Sorry, one more soapbox...food supplies

"I think the revelations have no doubt been alarming," said Gibbs. That a company which found salmonella in its own testing would continue to ship products "is beyond disturbing for millions of parents," he added.

FDA officials said they last inspected the Blakely facility in 2001, when it wasn't being used to make peanut butter.

It did not get much attention from the federal government again until earlier this year, when a shipment of peanuts from the plant was returned from Canada because it was contaminated with metal fragments. The FDA then asked Georgia authorities to inspect.

But the state inspections did not detect what FDA officials say was a salmonella problem at the plant dating back to at least June of 2007.

This is our food system here. Not just for one state, but for the whole of the US and Canada...and who knows where else any individual company ships to. They inspect these things how often? The salmonella problem dates back over a year? I mean, the plant wasn't even processing peanut butter at the time of its last inspection, and when it changed to processing PB no one thought to maybe put some kind of inspection into gear? And it shipped off products out of the country (as if location even matters) containing metal fragments, gets rejected by someone on the ball, and still no one pays much attention?

Yeah, I'm just itchin' to go to the grocery store more and more these days.

Nothing is safe. Not human food, not stock feed, not pet foods.

We have to get to the gardening full force this year on this homestead. Come hell or high water, this garden has to produce for us. It's what we are going to eat, plain and simple. If it doesn't do well and I can't find a suitable supply from someone we can put some trust in, we just aren't going to be eating it.

It's easier to go to the store when I need something, I'll grant you that, but is it worth our health and safety? Not hardly.

We need to get into a better habit of eating anyway, and the time isn't going to get any better to start. I don't have it all laid out, in terms of where everything would come from and such -- we don't grow our own grains here for flour and such, for example -- but I have some supply lines in place for a great deal of things...a trusted butcher who buys meat locally from trusted farms, until we have beef or other meat ourselves; a farm market with locally grown fruits and vegetables in season; an Amish community that sells to folks once in a while. I can work with that and just make changes to our diet. Honestly, we need to eat far more in-season fruits and vegetables anyway.

Which one of those homesteader books is it where they ate what was in season, fresh, and when that season was finished, they turned to other things? I totally can't think of their names -- a husband and wife couple, somewhere up in the New England states. Is it the Nearings? Anyway, they were way more 'raw' than I suppose I'll ever get this family to go with, but still...eating fresh during the growing season, and relying only on home-canned produce we can trace from soil to jar out of season.

I need to hone some more skills...pasta making is a big one for us. It's not difficult at all to do various pastas, like egg noodles, ravioli, tortellini, spaghetti and such. I'm just not set up for anything like elbow macaroni. I can bake breads of all kinds, and I need to work on finding a good way to make tortillas. We can grow a whole host of beans for drying, eating fresh, etc. Chickens for meat right now, and Dewey would like to get set up for a beef calf here. Hogs I can do without, thank you very much. Goats would be easier to raise here compared to a Jersey or other milker, even rabbits for meat.

More and more, with the recalls ever-growing in every direction, you just have to get prepared to live off what you can grow and raise yourself. Community would be so much better, but we don't have that here really. It's Abundant Blessings Homestead or nothing :o)

Glad to see the weekend!

My throat is still killing me. Not so much sore all the time as it is feeling as though it is simply coated. One false breath and bingo, I'm coughing up a storm and I swear it just rips my throat apart :o(

Ugh. I hate being sick. I don't have time for being sick. I'm a Mom...we don't get sick days :o( At least not this Mom.

I suppose it could be worse. I could have all 8 of them down with something. Even having 2 or 3 down with something would be a bit much for me right now.

One bright note in my mail today -- the woman who gave birth to octuplets...they already had 6 children. She refused selective reduction of the babies early on. I know several folks will jump on that bandwagon, saying they will be over-their-heads, already having 7 yo, 6 yo, 5 yo, 3 yo and 2 yo twins. I suppose I'd be feeling some moments of being overwhelmed with the daunting task of being a good mother to so many myself, let alone all of them being so young. But I say Bravo and God Bless Them Richly. Not many would have passed up the selective reduction with childdren at home that age.

I also saw where the FDA is wondering over the safety of a 50-year old pain killer in use. Hmmm...it's been around some 50 odd years and they are concerned over its safety? What does that say for all the drugs they've fast-tracked into use over the last decade? I have a long way to go in learning about medical uses for all the herbs and such I can grow and harvest myself, but I'd much rather take my chances with something from my own garden instead of the chemical-overload in all these fast-tracked drugs doctors push on you based on what the Pharmacy Rep offered them this visit.

On the Homestead Today -- we have restocked the wood bin on the porch, and gathered new kindling. LOL...how do you get children excited about roaming the timber for kindling? You start off by reading a few chapters from The Long Winter, then you hand them some baskets and pails and set them out toward the timber :o) They put in 4 5-gal buckets of cut-to-size sticks and twigs, and 3 baskets. And they found another motherlode of dry pinecones to boot.

I have a batch of beef in the canner, and a pot of chicken soup simmering along on the stove next to it. I haven't bothered with the cookstove the past many days :o( I just don't feel like dealing with it, as well as I know my mind simply isn't on the task. Not really on any task, to be honest. I have kept to smaller tasks...working on the crochet squares for the lap afghan, putting the questions and information on the school board for The Long Winter, via Prairie Primer, adding buttons to Abbey's birthday dress. She turned 9 years old yesterday :o)

All she wanted for her birthday was a gallon jar of dill pickles all to herself and $3 to spend at the Dollar Tree.

How many 9 year olds do you know who want such a thing for their birthday? A friend of ours bought their 9 year old a fancy MP3 player and loaded it with tons of music. The 'family' got a Wii on her birthday.

Mine just wants pickles she isn't having to share :o) And three dollars.

That's what keeping life simple will do. As long as she could get a trip into town and select her own pickles, she was thrilled.

President Obama:

"I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, it's part of the solution," he said. "You cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement."

"It's a new day for workers," said James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who attended the ceremony with other union leaders. "We finally have a White House that is dedicated to working with us to rebuild our middle class. Hope for the American Dream is being restored."

Of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, Obama said, "We're not forgetting the poor. They are going to be front and center, because they, too, share our American Dream."

Yes, Dewey was Union a lot of years. Still holds his Union card, actually, though he isn't working Union right now. My dad was a life-long Teamsters member as well. Probably half my family's men are Union-yahooers. Still, I'm not part of the Union hit-parade at all. I don't see the poor being lifted at all by anything Union, and I sure don't see this idea as being part of The American Dream, let alone restoring it. It's very name says it all...it's a task force on middle class families. I just don't find any sort of comfort in knowing the Union is tickled pink and doing the happy dance with Obama in office now. That so-called American Dream should be for everyone, Union aid or not, maybe even moreso without it.

But that's just another soapbox issue and I did say to a friend I would try to tone my soapbox issues down a bit, especially when I'm not feeling well and tend to be far more less-tactful in those moments.

An Award...

I was given an award for being a Kreative Blogger.

I don't know about being kreative at all, but Carie thought so and I thank her for reading here :o)

I am supposed to send this award off to 10 bloggers now.

I can't do it. There are far too many blogs I read and admire and enjoy.

If you are in my links, please grab the award if you feel so inclined and accept it with my prayers and blessings for continued kreative blogging!

Are there other links to this story?

Does anyone have any other news on this? I don't like seeing "news" from only one source. I'd like to see other points of view on these...

Economic stimulus? Feds want your medical records

Electronic database to include lawsuit, mental health, abortion, sexual details

Posted: January 27, 2009

9:00 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A little-discussed provision in President Obama's economic stimulus
plan would demand that every American submit to a government program
for electronic medical records without a choice to opt out, and it has
privacy advocates more than a little alarmed.

Patients might be alarmed, too, privacy advocates said, if they
realized information such as documentation on abortions, mental health
problems, impotence, being labeled as a non-compliant patient, lawsuits
against doctors and sexual problems could be shared electronically
with, perhaps, millions of people.

Sue A. Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom, said unless people have the right to decide "if and when" their health information is shared, there is no real privacy.

"President Obama has pledged to advance freedom," she said. "Therefore the freedom to choose not to participate in a national electronic health-records system must be upheld."

Blevins' organization, one of the few raising the alarm at this point,
said the stimulus plan would impose an electronic health records system
on every person in the U.S. without any provision for seeking patient
consent or allowing them not to participate.

"Without those protections, Americans' electronic health records could be shared – without
their consent – with over 600,000 covered entities through the
forthcoming nationally linked electronic health-records network,"
Blevins said.

The organization said Americans who care about health privacy should
contact members of Congress and the president to let them know about
the need for opt-out and consent provisions.

According to the institute, the measure currently includes plans for:An electronic health record "for each person in the United States by 2014."A national coordinator to develop a "nationwide health information
technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and
exchange of information. "The institute said the medical privacy rule established under the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 already
allows personal health information to be passed along without patient
consent for treatment, payment and "oversight." The recipients of such
information could be any of the people in the 600,000 organizations in
the industry.

"Nobody wants to stop the proper use of good technology," Blevins said, "and for some people privacy is not an issue."

But she said the bottom line is that patients "would end up losing control of his or her personal health information. "

"There's a lot at stake with electronically transferring health data
and paying claims within the $2.2 trillion healthcare industry," warned
the organization, which works on issues of health freedom in the U.S.

Another group, Consumer Watchdog, even suggested today Google is trying to lobby for the "sale of electronic medical records."

The group said, "Reportedly Google is pushing for the provisions so it
may sell patient medical information to its advertising clients on the
new 'Google Health' database."

Consumer Watchdog said, "Americans will benefit from an integrated
system capable of making our medical records available wherever we may
need them, but only if the system is properly used.

"The medical technology portion of the economic stimulus bill does not
sufficiently protect patient privacy, and recent amendments have made
this situation worse. Medical privacy must be strengthened before the
measure's final passage," the group said.

WND
previously has reported on attempts in Minnesota by state lawmakers to
authorize the collection and warehousing of newborns' DNA without
parental consent.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been successful in stopping the action there so far.

The Citizens' Council on Health Care
has worked to publicize the issue in Minnesota. The group raised
opposition when the state Department of Health continued to warehouse
DNA without parental consent in violation of the genetic privacy and
DNA property rights of parents and children.

Twila Brase, president of CCHC, said at the time the problem is that
"researchers already are looking for genes related to violence, crime
and different behaviors."

In an extensive interview with WND at the time, she said, "In
England they decided they should have doctors looking for problem
children, and have those children reported, and their DNA taken in case
they would become criminals."

In fact, published reports in Britain note that senior police forensics
experts believe genetic samples should be studied, because it may be
possible to identify potential criminals as young as age 5.

Brase said efforts to study traits and gene factors and classify
people would be just the beginning. What could happen through
subsequent programs to address such conditions, she wondered.

"Not all research is great," she said.

Classifying of people could lead to "discrimination and prejudice. …
People can look at data about you and make assessments ultimately of
who you are."

The Heartland Regional Genetics and Newborn Screening is one of the organizations that advocates more screening and research.

The group proclaims in its vision statement a desire to see
newborns screened for 200 conditions. It also forecasts "every student
… with an individual program for education based on confidential
interpretation of their family medical history, their brain imaging,
their genetic predictors of best learning methods. …"

Further, every individual should share information about "personal
and family health histories" as well as "gene tests for recessive
conditions and drug metabolism" with the "other parent of their future
children."

Still further, it seeks "ecogenetic research that could improve health, lessen disability, and lower costs for sickness."

"They want to test every child for 200 conditions, take the
child's history and a brain image, and genetics, and come up with a
plan for that child," Brase said at the time. "They want to learn their
weaknesses and defects.

"Nobody including and especially the government should be allowed to create such extensive profiles," she said.

The next step, said Brase, is obvious: The government, with
information about potential health weaknesses, could say to couples,
"We don't want your expensive children."

"I think people have forgotten about eugenics. The fact of the
matter is that the eugenicists have not gone away. Newborn genetic
testing is the entry into the 21st Century version of eugenics," she
said.

Then you also have these:
Economic Meltdown excuse for "New World"

But yes, I'm just way out there in my thought process, I know.
Hee hee...but I'll have plenty of TP stored away....in that massive underground bunker system I'm building in all this clay....

This is a TOTAL rant here...ignore if you like

I'm sorry, but I am simply on a rant right now and honestly, I probably shouldn't be addressing it in such a mood, but that's just me. Lump it or like. Do feel free enough to ignore me...and that includes sending those pretty flaming emails as well :o)

I am opinionated. Yes, I know. It's a great shocker, isn't it?

I am not the most tactful person you will come across. In fact, on a scale of 1-100, I am probably not at the bottom of the list, but I wager I'm pretty darn close to that final quarter section. That's just me. I rant, I rave, I have an unlimited supply of soapboxes on which to voice my opinion. Many are probably totally incorrect, none are going to be political correct, and most are not even going to make sense to anyone other than myself.

But, remember...it's just my opinion. You don't have to share it. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to continue reading it. That's the beauty of Internet. As quickly as you can find something, you can move off to something else. Even on dial-up you can move on quickly enough to save my inbox from nastiness and your blood pressure from rising.

Ahh, the joys of technology.

I am not in any way shape for form pro-war. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm anti-war either. I'm not really a fence-rider, I just think it's far more prudent to pick and choose wisely than it is to run headlong on a handful of emotions. (LOL...yeah, I know...running headlong on emotions is exactly what a rant is...)

I do not think we belong in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or wherever else we are walking around pushing American justice on the world at large. That said, I do have compassion for the many people living under oppression and plain ol' wacked out communistic government rule. I have a heart for those people, I do.

But when did the USA determine we needed to be the police force for everyone else? What level of pride does it take to believe you and you alone know what is best for anyone else?

I was told that a 'draft' for service isn't anything new. You're right, it hasn't always been a choice to take part in defending this country, but that's the part I totally disagree with. The lack of free choice.

Back during the draft years, there was far more 'patriatism' if that's what you want to call it. Young men thought it an honor for the most part to come to the aid of their country. But that's changed. I suppose, not being a scholar on war issues at all, it probably made its biggest shift with Vietnam.

Most folks are not behind this current war/conflict/whatever tag you choose to give it.
The purpose is not clear in anyone's minds and hearts as to the strength of connection it carries anymore.
We were emotional following 9/11 and rightly so given the scope of tragedy and terror we witnessed in this country. But our emotions were harnessed by the government and off we went to 'end the war on terrorism'.

That sort of makes us on even ground with some of those terrorists, doesn't it? I mean, really...they stood up for what they believed in and attacked us, so we grab our toys and march off to their backyard and attack them back. Returning terrorism for terrorism basically.

That connection of emotions just isn't there anymore. It was a dark day in our history, and the scope of destruction and death was horrible, and we watched it all on television and are not likely to forget those images any time soon. But our emotional levels are not at all where they were back then. Most polls show that people are not looking over their shoulders for more attacks as they were in those first months or even that first year; that the government ran quickly over there with a purpose but they slowed to a drag because they had no real plan of action behind that so-called purpose. It's gotten worse now in terms of those same polls. We are viewed as just ducks in row marching off pretending to have a plan in place.

Hey we are moving out of Iraq/Iran. Great news.
We are moving into Afghanistan instead.
Same mission, different country and still a distinct lack of PLAN in place.

To re-issue/reinstate anything resembling a/the draft is ridiculous in this day and age. It's more communistic at this point than anything. You cannot force patriatism on people. You cannot force loyalty or emotions on people. To make service of any kind a 'requirement' is just another huge step toward our lack of independence and lack of so-called American freedoms. It places us right there alongside any other communist nation, in history or present day.

Sure, the Muslims have what appears to be an unlimited backing to their course of action, but they are taught that from day one. They are brainwashed, if you will, to have a deep loyalty to their god and their call in life is to be a martyr. To die any other way is shameful to their family and their heritage.

Rather like those Japanese kamakazi pilots. Rather like Hitler's German forces.
Sure want the USA to be in those ranks. There's something to take pride in.

We don't have that here. Well, not that particular brand of brainwashing, anyway. Yet.
Forced military service isn't going to breed that. It's going to blow up in their very faces that way. To have someone forced to defend our country, to force them against their will and their conscience to walk the lines of an 'enemy' country in defense of our 'freedom' here goes against everything we have been raised to believe we have stood for in this country. It lays waste to every founding ideal we have taught over the past several generations. It makes for a very poor line of defense that isn't going to succeed on any level.

Might as well just line us up along the fence around our country, men, women and children alike, give us all guns and rocket launchers and whatever else is out there and we can just shoot it out and finish everyone off. Better yet, just push that big red button and be done with it. We can all be martyrs...for a system that isn't working in the first place.

I do not believe in this war one iota. My nephew is there. My brother is there. That doesn't change my viewpoint. We don't belong there playing god over another country because we feel we know best how to make them a better place. I would push my children strongly in the opposite direction of pairing up with anything military at this stage of our country. Were push to come to shove in more literal sense, I'd do my best to get out of dodge and pray for a hiding place.

We simply don't belong in any other country trying to push our methods of government and democracy onto each nation who appears beneath our standards. We have failed in maintaining our own country on virtually every level and in keeping our own heads above the water, what gall and extreme pride and vanity to parade into another country and call it 'help for an oppressed people'.

That doens't make me some anti-government, burying food and ammo in the back forty, bunker-living wierdo either -- though let me tell you, that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish there. We are getting so messed up here we aren't likely to make a return to sanity anytime soon. And I'm not saying those sorts are bad or wrong. I may be looking for one of those hidden bunker communities soon enough given this country's forward path.

America is hardly fit enough to be policeman to the world. CWe need to clean up our own back yards of all the accumulated poop piles and take care of our own. Not that we will, and not that it even matters. It's all just another plunge toward that one world order that's coming and bringing in the fulfillment of the Scriptures we've seemingly forgotten to read. Should The Lord continue to tarry, I'm sure our military will grow and reach Big Brother's arm out even farther and walk us closer to the destruction we're brewing for ourselves.

And yes, I have some presumably odd ideas...or maybe just a vivid imagination. I am suspicious of our colorful money and how virtually every other 'power government' out there has had that for years...and required all-digital broadcasting is just another step in you knowing and thinking what/when the powers-that-be want you to know and think it...all the GMO's, cloned animals, always new and improved vaccinations and medicines for everything under the sun; wonderful medical breakthroughs, I'll grant you...and a whole lot of unnatural stuff being put into your system based on who wants it there. I'm wonder why money is becoming something no one deals in anymore. You have to order via credit cards, debit cards or some nonsense like PayPal. No one wants checks, let alone cash money anymore. Everything in life is electronic -- your money is directly given to your bank, you pay your bills online with a click of a button, you get medical care with hardly any physical contact. You life is nothing more than an electronic blip in someone's computer.
Someone told me the other day that those hybrid cars will never make it over here because we prefer the large vehicles. A 'large' electric, green, hybrid car would be too cost prohibitive to not only build, but for the American family to purchase as well.
Do you honestly, truly, think that the auto industry or the government, should they make that last great step toward requiring hybrid vehicles be the only ones on the roadways, are concerned with the fact that you like your big SUV or that I need my 15 passenger van because I have a large family? I mean, really? You believe that to be true on any level?

Just because there are so many large families in the US or in the world, they wouldn't put something like that into force? Hmmm...some countries have laws against having more than one or two children. Some countries have laws against even owning cars...they use bicycles or walk everywhere. Some countries don't have grocery stores, Wal-Marts (imagine a place without Wal-Mart...seems odd, doesn't it, given their numbers here?) or any other large-scale shopping anything. People have to go to a town-sanctioned market, buy the foods given authorization by the government, and some even still have limitations on those foods and qantities.

But not here. Not in America, right? Yeah, ok. The fact I even think like that is probably just that rock I live under, I know. Heil Hitler...no wait, he's dead. Who's next in line?

Pictures from the last several days

Finally, the camera wants to be cooperative. Ignore the picture of me...don't click on it at all...trust me. That is my chore apron, it's wide and puffy and I look like a blue Pilsbury Doughboy in that thing. We do not want to click that photo any larger...honestly, I am not steering you wrong here. Just trust me on this one :o)

Today I am just miserable. My throat was a bit sore yesterday so I kept to lots of warm tea and such. At some point overnight, though, it changed on me :o( This morning I can barely speak. (yeah, the children are lovin' today...bet Dewey is sorry he's missing out on this...). My throat is so sore. I can't even explain how miserable my throat feels. I am sipping on anything and everything constantly, literally. The very second I swallow my throat is instantly dry and just feels icky.

Ugh. I hate being sick. I have a class to teach tonight and obviously, we're not going to church. I don't guess it will make much of a difference...with me not there, half the class isn't there either. We have work to do, and I hate missing my class -- we are working on putting together a VBS sort of program for the teens to teach our youngers the 10 Commandments. I'm trying to keep it on a bit more serious level and not so much games and snack time with a touch of Bible here and there as most VBS programs go. Oh well...one missed class won't kill anyone I suppose.

The children are doing school work right now with the Jennifer. Johanna is making a pan of cinnamon rolls and I'm going to start a big pot of soup with some ham. No idea what else I'll throw in there, but I have a hunk of ham left from a couple days ago and we need to use it. Then I think I'll just rest...I have some crocheting work to do for our ladies group and I can rest a bit while I do that. It just seems like I'm wasting the day if I'm sitting around not getting anything of real use done here :o( There are so many things I really need to be doing.
I hate being sick :o(

Ok, the pictures...
Never thought I'd be thankful for old, poorly taken care of tools around here, but I am. Jacob...yes, The Wild Child, who else?... decided he would tackle wood splitting while the olders were occupied with other things. He has little strength it seems, the axe is far too large for him, it's dull as a tennis ball...and David got in the way. That's a cut by his eye. Not anything remotely bad at all, just barely opened skin there, bled just a little considering it's a facial location, but still...he was hit by the axe. I cannot even entertain the idea of what might have happened on anyone else's homestead with decent tools in optimum condition.

Here's my monster cast iron pot browning up some 40# of ground beef for the canner. Kris, I so like that ground canned with some of the drippings! What a breeze to do. And it tastes so much more 'rich' compared to the boiled. Not that the boiled wasn't good, mind you, but this just has more deep flavor to it and worked up just as quickly I think.

Matthew working away on the wood pile...

...and Johanna working away as well...

And Mom working on the wood pile.

We accomplished quite a bit for a work day, I think. It's all stacked nice and tight and looking almost too pretty to use :o) We pulled 2 of those large 8 ft pallets from the barn to use on the ground. With all the rain we get and the clay soil that doesn't allow it to drain anywhere, I thought it was best to bring it off the ground at least a little bit with the pallets. Right now, with the sleet/rain we had coming, we covered it with plastic sheeting so we weren't trying to bring in nasty wet wood for use. We did bring a substantial amount up to the porch and stack it there for immediate use. I think we have about a weeks' worth up here on the porch.

I don't know if pine cones are the best to burn, but they are making the best fire starters for us. The children scoured the pine grove near the pond and filled 3 large feed/water buckets, and the large wheelbarrel with them -- good dried ones, too, from a dead tree back there. It's still loaded with cones waiting to fall off. The younger girls gathered those and the younger boys started digging into the underbrush and thickets for branches that were dry for our other kindling.

Makes for a nice fire that starts quickly and gets our logs really burning.
Considering that still green wood we had first off, I don't imagine I'm putting too much junk up the chimney at this point. You should see those pipes outside...I told Dewey I may have him replace them as they look old and nasty, drippy with creosote already and it's barely been 3 weeks. I imagine his eyes rolled...you could just tell by that tone in his voice when he said, "no, hun...don't think so".

I'm off to drown my throat in some salt water and get more hot tea to drink. I'm going to listen to the children's reading lessons while I work on that crocheting.

Clean Green

Share more with me :o)

Green Cleaning substances

Vinegar

Helps to remove stains, wax buildup and mildew.

Use to clean windows, fireplaces, grout, paintbrushes, glass and coffeepots.

Pure Soap

Helps to clean almost everything

Use to clean your dishes, car, kids bikes.

Baking Soda

Helps to clean and deodorize, will act as a scouring agent, polisher, stain removal and fabric softener.

Use to clean your plastic, vinyl, carpet, silver, stainless steel, drains and refresh your fridge.

Borax

Helps to clean and deodorize.

Use on wallpaper, painted walls and floors. Use it with your detergents to remove stains, and boost the cleaning power.

Washing Soda

Helps to clean clothing and soften the water.

Use it in a well ventalated area, wear gloves. Washing soda is moderately toxic.

Ammonia

Strong cleanser

Use it to clean carpet, linoleum, most appliances, copper and enamal. ALWAYS USE IN A WELL VENTALATED AREA AND NEVER MIX WITH CHLORINE BLEACH, THE MIXTURE WILL CREATE A POISONOUR GAS.

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Window and Glass Cleaner

While there is nothing unique about this recipe... it works!
Newspaper, Vinegar and Elbow grease!

All Purpose Cleaner

1/2 cup ammonia

1/3 cup washing soda

1 gallon warm water

Combine and use to clean your floors, tiles and painted walls. This will also deodorize so you will not have a need to use harmful deodorizes in your home!

Disinfectant

If you use environmentally cleansers regularily you will find they keep the air clean. Store bought cans etc.. contain many harmful ingredients.. and are costly.

Descaler

One part vinegar with two parts water is all you need to clean your kettle and iron.

Kettle - pour into the kettle bring to a boil, rinse well.

Iron - Put some in the reservoir, let it stand for 30 minutes, rinse well.

Tub & Tile Cleaner

Baking soda and a damp cloth will clean your tub and tiles. You may need to use a brush to get into the grout but this will do the job without an environmental hazzards.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Mix borax and lemon juice into a paste. wet the sides of the toilet bowl, rub and let stand for a few hours. Scrub off and flush! (if you don't have stains you can let stand for less time)

A Challenge: Buy Sustainable...

I found that on another site today -- I've linked the article/challenge there with that big green box in the sidebar :o)

While I know many who can and will do this without giving it much thought, I know just as many who would cringe at the mere idea of the challenge.

1. Ask Yourself if You Really Need to Buy it. Do you need it at all, or is it something you could live without? Can you reuse or repurpose something you already have? Maybe you have an old one in the garage that could be fixed up nicely (with the bonus of adding a repurposed/reused charm)? Or can you borrow it from a neighbor, friend or family, or even make it yourself? Also while we all need food, starting a garden will mitigate what you have to buy - you can grow vegetables year round. Plus when you start that garden, don’t buy seedlings - grow them from seed, and then save your own seeds for next year!
2. Buy Locally. Drive as little as possible to get the item, and buy it from a locally-owned and –operated business. It’s even better if the business makes the products locally, or has a local source for them.
   
3. Buy Fair Trade. Buy the item from a manufacturer that pays its workers an honest wage. AND Buy from a business with good business practices. If you have a choice, go for the business that gives back to the community, pays its workers well and gives them health insurance, and has good customer service. You may even find a business that has been built with sustainable building practices, and has taken steps to reduce its daily carbon impact.
4. Buy Green. This means different things to different people, but essentially, minimize the impact the item has on the environment, including the materials used to produce and package it.
5. Buy it to Last. Think twice about going cheap and easy. It’s no good for your pocketbook or the environment if you have to throw away an item when it breaks or looks ugly in a year or two, and then you have to buy another one. Instead, buy something that will last 5, 10 years - or better, a lifetime. For furniture, look at used furniture and antiques - what you find may cost the same as an item from IKEA, and it will last long enough to hand it down to your kids or your friends or someone in need. If you can’t afford good quality, wait a few months and save up to buy a good quality product that will last. In the long run, it will cost less in time, money, and environmental impact.

Could you do it? I mean really do it, 100%? Would you find an excuse to not do it for this or that item? Would you balk at jumping in headlong and complain you just weren't prepared for it now, but maybe wean yourself into the whole idea?

I think I would have some trouble in some areas, but we could easily make a very good go at it. Now, starting from scratch as we would be in many areas of this challenge, it would be a bit more costly compared to what I might be doing right now. The article addresses that. It isn't always about saving money, not that savings aren't a great thing mind you, but sometimes there is just something greater involved. Don't always look to the cost of sustainable items vs your stand-by disposable sorts. Sure, I can buy paper towels hand-over-fist because they seem cheaper in the long run...I'm not using the electricity or water to wash them...but that is really the only money issue involved, and it's more of a laziness issue for me than a cost issue. I'm not prepared to have little cloth toilet wipes hanging to dry along the bathroom wall, but honestly, that is truly the only disposable items I really would argue for around here. Cloth napkins, using hand towels for spills and the like all work better than disposable. And they aren't going into the burn pile or the garbage bin.

As the article says, it's all about being convicted and sticking to your guns in that conviction. It's hard to get out of the habits we've all been raised on...go to the store when you need it, get out that fancy appliance to mix it, blend it, bake it, wash it, dry it, etc. We tend not to buy much in bulk because we complain that there's no storage in our home for it, and besides those smaller packages are cheaper on the weekly budget. Forget that today's packages are shrinking in ounces and count yet we are paying more per unit for them. Forget we have to replace them on practically a weekly basis.

Folks, our family lives in a double-wide trailer. We have, according to measurements only, 2400 sq ft. BAH. I have 9 people living in that space, with all their individual stuff (that's another topic altogether!) and all of our combined stuff (yet another topic there as well!) and I buy everything I can get my hands on in bulk amounts. I don't buy less than 50# of oats and flour and sugars, I buy case lots of that precious toilet paper, I buy a case of laundry bars at a time to make laundry soap with or I buy a large 5 gallon tub of detergent (and I make it last at least 6mo, despite our too-large laundry needs around here). I buy powdered milk 5 boxes or more at a time, I buy yeast in 2# blocks and buy 6 a year. Schooling needs, cleaning needs, feed needs, supplies of whatever kind come to this homestead in the largest quantities I can get and haul on my own.

And I'm not storing it all outside on pallets under a tarp you know. I have every nook and cranny in this tin foil box filled with items....I have under-bed storage containers with bags of grains stored, I have put shelving up in every area I can get to (made over our master bath into a pantry because we didn't have one), I have 5 gallon pails with everyday grains for use, 6 qt canisters and gallon jars for storing everything else, pint jars for most spices and seasonings, etc.

If you want to buy in bulk and truly feel convicted that that is the way for you to go, you will find a way to store it.

If you want to buy only those things which are sustainable and as green as can be, you will find places to buy it, places to store it, new ways to use it, and even reasons for making do without things you think are prized and necessary now.

My point is (yes, I do have one tumbling about in here somewhere...) if you wanted a new car you'd move heaven and earth to go into debt and get it. you'd find a zillion reasons why it's best you get one instead of keeping what you have. Same with any other item you might be considering right now. If you want it, you'll have it no matter what the cost to you, your credit, or the planet you live on.

If you truly make the commitment to take on this challenge, you will find ways to make it happen. And you'll find those ways without flimsy excuses or whining about weaning into it all slowly. You'll be like the old Nike commercial and JUST DO IT.

One day you just might walk into my bathroom and find a pretty little container with cloth wipers soaking and a pretty little set of hooks with some already rinsed and drying on.

Maybe.

Maybe you'll find them hanging on the wall of our outhouse instead :o) At the end of the pretty little pathway lined with all manners of herbs and flowering medicinal plants, padded with wood chips from our tree cutting, log splitting moments.

Harnessing The Sun...

Dewey mentioned last night being interested in putting in some solar panels and seeing what we might be able to do with them here on the homestead.

I don't know anything of any use about solar panels...

...so I'm putting out the call here :o) What do you know about solar panels and their use, setting them up, what sort of power you might get from them, etc? Where do I start looking for information to get this going here?

I want to keep this idea on fire in Dewey's mind. It's another step to unplugging the grid's umbilical cord for sure. I want to gather everything I can for him to have at his fingertips to review and look at and ponder over for use here.

HELP!!!!!

Work for the night is coming...

I love that hymn, really. LOL...couldn't sing it if I had to, but I do like the words and the many thoughts it puts me in mind of...

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work ’mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man’s work is done.

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the sunny noon;
Fill brightest hours with labor,
Rest comes sure and soon.
Give every flying minute,
Something to keep in store;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man works no more.

Work, for the night is coming,
Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing,
Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is darkening,
When man’s work is o’er.

The first thought I get is The Lord is coming. Don't be lax in your own work here while waiting upon His Return. We need to be doing all the good we can now, keeping our faith held high and not being ashamed of The Gospel. Soon enough our time to make a difference in the lives of those around us who might not yet know the promises of His Word or know Him personally will be through and He will return to collect His Bride. Do not tarry in following The Lord! You never know when your time to do His Tasks will be done.

But today, that song popped into my mind more times than I probably remember. We had a work day here to be sure. Dewey's boss was wonderful and brought us a load of firewood. Seasoned and dry wood...not the 'slightly green' stuff we bought and paid for being in a hurry and a pinch for instant wood :o( Sure is nice to not have all the mess from that other wood. And wow, had I forgotten what it's like to lug about still green wood vs dry wood! Talk about a weight difference.

To fully appreciate this wood (as though just being gifted it wasn't enough!) you have to know how it came here...their shop is in Jackson, TN....a good hour from us. They brought this wood down to us, taking a chunk of their day just in the driving to and from. What a blessing it is.

Before the load arrived, we did some much (much) needed yard cleaning and clearing so we looked a bit more presentable around here. That alone was a project in itself and truthfully, we still have plenty to do out there. Oh so much junk ;o(

We moved all the green wood over to a new location for stacking. The children brought 2 of the large pallets from the barn (a good 8 ft size, made with 2x4's...heavy and then some). They began moving the wood over there, but it turned out to be rather piled and not properly stacked, so we moved it all and started over with more supervision and help from me this time. I certainly can't have some lopsided, ill-stacked wood pile waiting to tumbled over on a younger.

As soon as the camera feels like cooperating, I'll add some pictures to this post. Today it seems to have a mind of its own :o(

We definitely have more than enough wood for this season out there now, and a great start on next winter as well. Now to start combing the woods around here for more. Keeping wood on the homestead is an all-season project, and with Dewey gone, that means we get to man the saws and timber ourselves this year.

What kind of day will it be?

One of those days.

We have to have them, I suppose.

It rained last night, so the mud is back around the homestead.

We have been cleaning in force outside. We have so much stuff...read: JUNK... lying around out here. Most of it is in 'piles' or at least sectioned off somehow, but still. It's junk. And it's not a small amount, either.

But, we've at least made good strides at taming the junk monster now. Though taming isn't what needs done, but it's a start and I'm happy with it.

Today is slipping by and here I am...on the computer instead of really working at the list of things that need/should be tended to. It's sunny out, the air is warm and cool both -- a very comfortable blend of winter and spring. It's muddy, but still...we have things that need done.

I have to get into town and pay the water bill. I was in yesterday, it was on my list, but I completely spaced it out and didn't drop it off. Can't mail it. It's due Monday and if it's not in their drop box waiting on them to open the door, they will be out here to cut it off, no ifs-ands-or-butts about it. No excuses. And, of course, they'll charge me a $30 fee for their trouble to boot.

So, it' a trip back into town.

You know, for as far out and rural as we live, we are really only 13 miles from driveway to town here. Mind you, it's seems much farther, with the twists and turns coming off this 'mountain' area down to town. I can't believe I forgot to drop it off :o( What a waste.

I am going to get to some sewing later, as well. I have 2 pinafores for Emily waiting on binding, and a dress for Abigail's birthday next weekend. Still need to do her an apron, too. And I need a new good dress. I always put off making myself anything, but I really do need to get one done. I picked up some really pretty upholstery material at Hobby Lobby while in Tupelo with Debi. It's a pretty light blue and floral panel print. My last decent kitchen apron was made of upholstery material and it got morre and more soft with each washing. It lasted me a good 15 years, really. I've patched and stitched and repaired that poor apron so many times. There's really nothing more to do with it but take what's left and turn it into scrap rags now.

I can't wait to make the new one and see how it turns out. I hope it's jus as soft and lasts at least half as long.

But, nothing is going to get done sitting here, is it?
What are your plans for the day?

I'm a bit out there, I know, but...

...should I be concerned, or at least a bit 'thoughtful', of this Treasury Secretary designate Timothy Geithner? I mean, sure, you can have some problems using those TurboTax type tax programs yourself, but to the tune of some $34000 in taxes you 'forget' to pay? For 4 years running, you still can't figure out that you did something wrong? Does someone in his position with his sort of finances even use those sorts of tax prep programs? Well, obviously he did, but still...

We made a mistake once...the IRS is hardly what one might call lapse, or slow, in letting you know you owe them money. They are only slow when it comes to them making an error to send back to you.

But this man is going to be the Treasury Secretary? Does that seem a bit, oh I don't know, idiotic to say the least?

I know, I'm not politically saavy and I should just keep my rambling thoughts of the government uselessness and total idiosity to myself. It's like that new stimulus check we'll all be waiting on...I like getting money as much as the next person, but I'm not really stimulating the economy with any of it. I don't think you are going to stimulate anything with those checks, and certainly not the loused up economy we're walking in. We need jobs, new job training for folks out of a job needing to turn a whole new direction, etc. Those stimulis government checks are nice, but really not the answer to anything long term. It's a band-aid, and not even a good one.

What's that saying -- you can give a man a fish and feed him for the day, or you can teach a man to fish and he can feed himself the rest of his days. We'd be better of teaching these folks that they shouldn't even be getting a tax refund...you loaned how much to the government from each of your paychecks over the year, then get some sense of excitement because they give it back to you after you jump through their hoops???
Heeellllloooo there....anyone home??? Up those 'exemptions' on your paycheck paperwork and stop giving folks money while you sit there struggling paycheck to paycheck every week to even pay your basic bills, let alone the frivolous things you're buying on those credit cards. You are walking in debt and you're happy to do it apparently because you keep doing it the same way over and over again. It's not illegal, you know, to not pay into the tax folks...just pay enough to cover what Caesar is due...keep the rest in your pocket. You want to loan out money for nothing and then play a game of hoops to get it back? Send it to me :o)

I know...I'm a bit out there for most folks. And yes, I know that idiosity isn't a real word, but it should be...it's kinda fun to say :o) Anyone coming by here should know by now I tend to say what rolls around my (sometimes empty) mind at any given time, and I don't necessarily find a tactful way to say it. I often make no real sense to anyone other than myself...I've learned to deal with that and so have most folks who know me :o) Just ask Debi....

Cooking Can Be...Interesting

I will get how to cook on this stove. We will be able to eat fairly decently based upon my cooking on this cookstove.

No telling how many applications of my B&W Ointment for burns I'll be using in the meantime...

LOL...seems I'm rather clumsy at wood cooking. I keep forgetting it's not my regular stovetop -- note to self: stop moving the pan around without a pot holder! I have burns on my fingers, a touch of burn markings on my forearm...

Now, last night, we cooked a pot of ham and bean soup...and it cooked :o)


And I did a peach crisp...yum

I did a pan of cornbread, too...stop laughing...I do know that it needs to be watched more closely, and turned for more even baking...not that I did any of that as you can clearly tell by the blackened/cajun look to that side of the pan...


And here, some lessons learned from the cooking escapades already...this is breakfast this morning...totally woodstove cooked...I can do the on-top-of-the-stove stuff much better than that in-the-oven stuff......pancakes in the warming oven...made in my 10in. skillet.

They came across my cast iron 'missing collection' in the building...the 10in flat griddle, my 14in skillet, a 12 or 14 qt dutch oven, and my cast iron kettle. We did some serious scrubbing with some wire brushes on things this morning, gave them a good coat of shortening and heated them a bit. They look so much prettier now :o) The kettle is on the wood heater, adding humidity to the room.

I'm a bit sloppy while cooking...note the bit of a mess with pancake dribbles and such...

BUT WE ATE GOOD THIS MORNING :o) That's the whole point...that's my goal here...

Miss Emily...

Maybe I should call her Miss Hammy...she's cheesing it up for me to take pictures :o)
She's in a pair of play sunglasses and must think she's a movie star or something...she pulled a bandana on and started swinging around in the desk chair making faces.

Resale shops are spared...for the time being

This was posted at Choosing Voluntary Simplicity...and I just got around to reading. Doesn't really give a breath of relief to folks like Etsy, EBay or even simple folks like us with yard sales and such, but maybe it's a small bit of common sense coming around (yeah, well, I don't really think so either, but I'm trying to be Mary Sunshine here...)

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act — A Reprieve

Last week it looked like the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act might put an end to thrift stores, consignment stores, and home crafters who specialized in children’s products.

Then the Consumer Product Safety Commission attempted to calm the public outrage. Their press release, with the bloated title of “Requirements of New Children’s Product Safety Laws Taking Effect in February; Guidance Intended for Resellers of Children’s Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores,” was supposed to clarify the confusing new law. Instead it left many more important questions still unanswered.

Although the clarification does state that resale stores can continue to sell children’s toys and clothing without being required to test each individual product for lead, the Commission’s statement warns that the penalties are high for selling children’s products that do contain lead… and that violators will face strict penalties. A reprieve of sorts, but it still sounds a lot like a no-win situation, doesn’t it?

The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.

The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties.

While CPSC expects every company to comply fully with the new laws resellers should pay special attention to certain product categories. Among these are recalled children’s products, particularly cribs and play yards; children’s products that may contain lead, such as children’s jewelry and painted wooden or metal toys; flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts; toys that lack the required age warnings; and dolls and stuffed toys that have buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard for young children.

–press release from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, January 8, 2009

There were no clarifications or reassurances for the handcrafters and small businesses selling new items on a small scale, or for the people selling used children’s toys, books, and clothing online. The public anger isn’t going to go away on this issue. Look for more clarifying press releases coming soon…

To read more:

• Resellers breathe sigh of relief after lead-testing law is eased; secondhand stores won’t have to check all items for children
• Consumers, shop owners breathe big sigh of relief
• Lead rule weighs on kids’ clothiers
• Resellers spared lead tests for toys
• Consignment, thrift store owners questioning lead law standards
• Safety law has consignment store owners and sellers of homemade baby items concerned

Hmmm...one could easily starve...

especially if they relied on me to cook on the cookstove :o(

I'll admit it. Were that my only source of cooking, we'd go hungry.

I did get the fires going yesterday -- I cheated and filled the firebox with large coals from the heater -- but I couldn't have fried an egg on that stove if my life had depended on it :o( I simply couldn't keep (or get?) it hot enough. I can't imagine baking in it at all.

I'm a sorry excuse for a true homesteader looking to be off-the-grid. Goodness, one of the major task of an off-grid homestead is figuring out HOW TO EAT. I have 9 people here beside myself who would certainly be relying on my abilities in the kitchen and on that cookstove were we to take that step to self-reliance and all.

And we'd be eating store-bought bread and cold sandwiches considering yesterday's waste of time :o(




Ok, pity party over. I'm stubborn. I'm going to get the better of that stove and that's all there is to it. I don't particularly like cold sandwiches. I want hot bread I've made myself...and maybe even some hot ham and melted cheese on my sandwiches. Even if it's PB&J, I prefer my bread toasted, so HA! I have no choice. I have to learn how to build a decent and somewhat substantial fire in that firebox. I have to learn how to not only cook decently, but get it going well enough for the oven to be of use for me. Even with the electric range I use my oven more than I use anything else. Learning to use that oven is a big deal around here.

Tips, thoughts, ideas...help!

Ahhh...the warmth of wood...

Sure, it isn't exactly all that cold right now here, but still...it's getting cold still overnight, down in the mid to upper 20's.

It was cold in here Friday and Saturday with windows being pulled out, Dewey coming in and out with cement board, blocks, pipe, etc. And the camera, well, it's all in the person using it I suppose. It's our video camera -- a bit touchy with focus indoors moreso than outdoors. Excuse the fuzzy photos :o(

I once had double front windows in that room. And a sewing room filled with all my sewing goodies and fabrics and such.


Dewey and Matthew are putting up the cement board on the floor and walls. Note that we started well early enough...yet it's getting dark and we are still on the cement boards...
Seeing as it was growing a bit too dark (and cold) to piddle about outside, we concentrated on putting the blocks down over the cement board for the flooring/hearth, etc.


Saturday, Matthew helped line up the pipe for Dewey to anchor in place (they are just a touch inward, but not too bad)...oh wait, I didn't buy anything for mounting and anchoring :o( Those little white legs at the roofline there...LOL, necessity IS the mother of invention, right? Those are my shelf brackets from a shelf that was in the sewing room. Dewey can be resourceful when he's not on the job in the big city :o)

Dewey figured as long as he was framing up windows and covering the are with that cement board, he might as well go ahead and put in the cookstove...yeah for me :o)

Once the heater is given a much better cleaning and maybe a good coat of stove black or something, it will look better. That, and some paint on the cement boards on the wall...and after I finish figuring out where to relocate some of the remnants from the room-that-was...
Ain't that a pretty fire there? There is some sort of sensor that kicks in the blower...and wow does it blow! I burnt my arm today from the heat coming out of the blowers (you can barely see them along either side of the door there...) Ah-ha...first casualty and teaching moment of the wood heating experience. The olders have all grown up with wood heat, but from Abigail (8) on down, they don't really remember much of it.

Here's the fire in the firebox of the cookstove :o) Isn't it pretty? Not that I have Clue One what I'm doing, but I boiled water on it once we tested it out here. That's a start, right? Now to get a fire built for real cooking...and learning to do some baking.

I'm right proud of my husband, coming home to get some heat for his woman and the children :o) Right now, over there in Arkansas, it's getting cold tonight...and he is sitting without any heat of his own. The furnace seems to have issues of its own, and it fried it's own motor now. He called the lease company and they said they'd send someone out tomorrow.

Wish I could send you some of this heat, honey...it's really really warm in here.

BRRR BRRR and triple BRRR!!

Ok, when I called Dewey and told him I needed heat and we needed to put the woodstove in, I guess we had different thoughts LOL.

To me, that statement means GET HEAT :o)

To Dewey, it means ok, rip out the 2 front windows.

Frigid 13 outside right now, and my poor 'I hate winter' husband is standing outside framing what once was a set of double windows for my stove pipe. Last night, after driving all over from Corinth to Tupelo, we found all the Durock we needed (cement board) and he covered the entire front half of my sewing room, floors and walls.

This morning, he pulled out the windows from the outside, and is framing up for the outside sheeting and the wall thimbles to go through for the pipe.

Notice the use of the plural there on thimbles??????

He decided it was plain stupid to do all that work for the heater and later do the cookstove. So he's doing them BOTH now!!!! He took out both windows, side by side, and is installing the heater and the cookstove today.

I'm excited...I'm freezing in here, but I'm excited :o)

Last night we put the space heater into the hallway and closed the door so the heat filled the children's room very nicely. The other heater went into our room. The living spaces here dropped down really cold, but at least we slept warm enough. We have baking and such to do today so that warmed it up good.

The heat pump chugged along at 1/4 speed it seems all night. Not enough to bring the temps up inside at all -- personally, I think we just twirled the electric meter and threw money out the door, but.... -- Dewey managed to get it putting out something that resembled a slightly heated breeze. We maintained about 42 last night inside the living spaces out here.

I took lots of pictures of the poor guy working in cramped quarters here. He laid out the cement board on the floor and up the walls for the woodstove. I'll worry about painting it later -- I just can't wait for real heat ;o) He's framing the outside windows up for the outer sheeting now, then he'll cut the wall thimbles in. I need to find some heat-tempered/resistant caulking stuff (yeah, I'm so technical, aren't I?) and we need some mortar mix yet as well. They didn't have it last night at the one store.

I'm off to put another mega roast in the oven for today. I'm going to slow cook it until about 4 or 5 this evening...I want the heat of the oven, but I want to entice my dear hubby with the smells of beef and mushrooms simmering all day in the oven, too :o)

Woo Hoo...brrrr...Woo Hoo

Woo Hoo....Dewey and Johanna just pulled in the driveway (it's 9:30 Wednesday night).

Last night the heat pump went out.

For normal folks living in the regular world who have things like furnaces and such as we did up north, the heat pump is down here is part of our central unit. It does what it says in its name...it's our heat.

Well, it was our heat.

Last night at 9 pm we had great heat pumping through the vents. Good thing when it was supposed to be around 20 degrees overnight. Good thing, that is until about 10 pm when the temp was dropped to 64 in here and there was a definite cold flow of air coming from each vent.

Jennifer and I battled that thermostat, checked breakers on the pole and in the unit. We got nowhere. LOL...not surprising, seeing as we don't know anything about that kind of stuff. We finally called Dewey and woke him up. My dear husband was fast asleep and not in the mood to be awake it seemed. He fell back asleep on me during the first call. I hung up.

He called back several minutes later and asked why I hung up.

I was tired, I was getting rather chilled. Let's just say the pretty picture of a happy wife and contented husband wasn't what we had going on. He was testy...I do suppose I had a hand in that attitude...and I was rather testy. I was asking questions, he didn't have a clue with this style thermostat, he told me to find the wiring diagram in the paperwork and we'd go over it...over the phone...

I'm about as electrical-minded as I am an architect, folks. I'm looking at the diagram, he's asking me this and that, and I'm just staring at it. It's not color-coated, so it was all Greek to me. I was looking at the wires telling him what color this one or that one was. He needed to know what the diagram said this or that was.

I imagine it was about like the scene after God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel.

Needless to say though, my dear husband is now home and tomorrow we will pick up the wood heater, the man will be in the morning early to deliver a full cord of seasoned, dry wood, already split for me, and we will start tearing out the window and building a wall and installing some much desired heat ;o)

I love my husband :o)

Even if he can't explain electrical stuff to me :o)

Allergies, the TV Cord and pizza cravings...

I'm cold.

I know, I know. I have said many (many) times that I don't get cold down here. Normally, I don't. It's rather windy today and it's cool and I do believe I'm just exhausted and probably coming down with something :o( Better not be more than a cold. I'm still battling this whatever-it-is allergy and that's about all I care to take on right now. It's been far too long with this already. The doctor called yesterday and told me if I don't clear up they will refer me to an allergist.

An allergist. I don't even want to know what that's going to cost. Dewey said if I need to go, I just have to buck up and go. I'm not looking forward to going, but honestly, it's driving me nutso here. And the kicker -- I still don't know what brought it on. I have small patches of itchy-ness on my face, arms, shoulders, etc. We have gone over everything here with a fine-toothed comb...bed linens, checking any food that might have changed, laundry soap, bath soap, shampoo, everything we can think of. Nothing has changed.

Dewey said I'm stressed. I don't see that really...yes, he's gone and we are playing single parent family here, but really I think we are handling it well. Not that we don't miss him terribly, I just don't see myself breaking out with some reaction over it. Sorry, dear.


We watched TV last night. Wanted to catch the network's "soft test" of the digital switchover. I'm actually happy to report that as of Feb 17th, unless the government puts their foot down and postpones the digital revolution, we will be television-free once and for all. During their soft test last night, we were a black and white speckled fuzzy mess of nothing. Ahh, I'm anxiously awaiting the middle of February.

Ok, I will miss some of the upcoming Masterpiece Theater showing on PBS. We like things like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and such. But, alas, our 3 year old TV just isn't up for the next generation. It will be totally under the control of my queue over at Netflix now. Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, some select episodes of Little House on The Prairie, Avonlea/Road to Avonlea, and some schooly things like Nature and The Life of Mammals, The Life of Birds, and 30 years of National Geographic specials, etc.

Typically, you can get Netflix rather quickly, but we live on the other side of nowhere out here, so no matter how quickly we watch a movie and plunk it back into the mail, it takes about a week for us to get another one. We have a 5 movie plan right now, so on a good month, we can get about 22 movies on average for our fee. We do have 2 video stores in town, but it's a college town. They pretty much stock things we aren't interested in watching...blood, gore and junk. I know...in the realm of going simple, Netflix probably isn't getting us there, but we are working on it. Television has been a large part of our history. If I didn't lack strength of conviction in this area (I do think we can find some useful things to watch...same as I can find some useful things online), I would definitely say CUT THE CORD completely...GO COLD TURKEY to rid yourself of the ties that hold you. Slow weaning very rarely works to break addictions. I'm not saying it can't be done that way, but statistically, it never happens. Just a thought there.

The deer is ready for us to pick up so off we go. I'm really breaking simple living goals here. I'm thinking pizza from town for dinner. I don't feel up to making one, but man am I craving a Pizza Hut pan pizza....I'm such a starch person today. I just want thick warm crust with a touch of sauce and lots of cheese...maybe some mushrooms and green peppers, too...for color, you know :o)

Whew...furniture moving is tiring

Jennifer and I (all the children are helping in one way or another...) are getting everything set up for the wood heater coming in this weekend.

The living/dining room area just won't work for it. Not on a practical 'we-have-to-walk-around-and-live-in-here' sense anyway. The clearances, even with the cement board on the wall, just sticks out too much.

So, the wood heater will be going into the sewing room.

Ahh, I once had a sewing room. Everyone who sews, wishes to have a room just for them to lay out their sewing goodies in...fabrics, notions, patterns, everything. I had that. A whole room to myself. Now I'm doing away with it. My machine has been set up out in the dining room so I can get to the basket of sewing needs/musts and still be a presence for schooling and such. It's worked out pretty good in there so far.

What is technically the dining room in this trailer holds my wall unit bookcases/desk, the cookstove was moved into there a few days ago, a small curio cabinet, and a monster-sized, weighs a ton, brass and pewter bakers rack. Jennifer and I moved the bookcase wall unit contraption yesterday.

Whew...first off, I'm very proud that we won that Ashley Comfort & Joy thing a couple years back. It was a tremendous blessing, truly it was. But the furniture has held up much much less than any other furniture we've ever had. I suppose that's simply how things are made these days. There's more money in your having to replace things on a regular basis than to keep it through the years :o( For all the cheap materials this stuff is made of, though, it's sized to be bulky to move and has a zillion screws holding it together.

It literally took us all day to move that thing. We emptied all of the school books and such from the unit and started taking it apart. We covered up the entire dining room with school things....my bedroom with sewing things...and 3 garbage bags with items to the burn pile. I'm such a pack-rat :o( You know, of course, I'll now come up with a hundred and one uses for the things we burned away yesterday.

Here is the sloppy, overloaded "before" in the middle of taking things away, sorting and moving:
Yes...we MUST go get water this week. It's been nothing but rain lately here and we haven't been able to go for 3 weeks now. If I can't get it this week, we'll have to buy more.

Here is what we have now, in the living room, opposite the end of the dining room table:
I used to have a dry erase board up on that wall, and our alphabet chart. I have no idea where the recliner is going yet. For now, it just sits there, sort of in front of the unit. Oh well, no one ever comes over to visit, so who'll know?
The empty shelf now has our set of The Book of Life series (the KJV Bible written without line or chapter breaks, with photos of each region sprinkled throughout. We love this set!) and we'll have it filled later this week when the school books arrive. We are still fine-tuning the shelves at the bottom.

The sewing room is sort of 'ready' for the stove now. I need to find homes for some of the items yet still lingering about in there is disarray, but for the most part, it's ready to go. We can't move the bakers rack. No way. It takes Dewey and Chris to do anything with it. Jennifer and I don't have a chance of so much as scooting it across the room. Now for a good scrubbing and getting the cement board on the wall and floor, relocating the miscellaneous 'stuff' still without a home.

I had to move my violets...I hope they don't stop blooming with the change of lighting now. I set a lamp up on the desk for them until I can find them another sunny location.


I've got to get to some sewing today no matter what. I still have meat to can up, but we forgot to pull another batch from the freezer yesterday, so I'll have to do it up tomorrow. Right now, the pressing need is pants for the boys!

Civil Defense a Requirement for Citizenship?

Thanks D for posting this...



Citizenship is not an entitlement program. You have to take part in the military in order to be a citizen of the United States?

Universal Citizen Service. Universal Citizen Defense Training.

Required? 3 months of basic training then required to serve in civil defense?

Might not get to have a college education unless you sign yourself into military slavery?

This 'plan' Rahm Emanuel is touting wouldn't be voluntary. It would be a requirement for all youth, all young men and young women, to sign up for what amounts to civil defense slavery.

I'm not anti-military really. My opinion on the war/conflict/problem/issue, whatever you wish to call it, isn't really important. Neither is yours. Whether or not you or I believe in the war at large or in the military itself isn't important to anyone, let alone the government. I pray heartily and deeply for all of our men and women serving our country. No, I do not wish for nor encourage my children to go into the military, especially given our current trend of action. Some do. It's a personal choice.

No matter what side you stand on with a thought to this country, its military or the war at large, it's A CHOICE you have made for yourself and for your family. You were not dragged out of bed in the middle of the night in some civil defense draft and taken against your will. You chose freely to defend your country and stand strong.

My nephew is currently in Afghanistan and has been there this past year and will most likely be there until at least the middle of next year. My brother is serving yet again...He has been out of the Marines for years now, but has served continually since that time as a non-military presence in several areas...he was in Iraq/Iran before most folks even knew there was something brewing over there, way back when.

It is their choice. I thought that was what this country was built on. The word FREEDOM was rather prominent in the vocabulary of the day for our Bill of Rights, our Constitution...the founding of our government in general. Wasn't it? Thought that was the line I was taught all through my school years.

Guess we should have seen it coming. It's not like it's been in hiding all along. We are moving away from being America to becoming Amerika.

I thought it was only in the movies....it's the middle of the night and something is happening in houses up and down the street. In the morning you wake up and realize you have friends, neighbors, even children who are simply gone, without notice or trace. What if you try to hide those friends, those neighbors, your children from the military police squad coming to take them for their 3 month mandatory training and subsequent service?

We can't continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve national security....
President-elect Barack Obama

We have to have a civilian security force.

Maybe I don't dispute that we need that. Maybe I do. The point is when was it decided that you are not a true-hearted citizen of this country unless you serve in its military? We have FREEDOMS in this country...this isn't Russia (well, not just yet, anyway...), this isn't Iran or Iraq...we don't snatch children or our men and women from their homes and families and force them to render service unto the government-led military forces.

My children do not belong to the government. My children are US citizens by simple birth and perhaps nothing more it seems. My children belong to God and should not be subject to the desires of a government not following God's path.

Maybe I do want to be one of those way-out folks who stash food and other needs in various areas so when the time comes to make a rather hasty leave, we can do it with a small footprint left behind.

For the Greater Good...?

A government that would penalize a company for showing a profit by forcing the company to 'share the wealth under our rules', regardless of what that company sells or who owns it, is a simple step away from a government that says 'if you plant a garden and reap a harvest, you must share it with the government so we can share it with everyone for you in the way we see fit'.

This was a remark made on a group I visit, in a rather heated conversation regarding President-elect Obama's energy bill ideas. Personally, I don't know much about what plans are in the making or being discussed. It's that rock I live under, you know. When they make a definite decision, I'll know about it then. They way the government alters its course of action on any given thing, I won't believe one way or the other until it's a done deal. Talk is cheap. Action is where the rubber meets the road.

You know, back in the Y2k days, you could not have a well drilled without the city and government being notified, even if simply reworking an existing well on your property.

Of course, it's all done "for the greater good" in the event of emergencies or when martial law is needed. There might be a state of emergency and the government might need to confiscate your potable water.

And no doubt sell it back to you later, or tax you on it for using it.

Guess it's all about your perception of how friendly the ol' Big Brother is, really. I'm certainly not some renegade lone wolf sort, burying ammo and food stores in my back yard in PVC pipes or anything. But I do suppose I'm a touch paranoid of government friendliness to a point.

I just want to live a nice quiet little life here, away from the fast-moving world. I don't want the government to worry about whether or not my children have social security numbers, or have amassed a thick file of doctor and dental visits. I don't need them worrying about what curriculum I use, or how I represent our religious faith in day to day life. It's not necessary that they worry about what mileage I put on my van, where I prefer to shop, or what I buy when I do shop.

That lead law legislation we're all buzzing about lately seems utterly insane to me. Sure, I understand the ills of lead and all that, but the sheer ignorance of the scope presented is just insane. Every item out there that may be guided toward children....every item, every book, every individual component of every item manufactured? And make it retroactive to boot?

Every single item sitting on a rack, shelf or display at Wal-Mart...Target...KMart...Costco...the list is absolutely endless. And it's not just every store, every shop, every seller out there...it's every item and component of every item they have on hand and in view now, sitting in a warehouse or other storage, etc. I can't even wrap my mind around the volume we're talking about here. It's just every thing.

Good-bye to the smaller businesses that help us not be a Wal-Mart clone. Mom & Pop shops are going the way of Route 66 as it is, this just moves them along faster. No more scenic drives...it's all 6-lane highways and toll roads.

How can you check and verify every single item and every component of every single item? Not just the fabric of the clothing -- it's the thread, the inks and dyes in the threads and the fabrics, the snaps, the buttons, the zippers, and the inks and dyes in each of them as well. All the items in the store you see, and all the items waiting in the store room to be brought out, and all the items waiting at the mega-distribution warehouses all over the US. That kind of control is too much. That kind of control will limit what we can buy, naturally, all supposedly for the greater good. The government is going to decide what we need to have available to buy and choose from by making it too much of a hardship financially for us to choose for ourselves. Those companies footing the bill for all this retroactive testing certainly won't eat the cost of it themselves.

The worst economic times we've seen 2 generations, and legislation like this comes about now.

And then the digital revolution with these television changes due to lock into place next month. The "all digital revolution" might not work as well as they first planned. Seems they have noticed/determined that several million homes don't yet or won't be able to have the converter box in time to make the switch to all digital broadcasting. Some 25 million requests were sent in for some 48 million converter boxes...and the government ran out of them and have no more to sell off. Don't have one yet? You'll be sitting in a world of fuzzy television come Feb 17th.

The government is worried about those of us being left behind. Nevermind some of us might want to be left behind...and forgotten about. But they are concerned that just too many households won't have the switch made and will be left in the dark, so they are now talking of placing the digital revolution on hold, temporarily.

Yes, I know a reason for this switch is so emergency systems will have access to more analog channels for broadcasting and the like. Police, fire, ambulance, Homeland Security, State of Emergency, etc. That's not a bad thing at all. I'm not saying it is.

But why is the government worried about some folks not being ready for the switch? So many don't even have to worry about it -- they've sold themselves out to the cable and satellite companies already. Forget the fact that those cable companies and satellite providers charge ridiculous rates for their service, and they change their rates just about as often as they bill you. No one minds that. They just don't want to be left unconnected to the world. Forget that those hi-def fancy plasma and LCD television sets use upwards of some 300% more electricity to operate. So much for the lofty talk of our country moving ahead toward a Green Revolution and reducing our 'carbon footprint' and all that. Forget that with this fancy digital revolution, you are at the whim of any governmental office not only to track your viewing preferences and sharing what information they want you to know, they can stop that flow to spoon feed you whatever information they feel is necessary. They couldn't always stop your television viewing before to spread their news, but they can once the switch is made.

What exactly will happen if stores and sellers in the US can't certify their current stock, or afford to purchase the new stuff that is certified? What exactly will happen if households can't get those converter boxes and come next month, they live a life blacked-out from the information highway streaming into their personal homes?

I'm not concerned about what will happen when all of this takes place...not as concerned as I am that we have been blind enough to bring ourselves to such a place of submission and robotic following that we think it's for the greater good that it does happen this way.

Amerika, Amerika...God shed His Grace on Thee...

About the CPSIA law...

Kim posted some YouTube clips about the impact of the 'new' CPSIA law...a bit of an explanation of sorts.

Video Seminar on CPSIA Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlY6zOMPqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlMh7MJiodY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk0Vr0yDrXc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGSA5ZWjM_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnWOSQ6ONdU

The Pictures of The Week...lots of them!

Ok, some of these were still on the camera and I didn't know it, so you get some 'bonus' photos this time ;o) Given the current economy, it's always good to get something extra for your time and effort, heh? :::wink:::

Here is Emily's new church dress and pinafore. Actually finished it about 2 weeks ago, she's worn it twice now to church. I love the print and coloring and have enough left over to maybe get myself a dress. We'll see -- KatiAnne has her eye on it for a dress of her own, too. It's rather hard to refuse those dimples :o) It's hard to see, I know.

These are part of the cookie baskets we made up at Christmas for some friends. We made Snowballs, Peanut Butter Kisses, M&M, Cinnamon Sugar and then some Iced Sugar Cut-outs.


Here is where the cookstove was...and where we planned to install it (right out that window). But instead, it wil be another woodstove now. I put that money down on the Ashley heater, but a friend from church called last night saying they found another woodstove. It's an Appalachian -- I haven't seen it yet, but comparing $700 for Ashley to $125 for this one, sounds like a deal to me :o) Trisha said it is large, has a glass door, pedestal base and blower attached. Works for me.

Right now, the cookstove, all oiled up and looking pretty, is sitting in the sewing room. Of course, after moving it (doesn't look like much, but it weighs a lot!) we measured out where the Ahsley would actually be sitting...pretty much out in the middle of the dining room space :o( So we're trying to talk Dewey into installing it in the sewing room now. It's laminate flooring and not carpet, there is a double set of front windows so we could close out one and pipe through there, there aren't any trees or such to hinder the draft flow out there, and the room is relatively open really. Well, 'open' to the living/dining room area...after we move the piano from the half wall...and move that cookstove back out...and the triple bookcase/desk set up...oh, and that 8 ft mega-weight Bakers rack (no way Jennifer and I can even budge that thing!).

Honestly, there isn't a good place to put a woodstove in this mobile home if you really look at it. Not unless you rip through a wall or a ceiling, which is what we're trying to avoid :o( It would just be a problem to do it that way, just waiting on the leaks to start. Oh well, we'll figure something out. I'm using wood heat if it kills us! Maybe we can just put a hole in the ceiling and call this place out teepee.

Here's a picture of the last remaining kitten we have on the homestead. Not that there aren't full grown cats around, but the kittens have all been culled in one way or another (most got into areas they didn't belong). This little guy is adorable...black with white hind socks and that bit of white along the neck and face. He's cute and he knows it. He was the runt of the litter -- totally hairless, tiny little speck of a kitten. Bullied from day one. We brought him inside for a couple of weeks and fed him ourselves, bringing mama inside several times a day to allow him extra feedings without the siblings pushing him out of the way. Sure couldn't tell now where he started out -- he's a tuff little guy full of thick pretty fur now. yes -- a blurry picture. I was having issues with the camera it seems.


Here's the children doing some school work and David playing....Grandma wants to see pictures of the children, not my canning endeavors :o) With the cookstove at that back window, on dreary days, we are limited on lighting, so the lamps are going. Here's David and his cars. You can't see all of them, but he has quite the stash of race cars up there on the table, driving them all around the lamps and rolling them off the edge of the table into the highchair. He packed them up and went under the table when he saw I was taking his picture :o)

The canning and baking of the day:
Here's how the meat is from the butcher. I had them pack it up in 10# bags so it would be easier to pull out for a batch in the canner. We pull it out in the evening and put it in the fridge, then it sits on the counter the next day while I process up the previous batch.

It's still fairly frozen, but we are boiling it to cook it, so it works out ok. I simmer it for most of the afternoon. Nasty looking while it boils in the water canner, isn't it? It smells really good though -- I have onions and beef base in there.

These are the first jars we did up, where I made the patties and fried them slightly. I decided to go with the boiling instead just because it looks better canned up than these do.

Here are some of yesterday's batch -- we finished 21 quarts. It's ready to pack in the boxes and load into the pantry. Today's batch is simmering now -- another 30#.

Here's the bread we baked -- 8 loaves and a pan of twists. I stopped at a Mennonite bakery while in Tupelo -- met a lady at WalMart when we ran in there and she told me they had opened a small bakery in town. We were talking about ordering flour and sugar and such in bulk, and she told me stop in whenever I needed to place an order and they could add it right into their own. They order at least once weekly right now. The closest place for me to get the bulk wheat and such is Tennessee, so this could be a good thing. I am out of oatmeal right now, and down to just the Prairie Gold wheat berries -- which I should be grinding instead of wanting more in flour form, I know. I still haven't adjusted to really liking the flour I grind. We have the Family Grain Mill and it does a good job, but we prefer a bit more 'floury' texture...which I can only get if I double grind then sift. Seems like a waste to put my siftings in a jar and stash in the freezer...to use for what I haven't figured out yet. So I tend to keep some PG flour on hand. Not very 'homsteady'.

Anyway, I felt bad stopping in and not buying something, so we bought some cinnamon twists. They looked really good, but they are definitely not for eating out of hand. They were dry -- not hard-dry, but the kind of dry that really needs coffee or milk to eat, kwim? It was simply their bread dough, with some cinnamon sprinkled about, rolled and twisted. Not even a sweet dough, just ordinary white bread dough. I figured we could do better than that, so we tried our own yesterday -- my dough was our raisin bread recipe (without the raisins, because apparently I'm out of them). Moist tasting and loaded with cinnamon. I think we will make these to take along to the farm stand when we sell there.

Her prices weren't bad from what I've seen -- her loaf breads were $3.29 and a bag of 5 twists were $2.89. They had only 2 kinds of cookies in the shop, and cinnamon rolls that were as large as a salad plate -- some with a glaze, some with a cream cheese icing. I think we can pull that off at the farm stand very easily.

This wasn't last night's dinner...we had this while Dewey was home at Christmas. We found this 7 qt cast iron dutch oven without legs....they are hard to find around here. Everyone has the ones with legs, but flat ones seem to be something not many are interested in. We bought it, I seasoned it up and made a big pot of beef stew :o) It sort of bows my oven rack when it's full, but I'll live :o) The next dutch oven I have is a monster 20 qt and it won't even fit in the oven. It's still in the box actually, as I can't even lift it easily. I need to get it outside and burn off the coating on the grill and try to at least season it. Dewey found it for some ridiculously low price and couldn't pass it up. I have no idea what I'll be able to use it for unless he builds me a tripod over the burn pit :o)

Back to canning today!

Accomplishments of the Day

It doesn't seem like much, really, but it sure feels like much.

Jennifer and I relocated my cookstove from the dining room into the sewing room. Goodness, for no larger than that stove is, man oh man does it weigh alot! We were baby-stepping and scuffling the whole way! But it's moved and I went ahead and oiled the top up as I noticed it looking a bit on the shabby side. I have pictures and I'll come back to this post tomorrow to get them up. I'm exhausted now.

We got 8 loaves of bread a pan of cinnamon twists baked up today. The house smells wonderful! yes, I took pictures of that too :o)

And meat was canned up. I still have a full water bath pot of about 30# yet to complete tonight, but we are going to head over to town and try to catch the ice cream shop for a treat. They sell their cones for 50 cents :o) Can't beat that. I'll get the next load in the canner as soon as we get back. We pulled out another 30# to thaw in the fridge and will hopefully be able to can it up tomorrow. I'm not being all that 'precise' on amounts and all. I'll just share the finished quart count after it's all said and done. I should probalby try to pay more attention, but I'm just not a 'detailed' kind of person with canning. I have 200# of ground to can up, and I'll get what I get :o) Will probably order more when the OT checks pick up again.

In light of the book and clothing lead law stuff, I went ahead and ordered the first part of the completion of my Rod & Staff schooling needs, the remaining math and English books. We will have all 8 grade levels in math, English, science and history when I'm finished. Might as well be prepared just in case. Those smaller private companies will be hit hard if that legislation isn't rewritten by someone with some common sense and a bit of brain :o(

If all else fails, there's still the internet for resources I suppose. Old Fashioned Education has so many resources listed, you certainly wouldn't be caught without something. We have all the Ray's Arthmetic levels here, as well as the McGuffey's, so it isn't as though we would be caught short at all. But I do feel a bit more comfortable knowing I have the Rod & Staff books on the way. The next order will go in later this month, and bring in the science and history books. LOL...I'm about reaady to start my own school it seems!

Well, children are sitting in the car apparently...think they're anxious for the promised ice cream cone treat???

Lawlessness, Part 2

Lawlessness - a World Without Rules nor Rulers
LAWLESSNESS IS NOT PLEASING TO GOD... The word INIQUITY is used throughout all the scriptures. The KJV is the version which we have used, but a brother in the Lord quoted many scriptures out of his New King James version that replaced the word INIQUITY with the word LAWLESSNESS. This brought on an intense study to find out exactly what the word INIQUITY means... The Strong's Concordance states the following Old Testament definition: Hebrew 5771: perversity, evil; fault, mischief, punishment, sin. This definition doesn't talk about lawlessness. It simply means sin. But wait, the New Testament meaning for iniquity has a very different meaning: Greek, 458: Illegality; violation of law; transgression of law; unrighteousness. Greek 93: Legal injustice; wrongfulness of character, life or act; iniquity... Again, we are under the NEW covenant of grace through Christ Jesus. But by grace do we no longer obey God? God forbid. The scriptures caution us against this and also prophecy that this gospel of disobedience will grow as we near His return: Matthew 24:11-13 "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall decieve many, And because iniquity (Lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved." One of the most sobering scriptures is the following: Luke 13:23... "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there FEW that be saved? And he said unto them, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity (Lawlessness).'" This scripture is so very distinct in the reason as to why they could not enter in. They professed Him, but they still did not obey God's Word. 2 Timothy 2:19 "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (Lawlessness) We are to depart iniquity. When you depart something you are to leave it. Did you know that when something is departed it is dead? When one gives reference of one being departed this means that one has died. So should we be towards sin. We are alive in Christ and dead to sin! Romans 6:16-19 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."		THE OPPOSITE OF LAWLESSNESS IS OBEDIENCE. John 14:15-21 "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him." Obedience to the Father and His Word comes down to the point of loving God. As Jesus asked the disciple, so we must direct that question to ourselves, "Do you love me?... Do you love ME?... DO YOU LOVE ME...?" An amazing study revealed that there are over 2000+ commandments in the New Testament alone. Through His Spirit, we are to set our hearts to obey them. We all have seen true legalism at work. We have seen those who try to impose man-made rules upon brethren rather than those from Scripture. There is such a thing as legalism in a very negative sense, but we must be awake and alert to not allow those who try to find excuses not to obey the Word of God claim that obedience is legalism. We cannot work our way into heaven. We are only saved through our believing in our Lord and Saviour. But when we believe and have faith in Christ, our faith will have fruit. We will be filled with good works. Today in our religious culture, the word "works" is almost something one must whisper. We are admonished not to good works but to be careful that we are not working to "be Good". Oh, but how blessed it is to have another saint urge us on towards good works... To have just one who encourages others on towards a walk of obedience through God's Holy Spirit... In the world there are many people who look at Christianity and wonder if it could really make a difference in their lives. As we raise our children to be the next generation of vessels to be used of the Lord, we must teach them that Christianity is not just words, not just head knowledge, but is a lifestyle. A CHANGED lifestyle. Many sad and hurting people need to be given the HOPE of the Gospel which is that of SALVATION. When the world sees Christians as being no different from themselves, where is the hope? Where is the lifechanging example that we ought to be showing? By just having a gospel that is spoken rather than lived we demonstrate to the world and all heaven that the Gospel REALLY doesn't work. Only when we LIVE lives that are different from the world do we offer any HOPE! Hope that Christ DOES overcome the world. The way that we show the world we are different is by living obedient lives unto God's Holy Word. By being living examples just as our Lord was. If we do not follow His ways, how can we show the world the truth that He is indeed greater who lives in us than he that is in the world! 2 Peter 2:21 "For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." Let us follow Jesus. In our hearts, in our souls and in our minds. Let us being examples to our children that the Gospel truly makes us different from the world. We must not forget our true citizenship which is in heaven. We are aliens, sojourners here, and let us not become too comfortable as we live in the world. We have been commanded to not be OF the world. And if the world labels us wrongly as "legalists" because we truly are simply trying to obey our Lord's teachings, remember the Words: "Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution..." 2 Timothy 3:12.

You do know Elvis, right?

Quick note -- I fixed the link in the Lawlessness post -- the article is from Pearables. There are several more that are worth checking out. And I will try to remember to hit the save button to COMPLETE my adding of a link from now on. Seems I've done that alot lately -- put the links in, but skim across things so quickly, I forget to sort of lock them in.

Today it's meat canning and cookstove relocation. We are going to get an Ashley heater at the end of this week. Of course, some really cold days are moving back in Tuesday and I'll be without the woodheat to help with that next heating bill :o(

About that Ashley heater -- most the stores who still have any sort of woodstoves in stock, have only a handful; most stores were already sold out. Seems at least 4 counties in (north) Mississippi are undergoing a review/investigation/whatever-you-call-it, by the Governors office due to the electric co-ops 'extreme' rate increase. Not that that helps after the fact, but maybe we won't go through that again.

Back to the Ashley heater -- most prices were the same...Ashley wood heaters are about $650-750. I found one for $699 at Tupelo Hardware Company here locally. I talked to Dewey, and then headed back yesterday to put some good faith money down to have them hold it until we get it this weekend. Like everywhere else in Mississippi, heating season is just about done in terms of any ordering. Once they are sold off, no more ordered until next season.

Tupelo is probably a very close second, I'd actually say first actually, ELVIS stop. Nashville is a good third, but most folks come through Tupelo and visit his childhood family home, a small narrow shotgun house, then they cruise downtown Tupels visiting shops his famiy would have shopped at, then comes the stop to Tupelo Hardware, where Elvis Presley's mother, Gladys, bought her son a birthday gift in 1945.

Awww, how sweet. ?!?!?

Well, remember that rock I told you I lived under? I came out from under it yesterday.

It's a strange world out there, in case you hadn't noticed.

I'm not dissin' any of the long time, die-hard Elvis Presley fans out there, honest I'm not. But as someone on the other side of that craze, it's just amazing to watch...and listen to.

Yesterday was Elvis' birthday. My rock isn't so large that I didn't know he had a birthday, or that is was at some point in January, but I honestly had no idea it was YESTERDAY.

If you are an Elvis fan, you can imagine my surprise I'm sure. If you have ever watched ElvisMania strike, you can imagine my surprise heading into Tupelo...and daring to brave the THRONGS, the hoards, the masses...congregating for a little idol time at Tupelo Hardware yesterday.

There were tour buses. Not some shabby tourist bus set up -- those really nice, top of the line coach buses. Note the plural there. I was blessed to miss the first influx, which was apparently 3 buses (on the last big anniversary of his birth -- 50 years old or some such, I really don't know for sure) Tupelo officials literally closed and blocked the entire downtown area off from Hwy 45 up Main St. to 3 blocks beyond the hardware store...9 large coach buses arrived that day. I can't even imagine.

My experience? I like Elvis good enough. He had a good voice, I like some of his 'religious' recordings, I grew up listening to Jail House Rock, Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog and such. My mother has one of those hip-swinging Elvis look-alike clocks hanging above her desk. My living under a rock apparently came later in life.

But a tour bus invasion? Just to stand in a hardware store in downtown Tupelo Mississippi? just to touch the counter where Elvis and his loving mother stood to play and buy that now-famous guitar?

It's a hardware store. It's an old-fashioned style with a lot of charm, not some new and updated Do-It-Best or ACE sort of store. It's quaint. But it is just a hardware store. Plumbing, electrical, garden supplies and all manners of odds and ends available. Normal hardware stuff, in a small community in Mississippi. It's hardly The Great White Way in New York City, kwim? We did have a large meteor once on display in Tupelo, but someone stole it. And there are several other sites of interest to see in and around Tupelo, just in case you wondered.

Yet, every year....on the birthday and the anniversary of his death (I hear that's sometime in August...wanna guess where I won't be going that month?), people travel insane distances to walk through the hardware store in Mississippi where the musical journey took seed.

By insane distances -- remember I'm speaking from the outside of that Elvis craze -- I'm not just talking Mississippi, or even The South in general, or even the United States at large. I'm talking European countries and Australia and such.

The United Kingdom was well-represented yesterday in Tupelo. The UK. Great folks, I'm not saying they aren't. But apparently Elvis invoked way more idolization than I honestly expected from a singer and showman. Like I said, I don't mind his voice none, but to travel half across the world to come to a small hardware store? Yes, I know they did more than that...they went to his birthplace, then the hardware store, then hit Memphis to tour Sun Studios and of course, Graceland itself. But still...all that way?

Yesterday I met several really nice folks from The UK. They took pitcures of my van -- it isnt' anything special, mind you, but I was the only under-a-rock dwelling person to park in front of the store with a Mississippi license plate I guess, LOL. I waited a good few minutes before I even got out of the car. Folks were milling around in the middle of the street so they could get better pictures of the outside of the hardward store. When I finally did get out -- and yes, I left everyone else in the van. Can't even imagine having taken 8 children into that mass! -- I made my way inside, but I waited too late. The 'display and sermon' had already started. Faithful fans stood in silence, listening the story of Forrest Bobo, the salesman, and the day Gladys Presley and her son arrived. It's all very well documented and notarized, witnessed and framed, hanging there above the famed display case where a guitar hangs proudly. And where stacks of postcards are laid out. And where newsletters and small-town pride issues are laid out. Where you can buy a badge that says you were there, reminiscing where it all began back in 1945. Oh yes, and you can buy Elvis CD's and DVDs of concerts -- most notable his famed Memphis concert, where the local boy who made good came back home. And t-shirts with the Tupelo Hardware logo in the corner, with a guitar just below. And hound dog stuffed animals.

Small town meets big city marketing.

I was asked if the Amish knew about Elvis and was I a fan. I was approached quietly, but I was approached several times. Folks in poodle skirts and caridgans; folks with some of the biggest purses and backpacks shaped like guitars I've ever seen; folks with slicked back pompador hairstyles and even a man wearing a jacket...with winged sleeves inserts and a lot of rhinestones. Elvis' face, mostly in those younger years, graced shirts, jackets, purses and virtually everything possible.

And little me in my arpon and headcovering.

I almost felt a little out of place. All I wanted to do was put a little money down on a heater to keep my family warm. It was quite an experience.

LOL. It's the headcovering and dresses and aprons I suppose. I just can't imagine some nice Amish family bee-boppin' away in their buggy to That's All Right Mama on a battery operated radio, though.

Elvis Presley Museum

Rules or Lawlessness? Pearables Article

Do You Teach Rules or Lawlessness? If you have rules, you may be called a legalist!
As Bible believing Christians we are trying to obey and line our lives up with the Word of God. As the Lord leads us towards a life of obedience, many saints have been cautioned towards this walk because it might lead towards... legalism. The label "legalist" has a very bad meaning in many major Christian circles today. To some it means "being saved by DOING the Word of God" or by works. To others it means doing Old Testament Levitical Law as a way towards salvation. Neither of these is the way of our Lord and Saviour to obtain salvation. When we see doctrines such as these taught we should indeed be very alarmed. Through FAITH in Jesus Christ are we saved. Though very subtle, another meaning is emerging in many churches today. Many are now labeling as legalists those who take the Bible literally in regards towards obeying Jesus' and His apostle's teachings. There have been believers who are now being labeled "legalist" simply for having convictions to homeschool their children. Because of this new thought, it is very important to find out exactly what legalism is all about. This way we will be able to equip our children with scriptural knowledge when they are confronted with this accusation. The dictionary definition of LEGALISM is: Strict, literal adherence to law. This is interesting... to adhere to a law means that you are devoted to the law. To be devoted as a follower or supporter. It also means to follow closely; and to carry out without deviation. This characteristic of such supreme devotion is something that we wish to instill in our children. But not in the sense of being bound to the Levitical/Mosaic Law. The following scriptures put the Old Covenant Law into correct perspective: Romans 3:19-31 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also; seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." We are saved by faith in Jesus. The law was a ministration of CONDEMNATION. 2 Corinthians 3:7-14 says "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, (the law) much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ." This was why the scriptures were written, "There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus." The law was to show that we WERE condemned. Jesus, through faith in Him, showed us the way to salvation and freed us from the law of sin and death! THE NEW DEFINITION OF LEGALISM and LEGALIST... Today, when men start taking the scriptures literally in regards toward their family or training of their children, when they rise up from their slumber and endeavor to become the spiritual heads of their homes, when women start donning modest apparel and staying at home to teach their children in the ways of the Lord, many who are witnesses to such actions start to point fingers and profess that this is LEGALISM. The first scripture to be quoted is the one which states: "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Romans 7:6. Dear saint, if you have been quoted this scripture in regards to obedience towards the New Testament, it is not referring to those following the Word of God under the New Covenant, but rather the Mosaic Law.		BECAUSE THE TERM LEGALIST MEANS ONE WHO ADHERES TO A LAW, IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING THE COMMANDS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, UNDER THE DEFINITION OF LEGALIST, YOU MIGHT INDEED BE GUILTY OF THIS TERM! We now adhere and obey literally the NEW law of God that is written upon our hearts. At the very beginning of most KJV Bibles is a line which states: "Containing the Old and New Testaments". Did you ever stop to think why one was called the OLD Testament and one was called the NEW? A very interesting study we found was in researching the word "TESTAMENT". According to the dictionary, TESTAMENT for our purposes means, "A covenant between man and God." What then is a COVENANT? According to the Strong's Concordance a COVENANT is a cutting; a compact; confederacy, covenant; league. Greek: a contract; covenant, testament. A covenant is God's promises to man, a union now between God and man. Under the law, this was made available only through obedience to the Mosaic Law. Under the new covenant, we are now united with God through the shed blood of His Son by FAITH. Now, we are under a NEW covenant, but one of obedience, just as the OLD covenant was under obedience. But now we may obey through the Spirit of Christ Jesus. ONE FALSE DEFINITION OF LEGALISM IS PLACED UPON THOSE TRYING TO OBEY THE NEW TESTAMENT... As we endeavor to live lives pleasing to God through the power of the Holy Spirit, it is such a shock when others, who also claim the name of Christ as their Master, discourage obedience towards the teachings of the New Testament. Many well-meaning people who are church goers do not believe that the Word of God is something to be taken literally. They have classified much of the biblical text as CULTURAL. Therefore, because it was written such a long time ago, they instruct that we do not have to do these things mentioned in the Word for they were only for that culture. For example, the scriptures in 1 Timothy 2:9 state: "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." The majority of Christendom does not hold to this sound doctrine. Pastors from the pulpit expound lengthy essays on how the issue of modesty has changed and that a mini skirt is fine as long as you don't bend over! We have waxed so worse that indeed modesty has a new definition, one to fit OUR culture of today. And yet this is just the beginning. Many have departed from sound doctrine, as prophecied in the Holy Scriptures. WE HAVE NOT CHANGED OUR LIFESTYLES SO THAT WE LINE UP WITH THE WORD OF GOD. RATHER, WE HAVE CHANGED THE WORD OF GOD TO LINE UP WITH OUR LIFESTYLES! We must turn the hearts of our children towards God's Holy Word. We read the Scriptures in order to find out information about our King. They are dear and very, very precious to us for they ARE Him. Scripture tells us: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect (complete, Greek), thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16 We must not have hearts that pick and choose which scriptures we decide we will follow. MANY PEOPLE TODAY ARE BOUND IN SIN BY THE DOCTRINE OF "EASY GRACE"... "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Romans 6:1-6. But there is a problem amongst the body, ... Many do not wish to die to the old man. The old man lures and entices and reminds them that the sins of the flesh are fun... they are pleasurable, and so many preach and string along doctrines that are contrary to the Bible in order to justify sin. Now, grace has thrown away obedience. Anyone who wishes to obey the New Testament and our Lord's teaching's are labeled legalists. Instead of being encouraged on into obedience to God's Word, they are discouraged. Sadly, because of this new doctrine of easy grace, the churches found in most cities today are no different from the world in which they live in. But Brethren, our Father would have us to be obedient, not lawless!

Forgot to add...it's BOOKS, too...

Sorry, I missed the part about BOOKS being banned from resale as well.
And so the NWO really shows its face in terms everyday folks can see and understand...

THIS IS NOT A HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION OR A WORST-CASE SCENARIO.

And a subject near and dear to homeschoolers’ hearts: BOOKS!

http://bookshopblog.com/2009/01/04/book-burning-on-feb-10th-2009-due-to-cpsia/#comment-2557

Book burning on Feb. 10th 2009 due to CPSIA

(written to booksellers about the CPSIA law)…

The truly bizarre part is that the new regulations apply retroactively. Even if it was printed 50 years ago and the publisher no longer exists, you need to have a certificate proving it’s not filled with lead. Even if it is the only remaining copy of a rare children’s book worth thousands of dollars and only will ever be handled by collectors, you cannot sell it because you can’t prove it is not filled with lead.

Anything manufactured after November 10th 2008 should have come with a certificate certifying it has been tested for lead. If your distributor didn’t provide one, you need to call and get one. As of February 10^th, it’s in fact illegal for your distributor to sell you a kids’ book without a certificate of lead testing, no matter when it was printed.

Objects without a certification still have to be tested. So those copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows that were printed in 2007 that are still available new at Amazon may have to be destroyed as of February 10th 2009 because they haven’t been tested for lead. (Amazon is taking this seriously and sent a mail to all affiliates asking them to provide the lead testing certificates for all items)

How bad can the punishment be? For selling books? Up to $100,000 PER ITEM and up to five years in jail. It’s also a felony. Get busted, you may lose your right to vote in some states. Even if you can fight it in court, you’ll likely go broke doing so and your local newspaper will carry the headline “Local business selling lead tainted goods”… even though you know they aren’t. Good luck getting them to print the retraction months or years later after that PR disaster.

This includes not just selling, but distribution. So you can’t donate the untested goods to your local library, Good Will, or literacy program. You also can’t sell them to overseas collectors either, as they’re illegal to export. (preventing dumping of truly toxic goods on third world markets is one of the few good portions of this law. Good job on that, bad job on the rest)

No More Second-Hand Clothing and Items

I told you I live under a rock.

I missed this. I totally and utterly missed this.

From The Simple Dollar:

For those of you who haven’t heard the news yet, on February 10, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act comes into effect. One of the major changes that this program will bring into play is a mandate that everything sold for children 12 and younger will have to be tested for lead and phthalates, and anything that isn’t tested (or that fails) will be considered hazardous and cannot be sold. Read more about the CPSIA at the L.A. Times and some interesting blog commentary from the fashion industry.

For new products, this isn’t an issue at all and is in fact a good thing. Many products are already being screened with such tests, and those that are not will be required to begin such testing shortly or will be pulled from the market. In terms of safety for my children, I’m quite happy with the effects of this law on new products.

Where things get interesting is with used products. Consider your local resale and thrift shop. Currently, all of their secondhand children’s clothes will have to be tested for lead and phthalates. Given that many such stores aren’t high-income operations - many are nonprofits - these shops simply cannot afford to do the testing on the children’s clothes on their shelves.

Wonderful plan, isn't it? Fill the landfills with things that are most likely more than safe to pass along to others. No more FreeCycle groups, no more resale shops, no more thrift shops, etc. Yes, I understand the troubles of lead-based paints and such, of the ills of those flame-retardant materials and so forth. But this is pretty poorly written in such that it eliminates everything, and then sends it to landfill instead.

From Hearty Works blog:

No more clothes. No more toys. Not at any second hand shoppe (unless they try to get around it like one lady commented in a post from Like Merchant Ships in which they put "For Adult Use Only" sign near the toys and get away with it LOL!)

Many etsy stores will have to find something else to sell or stop selling entirely. And many of our favorite cloth diaper making mommy sites will be closing their doors or limiting products.

And what about garage sales or craigslist? Who knows? It is too soon to tell (or understand the new law as it is written).

WHAT am I talking about?

No More Thrift Store Kid Stuff
Shopping For Used Children's CLothes Could Get a Lot Harder

I REALLY liked what Meredith wrote. It is a VERY Proverbs 31 approach to the whole crisis.

Now this thought process I really like. Back to a true sense of community like we used to have in this country. I don't really see it happening on a large scale, but in smaller communities, this is already happening,so maybe it could spread out some. We can always hope.

I loved one commenter on a blog noting this -- used clothing is nasty and should be destroyed. Why aren't we buying clean things, made in America instead. LOL...do we even have "American made" clothing anymore? And for crying out loud, are folks actually buying things at thrift shops and yard sales and wearing them right then and there? Now that is rather nasty. I have a washing machine, I know how to clean clothing...I'm hardly tossing dirty used ites at my children, covered in smoke, dirt and animal hair.

Here's the blurb from ThunderWolf Ranch:

Do You Buy or Sell Pre-owned Clothes and Toys for your kids???? As of FEB. 10 2009 you will not be able to ANYMORE!

In August of 2008, important legislation passed that was intended to protect children from harmful lead in toys, equipment and clothing. Although the intention is good, the bill that was passed is poorly written. Thus, it will prohibit the resale of ANY used clothing, toys, equipment for children unless you can PROVE it is lead free. This means that stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, Kid to Kid, Once Upon a Child, any thrift store, all children's consignment sales, Ebay sales, Craigslist and GARAGE SALES are prohibited from selling children's clothing, toys or equipment after FEB. 10, 2009 unless they have had the item tested for lead and can provide verification that it is lead free.

Here is the link to contact your Congressman, even some text you can use if you are not up to formulating a letter yourself. At the very least, urge them to re-write this legislation into something more consumer-friendly!

At the bottom of her article, The Smart Mama explains the legislation so we can understand it a bit better.

Wednesday Doings...

I have a large canner full of ground meat sitting on the stove, simmering away with some onions and a touch of beef base.

It's my 18 or 20 qt water bath canner..darn thing takes up a burner and part of another. I thought about taking it out to the front porch grill, but then I'd be battling cats and dogs all day. Didn't seem like a perfect plan.

So it sits on my stove.

There is just shy of 30# of ground meat in that beauty. Actually, ground meat covered with water looks rather ickish...but it sure beats trying to fry patties and keep them warm for canning. And they really look icky in the jars. I know -- who's gonna see my pantry, and even so, when (not if) push comes to shove and we are living out of what's in that pantry, who is gonna care what it looks like as long as it tastes good? It's just me. I would like the fruits, or in this case meats, of my labor to be asthetically pleasing lining those pantry shelves. Just call me vain. It's ok.

Next on the agenda today is some laundry -- finally a sunny yet cool day to get those clotheslines filled. We are still using the washing machine, such as it is. It barely spins out at this point, so we run things through another set of rinse cycles, spinning them by hand. Sort of jump starting the spin cycle. Dewey wants to get another machine. I'm still not inclined. Yes, it's a pain to stand over that machine and babysit it just to make it spin, but I choose to do it. It's not so bad really. Doesn't take any time extra anyway. I know it's taking some extra water and electricity, but until we start doing it by hand, I'll muddle along this way. Besides, I have some upwardly mobile friends who totally get irked when I press on to the frugal and backwoods lifestyle :o) I like to provide them plenty of cause for talk when I can (truth be told, I probably provide them far more talk than I actually know about...they think I'mm just this side of insane most the time).

Bread baking today. I'm using the 20 qt mixer and we're doing up at least 1 6 loaf batch. I'll put the recipe on the kitchen blog. It's been so rainy, the last attempt with bread baking went a bit wrong on us. It was edible, but oh goodness did it fall out terribly and barely rise. Made a decent toast, though. Even if we couldn't have eaten it, there are chickens out there still so it wouldn't have been a total waste at any rate.

That's about it. We are having Beef Nachos for dinner -- I'll post that on the kitchen blog as well.

Want to be like the Amish?

Many of you would like to live more like the Amish — so if you admire their faith — strengthen yours.
If you admire their family life — spend more time with your family.
If you admire their sense of commitment — deepen yours.
If you admire their sense of community spirit — build one.
If you admire their quality merchandise — make quality.
If you admire their humility — be humble.
If you admire their unselfishness — put others first.
If you admire their honesty — be honest.
If you admire their willingness to help those in need — help the needy.
If you admire their land stewardship — take care of yours.
If you admire their deep character and enduring values — live them.

Christian Acronyms

ACTS - Adoration. Contrition. Thanksgiving. Supplication.

APE - Always Pray Everyday

ASAP - Always Say A Prayer

BASIC - Becoming A Soldier In Christ

BIBLE - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

BIG - Bold In God

BIG FISH - Believers in God, Faithful In Serving Him

BUSY - Being Under Satan's Yoke

CEO - Christians Encouraging Others

CHRIST - Certainly His Resurrection Is Supreme Truth

CIA - Christ Is Alive

CIA - Christians In Action

COPS - Christian Operated Prayer Support

CORE - Christians On Road to Excellence

DOG - Depend On God

EGO - Edging God Out

EGR - Extra Grace Required

FAITH - For All I Trust Him

FEAR - False Expectations Appearing Real

FRETS - Focus Returned Exclusively To Satan

FRIEND - Fully Reliable In Each New Difficulty

FROG - Fully Rely On God

GIRAFFE - God Inspires Reverence Affection Forgiveness For Ever

GOD - God Our Defender

GOD - Great. Omnipotent. Deity

GRACE - God's Riches At Christ's Expense

GUM - God Use Me

HOPE - He Offers Peace Everyday

JAGUAR - Jesus Always Guides Us And Redeems

JCLU - Jesus Christ Loves You

JIM - Jesus In Me!

JOY - Jesus first. Others second. Yourself last.

JOY - Jesus Overshadows You

JUICE -
Justified by God
Under the Blood
In Christ Forever
Changed by the Holy Spirit
Empowered by His Love

LEOPARD - Love Everyone Offer Prays And Repent Daily

LICE - Life In Christ Eternal

LOVE - Love Others Very Eagerly

PRAY - Praise. Repent. Ask. Yield.

PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens

SOAP -
(Guide for preparing devotions)
Scripture
Observation
Application
Prayer

SPAM - Serving People Aids Me

TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More

TED - Treasure Each Day

TGIF - Thank God I'm Forgiven

TGIF - Thank God I'm Free

TGIF - Today GOD Is First

THINK -
(Regarding our speech. Is it?)
Truthful?
Helpful?
Inspirational?
Necessary?
Kind?

TIGER - Trust In God & Everything's Right

WASTE - Worry. Anger. Self-Pity. Tattling. Envy

WWJD - What Would Jesus Do?

WWJD - Walking With Jesus Daily

WWYD - What Would You Do? (We know what Jesus would do)

YET - YES! Emmanuel Triumphs

Strolling Around some links today...

I am teaching the teens class this year, and I'm as unprepared with plans as I was when Bro Bud spoke to me about it last year.

The trouble is it's a mixed class...7 children, ranging from 10 up to 17 years. Most are my own children, then 2 sisters from one family, a girl from another family, and the neighbor young man we bring along.

I'm just not sure what to teach them. Or how to teach them. One of the teens is less than interested in what goes on in class, but it's the only time they really come to church, so I feel a bit pressured with that fact, I guess.

I am rather against 'entertaining' children at church. I can understand it for the youngest levels in a way, but I don't feel the slightest bit led to keep things 'interesting' for the teens. Less so if they claim Salvation already, which most of these teens do. My own children have been pulled out of many a class because of the emphasis on entertainment and the like. That isn't the purpose of church, imo. If I want my children to grow into spiritual adults, allowing them to treat church as some social activity and keeping things fluffy just isn't an option. Typically, my children have stayed in service with us, even in adult class. They were taught to sit and pay attention, not fidget about and expect to be entertained while sitting with crayons and other activities.

I'm not raising 'children' -- I'm raising the next generation of adults. We have far too many 30 and 40 year old 'children' in the world already :o(

So -- I'll probably teach from Christian Ethics in class, unless The Lord leads me to a better idea. Any thoughts?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We are starting a ladies fellowship at church. Mind you, we are a small church...the ladies group, at least getting started is likely to be rather small :o) For sure, my girls (well, in all likelihood, all of my children...) and myself, maybe 2 other sisters.

We are planning a work time for the ladies basically. Something like crocheting some squares for afghans to be put together and given to a shelter, the Red Cross, etc. Our local economy has taken a serious dive in the past months with at least 2 major factories closing their doors, and that Toyota plant being 'postponed' for a time. Most of these families were only a paycheck away from being homeless as it was, and jobs are not forth-coming any more here than they are in other places.

I suppose some of the more rural families here would be offended by my descriptions of them, but I certainly don't mean them in an offending way at all. We are rural. This area is not like any other rural area I've lived in. There are families still walking a by-gone path in their lifestyle. They are plain and simply country folk. That is part of what I truly do love about where we have made our home. It's like walking into the past in so many respects.

But, this ladies fellowship...me and those bunny trails, I know...I've been looking up various Titus 2 Ministries and other women's groups, gleaning ideas. Back north, we were in a small church (although there it was 100 people...not barely 40) and we had a wonderful ladies group that met together at least 4 or 5 times yearly for a Ladies Tea. The idea was good -- ladies meeting together, praying as a group over the various topics that our lives encountered, sharing our hearts in Scripture, small teaching lessons and the like.

But, it didn't take long to become something far more worldly than any church fellowship ought to be. The tea tables began getting fancy and, well, rather snobbish. Several ladies would take a table and decorate it in a theme. It was all pretty enough, but the end results were more of a 'talent show' than a true fellowship, glorifying God. And the prayer warriors who started out so nobly in their premise ended up being a thinly-veiled gossip party. It was sad to watch it dissinigrate into such worldly ruin. I mean, I'm all for sharing prayer needs with one another -- that's what we are called to, bear one another's burdens -- but if all you are truly doing (and you know in your heart that you are) is looking for an 'appropriate' way to share the latest gossip or dirty laundry, just man up and say so. It's ridiculous to hide it under a fellowship banner -- you aren't fooling anyone really, they all know what each other is doing whether you call it a spade or not.

I don't see that being an issue here in this small church, but it is something serious to guard against. Maybe the more free the plan is, the easier it is to fall into those trappings? I don't know. Either way, it's best to enter into a fellowship gathering with some idea of a plan of action. There isn't much I can 'teach' the ladies up here -- there are mostly miles ahead of me from a homekeeping approach (I just discovered the trick of ironing with a spray bottle of diluted fabric softener and another with diluted starch! What a difference that made in my ironing! And I never knew it before! I live under such a rock.)

Here are some of my gleanings today --

A Christian Home -- full of links for all manner of Godly Womanhood things
Mom of 9's Place -- full of blessings and teachings
Creative Ladies Ministries -- a great collection of ideas, including a ministry binder
Ladies of Grace
Titus 2 Christian Homekeepers -- various sites, blogs linked together

I found some great women's lessons to print off that we might be able to use for the fellowship gatherings. I'll have to print them off and see what the other ladies think.

Rambling Rose...a blog of memories

But mom made clothes from them, made quilt covers, and sold them. She bought a lot of things for the house with her seed sack, and double eggs she sold.

I can remember mama with her quilting rack hung from the rafters in the ceiling. My playing under it, and sometimes sending the needle back up to the top side. Mom used the thread that came from the sacks of feed to tie off the quilts with. No way they were going to break.

That was some fifty years ago or longer. The memories are still lingering.

I love reading 'old fashioned memories' and hearing from folks how things were really done in those good old days.

This morning, while looking for something totally unrelated (that's always how I find things it seems) I came across Rambling Rose's Jott-em' Downs. I haven't read through all of the memories just yet, but I will! top by and say hello to Rambling Rose and share in her wonderful memories.

The Economy?

This is a good description for all of us not too saavy on the economy...Mr Thompson explains it rather nicely, I think.

And after you read this, move over to Granny Miller's Blog entry today.

Then start planning...and taking steps forward...

Reading The Bible, J.C.Ryle

READING THE BIBLE
by J. C. Ryle

1. READ THE BIBLE WITH AN EARNEST DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND IT. Do not be content to just read the words of Scripture. Seek to grasp the message they contain.

2. READ THE SCRIPTURES WITH A SIMPLE, CHILDLIKE FAITH AND HUMILITY. Believe what God reveals. Reason must bow to God's revelation.

3. READ THE WORD WITH A SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE AND SELF-APPLICATION. Apply what God says to yourself and obey His will in all things.

4. READ THE HOLY SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY. We quickly lose the nourishment and strength of yesterday's bread. We must feed our souls daily upon the manna God has given us.

5. READ THE WHOLE BIBLE AND READ IT IN AN ORDERLY WAY. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable." I know of no better way to read the Bible than to start at the beginning and read straight through to the end, a portion every day, comparing Scripture with Scripture.

6. READ THE WORD OF GOD FAIRLY AND HONESTLY. As a general rule, any passage of Scripture means what it appears to mean. interpret every passage in this simple manner, in its context.

7. READ THE BIBLE WITH CHRIST CONSTANTLY IN VIEW. The whole Book is about Him. Look for Him on every page. He is there. If you fail to see Him there, you need to read that page again.

Reading and Searching the Scriptures
by Thomas Boston

1. Follow a regular plan in reading the Scriptures, so that you may become acquainted with the entire Bible; and make this reading a part of your private devotions. Do not always confine yourselves only to read according to your set plan, so as never to read by choice, however, having a plan leads to the most edification. Some parts of the Bible are more difficult, some may seem very dry for an ordinary reader; but if you would look on all of it as being the very Words of God, never to be disregarded, but read with faith and reverence, then without a doubt you will find great gain.

2. Be sure to mark those passages you read, the ones which you find most fitting to your situation, condition, or temptations; or those that you have found which touches your heart more than other passages. It will be most profitable for you to often review these marked passages.

3. Compare one Scripture with another, the more obscure verses with those which are more clear. This is an excellent means to find out the sense of the Scriptures; and this is the best use of the notes found in the margins of most Bibles. And always keep Christ in view, for He is revealed in the Scriptures of the Old Testament (in its genealogies, types, and sacrifices), as well as in the passages of the New Testament.

4. Read the Bible with a holy attention, always remembering the majesty of God, and the reverence that is due Him. This must be done with attention, first, to the words; second, to the sense; and, third, to the divine authority of the Scripture, and the obligation it lays on the conscience for obedience. The Apostle Paul said, "We thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

5. Let your main purpose in reading the Scriptures be for application to your life, and not just to gain knowledge, James said, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22) Read the Bible that you may learn and do, without any limitation. Whatever you see that God requires, you must study to put into practice.

6. Beg God and ask Him for the help of His Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit that inspired the Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who will give us the understanding of it. Paul said, "Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11) Therefore before you read the Bible, it is very important that you ask for a blessing on what you are about to read.

7. Beware of a worldly, fleshly mind: for fleshly sins blind the mind from the things of God. In an eclipse of the moon, the earth comes between the sun and the moon, and so keeps the light of the sun from it. In the same way, the world in the heart, comes between you and the light of the Word, keeping its divine light from you.

8. Labor to be disciplined toward godliness, and to perceive your spiritual circumstances. For a disciplined attitude greatly helps us to understand the Bible. Such a Christian will find his circumstances in the Word, and the Word will give light to his circumstances, and his circumstances will give light into the Word.

9. Whatever you learn from the Word, labor to put it into practice. For to him that has, more will be given. Those people who make no effort to put into practice, what they already know about God's Word, will get very little insight into the Bible. But while the stream runs through a holy life, the fountain will always be more refreshing.

Answering some comments...

Great thoughts, ladies, thank you.

Kristi...LOL, yes "that grill" was a Father's Day gift. He wanted a large enough grill to cook for the entire family, and maybe something worth taking to church for fellowship meals in the summers and such. That's the biggest I could find for him. It's certainly large enough and we've used it quite a bit -- well, he has used it quite a bit. I'm very much an novice with the grilling. Of course, I suppose if I can't manage using a grill, I probably don't deserve a cookstove.

Insulated curtains won't help us really...maybe something along those lines for summer with the heat, but we really don't have much in the way of windows at all in this trailer. And what we do have are covered with thick curtains now. I swear the cold just walks right through the walls in a trailer. The double windows are on the north side, yes, but they are under a large expanse of porch roof, and the porch is wrapped closed right now. Not even enough light for day use coming in those.

Trixi...as far as I'm concerned, I DO live in a tin can. Trailers in Mississippi with the storms and the intense heat just don't make sense to me I guess. It's a solar cooker in the summer and an ice box with a bit of cold and wind in the winter.

We are going wood heat. By this next week I plan to have the cookstove moved out of the way and a woodstove in place. I already have all the piping, I'll put in the cement board on the wall and floor and if Dewey can make it home next weekend, it will be installed. If he can't, I'll go desperately begging the men at church to lend a hand in my time of distress :o) With all the children looking suitable pathetic for effect :o) One way or another, it will get put in. I can manage the piping well enough myself, but I can't frame up this window we're taking out and get it set up for the thimble. I don't have clue one as what I'm doing when it comes to wood and tools I'm afraid.

I'm looking at small and basic...a woodstove like the Boxwood or something similar. They are inexpensive for the most part, and for no more heat than I really need here, I think they'll work decently. I'd have to check into them more as they do have some sloppy workmanship in some and are not air-tight without some work. We just need something on the compact side...there isn't a lot of space in here, and once you start moving things for proper clearances...we'd most likely be climbing over a stove.

I can get a pick-up load of seasoned wood for about $45 right now. I could probably go better than that and scrounge the homestead for all the downed trees. Wood will be the least of my trouble I'm sure :o)

I'm going to make some trips this week and check out what's available locally. I know Scrugg's sells several stoves this time of year, but they tend to be rather over-priced. Of course, I need it, so I can't really quibble about prices too much.

Ann'Re...out electric company doesn't do budget billing. You get one bill each month, with the disconnect date included on the bill. They show up on that disconnect date and pull your plug if you don't have the bill paid in full. Electric companies, water companies, even some phone companies down here are totally different than what I'm used to. They are private companies down here in many counties, more like co-ops. When we first set up electric here, we had a huge deposit ($375). I immediately hit the office wanting to know why I had such a large deposit...we left no outstanding bills back north, I had never in my entire life stepped a toe in the state let alone ever had service in my name, so why such a deposit? Down here, the 'service' is connected to the address, not a person. Apparently this place had a history of no pay, hence the deposit to get any power turned on. Miffed me beyond measure. I have no problem paying my own failings, but to get stuck footing the bill for someone else?! One time, when Dewey changed jobs, his pay period changed. My billing was due on Tuesday and we wouldn't have a check until Thursday. They refused to hold my check or make any arrangements, though we had already been her a year, showed we were paying on time, etc. Told me if they made exception for me, they'd have everyone expecting it. We had to go to a church down here and get money from them, giving them our check to deposit 2 days later. It's insane.

Laundry is already done totally in cold water. We never use hot water, not even warm. I think a new hot water heater is in the plan here as well very soon. Until then, heating water on that grill sounds like a good idea. LOL....I could totally freak out the olders and set up the porch area as an outdoor bath area :o) It's already been wrapped in a blue tarp (it looks byond hillbilly, but it's what I had and the wind was really whippin' at the time!). A nice sized wash tub, heat from the grill and the hot water...I can just see Jennifer's face now :op

During the day here, we are in the living/dining room and kitchen area. It's all open, so there's no way to effectively close off any area. We have a door up on the hallway to the bedrooms, just a bi-fold style, but it's better than nothing. I need something at the laundry room...it's not really easy to put up a door there, or a curtain, as it's practically on top of the stove, but we need to do something. The laundry area is basically an open closet in the kitchen, with the back door located in there as well. It's a tiny space, but set up odd as far as being able to close it off really. I need to think on that some more.

We dress about as layered as we can stand here...bloomers and slips, dresses then arpons, usually a sweater over that. Nighttime is thick quilts on the beds and flannel jammies and socks ;o) Up north, I could well layer and insulate nicely, but down here, not long into the day you're shedding layers like mad. That's why I think a small sort of heat stove would be perfect for us. I'm not looking to supply the heat like we did up north, just basically keep the chill out. LOL...with the way we heated up north, I could bank that fire and keep it nice down here for days.

We don't do overhead lights much at all in our rooms. There is a single bulb fixture over the sink, and it's basically all we use in the kitchen as it is. We do have overhead lighting in the living/dining room, but it's rarely used...maybe when I vac the floors so I can spot those Legos ;o) Other than that, we have 2 table lamps when more lighting is needed than the oil lamps. I like the Alladin lamps, and I've seen them work -- so much more light than my oil lamps here -- but there's the practicality of fuel for permanent use and storing it. We talked about trying a couple of the Colemman lanterns...either can or liquid fuel style. They offer the light, the tanks are a bit easier stored...but still, not reallly a perfect option. I think we need to simply flow with the natural seasons. Up with the roosters, down with the hens ;o) Of course, our chickens are leaving for the coldre climate of the freezer (until I get them canned for the pantry, that is) so we'll have to use an alarm clock, but the idea is the same -- work while the day is dawning :o) When it gets dark, working is finished for the most part. That will limit our lamp oil usage down.

Time to go woodheat hunting....

Cutting Some Cords in 2009

I'm ready.

I am 150% ready and on the ball with going off the grid. Now. Today.

No, Dewey isn't quite 'there' just yet...but he isn't living here and I can make some changes a bit more easily that way, right??? Nothing overly intense at all, just some lifestyle changes...some rather big lifestyle changes.

Honestly, I guess I'm not at all 'ready' in a truly 'prepared' sense. It isn't as though I'm starting from scratch, I have equipment and I have at least a decent amount of knowledge and skill, so the ability is certainly available. I just have to DO IT now is all.

• I have an electric stove. Can't cook without electricity unless I use the grill, and truthfully, grilling has never been my forte. I can certainly learn, though, when properly and sufficiently motivated..which I most definitely am right now!
• Our hot water is electric. I have that huge mega monster grill, though. And I have a fire pit outside. I can manage hot water I'm sure.
• My lighting is electric. We are using the lamps much more often now, for lighting needs, but from a practical stand-point, they aren't ideal. The light for reading just isn't very good for old eyes like mine...and probably not much better for younger ones, either. And the lamp oil costs and storage issues...it's simply not practical for permanent usage. Rise and bed with the chickens is probably a much better solution.
• My heat, what little we use here really, is electric. Ugh...an electric heat pump, no less :o( I am going to skip the cookstove for now I think and simply get a small woodstove for heat. I don't have a space readily available for both the heat and the cookstove, so in light of what I'm about to tell you here next, a heat stove is a better option. And I can cook on top of it...just won't have an oven for baking.

We received our electric bill Tuesday. Please sit down. Please make it a chair that is sturdy and has good support to the armrests. It's for your own safety, really. Trust me.

For the billing cycle from Nov 18th - Dec 18th, our electric bill was $439.35. A average daily kw usage of, they say, 151.7 More than doubled from the previous cycle, as well as more than doubled from the same cycle a year ago.

Yes...I wrote that correctly. It's FOUR HUNDRED. Can you even imagine what that did to my heart opening the bill? Or what it did to the budget, as I most certainly had not figured in anything remotely close to that amount.

This is winter. In the South. I'm sorry if I offend any true heart Southerners here, but this is hardly what I consider much of a winter. Yes, that billing cycle had some really really cold days in it, and several wind-chills here on the homestead in the teens. And it's been rainy and windy quite a bit the past month and more.

But this isn't what I look at as being classified as 'winter' yet look at that bill. Granted, this is a mobile home. They are not even partially constructed like a brick or stick frame house is. The materials are altogether different, the insulation is different. They are hardly air-tight in construction at all. They are not known for allowing an abundance of natural light in, although with the amount of air flowing in and out, you'd find that rather odd. We simply are not a traditional home style and that certainly adds to the electric bill.

That and the increase that went into effect of 17%. We were expecting 20% or more, so I will concede that 17% is to be considered a blessing.

If I could do it...if I had the fortitude of spirit might be a better phrase...I would flip and lock that main breaker outside today. Cut the cord completely and be off the grid now.

I'm scared to death of summer coming, given this bill. I may be well beyond able to tolerate and thrive in the 'winter' down here, but come summer, you might as well lock me in the looney bin. I can not handle being hot at all. I can not tolerate heat and humidity that sucks the breath from you almost daily. I'm a wimp. Given the current bill, I could guess-timate my summer bills easily being in excess of $600 a month during say July and August especially.

Six hundred dollars a month is well beyond even the remote outskirts of INSANE. I can't budget that in at all. Even if I could, I wouldn't even consider budgeting that in for something like electric! Surely somewhere in my history, generations of pioneering women lived a good and rich life without any of these trappings of today.

I just have to do it. I just have to take that step and keep walking...or in this case, I really ought to be running. We are already 2 weeks into the next billing cycle! My biggest problem is I don't have anything set up for back-up.

Well, I suppose I have the electric cord as a back-up for now. While I have the ability to do otherwise, I need to start getting better acquainted with that grill out on the porch. What all can I really do on a grill folks? I know nothing about them at all, really. But I'd rather foot the bill for propane for the grill than this electric bill.

• I'm canning up the rest of the meat. It won't happen overnight, but I will get it all finished and empty those freezers once and for all. We are doing ground meat today.
• I'm getting back to once a week baking for our needs. It's easy to do -- just requires I think ahead and make some plans. When it's gone, it's gone. We will learn quick enough that it's better to spread out whatever treats we have than to go totally without.
• Laundry is going to take a hit. We will start focusing on that hand-washing. I will do towels, the blankets and thick items, boys pants in the washing machine still as I don't have a suitable way to wring them out well enough to even hang dry. But they will only be done once a week. This having something to wash almost daily is ridiculous. I need to get back to a real schedule here. And it will be...has to be...carved in solid stone, no more written in pencil.
• I'm going to look for a small wood heat stove instead of worrying about connecting the cookstove up right now. I'm not set up space-wise to have both operating, and I think the larger need is for some alternative heat right now. I'd rather put $600 into a heat stove than the electric bill.

Cut-back, cut-backs, cut-backs. We are going off the grid before this month passes by much more. Off the grid at least in terms of that electrical usage. I simply don't have a choice. I have most definitely not agreed to having my husband away from home, away from his family, working just to feed the electric company and their families. His being away from us was supposed to be for our better in the long-term. I just can't sit back and find excuses for not taking the steps I've been working toward any longer.

If you have any thoughts or ideas to share on helping us cut the cord, do let me know! I could use all the tips I can get.

From The Pen of The Puritans

The Old Time Gospel

Enter Ye In at the Strait Gate
By Robert Traill

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, aha broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:13,14

I. That the gate to life, and the way to it, is strait and narrow. In handling of this, I would, first, Give you some things that confirm that so it is; secondly, Shew wherein the straitness of it lieth.

First, That the way to life is hard and strait, 1. It is seen in the confessions and practices of multitudes that walk in the broad way: some never think on it; some are affrighted from it, when thinking thereupon. Upon this same account it is seen, that the way to life is narrow, 2. In that the truly godly find it very hard, and the longer, both the sweeter and the harder. They at first seem to attain something of sweetness in religion; but afterwards, the work and the trials are better seen. 3. In the hypocrite’s pain, which he finds in the external show of this strait way (Mal. iii. 14), though it be certain, that the hypocrite is not acquainted either with the sweetest, or hardest part of religion. But besides the testimony of the word, the surest confirmation of this, and the clearest, will be by giving a particular account of the straitness of this gate, and narrowness of this way to life.

As the second thing wherein this stands, I shall give you a brief account of the way to life, and of the difficulty in each of them. And they all are but so many stages in this way, and passages that a believer must go through.

1. The new birth, (John iii. 3, 6). A man is never in the way to heaven till this change pass over him. This is a change, 1. Of nature. Oh! how hard is it for folks to put off their nature! They think they make excuse for any fault, when it is said to flow from their nature. This is a creation, (2 Cor. v. 17). 2. It is a most perfect change of inclination and affections, that what was loved is hated now, and what hated is loved now: and people know what a pain there is in turning the inclination. 3. It is a change wrought by another power than theirs, which renders it some way the harder, though the more sure and possible. Now, compare this new birth with the natural birth, or with death, which is as the soul’s birth into glory; and the differences are very evident: Alas! how many are there that: stand at this gate, and by no means will pass it. What!—change their natures and cast off all their beloveds?—they cannot hear of it.

2. The strait gate of the covenant. Shall I call it strait, that is cast up so wide with a universal invitation? Yet I may venture to call it so. It is so strait, that no man with any of such baggage can enter it, or will be willing. 1. The proud unhumbled sinner cannot enter in here. He that comes not empty and lost in his own sight, cannot be admitted to make such a bargain with God for salvation. 2. The resolved idolater that will not sell all for Christ in this bargain, and will not give up with all other lovers, to make a new covenant with Christ, cannot enter. (Matt. xiii. 44.)

3. There is the new life, which is a part of this narrow way. This follows on the new birth, and is the soul’s promise in the covenant, that he will lead a new life, (Rom. vi. 4). This new life is a great and rare thing. We shall not insist at large on it, but on a few properties of it.
1. It is a life of faith, (Gal. ii. 20, Heb. x. 38). Formerly, the man lived by sense and reason: now, he doth by faith, looking on a promise as a good security; and employing God, and acting faith on it, whenever he is in any strait.
2. It is a life of sincerity and uprightness, or a sincere life. Hypocrisy and deceitful shows he striveth against, and in a great measure overcometh; for there is now uprightness in the inward parts, and no corner of the heart that is reserved for any evil to lodge in, though it may be found there in too great abundance, (2 Cor. ii. 17).
3. It is a life of holiness. The Holy Ghost is its author, the holy law of God the rule, and the holy Jesus the man’s pattern and example.
4. A growing life, and that all a man’s days. This new life being duly cared for, attains growth as long as a man lives.

This life is called "new," because the man lived not this way before: and the rest of the world do not so, nor ever did, nor will do. It is different from the life of the world, in that it hath another food for its strengthening, and air for its breathing; another father, or another and more special way of begetting, another end it lives for and aims at, with other vital actings.

There is more to this article, as well as many others at The Old Time Gospel pages I've linked under the image at the start of the article. Well worthy of a read and a study.
Some books available for download are shared through-out the site as well --
Books for Download