Merry Christmas to our Friends & Family

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As my Christmas photo cards hit mailboxes this week, I thought the most economical (and easiest) way to share our past year with you would be by blogging about it!! Of course many of the day to day activities- good and bad can be found by perusing throughout my blog . So if you want to know more, feel free to dig deeper and to leave comments - we love knowing you stopped by! Take note: You will notice a few odd posts scattered throughout this blog :) Yes, we all know I'm a little odd, but the real reason behind these posts is that I occasionally get paid to write a blog and if I can't fit it in with something I'm already blogging about, I just write a blog on that subject (but totally off subject of my family). So here we go!!

We hope this Christmas finds your family healthy, warm, and blessed. It has been a tough year economically for many and we were not excluded from this. We have had many changes in our life this year, some exciting and some not so great! As lots of you know, in April this year we moved to a small farm (2 acres - I call it a farm - Kevin calls it 2 acres :) This brought many changes in our lifestyle and our opportunities. One major change, my favorite by far, was being able to have animals. So we have accumulated 6 calves, 13 laying hens, 3 roosters, 3 cats (1 actually belongs to the neighbor but gets more love at our house!), and 4 ducks. Unfortunately our guinea pig died and our dog had to be put down - you can read about that here. We love the farm life! And moving on....

Kevin had left his job at the feedlot last fall to work at the hog farm and by mid-summer he was through working inside. He spent some time helping his dad out and then went back to the feedlot. He's pretty happy there now and I am glad to see it! He enjoys farming, but is looking forward to being done picking corn. The weather has not been ideal for farming this year and things are progressing slowly. If the weather holds, maybe another week and they will be done. Kevin got the opportunity to go to Nashville this fall for a week. He spent time with his mom and brother and really enjoyed getting away. Of course the weather here that week was below freezing and it was mid-70's there, so that didn't hurt his feelings at all!! When we moved to the farm, he also got a garage! Yeah! He has wanted a garage for so long and though this one isn't big it will get the job done. We spent a lot of time insulating and sheeting it, rebuilding part of it, putting in new doors, new windows, and a garage door opener. Who knows maybe 2010 is the year that '56 Chevy will see some shop time! Now that Wichita is older he can be included in the work so that is another incentive to get it started. Kevin was able to shoot a deer this year also - not as big as last year, but still a keeper.

Wichita is 10 years old this year and in 4th grade. He is enjoying school a little more this year- maybe because he is getting better at it. He reads much better and we're still working on writing legibly :) Since moving I think he has started to become a lot more sports oriented - instead of just a video-game-addict. We got rid of our game station and he has lots of room to run outside. He is still involved in Cub Scouts and is also on the church Bible Quiz Team, he will also be in 4-H after the first of the year. He played baseball this summer - which he really enjoyed. He has been going to work with Kevin about once a week. He got to help throw tires onto the silage pile, drive the combine and a tractor (not alone!!), and do other "fun" stuff at the feedlot. I think this is good for both him and Kevin. Wichita is really growing up fast. His feet are as big as mine and it won't surprise when I am soon looking up to him!

Wyatt is 8 years old and in 3rd grade. He seems to be going through the "I don't like school" phase. He does like science experiments and doing math, though. Wyatt is still a great lover of animals and really, really enjoys the farm. He spends as much time outside as he can. He likes to help take care of the chickens and pet any animal that will let him (or that can't run away fast enough!). He has claimed Calico as his own. He has taken to wearing nothing but cowboy boots and bib overalls - what a cutie! Wyatt is going to be in 4-H this coming year and is on the church Bible Quiz Team.

Montana is (almost) 7 years old and in 2nd/3rd grade. She LOVES school. She loves to read Little House books and is constantly writing notes or letters. She is basically mini-me. :) Montana is in dance class this year. Grandma comes to get her every week and she loves it!! She is also on the Bible Quiz team and will be in 4-H. She still has her cat Mia, despite losing her and getting her back. Montana is a great helper and loves baking. She also likes to help me rearrange (my favorite pastime!) and organize things. She is growing up so fast and I just don't know where the time has all gone!

I have kept VERY busy this year! I am still homeschooling the kids, which I really enjoy, and am still staying home (despite a few part-time jobs here and there this spring and summer). I raised a big garden this year, but it didn't do as well as I'd hoped. The weather was not that great and the first year on a new plot is always tough. I did end up canning quite a bit though and with the deer & chicken the pantry and freezer are full. I absolutely love living on the farm. I have learned and done so many new things. I built a barbed wire fence, built a wood fence, painted my barn and did some remodeling inside it, built a chicken shed from my own plans, bottle fed baby calves, raised chicks, butchered chicks, raised ducks (was not allowed to butcher the ducks), helped Kevin insulate his garage, gardened, irrigated, and taught myself how to knit. I help out with our Bible Quiz kids, am involved in a few Bible Studies, and help run our homeschool group. It has been an exciting year and I am so thrilled with the blessings God has bestowed on our little family. I am looking forward to 2010 and the exciting opportunities that await us!!

May God bless each of you and fill your lives with abundance. May you take the time this Christmas and throughout the New Year to thank Him and honor Him with your worship. To God be all the Glory!!

Love and Blessings,
Kevin, Sarah, Wichita, Wyatt, & Montana

Popcorn's comin

Just a note to let you all know that the popcorn will be in on Saturday. We will try to deliver as much as possible that day. IF you have not already paid please do so ASAP!! Thanks so much to everyone who supported Wichita. Because of the fantastic popcorn sales this year (over $15,000 for our pack) all the scouts and their families get to spend the night at the Henry Doorly Zoo in May!! Wichita will also receive a bow and arrow for his sales.

Ready for Christmas?

With Thanksgiving behind us, It is time to haul out the Christmas decorations, and start getting in the Christmas spirit. I have some gifts to buy and some things to finish making. Then the kids and I will spend the week before Christmas doing some serious baking and we'll be ready! Hopefully I can get the decorations out yet this weekend because we have some countdown calendars that we will start on Tuesday. I love Christmas - the food, the music, the people, the festive feeling of love in the air! Maybe I'll even get my Christmas letter written this week! I don't have a lot else to do today, but don't have a lot of ambition either so we'll see what happens, and if I have time to write about online term life insurance. Thanks for hanging with me this morning - hope you have a great afternoon!

Still blogging?

Yes, I am still blogging today!! I have got a ton of catching up to do - I should have been doing one or two a day but instead I found other things to do this week like baking for Thanksgiving, cleaning my house, homeschooling my kids, working on my barn, and the list goes on and on and on. Oh yes, and reading. I just finished Left Behind. I have heard so many times how good that book is and the movie as well, but just never got around to reading it. So, I started it on Thursday and finished this morning. I haven't read such a good book in a long, long time. I enjoy Christian fiction and though I suppose this book would be classified fiction - it is based on the prophesies of the Bible in the book of Revelation. While the story is fiction - the events are truth. And while it would be interesting to watch those events unfold and see the prophecy come to fruition - I don't expect to be around after the rapture. All the people disappear and the ones left behind don't understand what happened (of course they wouldn't - none of them are true Christians). However, things are about to get bad for those 'left behind' and judging by the list of upcoming events prophesied they'll all be wishing they had been raptured as well - no life insurance quotes necessary! I am excited to see how the writer plays out the rest of the events. Now, I am wondering if I could come up with an excuse to go to town today to get the second book in the series!

Our Cat

The kids have this cat that lives outside that they have kind of adopted. I believe it belongs to the neighbors, but is was quite wild when it started coming around. She took a liking to Kibbles (our kitten) and since Kibbles was getting played with and pet all the time, she must have decided it didn't look like too bad of a deal. She lets the kids haul her around and hangs out on the front step. She has even been inside a time or two. She is long-haired - which is not attractive on an outdoor cat! She is calico-colored and therefore got the very creative name of Calico :) I would love for her to have a litter of kittens. I am wondering if I shouldn't give her some kind of pet supplements to get her healthy. We have been feeding her and she has fattened up nicely so maybe that is all she needed. Kibbles is a male (but still pretty young) and there are several tomcats around so we'll see what happens this spring.

Making money online

There are always people out their looking to make money online. Mostly what they are looking for is an EASY way to make money. Does money ever come easy? I have been pulled into enough easy money scams to tell you the answer to that is no. There some ways to make money online, and they aren't hard, but they do require time and usually a significant amount of it. Crystal at MoneySavingMom has several posts about making money online. She talks about surveys, ads, blogging, etc. She notes, and I would also note, that this money is not a significant amount. You are NOT going to make $500 a week blogging or taking surveys, but you can make a little money. There a lots of sites out there that pay you to write blogs. If you enjoying blogging and don't mind adding in keywords or blogging about particular issues, you can make a little money at it, just don't expect to get rich! If I can pay my Directv bill (about $50) and for my shipping expenses from paperbackswap ($10-20) then I consider it a good month!

Besides just making money online, I enjoy getting free stuff. I sign up for freebies, try to visit freebies4mom on a regular basis, and just search for freebies on the web. To me, this is just as good as making money - if what I get for free I can use and it prevents me from having to go out and buy something I needed. Although I haven't tried it myself I know there is a program that send you like a barcode scanner and you scan the items you buy or have in your home to help them with their statistics and marketing program. In return you get free items to try out. I don't even know what it's called, but might be something you could find online if you are looking for ways to make money or earn freebies!

Biggest Loser

I absolutely love Biggest Loser! If you follow the show, you know that Tuesday is the season finale. There are only 4 people left from the original 16 and only 1 of those 4 will become the Biggest Loser. It has been amazing to watch these people transform their lives and bodies in the last 11 weeks. I have connected with some of the people and was almost in tears when they were sent home. While they do have the occasional sales pitch for a weight loss product, the show is mostly about these 16 people's journey from morbid obesity to a life with a future of hope. Most of them struggle with past issues that led them to become obese and most of them became obese as a child. It is amazing to see them overcome and defeat those obstacles. Of course it is reality TV and it is amazing the people who have been inspired to loose weight because of the show. I can't wait for Tuesday!

Working on the barn

Friday turned out to be a great day to stay home! The weather was really nice and since I had a major project I wanted done in my barn, the kids and I spent the entire afternoon outside. My barn is, in reality, a long shed, it is divided into 3 sections. When we moved here 2 of the 3 areas were filled about waist high with trash. We got them cleaned out and painted the outside of the barn. The biggest section and the small middle section had very low ceilings made out of 2x4's and those wood slats you find behind plaster. They were like going under a dip bar, I had to crouch or bend over just to walk around in the shed. That made cleaning them out a very labor intensive job and killed my back!! I tore out the ceiling of the middle section this summer and it was such a dirty job, I dreaded the bigger section. So that was our project for yesterday. Maybe because their was more ventilation or a bigger area, but it wasn't too bad. The kids hauled off the debris and I tore out the ceiling. Then we scooped out the hay and stuff that had fallen and replaced it with fresh straw. This big area is where the calves can go when it gets cold. We also set up our bottle feeding crates in there. The middle section I use to store small bales and feed the cats and ducks. The other section is nice sized - I raised my broilers in there this summer and now use it for feed storage. The barn is coming together nicely and I can't wait for spring to do some overhauling to the roof!!

Great friends, great food!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch and I hope you all did too! Our friends brought a turkey they smoked and it was so moist and delicious it was unbelievable!!! We also had stuffing, cranberry salad, jello, sweet corn, salad, mashed potatoes & gravy, rolls, and 4 different kinds of pie. Of course we have leftovers like crazy, but that is the best part of the holidays - no cooking required all weekend - just reheat and eat. Then Sunday at lunch we are having a "leftovers" potluck at church so we will finish cleaning out the fridge and share in others' leftovers. It's not real often you can get something good for free (like free insurance quotes online), but the free turkey we had today was absolutely the best ever!!! Thanks Jerry!

Black Friday

Do you shop on "Black Friday"?

I really enjoy it, but will miss out this year. I don't have money to spend anyhow, so I'm better off staying away from the temptations. I am still browsing the ads online because I have a couple items I need for Christmas for my kids and so I'm checking to see if they are really cheap. I haven't found anything yet despite searching through a couple different ads featuring everything from clothes, to video games, to safety products, to power tools. I have seen some great deals, but just not anything I couldn't live without. Since I won't be eating supper, I still have lots of evening left to search (believe me skipping supper is NOT due to lack of food - I'm still full from lunch!!)

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving is a holiday that gives us a perfect opportunity to remember all the things we have to be thankful for.
So here's my list - I'm thankful.....

that deer season is OVER!! I put up 5 deer and am tired of looking at deer meat! :)

that my family has been mostly healthy - no flu, no H1N1, no serious illnesses or injuries

that I have a flock of chickens laying almost a dozen eggs a day, 6 calves growing a little every day, 4 ducks driving me crazy, and 3 cats that keep the mice out of my house! I love animals and have been so excited to have a farm!!

that heating my house is SO cheap and easy because it is SO small!! and that I don't have to change $35 air conditioner filters anymore!

that I live in a country where I am free to worship my God, my way, and can be thankful for even (stupid) little things!

that God has abundantly provided for our needs - we have a warm home to live in, a farm that we dreamed of, enough money to put clothes on our backs and food in our bellies, and a wonderful family to spend time with.

for my wonderful husband who works so hard to provide financially for us.

for my 3 children who are smart, healthy, and beautiful!

for YOU!! That you come read my blog and care about what I have to say! That I can use my blog to express my opinions and talk about what I care about (and make enough money to pay my Directv bill!!)

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and please don't let this holiday be the only opportunity you take to be thankful for what you have!!

Another Day....Another Deer (or 2)

The kids and I did our 3rd and 4th deer today (one was small - otherwise 2 in one day is too much!). Deer #5 is hanging in the garage and on the Saturday schedule! I have been grinding most of the meat for jerky, but I also canned some for the first time. Yesterday we decided to try some of the canned meat before I end up with 30 jars and we don't like it! I had soaked it in a salt brine as the canning book suggested to pull out some of the "wild game" taste. It worked great! There was very little game taste in the meat that we tried - it could almost pass as beef. We all liked it, so we will definitely be making more.
On a more exciting note, we had a lady from the extension office out today to give the kids a short lesson on embryology. She explained the stages of a chicken in an egg, and brought some chick embryos preserved in formaldehyde at different stages of development. She also left us some educational materials and worksheets to learn more about the parts of an egg and how a chicken develops. Plus, she left us an incubator to use to hatch our own chicks. Since my homemade incubator was a complete flop, we are excited to try out the real one and watch some eggs hatch!! We put in 42 eggs and are hoping for a 75% success rate! I will update more on the incubator in a few days.
It has been a crazy week and I am ready to get back into our regular routine (which includes meals and NOT hanging out in the garage all afternoon!) Maybe after this weekend, when deer season is over!

One down

One deer down.... ? to go. I picked up the first deer on Monday and got it in the freezer by Monday night. Tuesday I canned 7 quarts of cubed meat and made a 2nd batch of jerky. Then Tuesday night Kevin shot his deer. So with the garage cleaned and the first deer out of the way, we will start back at the beginning today. It was around 5 when I got started Monday and managed to finish that night, so I think if I start right after lunch today I will not have any problem finishing by supper. I have been looking for a good jerky recipe so I don't have to buy the seasonings - we'll see how that turns out.

Wichita went to work with Kevin yesterday to help throw tires onto the plastic on the silage pile. He worked hard and had a lot of fun! He did manage to chip his front tooth on a rock that he was throwing in the air. It is a pretty bad chip but it didn't damage the nerve or root so we will have to make an extra trip to Kearney in December to get it repaired. Just what I wanted to do!

Well, I am off to teach some school so we can get that deer done today. I won't be taking a trip to walt disney world resort any time soon, but it's a nice thought to think of when I am elbow deep in ground venison!!