LIGHTS OUT!

I was reminded of a wonderful memory earlier tonight.  It was several years ago and I was working the evening shift at a diner I was employed at back then.  There was a huge storm and it knocked out the power in our neighborhood. I wasn't looking forward to going home to a boring, dark house after work.  Imagine my surprise when I turned onto our street and saw our house full of light!!  I got inside and found that Earl had lit candles all over the house. He and my youngest son and I spent a wonderful evening playing Yahtzee and dice games. It was so thoughtful and one of the best nights ever!!

SUNRISE ON WILLOW ROAD

Feeling Blessed!

Life is good! Country living is the best and I'm so glad to be living out here on Willow Road! I love the peace and quiet. I love watching the hens in the coop. I love listening to the storms when they come rolling through. I love my garden and the fresh berries and grapes that grow out here. I love looking up at the night sky and seeing the stars. I sure wish I could have brought my kids up out in the country.

Life is keeping me busy. I've decided to put together a cookbook and have been having lots of fun with that. I'm so excited about the possibilities and the men in the house are going to like trying out all the recipes. LOL It'll have lots of our family's old favorites and some new favorites, too. Mostly made from scratch but there will be some easy recipes with boxed ingredients included. A little something for everyone! I'm also doing some recipe booklets that will concentrate on just one ingredient each like mint, pumpkins, apples, etc. I'm hoping to have them ready by the end of November so they can be ordered in time for Christmas. So much to do!

And, speaking of Christmas, I'm busy planning presents for this year. I have LOTS of ideas. Just need the time to get them done. I want this holiday season to be full of fun and magic! I didn't even decorate last year. This year I'm going to go all out!!

1950's Kitsch

I have very eclectic tastes when it comes to decorating my home. I love anything vintage. From pretty much any decade. If it calls my name and I love it I will make it fit in. I have collections of lace, Boyds Bears, Coca Cola, brass, baskets and more. I love nothing better than spending the day hitting antique and thrift stores or going to yard sales. I walked into a Salvation Army the other day, saw this and deemed it mine!

1950's magazine rack/ashtray. I absolutely love it! Fun, retro, kitschy!! Oh, yeah! Now to figure out where exactly it will go.....

Book Giveaway Contest!

Wretha and her husband have lived off grid full time since December 2007, there have been ups and downs, but all in all it's been a great adventure. Now Wretha and her husband have been immortalized in an off grid book, click here to learn more about it. http://wretha.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-wonderful-guest-book-giveaway.html

Sounds like my kind of book! And you could win it free! What's not to like? :)

Chickens In the Henhouse

Here it is! My new chicken coop. Mostly finished and the chickens seem happy. Still have to set up the run, but at least no more chickens in my backroom!! Yay!!!!!!

They have lots of room now and I love just sitting out there and watching them. They all crowd around the door when I go out and feed them in the mornings. Funny creatures!

It's nice knowing that, no matter what happens with the economy, we will always have something to eat. There will always be eggs and chickens can be butchered if needed. Our garden is doing really well this year, too. I need to get more jars so I can start canning when it's all ready to be harvested. LOTS of zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes and cucumbers. We'll also have soup beans and a few strawberries and plenty of carrots and onions. Plus some sweet potatoes, cabbage and brussel sprouts. We've already been picking blackberries and have an ice cream bucket full of them in the freezer. I know there's more ripe and ready to be picked. There's rhubarb waiting to be cut and I have several bags of asparagus in the freezer, too. And later there will be tons of grapes. Nope, no worrying about going hungry here!

"The Rose"~Bette Midler

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.

Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.

It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.


(The photo is a tiffany rose growing in my yard.)

Chicks Arrived!

The newest additions to the family just arrived 5 days ago. This pic was taken 3 days ago and they look different already. Their wings are starting to feather out and they're so funny to watch when they start flapping them and chirping! Even as babies they're really no trouble to care for and I can't wait to get the coop done so they can be out there in a few weeks. I ordered them from Cackle Hatchery (all 17 of them) and they're all thriving. Buff Orpingtons, White Rocks and Barred Rocks. I have 5 hens of each type and a Buff Orpington and a White Rock roo. Hopefully we'll have a lot of fresh eggs when they're old enough.

I still want to get some rabbits and the landlord was saying he wouldn't mind having a couple of cows. Maybe a mini dairy breed. He's a little older than we are and isn't sure he wants to get up and do the milking, but Earl told him that we could do it if he decides to get them. We all live on the same property and are already planning on sharing the garden and some of our eggs with him. Once in awhile I cook up some extra dinner and Earl takes it down to him. I think he usually eats frozen dinners and stuff otherwise. And he lets us pick what we want of the asparagus, berries, apples and grapes that grow here so it all evens out.

It's definitely my idea of heaven out here on Willow Road! I just wish I could have gotten here sooner!

On Being Self-Reliant

I'm not sure where the want of being self-reliant started. I remember my Mom baking every weekend and sewing us matching dresses when I was little. Even when I was older she made some awesome garlic dills! But I don't suppose that was being self-reliant so much as doing something she enjoyed from time to time.

When I got into high school I discovered "Mother Earth News". What a revelation THAT was. I didn't know people lived that way. No one I knew did, that's for sure. That's when I decided I wanted to live in a log cabin somewhere in the hills. No electricity...no running water. Ummm yeah. That didn't happen. I went along with the flow. Lived like everyone else. Hated it. In the meantime I raised three kids and kept wishing I at least lived in the country and not in town.

A few years ago I came across an internet forum called Homesteading Today. Whoaaaa! There were other people out there that had the same ideas I did! So I read and absorbed and learned from all the helpful folks there. What an abundancy of knowledge all those people had and how great that they were so willing to share! I decided that I would try and make my dream a reality.

About a year ago my partner and I found a place in the country that we could rent REALLY cheap. Five acres and plenty of room to have a garden and eventually a few critters. Today I am waiting for my first chicks to arrive. They'll be here in a couple of weeks and I am soooo excited! I have the brooder ready and we'll be starting on the coop this week. I've got 5 buff orpingtons and a buff roo, 5 barred rocks and 5 white rocks and a white rock roo on the way. Soon we'll have farm fresh eggs for breakfast and eventually fresh chicken for dinner and eggs and chicks to sell.

Our garden is tilled and waiting for us to get out there and get planting. I think the weather is going to stay nice now so we should be able to do that soon. We already have a lot of our seeds started. Hopefully everything grows well this year. We'll be planting 4 types of tomatoes, 2 types of beans, pumpkin, watermelon, lettuce, cucumbers, onion, zuchinni, strawberries and peppers. I also have seeds for lavender, various herbs and several types of gourd. I hope to sell the herbs and birdhouses, bowls, etc. that I make from the gourds. There are a couple of apple trees, grape vines and blackberries here already. I made grape jelly and juice from the grapes last year and they were so good. Much better than anything you can buy in the stores.

I'm hoping to do a lot of canning and dehydrating this year. I now make my own laundry detergent, too. Totally chemical free.

I doubt that I'll ever be totally self-reliant, but it's good to know how to do these things. Especially nowadays when going to the store is so expensive and the economy is so bad. I will always have electricity and running water I guess, unless a time comes that they aren't available. Then I will make do. I don't HAVE to have electricity as I have oil lamps to use for lighting and I can live without things like the internet (although I would sure miss it. lol).

So, I continue to learn how to do new things all the time. First chickens and maybe a couple of dairy goats for next year. And I definitely want to raise rabbits again. But, one step at a time. It's just nice to know where a lot of our food will be coming from. Free from chemicals and over processing. Healthy. Yes, life CAN be very good!

Tale of the Happy Pig

Once upon a time (when I was very small) I was given a Lefton china piggy bank. I always smiled when I looked at him and he always smiled back. He was a very happy pig. He jingled and jangled with coins over the years...making a wonderfully musical sound when I shook him. For many, many years he sat smiling on my dresser grinning ear to ear as only the happiest of happy pigs do. One day he got broken. I don't remember exactly how. (I'm sure it was so traumatic that I blocked it from my mind.) But, no matter...the happy little pig was no more.

Last week Earl and I went to a small shop that sells antiques and collectibles. It's alway fun to go there and I almost always find some little thing to bring home. One time it was a set of miniature abc cookie cutters in a tin. Another time a Royal Albert teacup with beautiful pink roses.

I was browsing all the tables in the nooks and crannies of the shop when, all of a sudden, I spied a familiar smile. I smiled back. And now, a happy pig sits on my dresser once again grinning ear to ear and making a wonderfully musical sound when I shake him.

My Country Life

We moved out to Willow Road back in August. I fell in love with the property the first time I saw it. A small, somewhat run-down 150 year old cottage on 5 acres that's bordered by a forest preserve. There's a very small stream of fresh water that runs along the north side of the driveway. Cold and crystal clear. There are grape vines and blackberry bushes and a couple of apple trees.

The house itself needs a lot of cosmetic work. The kitchen and bathroom both need a piece or two of drywall to be finished up. The kitchen floor is old cracked tiles and even when it's swept and mopped doesn't look particularly clean. The Living room is a putrid shade of apple green and the bedroom is a pale pink disaster. Those two rooms will be painted come spring. But, this old cottage is sturdy and well built. No cold air is sneaking through the windows like in newer homes I have lived in. So, even in the below zero temps we have had this winter, we stay warm and toasty inside.

There's a small basement that works well for storage. Other than that there are three main rooms (kitchen, living room and bedroom) plus the bathroom and a small room off the kitchen that I use as a pantry/library.

We've picked grapes and blackberries. I've made grape jelly and fresh grape juice. Earl has found arrowheads up in the woods.

We've watched a family of skunks wander the fence line, a raccoon enjoy the catfood that the landlord leaves out by one of the outbuildings for the MANY cats, and the other morning when I woke up I saw three white-tail deer bounding out of the field and disappearing into the woods.

This summer we saw a million fireflies at night. I hadn't seen so many since I was a kid and would go catch them in jars. And the stars......I love going outside on a clear, cloudless night and looking up into the heavens. The stars truly are like diamonds in the night sky. Living in larger cities and towns for the last decade or so I hadn't been able to see the stars at night. Too many lights I suppose. Out here the stars ARE the lights.

Winters of Youth

"Winter came down to our home one night. Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow. And we.....we were children once again. "~Bill Morgan, Jr.

When I looked out my kitchen window this morning I was greeted with our first real snowfall of the season. Snow dusted like powdered sugar on the ground and frosting the bare branches of the trees. Took me back to the days of snow angels and sledding and playing "king of the hill" on top of those huge Wisconsin snowbanks.......

Winter and I were companions then.

Now, decades later, I much prefer curling up with a warm throw, a creamy mug of hot cocoa and a good book to being outside in the cold. But, when I look out the window and remember the winters of youth, I smile......

Words of Wisdom

Pause, Relax,Breathe.....words that I think I will follow.

It's Not My Fault

OK.....I'm a cashier. I'd really like to greet you smiling like this.





But when you come in the store like this......


Forgetaboutit!!





I did not purposely ring your purchase in at the wrong price. Each item is scanned in by computer and I have nothing to do with how it rings up. If it is, indeed, the wrong price I will happily fix it for you. However, don't get offended when I ask another employee to do a price check for me first. Sometimes you read the sign incorrectly and sometimes you just plain lie hoping to get the item cheaper. Sometimes it's an error on our part and we need to know this so it can be fixed.

When you call to tell me that I neglected to ring in BOTH $3 off coupons for the two products you bought, please be sure how much your coupons were for. In this case one was for $1 and one was for $3. And they are, indeed, on the receipt you insist on bringing in the next day when you complain to the manager.

Do not think you have to have exact change to pay for your purchases and take 10 minutes digging through the bottom of your purse while I have a line of people waiting behind you. It does NOT make it any easier for me when you give me exact change. I could care less. Especially when you have a $4.98 cent purchase and insist on giving me $100.98. The hundred dollars pretty much messes me up. Especially first thing in the morning.

Please understand that if you bring in 10 rolls of film that I cannot possibly have them done for you in an hour. For one thing, the machine can only handle so much at a time. The hour thing is based on one roll of film, and even that depends on how many are before yours. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

If you want to use a coupon on something you need to have that coupon with you. I can not ring in a coupon that I haven't been given. Likewise, I can't take a coupon good only at another store. I am not allowed to do that. Don't tell me about how another store would have taken it. Go to that other store then.

There will be more. Stay tuned.

My Favorite Poem

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

A Walk In The Park

Here's another photo taken at the forest preserve down along the Rock River. I love that I was able to capture how blue the water looked. So peaceful and calming. There were a zillion mosquitos, but the walk was amazing.

Photography

I have recently found a new hobby~photography. My youngest son and I have gone on a couple of excursions, cameras in hand, and I've gotten some beautiful shots. This photo was taken in the Hononegah Forest Preserve in Rockton, Illinois. I love the way the shadow and light play in the leaves in this shot.

Amazing Grace

I've been thinking about my mom a lot lately. She passed in July of 1995 on my Dad's birthday. He said she picked that day so he would never forget.

"Amazing Grace" was her favorite hymn. We were in the waiting room of the hospital and the song suddenly began playing on the television. My brother said, "We're coming , Mom." and, when we got to her room, the nurses were removing her breathing tubes. She was gone.

I love you, Mom.

Reconnecting

Isn't life funny? I've been thinking a lot lately about family and friends that I haven't been in touch with for a long time.

I joined classmates.com not long ago. More out of curiosity than anything. Shortly after, I received an email from Jim. He and his family had lived next door to us for years when I was younger. He was a few years older than me and was really one of the last people I expected to hear from. Nice surprise there. He sounds as if he's doing well.

Then I was on MySpace and discovered an old friend from when I lived in Ohio. Rob was my manager at my job at Rite Aid and a real friend in every sense of the word. He helped me through a rough patch in my life and I will never forget him.

Then, yesterday, I got another email from Classmates. My sister, Tracy, had joined and had sent me her email address. I have been thinking a lot about her in particular lately. We have been out of touch for such a long time. I have missed her. I will not lose touch with her again.

So, this has been my week for reconnections. People who are VERY important to me and old friends from the past. Sometimes I feel like a forgotten person. I have been reminded that I'm not.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is almost here! What more perfect time to begin a new blog? The house is decorated....Christmas lights sparkle on the tree.....snow is glistening on the ground. I'll be doing a lot of baking in the next few days and still have a few more presents to get, but, for the most part, I am ready for the holiday.

I often dream of a traditional, family Christmas, but have pretty much given up on that notion. My Dear Earl is a wonderful man, but was brought up in large part by his grandparents who were Jehovah's Witnesses. Thusly, while he himself does not follow that religion (nor really any other), he could take Christmas or leave it, though he is very good about my insistence that we celebrate. My children are all grown and have families of their own (save one still at home) so, while we get together at some point, it isn't quite the same. And, my siblings and my father, while we have nothing against one another, are not overly close. Before my mother passed, family was all encompassing. My father has since remarried and no one is particularly fond of the second wife, which I think plays a huge part in our not getting together like we used to. Sad, but life goes on. Just not the way we may once have imagined it would be.

So, maybe I won't have the huge house full of family the way it was when I was growing up, but I have created Christmas to please myself and that makes me content. I bake and shop and enjoy the beautiful Christmas service at church. I watch all my favorite Christmas movies and tv shows and listen to my favorite Christmas music. Earl will tuck a warm comfy throw around me while I am watching my movies and listening to the carols and he will bring me a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream.....just the way I like it.

And, come Christmas morning, there will be presents and our traditional breakfast casserole. And later we will have a yummy dinner and lots of fresh baked cookies and I will be thankful for all the blessings that are in my life. Earl, my children, a nice home...... All in all, life has been good to me.

So my friends, here's hoping you have a very Merry Christmas.

~Nan