To Send or Not to Send? …That is the Question.

 
As most of you know, my husband had a serious heart attack back in May of this year and while in the hospital also suffered a stroke. He has been retired for about 2 1/2 years and had very recently begun working part time for a Solar screen company prior to his heart attack. We didn’t have any insurance and have incurred quite a few medical bills.
To date: we’ve filed for charity on 3 different bills and were very humbled to find out that we had been accepted by these programs to receive funds   have our bills paid by them. That has been a tremendous blessing!
I might note here, that there are still charity hospitals in this country and that there are programs available. But you must do the work and follow the steps to get it done. That means some digging on your part. I had to make several phone calls and this only after being told—that we would NOT receive a letter saying we didn’t qualify for any Government assistance ( ie; Medicaid, SSI, Medicare, etc.). The hospital will look into these things for you; but that is it. After that it’s up to you to pursue the charity benefits.   You may be left in the dark after your initial try. But keep calling and be persistent sooner or later you’ll get either a live person—or a person who KNOWS what they are talking about.
That brings me to my question.
I'm about to send off Hardship Letters to several Doctors for bills incurred after treating my husband for his heart attack- without medical coverage. We've received charity already for the hospital portion, but still owe the different Doctors.
My Husband is unable to work at this time.  I babysit in my home but our income is very limited. Looking at our budget we’ve got about $80. a month that can be split about 11 different ways each month; even that is not much when you divide it between the doctors. We've not had insurance since he retired 2- 1/2 years ago. We don't get any help from the Government, Thankfully now my husband is being treated through the V.A.-- at the time we were not in that system. We've never in 28 years of marriage gotten government assistance; no food stamps, Medicaid, utilities, cash, housing; we’ve applied and still don’t ‘qualify’ now for anything. This has been a humbling experience for us. We are very grateful for the assistance we've received to date.
I'm curious as to what others think of Hardship letters and if you  would tell me your thoughts on our circumstances.
Would you send a hardship letter requesting a lowered bill if you were self-pay?
 
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father bethe glory forever and ever. Amen. Phil 4: 19-20 


* edited to add that this post was inspired after reading this post at Frugal Hacks

God Bless you and Thank you for reading.

Fall Garden Planted: I’m hopeful.

I don’t know a soul who plants a fall garden around my neck of the woods~ and there may very well be a perfectly good reason for that ,too.
Because—they probably don’t grow. 
We’ve had a terribly hot and dry summer here in Texas. I’m hoping that some rain will kick in soon and we’ll get some cooler temps and that we’ll have mild weather right on through to Winter. That’s what I’m praying for anyway.
I got to thinking. Just because I don’t know anybody that does; doesn’t mean that there ISN’T ANYBODY that does.
So I figure if you’re gonna pray …LET IT BE IN FAITH and plant something!
Kind of like having a prayer meeting and praying for rain--- If you’re praying in faith, then you should probably carry an umbrella with when you go!

   I planted some beans, lettuce, spinach, and carrots.
You may remember this bed in my front yard.  In February I planted lettuce, beets, broccoli, and squash here; and it was very successful. That is a lone tomato left over from the spring. It is surviving on manure and dish water!


I probably should have cut it back to see how it will do. It is sort of leggy.

But it has tomatoes on it. They are very tiny. You may be able to see them where my palm and second finger is if you click on the picture.
So, it’s done. It’s planted for FALL.  Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for rain- OR carry my dish water out there like I’ve been doing. ~ AND PRAY IN FAITH!
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ~ James 1:6

I’m linking this to The Barn Hop

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

Looking to Add extra to the Income~

I’ve been thinking lately about the different ways to pick up extra cash. To help boost the income along, knocking out a couple of small debts and hopefully some medical bills. I’m posting this because I know my readers have a vast amount of experience in lots of different areas when it comes to make money at home. I’ve got questions so if you don’t mind …leave me lots of ideas, advice and tips!  Cause I need ‘em!
So being a list maker these are just a few of the ideas I’ve come up with;
Yard Sale~ I’ve talked with the youngest daughter and will probably include the oldest too—We’re thinking Labor Day weekend will be a good weekend to have a yard sale, although it will still be so blasted hot; but the last of the ‘lake goers’ will be running through our neck of the woods and it would be ideal. So, when living in the country Yard Sales are best when you-

• a) Advertise using signs, newspaper,word of mouth and craigslist.
• b) Have a good location; like right off the highway
• c) Choose a day with good weather; not TOO HOT, Cold or Rainy.
• d) Be organized. Tables, prices, Lay goods in an easy to see and maneuver.

Craigslist~  I don’t always like dealing with some of the hassles of Craigslist; Although in the past we’ve had pretty good experience with selling items here even though we live in the country. It is a good resource for getting your items some recognition. In the past we’ve sold vehicles, lawn equipment, baby items and posted our last BIG yard sale, So this is an option for make a little bit of fast cash if you’ve got quite a bit of items that are mainly ‘yard ornaments’ or ‘dust catchers’ taking up space around the old place. (Be  careful to screen your emails for spam; read Craigslist Guidelines and Avoiding Spammers tips- it can be a good experience for most.) craigslist.org
eBay vs. half price books~ I put these two together because I have lots of books. We homeschooled our children when they were home and we’ve amassed quite a collection of literature, texts books and reference books. If you live near a Half price books and it’s convenient for you AND YOU HAVE LOTS OF BOOKS you might consider taking your books there.
They DO NOT give you half price for YOUR books. They generally give you a much smaller percentage of the value. So unless you have classics, hard back or rare books don’t expect to make a ton off your books; even if you have a ton of books. ;)  They also take records, tapes, cd’s and movies in different forms too (ie; vhs and dvd) If ,on the other hand you are getting rid of your books just to be getting rid of them and don’t want them to go to waste or land fill Half price books is a place to go and make a little cash too. What they don’t resale, they donate and if in terrible case, gets recycled. Nothing goes to the land fill.

Things we believe no one should waste: paper, knowledge, trees, words, time, and money. Half Price Books is the book recycler. We buy books you've already enjoyed. So if you have more books than shelves, bring yours to us today. We pay the most for recent best sellers and collectibles. But we're also interested in your children's books, mysteries, music, movies and games. We donate all our overstock inventory to nonprofit agencies around the world.—half price books

So that being said, when I have books to sell.  I usually use eBay for this. I’ve generally gotten what I want for my books. I also have used eBay for items that I know would not get TOP DOLLAR  at yard sales; but that have value. It may be a rare or vintage piece or something totally unique; either way there is usually an interest. If you don’t get a buyer the first time don’t despair; you can always list it again. There is no limit.  I’ve never had any problems with buyers or payment. In most cases people are easy to deal with. You can do all your shipping right from your door too- with the Mail Service you choose picking up and dropping off right to your door. Having a PayPal account for payment is the most convenient way to get paid and check out if your making a purchase. eBay.com
Lastly there is --
Etsy.com ~  I put it last because I have absolutely the smallest amount of experience with this way to sell.  I know you can purchase items here relatively easy. Pay pal works for purchases here. I also know that you can sell your HOMEMADE, VINTAGE or Art / Craft Supplies on this site. That is it.
So I’m wondering if maybe you can give advice on this way to sell.

• Have you had success?
• Do you get lots of business by advertizing your Etsy store on your  blog?
• Do you sell hand crafted or vintage items? Or maybe supplies?

I’ve interested in selling hand crafted items but have also amassed a collection of supplies that I WILL NOT BE USING – I love to crochet but find that the internet is loaded with the ever popular crocheted dishcloth—almost a dime a dozen.  The supply is large and demand is not so great.

Pay Pal – Oh, I know I said etsy was last, but I forgot You can sell your items right from your blog using a Pay pal app or widget. You get it from Pay pal and using the html widget on blogger you post it to your site. paypal.com

• Have you done this?
• Has it worked well? Much success?
• With the problems that Blogger sometimes has with Malware and things, would you trust the use of Pay pal on your blogger site?

Thank you for all your answers in advance.  I hope to learn a lot from y’all!

Give her the product of her hands,
         And let her works praise her in the gates.Prov 31: 31

farm girl blog hop

God bless you and Thanks for reading.

Lively Trees- and Windy weather!

  Lively Trees~ (Catalpa)

Lovely Lively trees. You have so much to offer.
You bring beauty to my surroundings.   

(Texas pecan) 

The softness of your branches give shelter from the sweltering heat~
The sun is kept back from me; in the coolness of your shade.

(fig)

   I look to you for signs of the weather changing~
and times to plant the corn.
You put on fruits and meats that are so tasty in my mouth.

(peaches,behind the barn)

You deserve a drop to drink.
Without it you will wither. You will fade.
You will not be strong enough to bear your fruit.

(leaves covering the ground)

It is too awful for me to watch your leaves fall before their appointed time.
The fruit does not come~
Oh, how I miss your peaches, nuts and figs.

   (Paper shell Pecan)

Stand strong and stay planted~
Lively trees,Keep your footing firm!

(pecan-rear and black walnut-foreground) 

Should you fall to this plight and natural way of things~
May your wood bring warmth to me in this cycle of death.
May another sprout in your place!

And still more come to bear your tasty fruit.

plrowland,2011

Later in the afternoon after I took these pictures today of my trees-

We had the strangest of weather~ A really strong front blew through from the north-east. It had very strong powerful winds that knocked out the power for about 3 hours.  And we had about a 30 minute shower. Not torrential—but a shower non-the-less.

The temps dropped to a wonderful 88°~ This is a welcome change from the 110° that we had earlier in the day!

It was so refreshing! I’m still sitting here in my computer room and we’ve not turned the air on yet. The weather is cool enough without it!

I took a video of our weather and I still haven’t learned how to post a video  Just figured out how to upload a video on youtube! 

Just take my word for it when I say ;

“It was windy-in’ all over the place!”

Ok, this video is poor quality-- very windy in the microphone-- and somebody has a terrible TEXAS DRAW...don't know who that would be! ... 

you can watch it if you want to-- in fact it might be good for a laugh. No kiddin'~ 

God bless you and Thanks for reading.

Still thinking about water here.

The water company issued a memo with our bill a few months back-- only use out door water on ODD days if your address is odd, EVEN if your address is even. 
No washing your vehicle except at a place of business CAR WASH. 
No watering the lawn. 
and to businesses (I found this one extreme) Only give patrons water UPON REQUEST. 
Right now the only outdoor watering that I do on our ODD days is fill the bird bath and put water out for dogs. My daughter and son inlaw usually tend the dogs, but every other day I fill an extra water source for them. 


I also have a few tomato plants that get water - but for those I use dish water. 


We live very near (about 10 miles)  a water reservoir/ lake...it supplies water to many different areas including Ft.Worth-- (although we are not anywhere near Ft.Worth)
This is the latest report from about 6 days ago on our lake -- 

August 17, 2011

Lake Levels

Cedar Creek Pilot

Lake Level..............316.62*

Lake Temp. (top)...........91

Lake Temp. (bottom).....86

* Normal lake level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.

Below is a video I recently watched about water and how to drill for it. I found it to be quite   informative. 

I currently am trying to convince Honey the need to gather the supplies need to drill a well.(i'm trying to do this with gentle nudging, and not nagging) ;)  

I think I mentioned before that we have an old well on our property. 

I'm currently  looking into ways to determine that wells  viability . 

A another thing I'm also considering- water collection. After watching a video by Marjory Wildcraft  
I recently came to understand that every roof top is a collection system/ run-off. 
By every roof, I mean; 
Porches, 
Houses, 
Barns, 
Sheds, 
and 
Chicken Coops and Animal pens. 
You just need to have the guttering set up to run into a barrel;it helps to have the proper coverings in order to deter mosquitoes from laying their eggs there and also to keep out unwanted debris. 
This water can then be used to water gardens and feed animals and live stock. If filtered properly-- I suppose you could drink it and even bath in it if you needed to. ;) 


This is just one of the things I've been looking into lately. I thought I'd share it here. 


I'm also putting together a list of things to plant for the fall-- I hope to get those in the ground soon. It would be nice to have some veggies growing and producing when the weather starts to turn cool! 


Homesteading is going to take some hard work. I've done lots and lots of reading about it over the years-- but never have gotten to work on it as much as we have this year. I think I recently read it takes about 10 years to gain the knowledge to do it and do it well. 
I hope to take what I've learned in the past and apply it. Some of these things I was doing a little of but left it to the way side-- and am now ready to pick up these skills and begin again.  This is me-- making an effort! 
That's all we can do, right? 

In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty~ Proverbs 14:23 

God Bless you and Thanks for reading. 

Antique, Vintage and Gently Used~

I hate to start out saying how HOT it's been here; because I know you're probably sick of hearing it about as much as I'm sick of it being HOT.  So I'll just tell you, since it is so hot, I've been trying to find some little things I can do inside to keep me busy and make the most of my indoor time.  Once the weather does start to cool down ...EVEN A LITTLE, then I'll be outside hopefully trying to get ready for a fall garden (which I've never done before) and am looking forward to doing.

If you've been reading here at Corn in My Coffee-Pot for any length of time at all- then you know we've had one crazy thing after another the last 3 summers or so--

• In 2009, we buried a grand-child and my MIL became ill with cancer and died in the Fall. Shortly after that, Honey retired. 
• Then in the summer of 2010 Easton was born and remained hospitalized for 6 weeks and we were busy helping our young daughter and her family cope. 
• This year, in May Honey had a heart attack. 

Summers just aren't the best time of year for us!  Let's just say-- projects happen around this place at a 'Slow and Steady wins the race' -SORT OF PACE!

Here is a project that I showed in December 2010--

showing my MESSAGE BOARD. Notice the unfinished paint on the wall... Yeah, well, I painted that wall today Saturday. Finally.

You can't see it in this picture-- but at the top above my message board is Mellow Yellow (my name for the yellow Oops! paint)  and all around the door and cupboard-- Laffy Taffy (again, my name) 


Here it is with the paint all finished and everything put back, in a quick hurry.I know what your thinking-- EeeWWW, CLUTTERED!!!  I know. 

But really -- right at the moment, I was more concerned with the unfinished paint job. Didn't matter if  I cleaned up all nice and neat for YOU... I'd still have an unfinished paint.

So seeing the whole wall painted all the same color of buttery MELLOW YELLOW ...instead of  Laffy Taffy.

Makes me smile!

Now for the little cupboard-- I want to paint it also.
But I want it to be distressed.

I saw this SWEET little dresser over at 551 East Furniture Design (found her through MMS-- Furniture Feature Friday)  It looks so ... I don't know.  I just like it. Julia gives a really simple but great tutorial here. 

Right now, the kitchen cupboards that I do have, are painted white and in severe need of fresh paint, new knobs, drawer glides need adjusting...you know the list goes on and on. (pay no attention to all the beer bottles too-- we don't drink, but you mention ONE TIME that you want to put a Bottle Tree  {and here} in your yard...and well, there you go!)

Once I decide on a color-- the little cupboard may get new paint too! Just remember-- 'slow and steady wins the race' .  If this weather holds out-- it may be this summer. Ha!

The other little project I did today Saturday while I had the paint out was to paint the inside of this shelf yellow. It was green-- I didn't like it but again, I had put off repainting because of time -- You can see that the wall needs fresh paint--AND! you can see where I removed trim to hang that shelf on the wall.

Its a work in progress.

One wall of built-ins is all we have in this huge EAT -IN kitchen-- so slowly but surely, I'm adding pieces that will function for storage.
Taking out, adding in-- finding what works. I've also got pieces of trim here and there waiting to be added and painted for more personality!  It will hopefully have the 'added to slowly over time feel'-- because that's how its coming to be!

I had heard this type of kitchen as being called Unfitted and had read about it at Continental Calliope first.

 Deborah's kitchen is beautiful!  You can read more about it here and here.  However, I don't think she blogs any longer. (If you know whether or not she does,please let me know)








Then this weekend while reading MISS MUSTARD SEED'S again-- I saw this kitchen at The Fisherman's Cottage  the author of that blog (another Deborah)  is calling it FREE STANDING KITCHEN.

(source)  It is beautiful. Crisp. White. So clean and fresh! She has done a wonderful job of putting the pieces together and making them work in her kitchen.
I love the whole concept of furniture in my kitchen instead of boughten and installed cupboards. Factory out of the box-- cookie cutter... are nice. But for me personally, I love the character that the furniture pieces add to the kitchen and give it that old farmhouse feel.

That is the look I'm personally going for. It is taking me some time-- hopefully, when it is finished, it will be beautiful! Regardless if it is FREE STANDING or UNFIT!  I personally like it more colorful so it is UNFIT for me!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One last little project that I did recently while staying cool indoors was to turn 1 of a pair of old metal twin beds into 1 complete day bed. I rolled up a Queen sized comforter and tied it with jute string for a bolster.

I replaced the headboard of one twin bead with the foot board of the other-- giving it two uniformly sized ends and put the two taller headboards between the bed and the wall-- for a 'back'. Now, I have a quick and easy spot for naps when the Grands come to visit, FOR THEM or a nice place to sit and read away from the T.V. FOR ME.  {smile}

I saw this today from One Kings Lane ...
I love the caption underneath the photo in this ad
         Unless otherwise noted, these pieces are antique, vintage, or gently used.

(source)

The story of my life. Antique. Vintage. or Gently Used.
UNFIT AND YELLOW!
That also makes me smile! =) 

...Staying Cool...
If you've made it this far~~

God Bless you and Thanks for Reading! 

The Glittering Cloud~

That chapter title is from On the Banks of Plum Creek --
I mentioned before that while trying to find balance in my days as an empty nester, new- homesteader, blogger; I was turning more to reading for pleasure.  I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy reading; actually coming away from the computer , picking up a book and being lost in a good story.
The Little House books are good.  I never read them as a girl. In fact, I never read them until now.  They are my books of leisure these days. They are full of such wonderful information, they are not just fiction; but living history!  On the Banks of Plum Creek has struck a chord with me. Especially now- this summer…  I can relate to how Laura felt when the ‘Glittering Cloud’ rolled in with such vengeance.   I understand how disappointing it was when the wheat could not be saved.
    Day after day the grasshoppers kept on eating. They ate all the wheat and the oats. They ate every green thing- all the garden and all the prairie grass.      I understand what it means to have a prairie bare and brown.
Not a green thing in sight anywhere.

The whole prairie had changed. The grasses did not wave; they had fallen in ridges.  The rising sun made all the prairie rough with shadows where the tall grasses had sunk against each other.
I hope that while trying to learn all I can to be a homesteader-- I  have the courage and strength to stick out this trial.  The same way they did in The Little house books…
“And the locusts went up over the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt; very grievous were they.”
“For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruits of the trees which the hail had left; and there remained not any green thing on the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.”
More than anything—I hope that I can remain faithful to the hope that is in me—and not shrink back.

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

*It's what's happening at our homestead...(prairie homestead)

Which one of these Signs is Lying?

 

 

 

 

 

I posted this photo  of the Temperature yesterday… LOOK CLOSELY…

It’s August, how COLD IS IT WHERE YOU ARE?

So…

Do you think their sign is broken or just the thermometer?

Leave me your Captions for the temperature photo – I’d love to read them!

God Bless you and Thanks for reading.

It’s 103° …BUT IT FEELS LIKE, HUH?

I was listening to the weather man yesterday and he said “It’s 103° out there right now but only feels like 102°…” 
What? are you kidding… did he move to the shade when he said that? Really?
I don’t get the “it FEELS LIKE” -temperature. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
If you want to know what the temperature  is…go outside. It’s HOT!
I remember when I was a kid…In my family, We weren’t allowed to ‘play’ on the phone when we were kids and could only answer it if our Manners were IN CHECK.
But occasionally—Mom would let us call Time and Temperature.
844 and ANY FOUR NUMBERS…
Sponsored by The Republic Bank in Down Town Dallas!
Brings back memories…       (photo courtesy of my brother…ALB-2)Today~

I only WISH it were this cool! (for a minute…)

Did you ever call Time and Temperature when you were a kid?
I wonder how many phone calls Wal-greens in Murphy, TX gets for this sign?
Would you call?
God Bless you and Thanks for Reading!

Building Resources~ and a Give Away~

Amy has teamed up with Marjory Wildcraft and they are having a give away at Amy's place-- Homestead Revival   


They are offering a DVD set on Backyard Food Production which includes lots of tips and ideas for the sustainable gardener. 


I've not seen it; but here are a few of the tips and ideas that are included (from Amy's blog) 

The DVD is broken down into the following segments:

• An overview of how she began her journey and her homestead's situation in terms of climate and soil
• Watering solutions - sources, harvesting, and containment
• Gardening - how she raises enough to feed her family, and I mean all of it!
• Rabbits as a sustainable protein source
• Home butchering (rabbits are done in detail and then a couple of other small animals are addressed as well)
• Poultry as another sustainable protein source (more for eggs than meat, but she does discuss meat)
• Dogs as a working animal on your homestead
• Perennials: Orchards, Food Forests, and Edible Landscaping (Permaculture)
• Other Essentials: everything from solar food dehydration to hog panels!


Maybe like me you've not ever heard of Marjory Wildcraft ; but are looking for information on sustainable gardening, for your backyard at home or you'd like to learn more about why a little bit of home grown food would be helpful for today.  Please click on the link and  watch this free video from her site: Why Your Grocery Bill Will Double this Year and What You Can Do About It (VIDEO)


I'm personally excited about a chance to win and start my own collection of resources by adding her informative DVD's (and experience) to my home. 
You may read more about Amy's thoughts on the give away and enter a chance to win by clicking here.   


God Bless you and Thanks for reading! 

Do You Have an Agenda?

  This summer has been a wild ride for us . So far, we’ve had one unexpected event after another come  upon us and try and throw a wrench in our plans. 
There for a while I was almost ready to throw my hands up in the air and CALL IT QUITS for sure!  I couldn’t keep track of it all; the garden, the meds, the appointments, the bills… breakfast, lunch and dinner… you name it everything was just moving too fast a pace for me.
I decided I needed a plan—a direction, a list…SOMETHING, ANYTHING to help me get my days back on track and sort things out for me. I was thinking about the past and what worked at different times in my life—when the Four kiddos were still home and we had the homeschooling, the drivers-ed, the part time jobs, the church functions, curriculum, doctor appointments, etc.
Here is what I came up with: (I made a list of all my lists…he he he)

• I was a list maker
• I kept my keys on a HOOK and NEVER LOST THEM…
• I kept a notebook
• I carried a date book
• I made menus and shopping list
• I had ERRAND days and TRIPS  to town PLANNED
• I made chore charts
• I had routines
• I HAD A BUDGET!!!!

  Here is my newest and greatest tool that I’ve added this summer.  It’s called a Day Tracker.  I looked online for it but couldn’t find one.
I bought it Dollar General.  It was only $2.00 AND! it is my favorite color!!! It’s got a vinyl washable cover, for easy clean up. …almost like it was meant to be! ;)
It has fill in the blank calendar pages, which I used to not be very fond of at all… but since I bought it in July … I liked this one  so I can use it for a whole year and get my $2 bucks out of it… ;)  There is a place for traditional calendar pages to see the whole month and a place for small notes there. 
  On the inside it has the format of  Week –at- A- Glance type calendars that I used to purchase. I like it because it has the columns Monday thru Friday and one column for Saturday and Sunday together. There is also a place for notes at the bottom and an entire section for NOTES/ PROJECTS in the back AND it includes an address section.  I know lots of phones have all those apps --- but I just don’t utilize my phone that way.  In fact, I barely send texts, I’m more a pen and paper type. Really!
Nothing beats having it in my hand so I can put my hands to it. Sort of like reading a book.  I don’t have one of those  new gadgets either… Kindle or Nook (did I spell those right?)
This one is small enough it fits in my purse easily too.  I love it!  THIS ONE TOOL has freed up so much of my brain power to think. Now instead of remembering appointments, I just have to remember to look at my notebook!  Ha!

…On another note—You remember I made a LEDGER for our MEDICAL BILLS?      I was able to mark one of  them PAID IN FULL today…YAY!   We submitted the ambulance bill for transport to Dallas to a local Charity and they paid it… I’m so grateful for that. It’s very humbling—but I’m Thankful to God for His provision!
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. ~~Proverbs 16:3 ~~

God Bless You and Thanks a bunch for reading!

Adding this post to Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #20

Preparedness Challenge # 21

I've been thinking for a while about joining Homestead Revivals Preparedness Challenge.  Except...I've never been prepared for it when it rolls around. {wink}
I do a lot of research online.  I'm trying more and more to BE a homesteader. I've been reading Amy's blog for a few months now and being prepared comes to my mind when I think about her or her blog. She's made that a personal goal of hers-- a good goal for me to emulate! There is so much I need to do and learn. Until this week I have only been fooling myself into thinking we'd be alright if catastrophe struck. I do a lot of thinking about "What would I do IF..." 
But I'm afraid I haven't done much to actually get prepared.




(photo-source)
Recently the small town of Kemp ,close to where I live, has had to do without water for several days and because of this terrible drought the ground has dried and the pipes are so old they've cracked under pressure. The businesses and residents of that little town have suffered because of it.  I don't live inside the city limits. I live out of town about 7-1/2 miles. One difference between city limits and rural route living  is the Utilities. This week Water Source has been on my mind a lot. 
             


One reason I must say, embarrassingly-- this week we wasted water! A lot of it. I won't give all the sordid details, but it involved our swimming pool and I feel like such a hypocrite even talking about finding a fresh water source ..."Just in case ..." but it has brought home now more than ever the need to conserve and not be careless with our valuable resources.


Another reason WATER SOURCE has been on my mind is I've been wanting to dig a well on our own property for a while or at least see if the one that has been capped-off is any good. For research this week I've investigated Water Well digging, by hand and machine. I've looked into parts to case a well, and the parts to create a pump as apposed to having an electric pump.  I've priced pitcher pumps...didn't know you could still buy those. Didn't know how little you actually needed in parts to actually have well water on your property.  


I've learned how to study the lay of the land to find the best place to dig.  You have to pay attention to location regarding your septic of course and the barn.  Both places, you Do NOT want to have near your well! 


I've also looked into purifying water for drinking that's been stored or possibly contaminated in the event of an emergency.  I've  come to understand that not all water needs to be boiled. If you have bleach that isn't too old and still potent or viable; you can put about 15 drops of clorox bleach (not lemon fresh or scented) into 1 gallon of water... Mix well. Wait 30 mins it should have a slight bleach smell, but will be potable for drinking. 


Lastly, Water Source has been on my mind because of the lack of rain. This is something that is out of our control. We cannot control the weather; all the more reason to be prepared for whatever may come our way. 
Earlier in the week I was watching a local news broadcast; they were filming in our little town---and there were people who had gathered at the city park to pray for rain.  


All this talk of water made me think of this passage of scripture: 

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 4:10-14

This morning I woke to the gentle sound of thunder. 
It was raining. God is faithful. 

* don't forget to hop over to read more articles on preparedness at 
Homestead Revivals Preparedness Challenge #21



God Bless you and Thanks for reading. 

Glimpses of My Week~

          Just thought I'd  show you a few things that have gone on here this past week—Glimpses of My Week in Pictures…
Our forecast for the week…          Don’t know if you can tell it from this rusty old thermometer…it says 108°
The little squirrel has been eating my bird seed… I watch him from my kitchen window.    … created a ledger from an El Cheapo spiral and will be using a “SNOWBALL” METHOD  for paying the Medical bills that we can!  It is just a relief just having a plan!   
   I was encouraged by Manuela at A Cultivated Nest   to try cooking Quick Bread in my Slow Cooker… As you can see by the photo above it was ALMOST A FAIL…*edited to say ' AT NO FAULT OF MANUELA'S... I take the blame for this one!
I made two loaves… from the batch I mixed; which happened to be a
NEW –never- before- tested- my- me- recipe~ …and my Baking Powder was questionable…  Long story short… I had to CHISEL IT FROM THE PAN, It was chewy and more the consistency of Brownies. I dub Thee Zucchini Brownies!  Not bad with coffee or milk! So not a TOTAL FAIL EITHER!
Today I watched a YouTube video showing you how to make a FISH BONE BRAID in your hair.  This is the first time for me to try this braid… Turned out alright for the first time, I think.
   I also see the importance of having you hair EVENLY DIVIDED into Two sections… mine varied in thickness and was TWISTED as a final result.

So at the beginning of this post I said this was Glimpses of My Week  IN PICTURES… but you know me~ I’m wordy!
God Bless You and Thanks for Reading