out_of_the_ordinary

Happy Birthday, TheCG!

Jeepers, I don't know about Food Saver bags as I don't have a Food Saver. With power outages/staying cold: With the power outages we've had, it depends on the outside/room temp. A winter day vs. a hot, humid summer day makes a difference. Last month we lost power for about 10 hours and everything in the upright was still froze solid and the themometer in the freezer was still below 20. The chest freezer definately stays colder than the upright. We once had a weeklong outage in the late summer. After the 2nd day, I took everything salvageable to a relative's. In the upright, I lost everything on the door and fruits and veggies; meats like roasts and chickens were still alright. I tossed soups as they were thawed and I wasn't sure if it was safe, but I did not want to risk it. Everything in the chest freezer was still froze solid. After, I read somewhere [maybe here??] in a power outage, throw a sleeping bag/blankets over a freezer to help it stay cold. We have fridge/freezer thermometers in all the freezers now. Not the digital kind. We might have bought them in the appliance section of Lowe's. They weren't expensive and hang like an oven thermometer does. Anyway, I figure in future outages, that would help me to better determine what to do.

I'd go bigger. We've had both uprights and chest freezers. I think the upright square footage is almost a bit deceiving because you can't cram as much in there. In the chest freezer, you're piling alot. With the upright, it just doesn't work that well. At least it didn't for me. Put a turkey or turkey breast or whole chicken in an upright, and stacking is awkward to impossible. Or packages of meat that aren't flat. So you aren't getting the full usage of the space in there. Remember, too, with that frost-free feature, foods get the ice crystals sooner. I try not to store frozen veggies in the frost-free freezer. Because the frost-free is actually letting the temp. rise a bit to melt any ice buildup and then sucking that moisture out of the air in there. So your foods are also getting that slight thaw, refreeze cycle, too. (This isn't to discourage anyone from getting a frost-free freezer, but just something to keep in mind with how you use it.)

Becca, look at the Little Britches series by Ralph Moody to read aloud with your son. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers is the first one in the series. Amazing book! One of the best family read alouds for a series we ever did, right up there with the Little House series. Literally, I could just read the Little Britches series over and over again...it is that good. Jeepers, we use the Pathway Readers. I didn't get the workbooks that go with them, though. We use them for DD reading out loud practice. She liked the stories. Next time you are buying books online for your grandson, look into the nature books by Glenn Blough. They were originally published in the 50s and 60s. Purple House Press is reprinting some of them. We just read Who Lives in This Meadow? and After the Sun Goes Down. They're excellent!

Welcome back, Buttercup!

Happy Birthday, Pauline!

We always have a family read aloud going. (I read; DH and DD listen.) We recently read By the Great Horn Spoon! and we all liked it. One of those books you don't want to end. It was about the Gold Rush. It was very funny and yet we learned ALOT about the Gold Rush and the miners. The main characters went to California by ship and DD followed their route on the globe as we read.

My favorite places for book lists are: The Good and the Beautiful https://goodandbeautifulbooklist.com/ Simply Charlotte Mason's Bookfinder https://apps.simplycharlottemason.com/resources The book Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson Nicki Truesdale has good lists: Excellent Books for Boys https://nickitruesdell.com/excellent-books-for-boys/ Excellent Books for Girls https://nickitruesdell.com/excellent-books-for-girls/ The Power of Story During Hard Times https://nickitruesdell.com/the-power-of-story-during-hard-times/

I've always wanted to get a PDR, but I think when I checked a couple years ago, they were no longer printing them?

https://g.christianbook.com/ns/pdf/202102/900x4600_Handwriting_Chart_0221-converted.pdf?event=Homeschool|1004158 It opened small, but it was easy to zoom in. I noticed this on ChristianBook's website. We'll be doing cursive next school year. Until I started looking at cursive curriculum, I did not realize there were so many different styles of cursive.

Grassfed here. At one point, I was having so much trouble digesting beef I though I was becoming allergic/sensitive to it. I have many, many allergies and sensitivities. Anyway, we tried local corn-fed beef. It had much better flavor than what we had been buying at the grocery store, but I still had some digestive issues. Then, we tried local grass-fed beef. It was so easy on my stomach! For digestability, I put it up there with deer meat. I don't have any upset stomach or anything eating it. Good flavor and it is much more filling than the grocery store beef. So we completely switched to grass-fed beef from a local farmer. After all that, I read Real Food by Nina Planck and some other things that went into info about how grass-fed beef is healthier than corn-fed.

https://www.christopherpublications.com/snhsyllabus.html The bundle above is still $100 (free shipping, too), but they are out of stock. It might be worth asking them when they might have them back in stock. Nature's Warehouse is asking $107.95, but they are sold out as well. https://natureswarehouse.net/collections/literature/products/school-of-natural-healing-by-dr-john-r-christopher Books, overall, have been having price jumps and availablity issues.

Welcome, RHJill!

Welcome, SusanAnn!

I have and like A-Z Guide to Drug-Herb-Vitamin Interactions, 2nd edition edited by Alan Gaby, MD. It is from 2006, so there are new medications since then, and doesn't have everything in it, but it is someplace for me to start. I agree with Mother, one has do your research.

Welcome back, ANewMe!

Welcome back, Becca! Your house looks amazing.

I found one I could have! If I switch to butter for the margarine and omit the bouillion cubes....maybe instead of the water I can use (my homemade) chicken stock. Sometimes I make rice using stock instead of water. Thank you, Kappy!!

Happy belated Birthday, Snowmom!

Happy Birthday, Gunplummer!

Happy Birthday, Joyfilled!

Happy Birthday, Kappy!

Happy Birthday, Cat! I'm glad you are back.

Happy Birthday, Dee!