Recent Events

The rain took a day off, so that meant the spectacular event called laundry.  The lines were loaded.  Followed by lots of dish washing, vacuuming and other various house cleaning.

Bedding washed, rugs washed, floors swept and mopped.  Sinks cleaned, toilets scrubbed....all so I could return home Sunday to a clean house.  Which by the way, didn't completely happen.

Those beautiful jars I recently canned were all labeled and put away too.  Most of them anyway.

Medicinal teas were brewed, essential oil steams were done, salt water "snorted".....all three of us caught the "creepy crud" and we were really wanting to feel 100% by Friday.

The best event?

Camping.  I wrote out a grocery list, with a meal plan, checked and rechecked the camping supplies, and we hit the road.  It happened to be the motivation Hubby had to get the new hitch put on the truck too.  It was a wedding reception/camp out.

(during our set up, we had a bit of a rough time, as we have not used the camper for almost 2 years).

Although we had a fun time, we were so tired arriving home.  Once we unpacked we literally did nothing.  The wedding reception was at the campground in an event center, and I am not used to being up that late.  While Hubby drove Youngest to the showers (she danced the entire night), I crawled into the air conditioned and passed out.  Those two stayed up much later, and it was very nice to get some sleep.

I am so afraid to go the garden this morning.  I may find myself a lot of work.  I'll admit it was nice to forget I had a garden for a few days (sort of a garden).  On Saturday we came home to feed the animals etc.

Camping is intended to be relaxing, but due to it being a combined family event, I'll admit it wore me out. I did some dancing myself.  I sure hope our next camping trip is actually relaxing.  I'm so tired this morning, as well as Hubby and Youngest.  

I didn't get many photos, but the campground had a pond with a beach, and our youngest daughter loved swimming in the heat.  It was very, very hot.  Too hot to really enjoy camping either.  In fact, we chose not to campfire cook Saturday for lunch. 

This was a new place to camp, and sort of strange.  Out of 140 sites, 120 were pipeliners in huge RV's.  Also, the bathrooms (shower combo) were in a trailer.  You had to pay $.25 each time you used them.  Never in my life have I seen that.  We also had a creepy kid that kept walking up into our campsites (son of a pipeliner), who just sat down where ever and started talking like he knew one of us.  He was starting to act strange, odd, and saying things about our daughter, and Hubby made him to leave.  He never came back to any of our sites after that.

I mentioned setting up was a rough time?  Well, the guy who owned the campground said he was bringing us a fire ring and a picnic table.  It never happened.  We literally had to take the truck and drive around the campground to find an empty lot and bring both back.  

And check this out.

They had other campers using our power supply pole and water.  We literally had no water hookup.  They had to supply us with an adapter, just so we could have air conditioning.  Let me say, I don't know I'll stay there again.  The water hookup (or one of their hoses) leaked and we had put a rug over it.  It was saturated, and covered in mud by the day we left.  Thankfully we had brought old rugs.  It was leaking right in front of our camper stove.  What a mess.  It was trip fest.  If you didn't have a flashlight at night, you were doomed.  One cord, from another camper, literally went under our doorway.

Sunday morning, before we put down the camper, family cooked breakfast for everyone that camped out for the wedding reception. 

I have no plan for today, other than check on the garden and tidy up the house.  Oh, and wash all of our camping bedding and repack it. Oh, and because we had no water, I'll be washing our camping skillets, etc.  Thankfully we had paper plates in the camper.  

Our 21 year old daughter showed up with her boyfriend Sunday about dinner time.  Raided the fridge (not much to raid), and did a ton of laundry.  

She brought Jesse to visit us, and he was very happy to see us.

Tomato Sauce Leather ~ Tidbits

I just realized, if I run out of pantry and freezer space, I can always utilize my dehydrator.

I can make tomato sauce leather.   You simply spread out he tomato sauce on parchment paper and dehydrate.  This  would come in handy for backpacking trips or camping meals (uses less space to pack food).  You just combine it with equal parts of hot water, and you have tomato sauce again.  Then you can add spices to create pizza sauce, or make other meals using dehydrated ingredients.

The thing with tomatoes, is that you always have something to make with them.

Camping Trip Malfunction

Although we picked the hottest, most humid weekend to camp, we went.  Even though the air conditioning wasn't working in the truck, and it was to be 90°F.

It was our first time to go camping at this beautiful, scenic campground.  Waterfalls, long hikes, horse riding - the works.


Meals were super simple this time, and hiking shoes were donned.  Two took off work, one taking the entire weekend off, and two were taken out of school for a day.

We packed up coolers, bicycles, chairs, and tables.

Two hours or so into our 3 hour drive, and we stopped at a gas station.  A guy starts waving at us.  Hubby says, "now what?"

Hubby gets out and then shakes his head.

Camping Trip ~ Campfire Mac n' Cheese

We've been "off line" for a while so these are posts will catch up all up to date.  Hubby took us camping!  Oh the fun!

This is the fire ring that we cooked on.  We bring along a tri-pod as well.

Camping Lantern Dilema

I have been searching for a replacement bulb for this battery operated camping lantern for two years.

Camping Prep ~ Crochet Projects

Remember all those English Walnuts we bartered for?  I was still cracking them this month.  Apparently, the kids have lost their mojo with helping me.

The shells are always saved from these walnuts.  My older brother and his wife gift me their cardboard egg cartons.  

Four dozen campfire starters are in the making today, and I have more shells.

Random Tidbits ~ Camper Everything ~ More Cleaning

Yesterday's chores were still getting worked on when the kids got home from school.  I had to get everything washed and on the line as rain (storms) are expected today.  

I got all the rugs washed and dried too.  Speaking of rugs, our 18 year-old daughter took the peach colored (crocheted in cotton yarn) rug for her dorm.  I just read somewhere that they cannot have rubber backed rugs, so that worked out nicely.  So, if you kiddo is heading to college, a handmade crocheted rug would come in handy for her/him.  The ones you see on my clothesline are from old sheets, old jeans, and scrap cotton yarn.  They all wash up nicely too.

 

I forgot to dump my ice trays and bag it, so I could freeze all the organic collards I had yesterday.  I managed to get half of them froze.  I have more to freeze today.

Camping Trip!

Hubby was so excited to try out the new canoe, he hooked up the camper a night earlier than we had planned, and away we went. 

On the Fly ~ Playing Hookie

The weather was absolutely heavenly on Friday.  Too bad for me I had to spend most of the mid-morning getting my teeth beautified.  Sadly, I had to sit in the chair for almost 40 minutes, after the cleaning, to see the dentist.  After they adjusted the bite on two crowns from last year, and a free oral cancer screening, they finally released me.  I had high plans for a day of outdoor work, but that flew by quickly.

By the way, I kept getting told how great I brush my teeth.  At one point the hygienist asked if I could come in and show folks how to brush.  I give the credit to herbal teas, which help keep the mouth, and gums healthy (teas that have natural anti-bacterial properties, like thyme tea).

As soon as I arrived home, I had goats to tend, then dogs and then laundry.  Hubby finished the mowing (parts that our buck does not chew down).

Tidbits and Herbal Tea Making

I have only tried my home canned pepper mustard sauce on chicken so far.  I know meatballs would be wonderful, but this time I tried it on organic pork tenderloin (in the crock pot).

Delicious.  Another winning way to eat from our summer stock up.  We topped it over organic brown rice, and had a side of roasted brussel sprouts.  

We are having another cold day. 

Weekend Fun ~ Back to the Grind

We earned two free nights at the campground.  Not knowing how the weather will be in October, we decided to go.  We still came home during the daytime (some of it anyway) to get work completed.

We enjoyed the campfire again, on quiet cool evenings.

Laundry Soap ~ Stitched Cards

A few asked how I make my laundry detergent.  I simply grate a bar of unscented homemade goat's milk soap (you can use a bar of Zote as well), add 8 cups of water, and heat until melted.  I then add 1 1/2 cups borax and 1 1/2 cups washing soda, and continue to heat and stir until dissolved. . .

Weekend Travel

The reason my laundry was up before the sunrise last Friday?  A college campus tour.   After traveling 260 miles round trip and paying $12.50 in road toll fees, we are pretty sure our next child will be attending college there.

The Hubs drove.  Need I say more?  If my brother and sister-in-law were driving behind us, they would have been gasping.  

On our way home, we passed an A & W drive-in.  Remember those?  We had one in our home town growing up.  We passed it, Hubby pulled off the road, then pulled a "Dukes of Hazard" straight across all lanes of traffic, and up (yes, up) the the entrance to the drive-in.  Needless to say, any projectiles in the car went flying.  People were staring at us.  I was shrinking in my seat and trying to recover, and make sure we were still all okay.  So after that, I really needed a weekend off.

We went camping.  

Marriage Booster Weekend

Hubby and I, on a last minute whim, hooked up the camper and went to the cheapest and closest campground. 

We set up camp to enjoy each other's company for a marriage booster weekend.  We really wanted to ferry over to our favorite island, but work told us a different story.   

 Hubby and I try to get time with each other several times a year. 

Camp Out ~ Rubber Bands and Wooden Clothespins

Finally!  We got to take our first camping trip this year.  Although short, we made the most of the time - games, hiking, biking, campfire meals and just hanging out.

Library Goodies ~ Puttin' Up

My older brother shared several books with me, and these two came in recently.  As you can see, I have already started marking recipes to play around with.

Fun Day ~ More "Camp Out Embroidery

Sunday we got the gokart out.  The kids rode it all day long.  Do you see two of them in the middle left of the photo?  They took me for a spin a few times.  We had a blast until....

Camping Embroidery

Remember the cloth napkins I found while cleaning?  They are now getting embroidered.  I found a fun iron-on transfer from Sublime Stitching and love it!  The patterns are a bit pricey, but I ordered mine during a half-price sale.

Cleaning for Camping ~ Painting ~ Timmy (again)

I'm still deep cleaning.  I came across cloth napkins, that at one time, I had planned to embroider for gifting.  Not sure what I had intentionally planned, but I did tackle this unfinished project.

Now, at this point, I could have just given them away or even donated them, but I tossed them all into the washing machine instead.

Winter Camping?

My oldest brother sent me this.  Camping in winter?  He asked "Who's in?"

I would try it.  As long as it wasn't -38°F wind chill.  We could have all kinds of fun - cook over the fire, sip hot chocolate, build a snowman, and hike.   We could ice fish!  Ha!

Speaking of snow and winter,  we got more of it last night.  School is closed today.  It's a wet snow, and it rained during the snowfall. 

I'm starting to feel better, and spent the entire day yesterday reading writer magazines that have piled up.  It was fun to just sit and read, and sip hot tea.  I actually did some writing too.

Head's up on the eucalyptus oil - it can reduce the effects of many medications because it detoxifies.  Once I stopped steaming, my medications worked much better.  Duh moment, and a learning experience.  Once I am healed, I will steam for preventative reasons.  However, the 3 times I did steam, really did help my sinuses.