Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry its been so long since the last post. Its been busy around here!

We did a bigger garden this year! I can not wait to have watermelon and cantaloupe from the garden. I even planted GIANT pumpkins for Adyson this year! I can not wait to see the look on her face when those pumpkins get to be 20-30 pounds (they are suppoed to get 200 pounds but I am just hoping for 20-30 pounds)! We also planted the Mammoth Sunflower seeds they grow 8 foot tall, and the flower is about 12 inches across. I can not wait to have sunflower seeds!

Rella checking out the garden!

 

With us being so busy with gardening, setting up the "Big Girl Chicken Coop" and  painting the coop we have been living off of my freezer meal/left overs! To get the freezer meals almost every time I cook I double the recipe. I LOVE having left overs. I shove them in a plastic bag (in individual servings) and toss in the freezer. So on days when I lose track of time there is something HOMEMADE in the freezer. Just pop it in the microwave and you have dinner. It works with almost all meals. This is also great when everyone wants something different! 

Summer is a relaxing time for me! I LOVE summer time. I do not keep such a tight schedule during summer months. I am also more into salads for lunch and dunner during summer. I live in Tennessee, its too hot and humid to cook anything in the evening. No one wants to turn on the oven if they don't have to. 

We found a baby bunny in the garage! 

The "Big Girl Chicken Coop" as Adyson calls it. We think it has a 1960-1970's feel to it. Don't you?

WE HAVE 2 NEW ADDITIONS TO THE APPLEBY FARM!!!!!! 

So we decided that it was time to get kittens. We need them to be barn kitties! So Adyson and Brittany helped pick out the names.... Drum roll please.... Anna & Elsa... Yes from FROZEN. 

Brittany and Anna

Adyson with Elsa

         

Its also that time to make some more Half Homemade Beauty Products. I use the body scrub and facial wipes almost everyday.


BODY SCRUB

1 cup Olive Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 tablespoons used coffee grounds
2-3 drops Essential Oil/Perfume oil -(When using Essential oils or Perfume oils a little goes a LONG way.) I only use these so the my scrub smells pretty! This is optional.
16 oz bottle

Pour/Mix all together in a reusable bottle 16 oz bottle. Shake the bottle very well to mix everything together. I LOVE this recipe. I use it every time I get in the shower, especially in the winter. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a soap perfume (which means its safe for skin, do not buy a candle perfume!!) to add to my oil, I bought LoveSpell it smells wonderful. I want to try Orange Blossom Essential Oil next! 

 CAUTION- shower may be slippery after using this, make sure you spray a little cleaner/vinegar afterwards!!!! 



FACIAL WIPES/MAKE UP REMOVER WIPES

1 roll BOUNTY paper towels (cut in half)
2 cups DISTILLED water
2-3 drops tea tree oil
2 teaspoon coconut oil *
2 teaspoon of facial soap (do not use the "scrubbing/exfoliating" washes, the "scrubbies" will sit on top of your wipes)

Put your paper towels CUT SIDE down into your container. Mix all your liquids together by stirring. Do not shake them as this will activate the bubbles and you will have a sudsy mess! Microwave 30-45 seconds. *Make sure you melt the coconut oil, so it seeps into the paper towels. Pour over the paper towels starting on the inside cardboard and work your way out. Let it sit 5-10 minutes, then flip and sit for 5-10 minutes. Pull the cardboard out of the middle, and this should start the roll. If it does not then pull out out of the middle. Do not pull out of the sides, it will not work well! 

So as you can see I've been busy the month of May.

What have you accomplished?

Losses and Gains...

When my husband and I started our little farm we decided it was best for the kids to learn the truth about life and death. After all living on a farm there is going to be new life and there is going to be death. We decided to teach our children that everyone and everything goes to Heaven. We teach our children that EVERY life is precious and worthy. We also decided that we would not "sugar coat" things that happen on the farm. It is very important to us that our kids learn that life is NOT "sugar coated".  This has made our children more aware of what goes on to keep a life alive. It takes work and care to tend to all the animals on our farm. All the animals require food, shelter and water. When the animals get sick we try every effort possible to make them better. Sometimes despite all efforts there is still loss. I am proud that my children understand the efforts it takes to run a mini (2 cows, 8 goats, 2 dogs)  farm like ours. I am proud that my children understand where food comes from and the work it takes to get it to the table. I am proud that my children understand once something is gone, its gone.

Over the last week we have had  2 losses and a few gains.

Twilight about 1 week old.....

 






As most of you know Twilight (Adysons little goat) got severely dehydrated for whatever reason. We brought her inside and gave her bottles and electrolytes and she seems fine in the middle of the night.

 

When I checked on her at 4:30 she seemed to have taken a turn for the worst. She passed away about 30 minutes later. Everyone asked how Adyson took the news. She was upset at first and when I explained she went to Heaven to be with Roxanne & Hazel(Papa Jacks dogs ) and our Max in Heaven she seemed fine.  She asked if she could help bury her in the animal cemetery I said sure.


Adyson laid a flower for all the flowers she ate. Adyson also laid an onion for all the onion I fed her.

REST
IN 
PEACE
TWILIGHT










My father in law also had a loss. He lost his beloved Roxanne.

 
 REST IN PEACE ROXANNE

Even though there is loss there is also gain! Drum roll please!!!! 

I'm so excited!!! 

I can't wait!!! 

WE HAVE CHICKENS!!!!! 

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME. 

WHAT DID YOU ACCOMPLISH THIS WEEK?

Tessa checking out Papa Jacks side mirror and steering wheel! 

Little Updates...

I have been pretty busy this month with looking up projects for us to do over the next few weeks. I have found some great things on Pinterst Easter Crafts Board. Adyson is very excited to start some projects! We also started looking in to some Mother's Day and Father's Day crafts to do but nothing stood out yet.

We did do a test mug! I will up date you on how it came out!! Adyson wrote on it with Sharpie, we put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. I will test its durability and update you next post!

Adyson is growing up so fast! She wanted to be a big girl and put on nails. Needless to say they lasted about 3 hours.

                              

           

     April O'Neil and My Little Pony Tattoos     

The babies are getting so big. Everyone is 4 weeks old!!!

I did go to the Belmont Mansion in Nashville last weekend. Oh how I LOVE the Civil War time period!!! I recommend EVERYONE go see the mansions of the South. They are wonderful!

                                 

         


Sorry this is so short. I am working on a more detailed on for later in the week/month! Love you guys! No go out an ENJOY THE TIME YOU HAVE!!!!!

February in Review!

I know its been a MONTH since I last posted but life got away from me the month of February. It was a whirl wind of appointments and dentist appointments and Aunt Nancy came back for 10 days, Adyson's birthday party, my birthday, my mothers birthday, grandfathers birthday, etc... Oh did I mention all my baby goats (kids) were born last month too?

So Aunt Nancy made the decision to go back to Washington. We miss her already. She had a great trip to Texas. She came back to Tennessee to wrap up a few things and have eye surgery (which went very well). She was only here 10 days. It already seems so long ago. My how time does fly when you are busy.

Adyson started out the month sick with a nasty upper respiratory infection. Which resulted in 3 visits to the doctor. She was put on breathing treatments every 6 hours for 7 days. Brittany has had a few check up appointments and orthodontic appointments as well. I am hoping March will be a calmer month!

Adyson's birthday party was wonderful. She had such a hard time deciding the theme of her party. She FINALLY decided on My Little Pony. I made everyone's favorite meal, CHILI!!! Everyone had a great time!

Her icecream sundae from CHILIs

Her Donatello wall sticker for her birthday!

Adysons 5th Birthday
Fav Color- Purple
Fav Food- Hot dog w Mac & Cheese
When I grow up I want to be a worker like Daddy.

Adyson and cousin Angelina

testing out the TMNT gloves! 

showing off her NEW cowgirl boots! 

Then on my birthday this little guy was born! And his mother didn't pay much attention to him. So I had to bottle feed him during the first day. But he and his momma are doing great now! Adyson named him Tailspinner!

Then we came back from library(a few days later) and found these little girls! Doesn't one of the little girls look like her big sister OREO?? It tripped us out for a few minutes when we found them! Brittany named the white little girl Sparkle, Adyson named the black and white Twilight!

Then the next day Brittany found Cloudy! (Her mom is OREO)

        

Jackie and Brittany stuffing their face with some homemade tacos!!! They couldn't even wait to sit down at the table! (Don't you love Brittany's new hair cut? I do! )

  






Savings- Just an update on the weekly savings. Remember I am working backward/reverse from everyone else. Week 9 means I have $433 in my Christmas savings account! How much have you saved this year?

Don't forget the Snow/Rainy day activities so no one gets bored with all the snow days we are having!

What did you do in February? 

What a week!

It has been a very cold week here in Tennessee! The good thing is everyone and all the animals have survived the freezing temperatures. I'm very proud of my daughter Brittany and I, for helping each other deal with the animals all week.  We have carried 5 gallon buckets of water down to feed the animals every night,  because the water hose down to the animals has been frozen! 

Adyson has enjoyed the weather too! She got out there on Monday and made snow angels on the deck! She was so proud of herself. 

I'm still working on goal number 2. (So I have found an app "Meal Board" in the App Store. I LOVE this app. It has a pantry, shopping list, recipes, the works!!!! You can also go and get recipes from websites (there is about 15 websites connected to this app) I am going to be using this app a lot in 2014! I am very excited about it. MEAL PLAN BETTER) I'm going to be hitting this one hot and heavy this weekend.  The freeze and the kids being out of school extra time through me all off! 

Glad the temperatures are back to normal! The kids are enjoying not have to bundle up like Eskimos to go to the car! Now time to hit the normal routine!

What did you get accomplished today? 

Winter prepping on a farm!

Tennessee is due to have an extremely cold spell over the next 2 to 3 days.  To prepare for it, we went and got hay for the animals.  Made sure their stalls were clean and put down fresh bedding. Today was also family day so everybody joined in to help. 

 

The cows always try to overpower us when we feed them! 

Poor Brittany trying to hide behind a tree and fool the animals.... It didn't work. 

The water buckets have been emptied cleaned and refilled. The heated water bucket has been plugged up. Hoses have been disconnected from the pipes. All the animals have been fed. The hay has been covered. 

We went yesterday and got groceries. We bought five cases of water, had to get eggs and bread. I made sure I had 10 gallons of water out in the garage. We checked our propane tanks and our grill out on the back deck. 

Now it's time to start on the inside stuff. I'm doing loads of laundry in case my pipes freeze tonight and tomorrow. All the dishes have been washed everybody's taking showers. All in all it's been a very successful Sunday afternoon! 

WHAT DID YOU GET ACCOMPLISHED TODAY? 

Happy New Year!!!! 2014

                 Hello ya'll! I hope everyone had a great and safe New Year! We had a blast with our neighbors. Staying at home, us girls did some online shopping while the guys went out and put the husbands tractor back together! So we accomplished a lot! It was great catching up with them. 

                 The husband got out there this morning and tested and ran the tractor! I cleaned up the cow stall. I checked the cows for bugs/mites, and good news everyone was CLEAN! I just love it when my animals are bug free! I have been thinking about a lot of things I would like to accomplish in 2014. 

So here goes my list of goals for 2014:

1- You know I LOVE books. But I think my husband will start throwing out books if they dont get read. I made a good dent in the books in 2013, but I still have many, many, many more to read. Sooooo..... I am not going to PURCHASE any books in 2014. (If its FREE that's not a purchase) I must read what I have already been blessed with. Read more! I want to read 30 books! 

NO PURCHASING BOOKS IN 2014. 

2- You know I love to be organized. So I have found an app "Meal Board" in the App Store. I LOVE this app. It has a pantry, shopping list, recipes, the works!!!! You can also go and get recipes from websites (there is about 15 websites connected to this app) I am going to be using this app a lot in 2014! I am very excited about it. 

MEAL PLAN BETTER

3- Ya'll know I have been moving towards better foods for my family. So in 2014 I am moving a little closer to CLEAN EATING. I have read some terrible things about the chemicals, hormones, pesticides, and all around junk in our food. So I have several goals in the category lined up. The first one is no more fast/fried foods. I also want to master a homemade hummus recipe this month! I have tried a few and can't seem to master any of them! 

MOVE TOWARDS CLEAN EATING. 

3- Adyson- Sometimes I feel that her needs are pushed to the bottom of the pile. For example, Adyson loves to go to Story Time at the library. Sometimes I just cant get going fast enough in the morning to take her. I feel bad that she misses out on that time, its only once a week!! Also I feel bad that I don't read to Adyson at night. By the time bedtime comes I am just ready for the house to be quiet and lights out! Adyson deserves my undivided attention for 15-20 minutes everyday.

4- Brittany- Her and I never have time to just hang out! There is always an excuse, - can't find a sitter for Adyson, there is work to do around the farm... She is a teenager and does want to go out with her friends but we don't get the chance to do much together. 

5- More Positive- I worked on this in 2013, I fell off the wagon a few times, it happens. 2014 is going to be the year! No more yelling. No more getting frustrated with things I can not control. I need to learn to ENJOY life. I will step in JOY! 

6- Blog on time- Life happens, lazy happens, but this year I will be more aware of blogging on time. My biggest issue is doing exactly what I'm doing now and thinking and typing at the same time. I need to take notes throughout the week so when its time to blog its easier! I plan on posting a lot more this year! 

7- Continue with natural cleaning-  I am going to continue with finding as many natural cleaners and making what I can! I can't wait to find recipes for window cleaner, tub scubs, floor cleaners, etc. 

8-Work out 3 days a week- I jumped on this band wagon for about 2 months in 2013. I lost interest when it got cold outside. Sorry I am not fond of the cold. Yes I know I can exercise inside, I guess I just needed the "cold" excuse. I am going to pick random work outs from my Pinterest. I'll work on getting a routine when I get into working out!

9- Music- My wonderful husband bought me a keyboard for Mothers Day 2012. I have learned a few songs, but dying to learn more. So this year I am going to try to teach myself to read music and play! I am hoping to be able to play 12 songs (1 song a month) by the end of the year. I would love to be able to play some Christmas songs next year! Anyone know of a good music app that will help me read sheet music?

10- Christmas stuff- I would love to make our own ornaments and decorations this year and have an "old fashioned" Christmas. I have found lots of ideas on Pinterest on my Christmas Board. 

11- Do more myself- I hate when I can't do something and I leave it for the husband to do. I am tired of always giving him a "to do" list. So 2014 is the year I will learn to be more "manly". I will learn to use a drill, level, and a whole bunch more! 

12- Schedule- I need to create a schedule and keep it! I have certain things that I do on certain days (I will start blogging about all this, this year). Since the holidays have kept me hopping and has blown my schedule out of the water. I need to plan a little better this year! 

In case you haven't noticed my "theme" of goals this year is to take a step back and enjoy life. Try not to be so rushed. I'm going to start small so its not so over whelming. 

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Happy New Year! What are your goals? What are your resolutions? How are you going to make 2014 count?

Week 36 Can't wait for Fall!

                    It has been an interesting week for sure. Brittany had an off week for football and trying to get back on a regular schedule was almost impossible. I LOVE long weekends but the short "work" week messes me up, big time. I can not wait for the weather to start changing. I can't wait to use my crockpot more. I need to get in a better habit of using my crockpot. I did get an AWESOME craft project done this week. That was my biggest accomplishment this week. 

Oh by the way guess what guys? There are only 108 days until Christmas!!! Can you believe it? Santa is doing it LAST MINUTE THIS YEAR! 


 NO CHEMICALS-  I still have 2 bottles of Lysol bathroom cleaner left then I will be making my own. I can't wait. I have found a wonderful book I shared with you earlier this year Pinterest. I love this book. I can't wait to start trying some recipes. 

HEALTHY EATING-  Brittany is doing great with cooking dinner 2 times a week. I think she is actually starting to enjoy it. Although on Friday we forgot to pull anything out of the freezer for dinner so she cooked Tuna Helper. Not the healthiest but she did good following the directions. 
I think this year I am going to make homemade cocoa for the kids instead of buying that junk stuff from a box. I have been looking for some good homemade recipes, if anyone has any let me know! I have a drinks board on Pinterest

I'm still trying to find some more smoothie recipes, you can see mine on Pinterest

READING-  I still haven't a read book. I'm falling behind. Since They haven FINALLY decided to turn 50 Shade of Grey into a movie and have chosen the cast maybe I will read that. 

My Exercising- I did get up and exercise two times this week, even though it was a short week. The other days I was up and at it in the cow stalls, mucking.... Well someone has to do it. I fell off the ab work out too. So starting Monday I will start back on day 12 of my ab workout. 

 FARMING-  I was comparing pictures of the Girls (Hamburgerella & Steaktesssa) from when we got them in January until now and how much they have grown. The girls can't be more different, its funny. Rella LOVES bananas peelings and all, but Tessa will only eat the banana. The girls wouldn't leave me alone when I went out to muck stalls. I had to block the way of the stall with the muck cart.

Hamburgerella back in January.

Steaktessa & Hamburgerella in January

Hamburgerella in July... She has gotten so big.

CRAFTING-  So you guys have heard me mention the birthday present that I wanted to make for my grandmother. Well over the last week I completed a Halloween Village for Grandma! I am so proud of it. I had so much fun doing this. It was much easier then I ever thought it would be. I bought Christmas houses last year on sale (after Christmas) I spray painted all the people and houses black. Used a touch of chrome spray paint on the tops of the houses to give it a mystical feel. NO ONE BETTER TELL MY GRANDMOTHER!!! I'm mailing it this coming week, so she has plenty of time to get it set up and plenty of time to have it displayed!

My kitchen table for the last week covered in crafting things.

 

The start of  the cemetery & headless horse man!

The town sign, it says "Happy Halloween"

 

 

The village completed. 

Well until next week, enjoy your time with your loved ones. Time goes by so quickly and you forget what is really important in life. We come and go so quickly no one gets to know anyone anymore. Stop and smell the roses. Don't let life pass you by. 

REST IN PEACE KATHERINE APPLEBY