Mountain Mama

Gobble Gobble!

2009-11-26T09:43:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

from

my Family

to Yours!

Taking a little break, be back on Monday with more on 'Finding Myself'.

It's coming!!

2009-11-18T09:38:00.003-05:00

Eeek! I can't find my 2nd photo album to continue the "Finding Myself" post!! I am hunting it down, it's gotta be somewhere around here! I just hope it isn't in the basement *gulp!* After we made room for my Mom's boxes down there, we sort of shoved our stuff to the other side, and haven't gotten around to reorganizing down there. Might be time to do that now... sigh. The kids swear up and down that they don't know where it is, and I believe them. They like to look through our photos, but don't usually put them back where they got them, so it might have gotten misplaced in one of our 'hurry-people-are-coming-over-let's-clean-up-quick!' cleaning sprees!

As soon as I find the album, and I cannot rest until I do, I'll continue where I left off. Thank you for all your positive comments. I enjoyed reading them and look forward to reading what you'll say on the next installment.

On a funny side note: I bought the Husband a bag of chocolate-covered raisins. It's sitting on the pantry shelf in plain view of the kids. Oldest asked me if she could have some, and I told her to ask her dad, they're his. So she bounds out of the room to find daddy. Hubby came out laughing, he said she asked him if she could have his "chocolate grapes"!!! He had to think about that one a bit before he realized what she meant! Don't you just love kids and how their minds work?? :o)

Finding Myself

2009-11-15T22:30:00.006-05:00

Every kid goes through that period where they are searching for who they are-- their style, their signature, that thing that tells the world they are who they are. At 13, when I went into high school, I wasn't too sure of who I was, except that I was a deaf girl about to enter a school for the deaf, and for the first time, I would be equal to my peers. I hoped that I would no longer have to endure taunts from hearing classmates or be picked on for my K-mart clothes or be teased for not saying a word correctly.
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This, was how 14 year olds dressed back in 1988.
Please note that the jeans and the jean jacket are K-mart issue.

How are today's 14 year old girls so gorgeous??? None of the girls I knew back then look like the girls do today!

The buttons on my jacket ranged from:

"SSDD- Same Shit, Different Day"

"I'm not Deaf, I'm ignoring you!" (ha-ha!)

A picture of Spuds McKenzie

I remember how I felt most of the time that year.. like I was a fat kid with braces. I had an aunt and uncle that always told me that if I wore make-up I'd be so pretty and to dress better, which only made me more painfully aware of myself and I figured I must not be very pretty for them to say that to me. I remember pulling my already big shirt out to be sure that you couldn't see my tummy when I sat down and my long bangs would obscure half of my face.

I did manage to get my first kiss at 14. Some of us girls and boys would go behind the dorms and have make-out sessions. I don't know about anyone else, but I never went beyond kissing.

This is me at 15, the summer between sophomore and junior years. We were dressed up for a Sadie Hawkins party and this was my version of country bumpkin. It was fun that day, but then I was caught in that anxiety of trying to "catch" a guy and hoping he would have fun with me and not be all depressed that it was me that got him. I never did figure out if he was cool with me-- after our "marriage" we went our separate ways.
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At just-turned-17, I was still searching for my style. I was wearing a shirt from a guy I liked. It was Homecoming weekend at the university and he was a freshman and I was a high school senior. I stayed overnight in his room. Nothing happened- I slept on the floor, but the next day, I needed a shirt, so I swiped his. I wore that shirt out. How many times have I thought I was the coolest chick wearing a boys' shirt??? I figured out here that I liked silver jewelry, so I had the big hoops and silver rings and necklaces. I was all about the silver!
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I went stag to my senior prom. No one asked me. I wanted to go, it was on a cruise ship, so me and 2 other girls decided we'd go together and have fun anyway. I was starting to discover my style-- hippie chick. This was my prom outfit. I felt so daring, wearing a see-thru blouse, belly showing, mini-skort. I went to Georgetown to buy this outfit at all the hip shops. I had on dangle-y daisy earrings, a peace necklace, my hair parted down the middle... I felt like I was in my element. I was also kind of nervous, what would people think? How would they react?

Looking at this picture of me, about to head onto the boat, I looked so sexy! Look at those legs! I wish I had more confidence in myself back then. I wish I knew how beautiful I was, instead of worrying about what other people thought of me. I wish that when I worked up the courage to ask a guy out, only to get told that he just wanted to be friends, that I said to him, "your loss", instead of feeling crushed and that girl inside of me just wanted to wither away and disappear.

No one danced with me that night. I spent a lot of time topside, smoking my cigarettes (yes, I smoked then) and watched the sun go down over Potomac River. I took pictures for other people, posed for a few, but I didn't dance a single dance.

After graduation, my sister and I participated in a 'Bike Across Virginia' ride. My sister was an avid biker, and I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be athletic like she was, so I tried out for the basketball and volleyball teams because she played, but I never made the teams. I could ride a bike though, so we signed up and spent 5 days riding the Shenandoah Valley with hundreds of other riders. It was a great trip, I learned I didn't have the stamina my sister had, but we had so much fun together.
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I didn't know what I wanted to do after high school. I found my style, but now what was I going to do??
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--to be continued
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What Are They Saying?

2009-11-12T21:14:00.004-05:00

**Edited to add::

I went ahead and watched my copy of the dvd movie UP and it IS captioned AND has English subtitles!! It has no [CC] symbols on the back and no subtitles info, but it IS captioned!! I have heard from various people that the rental versions aren't captioned, dunno what the deal with that is. So my apologies, the plain dvd version of UP is ok for us Deaf people to watch!! Yay!!

***
A friend on Facebook posted that the UP dvd movie did not have captions or subtitles. My heart skipped a beat as I ran to go check my copy and sure enough-- no captions or subtitles. There is French and Spanish subtitles, but not English. I went online to the Disney website and did some searching and I found they released 3 versions of the UP movie-- Blu-Ray, Digital, and regular DVD. ONLY the Blu-Ray version has English subtitles for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing viewers.

Why??? First, the Blu-Ray version costs more, and you need the Blu-Ray player. Secondly, why would Disney choose to leave out the captions or subtitles on any version of their movies?? I like watching movies, too! My kids could still watch it, but I won't be able to understand anything. Have you ever tried to lip-read a cartoon??? I'm a good lip-reader, but not that good!

I'm upset about it. I already opened the movie to clip out the proof-of-purchase tabs to redeem a rebate on the movie. I don't know if I'll be able to return it. I did get it for free after the coupons, but it's the principal of the thing-- had I known there were no captions or subtitles on it, I wouldn't have bought it. I hardly ever check for captions or subtitles anymore.. almost all the popular movies released on dvd have captions or subtitles.. it's usually the older copies or lesser-known movies that are hit-or-miss with captions.

I'm going to try and take back the movie, but I think the chances will be slim that they refund my $10 CVS bucks.

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Shopping Frugally

2009-11-10T20:23:00.004-05:00

Money is still an issue for us. Hubby is still working at his part-time job, and we are ever so grateful for it, knowing that there are many others without work. We have been doing alright, we have our moments when we have only $17 in the bank and we are left holding our breath until the next paycheck comes in, and sometimes, almost as soon as it gets deposited, it's spent already.

It helps that we don't keep up with all the newest toys and fashions, we are a low-tech family, which means we don't have any video games or ipods or any such electronica. We only have a computer, a TV with a DVD/Video player, and a plain and simple cell phone for Hubby. Oh, and an old handheld nintendo game player that gets used only in the bathroom. We are happy this way, with a simple lifestyle and less distractions that take away our time as a family.

It also helps that we raised maybe 30% of our own food-- hopefully more next year. I am still figuring out the balance and how much to plant to feed our growing family; for example: I planted 45 potato halves which gave us about 150 pounds of potatoes, and that lasted about 2 1/2 months. Definitely need to plant more next season.

That said, since my Dad's wife taught me some coupons tricks last August, I have been learning how to shop all over again. I've always used coupons before, but it never saved me much, maybe $10 at the most here and there, but still, it helped. I always wondered how those "coupon ladies" got $150 worth of groceries and only paid like $5 bucks! How did they do that??? I am slowly learning how!

I found out last week that Target was having a sale on a children's game-- connect 4x4. It was on sale for $14.99. There was a coupon out for $5 off, plus Target has a store coupon for $5 off. That makes it $5 after coupons. Then, I also had a $5 giftcard from buying something at Target, which made the game free and all I had to pay was the tax, which was 49 cents! Now, I have a game for all of us to play and I can put it under the tree this Christmas, and it didn't break the bank. Heck! It didn't even crack the wallet!

Do any of you shop at CVS? I never did. I thought it was an expensive store and I only shopped there if I needed something real quick, like cough medicine or a soda and a candy bar. Turns out, there is a trick to shopping at CVS... Get the membership card, cut out coupons in the Sunday papers, shop wisely and CVS will pay you to shop there! No, really! I'll show you-- this week, CVS is offering a nice selection of candies on sale.. buy $15 worth, and they'll give you $5 back on your receipt, which you can use to shop next time you go in. So here's the scenario:: Get 4 bags of chocolate kisses for a total of $12, 2 XL hershey bars for $3 which equals $15; use 2 $1 coupons for the kisses and a CVS coupon for $3 off $15. Ok, that sounds confusing, here...

4 kisses -- $12
2 XL bars-- $3
-----------------
equals $15
2-$1 coupon -$2
CVS 3 off 15 -$3
-----------------
total is $10 and CVS gives you $5 to use next time you shop!

So say next week, they offer the candy deal again, you now have $5 CVS cash along with whatever coupons you have and they give you more CVS cash for next time! It's a great little trick to keep you coming back, but when you use your own coupons, you actually kind of trick them a little bit. I don't know how they can afford to do it, but it works for me, so I'm not complaining. By using this way of shopping at CVS, I was able to get the newest Pixar UP movie on DVD for free! There goes another present under the tree this year! I also now have candies to use for my holiday baking-- the kisses go into cookies and the XL chocolate bars will be turned into fudge.

Last year, we could only afford one present for each child and then one present for all of them to share. On the one hand, we didn't mind, we wanted to teach them to appreciate their things and not get materialistic; on the other hand, we really wanted to be able to give them more, but just couldn't afford to. This year, we'd like to give each child 2 presents-- a new pair of jammies and one item, maybe a book or a toy, and then the game and the movie for them to share. With the money I am saving with my new way of shopping, I can see it happening.

I'm not super coupon lady yet, but I am getting there. It's a lot of work on my part, to search out online coupons and match up the coupons with the sales to make a good deal. I try to limit my computer time to a couple hours during the day and then a couple of hours after the kids go to bed. I am grateful that Hubby helps out and doesn't mind using coupons, too. He was the one that picked up the free game at Target for me last week and came home pretty pleased about it. We now have a little game we do with each other after I get home from the store and I point out something I got for free. I'll hold it up and we say "fuh-ree!" then laugh like crazy! Wait til he gets home tonight and I hold up the new UP movie... "fuh-ree!" then we'll cackle like a couple of crazy old loons!

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Busy, busy, and busy!

2009-11-09T21:26:00.003-05:00

We've had a great weekend! The temperatures were just fantastic, it got as high as 80 yesterday, so we spent most of the weekend working the wood and raking leaves. We gathered both cured and green logs from our woods and sorted out the green wood for next year; the seasoned wood got split. At least until the log splitter sputtered out. Hubby thinks it needs new spark plugs.

Anyway, we stacked freshly-split wood by the basement, and while it is nowhere near the amount we need to last the winter, it felt good to get something out there! Gotta start somewhere!

While Hubby puttered away on the log-splitter engine, I started raking. And raking. AND raking!! Whew! Being surrounded by trees makes for a lot of leaves to rake! I raked only the back yard where we spend most of our time-- around the swing tree, the chicken coop, the wood pile. Then I raked them onto a tarp and dragged the leaves to the garden area. I made 6 trips and I AM SORE! I got a blister that popped between my finger and thumb, my ribcage aches and my lower back is killing me, then add sore arms and picking up a heavy baby.. oof! But it's a good kind of sore.. the kind where you know you did good, honest work to benefit the garden.

Oooohhh!! I am SO SO SO looking forward to the garden next year! we have big plans and hopes and good intentions. I hope we follow through this time! :o) I don't know about you, but there have been plenty of times where I have said I was going to do something, and then didn't. Hopefully Garden 2010 will be the year for doing what we said we will do!

We went to the memorial service for my husband's cousin today. We took the kids with us. He was cremated, so his ashes were in a nice wooden box, parked on a table next to his picture. The kids did alright, I had the foresight to bring notebooks and colored pencils for the girls to draw, and Baby got a little antsy there, but settled down after a bit. I had planned to sit in the back, but apparently, family gets ushered into the front pews and then on our way up, the Baby's snacks spilled out of it's container onto the floor, so I held up the line a little bit and I got flustered there, but whatcha gonna do? I picked up what I could and hurried on. I didn't expect to sit in the very first pew, and I swear I felt eyes on me when Baby started getting loud, but he's a baby, and I thought he did pretty good.

It was a nice service, what I caught of it. I was the only Deaf person there, so they didn't arrange for interpreters, and I didn't expect them to. I knew I would be kept busy with the kids and I mainly went to support my husband. I didn't know his cousin well, he never came to family gatherings, despite repeated invitations. I think I've only met him maybe 10 times in the nearly 13 years I've been with my husband, and even then, it was a polite 'hi-how-ya-doin' kind of thing. He'll be missed, and I hope he's in a better place now.

My jams have been slowly selling! I'm excited, I just sold another sampler set (it's on its way tomorrow! ) and they make nice Christmas gifts to a foodie. They bake well in desserts, too, so don't forget your Christmas baking!

I'm heading out of town again tomorrow, have to take my Mom to meet Auntie and Uncle so they can take her to her doctor appts this week. I'm hoping this week I can squeeze in some time to post some more things to sell in my etsy shop. I have some vintage Christmas items that I need to part with to make room for others... I'll let you know when I update the shop!

Here's to another busy week!

Ba-Ba-Ba!

2009-11-06T22:23:00.002-05:00

I like watching Glee on hulu.com. It's a musical comedy show and I've always had a thing for musicals, never mind that I can't hear!

Anyway, on one of their recent episodes, one of the characters sang a shortened version of Neil Diamonds' 'Sweet Caroline'. I remember that song from when I was a kid and since watching that episode last week, I have Sweet Caroline stuck on the broken record player I have in my head, only I can't remember the words, so it's "Sweet Caroline, ba-ba-ba, dah dah dah da da da dah, sweet caroline, ba-ba-ba..." over and over.

I was humming it while making breakfast this morning and Hubby interjected his version of the song, saying I wasn't singing it right and it went "ba-da-da" (or something like that) and we got into this whole debate over who was singing it right. Let's see, deaf girl versus die-hard music lover hearing man? Guess who was right?

I played the clip from Glee because it was captioned and after it was done, Hubby told me to youtube it, so I did and guess what? I was still right! Hah!

We were laughing about it, so it wasn't a fight or anything, just one of those laughing-can't-believe-we're-arguing-about-this kind of debate. Still, though, it felt good to be right. Then, Mom and I were talking about how Neil Diamond was jewish and all, and the Hubby interupted with, "wait, what? He's jewish?" Ah-hahahahaha!! TWO deaf ladies know more about a singer than he did!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my husband. It's SO much fun being married to him and I love that we can laugh over stuff like this. That I can hum and sing a song, even though I know I'm not in tune and probably not singing the right words half the time, and you know what? Hubby will sing right along with me! Wrong words and all!

Now, go youtube it and sing Sweet Caroline! :o)

Costumes and Catch up

2009-11-05T10:36:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it's November 5th already?!? Cripes! Seriously, where does time go?

Here's that picture I promised of the girls in their costumes: Oldest as a vampire, dressed in black with crimped hair and pointy teeth; Youngest as a purple witch with black-painted fingernails and pointy hat; Middle as supergirl. I found the groovy blue polyester pant suit at a yard sale a while back and bought it to wear for Halloween one day. I don't know how people did it back then, but polyester is freakin' hot!! I was sweating buckets wearing that and ended up taking the jacket off and just wearing the pants with a t-shirt. So much for dressing up!

We had a great time! (Thanks sweetie, for having us up!) The girls got plenty of candy to last, at least, until Christmas and I got to see the brand-new baby, and catch up on the news with my best friend. We really ought to get up there more often, since we always have such a good time, both kids and adults.

Mom is officially retired now. She met us for Halloween and then rode home with me while Hubby drove her car. No more scheduled work hours, no more pissy supervisors, no more dragging herself to work when she feels like crap. I'm so proud of her and I hope she'll be happy living with us. We love having her here and the girls love their grandma!

We have had some mild days lately, so we are working the firewood. Hubby is frustrated with his chainsaw-- it's over 20 years old and it seems like there is always some reason to take it apart and fiddle with it before it will run, and even then, it struggles with cutting. Hubby hints for a new chainsaw, and I would love to get one for him, but as usual, money doesn't permit that. So he does what he can with what he has, even if he's a little grumpy about it.

It's gotten cold today, and I'm tempted to start up the wood stove, but we'll see. Maybe we can get away with not starting it up for another day. I'll just bundle the kids up in warmer clothes, do some baking to help warm up the house and see how it goes. I won't turn everyone into popsicles just so I can put off another day with starting the wood stove.

I've sort of lost my blogging groove. I need to get back into it. Bear with me... it's been busy here and I sit at the computer thinking I'd rather do something else, so I do.

My husband's cousin died on Monday. He was only 40. I feel bad for his Aunt, she found him, and I'm sure she is devastated. No parent should ever have to bury their own child. Services will be next Monday, so we are making arrangements for going up for the day.

Time to put Baby down for his nap, then go out and help Hubby with the wood. Later, dudes.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

2009-10-29T16:39:00.004-04:00

It's Super Girl!!!

I couldn't be more pleased with this costume I made for Middle!

And more importantly.. She loves it!

Such a picky child, she likes things a certain way; like her pancakes being cut but still touching, or me pouring her juice and not Daddy, or this shirt with those pants...

I worried she wouldn't like the costume and then I was gonna have to figure something else out and let Youngest be Super Girl, but she loves it. LOVES it!

I cannibalized a damaged shirt that had burned sleeves from my Mom's house fire back in Jan., and I saved the shirt because I thought the fabric was nice. I cut along the sides and around the front of the collar, then hemmed the rough edges to make the cape. I planned to save the button and button-hole from the collar, but it was too big, so I overlapped the pointy parts of the collar and put snaps in. The front panels of the shirt had the sleeves trimmed off then sewn together to make a matching skirt. If someone looked closely at the skirt, they would see button holes on the bottom hem! As it is, she zooms around the room whenever she puts it on, so I doubt she would sit still long enough for anyone to notice!

I had the old blue t-shirt-- it had a logo on the front for a zoo and I made the superman logo from fleece I had lying around and made sure it was big enough to cover the old logo, then sewed it on. Middle was literally breathing down my neck while I was sewing it on the sewing machine and the minute I snipped the last thread, it was whipped out of my hands and on her body! Just look at her smile in the picture above!

The other costumes are done, with no sewing from me. We pulled together clothing to make a witch outfit for Youngest and already had a witch hat from an old costume that had been ruined; and for a vampire costume for Oldest, I only needed to get the fangs and make-up. When I was going through clothes, I found a lion costume for Baby from my sister, so he'll use that, since the french painter outfit is too big for him.

Can't wait to get pictures of the whole gang!

Happy Halloween!!

Getting into the Spirit!

2009-10-28T12:48:00.004-04:00

I started out writing a very different post because I was feeling really weirded out lately, but I don't want to make you guys all depressed so I won't be posting it. On the brighter side of things, I am feeling much better, I have a spring in my step again and I am so excited for Halloween, which is just around the corner!

The girls have finally decided on what they want to be for Halloween, so I am busy trying to gather materials to make their costumes. Oldest is going to be a vampire; Middle is intent on being SuperGirl, and that's a fairly easy costume to put together, so I am not complaining; Youngest will be a witch. Baby will be the french painter, and if the outfit is too big for him, then I'll whip up an easy mummy costume.

Hubby is going back and forth, unable to decide what he wants to be. First it was cyclops with a horn, then it's Uncle Fester, then it's two horns and an eye in the back of his head... he's worse than the kids!! :o)

I have an outfit that I can't wait to wear! I picked it up at a yard sale a couple years ago, and I'm so excited about it! We're going to my closest friends' house for Halloween and she is going to LAUGH when she sees it! (Can't wait to get your reaction, girl!)

Things are getting festive around here. The decorations went up last night and I picked up a few make-up things along with black nail polish and all the girls wanted their nails done. Then Hubby came home and he wanted his nails done in black, too, so I painted his. This morning, Oldest asked me in a quiet voice, "Why does Daddy have his nails painted, too?" hahaha!

I gotta go, gotta get those costumes made! Here's a pic I took of Charlie the cat:

Happy Halloween!!

This and That

2009-10-23T21:15:00.003-04:00

It went from feeling like winter was here early back to lovely fall days this week. We took advantage of the warmer days and gathered fallen logs in our woods. How nice it has been not to start up the wood stove just yet. Maybe we can push not using the wood stove to November? Wait and see, it was overcast today, then rain, and all the windows are shut again, so who knows what the weather may bring this weekend.

I am trying to get the girls to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I don't want to buy over-priced, cheaply-made costumes that rip and tear on the first day. When I told the girls to make suggestions, they all immediately wanted to be disney princesses. *sigh* Let's see if I can get them to come up with other ideas. Oldest wants to use a renaissance princess costume we have that is surprisingly well-made and we've had for a few years now. I hemmed it when she was 4 and it was too long for her and will probably need to let it down for her to wear. I'll need to make her a crown of some sort as the one that went with it is long gone.

Last year, when we went trick-or-treating at the mall, there was an adorable little toddler who was made up as a french artist, with the black and white striped shirt, black pants, black beanie and carrying an paint board and brush. I'm hoping to get Youngest to dress up like that, as she already has the clothing, I'll just make a beanie and a cardboard paint board. She got upset when I told her we'd "paint" a mustache on her and she didn't want that. I think she just doesn't understand that it will wash off and I need to explain better to her what I meant.

The power company sent out their tree trimming people to trim any branches or cut down trees that pose hazards to the power lines. Several months back, a rep from the company went door-to-door, letting homeowners know and to get permission for them to come up on your property. They came up yesterday and spent most of the day trimming our trees. I know they are doing a good thing, preventing possible disruptions to the power, but I still can't help feel bad for all the trees they are cutting down.

The previous owners planted a great line of evergreens and they are nearly 3 stories tall. Each tree had the tops lopped off and we can now see the neighbors lights across the road. I know they'll grow back, but still... On the bright side of things, the tree-trimming guys asked us if we wanted the wood chips. Yes!! So after they were done for the day, they dumped the whole truck-full of wood chips exactly where we wanted them. They'll return on Monday to finish the job. They also left the logs from the trees they cut down which we will save for next year's wood pile.

My van is fixed, after nearly a month of being in the shop. Only one time, out of that whole month, I was able to "escape" for a couple of hours, when my Mom was here and Hubby took me to the food store. The rest of the time, I was "stuck" at home and feeling a bit stir-crazy. I am used to getting my kid-free time at the food store at least once a week, when I can leave the kids at home and get a few hours all to myself, without constantly being at the beck and call of 4 little ones. It was hard not having that time to myself and I appreciate the freedom the van gives me. Hopefully, the van will not give us any more trouble for a good while and now we can focus on getting the truck checked out. Always something to fix or work on around here!

Have a good weekend!

It's Definitely Fall!

2009-10-20T17:49:00.004-04:00

I love the cooler weather we are having now. There have been a few days where we came close to starting a fire in the wood stove, but we held out. On nights where the temperatures dip into the low 40s, we have a little space heater we use in the hall, aimed towards the bedroom doorways and it wards off the night-time chill. Pretty soon, the wood stove will be fired up, I'm sure, but the longer we can put it off, the longer our wood will last.

It's been an extra busy week here. I took the remaining green tomatoes off the vine and turned it into green tomato salsa. Oh my! How tasty that was! I made a small batch first, to see if we would like it, and it was so good, that I made a bigger batch the next time, after buying what I needed to make more. I ended up canning 12 pints of green tomato salsa to enjoy during these cold winter months.

My Aunt and Uncle also brought us 150 pounds of russet potatoes! I took about 25 pounds and turned them into potato skins, loaded with bacon and cheese and froze them for later snacks/meals. All the potato that was scooped out has been turned into potato soup and mashed potatoes. Yum! We are a family of potato lovers and we definitely eat our fair share of potatoes around here.

Oldest was playing around with the bungee cords that we are using to keep the chairs with the table, to prevent Baby from climbing them (read previous post for more info). We tell the kids all the time not to play with them, they are like big rubber bands and they'll snap back and might poke your eye out or hurt you. Sure enough, Oldest hooked one end to the door knob, the other end to the sliding door handle and it popped off and clipped her in the eye.

*The day after*

It gave her a deep little cut in her eyebrow and left a shiner the next day. I am SO relieved that it missed her eye. She had a very swollen eye for a day, and now she is left with what looks like a bad make-up job on her eyelid. I hope she has learned her lesson (a painful one at that!) and will not play with the bungee cords anymore.

There will be one more preserving of food for me before I can finally put away all my tools for the year-- pumpkin! I have no pumpkin left from last year and am looking forward to making pumpkin pies, breads, cookies, and more! Hope to get a pumpkin this week and believe it or not, I'm actually tempted to get another bushel of apples. Wait and see how busy it gets this week, before I decide to get more apples. I feel like I turned all the apples into sauce before we really got to eat any out of hand, so I am craving the crunch-crunch of apples and the juice dripping down my chin. Plus, I've never made caramel apples for the kids before, and I think the kids would love to try them!

Let's Hear It For The Boy

2009-10-13T21:27:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the disappearance.. Baby has really been keeping us hopping! Of the 4 kids, he has the most curiosity and is more determined to get into things that he is not supposed to get into!

On Saturday, the Husband had to take my Mom to the halfway point so my Uncle could take her back to their place, then he went to work afterwards, which meant I was home with the kids, alone, from 9 in the morning until their bedtime at 9 at night. I was B.U.S.H.E.D! At one point, I think I cried in frustration, which prompted Oldest to include me in her dinner-time blessings and she asked God to help me feel better. Yeah, it was that tough!

If I forget to lash the cabinet doors, Baby opens and climbs in or pulls out all my pots and pans. Not so bad this cabinet, but the other one, he has broken my vintage melamine bowl (karma- I broke my mom's when I was little), pulled out the very sharp and very dangerous mandolin slicer and used it as a banging toy (ack!) and pulls out all the mixing bowls and piles them high in wobbly towers.

He broke a vintage christmas glass I had, and being deaf, I didn't hear the tinkling of broken glass, so I didn't know until I saw him with a bloody cut on his nose and leg. When I investigated, I found the broken glass.

He has discovered the cat's litter box and I have found him no less than 5 times with his hands in the litter so that we now keep the door to the room, where the litter box is, shut. Poor cat gets locked in there, too, but he has his food in there also, so not so bad for the cat really.

We have started to bungee cord the chairs to the table because he has learned to climb the chair, then climb the table where he proceeds to table dance, grab stuff and toss it off and just grins from ear to ear!

I had a moment where I didn't see him and the girls found him behind the couch with a fistful of markers, coloring the floor, the couch cushions, his mouth and hands.

He has gotten into the puzzle cabinet and there are at least 6 puzzles now mixed together and in the other half of the cabinet is where I keep my balls of fabric strips that I've sewn together and, like a cat, has rolled them all around the room, unraveling them as they roll.

**Deep breath**

**Let it out slowly**

I don't know if it's because he is a boy or if this is just his nature, but at this rate, all the doors to all the rooms will be kept shut, the cabinet doors will be glued, and the shelves and tabletops cleared! I cannot steal away time to myself because he gets into things and he is so quick about it, too! I used to be able to lure him into the living room then dash down the hall and he would take a few minutes to catch up to me, but now? I tried that today, and when I turned around, I nearly fell over him, he was right there behind me!

When the Husband leaves for work, he always tells me to, "Call me if you need me." And my response is now: "Where's the phone?!" I'm only half joking. I look forward to Baby's afternoon nap time, that's when I can relax a little and not worry about where he is or what he might be getting into. At least he hasn't figured out how to climb out of the crib...yet.

::Mountain Mama Wares Shop Update::

2009-10-08T16:32:00.002-04:00

Whoo!!

I finally have all my homemade jams and jellies for sale in my

Mountain Mama Wares shop on Etsy!

Please click on the link in the right sidebar to go and visit.

I have 3 flavors in 1/2 pint sizes available:

*Crazyberry*

*Rhuberry*

*Wild Grape*

I also have a Sampler set in 4 oz sizes,

but I have only 5 sets,

so if you want some, order fast!

Chickens and Turtles

2009-10-07T15:41:00.003-04:00

I still have the Box Turtle. I was told to soak the turtle in warm water, as it was likely dehydrated, and when they are dehydrated, I've learned, that their eyes swell shut. I suppose that is a body mechanism to keep their eyes from drying out. Since soaking the turtle in water for a couple of days, it's eyes are starting to open!

The right eye is still not all the way open, but the left eye seems to be fine. He can definitely see my hand come down and he flinches and moves away. His color seems brighter, too, so it gives me hope that the little guy (or girl?) will be alright.

I'm still waiting to hear from a turtle rehabber, to find out what I can do to help it. Since it's soon winter here, the turtle should be getting ready for the long sleep.. so it's likely that they'll take him over the winter, and if he gets better, they'll return him here, back to his home area.

***

From all accounts I've read.. online, bloggers, books; I was under the impression that 6 hens will give me, on average, 5 to 6 eggs daily. If I was lucky, I was getting 2 or 3 per day, sometimes, nothing. I worried that maybe they were laying in the woods and I'd have to put up a fence to pen them in.

exposed!

*
Then one day, Youngest came running with an egg in her hand. She said she found it in the pole barn. I asked her to show me exactly where, and turns out, they are laying eggs under the tarp that covers the log splitter. Ah-ha! That first day we found them, there were 5 eggs there! Since then, we are averaging 4 eggs daily. That's more like it! Some days we get 5, but usually it's 4 and I'm happy with that.

***
After I wrote my last post about making pants for Baby from an old sweat jacket, my sister sent me a box of clothes from her baby boy! What an unexpected surprise in the mail today. Thanks Sis!! :o) Lots of nice warm clothes for Baby to wear in there!
*
(Thanks for all the wonderful comments and compliments on the recycled baby pants, by the way! The idea did come from Amanda Soule's book, I borrowed it from the Library when it first came out and she used the bottom of a t-shirt to make shorts for the kiddies. My version is using the sleeves for pants. These will work as pants for baby legs, but probably not for kids 2 years and up.)
*

Make Your Own Baby Pants!

2009-10-02T22:53:00.003-04:00

Baby needs pants. I don't have a whole lot of hand-me-downs for him, considering I have 3 girls ahead of him. So unless I want to put him in dresses, I needed to do something about his lack of pants. I am currently making sure that every load I wash, I have one of his 4 pairs of pants in there. This is getting tedious, I don't like having to wash all the time, and he is about to out-grow 2 of the pants.

What to do, what to do?? Then I remembered seeing somewhere in blog-land, someone taking an adult shirt and turning it into shorts for the kiddies (if someone knows which blog that was, please send me the link!). I figured I have enough sewing know-how to do it on my own.

I have this old sweat-jacket that's too small for the husband and it's just taking up space in here-- perfect for little jogging pants for Baby!

Cut the sleeves off at the seam. I am using Baby's jogging pants for sizing. I cut down on one side of each arm about 10 inches from the top. This will be where I sew them together to attach the legs and make a front and back. Pin right sides together all the way from front to back, then sew.
Here it is, all sewn together. I folded about 1 1/2 inches down around the waist and sewed all the way around, leave a seam open for the elastic. Thread elastic through then sew seam closed.

Ta-dah!! Pretty good job, if I may say so!

Fits Baby perfectly! You'd never know these were from old sleeves unless you took a closer look! I am already looking around for more old shirts to make more pants for Baby! I get to recycle stuff we have and keep from spending money on items that Baby won't wear that long anyway! Now he has warm legs and I have money in my wallet-- everybody is happy! :o)

Why Did The Turtle Cross The Road?

2009-10-01T23:31:00.003-04:00

To get to the other side, not get hit by a car.

So this turtle shows up in my garden the other day. I was thrilled. I have a soft spot for turtles.
Then I took a closer look at it and realized there was something wrong. His eyes are not open. As I look closely, I can see there is a crack in his shell and it looks like his face got a rude introduction to a tire. There is an open wound on the top of his head that has a shell fragment stuck in it and it healed over, but I'm not too sure about his eyes... Can he open them at all? Is he blind now? He can walk fine, he has strength to push his sharp little turtle claws and scratch my hand while I hold him.

We called our local wildlife dept in town, the guy said put him back where I found him, they don't do turtles. No, no, no.. I can't do that. So I turn to the handy-dandy internet and search for box turtles and found a link with an email address. I didn't hold out much hope that I would hear from them the same day I sent the email, but lo and behold-- I did!

I sent pictures and she replied back that the turtle was likely dehydrated and needs water. When turtles get dehydrated, their eyes swell shut. I hope that's the reason why his eyes are shut. I have him soaking in a bucket with a little water in it and hope that helps. She referred me to a wildlife rehabilitation link and I found 2 not too far from here, so I am going to contact them in the morning and hope little turtle here can get some help.

Turtle has put things into perspective for me. I woke up feeling out of sorts, I didn't sleep well and had weird dreams. Our van being out of commission stresses out the Husband and he doesn't like taking the only vehicle that works and leaving me and the kids stranded. What if something happens and I need to go somewhere? Then we worry that it will cost more than we can afford to fix. We're working on the O2 sensors now, and if that doesn't work then it may be the thing-a-ma-jiggity-whazit (I forget the word, sorry) and it's not cheap and we don't have that kind of money in the bank.

Usually I am the go-with-the-flow kind of gal, but talking about money before I close my eyes at night screwed me up and it wove itself into my dreams. I know things will work out, they always do, and I need to give my worries up to God and focus on what I need to do.

At least my life is not as bad as poor turtle here-- getting run over by a car and then not being able to see. I can't imagine what kind of pain he must be in and how long has he been like that?

Speaking of not being able to see, my dad just had surgery for his eye today, unexpectedly and without the surgery, he would lose sight in that eye. I hope the surgery is a success; they won't know until next week. I love you Dad, hope everything goes alright. xoxo

So, perspective? We'll deal with the van, at least we have our health.

Random Tidbits

2009-09-30T22:49:00.005-04:00

I have some random things and pictures I need to unload out of my head. You know the feeling, stuff that clutters up your brain and rattles around in there until you decide what to do with it. Well, I've decided to put it all in one post, tidbits and stuff that's happened this month, sort of a way to sweep out the old and welcome in October! Dang! October already? Really?

The garden is still giving us tomatoes. The temps are going anywhere from the 60s to the 80s during the day and drop to the 50s and sometimes lower at night. It was pretty chilly today, most of the windows stayed shut, so I may have to pick all the green ones and make that green tomato salsa I've heard about. We haven't been overwhelmed with tomatoes but I did manage to can 10 pints of chopped tomatoes and it looks like I may be able to can a few more tomorrow.

One day, when the husband had a day off from work, I made up some pie crusts and chopped up some apples for making and freezing mini apple pies. Hubby picked up a mini pie maker at a yard sale somewhere so we tried it out and it's a nifty little thing. One side cuts out the crust, other side folds and seals the edges.

Pretty soon, the girls took over and edged me and the husband out of the pie-making operation. We ended up with about 50 mini pies to go in the freezer and the ones with ripped crusts got baked and eaten. They were tasty! I also made and froze 2 regular size pies. I planned to make 4, but my pie crust was not cooperating with me that day and kept crumbling. I gave up and pressed the crust into a rectangular cake pan and made a deep dish apple pie with crumb topping. We are still eating that, it was so good, but it's a lot of pie! I would make it again if there was going to be a crowd coming over to eat.

I finally used up the last of the apples from the 6 bushels we bought. I canned another 6 quarts of applesauce tonight for a grand total of 70 quarts! I originally planned to can 100 quarts, since the 52 quarts I canned last year didn't make it to the next apple season, but I got to thinking-- Baby is not eating applesauce daily like he did before, so 70 ought to do it. Plus, I'm tired of apples. I'm tired of peeling them, coring them, chopping them, stirring them, eating them. And being chased by bees when I take the apple leftovers to the compost...

My coupon-cutting is time-consuming, but effective in saving us money. I have to do my "homework" to search out different websites for coupons and deals and then sit down to match up coupons with prices for cheap deals. I am not complaining, we are eating well. My local food store had a bargain sale on store-brand mac 'n cheese for 10 cents a box and spaghetti for 59 cents. The husband loves spaghetti, it's his #1 favorite meal, so we eat a lot of that, at least once a week. And I love mac 'n cheese-- who doesn't? With trying to save money, I have been making it from scratch, but with a deal like this, I'll happily buy some. The photo above is what happens when you let your 3 year old put away pantry items: boxes of spaghetti and mac 'n cheese stacked anywhere she could put them. We ended up buying 60 boxes of mac 'n cheese (do the math, that equals $6!) and 60 boxes of spaghetti.

I made a meal tonight that cost less than $2.00 to feed the 6 of us:

1 box of mac 'n cheese- .10

1/2 lb ground beef- .75

2 tomatoes- free (garden)

1 carrot- .20

1 tube biscuits- .75

Total: $1.80 for a yummy tomato/mac 'n cheese/beef (with grated carrot hidden in the sauce) dinner

The bright side of saving all this money is that we have a little extra money for other things-- like fixing my van. We have been having trouble with it lately. The tires needed to be replaced- they were bald in front and leaky in the back; we had to pump air into the back tire before we went somewhere. Bought 4 new tires and now something else is happening to the engine. It sputters and lurches and then shuts down. Our neighbor mechanic is working with us, replaced this and that, still no go. Hopefully we will pinpoint the trouble soon and it won't cost too much.

I have been "trapped" at home lately, because the one vehicle that works is the husband's truck, which is a stick-shift and 6 of us don't all fit. I am counting my blessings, we have a truck that works and if that means I have to stay home and give him the grocery list to shop for me, then so be it.

I think my head is not rattling anymore. Thanks for listening. :o)

Surprise Visitor!

2009-09-29T13:28:00.005-04:00

With the cooler weather quickly blowing in, the leaves falling and piling up around us, that also means animals are looking for warm places to settle down for the long winter ahead. Squirrels are scampering around for nuts and berries, deer are foraging for food (we had a low crop season here for nuts and fruits, so deer will be traveling out of their comfort zone looking for food-- good for hunters, bad for deer) and snakes are also looking for that warm shelter.

The husband found this snake in one of our garbage cans by the chicken coop. It wasn't huge, but it was taking a defensive position and striking out often and rattling it's tail. That made us think it was a rattler.

We studied it for a little bit, called the girls over to come see and we stressed again (and again!) why we don't want them walking in the woods without mama and daddy. Leaves are great cover for snakes and now is the time for them to be out looking for food and shelter.

After much debate on what to do, we killed it. We didn't want to set it free only to have it come back or make more baby snakes, eat our chickens or eggs, and/or hurt our children or animals. We don't kill animals without a reason and we do feel bad about it, but our family comes first.

I looked up on the internet for identifying the snake and turns out it is not a rattler after all, but a juvenile Black Ratsnake. It usually shakes his tail like a rattler when it feels threatened, which makes many people think it is a rattler (like we thought it was). It's not poisonous, but it does bite and does not slither away when people come upon it. Black Ratsnakes are usually the ones you see killed on the roadways, because they freeze and strike when they are scared-- which creates snake pancakes. Then I read further on about their eating habits and their nickname? Chicken snakes. Well, that made me feel better about our decision to kill it. They like to eat chicken eggs and chickens and are often found around chicken coops.

We will be making sure to rake often around the chicken coop now, to prevent any sneaky snakes from moving into the coop and I will be just a bit more cautious when I reach my hand into the nest boxes for an egg.

Something New

2009-09-28T14:17:00.003-04:00

Not being able to hear doesn't bother me as much as you'd think. Granted, there are times I wish I could hear my children's conversations to each other while they whisper in their rooms, or hear the birds sing their morning tunes, or even when a song comes on the radio and I want to hear more than just the bass or drum beat. There is so much more to me than not being able to hear-- I can see, I can touch, I can feel, I can smell...

That said, there is one other part of not being able to hear that puts me at a disadvantage: hearing people say different words or sayings. There are some words that I have never heard of before, even as a voracious reader.

The other night, my husband and I were joking around and he said the word 'smegma'. That stopped me in my tracks.

"Smegma? What's that?" I asked.

"You never heard of the word 'smegma' before?" my husband asked me.

"No. What does it mean?"

This resulted in lots of laughter on his part and me not believing him. So I run to the computer and google 'smegma'. Huh. How 'bout that, he was right. Go ahead, read the definition of it here. I'll wait. Learn something new every day, eh?

Don't ask how the conversation led to that word!

Fall Color Week:: Saturday

2009-09-26T00:21:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry to see Fall Color Week come to an end. It's been nice to post simply and I steal away a bit of time at night to post these photos before I go to sleep. I may look for an excuse to do another color week, maybe one of my own choosing. Hm.

Here's my extra credit color for this week-- Cornflower Blue:

Cornflowers

I take those color interpretations pretty literally, don't I?

For as long as I can remember, my favorite all time crayon color was Cornflower Blue. Not quite purple, not quite blue; hard to imitate by blending other colors.

Sigh... such a pretty color.

In the summer, the roads here are lined with cornflowers and I always meant to stop and take a photo, but there was always a reason not to-- traffic, whiny kids, in a hurry...

Next summer, I shall make an extra special effort to stop and smell the cornflowers!

Or at least, take a photo of them.

***

Fall Color Week:: Friday

2009-09-25T00:36:00.004-04:00

My entries for Friday's color-- Plum:

Well, how 'bout that?

Actual plums!

They make a very tasty jam, by the way.

And these things...whatever they are.

Anyone?

The birds don't seem to eat them, I tasted one and ptooey! Tasted like yuck!

But they are interesting looking.

Love that dark plum with the bright pink stems and chartreuse leaves.

We have these all over the property.

***

Don't forget, tomorrow is an extra credit color day--

Cornflower Blue!

Fall Color Week:: Thursday

2009-09-24T00:08:00.005-04:00

This color week is going by too fast! I'm rather enjoying this, posting simply and with a few pictures that speak for me. Anyway, my entry for today's color-- Chestnut Brown::

This chest(nut) of drawers.

I bought this at a yard sale the first year we lived here, 4 years ago.

I meant to sand it down and re-finish it and bring it back to it's former glory,

but then baby #3 came along, and paint fumes don't mix with pregnancy.

Just when I started thinking about it again, baby #4 made his appearance.

Baby needs his own chest of drawers, as his clothes are in a pile on a shelf in my room.

So I dragged the poor, neglected drawers out of the basement,

and I am preparing to start work on it.

Soon!

Before it gets too cold.

I mean it!

Really!

Honest, I do!

Love this dark brown color on the Speckled Sussex hen.

Of the six I started with, I only have 2 left.

I think the girls named this one Freckles.

Henry, my beloved Speckled Sussex rooster, the day before he disappeared.

Since he's been gone, I've learnt not to get too attached to my chickens.

***

Tomorrow- Plum

And for extra credit, I'm going to post an extra color on Saturday:: Cornflower Blue

Who's with me?

Fall Color Week:: Wednesday

2009-09-23T00:16:00.003-04:00

My entries for today's color-- Goldenrod:

Lucy the cat trying to sneak by the dog undetected, but I see you!

Can't miss that yellow shopping cart!

Look! Actual Goldenrod!

Is that cheating?

If using a photo of an actual goldenrod is cheating, then here's another option:

My tomato plants getting ready to peter out.

It's a pretty yellow, but not on my tomato plants!!

Fall Color Week:: Tuesday

2009-09-22T09:14:00.003-04:00

Here's my entries for Burnt Sienna:

The Handsome Rocky the Rhode Island Red Rooster.

(There had to be a chicken involved with this photo series!)

The rusty tin roof of the pole barn,

of which I had to climb a rickety ladder to get a photo of!

Check out Elsie Marley for a list of participants!