This Week

I know, it's a very creative title, but I figure that I'd better at least get one post up, creative title or not.  LOL

Since last year, a friend of mine and I have decided that one Saturday each year in June that we would take our kids to Presque Isle in Erie, PA.  Mr. G enjoys riding his motorcycle to Johnstown, PA for the motorcyle rally there with his friends from work, so we usually take the kids and go to Presque Isle.  This year it was a little different since the gear (something or other part) on Mr. G's motorcycle decided to stop working or strip out or something and he came with us.  The specific beach we go to is Beach 10, as you can see in the above picture.  This particular beach has some wonderful views.  We watched a huge barge come in to the port last year and thought we'd see it again, but we didn't.  

The night before, I found out my friend couldn't go, so we invited her oldest to go with us.  Her younger two sons were going to Encampment for Civil Air Patrol and she had to ride along since there was no one else available.  He had a wonderful time!    He's got a heart of gold and is a big young man with the understanding of a college student, but speaks and acts like an 8 year old due to his Aspergers.  My little dog, Biscuit, just loves him!   

Here they are building an "inlet" or a "landbridge", I can't remember what they called it.  You could sure tell though, that it was geography based.  LOL

She was playing in the sand above too, so she needed to rinse off.  (Coincidentally, she wants to find a different bathing suit.  She swam at another friends house and noticed her bottoms, that are underneath her shorts, didn't cover as much as she'd like.  So, we're back to finding another more modest swim suit.) Due to the very cold Spring we've had, the water was still pretty cold.  Mr. G and I decided not to go in above our knees...shivering cold.  We talked about going to the beach when we move to Georgia in a couple of years.  We think the water will be just a wee bit warmer then.  LOL

Mr. G took this picture of me.  

Waiting for someone to drop some food so they can say, "Mine!" "Mine!" "Mine!"  LOL!

There is a 10 mile path around Presque Isle that people rent bikes and surreys and all sorts of neat things to ride around the Isle on.  We may have to come back up some time and rent a surrey for the day.  :)

Lovely view of one of the many ponds filled with wild life.

Driving out of the park.  What beauty!

When I uploaded the pictures I realized that Mr. G was snapping quite a few on the way home and found this one.  It reminded me of the scripture verse above.

I love going through small towns and seeing all the neat architecture.  Another wonderful sight to behold is all the flags and red, white and blue banners.

 Earlier in the week...

Dear sweet sleepy daughter just waking up having breakfast.

The day after his first brace adjustment.  He said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.  We can see a HUGE difference in his teeth already! :)

My Mr. G.  

Well, even though my pictures are out of order, the last ones being random, as you can see we're still plugging right along.

Today, after the children return home from work, we'll finish up work on the portfolios for tomorrow's evaluations.  It's been a rough year with Momma being so sick for 3 months out of the year, so hopefully we'll be able to pull it all together for tomorrow.  I think we'll be fine and thankful when it's all over.  Then we'll have a Senior, Sophomore, and an 8th grader!  Wow!

God Bless,

In the Kitchen

This week, according to my calendar, is the week we deep clean the kitchen.  Yesterday was Monday, so it was dusting day.

This morning already, I've taken care of the kitchen windows on the inside.  You see, I'm the detail person.  It is my job to take care of each detail in the house.  What about the every day things?  Well, the children have been trained to vacuum, sweep, mop, do the dishes, unload the dishwasher, dry and put away dishes, wipe the counters and table, wash, dry & fold and put away laundry as well as hanging it out on the line.  So if my kids can do all of this, why do I do anything at all?  Well, as it goes with children, they don't see the details most of the time.  This is where I come in.  

The above schedule helps me to remember which room we're in for the week.  Yes, I need reminding.  I write things down so I don't have to remember it.  With all the appointments, classes and responsibilities I need to take care of, the less I need to remember the better!  This reminder is wonderful!  

I take care of myself better when I know things are done and cared for.  While "everything" isn't done at the end of the day, I know that I can see progress.  I've learned that this is better than not seeing progress, or heaven forbid, things get worse.  I don't kick myself in the pants for not doing xyz because I know it is going to be done on the above rotational schedule. So there is no guilt.  

Does my house resemble "tornado" status at times?  Yes!  But, the wonderful thing is that with one hour of steady work from 10 hands, things are much better!  

Throughout the month I take note of areas that need my attention and when that time comes up, I take care of it then.  This goes for the kitchen as well, unless there is a cupboard full of ants going after that ONE drop of honey that may have spilled.  (Ask Me How I Know!!!!)  Yes, there are times when you absolutely have to take care of those details that are right in front of your face.  It is a wonderful reminder for this Momma to remind children  who use the honey to make sure the bottle is wiped well before placing it back on the shelf.  We don't want any more ants!  Whew!  

Now, I'm sure there is another question running through your mind right now, "Why not just clean the whole kitchen instead of small bits and pieces at a time?"  I'm glad you asked!  I have many many hats that I wear throughout the day that need my attention (call my name, demanding at times...) so in order to maintain my own sanity by making sure those attention grabbers are tended to, I try to make sure the 15 minutes it takes me to tend to details in the room of the week after the necessary people needs are cared for.  Yesterday I wiped down walls.  It took me a little longer than 15 minutes, but I was the only person here at home.  After I was done I hung sheets out to dry and rotated the calendar above to the next 5-6 weeks.  Hurrying in the shower, I shuffled off to get the kids from berry picking, bring them home, push the oldest along to the shower to get ready for an appointment almost 2 hours away.  You see, the details were done in the morning.  This morning it was the windows.

Tomorrow the calendar says "declutter."  The refrigerator needs cleaned out and wiped down.  I need to go through my drawers to see if there is anything I can put in the yard sale we're having over the 4th of July.  I also have a junk drawer that needs some attention.

Thursday it says to "detail the floors."  I'll have my daughter sweep the floors really good this afternoon, then I'll scrub everything after taking them to work in the morning.

What about my husband's days off?  I try to spend as much time as I can with him when he's home.  But, when he's in the garage, I try to get my own work done.  Sometimes it happens.  Other times there are other things that pull at me.  The important thing is that I look at the calendar and make plans to do the work the Lord has given me and plan accordingly when I know I'll be busy.  Thursday I plan to do my Friday work in the afternoon so that I don't have to worry about it when I'm spending time with my hubby.  

Will this system work for you?  I don't know.  You can use it, but feel free to tweak it to your own family, home and needs.  Just pray about it and ask God for His direction.  That's what I did!  

Have a Blessed Day! 

Home Making Blessings

I am absolutely enjoying the smell of my house this week.  I have trays and trays of Oregano dehydrating on the hearth in the dehydrator. 

 It smells like an Italian eatery in here.  This is our second batch this week.  We are going to try to dehydrate a couple jars full, if not more.  I missed doing this last year.  We just went out and picked it fresh to use in the kitchen, neglecting the dehydrating.  I had so few trays (the others had broken) it would have taken so very long to get a couple sprigs of it dehydrated that it wasn't worth the time.  At the end of the season I found another dehydrator, so we're dehydrating as we get it coming up.  Next up is Chives! :)

 Loveliness!

Thanking God for His provision, both from the ground and from unexpected sources...

A friend of my husband called and asked if we would like their refrigerator.  We were extremely blessed with this "new to us" one.  It takes up less space, has more shelving and drawers than our old one and it fits perfectly.  God is so good!   This is our 2nd refrigerator.  Our upstairs kitchen refrigerator is much bigger than this one, not the biggest on the market, nor a new one, but it functions just fine for now.  

What a blessing!

In Christ,

In The Garden

This Spring has been warm, then very cold.  Cold enough to frost heavily.  We've waited in years past until Memorial Day weekend to put the garden in, but even then the threat of frost was greater.  As I type this, I'm sitting under a blanket with the temperatures having dropped to the 40's through the night.  Yes, in June!

Today we'll finish getting the garden in and the plants surrounded with newspaper to keep the weeds down and to keep the ground moist.  In a couple weeks we'll get some hay to further mulch the garden to keep the ground from drying out.

Why?

I'm glad you've asked!  Last year our well pump decided to give up the ghost, so we're watering our garden from city water, as needed until we find a viable solution.  I know the solution seems so very simple--just buy a new electric well pump.  It isn't as easy as that.  We're trying to rethink some of the electrical systems here in our house due to the way the original builders wired everything in the 70's when this house was built.  To say it wasn't up to code is an understatement.  So my husband is seeking counsel from others on how to deal with this.  We may put in an old fashioned hand pump on our well to water the garden with.  It would work, but we're researching and making sure that would be the best option at this point.  We're not in a hurry.  Sometimes these things take time.

So, in an effort to save water, we're putting down newspaper and eventually hay to preserve the water we put on the plants or the water God provides from the heavens.

Now, I'm off to get the garden finished.  I'll post pictures later.

From last year...

Until later, 

This Week

This is blurry since my youngest took the picture.  This is my oldest son carrying the Christian flag in the graduation ceremony for our home school group.  He is a Junior this year so part of the responsibilities for the Junior young men is to be the color guard who holds the flag for the graduates to walk through, have their pictures taken and move on for the next one to come along.  We had 5 graduates this year.  Next year we'll have at least 4, perhaps more.

July 1st begins our chore change rotation, so we discussed that this week to make sure everything is covered.  Of course there are more chores than what is seen above, but these are what the children do for the most part.  Once my oldest gets a job and begins college, his chores will naturally decrease.  Yes, we color code everyone, including Momma and Daddy.  We do this on the calendar as well.

This week was beautiful!  We decided to head to Cook's Forest and let the kids ride their bikes around while Mr. G and I meandered around holding hands and talking.  What a lovely time!

She's trying to ride without hands.  The camera caught her in the middle of grabbing hold again.  

Such focused expressions, even at 17!

Water break.

A favorite rock where there is deep water around it on the Clarion River.

For some reason, looking through all of my picture files, I don't have as many pictures as I would like.  Perhaps it's time to remedy that?!  

Until next time,

God Bless!

Summer Plans

One of those things we have not really ever done is taken a vacation during the summer.  We've stayed locally to where ever we've lived and done day trips and outings, but nothing on a grand scale.  We've pretty much kept our vacations and trips away during the late fall, early winter or late spring.

Our summer plans are very simple.  When we return from whatever trips we take in the spring, if any, we get to work like busy little beavers on our yard, garden, flower beds, herb beds, transplanting, pruning, planting and tilling the dirt.  We generally do not put anything in the ground until June 1st.  We know full well that in most cases, June 1st is so very late.  However, we live in an area where we JUST had frost last week!  Yes, FROST!  We just put our plants in the ground on June 1st to make sure the danger of frost is past.  So, with that said, it doesn't make sense to concern ourselves too much with things until then.  Once the weather breaks from the winter weather, but it is still cold, we usually plan to go on vacation.  Why wait when we can go south where it is warm while we wait for the warmth to come to PA?  LOL

I spent quite a bit of time outside planting my flowers, pruning and weeding today as well.  My youngest son came out and just started helping me weed.  What a wonderful time working side by side with him!  We talked about the Rapture, science and when technology makes so many mind boggling advances that it's the sign of the times when Jesus comes again.  We need to be ready in our hearts for His return, but still busy going about our daily tasks and the work He has given us.  What a wonderful time of fellowship!

I plan to do bunches more tomorrow in my herb bed.  I plan to dig up shoots off my thyme, oregano, and chives tomorrow to swap with others who have perennials that I'm looking for.  If anyone wants any other perennials, I'll dig those up as they request because the others are a bit more transplant "shocky" so it makes more sense to get them out of the ground and back in to the ground quickly complete with lots of water for about a week. Black Eyed Susans and Purple Cone Flowers are that way.

At some point, we'll be waiting on the garden to yield it's lovely fruit.  What we plan to do is take the camper to a campground for a couple days, then come home to tend to things, kind of like a "mini-vacation".  Nothing overly spectacular, it's nothing overly expensive, just a couple days at a campground.  It should be a nice time away.

In July we plan to help as a family in our church's VBS.  This is a first for us since my  hubby will be joining us this year.  What a blessing!  He'll be doing the games, I'll be teaching Kindergarten and the kids will each help where they can.

After VBS, I'll begin my lesson plans for teaching Physical Science Lab for 8th graders in preparation for the 2013-2014 school year with our home school group.  I'll be canning in between everything, picking blueberries and freezing them, making all kinds of jams from our own black raspberry bushes, peaches, and whatever else I can get my hands on.  I'm hoping to can 3 batches of salsa this year.  We ran out of salsa in April, so it's time to increase how much I make.

I'd like to go down to Georgia for a few days in August this year, but I don't think that is going to happen, unfortunately.  It's a long story as to why, and it's one that I don't understand well enough to explain--since it is vehicle gear related [and that's all I know]--so suffice it to say that we'll try to get down there soon!

August is also the time of year when we settle in and begin school in earnest.  I count school days from July 1st because we're learning every day, but book work and computerized school work will start in August this year.

Of course, we'll have our Family Birthday Bash in August and have fun with everyone then.

Then, there are the festivals, yard sales and chicken barbecues that we'll attend.

I'll make my sauce again this year, Lord willing.  We've got green beans coming up in the garden that we'll can as well.  I hope to get even more to fill our shelves this year.  Take a look at the side bar and see what's in the plans for this year.  I'll begin dehydrating very soon, if not tomorrow!  :)

Golly!  I guess we're just a little busier than I originally thought.  LOL

What are your summer plans?