Pantry Cleaning....

Yesterday Dh and I spent the day cleaning and re arranging the pantry. My pantry is 8 ft wide and 32 foot long. At the end of it is our new walk in frig/freezer. Yesterday we took out the milk frig, the chest freezer and the upright freezer from there. To do this we had to take the washer and dryer out first.

I am not sure what I will do with all the new and extra space. I am sure I will come up with something. I now have one upright freezer in the pantry that doesn't work. I use it to store milk jars. We talked about taking it out, but it works so well, they stay clean and dust free while being able to put them in wet and they will dry on the wire racks.

We tore up the torn and old flooring. We had talked about putting new down, but I am happy with the plywood. It looks much better than the torn lounium that was in there.

It is amazing how much trash collects, and unusable things. I think we tossed about 4 or 5 bags of trash and stuff.

For now I have some more shelves that we weren't using set up in there. I am not sure if this is the way I want it to stay or not. I am thinking about making a family closet out of part of it, but haven't gotten that figured out yet with the space I have. That may depend on if we get more kids or not. :)

That is still a prayer at this point. I think the last day to submit was Friday so they should be making a decision soon. I know several things will have to happen if we are to get them. I am trusting God for those provisions.

Other news kids are still working on re-doing test and units from their choices of cheating. I gave them until next Friday to be done. Any subject that does not have passing test and passing averages will be redone for next year. I am through arguing and fighting. They can do it or re-do the year, their choice. Our next school year will start April 6th.

I gave the kids permission to join the world of the Internet. They can earn the privilege by memorizing Proverbs. Proverbs 1 will get you a month of Internet. By then they are required to know Proverbs 2...... We will see just how bad they want on the net. I am betting I have ONE child that will do it. The others just won't be willing to work at it enough.

Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday! I am off to get lunch made to take to Church.

I was told to Blog!

So I will blog!

Lots of stuff going on. First prayers for my DIL that is due any day. She ended up in the ER last night. She hadn't been able to keep anything on her tummy since the night before. They gave her a couple of IV bags to re-hydrate her and some meds for her migraine that started after the tummy bug. DS said she was feeling no pain when he brought her home. She is really hoping to have this baby before the first. He son that lives with his dad in KS is here for the "event" and Christmas. She doesn't want him to miss it. That on top of just ready!

Our freezer is taking shape. It now has a freezer wall that separates the freezer from the frig part.

This is the few from the pantry door. The first room is the frig. The second picture is from the freezer. It gives you an idea of how big this is! Next step is working on the doors so that they work right. Then he has to get electricity back there. It is as far as possible from our main electrical box.

I wanted to share a picture of our tom cat. This is Rambo. Yes, he does live up to his name. As you can see he is a rather large cat. I don't know how much he weighs. My dh was tossing him out the other night and figured he was around 20-25 lbs. I know he is HEAVY. If he had a tail wonder how big he would look. I have "measured" him when he is on the floor using the 12 x 12 tile as my ruler. When he is stretched out he is almost 2 tile long. He can put his chin on the side of the bathtub without stretching.

We have lots of lambs now. They are all black and white or white. I don't think I have any totally black ones yet. I gave up keeping count.

I took my camera yesterday to feed since I knew

I had new babies. As they see me drive up here

they come.

As you can see some of the sheep and goats are more than willing to climb right in the ranger

with us for a bite of feed.

This is one of last years bottle babies. She doesn't know she is a goat. She would probably ride in here if I let her.

Here are my new babies. I am going to watch the smaller one to make sure the bigger one doesn't push it off to much and it doesn't get enough milk to grow well. If I think that is happening we will have a new bottle baby. I know that will break hearts around here.

We have been blessed with some awesome sun sets and sun rises. I seldom get sun rise pictures because the view from the house isn't that great. The view from the house at night is incredible! Here is one of the 10 or so pictures I snapped last night.

Tonight we plan on going in to town and looking at Christmas lights. It should be fun. I may try taking my camera and seeing if I can get some pictures. Tomorrow we are having my BIL and SIL for the day. Yea! We are going to keep it simple and just visit. I wouldn't be surprised if BIL doesn't have to get involved in freezer work. :) The weather should be beautiful! We (I) plan on someone grilling chicken on the grill. Our highs will be in the low 70s.

My son, DIL and grand son will be traveling tomorrow if their plans work out. They are heading to visit their grandparents then on the next day to AR to her parents for a few days. This is usually a slow time for the truck so they are using it to show of their son.

As usual when I start blogging I get caught up in it and then am late to the barn. I am off here to go see what surprises await me there. All be blessed!

LOL I hit post as I walked out the door. It didn't post so back from chores no surprises.

Green stuff and other Wed. Ramblings....

I have found a way to get more green in my diet. I was adding chlorophyll to my first 34 oz mug of water each morning. It is good for you and I don't mind the taste in water. It is rather tough for me straight. I then got the idea of taking about 2 hand fulls of fresh spinach blending it in about 2-3 cups of water until it is liquid. I don't mind the flavor. It would come as a shock if you thought it was just ice water. I do add ice to it. I tried blending the ice too, but decided I like it better with cubes. It can't be all bad if my grand son discovers that is what is in my mug he shares even more than normal. I do warn mommy if he is sharing a lot no matter if it chlorophyll or spinach. I don't want her to be shocked at the diaper later. This gives me a couple of servings of green in an easy and on the go way to drink it. I also have learned to buy the packages of Spinach that are close out. If they still look good then I buy them at about .50 bring them home and toss the whole bag in the freezer. When I need/want a green drink I have it at hand no matter how long it has been since I shopped.

I am loving my MP3 player. What I like best is the external speaker. It is so fun to drop it in my pocket and my music level never changes no matter what room I go into. I do laugh at grand son trying to figure out why my pocket is making music. I am well pleased with the length of time the battery last. The only think I dislike is the software. Can you say junk? I would recommend the MP3 player to anyone. I would also advise them to just toss the software and use the Window's media player. It only took me about 4 hours of trial and error to figure out how to get pictures on my toy. This morning I downloaded a BUNCH of music. Many hours worth. It should be fun.

Does anyone else struggle with allowing their kids to fail so they can learn? Mine didn't manage their time yesterday well. They didn't start school until almost lunch. They played with the grand baby a LOT. They chattered like chipmunks at each other. They took a LONG time to fix and eat lunch. That meant getting it out of the frig. Putting it on a plate and warming it. I refused to engage. I just kept my mouth shut. Dad gets home after 7 pm and I have 3 with school work to do and no chores done. OOPS! So dad woke them when he got up this morning at 4:50. S wasn't in on the getting her school and chores done. She has learned to manage her time surprisingly well. She did how ever have to rise and shine LONG before me because we have a rule that they are to be dressed and downstairs by 8 AM. She didn't do that. I think she was awake and dressed. She just waited for mom to holler on the radio to appear about 8:15. The others were still snoozing. She had the privilege of reading or drawing or what ever this morning. The other three had the privilege of school and chores. MN is on a roll. She managed to take 6 HOURS to do the dishes she should have done yesterday. Dad's new rule is if school and chores aren't done then they will be getting up when he does. They also loose the privilege of playing. I am sure some one will have to test the rule.

I do find it so funny and wonderful that S has went from this very scatter brained can't focus child to a young lady that almost never doesn't finish her school and chores in a timely manor. Day before yesterday she did "test". She wanted to go with DIL to her house. I ask if school and chores were done. She assured me they were. I assured her I wanted to see the chore list. Then the back peddling started. She had "Kitchen" but couldn't do it since the dishes weren't done. "Humm... you can't sweep the floor? Wash the table and cabinets that don't have dishes off?" LOL next excuse was, "We always do the "kitchen" after the dishes are done." This was met with a round of "That's not true!" from the others on the chore list. :) Then she hopped up to get it done! DIL went home. S was assuring her she would be over in a bit. DIL knew better. Oh the pouting! Sometimes it is really hard to keep your face straight as you watch them pout. I called her name to point out what she didn't do. She was "reading" on the couch. She didn't hear me. Called it about 3 times. I am sure it was because I was using her "new" name. Finally I got to use the FULL name! "Oh were you talking to me?" LOL She pouted around for maybe an hour. Life went on. It wasn't that long until she was giving me a hug and a kiss. I hugged back and had to ask, "Over being mad?" She grinned and nodded. That in it's self is huge. She is just learning it is ok to admit you are/were mad at some one. I hugged her and reminded her it is OK to be mad and even admit it. We did talk about truth and how much easier it would have been to say, "Oh, give me 5 minutes and I will have them done!" Later she did get to go over.

She is more and more taking responsibility for her actions. Today she was trying to keep the dog from some milk while T was trying to give it to her. I had said it was OK. She was still telling the dog no etc. I called her hand on it. Why can't she have it. All kind of excuses that I blew out of the water. Finally danced her into a corner where she admitted she wanted to be in charge not T. :) I ask if that was fair to the dog giving mixed messages? That was the extent of the discussion.

Our cold is going away for a little while. We are going to be in the 60s today, then 70s until Sunday. Sunday again will be cold. The high on Sat. is mid 70s and then mid 40s for the high on Sunday. That will be COLD. I hope we can get more wood under the carport before then. I really wish there was some moisture coming in with the cold fronts. We are very scary dry. Please pray that we start getting some rain soon.

We will again see S's case worker tomorrow at therapy. She emailed me this morning and ask if we would be in town. :) I really don't mind. I wonder what she will think of S instead of J. My guess is she won't like it. I don't really understand why case workers don't like name changes, yet most adoption "experts" say name them and claim them or like with S let her start fresh without the baggage associated with the old name. S gets very frustrated with this worker and her asking over and over if she "sure" this is what she wants. I really thought S was exaggerating until last month. I just happened to be near enough to the room they were talking in to here it. She really is that negative about it. I can see asking if she is happy? If she feels this placement is working etc. But her wording is negative instead of positive. Oh well S handled it very well last month. This month Jan. and then we will be done with her in Feb. Not that anyone is counting the months!

I'm not sure what our weekend plans are. We would like to go to the flea market, if it is warm and the wind isn't blowing terribly. I think it will be warm, but am betting that the wind will be terrible. Dh wants to work on the freezer some. He is trying to put the wall in between the freezer and frig. We need to cut and or gather some fire wood.

Guess that is about all I can come up with to ramble on today. Everyone have a blessed day and leave a commit so I know I am not talking to myself.

Freezer

They made real progress yesterday on the freezer. They finished the outside.

Here is an inside view before they put the last panel on. You can see the door in the corner. This is going into the pantry. The hole isn't cut yet.

A picture of the pantry through the hole where the attic fan was. This fan keep the pantry cooler. You can see Dad's head in there trying to decide what next.

Next:

Hole is now finished. Today they will finish around it so that critters can't slither into the pantry. Then on with the insulating of the holes and cracks and getting the middle door up to have a refrigerator and freezer. Progress! Maybe next Thanksgiving we will have it.

I will try and get more pictures today. Inside measurements are about 19 x 10 feet. half or a little less will be freezer. We decided to go that way since we can store wheat and pasta and rice etc in the frig part, keep the critters out and not take quite as much energy as the freezer.