Shocking... potato and garden conclusions

Well potato nails ...have I told you about these...

They make your potato cook in half time and be much more tender.

Just wrap in foil and bake for an hour.

Dinner was a potato with the fixings.

Soy sour cream thank God for this invention.

Dove enjoyed her mac and cheese. She detests potato (an orphanage thing) that is what the babies had to drink for there was no milk and it kept them filled.

Shocking!

He has been cleaning the garage and doing many maintenance tasks.

Now that his thyroid is getting better he is back to his old self more.

Shocking!

Steve priced having the shocks on the truck done...

$475!

so he went and purchased them

for $150. with a 33. rebate.

Put them on himself!

Oh now he sees what I have been bouncing through!

It rides like a dream now, It is wonderful!

So many things this week we have completed.

This is the last of the garden beds...I finished it yesterday.

This goal began in May/June is coming to its fruition.

We will use the re bar trellis to grow vine over the sides of the shed.

The holes in the blocks will have herbs and flowers.

To the right the lettuce beds and to the left...undetermined as of yet.

There will be a two foot farther extension and the white grape trellis set over the shed entry.

In time the shed will be obliterated by greenery.

 

Steve helped me throw the last of the pick ax...this end had never been dug up.

It was clay hard pan...It is now ready for the onion.

I'll plant it in the morning.

 

 

 

This is a spaghetti squash it is doubling in size every day.

I am growing on the vertical so it is in a little hammock of sorts.

The cucumber is thriving this time

with cooler weather now

I had to treat for powdery mildew

It is the biggest issue with the hot days and cool nights of the desert.

As I pulled everything left out of the garden the perennial rye was tossed.

Then the last of the horse manure was cleared out from under the window and the

garden is finished!

I parked a plant hanger in front of the beading window, raked all the scrap up.

The rest of the horse manure is covering a 1/4 of lawn outside the garden gate.

I'll toss the rye in the morrow.

We finished up and took the family out for a day of fun.

To the mall and we each chose our desire from the food court.

We both came together on this.

While I was finishing up a call came in to cancel a long awaited play date

Dove was devastated and as I prayed for her I saw us taking them to the movie...

Steve walks to me and we look at each other and he began and I finished with what I saw.

We had the same vision of the day and so we set out after I showered.

We all had so much fun!

After the mall we went to the picture show at a $2 theater.

Get this Dove says..."mom this is nice, it is so much less building around me. I want to come back here."

Oh is it just so sweet that her sensory was at bay while we were there.

We saw "UP" the movie.

We all laughed it was clean and funny.

A sweet love story full of good humor.

We went back into the mall after the kids finished the left over sandwich from their lunch out side at a table.

It was a beautiful day not too hot outside.

We then drove to a shoe store to see if I could find a pair of these

LOVE THEM!

These are Merrell shoes.

They keep my knee in alignment for the arches are awesome.

They were almost half price.

I found a pair of walking shoes for 50% off the already marked down on clearance.

They are what I can use instead of walking or tennis shoes.

They are totally stable and very good to keep your joints free of stress.

They are cute too

:)

Well we even got me my first new leather purse

Matched the shoes and will serve well for the trip.

It was a real awesome buy.

I feel like a princess new shoes and a new purse.

I made sure the kids each had shoes before I got mine.

It really feels good to get a new pair.

So the kids are camping out their last night of vacation.

I have to keep a busy day Monday and Tuesday with appointments so tomorrow is the last day to pack and finish up my tasks...

so few to do for the laundry is done

kitchen mopped (thank you babe)

dishes done

garden labor done

Goal met as my heart had desired before my trip it be so.

kids set

a little shopping to do for the crew while I am gone.

Florida four days out...

In the midnight hours

all is still

distractions cease

battles exposed for what they are

comes he to only steal kill and destroy

divide and conquer

inielate even from within

yet my stronghold is greater

we all know who wins

they ask a question

"where is your God?"

eyes view only the battled ground

focused too close to the trees

The greatest armaments is to deceive

an enemy who convinced that he is absent

disarms the appointee.

"Where is God?"

"Where are you in the battle?"

eyes fixed on the slaughtered masses frozen in the fear

who are you to have forgotten who you have right to be?

There is a battle going on, God is left to blame?

Where are you in the choices of the day?

Has your hearts so hardened as to become the prey?

Weapons tossed idle dulled they decay

lust run a rampant to fill up each day

Then...you ask me

"where is your God?"

Ever present watching your own demise.

It is not in Gods absence that the battle is won

Who will stand on the line?

When the arrows fly behind they flush you out of the woods.

There is no hiding place down here.

So rally up the wounded may courage bind the scares

There is a battle at hand

if it were that deserters were shot

perhaps then we would have a strong front

no... we just wine that it is God who is absent...?

"Where is our God?"

Asking the same thing of you

Just where is this heart to be found

With whom do your loyalties serve?

It is the people who have left the field

in hearts hardened by those subversive attacks

little daily choices hearts have turned back

May that answer the question you ask.

This in response to the query of day before.
Gods right here...imagine He is pretty disappointed and saddened too.
Why would you blame him when humanity is so a fault.
Ignorant that this greater epic plays out.
There is a battle going on.
We either choose what side we are on or that choice is made in our apathy.
No fence sitting in this a one, it is the real deal.

Friday Funnies

Dove's teacher recieves her report.

It was on Amelia Earhart.

Now this is a report of many weeks in the doing.

The teacher pauses...

"Dove did you do this?" she asked

Showing my daughter the image .

To Doves horror...Amelia had a mustache drawn on her.

OH little brothers.

Now imagine us trying to keep a straight face as Dash is chastised for it.

What a parental relief when he left the room.

We thought we would just blurt out.

It was one of those moments as parents when life is just so dear.

Thankful Thursday

Good Evening

all

How sweet it is having a daughter.

It is now 9:45 and she is talked out...

she has such wonderful thoughts and idea.

Her mind full of wonder.

She tells me of all of her adventures on the games she plays on computer.

We speak of things of growing things of those adolescent days.

Values and truths.

Realities and life to come.

This day so full began with the pharmacy calling to confirm for the knee injections.

It looks like all has been approved by my insurance.

The injections that are $16oo. have been approved at 100%.

There will only be the three co-pays for the three weekly visits to come.

The injections to begin on Oct 26 when I return from Floria.

By the end of the day the appointment for the afternoon of that day set to receive the first in a series of three.
The assistant at the office is so helpful to do all the work with the insurance.

I am very grateful for all of her kind help.
Saves me several hours on the phone.

Each knee will have three injections when all is said and done within a three week time frame.

This to stave off the knee replacement a few more years.

My heart and mind has been with Debbie and her family all weekend.

Even this evening is just sorta quiet of spirit.

She and her husband are walking a very difficult road.

Our day here a new raised bed on the other side of the garden shed to mirror the other. By days end it is filled and the soil mixture ready to be planted.

The last of the beds to dig out and amend in the main garden plot is now finished too.

I only have until Saturday to make it ready to receive the onions.

The lettuce may wait until my return from Florida.

The hard labor of it done however.

When I get home I will not be able to do that work for a good three weeks or so until my knees settle down after all the injections. So now all is ready to plant that I can do easily with knees being an issue if they are so.

Thankfully the goals have been reached!

It is a good thing to live life with goals in mind.

Next up is to ready the house, family and myself for the trip to Florida for the bloggers retreat.

Steve took off today and so did the children have fall break and will all be home in the morrow and over the  weekend. Family cord tying time.

A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

We call of times cord tying because that is actually what we intentionally do.

So these cord tying times are the sweetest of life.

Lighting improvements were made in the kids rooms by the daddy man via attic fodder.

Dash is just loving the loft bed.

The chickens are happy again for we are getting between 3-5 eggs a day out of the six of them.

It is so good to see that again.

Speaking of the ample provisions....

Beloved Steve as I worked in the garden came to tell me of his thought to go to the grocery to get a bag of frozen french fries to add to my burgers for supper.

The cashier said

"YOU won!"

Oh!

A box of healthy (all things relative) desert for the evening meal!

Funny!

He had set up a movie and I finished the garden work went to shower.

We all watched an old John Wayne movie.

True Grit.

The actress is a spit fire of a girl with great character.

Dove Archer loved it.

She now awaits my arrival for she asked if I could come and cuddle with her.

Cords to weave my friend, I must leave.

Thankful to this day intertwined within the circle of life held within Papa Gods' loving hands to hold my daughter within mine.

Homemade laundry soap

laundry soap link

ran out of soap today

Went to my laundry room Pantry "Store"

Grabbed a bar, borax and the washing soda....

half and hour latter....

Continues the laundry...

did not even have to leave the house, no gas costs the best of all worlds...

last batch was in July not too shabby

The bottles are recycled OJ containers.
I just love the OJ for it is not from concentrate and I have a nice clear bottle
The bottles are not filled to top for the process will still thicken and I will want to add more water after it cools the rest of the way.

The old bottles are being retired.
They served well over three uses, don't want to advertise anymore.:)

Here a tip slip...

save those little tops from water bottles and dish soap bottles in a baggie.
When you get a good buy on a soap that only has a screw on...
Walla! now you'll have a pour top.
Good for many uses.
The old water bottle ones are great for little ones in the car.
Just buy twist off if you must buy water and keep a pop top for travel

Tackle it Tuesday

Over the weekend we swapped the two beds so we could put the bed up on the platform. We have had the platform bed but my daughter did not feel at ease to use it.

So we had to give her Dash's bed and Dash her frame so that we could do this.

Both bedrooms are undone now.

Daddy man had to remove the cieling fan from Dash's room and swap it out with the ceilinf light in Doves room.

Now Dove has a fan and she loves it!

Dash has a clean room but he will tell you it is because all of his stuff is still in the hall.

We had two unexpected kids drop by and poor old Daddy man was just spent...he looks up and sees two more children...we are mother/father of many.

We still have doves room and all the toys in the hall and all the laundry!!!!!

The last the butternut was cut today and the scrap for the hens and the compost.

The veggies got neglected on the counter so the hens will love them.

The scrap in the wooden bowl for the dogs and the other two are coffee grounds and pealings from the squash for the compost.

The kitchen to get finnished.

The egg shells on the dish will be ground for the hens or the tomato plants.

The studio begs to be set into action with many things in the process.

Gardening and decor projects.

The binder to the upper left is for the home decor color pallet

The book open to the Leaf Miner page oh arg those little pests on the squash and now the tomato

Seeds to get planted soon and coffee ready to sip in the garden.

click on any image to enlarge.

The garden plotting completed this week shows all location and what is growing and to be yet planted.

I am companion planting.

This took some time and a master has been kept running with up dates.

This is at the stage we are at.

Dogs to be fed each morning and watered

Chickens to be feed pellets and watered.

The scrap form the kitchen a thrill they all vie for the best spot.

Happy carpenter bee in the pumpkin and several squash have been pollinated

another day with an extra child and Archer sits writing her fictional story.

She had me up again at 3 am...my girl friend uses the melatonin time release as do I but she gives one a little earlier. Sometimes kids that have sensory issues just can not sleep. Dove feels like she is free floating and if there is any other stress than forget me trying to get my sleep regulated. I stopped even trying. The medication the neurologist gave me is no use I can not use it for If I did I would just feel worse from being forced from my sleep by dove. This happens a lot.

The kids had a snack and played until noon.

 

Archer (Doves) new color pallet for her bedroom.

The sheets are the bright violet.

He other set was two years old and worn out.

We went togeather  and she has now let go of the red/black/ gray pallet she had before in mind.

I can only begin to tell you how pleased I am about that.

She wants large geometric squares of all the different colors all over the walls.

OH this is a job!

and a bit of an expense so I will have to do a little at a time.

The Simple Womans Day Book

FOR TODAY...October 12th

Outside my window... Hot and cloudy, garden is growing with the bees humming.

I am thinking... I am in love with being a wife and homemaker. What a fun life. Even when it is hard I have no "big brother" looking over my shoulder.

I am thankful for... The life of a husband that prays with me.

I am wearing... My mothers apron, a plum sleeveless top that has an umpire waiste. knee length shorts that are of denim. My feet are shoeless, touching the earth below me grounded in the beauty of the reality of life. Pearl ear wires that have cz shining above the pearl

I am remembering... How often I once commented and interacted with all of you. Setting the garden took me away from blogging for a season...I once set that goal of having an extintion to the garden now that goal is all but met.

I am going... To enjoy my children home all week. It is fall break the timing is perfect! Travel to the bloggers retreat is next week so wonderful to spend every day with them before I go.

I am reading...Eldala yet for little reading time of late, also doing study on gardening, decor and child development.

I am hoping... to fill up the cup of those around me that I so love. Encourage those who need it. rest and comfort my own soul as well...as need. To enjoy each moment I have breadth.

On my mind...  Laundry and a clean home. My beloved will walk in the door soon and my heart leaps at the thought. I just want to hold him and bask in the richness of his fellowship. I have a supper for all of us.

From the learning rooms... all is quiet it is fall break. Dash is writing a fictional diary of WWII soldiers.

Noticing that... with a pre teen removing the battle allows her to change her mind. When I let go of the refusal of the red under gray with a 2" black stripe....she now choose of HER own free will a wonderful pink turquoise lavender palate YE-PEE  I think if I would of pushed her not too she would of had to of given me a fight for it. She is growing up now into that need for independence. She sure has a good Daddy. He really helps me to let go just enough to allow her wing growth.

Pondering these words... "mom I am afraid for my friend and her Mother that they are gonna have hard times...do you think that she might ever need to live with us?"

From the kitchen... A choice of cod or steak...peas, mixed corn and carrot or tomato raw

Around the house... floors need attention. children happily playing at the end of a school free day. Now no more school for the rest of the week fall break. Voices and ideas and games shared...just wonderful.

One of my favorite things~ listening to my children

From my picture journal...

Calling all Angles

In the night called to pray.

Please join Steve and I as we pray for the parents of our dear Amy.