A Look at the Garden and More

Don't forget about the Victoria Botkin Curriculum Advice giveaway here.

Lots happening around Chambleeville this week.  I am determined to get back to a school routine as the last three weeks have seen so many interruptions.   We'll see how that goes as Lauren and her three little ones are here for most of the week.  Her asthma is not doing well right now.  The house they moved into has some mold problems which are causing havoc with her asthma.  She will be here as much as possible until they are able to move somewhere else.  In addition to losing a house to a tornado and having trouble with her asthma, Lauren also has a pseudo-tumor in her brain that we are pretty sure was caused by steroid use....which unfortunately has been necessary through the years for her asthma.  We knew that there were/are side effects to using the steroids, but when you are faced with a choice between breathing today and possible problems later, you choose to breathe today!  The pseudo-tumor can be treated with medication, but that means she needs to wean the baby....which during the upside-down time which is their life is difficult to handle.  She may wind up opting for a spinal tap to remove some spinal fluid which is one option for the condition.  

Aaron and Kaelan also have a piano recital tomorrow evening. So they will continue to polish up their pieces today and tomorrow.  I think they are quite ready and I will be glad for them to move on to some other pieces!!  The Irish Washer Woman runs through my head all. day. long!  ; )  However, I am so very thankful for the progress they have made and am thankful that they enjoy playing the piano and the violin.

Here's a look at a few of the garden areas around here.

Raised beds with tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, lettuce, peas, leeks and okra.

Orka and tomatoes

Cucumbers

Cucumbers and onions

Two kinds of lettuce

Tomatoes

Green peas have blossoms

This mixed squash bed WILL be weeded today, boys!

Some newly planted tomatoes and basil

Our older blueberry bushes are full of berries and are almost bent over with the weight.

Lots more berries like these will be great for the freezer, canner or dehydrator.

We've planted green peas, lettuce, a variety of tomatoes and peppers, a variety of squashes, cucumbers, leeks, okra, parsley, cilantro, chives and have added many new herbs.  In addition to our sage, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, oregano and lemon balm we've added apple mint, lemon mint, chocolate mint, rosemary, lavander, stevia, more chives and..... I can't even remember!!  Jordan has some more tilling to do as we have about 30 pepper plants to be planted, more basil and some more squash as well.

We've also been busy dehydrating a 50 pound bag of sweet onions that I purchased for $10.  It's been really easy to do, except for the tears!  Thankfully, once they start warming up in the dehydrator the teary effect is gone.

Now to get all these little people rounded up for some table time activities.  Do you think I'll make it?  I'm beginning to wonder, myself!!  If you don't hear from me tomorrow, send help....please!

This strawberry bed has been producing, but we have to keep the birds out of it!

Linking up with the HOMESTEAD BARN HOP

Linking up with Smockityhere

What Last Night Taught Me

Last night our electricity went out because of a storm.  Losing our electricity is not unusual.  Like our water system, our electric system has not kept up with the supply needed by all the new construction in our area.  Even on the sunniest of days we can lose power.

So, what did I learn last night?

1.  We need more flashlights.
2.  Said flashlights need to be put up where two little guys can't get them.
3.  We need lots of batteries for those flashlights.
4.  We need more oil lamps.  Yes, we have two.  One doesn't have a globe, so it needs a new globe.
5.  We need to store oil lamp.
6.  We need to store oil lamp wicks.
7.  When we lose electricity our phones don't work.
8.  Yes, our cell phones will work, but will eventually need to be recharged--using electricity.
9.  Our nebulizers for our asthma medications don't work without electricity.
10.  Yes, we have a nebulizer that will work in the car, but do I really want to go out in the car to take a breathing treatment in a storm with lots of rain, thunder and lightening?
11.  Our refrigerator that provides us with filtered water will not provide us with filtered water without electricity.
12.  Yes, we need filtered water.  Remember, our water system is bad....as in sometimes the water looks like mud.
13.  Yes, dear daughter.  We have water stored for just this purpose.  Check in the boys bedroom closet.
14.  I have plenty of candles.
15.  I  don't have plenty of lighters or matches.
16.  Candle light is kind of romantic, but not when several children are afraid of the storm.

Thankfully we lost electricity at bedtime and it came back on during the night.  I was actually just starting a breathing treatment for myself when the power went out.  I was able to make do with an inhaler.  However, they just don't work as well for me.  The others who needed treatments had already had them.

What if our power was out for several days?  It has happened in this area.  Thankfully, we have not experienced it, but ice and snow tend to cause lots of damage down here in the deep south and there have been areas without power for many weeks.  Have you experienced extended times without electricity?Are you prepared for times with no electricity?  How DO you prepare?

Of Remodeling, Reactions and Reasons to Celebrate

It has been a while since I have taken the time to blog.  I am trying to maintain a full school load with the children while in the midst of major home remodeling.  We are FINALLY getting the boys' bathroom rebuilt after gutting it due to water leaks almost 3 years ago.  Yes, we are slow about some things.  Thankfully we have 3 bathrooms so we have not been too terribly inconvenienced all this time.
"Worker men" have been here for several days each week for the last three weeks and Jeff took off three days.  It is extremely hard to get a 6 year old boy to sit down and work on letter sounds and counting with mom when there are nice men with jackhammers in your bathroom cutting through the concrete.  He has learned a lot these last few weeks about plumbing and shower building.  


We have lived in this house for 12 years and Jeff has decided this is the time to get all of the remodeling done and the broken things fixed.  He is a man on a mission!  The older boys are now old enough to be a tremendous help to him.  The boys' shower has built built and tiled.  It now has a nice glass door.  The walls are painted.  The floor is tiled, but still needs grout.  Then we do the baseboards, the door,  molding, toilet, vanity, mirror and cabinet.  Half of those items are in my dining room.  Boxes of all kinds have been shoved in the boys' bedroom and it was too cluttered for them to clean it up.  Yesterday we removed all remodeling paraphernalia, thus eliminating their excuse for cleaning their room.  Tomorrow, it WILL be cleaned from top to bottom.  There is so much dust from drywall that everything is gritty.  I have slowly been cleaning the living areas as we finish up the messy work in the bathroom.

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In other news, we have been hit again with some strange illnesses.  I have suffered from dishydrosis for several years.  This is a severe form of eczema that occurs on your hands and feet.  Incredibly itchy blisters of which there is NO cure.  After a recent flair up I went to another dermatologist and had a steroid shot and was prescribed two different steroid creams.  After another visit I am now on oral steroids.   Women are more prone to this form of eczema and those who have eczema and asthma are more likely to get it.  It is not painful, but extremely itchy and frustrating.  Stress also causes flair ups.  Seven children, homeschooling, dealing with multiple food allergies, major remodeling and a type-A personality=stress.    In addition, my IBS has also been flaring.  I have had IBS for years, but after the removal of my gall bladder last year, it has worsened.  Some days I cannot leave home.  One perk, however, is that I continue to lose weight!  Got to find something good about it!

Aaron, Jackson and Caedmon continue with their usual eczema problems that need daily attention.  Caedmon has had two food allergy reactions that really scared us in the last two/three weeks.  I will no longer live the house without his Benadryl, Epipen and nebulizer.    Jordan is my only child who does not have asthma and/or eczema, but a couple of weeks ago he broke out in a very strange rash ALL over his body.  It looks like very small patches of eczema, but there are hundreds of them.  Jeff finally took him to the doctor Wednesday.  She just looked at him and was speechless.  Had no idea what the rash is!  Gave him a long-acting steroid shot and Benadryl ointment.  Repeat visit this morning added a staff infection to his diagnosis.  Now he will also be on an antibiotic for a couple of weeks.  Please pray for the rest of our eczema kids who have some spots that could be easily infected.  Staff is contagious!

I have been going back to visit my chiropractor the last couple of weeks as my back and neck have been bothering me (stress?).  He has told me for YEARS that we need to get off of gluten.  He is big on the blood type diet and we are all B and apparently gluten will cause skin and digestive issues for those with B type blood.  In light of all that I wrote above I think I need to investigate more and try a gluten free diet.  My problem with gluten-free is that two of my children are also allergic (deathly) to eggs and most gluten free recipes contain eggs.  Any body with any experience with gluten free and/or diets for blood types?  Would love to talk with you!!

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And,  today is Jeff's birthday!  Both of us are sliding ever so closer to 50.  We are planning a nice birthday dinner for him tonight.  I asked him last night what he would like and he requested a Roman roast.  We got this recipe from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines when we were studying ancient Rome.  You take a nice roast and cook it on the cooktop in a Dutch oven.   I inserted sliced cloves of garlic in the roast, covered 1/3 with white grape juice and let cook slowly all day.  Half way through the cooking process, I added mushrooms cut in half.  We will serve this with spinach rice, roasted broccoli and carrots and a green salad.   We were trying to make his favorite apricot nectar cake for him, but two of our local Walmart stores are no longer carrying apricot nectar!  I bought mango nectar instead which I think will taste great.  I hope to get the dining room at least dusted and swept well for the evening meal.  Kaelan will be in charge of setting a celebratory table in honor of her father.  The kids pooled their money together to buy the BBC's Return to Cranford today, so it seems we will have an evening in Cranford  tonight.  A pleasant end to what I hope will be a nice celebration for my hard-working husband who is such a wonderful example of a Godly man for our children.

Sunday is Aaron's 14th birthday!  So hard to believe my fourth born child is so old.  Aaron is growing into an extremely hard worker.  He loves to read (ALL of my kids love to read), is becoming more serious about his Bible study, loves to eat and is a clown.  We will be spending the day with Jeff's parents on Sunday.  Aaron requested bratwurst and saurkraut with all the trimmings for his birthday meal, so the grands are getting the grill ready for his special day now.

I hope to have pictures of the bathroom as soon as it is completed and birthday pictures as well.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Peekaboo Caedmon

This little man has been wheezing for the last several days.  He is taking oral steroids now and two medicines in his breathing treatment.  I have been treating asthmatic children for the last 23 years.  It doesn't get any easier to see your babies struggling to breathe.  One of the crazy things about treating these children is that the medicines make them slightly hyper.  Caedmon has now discovered he can climb on the dining room table, which is where I found him this morning getting ready to dig into a plate of biscuits and eggs.  He is extremely allergic to eggs and wheat, so I will have to watch him more carefully until he is trained not to climb on the table or everyone else is trained to clean their plates from the table, whichever comes first!!  Now to see if I can get him slowed down enough to take a nap.  I need one!!!