Milking for neighbors is profitable

  Friends are going out of town. Or rather to town from the country. ;) we are milking their goats. And picking something's in their garden. I made pickles yesterday and today. Some canned and a gallon and a pint of Sun pickles. Which were crazy easy and fast. Hopefully yummy. 

   Monday I will be able to taste them. They sit in the sun til then. Praying we love them!

 Grandma Katherine also brought over lots of squash, a couple buckets of tomatoes (they became canned salsa last night) and a few more cucumbers. 

   We are getting lots of green beans. But not quite enough to can. I hope to get some from the later planting a we did. I'd like to can lots. 

   Lots of green tomatoes. None have ripened I am ready for lots! I really hope to put up a lot of food this years. We are butchering chicken Monday. I need to can most all. No freezer space. Which is fine. Mainly cause I used canned the most. And freezers scare me. I am always afraid they will quit on me. Losing a jar of chicken is sad. But a freezer full is a terrible loss. We have nearly lost a load before. But I saved it...by canning it all...

     And canning is encouraging. If you do dishes the work isn't noticed very long. But 100 jars of produce lasts much longer. It is satisfying work. I love to can. :)

Sleeping...

Grandma Katherine is visiting. She always brings treats. :)   Wisdom fell asleep with these Cheese puffs. Too cute!

Blog.

There is a popular blogger that talks on hard topics. Generally I agree with him. The other day I didn't. I was thinking about blogging here and listing my reasons why. I was working to get my thoughts together. 

   Then I stumped onto a forum. It was over 100 pages long this thread. And first page they said they had made a new thread for the topic since the last one grew so large. Both threads were over 100 pages long. The topic? 

     A momma blogger. They complained about silly little things. Like her 'children not wearing shoes. They could get hookworm. They could eat hurt. The poor little dears. '

    Completely. And utterly rude. Uncalled for. And stupid. 

   Why? Why do we do this? 

  Years ago a friend called me. She has a blog. She also stumbled onto a forum. But she found a picture of her son being the brunt of cruelty. In the picture he was 2. The photo had given him red eye. And the people o. The forum were making jokes and being horrid in their talk about him. Grown adults. Fully bullying a tiny child. But I am certain they justified it thinking he would never know. And he may never know. But he might. It is online. 

   Both mommy bloggers were attacked. Virtually and verbally. I'm the mean one now. I call it public school syndrome. Not all public schoolers have it. But generally they have it or are the brunt of it. 

    Judging. A word I hate. 'Dont judge me'   'You. Don't have a right to judge me'. 'Since I smoke and you don't your. Judging me'  crock of poo. All of it. We are to judge things. We are to judge actions and motives. We are to judge safety and danger. We are to judge right from wrong. And we are to deal with it as Jesus would. In kindness. As peacemakers. 

     My take. The mean forum hiders aren't judging. They are bullying. They are speaking and acting cruelly. And they need to get rid of their computers, repent and practice kindness. But they likely won't. People like that feed on being mean. Like starving wolves. Never satisfied til they get in mean thoughtless words. 

     My wanting to talk about the popular blogger. I'm not going to do it. He gets hate mail. He gets more crap than I'd ever want. I am on the fence with what he did anyway. 95% of the time I 100% agree with him. But I'm not going to add to Internet drama.  Though of course I see what I was gonna do as different. Really. And I was just going to talk it out. Cause I like to. And Patrick has already heard my take. And I his. But sometimes it is hard not to just come here and also blab. But I am deciding not too. 

   I'm 'judging' this issue and deciding to drop it. Walk away. And be thankful I got the reality check. 

Uncle Deans No Bakes

These are the very very best no bakes in the world. No joking. Hands down. Melt in your mouth. I haven't bought quick oats in years and years. But they are a must for this recipe. You won't regret it. 

4 cups of sugar. Know what that means? It means it tastes good. Yep. 

1 1/2 sticks of butter... Generally we use homemade. But i am low on butter...

If you have cool friends like we do you get gifted homemade vanilla. It is good. 

I never measure vanilla. More is better. Mmmmmm

This is good cocoa. But I only buy it when I run out before getting to the bulk store. Though I always buy their brand of dark chocolate chips. Soooo yummy!

Uncle Dean says only level tablespoons. I'm a rebel though. Heap them. Mmmmhmmmm

Here everything is melting I to chocolate love. 

Boil 1 minute at a good steady boil. Stirring constantly. Only 1 minute. 

Peanut butter.  Found an awesome deal on organic real PB. It was at the Mennonite store. It is sooo good! But they are out. No plans for them to get more though. Bummer. It was the best ever though. A gallon and a half for $10. I shoulda bought it all when I saw it. Oops. 

Mmmm

Creamy goodness!

I use my cookie scoop to keep then sorta the same size as each other. 

If you make them let me know what you think! 

Spinning

I bought some really pretty pencil roving from my friend Janet's store closing. :(  ok this Patrick ran and got me while he was in town. A big bag of roving! I was so excited!

I had went to spin a couple times. But you see. My rhyyan also spins. And she had all the spools full... Stinker. So I had to ply hers in order to do mine. Finally I wanted to spin bad enough I did it. Sooo relaxing. I loved it! Yesterday was cool and perfect. Felt like fall.  I spun a while in the morning while watching the children play. Then again in the afternoon. The sun was then perfectly warm. It was wonderful for spinning. Each time was comforting. I won't wait so long to spin again! 

The color was so nice! Looks like inviting water. Not sure how ill use it yet. But it will be for something special. I really love it! Janet and Leslie dye things so beautifully!

Wisdom decided Doll likes my wheel too. :)

Doll was made by Hagen at twoblesseddamsels.blogspot.com wonderful friends with amazing talent! Miss them!

Isn't it wonderful! I plied it last night also. And it is resting to set the twist. My plan is spin after this evenings milking. I can't wait! 

   I think everyone needs a hobby to relax with. My fav is milking my cow.  I am forced to do it. And so I continually can enjoy my quiet time! 

   What do you do to relax?

Older pics.

The girls were looking thru pictures on Grandmas old computer the other day and found these. Mostly from 2009.

Mary and Parris. They are both in cute clothes that they wore tons. I think this pic is so sweet. I miss their littleness. 

Mary and Malachi so adorable. 

This picture is so nice. Man seems like an eternity ago. Her cuteness! And his adorable fatness!

Patrick, the children and his beautiful cousin Ashley. Joelle looks just like her! Been a while since we have seen her and her family. Need to get down there. 

A simple wedding....

She wanted to marry her Daddy. So her sisters made her a cake ( play dough) and bouquet and dressed her up.  They had so much fun. Dad didn't know til he heard them humming and walking towards him. :) which also thrilled them all!

Saturday play dough fest!

My grandpa...

James Young

Kinda looks like my Woo!