At Home…in Alaska

Archive for April, 2008

Officially posted 1/05/09

Celebrations

4/09 Baby L.’s 1rst Birthday!!!
Where did this past year go???? I’m flabbergasted…just flabbergasted. She’s so sweet and every one of us loves her so much! Seven children is not too many…it’s just not. I can’t imagine not having her in our family. To have stopped at four, like we in our naiveté originally talked of, it just wouldn’t have been right. I had always wanted a large family but my dh had never really given it much thought so we came to a compromise…both hesitatingly though as that didn’t seem quite right. I’m oh so thankful for what we learned together and for these three more children (so far)!

Chickens

4/15 1 (L) Yay!! I’m flabbergasted. What is it - a Tax Day gift???

4/18 1 (L) Guess I was right about them laying in a couple of weeks after I butchered Fluff.

Total = 2 *whoopee* (Tongue firmly in cheek.)

Children

4/15 L.’s 4th tooth! Right front incisor.

4/29 L.’s 5th tooth! Left upper lateral incisor.

Exercise

I have decided not to put my workouts in my updates here but have revived my workout blog. Link is to the right.

Recreation

4/23 G & G Baker arrived in the evening to celebrate the two birthdays we had this month. They stayed until the 25th.

Travel

4/13 & 14 W. left w/ all the childen (except baby) about 4:15pm to go to Seward. I was abondoned stayed at home to work on tax stuff. They played around “the property” for a few hours then drove to Soldotna to visit/stay the night w/ my parents and were there for the next couple of days as well. They got back around 4pm on the 15th.

Weather

4/02 60°F Really, no kidding…April Fool’s Day was yesterday. It didn’t last though. Mid-afternoon the temp dropped to the hi 40s.

4/05 - 06 Snow = 10″

4/09 Snow = 6″

4/15 Snow = 2″

4/21 64 ° F in the sun!! *whoop*

4/23 64 ° F in the sun!! The children were so excited they couldn’t resist setting up the kiddy pool and getting in! What could I do except say, “Go for it!”

4/25 Snow = 16 ½ ” !! **aacckk** Weren’t the children just swimming a couple of days ago??!!

4/26 Snow = ½″

Total Snow = 35″ Nearly a whole yard this month…3 ft…just before spring. *sigh*

Wildlife

We caught some photos of a wascally backyard visitor!

Until next time,

GA #3 - Bead Tissue Tote

jessleigh!

Congratulations! Please pick your favorite from the list and we’ll mail it right out!

(Btw, I had variations set up for the tissue totes and wanted participants to be able to choose their favorite right away but for some reason the settings “disappeared.” I’ve reset them and so far everything is fine again and *I* can see them. *jessleigh* let me know if you can not.)

GA #1 and #2 - I’ve decided since there were so few participants that you all are winners! Since some of you entered for both, I’ll let you have the choice of whether to advertise your blog or your business and I’ll rotate through two at a time starting with the top of the list. So, entrants 1 and 2 will have the first week, 3 and 4 will have the second week, etc. until you’ve all had a space for a week.

Thank you all for a fun week!

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

This contest is now closed. Thanks to those who participated! We’ll be choosing a winner later this evening. ~T.

That’s right - one more!

This time it’s something a little whimsical…a sparkly tulle tissue holder!

Go to the Prov. 31 shop page for a look at them and read the descriptions of the varieties available. Leave a comment telling us which you would prefer if you won and a way to contact you. And guess what? This giveaway is open to everyone just like the other two! That’s right…I’m willing to mail it world-wide! (’Cause they are simple to mail…gotta keep it simple around here right now. )

That’s it - simple and easy! So, go leave a comment and a way to contact you and have fun!

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

ps - Want to see hundreds of other giveaways? Go HERE.

This contest is now closed. Thanks to those who participated! We’ll be choosing a winner later this evening. ~T.

The second giveaway - more ad space in our sidebar!

One week and this time it is only open to family friendly home businesses! We know how tough it is to get a small business off the ground so we want to provide a way for someone else to have a bit of free advertising to boost their website. Again, we reserve the right to refuse to run the ad (despite winning status) if we feel it is inappropriate.

Just leave a comment as well as filling in the space provided for your email address and website url. We’ll be checking out your websites to be sure they meet the above criteria before we draw a number.

Thanks for stopping in and have fun!

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

ps - Want to see hundreds of other giveaways? Go HERE.

This contest is now closed. Thanks to those who participated! We’ll be choosing a winner later this evening. ~T.

Yes, there will be more than one giveaway at our blog!

The first is one week of ad space in our sidebar! Advertise your business or your family’s blog or any other website that’s important to you! Please, just be sure that it’s family friendly and/or morally decent. We reserve the right to refuse to run any ad (despite winning status) if we find it inappropriate.

Just leave a comment and a way to contact you and at the end of the week we will use a handy dandy number generator to pick the winner. Obviously, this doesn’t require shipping and is therefore open to anyone around the globe!

Thanks for stopping in and have fun!

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

ps - Want to see hundreds of other giveaways? Go HERE.

We’ll be participating in this carnival next week! Come back Monday to see what we will be giving away!

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and a rough month so far for a few reasons. But, we’re surviving…pulling through…amazed at how the Lord sustains us. Anyhow, I’m drained - emotionally, mentally, physically - not spiritually though! Praise God! I just haven’t had it in me to blog…no time, no energy and no wit to share the tough stuff in a way that’s concise and not too revealing.

I did cruise through BookCloseouts today though and thought I’d share some great book deals for Frugal Friday! If you haven’t heard of them, they are the “Best Seller in Bargain Books” offering new, unread books from publishers who need to reduce their inventory. There is usually a mark on the edge of the book to identify it but the mark in no way detracts from it’s appearance or readability - usually it’s a small slash mark across the top or bottom of the pages.

There are two sales they are having at the moment that you might want to check out - a
Mother’s Day Sale and a Gardening Sale. With unbelievable prices at 75% off list price, celebrate your mother AND Spring with books!

Have a great weekend!
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

Hi! Still around…it’s just been a busy week. Mostly updating our business site during my free/computer time. Stop in and check out the changes and get yourself a great kitchen tool at the same time!

We had a couple of snowstorms too that brought about 3ft. of snow! Oh wee. Where, oh where, is Spring?! Actually, this is quite typical and quite expected…but, after the wonderful weather the week before and seeing so much of the snow disappear, it’s always a little disappointing when does indeed happen.

And, Baby L. had her 1rst Birthday two days ago!! We haven’t “officially” celebrated yet so no picture but we sang to her and made comments to her about it all day so she knew it was a special day. We’re planning on celebrating this weekend officially but pictures probably won’t be posted until I do a “month in review” type post. I’m hoping to get caught up with those soon so maybe the wait won’t be too long for those interested.

Anyhow, those were the highlights. Otherwise, just normal busyness type stuff…you know, homeschool, Mt. Never-rest, dishes, vacuuming, etc., etc.

‘Til next time…

Blessings,
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

My little “Proverbs 31″ shop is open again after a year’s hiatus!

I’ve set it up here with my blog for now but may move it to the “old” site again in the future when I have the time. I have the shop to benefit our family monetarily…with food and gas prices what they are these days, our family could really use the supplementary income! But, their day to day care takes precedence so I do what I can when I can.

I haven’t added too much yet but feel free to pop in and look around!

Blessings to all and have a great weekend!
~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

Frugality won out! As much as I would like to purchase new hardware for our cabinets, I love being frugal more than I like shopping for something I don’t necessarily need. So, after some thought, I realized it was mostly the “matte black finish” that was attracting me to those choices. Yeah, I really like the cup pulls over the others but the others are nice too…and…and…

Well, the bright idea came to me to just paint them. I’m quick on the uptake huh?! I know I’ve read about it in remodeling articles before but it just didn’t come to me right away because, I guess, I was really drawn to those cup pulls. Anyhow, dh ran down to the local hardware store and brought home a can of flat black paint appropriate for the job. He sprayed all the handles and hinges for the cabinets and has them installed on the cabinets that we are finished painting.

Wow! I love my cabinets now! I’m still not particularly fond of the design of the handles but now I can look at them not only without cringing but with decided appreciation!

I love my Honey for his handiness. ♥ I love being frugal. ♥ And, I love that our kitchen is finally “taking shape.” ♥

So, what do you think?

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥