Stephanie

Congratulations!! What an exciting day for your whole family! I hope you'll let us know how it went. Ten years ago I sat in an auditorium and watched my dh graduate. When we realized we would be adopting our first child dh returned to college to complete his degrees that we kept intending for him to do. It took him three years as he worked a full time job and attended school full time at night. It was hard, but it was worth it! Well done!!

I seriously need to develop some routines into my life. I tend to resist the constraints of routine. I like to live in a free and flexible manner. But, although it is appealing, it is not necessarily wise or healthy. No matter that I don't have to set an alarm clock, catch the school bus, clock in at an office or have dinner promptly at six...there should still be some Routine Requirments in my life. I have the greatest of intentions. But, I don't always follow through. :: Our sweet little Nanny Goat is helping me to realize the importance of routines. If I want her to produce well, I must be regular with her milking routine. No haphazard, catch you tomorrow or today we milk in morning, tomorrow in the evening. I've noticed if I don't do my morning Bible Study and devotion...it often gets overlooked as the day's busy-ness increases. That should be a Routine Requirement. The same with exercise, if I'm waiting for that to 'just' happen, well it usually doesn't. I'm going to be doing some thinking about the Routine Requirments in my life. What are they? What are the priorities of my days? How can I fine tune them and be responsible and accountable without losing the joy of spontaneity that I so enjoy! Have a great day friends!

(((Vic))) You're in my prayers as well as your Mom and family.

Thanks John!! We enjoyed that so much at the the Georgia Gathering!! You're an outstanding 'grill master'!

I hate days like that, but you handled it so well. Good for you!! What did you do find out about the bald spot?

Hey Babysteps!! I thought it was me and my technological inabilites! Glad you got it all straight. I'm going to keep this blog separate, more like a daily diary type of deal, just sharing a thought or two, nothing fancy. I like that it is private. Bye!!!

Sere, I love you other blog, I've visited it in the past. I'm also so glad that you are here and joined our family! ::::big hug::: Having these personal little blogs are my hands down favorite new part of our new home. Just too cool!

It is going to be quite the adventure getting settled in to these new duds!

For those of you who don't really believe that God likes to get all involved in the tiniest details of our lives, you may not want to bother to read on. But, for those of us who understand that God is a marvelous Orchestrator of the lives of those that allow Him to be...I think you'll be nodding your heads in agreement. I don't believe in coincindences, flat out, I just do not. If you do, well, naturally you must be mistaken. I do believe in Divine Intervention, Divine Purpose, and Divine Appointments. I have experienced too many of these for anyone to convince me other wise. IF I had not come upon MrsSurvival some years ago and IF I had not been brave enough to go to the Georgia Gathering and IF I had not gotten to know Westbrook and Darlene personally and IF I had not seen and touched Dani and Kayra and marveled at their calm and controlled presence, I would not likely never considered adopting one more time...this time Aslan Hïdaverdi. The name is Turkish and it means Lion-hearted Gift of God. We chose it because of our favorite character in the Narnia movies. I have no doubt that our Aslan will indeed be lion-hearted. But, what about this gift of God? Well, this is where serving the Lord is so sweet!! Let me explain. Anyone who knows me in the least knows that my passion is my Lord and my family which is made up of seven precious children that Henry and I have adopted. I take very seriously that the Lord has given me these particular children through a series of Divine Interventions. A few months ago, about the time of the Georgia Gathering, we were notified that a Convicted Sex Offender would be moving into our area. I was appalled! But, knowing we are so far back in the woods with no close neighbors, I didn't feel it touched us too closely. Upon further investigation we discovered that he lives on land that actually connects to ours! My mother's heart has been filled with anxious thoughts. I began to learn a bit about the fire arms we own in the house. I gave my children countless lectures. I changed our habits when outside avoiding certain areas. I felt a bit betrayed. Now, Aslan is on the way. Of course he's just one day old! But I truly believe that he is a Gift from God. He will become such an important part of our family. And even when I didn't know I would have need of such an animal, God did and had already set the wheels in motion to provide him. So, thank you Westie and Darlene for the part you have played. But, mostly thank you Lord for Aslan Hïdaverdi !

Judy I love the pictures!!! They are so cool! I'm so glad we have these blogs, just too neat.

Hi !! I love the theme for your blog. About your question concerning the changing to the Valentine 'skin' , here's what you do. First go to your blog page, then click on the tab near the top that says "blog settings" Then scroll down making any adjustments that you want until you get to the section that says... "customize the look of your blog" Then you'll see a place to "lock to the following skin" it has a little drop down window where you get to choose. Be sure you hit the submit to apply the changes and choices that you have made. Hope that helps!

I love your blog Westie! I'll be visiting often! And whatever do you mean? Of course I could smell the flowers! ::grinning mischieviously::

Well, my first morning to wake up with my coffee and come to this new MrsSurvival with so many wonderful possibilities! Of course I've got to figure them out a bit, but that's part of the adventure! Plus, don't you think it's kind of neat that we're all learning together! This is an historic moment for MrsSurvival and we are a part of it! How cool is that? I am discovering a little at a time some of the many perks that this upgrade has afforded us. We are in high style to put it straight. I think that as we get a handle on the new gadgets we'll be sitting pretty! Well, I'm off to investigate a bit more and see if I can't get some pictures to post or something!

Welcome my friends to my little corner of our new home on the internet. I can't wait to get to know our new place! It just looks so sophisticated and classy! Thanks to everyone who worked to make it possible. I'll be adding more later, but just wanted to greet you and give you a warm welcome! Drop by often! Stephanie

Here's a recipe for Blender Recipes that's really similar to yours Arby. http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/blender-tortillas-18581

I did it!! I made a huge batch, we ate it for lunch after I put four quarts in my new smaller size canner, I just love that thing!!

Trying my hand at this today....hopefully we'll have enough left to actually can!

lovinit, I forgot to answer your question about the favorite foods. They like my homecooked stuff of course Cornbread dressing is a big favorite, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Spaghetti, Venison Stew, Chicken Casserole, Eggs and Bacon, etc... My experiment was trying to see what would happen if we were limited on our ability to gain foods that we were used to picking up weekly. In other words, live on our preps. I guess I was thinking about how to prevent food fatigue. The kids did great...what I found was it was me who struggled with "Cooking Food Fatigue".

Judy, we have made campfires in the back yard and roasted hot dogs and even made Dutch Oven Dump Cake. Making Memories. lovinit, I like the chopstick idea, very cute. And yes indeed, I get the kids involved, with 7 I have one kitchen helper each day of the week...works out nicely! Pogo I couldn't help but think of Proverbs 17:1 after reading your post. "A dry crust eaten in peace is better than a great feast with strife." Trish, I totally agree with the 'colors' of food influencing its appeal. It really does make a difference in how appetizing it seems to be. And Yes indeed, I am teaching my children to cook, every single one of them. However, I'm not quite ready to just turn the kitchen over without a teensy bit of supervision. Perhaps a case of 'smothering mothering'. Radish roses.....

I was mentioning in another thread about how I have been being creative with meal preparation and presentation so as to help my kids enjoy meals that would normally be considered mundane. I thought it would be a good thread to share what tricks of the trade we could pass around to each other. One thing is so simple it may seem silly. Desserts!!! We can have a very plain meal of rice and beans for instance, but I'll put the dessert (whatever it is) right in the middle of the table on display. The kids are so focused on the cake or cookies or etc... they don't mind a very frugal meal. Another is atmosphere. I might pull out the fine china, or one of our favorites is to have "High Tea" for lunch. Everyone puts on a fancy hat and we pull out cups and saucers while dining on sardines, viennas, crackers and cookies. One thing that I have done often to make a meal into an event, is to declare a 'theme'. Tonight is mexican night!! the other night we did this and I made homemade salsa, homemade tortillas, refried beans, Nacho chips. (cheap meal but high excitement as I flipped the warm tortillas right off the grill and onto their plates). Variety!! Most of my kids like raisins in their oatmeal so.... I don't always let them have them. It keeps them from taking having the raisins for granted. I may do cinnamon toast instead of raisins one day or another day we may have hot chocolate with the plain oatmeal (with sugar and butter ofcourse). Okay, that's enough from me, what about you, how do you go about Making Mundane Meals Magnificent??

I don't have a rice cooker! but I sure do want one!

Necie I know that glycerin is an ingredient in a lot of beauty products, but I don't know where to get it. I saw an article the other day (can't re-locate it) that said you could put vaseline on the combs and cackles of chickens to help protect from frost bite. I was thinking of you and the chickens feet and the slipping and sliding!

I found this page and it's great with descriptions, thought y'all might enjoy it. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~momonroe/pioneer2.htm Here's one little snippit that I enjoyed because in this very forum I had mentioned the McGuffey Readers... *********** Schools in the area were one room log buildings with puncheon floors. Hard long benches served as desks with no backs to them. Sometimes the school was perched upon pegs or stilts two feet or more from the ground. The studies usually consisted of three R’s, Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic, and the old blue back speller. McGuffey’s readers were full of excerpts from the classics and original stories containing a very pointed moral.