At Home…in Alaska

Archive for October, 2008

(Officially typed 01/08/10)

Celebrations

10/22 Oldest DD 14th birthday!! Continually amazed at how fast the years are flying…

10/31 Happy Reformation Day!

Children

10/30 L.’s 12th tooth (Approx. - within a day or two.) (right lateral incisor bottom) I think after this I’m going to stop tracking except to look in her mouth occasionally and say, “Yup, there’s another.” She now has most of them with no problems, etc.

Exercise

See workout blog. Link in the sidebar.

Health

10/02 Everyone sick except B. and Mama. Rest and movie day for the invalids.

10/03 - 08 Me sick too.

10/16 Finally feeling better - sickness as well as other “problems.”

10/18 Feeling more “normal.”

Homemaking

10/15 1rst Kombucha started!

10/20 First Kombucha finished - it is wonderful! We all love it! Too bad it seems to ferment slowly in our house. Probably because it’s always on the “cool” side - anything above 65°F and I start to feel uncomfortable - especially if I’m doing heavy housekeeping! Anyhow, 2nd Kombucha started and we’re really looking forward to drinking more of it! (A special thanks to Wardeh for hooking me up with her friend Jamie who shared a scoby with me! )

10/29 3rd Kombucha started. Double batch this time as we can’t get enough of it and our scoby already had a baby. Wow, that was fast.

Also, I’ve done the sourdough thang, the milling/soaking thang, the kefir thang, the sprout thang and (above) the kombucha thang. Well, lately I’ve been getting more into this thang…

Yup, the fermenting thang. A la Nourishing Traditions. We’ve just done a few batches of sauerkraut so far. I think this is our third batch above done with cabbage, onions and carrots. Yummy! We love it!! I’ll be branching out with other veggies as soon as I can get some more containers…

Recreation

10/18 Bonfire @ Grace’s house. (Forgot my camera - no pics. )

10/21 Me and my older girls traveled out to Nelchina (pronounced Nel-chee-na) with some other ladies from our church for a ladies prayer meeting at a member’s house. While it may be more than “recreation”, it certainly was a wonderful break from our everyday routine! Encouraging and refreshing - I love the ladies of our church! ♥

Weather

10/05 Snow = 2″

10/06 Snow = 3″

10/09 - 10/10 We had an incredible wind storm in the night! Took down 5 trees around our property. One was a huge spruce right next to the house on the west side. God’s wonderful providence prevented it from crashing down on our daughters room or the neighbor’s boat! Really, it was amazing that it came down exactly in the only clear path it had! We’re really thanking God for that! One tree did come down on our Suburban but it was smallish and hit only the right back corner. A small dent and no windows broken. Again, thanking God! Two trees near the garage were left leaning over it - one almost touching - that we had to cut down. Sadly the last tree the storm took was our beloved crabapple tree. It was always so pretty in the spring with it’s profusion of blooms and we so enjoyed the hundreds of apples it gave us in the fall. Broke it right in half. Luckily, there were two sucker branches near the break so husband cleaned it up/trimmed it and we shall see what next spring/summer bring. Hoping it’s saved!

10/10 Temp. reaches 60°F in sun, snow all gone in p.m.

10/12 Snow = 3″

10/14 Snow = 2″

Total=10″
(Did you notice the snow came back in the exact reverse amounts?! )

Now some pics from this month…

First snow of the year! (What the backyard looked like in about 20 minutes.)

Our poor ‘lil apple tree. And, see those spruce trees in the background? They didn’t used to lean like that… (No, the wind wasn’t still blowing either!)

Look at all the apples still left on the tree! Now, imagine all the windfalls! Hundreds of them! We are devastated at the loss. Not of these - we salvaged these - the future potential loss.

A ‘lil girl pickin’ apples. ♥

A young boy pickin’ apples. ♥

Sisters pickin’ apples. ♥♥

And a wild visitor gets what’s left!

(As you can see, the storm got rid of the first snow fall but it was back in a couple of days in the pic with the moose.)

That wraps up this rather lengthy post. Thanks for sticking with me.

‘Til next time,

Amen Sister!

* Note: I can’t believe I’ve had this post languishing in draft form for almost a year! (I read it/wrote it when she posted it…) Well, scratch that…I can believe it. You should see my drafts folder. You could say it’s my modus operandi. Read something, write a post in response and then let it sit there. *sigh* Anyhow, I still agree and it was good to read again! Thanks, Stephanie, for the pick-me-up.

I continue on with Blog Housekeeping…

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7). The strongest one in Christ’s kingdom is he who is the best knocker. The secret of success in Christ’s kingdom is the ability to pray. The one who can wield the power of prayer is the strong one, the holy one in Christ’s kingdom. The most important lesson we can learn is to pray.

~ E. M. Bounds, The Best of E.M. Bounds on Prayer (Best Series)

Sorry about the lack of substantial posts now that I’ve been officially back. October was a doozy of a month for us…sick for most of it including me…and I’m sure all you mamas know what that means!! There’s so much to catch up on in every area of life - especially since we are homeschooling. *ugh*

So, that’s what I’ve been doing in a nutshell. Caring for the sick, being sick myself and trying to catch up on everything.

I think I’m finally getting a handle on things and can come back here more.

We shall see… Life has a funny way of throwing things at you unexpectedly. It’s all Lord willing.

I have some boys clothes size 3T (enough for a flat rate box) that I’d like to pass on to somebody. Four pairs of pants, button-up shirt, pair of pjs, fleece jacket and maybe an item or two I’m forgetting at the moment.

If interested, leave a comment. I’m not quite ready to go to good will/thrift store with them (have more things to purge first) but would like them out of the house sooner if possible!

Thanks,

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my eldest!

I could go on and on about how sweet and responsible you are. How caring and quick to help others. So many wonderful qualities… But my heart and mind are so full of emotion and memories, regrets and hopes, that it’s hard to write.

I’m trying to remember to enjoy every precious moment I have left with you as a “child” in my home… The years are so fleeting and I fail so often.

Mother loves you more than she can express. God bless you and keep you and may you always have a close walk with Him.

OXOXOXOX

Courtesy of The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…3″ of new snow, blue sky, bright sunshine. Clouds are supposed to be gathering soon though.

I am thinking…how nice it would be to get back into some sort of a routine…to find a happy balance in housework, homeschool, home business and fun time.

I am thankful for…a warm strong house. Last week’s storm is still fresh in my mind. That although we lost our crabapple tree (for the most part), the other trees that fell didn’t damage the house and the damage to the Suburban is minimal!

From the kitchen…we had a yummy brunch of kefir soaked gluten-free oats with fresh homemade crabapplesauce drizzled with honey and Cheesy Potato Spinach Bake. More crabapplesauce is being processed today. Dinner is still being decided. I’m looking forward to making my first batch of kombucha sometime this week too - as soon as my scoby gets here! I’m excited!

I am wearing…a black and white plaid flannel skirt, white tshirt, black apron and dark multi-colored Sketchers. My hair is in a bun.

I am creating…no sewing/craft projects right now. I’m working on cleaning out my craft closet and rediscovering a bunch of goodies that are inspiring me to start crafting again soon!

I am going…to stay at home today where it’s cozy and I’m content!

I am reading…lots! Reference my sidebar to the right.

I am hoping…to make some progress again soon on our remodeling projects. Our flooring is a disaster and nice flooring would be such a blessing before the holidays! There’s so much more to it than what’s stated… It would make our home so much more liveable and comfortable for our own family and it would open my heart and mind to being more hospitable to others. Things I’ve been desiring for some time…

I am hearing…the radio in the garage and my dh working out there with our two sons because he has the door propped open.

Around the house…things are in disarray throughout the house because we’ve all been extremely sick for more than a week and are still recovering. However, today we are attempting to get back into a routine and slowly but surely getting certain areas in order again. Desperately seeking order again!

One of my favorite things…the big bear hugs my 18 month little girl loves to lavish on me! *melt*

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Continuing to bring order to my home, mailing out a business order that’s been on hold since we’ve been sick, getting lesson plans caught up and more planned out, visiting with my parents after my mom’s surgery (if we are all well)…goodness knows there’s much I’m not thinking of at the moment…

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

Success! Homemade naturally fermented sauerkraut with homegrown veggies. The children can’t get enough!

Yesterday…

This morning…

Yup, it was still here this morning.

It seems a little early…but whatever. This year’s weather has been like that though - whatever!

Sorry about the short post. The family was sick all last week beginning with dh and are in various recovery stages. I was the last to get it thus on the tail end of the wellness train…sometimes it’s no fun being the caboose. I tried being up and around yesterday but it didn’t go so well. So, I’m taking my laptop back to bed with me. Hopefully, the little semblance of order I managed to create won’t disappear too quickly. Hey, a girl can hope can’t she?!

It’s snowing.

Granted, at times it’s been mixed with rain, at times it’s been hail. The point being that there’s white stuff falling from the sky.

This is ours.

No, we don’t know the Ebay seller so it’s not a plug. Just doing a little business research and found it. Just one of many out there through our sales rep. All the best to the reseller.

You all know where to get one from the source right?! {giggle}