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Looks to be another beautiful day here. supposed to be 82! Tonight are the tractor pulls in a neighboring town! We wait all year for the area festivals just for their tractor pulls! I hope they don't get rained out. They are having them all day tomorrow too. Just different classes. Hope you have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

I am really looking forward to the new edition also westbrook.

I thought they were still in the process of rewriting the book for the UK. Using metric measures and things. I was trying to help Carla and a bunch of numerous people work on the new edtion. Until I had my phone service shut off. That was last summer. I will have to email Carla and ask her if it's still in the works.

That sounds fun! But I have never tried my first batch of soap yet. I have made laundry soap and dishsoap but not bar soap yet.

That last post was very uplifting to me. My financial life is in such a state right now I feel sorry for myself. My home isn't a mansion but it's far from a shack. I can live with the little raindrops that fall every now and then on my carpet! My kids aren't perfect here at home but they make me proud in public (lol). Back talking I can handle. At least they are here and not into drugs. My husband isn't perfect, we fight just like everyone else. He's still commited to only me after 18 years. I still get excited when I hear his car pull down the driveway every night. My mom may be gone from my earthly life, but I thank God for the 29 years that he gave her to me. So DearOne thank you for your post and helping me put things into perspective. And to the rest of my new friends here at MrsSurvival keep posting! You help make my days brighter!

It's a gorgeous day here! Only 80 degrees after yesterdays heat index of 108! The humidty has dropped also. It's at 54%. I will have to go out and pick greenbeans and check for ripe tomatoes. Wishing all of you a wonderful afternoon! God Bless!

I have to agree, my 6 year old still comes into my room sometimes and says Mommy will you hold me a second? How can I turn that down? We always end up singing the same old songs Silent Night, You are my sunshine, Jesus Loves Me, The Bible,Jesus loves the little children, and Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. Good Memories...Melts my heart...

Do any of you make up menus for a couple of weeks or a month at a time? Maybe some of you could share with me your ideas. After a couple of weeks I start ruining out of ideas. I am just thinking of simple menu ideas that aren't too expensive. Then when you do your grocery shopping do you do it for the whole month of your menu or just a week at a time?

Thanks!

Cat you can hop on down here and have some of our tomatoes and sweetcorn. Theres a place up the road that is selling it a dollar a dozen! I am pretty much stuck at home too. And when I do get out I can't wait to get home.

These same dogs had come down and killed our dog. He kept things away from here. We had gone to MO and got a great pyrenees and while we were gone that's when they came back and killed our goats. Thanks for your tip on the water bottles. We now keep our boxer chained up so we haven't lost anymore chickens. And our new Great Pryenees doesn't go after them at all. Unless they are trying to eat his food!

What ornament exchange? Can I play?

Cat Thanks for that site. It's great. The radar is awesome. I sure hope all goes well for your DD. My oldest DD is supposed to go the first week of August. And my DS is supposed to go the last week of this month. I am looking forward to it. My youngest DD and I are going to get a bit of a break. The oldest ones are going to be gone for a couple of days. Starting this evening my DH's parents are taking us all to Dairy Queen for dinner and then taking DS home!

LOL I think I have 3 two old editions and a newer one. I have actually met her in real life and she spent the night in our home. She came to our town and did a presentation on Y2K. It was quite an honor. I call it my second Bible. Not trying to be sacreligious, that's just something I have always said.

Does anyone have Carla Emerys book the Encyclopedia of Country Living? I think the older editions were call The Old Fashioned Recipe Book. There is so much information packed into this book! I love it!

I think one of the hardest things about homesteading is losing your animals. It always seems as though things are going so well, and then you get kicked and it's usually in the HEAD. We have lost all but 1 of our rabbits. I don't know if it's the heat snap or what. They had water, I had been feeding them lettuce hay and some carrot tops. Is it ok for them to have carrot tops? The dogs took care of most of my chicks that I was raising up. The neighbors dogs killed all four of our goats.

I just keep trying to remember for everything there is a season, maybe it's just not my time to raise animals. I just have so much peace when I spend time with them though. I could sit and watch them for hours. Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulders.

LOL the only time I made apple jelly we used it for ice cream topping also.

It's supposed to be another hot day today with the heat index over 100. Praise God for the air conditioning in our home. Today I think I will make crock pickles. And of course the ever mounting pile of clothing needs laundered.

Hope you all have a great day and be careful out there in the heat.

I recently purchased one of these strainers through ebay. I picked two gallons of tomatoes the other evening. I got out my new strainer the next day and strained two of the tomatoes. I was so thrilled that it hardly wasted any of those tomatoes. Anyway I ended up making some home made tomato soup for lunch that day. It was delicious. I had never done it before, so it was totally made up I hope I can make it like that again. What I did was I took the pulp of the tomatoes, and heated it up added some dehydrated onions and green peppers and salt. Heated more. Then added a pinch of baking soda, and added milk. Mom always said if you add baking soda before your milk it wouldn't curdle. Apparently the acid in the tomatoes without it would make the milk turn. Heated it more until it was nice and hot. Even my kids and neighbors liked it. Does anyone else have any recipes using one of these strainers? Would you mind sharing it if you do? Thanks so much!

I guess I should add if I had had any I would have added a little cornstarch to thicken it as it was a bit runnier than say Campbells!

Strawberry Freezer jam. Now that's to die for. I would have to say that that is my favorite. I have also made peach marmalade. Not sure if that's spelled correctly. Blackberry Jam I usually do every year. I tried to make apple jelly out of apple juice one year. It turned out to be more like syrup that you could put on pancakes or ice cream. It just didn't set up well.

We make juice here. I just fill a jar half full with grapes add a cup of sugar to each jar. Pour boiling water over the top and process them to seal. It sure tastes good. Then later on if you like you could make jelly out of your juice.

Hi.. I have a question and it may sound rather silly. I bought a set of sheets today for my new bed. They don't fit. The are King and I needed queen. Does anyone know how I could cut it down to size? Maybe I should just go and by a plain white fitted queen sheet and make the other into curtains. What do you think? Thanks.

unikemom, that's when mine started too. I lost my mom in the summer of 2000. 9 weeks after she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and an unoperable brain tumor. I was devastated. She was truly my best friend. We had spent nearly every day together for 7-8 years. I still cry if something joggles my mind, if I hear a song, or cook something that tasted like she would have made it. The good thing is I will see her again. Looking forward to that great day.

Well I am Dawn. I am 33 I live in Central Illinois. I have been married to my highschool sweetheart for almost 15 years. Our anniversary is Sept.2. We have 3 children. Kayla and Charles will be 14 in 3 weeks. And Josephine is 6. We live on a small 10 acre place. We have a pond that's stocked with bass and bluegill. We love to raise chickens , rabbits and milk goats (presently without goat) our last 4 babies were killed by the neighbors dog over Memorial Day weekend. We have 2 touloose (sp) geese, 2 peking ducks and two mallard ducks. We have 12 rabbits 1 great pyrnees named Sampson, and a boxer named Cooper Blossom. We have 3 baby kittens and 6 big ones. We love to garden. We are wanna be homesteaders. And want off the grid! On our way there with no heat but wood heat. We don't even own a propane tank! We used to homeschool, and would love to again someday. We are Christians who attend a Baptist church. We have taught Sunday School and VBS. I am so thrilled to be here. I feel a lot of kindred spirits here. I was an Administrative Assistant for Transport Service Company. But quit over a month ago to become once again a SAHM. If anyone has any ideas for a work from home opportunity feel free to send me a private message. Thanks for having me...

I live in Central Illinois... Where corn is plentiful, as well as soybeans.. Not to far from beautiful Lake Shelbyville.

Welcome Tammy from one newbie to the next!

Have fun!

Dawn