Our Family Jots and Tittles

Sunday- Hailey and I spent much of the day working on a quilt for my mom. It is her birthday today and we had hoped to have it finished....but it's running late. Hailey spent all last week embroidering the center patch with the Holy Name. We got to talk to Mom on the phone. It stinks that she is 13 hours away now. She lived with us for 7 years, and still resides on the property we sold last year. We hope she will want to join us on the farm again.

Friends from Florida arrived this evening. They have for kids 3 girls (6-10) and toddler boy. They are looking for property to homestead in TN, so we volunteered to be their "watering hole and bunk house" while they were looking. (Sounds fancy doesn't it??) They will be here for the next few days.

Gideon's sick and has been in bed all day.

The stove started smoking like crazy crazy today! It was so bad we had to open doors and our eyes were burning. We don't have an appointment to have it checked and cleaned until Thursday! Father help us.

Monday- Gideon is better. We are working on our budget and happy to find that we have money at the end of our month! Its working! How exciting!

Tuesday- Friends of ours had a mean rooster they asked us if we wanted to put in a pot, since it was going after their kids. They have chickens for the eggs, but eat meat...so we were happy to take him off their hands. It was a cold wet evening, and this was our first live chicken butchering. Papa went and picked him up in a small dog carrier. One of the kids accidentally set him free when we got home so catching him was quite the vent! Naomi's tender heart was tugged by the process. But it was a good experience for everyone. He ended up in a delicious pot of white chili!

While Papa and some of the kids were out running errands and picking up Roosty, I had two kids in naps and worked away at my quilt some more. The winds were howling outside like crazy. I had my quilt pieces laid out on my bed as I was piecing it. Eliana my littlest daughter had since woken up and was being a good helper with my project. When all the sudden we heard a loud "swooosh" outside our bedroom window, we looked up only to see a flash of what was once our soft (and formerly anchored) shed fly away like Dorothy's house in The Wizard of Oz!!! Both our mouths dropped and I raced out the back door to see what I could do. I told Eliana to stay inside where she stood at the porch door (mouth still open) as she watched momma wrestle the shed being pulled by very high winds. It was my hope to get it in the barn. Man was it a fight! It pulled me along because it was a giant parachute. It was no use, it rolled past the back yard and got caught on our first barbed wire fence. I decided to wedge the foot of the shed in the fence (and prayed it wouldn't tear up the fence) in the hopes that it would be held steadfast until Papa got home. I just wasn't strong enough to get it in the barn. I was in a short sleeved shirt and long skirt but bare legs and socks. It was toasty in my little house and I was now chilled to the BONE as icy rain and very strong wind pummeled me. Eliana and I had a good laugh when I got in door. We called Papa and he was at the end of our road. (YES! Pappa to the rescue!) He (and Hailey and Elijah) was able to get it in the barn when he got home and tarped the bikes (which were previously in the shed). I dried off, and warmed up and got back to quilting.

We thought Gideon was over the sickness, but he got sick again later in the day. :-(

Wednesday- Our produce order came in. YUM! We were really ready for fresh produce this month...we were eating out of our pantry a lot over the last month, as I was pinching our food budget so we could use it for other things. Elijah's sick now (no wonder after runing in the very cold rain yesturday and sickness sin the house).

Our friends headed back to Florida, the house seems quiet without them here. It was a treat to have them stay. I think both families (14 people) who just met (last Sukkot) and staying together in a fairly small house and one bathroom did pretty good sharing the space! (We hope they agree.) We have gleaned some inspiration for some furture income from their ideas.

We are plotting maple syrup harvesting and hoping to get an evaporator made in time...but it's not easy to find someone to make it for us.

Thursday- Naomi and I went into the city today. We stocked up on some thing at Trader Joe's and Costco (oops forgot toilet paper!). We got to have lunch together. It was a really "girl's day out" for us. I even turned the air bags off and put her car seat in the front. She really really likes that. She kept commenting on how different it was up front. She really felt like a big girl. It was a memory I will treasure.

The chimney sweep came today. He didn't think He could do the job. The chimney was packed, but he did manage to help it quite a bit. As we suspected the wood we were burning was too green, but the new thing we learned as that the type of cap we had on the top was a not so good one. It had a mesh around the sides to help prevent birds from nesting in the off season, however the combination of the moisture and green wood smoke clogged it and that is what we suspected to be the reason for the rest of the build up. He recommended we get a different stovepipe piece and take the whole thing apart in the Spring to clean it properly. Lesson learned! We just hope we can make it that long as it is...it was only partially cleaned due to limited access (another lesson learned). We will be adding a T at the base for easier cleaning.

Friday- My turn...I have come down with the bug. Urg. My back is killin'. The kids did a great job assisting in preparations for Shabbat today - we were done by noon! What a blessing. Tomorrow will surely be a day of rest for all! Halleluyah!

Shabbat- We were supposed to head up north today, but stayed home 'cuz we didn't want to share our sick bugs. Papa and I worked on a Hebrew study for a lot of the day - that was nice! May back is still hurtin' I think I need to call the chiro next week.

Until Next Week -

Pamela and Ben

(and the Tribe)