My daughter, Zowie (a junior) and her prom date Jake ready for his senior prom. Look closely at the photo. She is wearing a duct tape dress and jacket that she made with her aunts. He is wearing a duct tape tux that his sister helped him to make. And yes, they are both wearing high tops.

His Theme: The Joker (I have no idea what the prom theme actually was.) Of course, he was teased for looking a bit like Barney.

Why are these two crazy kids wearing duct tape and high tops? Jake is trying to win a $5,000 scholarship.

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 3/23/2009

I am trying to decide how to redecorate the living room. I would like to go with blue, and red in the kitchen. The rooms are open to each other, so if I add white I can do a rustic patriotic theme.

Sounds good to me.

The curtain fabric will match as well.

I also need to start thinking about a new sofa and chair. The old set has served me well beyond its useful lifetime.

I plan to paint the picture frames red, white and blue colors, and age them. I think it will be a neat way to display important photographs.

How do you display your photographs?

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 3/21/2009

I have been working both inside and outside of the home, helping a friend organize her home, helping another friend move. I have been very busy indeed.

Zander (another cat) is back home with us. We are thankful for that. We missed him while he was living with his mom. She had to move into a place where she can’t have him, so we get him back!

I am busily trying to build this freelance writing career, so I am absent from other computer stuff on occasion. Never fear, I will always come back!

Zowie may need a diet change due to health issues. I will let you know more about our concerns after her next gynecologist visit.

I still haven’t found the time to make my curtains, but I am holding out hope.

Hope you are all doing well.

Loving the weather!

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 12/21/2008

Yesterday was spent making tied felt pillows to give my nieces as holiday gifts. Zowie made sticker books for them, and we made a few other odds and ends.

Today I wrapped the recycled candles that Isaiah and I had made for people, and we put together the cocoa and marshmallow packets that Skye is giving to the kids today.

It is officially the winter solstice (first day of winter) and we are all meeting at Katies this afternoon for a celebration. It should be a lot of fun.

I have a few household chores to do, then I will get dressed. I will read from Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer, the third book in her Twilight series. It is a very good series, even if it was written for the younger generation. My daughter loves the series as well.

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 12/19/2008

So yesterday Sheila (my sister) picked me up and we went to Katie’s (another sister) to tack the quilt that Sheila had made for her son.  We also cut out the backing and the batting, and pinned the binding.

Katie joked that she started this tradition when we were making her wedding quilt. Someday, I will make a quilt and we will all get together to do this stuff as well.

Zowie is home sick from school today. Poor girl. She may have the flue.

My niece’s will be here this evening. We are making some gifts for Sundays holiday celebration. Sunday is the first day of winter. When we are done, Katie will pick up three of the girls, leaving Lily to spend the night with us. Each month we take one of the four to spend the night with us.

Shannon

Working on a Homestead

So, I have been thinking about ways in which I could earn money when I finally get my land and can do homesteading type things on it. Two major things that I plan to do are candle making and soap making. I had been planning on making the soaps from goats milk and herbs that I will grow myself. I was just reading an article on the subject of soap making from a homesteader: http://www.homestead.org/KristenEmbry/MyHomesteadIncome.htm.

My plan would be to do as much work as I could on a variety of things during the winter months, so that I could do the more homesteady, time consuming things like gardening during the summer months. The less business-type things that I had to do during the busiest months, the better.

I have been forming a list of things that I could do using my homesteading skills:

• candle making
• soap making
• bath mixes
• food mixes
• sell access eggs, and animals
• sell compost if I ever have too much
• sell leftover garden produce
• teach baking/cooking skills
• make blankets/quilts/rugs and ornaments to sell
• sell dried herbs and/or herbal teas
• teach canning/food preservation and stocking up

I am not sure what other things that a homesteader could do to earn money. If you have any ideas, I am open to them.

Shannon

Homestead Happenings on Yet another Cold Autumn Day

Brrrr…. It is so cold outside today. Zowie says it smells like snow.

So, today’s activity is a holiday one. My nephew and I are making tied fleece pillows to give as gifts, reusing child size tied-fleece throw blankets that we no longer need and the fluff that has been taking up space in its box for far too long. I will post with instructions when I am done. They will be easy to make, and won’t cost anything. I have no budget for the holidays this years, simply because we have no money to spend on anything.

We will also be making candles from candle leftovers. I will post more on this later as well. We won’t get to this today, but are hoping to be making them on Sunday.

I ran the dishwasher, and dried and put away the last of the laundry from last night. Isaiah took the trash to the dumpster, and I found out that Zowie made the honor roll for the two classes that she is taking at an area high school. Go Zowie!!!!!!!! I am a proud mama. Mom will be cutting the piece out of the newspaper about it so we can have it.

We have finished watching seasons 1 and 2 of Father Murphy, which is based during pioneer/wild west days, as well as Season 1 of Young Riders which is based on the Pony Express times. Both great series. I wish that they would put the rest of the Young Riders series on DVD, but it hasn’t happened yet. And I wish that they had continued making the Father Murphy series as well.

The two new kittens are having eye issues, resulting in tons of gunk seeping out of them. We are remedying this with chamomile tea bags three times a day.

I hope you are all doing well.

Shannon

Homestead Happenings on this Cold Autumn Day

I have been puttering around doing things. I have changed up my bedding, washing up the spring/summer bedding and hanging it to dry from doors and in the bathroom. This is one way in which I can save some money on electricity. Fuel assistance came through, but in order to be able to use the furnace I need electricity, which fuel assistance does not cover.

Hanging Clothes to Dry: Saves Money

 I also turned plastic food baggies inside out and threw them in with the wash. They are now hanging along my shower curtain until they are dry. I reuse these for two reasons:

• It saves money.
• Less plastic goes into the landfills.

 

Baggies Hanging from Shower: Saves Money

I did the mending today as well, and folded and took care of the mountain of laundry that was taking up so much space in my room. I had I.W. read to me from Daniel Boone (one of his school books) as I accomplished things.

 

Using the oil lamps and candles the other night worked out well. We have an overabundance of candles and oil, so we may as well use them. We will save a little on electricity this way. We ended up with enough light to do a few things, but wouldn’t have been able to read.

Use of Oil Lamps to Save Money

Zowie was a big help to me today. She took all of the fans out to the shed, as well as the recycling. She also took care of the rest of the outdoor furniture, and got the shovel out of the shed. I’m glad that this stuff has been accomplished before the snow comes.

It is so cold today!!!! I do not know the temperature, but it is low. I ran the furnace for just a bit this morning, and I also am running it this evening until we go to bed. Then it will be put down to 50 or 55.

Shannon

Pre-Sewing: Curtains

I have no curtains in my kitchen and living room, and am planning to make them myself. I have a sewing machine, but plan to do at least most of the work by hand. I have done smaller projects this way. We will see how it goes.

Anyway, I am just about done with the pre-sewing stage. This is where I draw what I want to make, take measurements, etc. I will see if I can figure out how to upload a scanned picture of this, but I make no promises. And, I first have to get some batteries for the camera.

I will begin with the door window, which is the smallest, then do the other two ling room windows. Then I will move onto the kitchen window. I plan to post finished project pictures here as well.

These projects may take me a while, as I am so busy with the homeschooling, writing and working, but I wanted to let you all know that I am still practicing for my much wanted homesteading life.

***

I already have my fabrics and buttons for the curtains, as well as the backings. I am using cheap sheets for backing.

The living room curtains will be blue and white checked, likely with red and white checked tie-backs.

The kitchen curtains will be the opposite.

I also plan to make place mats, napkins, stand cloths and shelf and cupboard curtains.

Have a nice day,

Shannon