A Month (or two) in review

It is nearly the middle of October (WHAT?!?!) and I haven't posted a September in Review post yet.  (Not terrible, considering I haven't posted fair pictures yet and that was in JULY or monarch pictures and that was in AUGUST!)  I would probably forgo it altogether (and save myself the embarrassment!) except I know of ONE person who likes to read them.  This is for you Leah T!

I missed August too- so I will add August things where applicable.

And for those of you totally uninterested in my yearly resolutions, I'll post some fallishness pictures for you all from over the weekend.  I know a few of you will enjoy them after the comment box chatter from the other day.  The pictures, then, are for you guys!

To save myself heartbreak, I am only going to share the good stuff.  TECHNICALLY, that isn't fair but TECHNICALLY, this is my blog and I can do what I want. :-)  Besides, I don't have the heart for failure today.   In my defense, some things had to be put to the wayside because I would be canning all.day.long and I would literally fall into bed (like exercise!) or, because the days were later, the children would stay outside longer until it was 9:00 and I was ushering them into bed (like Family read-alouds!).  Again, I am reminded about how my lifestyle is so dependent upon the seasons.  I am really looking forward to the slower winter months where I can (hopefully!) restart some of those dropped (but important!) things.

Money Stuff

Thanks to purchasing homeschool books (MAN are they expensive!) and paying for doctors appointments  these last few months, very little money was in excess.  I was able to put a smaller amount than usual in the carfund, toward principle of our house, and in savings but a far cry from what I hoped to do.  Matt *did* however, get a small raise recently, which may help me to boost up that number in the these last few months of the year.  We were also able to purchase (in cash) a water purification system for our home, it was a tidy sum, but well worth the expense in our minds. 

House Projects completed thru August and September: (pictures to come)


~ The HUGE one was rebuilding the foundation.  It required many-a-weekend of hard labor for my handy husband and almost nothing of myself. He is a hard worker.  And the foundation (one of the largest projects on the yearly to-do list and absolutely NECESSARY) is now done.  Hallelujah!
~ Burying a new water drain line to go out further from the house (pictures to come)
~ Building a stone foundation for a part of the barn that was torn down.
~ Redecorating the school room and mapping/barn boarding/painting the walls.
~ Organized Granary
~ We also had installed a water purification system.  It was a tidy sum, but something we felt very important considering all the gas well drilling going on around this area. 

(All these projects were BIG projects, so I am pleased!)

Letter-writing:

I started a little journal of letter writing in order to keep track of the letters I write and the letters I receive.  Mainly, so that I don't forget to return a letter written to me.  That has helped out a lot, me keeping track of things.  I wrote 8 letters in August/September but only one of them was to Opa.  Letter writing, unfortunately,  had to take a backseat to the busyness of harvest/garden work.  For those of you waiting for a letter- I am SO sorry!  They *will* come!

Christmas Present Making: (pictures to come)


~ I have a few lovers of jalapeno jelly in our extended family (that's handy!) so I made an extra batch to hand out for gifts this year to a few of them.  I'll include a box of fancy crackers and all tied with a ribbon, it will be perfect for those hard-to-buy-for people.

~ I made (My first ever!) peppermint soap!  It turned out SO well!  I was so pleased!  I swirled it with red coloring to have a reddish/white swirl effect and it is very pepperminty.  Perfect, I think, for Christmas.  I hope to make a few more batches of soap soon.  (It is addicting.)

~ I made some personalized plates for some of the young boys in the family.  I can't post pictures of these because some of them check my blog!   This was my inspiration.

~ I began working on crocheting a purse/pocket for Corynn.  More on that later.

Well, that's it.  All I want to admit to!  ;-) 

I can feel the coldness in the air and the comfort foods coming on...and I know those quiet evenings inside of stitching, crocheting, reading, letter-writing and just plain pleasantries are on their way.

 I am REALLY looking forward to them!