Our Little Homestead School

We leave today. Please pray for this weekend! Tomorrow is the party for MIL and Sunday is hte POker Run and I'm really not lookign forward to going. But I kept getting this feeling to buy a bottle of wine at Walmart yesterday (GO ARBOR MIST BERRY!LOL) and really didn't know why. As I sit here typing, I realize that I"ll need it for the Poker Run!ROTFL! Anyway, I got everything done last night, laundry is almost done this am, Mat decided to be an angel and has almost all of his school done (YES IT"S 9AM!LOL), Joey's not seemign to be too much of a dolt about doing school AND they named this dumped, tamed kitten Rockstar.;) He's adorable. I haven't felt affection for ANY cat (or animal really) since Mikey's been gone, but this little kitty is ADORABLE! He's allowed inside, but will not be an inside cat.

 I also got some cards addressed and worked out. I need to get cracking on packing. I went to bed after watching Obama give his speech so I was up later than normal.;)

Update: Joey IS done w/school! ANd now I must get the veggie dips made!

Today was decent. FIL is having a party for MIL (she's been gone 1 yr) and there was finally some communication. I just hate feeling like we contribute nothing..... so at any rate, I offered dips cuz I have TONS of htem in my larder. So I bought three 16 oz sour cream for those and we needed a dessert so I had a dip (ROTFL!) and bought three 8oz cream cheese for those. Then SIL mentioned buyign zucchini bread and I emailed her htat I have some so there are 2 of those in the oven. The dessert dip is done, too, so I just have to whip up the veggie/chip dip in the morning. We're also taking our cukes to slice and eat and DH brought home about 1/2 gallon of cherry tomatoes from a work function. My OOP today was $12 maybe? .99 for sour cream 1.09 for cream cheese, $5 for those 'stick' crackers (for the dessert dip) and .99 for nilla wafers. We also got Mat's hair cut. FABULOUS! I love when we get a good cut! Then we bowled for free for the last time. I did walk out of Walmart (on the way to the car) and remembered that we forgot Mat's melatonin so we put those bags in and went back in!LOL I also spent less than $20 on my nephew's 1st bday gift--bandaids, neo-to-go, toys, tossable toddler silverware, and some finger foods. I was trying to get consumables cuz he's got tons of toys and I know she'd appreciate the other stuff more.;)

Unfortunately, I was gone ALL AFTERNOON!LOL Oh and at the beauty college, I pulled JOey's tooth out! I just took his 'tooth' pics and it was sticking out vertically (LOL!) and I knew if he'd let me get my fingernail behind it, it'd be gone and it was! No pain! So the tooth fairy will loose some money tonight.;) But at least the tooth fairy can deal w/that HERE and not at the ILs!LOL

Yesterday was an awesome lazy day! I dusted and cleaned the bathrooms and made chicken stock and was lazy.;)

Today tho......... I need to get moving. I've mopped, worked out and vacuumed. The frig is in decent shape and the only load should be done soon so I can hang it out. Then I can shower nad hopefully Joey will have school done by then. He's been drawing things out lately.......... This afternoon, Mat's getting a haircut. I wasn't thinking about it, but it looks bad and I'm sure DH will want it looking halfway decent for the party. We're also doing our last free bowling and I need to stop by the bulk food store and get a couple of things for us and one for pgSIL. I should also come up w/a bday gift for her almost 1yo. I need to ransack the basement and see what we've got in the gift stash. I can toss in some finger/baby foods, too.

I got ALL the errands run today! WE missed DH  cuz HE NEVER CALLED ME! He was going to give hte boys a ride in the terragator, but it didn't work out obviously!LOL Joey picked out CARS fabric for his tooth fairy pillow (which I need to get cracking on!). I was slightly panicked at the BMV cuz she was telling me that something was wrong w/Joey's social!!!!!!! Turns out their system just wouldn't allow them to run 2 state IDs at the same time, WHEW! But Mat WOULD NOT SIGN HIS NAME! Oh he tried, wrote too big, cleared it, tried again and did something else and tried a 3rd time and it timed him out!ROTFL! The next time, he got up to the last name and the lady had suggested twice that I sign so I took the pen and did it. She treated him like a baby for some reason. She even asked if HE COULD READ! She double checked all of his answer w/me (Um, HE KNOWS HIS HAIR AND EYE COLOR!). But then for Joey, she either caught on that I was letting THEM do this or she thinks that he's just brilliant cuz it was a totally different 'tude! She went thru ht/wt/hair & eye color and then asked Joey if he was a male. He said Yes (but in his long, elaborate way) and she BURST OUT LAUGHING! She apologized for not being able to keep a straight face. I didn't care.  Joey's picture has a lot to be desired, but oh well. Then at Walmart (I was trying to hurry to meet DH) I LEFT MY BAG IN THE STORE! I figured it out before I got out of the parking lot at least. Since Dh said it was still busy and no food, I was glad that I brought the free personal pan coupons and free ice cream cone coupons from the summer reading program.

 While at the ice cream place, I ran into my high school english teacher! She lives in that town, but I've only seen her once (and not in that town!LOL) and I went over and chatted. She finally remembered my  name and it was funny cuz she yelled it out hte second she remembered it!LOL But I told her that our 20th reunion is coming up soon adn we caught up on ppl and things. I wanted sooooooooooooooo badly to ask if I could take her pic to show everyone, but I figured she would think I was nuttier than she already did so I didn't!LOL

 Then to the grocery adn home. Mat's make his soup for supper.

Not much doing here. I'm slaving driving the boys to get school done. I've worked out and showered and got stuff by the back door to load in the van. Ineed to get Linda's mailing addy to ship her the box of clothes. I'll be glad to get that out of hte house!

Then we're off, Walmart for a tooth fairy pillow material since Joey's got his first loose tooth (and Chris needs razors), the library, the license branch, drop off hte apples to my friend, drop off the recycling, cash in the boys free ice cream cone coupons and then meeting DH somewhere for a terragator drive and ride. I have no idea and he didn't promise food so I'm not very optimistic. Got to get to the grocery too.

I'll back up to Sunday. The upside down pear cake actually tasted REALLY good! The directions didn't say to turn it upside down so I didnt', but I should have. Oh well, still quite edible!LOL

Then to Taco Bell and back to mom's to pick pears. Dh put Mat in the loader of the tractor (all you safety ppl can just cringe......) to get the ones up high. Mat carried on like NOTHING ELSE! Meanwhile, mom and my sister got the rest of mom's peaches and Joey and I picked apples. I felt sorry for those poor apple trees! I have NEVER seen so many apples in my life! I picked 45 lbs and used maybe a bushel. I got 14qt of sliced apples and 7 qt of apple pie filling. ONLY TWO OF MY PIE FILLING JARS SEALED! I'm freezing the other 5. I don't know what else to do w/them and I"m not going to be using that much pie filling before it goes bad! So yes, I broke my no work on Sunday rule, but I know how I've been lately and I needed DH around to can. I did the 14qt by myself, but DH runs the canner. For the pie filling, Mat ran the apple peeler/corer/slicer while I got the filling ready and got more jars, etc. I had no intention of doing that many apples, but oh well. I put up about 45qt of fruit this year. 5 in the freezer and 4 of the other jars didn't seal and I have 2.5 in the frig for us to eat this week.

And I still managed to pull of cheeseburgers, corn on the cobb, and beets for supper last night.

Today I have worked out, emptied the dishwasher and washed all the jars down. I do towels/sheets first and I couldn't start laundry until all of that was done. So that's all going and Joey's got school done. The cut up chicken in the crock pot and I have stock thawing to make brown rice. I'm going to see if Mat wants to pick carrots for supper as well.

I just need to label the apples when the jars are dry and put them away. That makes me officially done w/fruit for the year......

side shot:

Up close front shot:

Yes, he's pretty creative! We used it last night for the 1st time canning apples and he said that it worked well! We used to can on this grill (when it was a functioning grill) and he'd made supports for the side burner so it wouldn't break. But this contraption lets him not have to do that AND gives him plenty of work space for setting jars!

Can ANYONE tell me why photobucket pix come up SIDEWAYS on here even after I rotate them on photobucket?????

I made upside down pear cake. OMW! I think it's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too molassesy! I'm taking it to church for refreshments so hopefully SOMEONE will like it! Or at least the butter/brown sugar mess int he bottom will offset the molasses!LOL

And Joey's swimming sans water wings. I am NOT comfy w/this! Apparently he can touch now. I WANT HIM TO LEARN HOW TO SWIM! Stinking thing is so tall it's not funny.

Oh and all of my stuff sold at the farmer's market this am. And I caught wind of the $7 Old Navy jean sale so my sister snagged some for hte boys for me. They can try them on tomorrow and we can return/exchange what we need then and still get the $7 price (it was only today). But my sister owes me enuf money that it's not costing me anything out of pocket.;)

OH MY WORD. I can not say that loud enuf. I took the boys bowling cuz it's cheap fun, right?  HA HA HA! I told Mat that if he ever got a turkey, I'd give him $50. He's gotten a double a few times, but he's not really that great of a bowler. THE TURKEY GOT A 4 BAGGER!!!!!!!! So I now owe him $50. So he starts jumping up and down and LOUDLY saying, I GOT A TURKEY! I GOT $50! I CAN GET MY LEOPARD GECKO NOW!!! The ppl next to us were rolling..... Never mind that Mat wound up getting 5 strikes and at least one spare that game!!!!!!! I wanted him to get a sugar glider, but I had no idea how expensive they were. He's got $100 now for this gecko.......I did tell him taht NO GECKO unless his room is SPOTLESS! I mean SHEESH!!!!!!!! So much for a cheap day out........

And most of my yukon gold potatoes ROTTED! ARGH! I only know cuz I was putting up the box of red ones from AWW (I returned her potato chip tin) and smelled it! Grrrrr I am now also picking pears for AWW cuz I feel like a mooch taking chips, red potatoes AND AW offered me yukon golds as well!