Hurricane Matthew

Hurricane Matthew has come and gone.  We were very lucky to have minimal damage and a very short loss of power compared to the rest of the county.  I worked the night of Hurricane Matthew and our brave EMS folks had quite a difficult time bringing sick patients in due to downed power lines and trees.  It never ceases to amaze me how much people abuse the Emergency Department though.  Despite the hurricane,  we had people seeking treatment for non emergent ailments.  I mean, come on people!  It's a hurricane!!

I have great concerns for our society when we do have a complete system failure.  I meet so many people that just don't know how to provide basic first aid.  They constantly rely on someone else to take care of them.  There will come a day, and I fear it will be soon, that there will not be the "someone else".  They will be all on their own and it's high time they learned how to put on a bandaid! 

You don't have to be a "prepper" or a "tree hugger" to learn basic skills.  Take a basic First Aid class or for God's sake go to the library and pick up a book!  Educate yourselves because in the end the only person you are going to be able to rely on is YOURSELF.    We have several trees down in our back yard around the pond.  I have a chainsaw in my shed, but have never used it.  Yesterday I had my best friends husband come and teach me how to use it.  Do I feel comfortable?  Absolutely not!  I cut three  areas of the tree just to get a feel for it.  It's hard and I have trouble starting the dang thing up, but I know more than I did yesterday about using a chain saw and THAT is what is important!

Sue

Moving on....

Hi all!  Well lots has happened since my last post in March!  We have had some major changes around here and it's been leading me to re-evaluate what is most important to me.  The older I become, the more disgruntled I become having to work "outside" the home.  I am a nurse and I make a good living, but there are days it is overwhelming.  You find yourself unappreciated, tired and less compassionate.  I would love to be able to balance my "work life" and "home life" so I can find more joy in both. 

So here is what has been going on:

1.  I am  now among those breed of women you would call "independently separated".  After 12 years of marriage and 5 children, we both decided to go our separate ways.  It is a work in progress and will hopefully be the best thing for both of us. 

2.  My homestead plan is humming along!  I started a small journal with my plans, hopes and dreams to be more self sufficient and it really has helped me to stay on track...and work ahead! 

3.  I have only ONE child at home with me during the day now!  That is HUGE for me since I have not been "childless" for  12 years! 

4.  I can say that I honestly have been living my life for ME, not for someone else or under someone else's expectations.  For, the first time in a long time, I feel like I am getting back to who I really am.  I am really starting to be able to place responsibilities where they should lie, instead of always on my shoulders.  This goes for my kids, my husband, my family and my co-workers. 

5.  I have reconnected with my oldest son.  Big.  That's all I can say here.  :)

6.  I am learning things and exploring ideas that I may not have ever done before.  Also BIG. 

So my hope is to keep up my little blog here and update you on my homestead and whatever else I happen to be doing for the day.  If you follow along, I hope you find something useful along the way. 

Much love

sue

Tuesday in the Garden: starting seedlings

I'm a whimsical kind of gardener.  I like to just throw some seeds in the garden and see what grows.  Now sometimes that goes well and I get some sturdy plants, other times nothing grows at all.  I am determined to have a vegetable garden this year and I am also on a budget.  If you are like me, I just won't pay $3-$4 for a seedling in a pot.  I would rather pay $1.50 or so and get a pack of seeds and get a dozen or two plants.  Then there are those "seed starting" kits you can buy that you just end up throwing out anyway...how much do they go for?  I have seed them ranging from $10 up to $30!  Too much for me!

I made a quick trip this morning to my local Dollar Tree and picked up two bags of potting soil (probably not the BEST potting soil, but dirt is dirt lol!), 4 covered cake pans, and 4 sleeves of Dixie cups.  All total $10.

I can fit 24 cups into each tray.  I bought four seed packs at Lowe's the other day for around $6. 

Today I am planting.....

Spacesaver Cucumbers

Summer Squash:  Bush type

Beefsteak Tomatoes

Hybrid Cherry Tomatoes

I poked holes into the bottom of each cup with my handy metal skewer...

....and them scooped some dirt on in!

.

I put my seeds into a little cup to make picking them up and placing them easier.  The tomato plants were the hardest because those seeds are so darn small!

This is just a little pic of where I keep all my seed packets.  I got it at Goodwill a while back...it is an old file box that was well loved.  I like the color...it's very 70's!

I usually pick up flower seed packs at the Dollar Tree as well.  They have them 4 for $1.  Today I picked up some Cosmo's.  I plan on sprinkling them along my driveway and hope Mother Nature does the rest!

I labeled the lids and added two cups of water to the bottom of the pans and then closed them up. 

It should create a nice little green house for my seedlings to sprout. 

I only had 18 Summer squash seeds so we planted some pumpkin seedlings too!

And here we are on the deck basking in the sunshine!  You can already see the condensation!

Just a side note, I live in Zone 8 so we can pretty much plant all year!  I plan on direct sowing some of these seeds as well, but thought I'd start some seedlings as well in case that whole "direct sowing" thing doesn't pan out!  I'll post pics next Tuesday of our progress!

So all total for 96 seedlings I spent $16.  Not too bad!

I'd love to hear about your frugal garden ideas....:)

What's going on in your garden today? 

Sue

Sewing frenzy

Hello!  Yes, I've been gone from blog land but thankfully I have also rediscovered my little creative self!  I used to scrapbook and make home décor items, and then suddenly I was over it.  Overwhelmed trying to compete with Pinterest, other bloggers and just feeling like I was never good enough.  I'd lost my love of handmade.....but it's back!  I've reopened my Etsy shop, updated my Twitter account and have even considered signing up for a stand at our local Farmer's Market. 

I've readjusted my work schedule to mostly weekends to allow myself to be home during the week for homework help (ugh) and have discovered that I have a good bit of free time now with only two kids at home during the day....which leads to my newest love.....sewing! 

This is my latest...done last night while everyone was at church....

I've also learned the value of interfacing when sewing bags!  I love how crisp they turn out when you use interfacing.  I'm new(er) to sewing but thanks to a great Home Economics class in high school, I can find my way around a machine.  Keep an eye on my Etsy shop for upcoming items!

Happy Day!

Sue

Foster mom

I've become a foster mom to the littlest bit of a kitten.  Our cross eyed stray that I absolutely cannot catch had another litter.  I found two of them already dead under the chicken coop and this poor little guy was crawling around in the dirt.  I crawled under and got him out and have tried to reunite him with his mother, but she completely ignores him.  So we have him bundled up in a little blanket bed and have been bottle feeding him.  He is getting lots of love. Hoping he will make it!

Back to School

So, somewhere in the past two weeks I finally came to the realization that my kids needed to go back to school.  I had given homeschooling a full year and guess what...I was sick of it.  They were sick of it.  I missed the whole public school experience.  I missed the bus, unloading bookbags, school parties, pto meetings...you name it.  I missed it. 

I wish I could be on of those homeschool moms.  I'm too neurotic.  It was overwhelming and I was making myself miserable.  Most of all, I was making my kids miserable.  Sam has wanted to go back for months.  He is thriving his first week back.  Emma voluntarily went outside this week.  She is a different person.  Jacob is still at home.  I am working on trying to get him to go back, but it's so much easier just working with him, so it just may work. 

I don't consider it a failure.  It was a learning process.  I can say I am more attentive to what they are learning in school and am not just a sheep now. I ask questions, I will be involved.  I think it helped expose areas we need to work on, as well as each kids strengths.  Emma has blossomed into a great artist.  Sam is a computer whiz and a smartaleck.  He will be a great speaker/role model.  He is funny and sarcastic.  It's hilarious.  Jacob is so attached to me.  He doesn't want to go back because he misses me.  I may have to give some tough love here. I don't know.  WE will see how it goes. 

I love them all so much.

Dollar Tree pussy

Madison and I went to the Dollar Tree last week.  They have their Halloween decorations out.  She happened upon a black plastic cat, you know the one's...they are made out of like plastic chenille stems intertwined on a plastic backing.....very retro if I do say so myself.  Well, she had one in her hand and asked me if she could get "this pussy?".  She kept on.  "Mama, can I get this pussy?  This black pussy?"  I swear, she said the word pussy like 27 times.  I finally turned to her and whispered..."please stop saying pussy."  Her response...."Why mama, is pussy a bad word? Is black pussy a bad word?"  "Yes Madi.  It's a bad word.  Put the black pussy down." 

Dear God help me.