New Year, New Beginning - 2013

Happy New Year!  I've been away awhile.  I feel like I say that often.  It has been about eight weeks since I've published anything.  There have been a lot of reasons for this.  I was having a problem with worrying about my family, and being sad about things I can't change.  A lot of changes were going on in our home.  That means a lot of adjustment going on that affects everyone involved.  I have come to the conclusion that it does no good to think about how things were, and try to get back to that point.  Especially when you have grown children.  So I have realized that I need to just start where I am, and go forward.  And that is what I am going to do.  As children leave home, Husband and Wife need to pull together to fill in the gaps and make sure to think of the other.  I'm planning to try to be a better wife.  There is just not enough of Husband and I to do all the things that the five of us used to do.  But we are learning. 

So I am here again, starting over as I seem to do each New Year.  I hope I do a better job this year of being dedicated to this project that really does mean a lot to me.  Maybe it also means a lot to some of you.

We spent the first day of the year entertaining friends for New Year's Lunch.  Which stretched into an all day football fest.  We had the normal Southern fare:  black eyed peas, turnip greens, corn bread, rolls, ham, macaroni salad, chow chow, and cranberry relish.  Our friends brought a triple chocolate cake and pumpkin bread for desert.  Everything was good and we enjoyed the company.

We recently went away for a couple of days.  We left Christmas Day and returned the 27th of December.  This trip was to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary!  We went to a state park close by and had a wonderful time.  When we returned home, we were welcomed by new baby twin goats.  They are up and about, and look great.  We were a little surprised when we hadn't had any goats and lambs before Christmas.  I guess that will start again now.  I'll keep you posted.

We applied for a grant to have water run back to our property.  We will find our soon if we will qualify for any funds.  We applied for two pastures, the one where we live, and another in this county we rent.  We hope this works out well for us and would be a big blessing for us.  Currently I am boiling our drinking water to suppliment what I buy.

The chicks we got for Easter have started laying.  So this is a big help since some varmint got our layers late last summer.  Even in the recent temperature change we are still getting an egg or two a day.  We like our eggs and are egg snobs since having our own.

We recently bottled our strawberry wine.  We bottled two gallons in individual bottles this week.  This is the first year we have tried making strawberry, and we are pleased with how it turned out.

I have put some turnip greens in the freezer since Thanksgiving, and our neighbor brought more yesterday.  I had started making my list of items I need to restock this year.  The most important items are carrots and Lima beans to can, and green peas for the freezer.  Well, last night I was at the grocery, and they had 2 lb bags of green giant carrots in the produce department marked down to .69!  I got four bags to can.  GrandBoy loves carrots and we all eat them a lot.  So I will be doing that this week.  I also picked up some cabbage to put in the freezer.  In the meat department, I got one turkey marked .99 a lb.  If they get marked down again this week, I want to get a couple more.  I'm going to cook them, them can the meat.  I also got two hams marked down.  We ate one today, and I froze the other.  And I got 3 lbs of ground beef marked down to $2.00.  That is less than $1.00 a pound!  We don't typically buy beef because we have our own cows, but we are getting low on ground beef, and at that price, I couldn't leave it at the store.  So that is my restocking plan for this week. 

I'm working on my resolutions, and trying to plan our year.  I'm trying to get more things on our calendar, so I don't have to try to remember it in my head.  I'm getting too old to carry so much around in my head.

One other thing I wanted to share with you since I've been gone.  GrandBoy has started school.  There is a preschool program in our community school, and he was able to go.  Instead of wearing Halloween costumes, the children dressed as story book characters.  Well, GrandBoy is all about tractors and anything John Deere.  He plans to be a "tractor man" when he grows up.  So his Aunt Yay Yay made him a tractor costume (there are John Deere storey books - really there are!).  His costume was a big hit, and he was so proud!  His Aunt was offered cash for the costume by a couple of families after the costume parade.  But she told them she didn't think her nephew would let her sell it! 

GrandBoy in his tractor costumeduring the costume parade!

Well, I guess that is enough catching up for today.  Hope you all had a great New Year, and will have a wonderful finish to this week.  Honey