Musing of the Week

We are on spring break this week, but that doesn't mean that learning has stopped. Yesterday we painted the trim on the house. Wyatt got on the roof and helped replace a board that was needing to be replaced and then painted it and the other boards above the porch that I could not reach. He later did the highest peak on the roof where we couldn't reach with the ladder from the ground.

Ashley did most of the painting on the porches, it looked very nice this morning as hubby and I walked up from the front pasture.

Monday was our 19th wedding anniversary we didn't do anything special just spent it as a family.

Last week Wyatt and I concreted in 2 4x4's to mount brackets to hang our hoses on. One by the garden and one by the cottage garden. The next day he put in 3 more 4x4's so that we can have a trellis at one end of the cottage garden.

Friday night Wyatt camped out at the boy scout camp, he was doing the Order of the Arrow ordeal and had a blast. They let him and another go home late Saturday night instead of Sunday so that they could go to church. Wyatt was so tired at church but the deal was he still had to go.

I've been studing my scriptures every morning before I walk and before our day starts and it has been so nice. I haven't been on the computer for awhile because of it, but the day starts off so much better.

Usually the dogs and cats are with me on the back porch as I read and journal.

Ashley's goats are growing they are still tiny with being pygmy but last week they started eating grass. We let them out to run around with us while we are gardening or painting. They discovered the blueberry bushes yesterday....

Hubby has pnemonia again or didn't actually get over it from the last time, which was a month or so ago. The kids had colds last week though it didn't stop Wyatt from camping :0) None of this has diminished the wonderful excitment of SPRING. The lovely new green is popping up everywhere, dogwoods are in full bloom, crabapples are as well.

Little seedlings are popping up in the cottage garden and today we plan on planting in the main garden. Monday we planted in the pasture garden butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash and Ali Baba watermelon. Hopefully we will get most of it planted before it rains and then the rain will water it for us.

I hope all have a wonderful week.

Love Erika

Spring

Our birds are busy as I know all of yours are too. This chickadee and its mate are busy making a nest in our little birdhouse on the garden gate post. And the cardinal is waiting for his turn at the feeders.

The bird activity is my favorite part of spring. What's yours?

Erika

Plain and Simple

 I love this picture of Ashley, Wyatt has taken a few black and whites of her and they are always so good. 

I was downloading a few pictures off his camera and thought I would do a Plain and Simple post of older pictures of our happenings.

In February I showed the 4H kids how to make bread

Wyatt's quail are very active egg layers. He is pickling them and selling them.  Our field trip last month had a beautiful peacock struting around.

Cooler, one of barn cats is facinated with the babies they are his size so why wouldn't he be. But they do not like him coming near their people and have gotten butting down quite well.

I thought this picture was cute and wanted to share it.

Ashley and Wyatt played chess out by the garden the other day. Wyatt is working on his chess merit badge so he roped Ashley into playing a game. They love playing but he wanted to do it by taking score, that lasted maybe 10 minutes and then they stopped and played without the score keeping

Ashley loves taking the kids for a walk she usually does it everyday after lunch. The rain has slowed that down the last day for two though.

I hope all have a wonderful spring day!

Did you vote today? Well if your in MS or AL, did you? I did!

Love,

Erika

Good Morning

Well another day and here are my shoes and one of my favorite skirts. Hubby had me buy Sketcher Shape-ups last year because my feet bother me so much from all the standing I do. He wanted to make sure I had them for girls camp since my feet are so swollen and hurt so much after standing for 4 days in a kitchen cooking.  I also have heal spurs so that is what causes the pain, but after I started wearing these I haven't had problems. I love them and last year girls camp my feet weren't swollen or sore just tired  but that was remedied sitting down some in the afternoons.

It really stinks when you are on your feet a lot to have such a silly problem as heal spurs. If you have this problem, shots didn't help me at all in the long run, stretching the arch and tendons is what helps and these shoes do that wonderfully.

We worked in the yard some yesterday, we put some more bottles in our bottle border, and we planted seeds for zinnias, cosmos, trumpet flowers, and another pretty wild flower that we received from our neighbor.

We also moved the mint and spearmint. We are loving crisp cool morning and cool but warm afternoons. It makes for a loving time sitting and doing school work with the doors and windows open.

The azalea is starting to bloom in a few days it should be covered in deep pink flowers.

We have little strawberries on our remaining plants, we started with 50 last year but the heat did alot of them in. So we moved them this year to one of our cottage garden beds that is shaded some by a big old oak tree.

And the potatoes are sprouting, this picture I just noticed is a little blurry...one of our barn cats was following me purring and butted my hand right when I took the picture.

I hope all have a wonderfully blessed day,

Erika

Another Week

Another week of daily musings, each Monday starts another week, another load of laundry, another bed to make, another meal to cook, another sunrise, another week of busy busy, another week I have the opportunity to bless my family as a mother and a wife.

You thought I was going to complain didn't you? Well I could have and I could have started each thing with I. But I want to stop complaining, it is draining and I want to stop saying I. How many times a day do we start with I.....

Yes another week is starting and sometimes I wish it wouldn't. I have laundry to do...again, I have to make the bed again, I have to cook yet another meal that my darling son will say, "can I make pasta instead" or "Is this what we are having, why", I have a busy week...yet again...

Now doesn't that sound awful? So I am going to work on it and work on seeing things differently. Being a homemaker is a joy and I do love it, but a week or two will pop up out of nowhere and the major ughs will come into play and all I want to do is be really selfish.

Ever have that happen to you? I am sure those of you who read this are perfect and have never had that feeling...right?

Ok now on to an actual post...

These yummy goodies were made with coconut flour and blueberries we canned last summer. They are from the organic u-pick blueberry farm not farm from us. They were so yummy fresh as they are canned too. Click here to try the recipe

Hubby had to work Saturday so Ashley and I worked on a stall in the barn for the babies. The ducks were not sure about the new addition to their yard. Sha're and Aurora weren't sure about the noisy things quacking at them. But a cat was very interesting so much so that he jumped up on the fence post to get away from nibbling mouths.

 This weekend was our stake conference, and as usual it was inspiring. Here are some tidbits we gleaned.

"Ultimate goal of every latter-day saint should be to go the the temple" Pres. Gordon B Hinkley

Life isn't fair

If you have a chink in your armor the adversary will find it

Keep perspective-one day at a time

Need the Gospel more than we need air

You need not fear, Heavenly Father knows you and as you pray you will not fall by the wayside

need to live worthily to receive guidance and revelation

"Who He calls he qualifies" Pres Monson

Heavenly Father will fight our battles for us as long as we are faithful

all God's children are precious

Book of Mormon harmonizes Christ's teachings

Excerpts from Plain Living

...Real values are not learned.

They form.

They form from inside out.

They cannot be imposed.

Alfred K. Lamotte, 1982

Plainness also involves speech, not just special words, but speaking so as to mean what we say. That means avoiding both sarcasm-saying the opposite of what one means-and also excessive politeness, or "beating around the bush"

Susan Smith, 1984

Dispatch business quickly,

and keep out of long debates and heats...

be swift to hear,

and slow to speak,

and let it be in the grace,

which seasons all works.

George Fox, 1690

And I leave you with a weird picture my feet in my shoes. I have started using some of flylady's ideas again. I found her years ago before she was so big and commercial and formed some very good habits, but I need to bring things a little more back to focus and organized so I am going to try and post a picture like this maybe daily to show you that I am dressed to my shoes to keep me accountable...though today my hair is still in its night braids and those are twisted into a bun so I still need to brush my hair. But I did bless my home. :0)

Have a wonderfully blessed day,

Erika