didn't start it until the beginning of this year. I now have a convenient place to store my canning supplies as well as small appliances that are used left often, and of course food. This has really helped with space in the kitchen. This year I am trying to organize our lives. I'm not worried about finally unpacking all the moving boxes, I'm not in a hurry, we aren't moving ever again. Every thing eventually happen.

About Wednesday March 30, 2011

Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about money. Payday is Friday and we only get paid once a month. So the end of the month always has me thinking about the budget for the next month. I calculated the account balance after we get paid, after all the bills are paid as well as other regular monthly expenses. Now we know what we are working with for our food and project budgets. I am trying to shop smarter and cut our food expenses down. This is getting ridiculous. It can get hard and frustrating because there is never much money left for projects. Some of our projects are geared towards saving money in the long run, like adding more insulation to the attic to cut the electric bill. The insulation we currently have is not adequate. Another project is rewiring the huge walk-in closet in the spare room so we can put in a freezer and fridge. I see these as necessary before we start raising animals. If we are going to butcher our own meat we have to be able to chill it and then freeze it for storage. The freezer on our fridge in the kitchen is barely big enough to hold all the meat we buy to get thru the month. We need to build a rabbit hutch so we can raise rabbits, meat. We need a secure chicken coup to raise chickens, eggs & meat. We need fencing before we can get goats, milk & meat. The tiller is broken and needs a new engine, I tried working the ground by hand last year, I didn't have a garden. All I can do is keep the faith that it will work out. We just have to keep plugging away. It helps to know that our primary vehicle will finally be paid off by the end of this year. That will definitely open up money in the budget. We are in a lot better situation than we were in a few years ago, so I am thankful for that. This can all get done. It just might take a little longer than I would like. I do know it will happen.

Yesterday I worked on some crafty stuff also. :) I worked on the bag I am crocheting out of plastic shopping bags. I have a lot of them since I always forget to take the cloth shopping bags to the store with me. I am making this bag for when we are picking stuff out of the garden. I need to finish it up so I can start more for everyone else too. I also made some more cloth circles for covering my canning jars. I do this now since I learned how useful they are besides just pretty. They keep off dust and help prevent corrosion if I remember correctly.

I also spent time with the kids. We haven't started to actually home school yet, I'm giving them a break. But we do spend time together, talk, read, cook, and play. We are focusing on getting used to us all being together all the time again. This is a big change for my 10 yr old. He started Pre-K disabilities when he was 3. He is also the reason we decided to home school. Since we have moved here he has hated this school. He has always loved school. Mornings got so stressful, we would have to physically force him to go to school most mornings. Once he was at school he wasn't doing his work many days. He is much happier and calmer now. I'm not sure how getting him started on doing school work at home will go, but I won't give up. I will find a way. I know I just have to figure out what works for him.  No matter what I'm not giving up on him.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Today I canned 4 pints of kidney beans. For dinner JB made beans and rice using black beans that I canned last week. This was the first time we used beans that I canned, since I just started canning them last week. They turned out great. We really liked them so I will keep canning them. We both like the convenience of having them canned without the extra cost of buying them canned.

While I waited on the pressure canner I got out all the toilet paper tubes I have been saving. We cut them in half and then cut 4 flaps on one end of each. Then I folded the flaps the make bottoms. I don't know how many seed pots we made, but it was enough for today and I still have more left.

I started 117 seeds today. Mostly tomatoes and peppers. Arianna and I planted 7 of her sunflower seeds. She is so excited about growing sunflowers. I am planting so many tomatoes and peppers because we hope to grow enough to not only eat fresh but to make tomato sauce, salsa, hot sauce, and more. It would be great to be able to not have to buy any of that stuff anymore. We love tomatoes and peppers and eat a lot of them as well as stuff made from them. I am hoping to have 10 plants of each tomato and pepper variety that I have seeds for. This year I am really diving in head first. Not only have we not had a garden the last 2 years, but we are attempting our largest garden together. We both know better, but don't care. We see what we want to do and this year we are doing it! I had decided at the end of 2010 that in 2011 we are going to do it. We are going to have a large garden and get started on raising animals. We have been waiting and planning long enough, now it's time to do.

March 28, 2011

Today I got a little bit done. I planted 30 seeds, 10 each of Yellow Brandywine tomatoes, Corno di Toro Rosso peppers, and Habanero peppers. These were all planted in eggshells. I need to make some toilet paper tube pots before I can start anymore seeds inside. JB is going to put my grow lights in this weekend so everything can thrive. I also washed out a bunch of medication bottles. I use the med bottles for seed storage. It works really well for me since JB has so many prescriptions I have a steady supply. I always have enough when I buy or save more seeds. Tonight Arianna helped me rinse, sort, and start soaking kidney beans to can tomorrow morning. She loves to help me do things. She is always so proud of herself, which she should be. She is a smart and capable little girl.

New again

I am trying this blog thing again. I have created this new account and am starting over.

Spring is here, and once again I feel so behind. I don't have any seeds started and the garden area isn't big enough for all the seeds I want to plant. The main hold back has been that most of the time it feels pointless. The tiller broke last year the first time we tried to use it. The area we are turning into a garden is too hard to turn by hand. It is full of roots. I tried doing by hand before we bought the used tiller, hours of work and very little progress. Most of our property is young forrest with lots of brush and vines.

Progress I have made: I cleaned out a corner of the pantry and once again brought in the saw horses and table top I made last year for starting seeds. I have some eggshells saved to use for seed starting, as well as toilet paper tubes. Neither are my original ideas, but ideas I read about, tried, and have had success with in the past. I found a source for cheap 3" plastic pots in bulk, just incase the garden isn't ready when my seedlings are ready for more root space. I have also added grow lights to the set up this year since we don't have any windows on the south side of the house. Most of the leaves I've been raking up have gone into a huge pile next to the compost bin for use as mulch in the garden.

I am making progress and hope for a good year and a great harvest.