A great way to spend a day.

In the kitchen with two of your best friends making all kinds of holiday goodies.  Last year we had a holiday cooking day and I decided to throw it together again this year.  It is sooo nice to have some yummy good treats in the freezer for the holidays.  Entertaining or just spending a quiet holiday at home with the family the less time we women spend in the kitchen the more time we can spend with our families the better right?  But we also want to make it as special as possible so all of those special touches of homemade goodness.

Susan threating my life if I take a picture of her in her lovely, lovely sweat pants...lol

"OK I guess I can I will pose for you if you insist"

We made 7 pumpkin rolls, 4 quiches,  brocolli potato soup,  cheesey bacon tomato bites,  cherry nut coffee cake and lots of pie crusts to to make pie baking much easier.  It was a great day and I got some much needed girl time.

These were named tomato, bacon cups.  After tasting the yummy little treats we decided that name just didn't do them justice so this was one of the names we came up with.

Aleida working on the pile of dishes.

So what about you?  When is the last time you invited a friend over to enjoy a cup of coffee or even make some tasty treats?  It is therapy and good for the soul.  So give it a try.  You will make great memories and make the holidays just a little less stressful.

A sad day

It is always a sad day when you loose one of your animals.  Flower was 2 year old pygmy that was born on our farm.  She was one of the triplets to be the first animals to be born on our farm.  The only one of that bunch that we kept.  She also was mother to Louise.  Flower passed away Thursday last week.   I went out in the morning and let all 3 goats out to roam and eat and 3 hours later she was dead when I went back out.  No visible signs and I don't know what happened.  It did upset me.  Though I have gotten much better with the loss of animals around here.

I did love Flower she was such a sweet friendly goat and a great Mama.  Louise is sad and cries for her Mama alot but she will adjust.  I just wish I knew what happened.  So good bye Flower thanks for what you added to our family and farm.

It has been a while.

Sorry that I have been neglectful to post about the daily goings on around here.  I have been so overwhelmed it has been hard to separate all my thoughts.  So a few things to update on.

The Pumpkin Patch.  I believe last post about that was after the first week and it was terribly discouraging.  Well I am happy to say things got better.  We had 5 weekends in Oct. and the first was a strike out, #2 we had alot of friends show up and show their support which was very encouraging,  week 3 was the big one we had about 60 people come I gave ALOT of pony rides lol it was great,  #4 we had say 15 people show up and week 5 we decided to not open.  We were worn out :).  We did have a few random people show up though out the weeks but most business was on the weekends.  The good news is I know we at least broke even and I think we even made a very little profit.

It was fun, exhausting and a learning experience.  In the end though I think we decided not to do it again.  I thought it was a great idea and really it is, it just isn't what we want to do.  I know that it would grow each year but at this point we don't plan on doing it next year.

Pony parties, we did a total of 2 this year and we loved it!!  We are definitely going to put more energy into marketing that next year. 

Animals, well everyone is healthy so that is great for anyone on a farm.  It is time to have the goats bred so we can have some spring babies and MILK!  Horses well they are great.  We have a total of four right now.  Two minis, my thoroughbred and my daughters fox troter. 

In the home,  Well you did see I have been on an organizing spree.  It has been great and it feels so good to get order back after a busy busy and did I mention busy gardening season.  After organizing I started cleaning.  Every room got a top to bottom cleaning and now  feel ready to take on the holidays.

Weight loss, it has gone wonderfully.  Though the past few weeks have really slowed down I am still losing.  Right now it is a total of 28 lbs.   That is almost 30 pounds people!!  Not to give to much info but my husband is pleased to say the least.  Not a day goes by that he does not tell me how good I look and how awesome I have done.  It does feel good and I will take all the compliments I can get.  It doesn't come easy for those of us who LOVE food but it is worth the work.

Homeschool,  well I cannot comment much on that right now because I feel much like failure in that department right now.  It is something that I am working on but it has been a hard hard year for me in this area :(.

My mind and heart have been so many different places recently and most of those places I feel have been dragging me away from my real purpose in life.  I am refocusing and trying to bring myself back to where I need to be.

I am on a junk hunt.

I am ready to feel uncluttered.  Each passing year seems to bring in more clutter and you know what they say "one mans trash is another mans treasure".  I have been searching high and low for things that need to go.  We have filled up trash cans of the true trash and we have filled boxes and trash bags of stuff.  Stuff to go to goodwill and be reused and repurposed.  Already we have filled the entire back of my SUV and taken it to goodwill and I have not made it through the entire house.  Everytime another trash bag goes I feel that much lighter.  It feels good to declutter.  To rid ourselves of stuff.  Stuff that seems to just collect.

I have gone room to room and organized top to bottom one at a time.  I am tired of feeling like my house is controling me and I am ready to take control of my home.

Rooms done:

Bedroom, and believe me that was a feat.

Playroom/schoolroom

Laundry/mudroom, which will soon be turned into a laundry/mudroom/tackroom

Garage, not comlpetely finished but I can at least fit my car in it.

Rooms to go:

Guestroom/ office

Girls bedroom

Then once organized will come the spring(fall) cleaning.  Everything cleaned from top to bottom.  It is such a good feeling to be making such progress.  Everyone has pitched in and done their part.  The kids have even gone through their toys and filled two big trashbags to donate.

It is such a freeing feeling.

Then once it is done, I have some super great remodling projects going through my brain!!

It has been a long month but I finally have some answers.

We are not moving!  We are staying put.  I won't bore you with all the details.  I am refreshed and renewed and ready to moved forward.  So that is what I plan to do!

Transitions

It seems we spend our lives between the transitions. I mean in the moment it seems that the transition is the ultimate goal. To master the transition is the goal. Then you look at the big picture and you soon realize that mastery of one transition is just a door that is opened to work toward the next. So there is no finish line. The light at the end of the tunnel is really just your eyes playing tricks on you. Because once you reach the light it becomes clear that the light was only the light shining through the key hole of the door that is about to open to the next transition. Sometimes that cycle seems monotonous, vicious and unending.


You work, strive, you put everything you have into conquering the transition that is before you. It is all you can think about. It consumes you because in your mind all you need to do is to get past this hurdle. Then and only then will you have gotten it figured out. Then you can really relax and enjoy the ride. You know it won't always be easy but as long as you know how to do it then you can get through it. Which is all true but, once that transition is mastered and life seems easy, look out because that is just about the time another transition presents itself. When you get a little to comfortable that is when things must change.



You can ask yourself why but you probably already know the answer. I mean I guess it is the way it needs to be. Living a stagnate existence really doesn't sound appealing. You can see God's hand in all of it. He is there shifting things around. Well, because He wants you to grow. He wants to watch His children flourish. Flourishing cannot happen standing still or sitting back enjoying the ride. So yes I may whine and complain about these transitions. I may try my hardest to resist the change but no matter what you cannot move the hand of God. It is and will be for the best interest of me and my family. Sometimes though it gets real tough pushing through to the next transition.



And I hope that one day I can get really good at the transitions that they will become a comfort. A reliable place to find solace in knowing you have made it through so many transitions before this that you know you can make this one smoother, better and easier. As for now though I have a few too many rough edges, a little too much rebellion still in my system that the transitions come hard and they last too long. But God is smoothing the edges and taming that rebellion and using it all to make a vessel for the finer.



The mastery of one transition inevitably brings another along to strive toward but as you move through those transitions each one comes a little bit easier and takes a little less time to master the next. So you move forward always avoiding the stagnate and building confidence in yourself, in each other and in God.