Saturday Morning on the Homestead

It is a beautiful morning here.  Couldn't be better.  Except for me and my failings.  Sniff.

This week, after having done (imho) so well with my diabetes control....fell off the wagon.  I have found that as long as I exercise almost every day, I can eat a bit of sweets and not have it affect my blood sugar levels much.  All has been going well.  And then this week.....no exercise. No Wii Fit, one time on the treadmill, much hanging around the house.  And no cutting back on the carbs to correspond with my lack of exercise.  So, last week my fasting numbers were in the 104-111 range, the last few days they have been 126, 128,124, and we won the prize today with 130!

So, I got off my butt, slid the Wii board out from under the loveseat, and ran/stepped/boxed with my Mii.

Are Wii and Mii supposed to be capitalized???

Anyway, here is my strange dichotomy.  I have done great with my Bible study this week.  Got up every day and really studied and wrote.  I am using a new way I learned last weekend at True Woman 2012.  Priscilla Shirer gave a teaching on the 5 Ps of Bible Study (Pore over it, Ponder it, Paraphrase, Pull out the spiritual principles, Plan obedience) that has revolutionized my time in the Word.  It is supposed to be 10-15 minutes,  1-2 verses a day.  Of course, I get carried away and spend about 30 minutes, then I text what I wrote to my friend Julie who was with me.  I am in James, she began with Titus.

But......by the time I get done it is time to feed the cats, get the kids up, they want breakfast...then we start school, with our family Bible study and prayer time.  The next break I have is at lunch, and I want to a)eat and b)read.  Afternoon is spent finishing school, housework, laundry, working on stuff for our business (the accounting never ends!), besides the myriad of other things to do - then fix dinner.  After dinner, finish folding laundry, read science for the co-op I teach, bedtime reading, get my own shower in...and I am done, it is 10:30 and all I want to do is check my email, play Words with Friends, and read three pages before I fall asleep.

Obviously, this system needs some tweaking.  But, it is all a growing process, and overall, things are going well.

So, if you think about it, pray for me, that I will keep it simple, that I will keep my focus on my priorities, and that I will seek wisdom from the Lord in every aspect of my life.

And here, a few pictures of autumn on the homestead:

The garden, still lush-looking, but settling down for the fall.  Nevin replaced the wildflowers with mums.  The huge green plants to the left-center are sweet potatoes.  This is our first year with them.  Queen Esther is front-right.  

Hunter the Tomcat in his tree.  He is just a little over a year old, and has turned into a beautiful  fellow.  

Tuesday Morning on the Homestead

A busy week behind me, a busy week ahead of me.  This weekend I am going to the 

True Woman 2012 conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. I went in 2010, and had an incredible time, so I am really looking forward to this year. I am road-tripping with three other ladies, so you know it is going to be a blast!  

But, for now, a few scenes from the homestead:

Mr. Hunter was chased up into the tree by old Esther kitty.  He tried to make it look like he meant to be there all along.

And here is what the garden looks like in the fall!  Nevin replaced the now-deceased wildflowers with mums.  The giant sprawling vines on the left are sweet potatoes - I cannot wait!  We have never grown our own before.  I have a killer sweet potato biscuit recipe.

And that is it for today.  Going to get my haircut, run some errands, have lunch with a friend, get ready for science and all my Wednesday craziness here........

A Little More Thankfulness Never Hurt

Here are just a few more things the Lord showed me this morning...

Nevin at work in the cabinet shop.  It is going to be 105 today.  The shop is not air conditioned, though he does have huge fans.  However, it is going to be HOT.  I am so thankful for a man who works hard for his family and built this business from nothing, with only his own brains and back.

And, by the way...

WE built this business, Mr. President!

Tony feeding the chickens

My beautiful Vivien.  How does she manage to stay on that rail???

Two things I am very thankful for - cats and fresh tomatoes!

They all find places in the various gardens to get out of the sun during the day.  Good for keeping away varmints, too!

Saturday Morning on the Homestead: Where to Start.....

Life here the last few weeks has been nothing short of chaotic.  I feel like I have barely had time to sit still, yet somehow have managed to read a couple really good books (which you will find out about tonight or tomorrow sometime!).

I last posted about our adventures with an unplanned Saturday.  Two days later I went to my moms' homeschool meeting, and came home late with a little tickle in my throat.  By 2 a.m. my throat was on fire, tonsils huge, I was feverish and achy all over.  I laid in bed for a few hours praying a)to be healed and b) that the Lord would show me how to re-arrange all the "life" I had on my schedule.

Healing came after a few days, and the Lord did reveal a new arrangement for me.  I re-scheduled our dinner plans for the evening (a family of 13 was joining us for homemade pizza).  Then I re-scheduled our science class for Thursday.  Nevin took time out of his workday and took Ben into town for his guitar lesson.  I re-scheduled all four boys' haircuts.

After staying in bed for two days (unheard of) and consuming massive quantities of Alka Seltzer Cold Plus we managed to have a delayed science, a re-scheduled pizza party and then I hauled myself out on Friday and Saturday for the Greater St. Louis Homeschool Expo.  THAT was a not-to-be-missed weekend.  Two other ladies rode with me both days, we packed lunches to eat in the car (so fun, we opened up the back of the Suburban and put down the seats and it was like going to the drive-in), and spent two full days there.  We even went out for a grown-up dinner Friday night.  I will elaborate more about what I learned in another post on planning for next year's school, but for now - let me just say it was the boost and refreshment and encouragement I needed to finish this year well.

Sunday was the last of our birthday bonanza season - my Joe seems to have gone from a little guy to a big guy suddenly.  He is nine.  He is the first of my boys to be fashion-conscious.  Everyone else dresses for comfort, but Joe has style.  He likes flat-billed hats and shirts with cartoon characters.  Joe requested Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Icing, so I made an easy chocolate buttercream, and it was delish.

That was really a good cake.

An Air Soft Warrior is born

Note any resemblance?  What a handsome pair.

The guys

This past week has also been a bit of a whirlwind - took a day off to stay home, and spend HOURS switching out closets and drawers, then on Tuesday I had my Ladies' Discipleship group here, followed immediately by out-of-town relatives popping by (Michelle, if you read this - I was SO GLAD to see you guys and wish you could have stayed longer!).  Wednesday was back to our regular routine of science-guitar lessons-small group Bible study.  We'd missed our group for two weeks because of sickness and it was so good to see everyone again.  When we got home, we found that Daisy had had her kittens,

Daisy and babies

so now we have baby kitties again.Thursday the boys and I and my friend Faith ran all day - they FINALLY got their haircuts, bought new tennis shoes for all four of them, lunched at Chik-Fil-A, bought chicken feed, went to Walmart, hit the butcher shop, oil change, bank, etc.  Came home exhausted.  Yesterday was geography club.

Doing a report at Geography club.  The topic was North America.  Ben chose Area 51 for his report.  Let's just say that we are an eclectic bunch in our group!

Today we are hosting a huge air soft war in our woods (so far I think we have two dozen boys participating, not to mention the parents and siblings who will be hanging out).  Tomorrow is church, fellowship dinner and AWANA.....and next week I have STAY HOME written on the calendar!

Some weeks are just like this - life gets busy, lots of fun opportunities start crowding the calendar.  It is hard to know what to do, what to pitch.  Our "spring break" from school work was sort of taken in bits and pieces the last few weeks.  Monday, back to regular schedule.  I like all the busyness at times, but it makes me appreciate my home so much more.  I am making a list of all the home projects that need to be done around here, and can't wait to get started!

The Story of Esther

 A great big, really hairy, really friendly cat showed up at our home last fall.  She wandered over to our house in mid-November, while we were processing deer.  This is a wonderful time for all the outside cats, as they are tossed pieces of fresh venison to eat.  They also like to sniff around the skins, fight and wrestle and pretend they are themselves great hunters.

Hunter the Kitten, going after a fresh venison skin

Anyway, so we have this really big, really hairy cat hanging around our house now.  Living out in the forest we do get a lot of stray animals wandering by.  And usually, that is all they do - wander by.  They generally won't let you near them, but will sneak up and eat food when they think you aren't looking.

Not so with this girl, who we promptly named, "Big and Hairy" (our family is not particularly clever with words).  She came right up to you, wanted to be held, and purred, my goodness.

Please note that the injured left paw is now completely healed

So, she hung around, and we began to get used to her.  Then, on November 17, Nevin called me from the road.  I've gotten these calls before.  We live out in the country, but our driveway comes off a state road that seems to get it's fair share of fast drivers.  He just wanted to let me know that, "Big and Hairy is up on the road."

Well, shoot.  So, I get dressed, get a bag and an old towel to wrap the body in, and head up.  I see her lying in the road, right between my driveway and the neighbors.  I am thinking about how I really don't feel like digging a cat grave this morning, and pondering different means of disposal. 

And she turns her head and looks at me.

So I run over and check her out - one paw all bent over, blood on the eyes, nose and mouth.  I assume she has some internal injuries and is probably getting ready to die, so I wrap her in the towel and take her home.  I clean her up and wipe her face.  No more blood.  Hmmmm, odd.  So, I sit with her in my lap for a while, just rocking and waiting to see what happens.

Now, some of you may think I am cold and callous because I didn't get the kids up and dressed and drive into town to a vet to do immediate exploratory surgery.  I am going on the record as saying that I am, truly, a cat lover.  However, if I rescued every stray cat that wandered past the homestead, I would need to take a second job to pay for it.  In the country, cats come and go with a fair regularity, and that is just the way it is.

Back to the story.  Nothing is happening with the cat, but she smells really bad, and I do have other things to do.  So I wrap her in the towel on a rug by the back door and let her sleep in the sun.  Meanwhile, Vivien, my Princess indoor cat, is losing her mind.  I am not sure that Vivien understands that she is a cat, just like the ones outside, but whoever she thinks she is, she was NOT happy.

Big and Hairy slept for approximately 15 hours.  That night I moved all Vivien's food and litterbox out of the schoolroom into the laundry room, and put Big and Hairy in there for the night.

And she is still with us.  She looks sort of Persian, so I named her Esther.  She has completely recovered, with only a very slight limp when she runs.  She has made her home under our shed.  I tried to set her up in a nicer place, put blankets and food in a doghouse, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  She lives under the shed.  Every morning she is out on the front porch with the other cats, waiting for breakfast.  When she hears me outside during the day she comes running to be picked up.  She loves to be held and petted.  She has managed to acclimate herself to the other cats as well.

We have since learned that in her previous life, her name was Ashley, and she is 13 years old.  I cannot imagine a cat living out by us that long - between the road, coyotes and stray dogs.  But there she is. 


And now she is Esther.  Nevin says she looks like an Ashley.  She might look like an Ashley, but she is my Esther.  So our family has expanded to four cats - Daisy and her son Hunter on the front porch, Vivien (Daisy's daughter) inside the house, and Esther the queen, under the shed.

Vivien, the Princess inside the house.  She does not mingle with the riff-raff on the front porch.

Esther, always ready to eat.  Notice the left paw.

Esther and Hunter have learned to live together in harmony. 

Daisy looks on in disdain.  She is really the one who thinks she is royalty around here!

Mice and vermin, beware!