Quote of the Day

"I prefer dangerous freedom to peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the day

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."--

Frederic Bastiat

chi mi na morbheanna

I found this lovely band on another blog while browsing for pics of Scotland. By the way I am slightly obsessed with Scotland and one of my biggest dreams is to take a very long vacation there someday. This is sung in Gaelic by a family band and is so beautiful. Enjoy!

China Proposes To Cut Two Thirds Of Its $3 Trillion In USD Holdings

The beginings of the sell off?

China Proposes To Cut Two Thirds Of Its $3 Trillion In USD Holdings

Tending The Garden

Although I wont say spring is here (we had mini snow storms all last week) I can get out and plant some early spring crops.

Husband planted a row of potatoes on Monday and on Tuesday I planted (under extreme duress) carrots, beets, radishes, kale, musclen, and garlic.

On Wednesday I planted peas and today I hope to plant more peas and spinach and lettuce mix.  More garlic too is going to be spread around because not only do we love garlic but it also keeps that bad beasties at bay.

Many of these crops are rotational crops, meaning that once they are done I plant something else there. This gives me much more food in our small space.

A Jonah Day

Anyone who reads the Anne of Green Gables book will instantly recognize the term "A Jonah Day" means.  Anne used it when everything seemed to go wrong and you were down in the dumps.

Well Tuesday was my Jonah Day.  I tried to get several things done but Viking Boy decided it was his Jonah Day too.  Or maybe he thought his part was the whale.  I tried to plant carrots and beets but all the while Viking boy was doing everything I told him NOT to do! He also decided that screaming over everything was the way to go, all day long. Typical two year old I guess. The vacuum cleaner broke. Then the bread didn't rise and I felt ready to cry.

I hate Jonah Days!

The Ultimate Multi Purpose Weapon Cooking impliment

The Andrews Sisters- one of my favorite bands

My eldeste daughter and I loved listening to Jingle Bells with Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. So when I found a CD by the Andrews Sisters I had to get it. We both love listening to it when we are cooking or cleaning.

Cows are funny

Cows are kinda lovable animals.  Especially milk cows that have been bred to be gentle.  Buttercup and I have a special friendship and she likes to come check out what we are doing all the time.  Here she is watching Eldest Daughter shovel manure.  She was sniffing daughters hair and making her laugh.

Here is Fawn, he is getting so big.  Mama has finally calmed down about him running around and doesn't haul off after him every time.

Good Childrens Book Recommendation

One of my top recommendations for little boys ages 6 to 13 years is the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forester.  This has everything a budding man needs.  Excitement, danger, acts of courage, the meaning of honor, history, and good Christian morals.  This is something you will have to read to your child until they reach the pre-teen or teen years because it is fairly challenging by our standards, but I found it fascinating and fun for me as well.  My eldest daughter read the entire series of books when she was about 12 and gives them two big thumbs up.  Hornblower is a great role model for young men.  This deserves a place in your home library.

Men and Boys

I love the differences between little boys and girls.  I was raised with all girls and was immersed in a culture of feminatzi propaganda my whole childhood.  Men were put down and treated like children.  Intact families were pretty much non existent. And popular TV and school only encouraged the idea that most men were closet case rapists or idiots unless they were "feminized".  This attitude has only grown worse over the past years to outright hostility to men and boys. 

I have often heard many discouraging comments from other mothers about boys.  They put down the things that make boys boys.  Things like curiosity, activity, and physical exploration.  Now kids are constantly told to sit down and be quiet.  To play video games or watch t.v. instead of go hammer on something or dig or climb a tree. Because of course, it's much easier to set your kids in front of the t.v. than actually parent them.

Yes that is dirt all over his face!

Viking boy loves to be with his daddy doing "work".  It is amazing to me how one of his first words is "work" and "tool".  When daddy is gone to work he often comes up to me saying "Dada?"  and I say, "Dada's at work".  Then he always responds holding up his tools that he carries around "Work? Dada Work Tool?"  He's saying he wants to go work with Dada. From the moment daddy gets home his little shadow is with him, chattering about everything and wanting to be like daddy.  He is at his most happy when given a "job" even if its just putting something in the garbage.  Most little boys I notice are like this.  They want to learn to be a man.  How sad for those little guys that don't have a daddy at home to teach them and love them.  What a huge hole in a child's life that has no daddy.  The women who say that a daddy is unimportant in a child's life are not only wrong, but destructive too.  I see every day why my husband is important to my children.  Both girls and boys need  a loving daddy to show them what a real man is.



Isn't it amazing that God gave little boys from their earliest  years a need to work?  That he gave them an actual enjoyment of hard physical labor, while he gave us women a love of nurturing and making a home lovely?  Put the two of us together and we form a wonderful team.

Rhubarb is coming up

The first crop of spring has got to be rhubarb.  Our plants get huge every year.  Last year I wasn't able to use ours but this year I am determined to use it for something no matter what!  I've found several yummy looking recipes and can't wait to try them.

Baby Birthin' Time

A few hours old

The First Time Momma, annoyed that I'm messing with her babies

The female who was bred but apparently didn't "take"

A female who wouldn't be bred.  We are going to try and re-breed her

About a month ago we bred all of Eldest Daughters female rabbits and now they are having babies.  Two "kitted" on the same day.  And the third we bred seems like she didn't take, even though I know the male was successful.  Our fourth female wouldn't let the male breed her so we're trying again.

One of the females is apparently an absolute idiot because she had all her babies on the wire.  Three were dead before I could rescue them and I had to do emergency warm up treatment in the house to get the rest to survive.  All survived but we had to bring the mom into nurse them since they were so stressed.  Lucky for us she co-operated and fed them. Right now she has six babies, but one looks like a runt and probably wont make it.

The second female had a litter of eight!  This was her first litter and I was amazed to see that she not only made an excellent nest, but also had all her babies in the box and nursed them.  Most first time mom rabbits either have the babies on the wire or don't make a good enough nest and the babies die.  This mom seems to be doing really good.  Two babies look like they are either not getting enough to eat or are runts.  If I had a female who didn't have a large litter I would try to put them on her, but I don't.  Unfortunately with rabbits if a baby is a runt their is not much you can do.  Bottle feeding is almost impossible when they are this size.

I have to say that newborn rabbits are amazingly ugly.  They are heartbreakingly adorable after about a week, but at first they look like hairless rats.  Only a mom could love em.

Thinking About Winter - The WoodPile

I know most people are praying for winter to finally end this year in America.  Just this last week we had several mini snow storms, almost unheard of in this area!

So you may think its funny that I am already planning for winter.  However when you heat your house with wood and cook with wood you need allot of it.  If you have ever thought about heating with wood I can tell you that you'll need at least five cords of wood for an average house.  If your planning on cooking with wood you will need even more.

Whenever we find free wood we jump on it. Right now we have at least two cords curing for next fall that we went and cut at a family members home.  This year we want to get up to ten cords.  At least five of that is for "just in case".  We live in an area of Washington that has no natural tree growth.  So if TSHTF and we cant afford to drive to places that have lots of wood we will have at least a years worth.

Getting in a winters supply of firewood is very important and you have to start planning in the spring to assure you have enough for a full season. 

Yippy!!! Spring Yard Sale Season Has Begun!

I absolutely love to yard sale!  In part this is because its about the only way I can afford to buy anything for my home.  Necessity is the mother of enjoyment.  Meaning you can turn a necessity into fun when you don't have an option. 

But it's more than that.  It's the thrill of the chase, the excitement of the unknown deal you might find at the next sale.  Who knows what treasure is just waiting for you to discover it?  Shopping at the store is not nearly so fun because you know whats there.  Where's the suspense in that?  Plus I could never afford to buy all the things I get at yard sales at the store.  But now I do know what shopaholics feel when turned loose in a mall with a half dozen fresh credit cards.

Today the only yard sale in town was at the Catholic Church.  Because our town is small and the population is ageing there was mostly older peoples things.  I found some amazing deals though and only spent $3.50 for everything.

A mint condition Super Mario Brothers movie Lunchbox with thermos for Captian Submariens cold lunches $1.00

4 rubbermaid food containers

.10 each

6 small juice cups with tray (perfect for kids drinks at dinner)

.10 each

Oven Thermometer (this is going in my woodcook stove, its has a thermometer on it but since it's a hundred years old it probably isn't accurate anymore)

.10

Kitchen Timer

.10

Four beautifully hand embroidered vintage pillow cases at 25 cents each.  I always snatch up hand embroidered pillow cases and linens because I love them.  Not just how they look but that someone put so much love into them.  At the store these would be at least $30.00 each.

Lace and purple flowers will look amazing in the girls room

Mother

Father

simple floral print

Norman Rockwell Coffee table book

.25

Yogurt and Yogurt Cheese

Yogurt is about the easiest thing you can make, you can even make it with store bought milk because you have to pasteurize your milk anyways.  We love yogurt so I make allot of it.  All you need is some plain good quality yogurt from the store to start your culture.

First heat the milk to pasteurize it

Then after it cools add the store bought yogurt and put it somewhere warm to "incubate"

I put mine in the crock pot on the "warm" setting.  This keeps it at the perfect incubating temperature.

After about 12 hours I have a thick yogurt and put it in the fridge to cool.

Yogurt cheese is just yogurt put into cheesecloth in a strainer over a bowl until most of the whey (liquid yellow stuff) drains out.  If left long enough its consistency is like cream cheese, if left for a shorter time its like sour cream and taste like it too.  You can use it in place of sour cream in recipes with no taste difference.  My sister said it is delicious (she's has very high standards on food) and compared it to her new favorite food Greek Yogurt.

Pics of Fawn and Buttercup

Fawn is starting to get big now and is still so darn cute!  We are going to need to castrate him soon before he gets unmanageable.  We just use the rubber band way because its easy and almost foolproof.  Fawn is already getting some meat on him.  I can't wait for fall and lots of steaks (we usually can't afford steak)!  Is it horrible that I can think he is adorable but at the same time cant wait to eat him?

Doesn't he look like a little fawn deer?

 

Checking out the hose I turned on, both of them were very curious.

Buttercup interested in my camera

I milk Buttercup in the evenings and it is so soothing after a long day with the children.  The barn is quiet except for the sound of the milk pinging in the pail. Sometimes I hear a bird call or hawk screech.  Or sometimes even the coyotes yipping but other than that its just me and the cow.  Cows are very understanding listeners.  They ruminate on what you say and generally don't think they know better than you.  It's very calming milking a cow.  Leaning your head against her warm flank while you rhythmically work.  Not to say it isn't hard work at times.  Your hands get tired and sore, and sometimes the cow gets frisky and tries to kick the bucket.  But most days it's nice and you have a reward at the end of the endeavor.

The Point System: or How to Encourage your Children to Behave and Nag Less!

Recently I noticed that I tend to nag... ALLOT!

I spent much of my day telling this or that child to put away their clothes, clean their room, put their clothes on over and over and over.  It seemed like all I did all day long was nag Nag NAG!  I was getting snippy and frustrated and the kids were not seeing a loving mama.

So what should I do?  Give up? 

Let the house descend into a garbage dump?  With six people in a house, and 3 of them small children, it takes allot of work to keep a house nominally clean.  So I could either become a drudge that never spent time with my children, or I could teach them to keep their rooms clean, dress and care for their personal appearance, and help keep the house tidy.

I have always taught my kids from an early age to clean up after themselves.  And mainly it works, but the more kids you have the more you have to tell them to do it.  And soon it seems like that's all you do. Issue orders.

What I needed was a system that would make the kids do their chores and encourage good behaviour and no arguing on their own without reminders from me.  Easier said than done of course, but I found a simple system that has been a big success.

I call it the point system and here's how it works.

We first start with our house rules.  I got the idea from over at Life at Providence Lodge, a wonderful blog that has encouraged my in my mothering journey more than anything else. 

http://providencelodge.blogspot.com/2010/11/rules-of-our-home.html

1. "Children obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." Eph. 6:1

2. "Be kind and loving to each other."  Eph 4:32

3.  "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies."  Prov. 4:24

 

These are very simple rules and even the youngest children can understand them and understand why they are important.  If our family abides by these rules that God has graciously provided for us we will have a wonderfully warm and loving home.

 

Next the children have a list of chores that they are responsible for every day, with one or two chores they trade off on every week.  Like bringing down the dirt clothes basket every morning, or pooper scooping the dog poo.

 

They earn points by completing their chores without me reminding them.  I use pennies because I have a ton of them.  Each child has their own jar and every morning I "pay" them their points.

 

However if they break any of the above rules of the house points get taken away.  If a child is disrespectful, says hurtful things to a sibling, lies, etc they loose a point.  This works for teenagers too!

 

 

The last part of the Point System is the prize box.  This box is full of little toys (I buy almost all at the dollar store) that the children love.  Some items are: Plastic soldiers, glow sticks, small dolls, dress up jewelry, balloons, army toys, plastic animals, puzzles, picking out a movie to watch, computer game time.  Each toy has a "price tag" on it with how many points it will take to buy it.  At the end of the week each child can turn in their points to "buy" what they want.  For my teenager we substitute privileges like sleepovers, bike rides, movies, books, computer time, etc for the toys. 

 

 

This system has cut arguing, fighting, hurtful words, and nagging down to almost nill!  I love it and our family is much more positive.  When a child starts to misbehave I just say "Do you want to loose points?"  And generally that nips it right in the bud.  Every day the children see their points accumulating, and they see the fun prizes they can earn.  It motivates them so much to know that chores and excellent behavior have rewards and makes it a habit.