Views from the Farmstead

Our street still has not seen a plow but we have seen a growing sense of community. Hubby and two neighbors finished the main road last night and today will start on an adjacent road that is not County maintained just so our other neighbors can get out.

We are expecting more snow starting tomorrow and we hope to continue see our sense of community as we clear out again.

Even though it seemed like the snow would never end, it did and the sun came out this morning and the skies are blue. Thank God that we were kept safe through the entire blizzard and the power stayed on…being on well water that is important being that with all the various equipment we own, we have yet to purchase a generator.

During the storm, I did venture back out yesterday to take some more pics:

Just in case you were thinking that we didn’t have any fun, oh but we did….

Like I said, the sun came out this morning and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue. I journeyed up to the closest street only because hubby and the neighbor made a path from our driveway to the road with the snow blower and a shovel. Hubby doesn’t like being *trapped* so he made sure he had a path of escape.

Here are pics of the closest street -- they have seen a plow at some point but are still rather dangerous.

Here is the rest of our street:

Just in case you wanted proof of the blue skies…

We woke up to a winter wonderland here and it still continues to snow….

Hubby started out on the back deck trying to clear a path to the wood.

Here are some more pics of this record setting snow..

The snow has truly picked up to the point of of almost white out conditions just in the time it took to type this post. Prayers to all!!!!

It started snowing at about 11 a.m. and of course it started lightly but has definitely picked up and is now sticking. The National Weather Service has described this storm as pretty major for our area and may place in the top 10 in terms of historic snowfalls. Lots of references being made to the storm of 1996, which I remember well being that I was in grad school, single, and stuck in my apartment for almost a week.

Fast forward 14 years and I am now married with kids and they are very excited about the prospect of upwards of 20″ of snow. I am praying that the power doesn’t go out and that lives aren’t lost.

Be safe!!!

Yes, I am still around! Lots of blog posts in my head that I should really write out for future posting but never seem to get around to it. Life has been busily humming by and for that I can’t complain. As I type, we are preparing for our 3rd snow event in 1 week, which is highly uncommon for my region. I don’t mind the snow, if anything I marvel at its beauty as well as how in its beauty it can completely throw people into a frenzy.

Speaking of frenzy – I have been feeling a bit frenetic lately. I feel extremely blessed to be able to stay at home and be mom and teacher to our children. My husband is a wonderful guy and it is true that opposites often attract in that he and I are quite different in many area but that is what keeps us going. It is also true that spenders marry savers – I’ll give you a hint as to which one I am.

As I continue to seek to broaden my skills in jewelry making, it takes money to buy supplies and supplies are needed to keep making things and there are some other tools and items that I would like to purchase. I also have garden orders to place and the like…..we have prayed and decided I would take on another *hobby* that has the potential for me to earn a few dollars. I say *hobby* because he as made it very clear that it is not a part-time job because it isn’t providing necessary income that our family needs….he is so right and prudent that it sometimes drives me crazy.

I purchased the starter kit and have been learning more about the company and their products. To stop your wondering, I am now and independent consultant for Pampered Chef. I have toyed with selling their products before and trust me, I don’t have plans to rise through the ranks, I just want to prayerfully earn a few extra bucks to buy me some more toys. You already know that I love to cook and I already have several of their products, so it seemed like an easy fit. Of course, my mom is my first party – gotta love her! Thanks mom!!!

Between being wife, mom, homeschool teacher, chef, chauffeur, jewelry maker and now independent consultant solopreneur…I have been just a bit busy. Not meaning to neglect y’all and appreciate all of you and will have a giveaway coming up soon, just because you all are so special.

Edited to add – the cuff has sold. Thanks Kelly!

Today, I sold one of the first items that I ever listed in my Etsy shop. Yes, it has been there for a year and I marked it down to a low price because I just wanted it to go. I get like that sometimes…..ask my kids when I go on a cleaning spree as I have a tendency to just start getting rid of stuff. But I digressed….

I am a firm believer in that none of us are ever too old to learn something new. Life gives us so many opportunities to learn something new or learn a new way of doing things. Truth be told, children often provide similar opportunities as I learn lots from mine.

As I continue to evolve as an artist, I desire to continue to learn new things. A goal for this year has been to expand my metalsmithing skills. Being self-taught in so many areas of life, I have been reading books and chatting with more experienced metalsmiths on Etsy (great group they are). I have been tooling around in my studio which is part of the reason that I have been absent from here that and a resolution to myself to create more.

I have just listed two mixed metal pieces in my shop that have been a result of my copper and sterling silver work. I would love to hear your thoughts as I continue to learn….thanks!

Oh, I am also having a SALE!

Despite all of my pleas to not grow up too fast, the Professor has decided to turn 6. Out of nowhere, my little man started giving me grief about being the only winter born person in the house and how he wanted a party…1.5 days before his birthday. So, being the oh so good mom that I am, I made a few calls to family and neighbors for a quick ice cream and cake for his big night.

This is him at 3 months of age…

Him on his birthday..

He loves to build things and the sweetie that he is built me a flower from his K’nex…

Red is his favorite color and he wanted a red cake and strawberry ice cream. So, I made those items plus vanilla ice cream for the Princess. Here is the table with his K’nex dragster (ice cream is still in the freezer).

He was a very happy camper…

Happy New Year!!! (cue the confetti) Yeah, I know that I am a few days late and probably a few dollars short but I wanted to wish all of you a happy new year! We spent it at my parents house watching the ball drop in Times Square – Dick Clark still looks amazing, doesn’t he?

Time surely flies whether you are having fun or not. I felt like I took a few days to recover from Christmas, only for the new year to be knocking on my door. I was asked the other day on Twitter by a dear friend whether I felt like I had left anything in 2009? That question keeps reverberating around in my head – I can’t say I feel as though I left something behind but I don’t feel like I am prepared as I wanted to be for the start of 2010. What about you?

Here is the only pic that I can find that shows some of the layout for the big family Christmas dinner – which by the way was wonderful!!! I was not spastic and I was ready before everyone arrived – seriously had to wonder if I forgot to cook something.

It was a colorful Christmas to say the least with lots of reds and purples. Everyone dined off of real plates, silverware and glasses. Gotta love the thrift stores as they helped me fill in the gaps in all of the service items. Food was yummy, the gift exchange was funny and there was lots of laughter. Here’s a pic of the Princess and her little cousin:

Our family gift giving was held in the morning. My parents stayed the night and we woke up and the Professor read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible. Our big gift was a Wii and Wii Fit Plus and the entire family is enjoying that – I am using it to work out. We actually had time to rest during the day before everyone arrived which was nice.

To those that we share gifts, I gave canned goodies which were all well received. I did manage to make some tote bags for the neighbor’s children:

I was terrible with the picture taking to capture a lot of what has been happening but I do hope to rectify that in the coming year.

I am excited about this year and what it holds, I hope you are as well. I have added a few things to my shop, expect the pictures to change soon as I continue to work on my photography skills.

Once again, Happy New Year!!!

I woke up this morning truly feeling as if if someone took a day away from me on my calendar and that Christmas was coming way too soon. Just so you know, we are not a family that goes all out in terms of gifts for each other or our children. A few years ago, we started giving them 3 gifts as Baby Jesus received from the Wise Men. Their gold gift is something that they have wanted the most or something that is very expensive. A myrrh gift represents cleansing of the body and frankincense is for their spiritual growth. So, my craziness is not a result of the overt commercialism that is oft associated with Christmas. I think mine was a combination of a few things – hosting Christmas dinner, making handmade gifts for others, and just not feeling 100%.

Whatever the reason, I was starting to feel frazzled. At that moment, I had to take a deep breath and re-focus myself….so while sipping my morning coffee…

I gazed outside at the lovely sunshine streaming through the kitchen window and realized that no matter what, I was not going to be stressed about what was ahead of me. I went to my new fridge, an early Christmas gift from my parents to us…

(Did you see the rooster pitcher on top?)

My mom didn’t like our old refrigerator that was in the house when we moved in and she can be very persuasive. Here is the old refrigerator…

It is now in the garage holding a turkey, ham, and whole slab of beef ribs in preparation for Friday. After that, we will put it on Freecycle or Craigslist so that it can bless someone else. As a part of my handmade gifts, I planned to do some hot pepper apple preserves. I had finally found a source for jars (the local feed store) but last week when we visited my parents, the local Kmart had some so I snatched those up rather happily. Imagine my surprise, when I saw this beauty:

You see, I have a glass top stove and have been hoping the canning powers-that-be would come out with another pot because the other enamel pots cannot be used on glass top stoves. This baby can be used on glass top stoves and induction stoves so my dreams of getting an Electrolux and cooking like Kelly Ripa are still alive and well. LOL!

After making my preserves, I pulled out the mixer and proceeded to make chocolate chip cookies for gift giving and eating. We packaged up some for the library staff. Being a homeschool family, we see them quite often.

We took them cookies, gave the mailman his canned applesauce and were feeling like little elves. Of course, to give is great but oh, I received this in the mail when I came home. All visions of sugarplums went dancing out of my head and I began to think about what I will grow next year.

Well the weather forecasters were right – we had a big snowstorm yesterday. At last measure, we were at 20 inches but it was still snowing and the wind was blowing. Today, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine, gotta love God’s power.

Here is the deck from the kitchen….

Our big pine tree…

The playhouse….

The Princess headed out determined to slide even though we are a bit hill challenged.

Thankfully, they went next door to the neighbor’s house and enjoyed some sledding fun. Later we will all enjoy some of Mrs. Ruth’s pound cake.