Snowed in

Today I organized the garage so I can get my car in there. Mostly I stacked stuff up to make room. The original intent was only to check on my rototiller to see if there was gas in the tank. Yep, there was so I put some Lucas gas treatment in the tank, only a little gas was in it...shot some starter fluid in the carb and pulled twice and it fired, and died...pulled again and vroom...I let it run until the gas was gone. I also cleaned the underside of the mower...must have been tired when I put it away in November or whenever I mowed last...I scraped and brushed it cleaned, then sprayed wd-40 all over the underside. I felt good about getting that done. I am not used to taking care of the gasoline powered machines..so I am learning. Getting ready for the next snow storm..tired of being snowed in...and shoveling.

urban homesteading

While cutting celery that I was given at market on Friday, and dehydrating it, I thought about sharing the things I do here in my home to live more frugally and better. I make two loaves of bread with the organic flour I have stored in the pantry. Went to the freezer and pulled out a pork roast, cut some of that celery, onion and seasoned it up good before I baked it for 3 hours. Then in the last hour, I poured some of my home made and canned sauerkraut over it to finish baking. I also got some corn out of my freezer that I had frozen previous summer. I whipped up a half gallon of instant non-fat milk from storage, and made baked corn. I also peeled potatoes that I bought from the store on sale and made gourmet mashed potatoes which I love. Homemade dinner on a budget!!
Today I took some of the pork, pulled it, seasoned it with BBQ sauce, toasted some buns that I was given at market(I work there)and had a pork BBQ for dinner...Then I packed up the left over BBQ into 3 containers, just enough for me and froze it for quick meal later. I also put the remaining pork back in the sauerkraut and froze it for a meal later. I have saved energy, mine and the electric company and will have quick meals another day. I am done buying prepared foods from the store with all their chemicals and inferior quality and high price. You can do it too!!

getting ready

Well there is a buzz out there about tyranny....Looks like Obama will push through the health care, er.. socialist agenda...no matter what...with the second stimulus coming forth. This will finish us off...never will the U.S. survive this kind of debt.......though without debt there is no money in a fiat system anyway.

Where do we start? Free ourselves from the slavery of a job? We must work to buy, and work to pay our debts. With the job being the slavemaster. There is no time to do anything or even think when we work for wages. This was the plan all along to enslave the masses to jobs that they could not do without. Trick them into buying more house than they can afford, a new car, and credit card debt with 25% interest. I saw this coming some time ago. The houses sitting empty because ARM mortgages got people in and job loss got them out. Empty houses sitting because no one has any money. Think things are getting better? just check out the job loss figures each month. Skills are down, debt is up.

If we would have insisted on smaller homes, bigger lots and grew our food instead of bigger houses on postage stamp lots and looking pretty we would have been better off. When women insisted on going to work for wages, leaving the kids and buying a larger home, 2 new cars, and lots of fast food things didn't get better. When women work the home sits empty all day, kids at a daycare and all the money goes for car payments, clothes for work, daycare and the bigger house. This is not freedom gals!! This is slavery, and someone else is raising our kids. Who do we have to blame?? Greed...We were told we could have it all...Money, prestige, career, glamor, and our families. We have lost the battle. Now we slave two jobs just to put a roof over our heads. And yea we pay for the illegals out of that hard earned money...

Downsize, get real, grow food, conserve, get out of debt, drive a used car (paid for)...homeschool...buy used clothes!! kids don't care anyway...at least they didn't until you started buying designer clothes for toddlers!!

Winter Blues

There is snow on the ground and the cold has set in...record cold.....everywhere.....so much for global warming...not that I believe it anyway. I had fallen for the "we are responsible for the environment" movement sometime back. I have to admit I was not informed, a tree hugger type. Beginning to notice that the climate was changing and we were in a warming period for many years because the frost date was moving forward. I was planting in zone 6 in mid April with no frost after that. Last year was different, and perhaps a few before that. It was cool all year over most of the country and very wet. Winter has been much colder, much earlier than before. We had snow by Thanksgiving and a white Christmas. I expected this winter to be colder and snowier than usual, but near to normal or above normal snowfall, and sure enough predictions are just that.

I don't wish to debate global warming, as climate will present itself the way it is and this year will be one for the records. I thought it ironic that God may have stepped in and made a cold year/winter in the midst of the Global Warming Debate, He does have a sense of humor you know...

All I know is that it is a few weeks until I will plop some onion seeds in a box of dirt and try to grow them. I also want to try some early annuals like pansies for once. I have the best of intentions of doing just that then realize that in late February it is already too late. So growers, (not the professional ones, you already know) start some early seeds of cauliflower, broccoli, onions and don't forget the flowers! There is plenty of time. This year will be one I plant lots of varieties of vegetables!!, but then I always say that....get out the seed catalogs...

Everyday life

Somedays I am so frustrated with what I have to do to just get through. So many people want a piece of me and my time. I am finding I need to make more money and somehow figure out who I could live with to make things easier for me. I can't seem to get much of anything done I want to do, just pleasing the kids and grand kids, and Mom. Yes, I love being with them, but I need more of my time. These "holidays" are killin' me. I am planning on Jan and Feb being the time when I can paint some of the house and make it more "me". I also have to do a lot more clearing out to just simplify, problem is I like to hang on to stuff, thinking I will need it.
Soap-making is something I need to get back to not only for better health, but to supplement my income as well. I never figured it would be this hard to find the time needed to do "crafts" while keeping house and working part time.
My mom isn't well and she is alone, so I go visit her often, but it is just far enough to be a pain to get there, not to mention going through Harrisburg and all that West Shore stuff. That place is really growing and the traffic is awful. Give me Perry Co. Please!! I never want to go back to that part of the state to live. I hate the traffic and crowded conditions, malls, etc.
Just give me time to create...I want to start all my plants for the big garden over at my daughters this spring. I just thought I'd make the pitifully small garden I have into a large herb and flower garden. I want a beehive too..they are fascinating insects. I'd like to do an experiment with providing lots of herb nectar for the hive and see if they still get sick, or stay healthy on their own....maybe write a book someday.

winter

Just taking care of a place takes up so much time when you are alone. I have to fix this, being alone that is...I may get a roommate to help out with the work so there is more time to prep. Winter is upon us and things are getting worse, not better, almost a year into Obamamy...
No health care for me, there will be no way I can pay for anything in the way of health care, er sick care. There is no preventative medicine, no publishing of vitamin or other therapy to get well, only drugs. Been there done that, and what a racket. The system wants you in on the repeat script so they can make their billions...Publishing a statement saying only a drug can cure a disease?? What is with that?? liars... Making it illegal for making a statement about vitamins curing, which may be true, unlike the drug statement which is false, taking away our right of free speach, so the drug companies can rape and kill people with their so called cure. Drugs do not cure they treat symptoms, that's it...period...

The end of America

Just came across this: endofamericamovie.com watch the trailer. This documentary can be viewed on Netflix. There are ten steps to close down an open society, all ten are in place in america.
americanfreedomcampaign.org check these out