Thursday News Wrap from This Homestead

VBS is over. Here are some last pictures. It started really storming outside, so with just an overhead light, in a gray room, the photos are bad. And they are on the phone...I sort of forget the camera. Not really worth sharing, but you know how Grandmother's are about seeing their grandchildren....so here they are.
We did fare better last night -- we had 3 extras over the Sunday night start. All in all, I'm ok with how things went in terms of I wasn't fully prepared for nothing but toddler age and had planned things a bit for a young school age grouping, but life isn't predictable, right? We did the best we could with no more help than we had, and with no more participation than we had so it's all good. I don't see attempting another one, but who knows what The Lord will plan.
Our Dirt Box...complete with gummi worms of course. And our Jell-O Island, with some gummi LifeSavers that, well, sort of totally sank and bloated in the Jell-O, but do children really mind that? No, trust me, they don't.
Here were the craft projects for last night. Fun Foam picture frames decorated with an assortment of tropical flowers and sea critters. And our own Burning Bush necklaces to remind us of the commandments given by God Himself. We talked about how they needed the Commandments spelled out in detail in the OT days because of those who would argue about everything. Then we talked about how Jesus gave us some NT Commandments....Love God, Love Your Brother (and Sister) and Go Tell Others. And we connected each OT Commandment to those 3 NT Commandments.
But, between sugar and hands-on crafting, everyone was having fun.
See the horrible photos? That Luau banner just sparked light shine all over the place. Not a good photo op, that's for sure. But the gist of the evening is there...a handful of goofy children lit up on sugared pudding, sugared jell-o, highly sugared gummi assorteds and strawberry soda floats. We had no shortage of sugar last night at all. I could have made things a bit more healthy, but some of these folks would have rebelled terribly, so we just went store-bought and sugared. It's only once in a blue moon for my children, so I suppose I can live with the decision.
Don't you love the bored looks from the olders? We took a TON of pictures, trying various angles to knock out some of that reflective shiny glow, but I finally gave up. I'm no photographer. I'm just a mom with a cell phone.

Our locking down...I was selective about the comments I shared. Sorry if that offends anyone who posted one that isn't shown, but honestly, does it irk you that bad that I am saying we are going to stay home for the next couple of weeks? In the grand scheme of life...in any scheme of life...does it matter to you really? I don't need some ranting, liberal mom accusing me of being a paranoid mother smothering her children because I verbally stated we are staying home and I connected that decision to H1N1 being in our immediate area and confirmed.
Personally, I could have connected our staying home to anything...maybe we have canning to do. Maybe I'm waist-deep in sewing needs. Maybe we have schooling to get back on track after VBS. Maybe, just maybe WE ARE CONTENT TO STAY AT HOME WHERE WE BELONG.
But, I said the statement in connection to H1N1 flu, so I'm now paranoid and smothering.

That's cute. Uneducated people are just too funny sometimes. Yes...I said you were uneducated. Don't mind me. I'm just naturally sarcastic. It's one of those works-in-progress with me. I've read alot of varying opinions on H1N1 and this is simply my personal choice for my personal family. Sort of like the vaccine choices we've made, the food choices we've made, the homeschooling choices we've made. Honestly, we are homebodies here and truth be told, we would be HOME regardless of H1N1 flu outbreaks locally. I am a STAY AT HOME MOM...that sort of indicates that, well, I STAY AT HOME. If I'm doing the things I should be doing in my day, if I'm schooling and tending my homestead and household (at least tending them properly) I have to be HOME. I can't be making excuses to get in the car and run around. I can't fritter away my day doing stupid, useless (non-smothering) things.

Flu or not, we would have made 1 trip this afternoon to the feed store and next week I would have had one day to drop bill payments in town. We just don't go anywhere aside from one day anyway. It's just our lifestyle. No, wait, I lied -- middle daughter is getting a tooth extracted Monday morning...sort of in town. Ugh. That means 2 runs off homestead next week now.

Either way, if it will make the liberal moms go back to blogging about their daily runs hither and yon, we will be staying home because I have a lot of things to get prepped before our trip north, including a lot of sewing and alot of general homestead prep things to ensure the safety and over all health of my animals while we are gone.

There. Feel better now knowing that I'm just keeping my children unsocialized for basic generic reasons?


Aside from that little jaunt there, I did get a kick out of the news blurbs on Yahoo this morning...
Jobless rates are higher than anyone expected but hey, they really think our depression is on the decline...however, the recent trend of us US folks living longer isn't all that true it seems, especially for those of us who are rural...so I suppose, technically speaking, that really cancels the jobless rate hike out, right? We don't live as long as we really think we do, so we aren't working as long, so there are job vacancies and jobless folks. There, I've solved our economics woes. Put the old folks to work, healthy and able or otherwise, our jobless rates will appear to decrease on paper at least and all will seemingly pick up with the despair level we are being fed by mainstream media.

And Ted Kennedy is practically begging for a change in Massachusetts state law so if necessary, he can lock in a quicker-than-normal replacement to his seat in Congress. He wants to make sure he can get the right person in there to vote on ObamaCare. I suppose if you're a Kennedy you can get that sort of treatment. Aren't they supposed to have some sort of vote for that? Not that it matters really. Money talks and those folks are about the only ones left holding extra money bags anyway. ObamaCare is as good as set in our concreted feet.

And a NZ man searched for a year -- a year -- for his wedding ring when it sank to the ocean floor. He'd been married just 3 months when he lost it, and he didn't want a new one, he wanted the one they were married with. How sweet is that? Of course I think he's a bit weird, saying that his friends who were there when it flew off his finger said it all happened in a great slow motion feat, rather like in The Lord of The Rings. Still, he did look for it for a year. Gotta give him cookies for that :o)

Sewing awaits. 7 dresses cut, 3 out of 6 pinafores already stitched and done. I need to cut another 3 dresses I think. Then we'll hit the boys. They aren't a high priority (sorry boys...) because I can purchase pants and alter store-bought shirts for them on the road if need be. I need boxers and still 2 more nightgowns also.

I'm going to bake some bread today -- Mennonite Girls Can Cook shared a yummy recipe for Oatmeal bread I'd like to try out. Ours will be with Prairie Gold flour instead of white -- she doesn't designate, but it's what we have here. I'd like to give the Soft Refrigerator Rolls a try as well.