Quiet Day, Disaster, Starting Exotic Plants

It is very quiet around here today! Thomas, Melvin & Christopher left around 7 to go south of here a couple hours. They have three overhead doors to install today near Dorcas, WV. You have to wonder where that town got it's name. 

When I finally scratched myself out of bed I noticed the water trough for the cows was running over. Someone started the water and forgot to turn it off. When I went to turn it off I passed the washing machine.

Here was a startling sight. I just purchased a 128 load jug of laundry detergent on Tuesday. I had it on the shelf above the washer because it has a dispenser knob on it. It had fallen down and over half the detergent was out of it.

I'm not sure where all it went. Some was definitely in the washer which, thankfully, was empty! I spent a good bit of time scooping soap up out of the washer with a medicine cup, into a Solo cup and back in the bottle. (Not easy to do with a pregnant belly!) For some reason a lot of it was mixed with water. I put that in a separate bottle.

See the dispenser bottle on the shelf above. I filled the bottle on the washer nearly half full of watery soap. How did the dispenser bottle fall? Why did it fall? I don't know!

I don't know if you can see how the wall is blue behind the dryer? I guess it's time to do the cleaning in the washroom that I've been procrastinating.

After washing a load of laundry with the soap that remained in the washer, I went to put the load in the dryer. It wasn't spun out very well so I put it through the spin cycle again. It was still quite wet, suds were oozing from the washer pores, the clothes felt slimy with soap and the washer smelled hot. Oh dear! Why is this happening?

I hung the clothes out on the line to dry. Maybe it's time for the new washer I've been wanting (and thinking I need). If I had a bigger washer, I don't think the laundry would take so much time. Maybe I'll call the local appliance shop.

Today I want to share Melvin's projects with you. He has taken a real interest in growing things from seed that you don't normally grow. Enjoy the show...

An avocado seed that's sprouted

And one that's a little further along

A pineapple top that's rooting

And a pineapple plant that Christopher had started in the same way

Ginger that's sprouting from a piece of ginger

Grapefruit plants that he started from seed. He has 4 of these pots with two plants per pot.

A peach tree he started from seed

Cherry seeds he's been soaking

These are maple trees. I'm not sure which boy decided to grow these. We have hundreds of maple seeds fall around here in the spring.

And this was an idea I had from someone else. They said you could plant sweet potatoes in soil and they would sprout just like they do when you put them in water. We planted some and after waiting a long time for sprouts finally gave up on them. One of the boys planted a couple maple starts in the pot and then the one sweet potato decided to put out sprouts. I'm afraid it's too late to root and plant these. ???

Just know that if you will give your children liberty to explore life in this way, your house will not be in pristine condition! Sprouting seeds, pots of plants & etc look rather dirty and unkempt. Pursuing ideas (even beyond starting seeds) isn't always neat and tidy and most times it's just downright messy.

So that will be the extent of this post. I need to go fold a pile of towels, clean the washroom, clean up the kitchen and whatever else I might be able to accomplish.

Have a blessed day!

Another Day Has Passed

It's four o'clock. The weather is pleasant. Thomas, Melvin & Christopher came home from work and Austin & Matthew left for their rafting adventure. 

One boy's gear

It'll be quiet around here for a few days. Austin & Matthew plan to be gone until Saturday sometime. They're rafting up the Potomac River with some friends from MD. I hope and pray all goes well for them. It looks like they'll have pleasant daytime weather with cool nights.

Here's a list of some of the things they're taking.
Takes a lot to feed 5 guys for 3 days in the wild.

Austin worked half a day on the lawn care crew. Matthew was here all day. Thomas & the others worked on the log house but had to come home early to unload a truck load of doors.

I haven't done a whole lot today. Washed a load of laundry. Typed up laundry instructions for my niece who's coming next week, Lord willing, to help me. Looked online for an easy way to make a clothespin bag. And I got the "sewing food group" schedule done for the coming year.

When we church ladies get together once a month to sew for the needy, we make food for ourselves and the school children. We divide into two groups. One group brings food one month and is free the next. I'm responsible for the one group. I figured I'd better get a plan in place before my brain is crowded with other things. So glad it's done!

Matthew moved the piece of furniture into our bedroom. Now I can get the baby clothes washed and stored in it instead of in the Pack-n-Play. I need to sort through what I have and see what I still need.

Interestingly Thomas made that piece of furniture for the first house we lived in. He made it to fit in our bathroom for the exact purpose it will now have- a changing table. Although it held towels and washcloths there instead of baby clothes.

Our front flower bed has been a pill for me. It is large and full of a variety of flowers. The weeds also like that place too well so it is often hard to find the flowers and there's really not a good way to get to the front porch. 

Every year we talk about how to work with it and every year we don't really do much. Joanna and Christopher have been working on it slowly but surely and getting rid of the weeds. I would like to eliminate most of the flower bed and just keep a narrow row of flowers along the house. Who knows if we can make that happen..

Our cow has been having a swelling on her udder that concerned us. The vet was out to look at it and gave antibiotics to treat it. It hasn't been doing any good. We're trying some natural things and we'll see what happens.

With the antibiotic treatment we've had to dump the milk for about a week. That isn't easy for a family that's used to drinking all the milk they want! I usually use milk to get this handful down...

There's prayer meeting this evening so I should get supper ready and wind things up (or down) around here. 

It's Been a Good Day

We went to bed to the sound of rain last night. Sometime this forenoon I awoke to the sound of rain. The rain changed the men's plans for the day. Austin went to his lawn care job later than usual. Instead of all the rest heading off to a job, Thomas went by himself to do some service calls.

It was Providential that the others were here. I had thought I would be okay going to my midwife alone but when it came down to it I was very weary! I asked Matthew to take me and also help me shop for the things he and Austin will want for their rafting trip which begins tomorrow.

We stopped first at a roadside market to look for some peaches. Got a half bushel of seconds for $8. Also a bag of apples to make applesauce. I'm about out of applesauce and thought my family from the south would enjoy some.

Then we went to Walmart for a few items. I hate walking that giant store for just a few things but I survived.

After that it was on to the midwife. Baby was breech at the last checkup so I was pleased that she had turned herself by this time. She has turned in more ways than any of my others did. Makes me a little nervous. Just hope she knows how to position herself for a good birth!

My blood pressure was a little low which may be why I'm tired.?? Nothing that the midwife was concerned about. 

After the checkup we went to Aldi and then home. Then it was time for the guys to prepare to go to Kid's Club. They were soon out of here and I put some twice baked potatoes in the oven that I had frozen ahead of time. Cooked some fresh green beans from my sister and cut up some cucumbers from a friend's garden. That was a good supper.

Now I'm ready to go clean up and call it a day! Oh, I did get my piece of furniture (for a changing table) emptied out this morning! Accomplishment! The boys did laundry from their room today.

And I discovered that my sister Joanna and her friend will be staying at a cabin so I won't have company just yet after all. That's a welcome break. (Although I enjoy company. Don't misunderstand me!)

Day in the Life

A yellow butterfly flits past my window. Clouds cover the sun. A gentle breeze is blowing. I should be sitting outside but here I am in my air conditioned house typing away. Why should I SIT outside? Well, because I don't know what else to do in my present condition but I do need the fresh air and vitamin D that the great outdoors provides. 

I'm all alone today. Austin is out with the lawn care crew. Thomas and the three youngest went to wash a log house. It's one of a kind and Thomas hasn't found someone else to do it. He turned the log home care he had been doing over to someone else when he took on the overhead door business. But he says this one is special. Please don't ask me to explain.

My morning consisted of getting one more dress ready for nursing. I purchased a number of nursing dresses from the Facebook group "Dress Swappers". I'm cutting the necklines lower and the sleeves shorter and doing the sewing that this maneuver entails. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a low neckline, short, short sleeve kind of person. But these necklines choked me and the sleeves were long with elastic which I find very uncomfortable. They just needed some help. 

This is how the dresses came

How one looks that I've redone

I am also working on keeping the laundry going and I got another dress ironed. Most times if a dress needs ironing I pass it on to clothing recycling or to someone who doesn't mind ironing. If the dryer isn't going to iron it, I don't want it! But this one is one of my few maternity dresses so I'll put up with it for a period of time.

Only seven weeks left until my due date! Or six weeks if I go by the ultrasound. Who do you believe? Babies make their own due dates anyway. So we'll just take it as it comes. But I am definitely longing for the day I get to meet this little storm within me. She has enough energy, that's for sure!

I had listed some items on the local yard sale group on Facebook so I took some time to edit or delete some of those. Plus browsed a bit to see if anyone was offering something I need.

The kitchen is yelling to be cleaned up and it's time to feed my face some lunch. I'll see if I have anything more to add to my accomplishments by this evening. (Besides a nap. Ha)

Evening is here. I finished our laundry and Austin's. Cleaned up the kitchen and made supper. We had Cobb salad (basic recipe from Mandy in the Making) and cranberry jello salad (recipe found in this post). This was planned for lunch yesterday but then we were invited away. 

Christopher was home from work early enough to grill the chicken and everyone enjoyed the good food. 

I thought I would sit outside to eat my lunch but then it started raining. We've had rain showers off and on all afternoon. We haven't had an overabundance of rain lately so it's really good to see it coming down! I did think I would sit outside a bit this evening but now it's raining again.

My lunch- southwest pizza & lettuce salad

I started cleaning out a piece of furniture I want to use as a changing table in our bedroom but I didn't finish that task. Yes, most of my afternoon was spent sleeping. I told you it's not easy to be pregnant at my age. And I did say my brain is more lively than my body these days. Definitely happened to me again today!

Just an Update

Melvin does well with flower arrangements

July 19
Today is one of the hottest days we've had yet this summer. It has been quite warm and humid a lot of the time but for the next few days they're predicting it will be very warm. Thank God for AC! With pregnancy the heat is even harder to bear.

My strength has returned to a greater degree and I've been able to do more than I had earlier. I still tire easily and my brain hatches up more things than I can accomplish. 

Sister Joanna has been around since the middle of June and has occasionally come to my rescue when I've "bitten off more than I can chew". She is in the states for a few months, looking for ways to pay off debt before returning to Poland. She stays with my parents and relieves the rest of us by taking them places they need to go.

My parents both have very poor eyesight and are hoping to be able to get cataract surgery done sometime this year yet. I hope it will help their sight! 

June 21-24 was the biannual Miller camping in Ohio. That is Thomas' mom's siblings and descendants. We missed the gathering four years ago so it was good to catch up with everyone who came. Traveling was uncomfortable for this pregnant mother but we made it.

Following us home were Thomas' brother & wife from Haiti as well as his sister & family from Oregon. We had some time together for about a day and a half. Short but sweet.

Our garden gets planted little by little when the guys have time to work on it. I'll be happy for whatever they can turn out. Things seem to be growing well. This is our second year with the "Back to Eden" gardening method and we're pleased with the results so far. The earthworms are really making fertile soil.

One reason we're late with the garden is because the chickens were in there and needed another place to go. One hen hatched six chicks and we moved them into a chicken tractor. About the time we were ready to move the other hens in with them, three more started setting. Only one of them was successful and she hatched two chicks. Yesterday one of those chicks was discovered dead in a bucket of water. Sad day.

The blueberries, blackberries and raspberries are producing some fruit. Blueberries are pretty much over with at this point. 

We got a few strawberries this year too. Any little bit helps! 

A small harvest of sugar snap peas was so delicious. 

A few banana peppers have found their way to the house too.

A friend gave us some pie cherries. I didn't know how to quickly pit them so I did a bit of research and can now tell you. The easiest way to pit cherries with regular household tools is to use a stout drinking straw. Punch it in the stem end and the pit will come out the bottom end! Presto!

My sister has also shared a few garden goodies with us. Nothing compares to fresh home-grown produce! 

July 21
The heat continues today but tomorrow is forecast to be cooler. Praise the Lord! We are not accustomed to heat like this. I think in earlier years we had longer periods of this kind of heat but I'm thankful that this is only for a few days.

This week I'll need to go visit my midwife who usually comes to my house. She is pregnant as well and is developing pre-eclampsia so she needs more rest. She is due a few weeks before I am but she says she always goes early. She seems confident that she'll be up and running when I need her.

Joanna has a friend coming to visit her this week. She will be here Thurs through Mon and we'll provide lodging. So beginning Thurs there will be company in my house until August 19. A lot of coming and going to say the least. I counted seven trips we'll need to make to BWI airport to pick up or return family members. My sister's family will help with that.

Austin and Matthew have been planning a rafting trip on the Potomac river with some friends from MD. They leave Wed evening and come back Saturday, Lord willing. 

Melvin has been struggling with a stuffy head this week. I think it's his allergies kicking in. Lots of hay being made the last while. Last evening he had earache. We washed his ear out with peroxide, put a few drops of silver in and he took a pain pill. Thankfully that took care of the pain. He's still plugged up and hard of hearing.

Hay field behind our house

I'll share a few snapshots of what we've been eating this month. We've had a few grilled meat meals and Christopher is perfecting his grilling skills. He does an excellent job!

Pork chops

I tried a one month meal plan and shopping trip again this month. I did get more fruit, veggies & eggs halfway through. It definitely takes planning!

I made some progress on getting our room ready for baby this month. We have no extra bedrooms so we'll have to play it by ear to know where to include a girl. I don't like to have baby in my bedroom too long as neither of us sleep well then.

Just since I'm writing this the wind has kicked up and the temperature has dropped way down until it's very pleasant outdoors. 

Until next time....

Tuesday May 14

Today was a full and busy day. The two younger boys worked on some laundry this morning. Thomas and Matthew completed a construction job today that's been long and drawn out, fitted in between door jobs. Austin was out with the lawn crew.

I was up earlier than usual. After breakfast, I read with the boys until the midwife came. All seems to be going as a normal pregnancy should.

After my checkup, the boys had scattered. Melvin was mowing the lawn. Between mower breakdowns and rain, the lawn was looking pretty hairy. More hairy than pretty.

Christopher was watching chicks and trying to see how many hatched. He also emptied the dishwasher. (Click here to see a video of the chicks.)

I worked on making menus for the next couple weeks and getting a shopping list ready. Then I made a list of some food prep that could be done.

The last few months I've been using Eat at Home meal plans, simply because of pregnancy brain. It was too difficult to plan and Tiffany has all the thinking done for me. Actually, I did alternate my own meal ideas with hers but leaned heavily on her plans.

Now that I can think again to some degree, I decided to make my own plans for the next couple of weeks and see if I can whittle the grocery bill down.

Last year was not a real profitable garden year so my freezers and canned food shelves are quite empty. That does not help the grocery bill! Especially with six big eaters. My appetite has returned so that includes me.

After lunch we headed to school for program practice at 12:45. It's that time of year again. Practice every day this week and Friday evening is the performance. Next week we'll be FREE.

While the boys practiced (for an hour) I crawled into the back seat of the van, curled up and slept. If you've never tried pregnancy at age 46 you should! Ha ha. It is quite difficult.

After we were home and I rested a bit more, Christopher and I tackled some things in the kitchen. He started working on a breakfast casserole. Then he had to go do the milking early so Melvin finished the casserole.

I got a batch of bread mixed and rising, then worked on supper and other things. There were leftover mashed potatoes from Sunday that I reheated;

I fried burger, onions and cabbage together

and made a fruit salad with apples, canned pineapple, frozen blueberries and yogurt. Sweetened with a bit of maple syrup and flavored with vanilla.

The cow has really upped the milk production this spring. I turned a gallon of it into vanilla pudding, sweetened with Sucanat.

I want to make some freezer meals so I fried a couple packs of hamburger for that venture.

And a pound of bacon, baked for another potential breakfast casserole.

The fresh baked spelt bread.

It takes more bread with the guys getting their own breakfasts and lunches. With my poor coping skills at present, there are fewer leftovers as well for lunches. Plus Austin wants more finger foods to eat "on the run" with his lawn care job.

I felt pretty good about how much I accomplished single handedly. The boys were all gone to Kid's Club for the evening. But. ..if I do that much, it just kind of sets me back physically. One day up, the next day down. One step forward, two steps back.

Thomas spent the evening working on a chicken coop. The chickens have been in the fenced-in garden area but if we want to plant a garden they need to move. Plus the chicks need something with a "roof" so hawks and owls can't get them. AND we want something that we can move across the lawn or field to let them pasture feed.

The boys came home around nine o'clock, ate their supper and we called it a day. Kitchen cleanup waits till morning. That's the way we roll around here. Not the best way but hey, you can't always have the best, you know.