Freetobeme

Does Jack get to kick Simon's butt now????

If you make lye soap, make sure you let it set and cure for a few weeks before you use it. Otherwise it is very strong and will irritate your skin.

Pixie - you have to use the letters in Jo's name to say something nice about her.

We were beginning our homeschooling adventure shortly after our state group fought in court to legalize it. At first we had to file an affidavit with the state and have the kids tested every year. Now, with the history of successes here, we don't have to do that anymore. You just file a notice of intent with the state and go on your merry way. The universities here also recognize homeschooling as a legitimate educational option and homeschoolers simply take the ACT or SAT and gain entrance. They can also just go to community college first. Youngsters who are not 'college age' but are advanced enough take college courses, too. I never felt the need to join a legal defense organization, but check your state's laws carefully.

Teaberry is getting a bit dangerous with her hugging!!! Here's another dose of smelling salts. Ok ladies, we have to do it for everyone's safety. Grab Teaberry's hands and let's tie 'em nice and secure. Set her over there in the corner until she settles down a bit. All this hugging has her a bit over enthusiastic. Anyone have a nice calming tonic? Or even a shot of vodka?

Teaberry, you naughty girl!!! It's a good thing I have the smelling salts and know CPR. Let's get them revived. Send them up to the Sunporch to meet Moongoddess and have some chocolate cake I left up there. Really, you don't know your own strength!

Let's see who has been hugged. I'm a little behind in my hugging it seems!!!

Rabbit skin is too thin for most leather. It is mainly tanned with the fur still on and used as material for hats, jackets, and such. If you decide to get into tanning, there are methods that don't require so many purchased, noxious chemicals. You can also do 'brain tanning'. If you want durable leather for moccasins, belts, or harness type applications, you need something tougher along the lines of cow or elk hide. Deer skin will work for the uppers of moccasins, but wears out really fast on the bottom. It does make good gloves though. If you are really interested in tanning, let me know and I will try to give enough detail to walk you through it.

It seems that every time I start to do a 'simple' job around here it turns into several... I wanted to replace the vanity and sink in the master bedroom dressing area. So, I disconnected the old sink, ripped out the vanity and counter and discovered that, not only had the old sink rusted through, but the water supply lines needed new shut off valves. Ok, easy enough. Except...the copper part of the hot water line had been seriously abused at some point so a new compression fitting would not seal properly. Off to Home Depot for a coupler and more copper pipe. After trimming the supply pipe and putting on the new copper pipe, no leaks.

I guess I have a knack for trivia. I scored 10 out of 10!

Spalding is an excellent and low cost phonics program. If you want your child to learn to read, read to them and read to them some more! I home schooled my three who are all grown now. I teach 7th and 8th grade and routinely have 3 or more ADD and ADHD kids as well as EH in one class. If your think your ADD son drives you up the wall try having several of other people's kids with those problems in one classroom of 30+ kids with various needs from 2nd grade reading level to gifted and assorted family, behavioral, and emotional problems! I would much rather deal with one ADD child on a one-to-one basis. At least then they can be taught coping strategies and have a very regulated diet, sleep, and exercise program to help with the problem. Good luck with your home schooling!

So do we. Unfortunately, we are talking about way too many for two people to eat right away as fried green tomatoes!

Yesterday we had hail. Lots of hail. Our neighbor has an apricot tree and was going out of town. We now have lots of ripe and semi-ripe and over-ripe apricots. I'm processing the ripe ones into jam, letting the semi-ripe ones set a bit, and feeding the over-ripe ones to the chickens. I got through one batch of jam today (4 1/2 pints). I have about four times that much to go since I have a couple of bowls full of ripe apricots and more to pick. Of course the nice neighbor will get some jam for her kindness. I also need to do something with hail damaged green tomatoes. I was thinking of bread and butter pickles. If only they had been ripe!

I guess we are pretty well prepared. We have the food issues handled. As for water storage, you can store water in other types of containers especially for animals and washing. We have food grade 55 gallon drums as well as our drinking water containers. We have a very large supply of wood, just got more yesterday, and the means to harvest more if needed. As for toilets...keep a 5 gallon bucket and a supply of sawdust or peatmoss for emergencies. Periodically bury the contents. That reminds me... we do need toilet paper!

Sorry I haven't been on in awhile. I've been up and down the road moving stuff. We finally got a lot of rain up here, shortly after the fire was out! Unfortunately, the rain also brought hail which damaged the garden . I'm still not all the way moved and there's still work to be done on the house before I can sell it, but work starts the 23rd. I guess I will be spending even more time running back and forth. Oh well, it has to be done, why complain about it? It can't last forever!