The chicken rescue!

There is never a dull moment here, and the holidays are no exception. Just because it's Christmas or Boxing day doesn't mean things stop on the farm. And guess what....animals don't realize that it's a holiday either. Go figure?!

Boxing day was really nice out. It actually snowed here for Christmas. So Boxing Day showed up nice, warm, sunny and white! I was on my way back from the green bin when I heard a noise from the big wood pile.

I thought, "no way. It can't be a chicken. I haven't let the chickens loose in a week!" But it sounded like one of my hens.

I started looking around and sure enough, there stuck in the wood pile was a chicken! For Pete's Sake!

I told Dave "You've got to go rescue that hen! We need that hen! The way Tundra's been eating them everyone of them counts!"

Dave and his camera thingie, notice the amount of logs on top

So I remind him of the wonderful gift he bought himself a few months ago for Christmas. It was the perfect opportunity to use it. It's one of those little cameras on the end of a pipe thingie and it's even got a colour monitor thingie that you can watch. (I'm not electronically minded, ok?!)

We finally located the hen with Dave's camera thingie. That meant that Dave (my hero) had to move lots and lots of logs to get to the hen. Hubby was not impressed.

After what seemed like a lifetime, but I imagine was only 30 minutes he got a hold of her legs. There was one log left, but he couldn't move it without the tractor, and if he did move it, it would have squashed the hen. So ever so gently he started tugging on the hen because she was kinda wedged in those logs. Now I say gently, but those of you who have a hubby probably know that it wasn't too gently.

Tugging and pulling "gently", notice the logs all moved!

Finally out pops the hen! I was so happy! The hen was happy too. She didn't seem any worse for wear. My hero!

This photo says it all! You can all imagine what Dave said while holding the hen in this picture....

Friggen chicken!

And how was your Christmas!

Lisa

Winter Solstice Gathering

Ok, I know, I know...

I'm weird, I'm a bit strange. I know this and some people might question my beliefs, but on December 21st we were invited to a winter solstice gathering. Definately not your usual, normal Wesleyan church gathering.

We are devout Christians. So why on earth would we want to participate in a winter solstice/drumming gathering.

Well.... I like to try different things. I like to see how other people celebrate different things.

I have a strong belief in tolerance. As much as I wish we were all born again Christians, I know it's not going to happen. So we should learn about one another and each other's beliefs. Maybe, just maybe if everyone held to this way of thinking there would be a lot less wars.

Maybe, maybe not.

Having said all this, I would not have attended this gathering if I wasn't strong in my faith and Christian beliefs. It's so very easy to be swayed. I know some of my Christian friends will wonder if I've gone off the deep end.

Nope.

Me and hubby

We did find it was a bit strange at first...but we knew most of the people there. We got there a bit late because I was working that day. We had a bite to eat and listened to the music and the drumming. The drumming was very soothing. I know, when I say that people think "How on earth can drumming be soothing." But it really was. After a while we joined in. They had some spare drums.

This summer we'd like to host a drumming session in our backyard.

When we first got there I told one of the women that I had half jokingly told my work colleagues that I hoped that we didn't dance naked around a bonfire! She said, "Oh heavens no! Not this year. It's raining out. Maybe next year." Then she said, "Just kidding!"

Phew!

So...did I like this gathering? Yes! Did I find it a bit strange? mmmm yes. Would I go again? Oh Yes! Most definately. Am I crazy? Oh yeah. So what else is new.

Have a Blessed Evening and a Merry Christmas!

Lisa

Major Curve Ball!

Merry Christmas from Simonne!

Like most of you know, we built a piece onto the house for Dave's dad. He was supposed to move in and we were all going to live happily ever after. NOT!

He did move in September. All was going well. About a month after he moved in he passed out on the floor. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with A Fib (a major heart problem). He also was full of fluid. The doctor on call told us, if he would have been living on his own, he would have been dead within 2 weeks! Thank goodness he was with us. But the doctor also said that these episodes had probably been happening for a while, just he never told us.

So we went home with warfarin and other different meds. Then Halloween we got home from an evening of trick or treating when his dad passed out again. It all went down hill from there. The doctor said he could no longer stay at home alone. He needed 24/7 supervision. If he fell again and hit his head he could bleed to death since he was on warfarin. This is kinda hard since we both work full time.

So with heavy hearts we went ahead with the paperwork to put him in a senior's home. It's not something we wanted to do, but he understood. It's hard, if not impossible for us to supervise him 24/7. This even meant someone had to be with him at night, since he was starting to get up in the middle of the night. Dave would be up several times a night to get him to the bathroom, get him a glass of water or just tending to something he wanted...then get up at 4am to drive an oil truck all day. That was a recipe for disaster. I would get up at 4:30 am to get him dressed and fed, then tend all the animals, get J. ready for school and then get myself ready and to work for 8:30am.

It was just not working. We were going to get a nurse in here for respite, but that costs a bloody fortune. Then a place opened at a seniors home for 3 weeks in the respite bed. What we really wanted was for him to be placed permanently in the facility his wife was in. We prayed and prayed and prayed, then 3 days before he was supposed to be moved to our house again or another respite bed...THEY CALLED!!! They had a permanent bed for him in the same place as his wife! We were all so happy we cried. Now he seems a lot happier, we are under a lot less stress and he's being well taken care of. This facility is one of the best. The workers are really caring and the place is beautiful. I want to move in! Just kidding.

But now we have another problem. What to do with the Dawdi Haus. It's doubled our house insurance and I don't even want to see what it's going to do to our property taxes! We are trying to rent it out, but so far no takers.

So this is our little life at the moment and reason why I haven't been blogging . We are finally starting to relax and find a few minutes to spare, plus Christmas is fast approaching.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Quick update

Ok, maybe I should have googled the pregnancy test thing first and saved myself some time and money. Especially since I told my friend to pick me up 3 tests also..in case my mom forgot. Since this is a small community the store clerk looked at my friend knowingly and she said, "It's not for me! It's for my friend, she wants to try it on her goats." The clerk is like, "Yeah, right....ok."

Human pregnancy tests don't work on goats.

Case closed.

I'll never learn.

Lisa

Tree time again!

It's that time of the year again...Christmas tree time!

This year I couldn't wait till after Christmas to go get trees because since I think the girls are pregnant and due in Feb, that means that they need their trees now.

So off we went to the wood lot. We loaded almost all the trees that our friend, Andrew, had cut for us. The trailer was a bit wobbly, but we got home in one piece.

Honey dear carrying the trees to the pasture.

I know some of you will think I'm nuts, ok ya'll think I'm nuts. I got my mom to go to the dollar store and get me some pregnancy test kits. No!!!I'm not in the family way. I just figured if they work on women, maybe they'll work on goats. I mean for $1.25, what do I have to lose? So I used one this morning and nothing came through, not even the control. I did it again tonight. It came out negative. So I don't know what to think. Maybe I should google it.

Hmmm...that's an idea.

Gotta go!

Lisa

November musings

Who'd a thunk it? A rose in November.

Well the weather here has been wild and wacky for the month of November. Sunny and hot one day, freezing and windy the next. Or rain, rain and more rain. The chicken's run is just a pile of muck. Poor things.

One of these things are not like the other.....

Speaking of chickens....we had a dozen or so brought to the butcher last week. Old layers. They make excellent rappie pie and fricot. We also got rid of Foghorn, since one of the Americanas is a rooster. We also put Mooocher in the freezer. Geez re-reading this sounds like we're massacring animals left,right and centre.

yes, she does look guilty

Tundra has been killing more chickens. I honestly don't know what to do. It's unfair to leave the hens locked up, but at the same time, it's unfair to them to let them get killed! What to do, what to do?

One of Tundra's victims

Since it's been raining constantly the last few months, the path to the barn is just wet, wet, wet. You need rubber boots to get there. So we got a load of gravel and put it down. Well it's better, but water is actually seaping through the hill. Not good. We're not sure if it's the well or not.

Nice dry path...for now

Christmas is fast approaching. I actually have the tree up! Yay for me!!

I thought I was going to have nice cabbage this fall.......

I guess not! The deer now probably have lots of gas. Good.

I interrupt this post for recent goat photos and one cute cat photo.

Cindi Lou

Cindi Lou

Febe chowing down! Hmmm and I wonder why they won't eat?

I'm a centerfold!

Stockings growing nicely!

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Goat's Milk Fudge

Today is Remembrance Day so that meant I had the day off. First thing we did this morning was attend the Remembrance Day services. We have to teach our kids what those soldiers did for us. So every year I bring J. to the services. There aren't that many kids at the services around here and I find that after today the veterans and the fallen seem to be swept under the rug for another year. I try to teach J. that we should keep them all in our prayers and thoughts all year long. I think that I am actually getting through to him. There was only another girl from his school at the services besides J. I found that sad.

Well it's time for the Spring Peeper Farm Cooking Show!!!

It has been brought to my attention that there is something else you can do with goat's milk.

FUDGE!!!

Now who doesn't like fudge. Especially a gal that has just come off a cleansing fast!! (Which went well btw. Allergies GONE! and 11 extra pounds!)

I found this recipe on this page.

It was really easy, but time consuming. Whenever a recipe calls for a candy thermometer, that means time. But I thought I'd give it a go.

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup goats milk

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

Mix the cocoa, sugar and milk together. Heat on medium to med high heat stirring till sugar is dissolved completely.

Bring to a slow boil and cook till it reaches the soft ball stage (234 F). Stir often to prevent sticking. This part took the longest.

Almost there! Patience!

Remove from heat and add the pecans, butter and vanilla.

Stir by hand till it thickens and gets glossy. Spread in an 8X8 well greased pan and let cool.

Voilá!! Goats milk fudge.

Give it a try. If I can do it, anyone can!

Oh my word! When it rains, it pours. Literally. It's still raining. Today it's giving 100mm of rain. I've been here almost 20 years and I've never seen it flood. This morning our little creek is flooding and the water is almost up to the goat pasture.

Speaking of goats... I was sure that Cindi Lou was sick again. She was limping because Tundra won't stop chasing the goats and she wouldn't eat her feed. I thought, "Here we go again."

Wednesday she barely ate and Thursday morning she didn't eat a nibble. I figured it she didn't eat by the time I got home from work on Thursday night I was going to take her temp and call the vet. Dollar signs just kept going through my brain.... I left her in her pen all day Thursday and when I got home she had eaten all her grain and was alert. I thought woohooo!!! I couldn't figure out why on earth she had been acting that way when I remembered.....

It's amazing what two 1oo lb pumpkins will do to the appetite! I had completely forgotten that the apple farmer up the road had given us all his giant pumpkins and I had told Dave to throw in 2 in the pasture. The poor goat was full and was bloated.

Coming back to Tundra...I honestly don't know what to do with that dog. She killed two young pullets last week and ate them!!! I was so ticked off and upset I didn't know what to do. Now I don't dare leave the chickens out when she is. Like they say, "when they get a taste of blood." A friend of mine said, "Maybe she was protecting the goats from the chickens, since they flew into their pen." Well, yeah maybe, but...that night, where Tundra sleeps there was a trapped chicken and she didn't even give it a second look. Of course not, she was full!

I'll never understand animals.

Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

Missed it by that much...

Stockings

We have a new doeling at Spring Peeper. Her name is Two by Two Stockings. She's a purebred registered Alpine doeling. We got her from the same place we got Marygold. I wasn't going to buy anymore goats and just keep the doelings from our does this spring. Then I thought...hmmm...what happens if Febe and Cindi just have bucklings? Then what? This is Febe's last breeding. The vet said after the signs of CAE first show, you get one more breeding out of them. So this is it. I pray for a doe out of Febe this time. I'll keep her and bottle raise her so she'll be CAE negative. That's if I can get to her before Febe does. Febe has a way of having her babies quickly, secretly and quietly. I have yet to see her give birth. We'll probably have to set up a camera in the stall so we can keep an eye on her.

But honestly...I have no idea if she's bred or not. Dave thinks that Tomi got both of them when we had a cold spell in mid September. I hope he didn't. But they haven't come in heat yet. They usually have by now. All I have to say is that I don't want February babies!!!

Whenever I go to milk the goats in the evening this is what I have to contend with...

A gazillion chickens running after me trying to get into the goat barn in which they are not permitted to enter. So I have to run in the barn, quickly shut the door behind me, go get a scoop of grain and throw it at them, so they'll leave me alone while I milk. There's not much light in the milking area so I like milking with the door open.

The wood pile we have to split...ugh

Last week our friends from Two by Two farm came and gave us a very well appreciated hand splitting and packing our firewood. They even left their splitter here for us to finish. This was a super big help. With Dave's dad moving in and everything we never got the chance to finish the firewood. It's wonderful to have such great friends!

We got another addition to the farm. The last month for some strange reason every time we see our cat Binoo, we'd call her Pumpkin. Pumpkin was a cat we had a while ago. She lived to be 15 years old before we had to have her put down because she had feline dementia and kidney failure. She was our baby before J.

So anyway, I told Dave maybe it's a sign we need another cat and call it Pumpkin......I was kidding.

He, on the other hand was not kidding. He found a cutie pie kitten and brought it home. It looked nothing like the first Pumpkin but I named it Pumpkin anyway, till last night.

I was cuddling him and he just looked at me with a very familiar look. The look exactly like Puss in Shrek when he gives his sad kitty look. So his name is now Antonio.

It was giving lots of rain today, 50-60mm. I didn't think it was giving wind also. Oy! I was so wrong. We got back from a family afternoon in Yarmouth and the loose siding was all over the place, a tree fell and my grape arbour collapsed!!

Boy that was close!

I'm so not impressed. The tree missed the greenhouse by this much! (I'm holding my thumb and finger about a millimeter apart). Remember Get Smart? He used to say...missed it by that much! All the time. I loved that show. But I digress.

Poor grapes

The collapsed arbour almost took out one grape plant. It moved the trampoline about 7 feet also. Dave was almost sick looking at the grapes.

Oh well, such is life.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Nobody's dead yet......

Ok, it's day 6 of my candida cleanse and I didn't kill anyone yet!! Woohooo!!! Only 9 more days to go. I don't have many cravings for sugar now. This I am very grateful for. I don't know for how much longer I could handle the cravings. A co-worker pulled out a Caramilk bar and I didn't almost knick it from her. I'm proud of myself. My main concern now is the lack of variety in my diet. I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be sick of chicken and fish. I always said that I could live on chicken and fish....wrong! If anyone knows of good recipes that follow the candida cleanse , please let me know. I've found some, but the website I found permitted eating fruit and my cleanse and osteopath don't permit fruit. Oh well, 9 more days to go!

I'm just about ready to call Mike Holmes!!! Why oh why is it that electricians, plumbers and carpenters think that they can leave the job and not return? Or return when they think you need the work done, not when you want the work done!!

The extension is finished. It took a while. Only the floor needs to be insulated and Dave will do that. But we actually had to hold the plumber/electrician hostage so he'd finish his job!!! We had a week of very cold weather and Dave's father was freezing! So Dave called the p/e at his favourite coffee shop and asked if he was warm? Dave said, "Well we're not!"

So he actually showed up the next day at 8am. and stayed to finish the job till 8pm! Maybe because Dave blocked the driveway and he couldn't leave. But in the p/e's defense, most plumber's and electricians are like that. Same goes with carpenters.

The carpenter we had did an excellent job and he finished the extension, but our side is still not done. I need mouldings and casings put in the living room, bathroom, bedroom and entryway. The inside of my house looks like crap! I have towels at my windows instead of curtains. He keeps saying that when it rains he'll come and finish it. Well, helllloooo!!!It's rained several times since a month ago! He wants to finish his outside jobs before winter sets in first. Hmmm....I can kinda see his point of view, but what about the jobs you started and didn't finish! I can just imagine telling my customers at the store, " I'll mix you this gallon of paint, but I don't think you'll need the other 3 till it rains in 2 months!" I don't think I'd have many customers left. Yet, they seem to think that this sort of business ethic is fine. Everyone I talk to agrees with me and they have all had the same problems. It didn't matter what carpenter, electrician or plumber it is, they all do it!! If someone could open a business and finish their jobs in a timely manner they would make a fortune!

I also have another pet peeve...Blogger! I've been told that they can't comment on my posts, which might be why I haven't been getting many these last few months. Also the ads on the side of my posts don't show up. That's been at least 6 months. There's no way to get a hold of anyone. They say it's fixed, but it's not. BLOGGER GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Canned Apple Pie Filling

Before....

This year I planned something special with all the apples that we picked. I was going to make pies, but I really didn't have the time. (so what else is new?) I found this recipe in a Countryside Magazine for canned apple pie filling. I thought why not? So I gave it a go. Here's the recipe if any of you want to try it.

7 quarts of apples

In a very large pot put

5 qts water

4 1/2 cups sugar ( I mixed brown sugar and white sugar)

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 table spoons lemon juice

Bring to a boil and then add

1/2 cup cornstarch ( mix this with a little bit of cold water, the recipe didn't state this and it made a huge mess! I should have known better)

1/2 cup minute tapioca mixed with 1 cup cold water

Add to mixture and boil again. Add to your bottles, seal them and put them in a hot water bath for 20 minutes after it starts to boil again. If the apples float to the top, you're fine. If they sink in the bottle you might want to make a pie.

After....

Now I've put this recipe on here, but I haven't opened a bottle yet. So...it could be gross or it could be good. We won't know for a while since I'm on a candida cleanse and can't eat sugar , fruit, fermented foods, breads of any kind, like bagels, bread, pizza, cereals, rice, granola, rolls, pasta etc....you get the point, not dairy products.

What can I eat? Hmmmm....not bloody much!! Free range eggs, free range chicken and turkey, limes, lemons, cranberries, seeds (flax, sunflowers), no nuts except almonds, water, veggies but not corn, peas or potatoes. I can eat plain yogurt. Have you ever eaten plain yogurt? There is a reason why yogurt is flavoured! It's gross plain!! And it's just plain gross! Oh I can also eat fish but not shellfish.

I'm just hoping that it's all worth it. The reason for this madness is blepharitis. I'm hoping that the excess yeast in my belly will depart from me and take the blepharitis with it! The only problem being (besides wanting to inhale a chocolate bar at the moment) is that if this works, that is what I'll have to eat for the rest of my days. I'll be able to bring in certain fruits but not all. We'll just have to wait and see. But for the next 15 days I'm going to be one crabby chick. hmmmm....crabs would be good right about now.

Halloween is fast approaching so J. and I bought a premade haunted gingerbread house at Wally world. We had a blast decorating it.

The finished house.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Thanksgiving!

Ok, well I'm a bit off, but it's been a long week.

Our wrapped up pig.

I must admit it was a wonderful family and friends weekend. On Sunday we went to my parents house and ate turkey with pumpkin pie and lemon pie for dessert. (ok, I guess there was potatoes and veggies and such somewhere in the equation, but honestly Thanksgiving is about turkey and dessert .) Yummmm..... Dave's father my cousin and his wife came also. It was a good time. Len, Dave's father had never met my cousin. He found that they were nice but he found that they talked alot. Ha ha.

The finished product.

The next day we went to our friend's house, Sheila and Keith. We went here two years ago for Thanksgiving and had a ball! They've got an outside brick oven that they cook in. So they make a mean turkey at thanksgiving. That and a way of bringing all sorts of people with different backgrounds together, it makes a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.

Keith and his oven

This year was a bit different. We had two 35 lb whole pigs in the freezer! So not knowing how to , or what to do, flying by the seat of our pants we got the pig ready for cooking. We started by filling the cavity of the pig with apples, onions and a sauce I concocted. We stitched him up, wrapped him in aluminum foil (about 3 boxes worth), then wrapped him up again in copper wire.

Sheila reading a blessing.

We brought him to Keith's and shoved him in the oven for several hours. He came out golden, delicious and very moist. Yummmm.....

We also had record breaking temps on Thanksgiving weekend. It was just as hot as July.

On another happy note...Febe is doing extremely well. Between quadrupling her MSM intake and having the farrier come over and fix her feet I think that we've helped her alot.

On an unhappy note...on Thanksgiving weekend we went to the Pines Resort for a craft fair. It was a disaster!! No advertising had been done, so nobody showed up. On Saturday I sold 5 soaps, on Sunday I didn't sell any. I was not happy. I kept seeing that nice weather outside and all the things I could be doing. I was not happy. Oh opps...did I already say that? I was not happy. We were left comment cards. They now know I was not happy. Neither was anyone else. Most people left at noon on Sunday. I made a commitment to stay, so I did.

So how was your week?

Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

I've made the big time now!!!

It's been awhile, yes I know. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I'm still here. I'm just trying to grab a hold of the world that seems to be spinning out of control. At the moment we are in need of another 4 or 5 hours in a day to make ends meets. FIL is moved in completely. He has his good days and he has his bad days. Today was not a good day. He's a lot worse than what we originally thought he was. His memory is going everyday. But there is nothing we can do. Other members of the family think that he is fine and he should still be on his own. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We did our large yardsale. It rained like a bugger but we did it anyway and sold everything. What didn't sell we called a person that buys estates and he came by and bought the stuff. Phew! At least that's gone.

Many things still need to be done before winter sets in an the way it's going that happened yesterday with the snow we had. I'm getting over-whelmed. The inside of our house needs to be done. While we had the siding off the house we changed some windows so that means the living room we just painted needs to be repainted, sills and casings put back in etc.... Our firewood isn't split, insulation needs to be put under the new floors etc.. etc.. etc...

We went apple picking last week. I have two bags of apples awaiting my attention, it'll have to wait another week. I found a recipe for canned apple pie filling and that's what I want to do.

Two weeks ago I was invited to speak to a group of ladies about my soap and our little farm. One of the ladies said that she was going to write a small article about me and my soaps in a provincial french newspaper. I couldn't believe it when a lady called me about my soap. She had seen it in a newspaper article!! I flew to the store to see and lo and behold there was the article and it wasn't a little one either, it was almost half a page!! Holy Schmoly! A picture of me and everything. I've made the big time now baby! Woohooo!!!

Mamma needs a new pair of boots! I had to invest in a new pair of rubber boots. Mine were only a year old but somehow it got a big crack over the ball of the foot. I was sick and tired of getting a wet left foot, so I invested in insulated rubber boots. From the kids section no less. I guess Walmart doesn't believe that adults need new rubber boots.

Well it's time for bed. I actually had to miss work yesterday because I was so sick. J. and I spent all day on the couch sleeping with Simonne. I've never seen a dog like that yet. She'll stay on any couch or chair that you put her on. She's so cute, perfect for an elderly person.

Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

At the end of my rope!

Oh my word!! What a week it's been.

We got the results of the CAE testing and things were not what we expected. Tomi was negative, Febe was positive. That I expected. But the surprise being that Cindi was positive also!! That I was not happy. She was supposed to be from a CAE negative herd! I'm so mad at that that I cannot even talk about it.

I've been giving Febe supplements from Fiasco farm but they aren't working. This morning I actually thought I had to get her put down. She couldn't get up. It was so sad. Her hooves are bad also. We're not sure if the CAE is putting her feet out of line so much that her hooves are curling and causing her pain. Or if the hooves are just bad because they were never well taken care of from the get go and it's making her pain worse. Dunno.

So today I called the vet and we had a long talk. He's going to email me the new findings about CAE so I can email them to the former owners of Cindi Lou. Then I asked him if I could up the dosage on the glucosamine and the MSM. He said I could at least double it. Goats are not like humans and other animals, they sometimes don't absorb the supplements well like regular one stomach creatures, so he said for me to leave the glucosamine dosage the way it is but to up the MSM dosage. I guess MSM is a natural pain killer. It will take up to 3 weeks to take effect but it should work. He said his parents use it and it works wonders. If this doesn't work, then I have to resort to Blaut. I think that's what it's called. It's a horse pain killer, but you cannot drink the milk after. The kids could but humans can't because it would be like drinking milk laced with aspirin, tylenol and advil. Not a good thing. But imagine...my headaches would be totally gone!

The sad thing is that after the signs of CAE become apparent, you can breed her one more time and then it's done. She needs to be retired. That was our original plan in the first place. So we are going to breed her one last time and whatever girls she gets (hopefully twin girls) we're going to keep. I am so sorry I sold Azelle. I contemplated on keeping her, but like Dave said, we wanted a black doe.

But going on to happy news, I was asked back this summer to speak on our farm and why we started in the soap making business to a group of ladies called La Societe Madelaine LeBlanc. So Thursday night, off I went with power point presentation and all my soaps to speak to these ladies. I was nervous as all git out! Yes, I used to be worship leader in church, but this was different. But they even gave me supper! So I gave my speech and they loved it!! They asked questions and everything. Then they swooped down on my soap and bought over 170$ worth of soap in 10 minutes!! Vultures they were. My problem now lies in that I have no more of my best seller! They wiped me out. Usually I'd be super happy about this, don't get me wrong I am happy, but on Thanksgiving weekend (two weeks from now), we were asked to go to a fall craft fair in Digby and it takes over 3 weeks to cure! Ack!! Oh well, I've been making soap this last weekend. Every day! If they buy it, I'll just have to tell them not to use it for a few weeks.

Finished product, just a bit of cleaning up to do.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

The Dawdi Haus

Dave putting in the last screw in the veranda

You know when you're so tired, you can't think straight, yet you can't stop either? Well that's how I feel right now.

I am this close...(holding my thumb and index finger about half a millimeter apart) to going nuts, crazy, bonkers, loonie bin bound..you get the point.

This is the kitchenette

This weekend the Dawdi Haus was finished (well enough for him to move in). So all last week we have been packing, and packing and packing and then yesterday (Saturday) while I was all day at work, Dave and very nice friends helped us move all the stuff. Then the work really began. I got home from work (and it was a busy day and we were really short staffed) and I had so many boxes to unpack and put away before grandpa could go to bed.

The living room area

He was slightly confused and upset since he didn't really want to move in the first place. But it needed to be done. Dave couldn't keep running two households. He was getting stressed out and burnt out. So the choices were either move in with us or go to an elder's home. So here we are!

The Dawdi Haus, like the Amish call it.

But all that being said, my house, the living room especially, looks like a bomb blew up, or a tornado hit it. I'd say an F4 tornado. It's so bad, I don't even want to take a picture. That bad. I can't stand having my house in such a disarray. I mean, don't get me wrong, my house is not always clean, ok, it's never clean....but it's never this bad. This is the part that is stressing me out the most!

J.'s room needs to be completely emptied, cleaned and painted. The living room needs to have the new mouldings put in, the walls resanded, then washed and then painted. I just painted the entire room a few months ago!! I hate painting. Like I tell people, I'm a paint expert, I'm not a painting expert. When we started the addition I didn't think it would affect the rest of the house.Boy was I wrong.

On top of everything, I'm supposed to be making soap this last week, I need to restock. This coming Thursday I've been invited to speak to a lady's group and bring some soap to sell. I'm hoping I've got enough stock for that night, plus, I need to print more labels and finish my speech. But my problem is that Microsoft Works is holding all my stuff hostage! I can't access it. ACK!!! So tomorrow I have to get on the horn and call my computer dude.

Simone!

But after all this...there is a little ray of sunshine...called Simone. Dave's dad wanted a dog when he moved in. Really he wanted a Beagle puppy. Ahhh...no. So we convinced him to get a retired mini dacshund. She's a retired breeder. We just got her today and she's a sweetie. She cuddles everyone.

Ok, I have more to say, but I'll wait for another post. My thinking capabilities are gone.

Have a Blessed Evening.

Lisa