Saturday, Sunday

Here are a few things that happen on a Saturday at our house. Not every Saturday though, mind you. Just on March 3, 2018.

Melvin put 20 lbs of chicken in a pot and cooked it. (The local grocery store had chicken leg quarters for $0.48 @ lb, so I stocked up.)

Stephen made a plane from foam board because there were mighty winds around here he wanted to make use of. The plane is now in pieces. You'll have to ask him why.

Matthew tried to fix a sink drain but couldn't get it open. It remains clogged, much to my dismay.

 Christopher swept the kitchen floor.

 Melvin also helped me make laundry soap.

 And I used it to do piles of laundry.

Austin did some sweeping and then the men (minus Stephen) cut a few truckloads of wood after which they cleaned the church house (upstairs).

Besides washing laundry, I typed up cleaning lists for the church house, swept floors, folded laundry, orchestrated work for the boys, made meals and got the preschool Sunday school lesson ready.

Yes, we had the strong winds here that many in the east were experiencing. We lost power for about ten minutes or so. Not long enough to get creative. Nothing major happened at our house. Just high heart rates. (That's what happens to me when I hear high winds.)

Our pastor's shed was carried to his neighbor's property. It was a carport, enclosed on three sides. A client of Thomas' had the roof leave a small structure. What happened in your community? As I read the news I saw that a lot of people were far worse off than we were.

We had a visiting preacher today who spoke to us of city mission work. Tuesday is the beginning of a new term of Kid's Club so it was in preparation for that. 

When we arrived home from church today, my heart sank. The meal I had put in the oven before we left for church was still raw. I knew it before I even got out of the car. I usually don't think about lunch while I'm at church but as we got home the realization hit me that I had never turned the oven on. Ouch!

All that cooked chicken from yesterday came in handy. I cooked some rice and made chicken gravy to serve over top. Canned green beans, heated and a lettuce salad rounded out the meal. The other meal will come in handy for lunches tomorrow. 

We have our quarterly hymn singing at church this evening. I need to get something ready to serve for the snack afterward. And I would really like a nap so I'll catch ya later.

Words to learn-

Avaricious 

Asseverates

Inveterate

Day With Friends

On a slightly warm day this week, my parents, Matthew, Melvin and Christopher and I went to our friends' house to transplant seedlings. The air was a bit chilly but the sun warmed us enough to make us shed our jackets, after awhile. 

My friend (Patricia), who so graciously offered to allow us to raise our plants there, has such a wealth of knowledge. She makes so many of their own products and has experience with a variety of cuisines. 

Because of a rare disease or disorder her daughter suffered she has studied health extensively, as well. She was able to answer some health questions of mine for which I was very grateful, being a self-doctoring person myself.

After Patricia told me about kimchi, we transplanted more chinese cabbage than I would otherwise have been wont to. I need as many probiotics (natural from food) as I can get with the gut problems I have.

There is so much of one's health directly connected to the health of the guts. Brain fog, sinus congestion and infection, high blood pressure, diabetes, the flu, depression, toothache, mouth sores, you name it. Clean up your food digesting organs and experience more health.

Patricia told me that she has some plants that produce the ingredients I need for the eye protocol. She will give me starts!

We enjoyed lunch with our friends, including another mother of five (Kate) and her children from Harpers Ferry. Beef roast and potatoes, salad eggs, applesauce, pizza, kimchi, pasta (made of quinoa) salad and GF/SF brownies made a delicious lunch.

Kate has a son with Celiac disease so she also feeds her family "good" food. She brought the meat and potatoes and brownies.

It was so funny to watch her youngest daughter (2 or 3) eating her lunch. She hates anything green. There were sprouts in the pasta salad and she could detect if one got in her mouth without being seen. Out would come her whole mouthful. Otherwise, she carefully picked off any sprouts found on her spoon beforehand.

Patricia gave me magnesium flakes to make a liquid magnesium to put on my skin. Magnesium and Vitamin C are helpful for building up adrenals. 

Between her advice and the eye protocol, I'm feeling a bit more on the upward way. Following the eye protocol has to improve about any kind of health problem in my opinion. It is so nutrient dense. 

Instead of blending the ingredients for the shake last evening, I ate them as a salad. I foresee this happening some more. Much more palatable in my humble opinion.

The shake this morning was doable but instead of including the broccoli in the puree, I ate it alone. The rest was blended together and went down with little revulsion. Four down, seventeen to go...

More words-
Monomania
Pugilistic
Affianced

Heal Your Eyes?

Thomas recently read of a protocol that has the potential to heal one's eyes of various maladies that impair sight. He bought the information, I scavenged the grocery stores and internet for all the ingredients and today is my first day of trying it out.

There are three smoothies to make and drink per day for seven days. The process is repeated thrice, for a total of twenty-one days. Every smoothie is different (yes, every- all 21). The one I slurped this morning was okay. Blackberries, banana, coconut cream and maca powder.

The one I'm trying to get down now is a bit torturous. This one has a carrot, a beet, an apple, a pear, kale, lemon and ginger, blended in water. 

Oh, it's pretty enough. That doesn't make it easier to swallow, unfortunately. The pulp and the ginger is what gets to me. The flavor really isn't so bad.

The man who sells the information says his wife came back from near blindness (macular degeneration) to 20/20 vision. And he says it will do the same for me. 

It is no fun to tote reading glasses around so I'm hoping this will keep me from needing prescription glasses or even reading glasses. If I can just stomach all this stuff! I'll give it my best shot, that's for sure. 

He says there is a 60 day money back guarantee. So at $27 or $37 it doesn't feel like a big risk. 

He also says you can get all ingredients for pennies at your grocery store. This is incorrect. There are some ingredients I still haven't found.

Can you tell me where to find black currants? Or bilberries? Some of the ingredients I ordered from Amazon, but I haven't been able to find these two items for a very affordable price anywhere.

I'll try to keep you posted on the effectiveness of this protocol.

Words for today-
Maudlin
Extenuate
Vagary

Fried Cheese

Recently we had an overabundance of milk and no cheese. So I made some! 

We made cheese at home when I was a girl. My father made a "cheese box" where a thermostat and a light bulb kept the cheese at a certain temperature for a designated amount of time. He also made a cheese press.

After I left home, I didn't know how to make cheese without these things. Some years later I learned from a friend who grew up in Costa Rica how to make a simple cheese, skipping the "cheese box" stage. And she showed me how to fry it. (I figured out how to press it with simple kitchen and rec room articles.)

We all really enjoy fried cheese. It is so simple. Just cut a slice of homemade cheese, lay it in a lightly greased skillet over medium heat and fry until it is browned on one side. Flip it over and do the same on the other side. (I don't know of a store bought equivalent. Sorry.)

This got a little extra brown. But it is still delicious.

Words to enjoy-
Pattens
Myrmidons
Excrescence

Sunshine, Green, Comforters

Sunshine. Oh, the beauty of sunshine, warm, bright and invigorating. You know, by now, how I love sunshine. 

We have also had beautiful rain in the last week. Both of our rain gauges are broken so I can't tell you how much it rained except that it was a lot. Streams came down the hills, the creeks swelled and the rivers rose. 

Daffodils and lilies

All of creation responded with joy and the meadows are turning a verdant green. I never cease to be excited by the return of green. 

Toad's bellies

Or the sprouting of seeds. It makes me feel like I could dance to the moon and back. Or burst.

Thomas removed these "Christmas roses" (below) from a landscape job he did. They were not faring well in that location so he brought them here. Hellebore is their sophisticated name. They missed Christmas but they are the only blooming thing I've seen outdoors this winter.

I've completed two more comfort tops in the last week for relief work. This blue one (below) took me many days to complete. All the pale blue blocks (every other one) are a fuzzy type of fabric that slipped and slid and crawled all over the place as I sewed. It was a miserable thing to work with.

The one below with bigger blocks was a sight easier. I picked up a bag of blocks (that someone else had already sewn in rows) and sewed the eleven rows together. The outcome is always rewarding.

February ends tomorrow. It feels like we haven't had much winter. Even the couple weeks of extreme cold seem like a dim thing of the past. Spring is showing her (spring can't be a "he", can it?) welcome face.

Can you believe I heard spring peepers early last week? I almost couldn't believe it. But there they were, very loud and very real.

What are you doing today? I would love to peek into your house or wherever you are and see what life is dishing up to you. I pray you find God's grace sufficient for your needs.

More words to enjoy-
Erudition
Cornchandler
Ophthalmic

Planting

Exciting things happening these days! There are many seeds in the dirt and I am eager to see the faces they will portray as they die and then come to life in a new way. 

On Tuesday Melvin, Christopher and I went to our friends' place in Delray. This family shares our milk cow and gets half of the milk. She had offered to give me seeds for the garden and even start some seeds for me.

They have a building they call "the conservatory" which is made of panels that allow light to come in. Like a large/tall greenhouse. They raise bananas, oranges, lemons and olives in there. There are lots of aloe vera plants and cacti, a small fish pond (5'x10'?) and a pet tortoise in the building. 

I planted the seeds in trays in this building and then when we transplant the seedlings into cell packs we will probably put them in one of their hoop houses. They have two hoop houses which serve multiple purposes. They will raise meat chickens and then plant in the rich environment they leave behind. 

This is an ongoing cycle where the chickens benefit from what is left of the plants and then the plants benefit from the chickens. The Mrs is determined to help me find a way to get a hoop house up. It is a good way to keep fresh food for the family through the winter. 

While we were choosing seeds from her vast supply (I told her it was like looking through the seed catalog, only it was all in my hand!) and getting them into dirt, the boys took to fishing. Melvin landed a large 3 lb (+/-) bass which we enjoyed for supper last evening. It was a really exciting moment for him, bringing that beauty out of the water.

My wonderful friend also told me how I could grow ginger and gave me a rhizome to start. Now patience needs to do its work in me for a couple of weeks while I wait to see the results. (The pics show a few of the seeds she gave me to plant in the garden.)

We had a couple of days where the temperature was around 80 degrees. I couldn't resist the temptation to put a few pea seeds in the ground yesterday as well as some Mesclun mix (salad greens). The weather has turned rainy now which is awesome. These seeds were planted within the privacy fenced garden so they should have some protection from cold.

The egg-laying chickens worked up that part of the garden this winter and the soil is rich and fine. We are also trying the Back to Eden gardening method so it isn't a whole lot of work to just scratch a row in the dirt and put the seeds in. 

The men are working a couple of construction jobs. With two trucks and four drivers, they can be at different places as necessary. 

Today Thomas started out at a job where he's finishing some drywall and then met up with the three boys at another job. Austin remains frustrated with a weak wrist.

Tomorrow Stephen is scheduled to help another contractor and Matthew will be at home and school, Lord willing. I find it interesting that things are turning around and instead of me, it's Thomas who needs to employ most of the boys.

Reading books continues to take up my time, which tends to imperil the housework but increases my knowledge. I'll give you a few more words. If you like words, you're welcome.

Meer-schaum
Contumacious
Purblind

Have a wonder-filled day!

P.S. Billy Graham died this week at the ripe old age of 99.

Snow, Errands and Peanut Butter

This week has ended, with all its idiosyncrasies. (That word took me down in a spelling bee once. Had never heard of it before.) The weather has been up and down, quite literally. Temperatures up in the 70s and down in the 20s. Clouds up in the sky and clouds coming down, in the form of rain, sleet or snow. 

Today it is snow. The forecast is for 2-6 inches. This evening it is maybe an inch and a half deep. It's been warm enough to keep it from sticking and also it is a very wet snow. You might know how that kind is. It snows more than you can really measure.

Stephen returned from his trip to Honduras and reported a relaxing vacation. He worked and lived alongside his cousins while there. They went to a waterfall one day and did some climbing. He says he has lots of photos so we look forward to seeing them. 

He had booked their (his and Sylvia's) tickets to and from San Pedro Sula. That's where they flew into for the Bible school but I think he could have gotten return tickets from Teguc if he would have thought that far. The trip back to San Pedro Sula was made by bus with two cousins to help along. 

They spent Monday night in Siguatepeque at a Mennonite children's home. An interesting connection was made at the airport when David Bercot came up and introduced himself to them. He was on their flight from San Pedro Sula to Atlanta. He was also bound for Dulles but they didn't see him after Atlanta and worried that he missed his flight. They were the last ones on the plane, coming after everyone else had boarded.

Today was a full day. I worked on selling some things around here (online, through Facebook & OfferUp). Then Christopher and I ran some errands that have been on my mind. The more I stay home, the more things pile up on me.

We stopped at the ATM first to get some cash, then went to Food Lion. While puzzling over the long lines there, it dawned on me that there is snow in the forecast. It will be warm in a day or two so there's really no need to worry but maybe some folks can't live two days without going to the grocery store?

Next we picked up apples at the farmer's market, picked up a bulk order from my sister, got some pork that was on sale at County Pride (which I grind to make sausage), grabbed a stack of books from the library, and unloaded a stash of unneeded items at the thrift store. Wow. Now my brain feels cleaner. 

My parents had a nice surprise today when someone offered to bring them a Meals on Wheels dinner. A full meal of grilled chicken, mac n cheese, baked beans, coleslaw and cake.

Recently a friend gave me a nice big food processor. She had gotten it for a wedding present but hasn't used it to speak of in almost ten years. So she wisely passed it on to me. Since I've had it I got to thinking that we could surely be more frugal by getting a case of peanuts and making our own peanut butter. 

We usually buy the Smuckers brand that has no junk in it (only peanuts and salt) and I am always limiting the boys' intake as it is so costly. They eat so much of it at one sitting! First thing I know, the peanut butter is no more.

My first attempt at peanut butter turned out well. We got a 30 lb case of blanched and salted peanuts. I'm dreaming of different ways to make the butter; roast the peanuts, add honey, molasses or maple syrup. Do tell me of a flavor you like.

Melvin used some peanut butter and whole peanuts in a batch of no-bake bars he made. Christopher added whole peanuts to the granola he made. I have a squeaky feeling this 30 lb case of peanuts might not last very long either.

Thomas and all the boys besides Christopher went to sand the walls in a house that they finished drywall in this week. They got done in a couple of hours. 

The three older boys went to play volleyball with some friends this evening but some of their friends couldn't get there because of the snow and the others were in an accident that prevented their coming. So two of the boys came home and the other stayed with his friend for the evening.

Melvin and Christopher received their periodic shearing from my hand this evening. They balk about it (and so do I) but I said we need to just get it done! Christopher was looking especially shaggy. Now that's off my mind (and their heads) until the next time.

I've actually read a few books this week! I finished Trees Tall as Mountains, read Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, and Little Lord Fauntleroy and began Great Expectations. I will try to report on them later.

I'll leave you with some new (to me) words and see if they're new to you too.

Burgoo
Dearborn
Execrate

Please let me know in the comments (or reply to me in a new email) if you find/know the meanings.