2010 January

new ebooks coming up

January 28, 2010 By Penny 1 Comment

Trying to finish up these new e-books all Creatively Simple How to books. Want to learn to make bagels, soft pretzles, chicken and dumplins, sourdough breads or Amish friendship bread? Well stay tuned. Also I have a new book each on Organization, Home Tips and a Family Bible Study on prayer. No wonder I feel so worn out Busy busy.

If you aren’t already subscribed to my bookstore this would be a good time look for the subscription box here in the right column where it says “subscribe free”

Filed Under: bookstore

what is life?

January 27, 2010 By Penny 2 Comments

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ~ James 4:14

This is the mist over our lake. As beautiful as it was it was gone shortly after Hannah took this picture. That is how the Word describes our lives on earth. Make the best of it while you are here but do all your big planning for the eternal life you will spend far more time in.

more Word Filled Wednesday at the 160 acre woods

Filed Under: life in the country, word of the day Tagged With: scripture Christian blog

teamwork works for me

January 27, 2010 By Penny Leave a Comment

What works for me this Wednesday?

Well not only have we been preparing for the storm headed our way, but this morning my friend Jennifer from Econobusters said she was giving away a book by Don Aslett about reducing clutter. Her post said to leave a comment sharing what the worst clutter area in your house was. Well that is not hard to find in our house. Since the master bedroom is the only bedroom on the ground floor and it is really big and I also have my office in it, it tends to be the catch all place. Everything gets stashed in my room. Everything. Add to that the fact that dust gives me a bad sinus headache. Add to that the fact that it is off the living room/parlor where the wood stove is and that creates dust too. Add to that the fact that it is the coldest room despite being close to the heat source. And after Jennifer’s post I just decided I couldn’t stand it anymore. I recruited a big helper. She did a lot but quickly lost interest. But alas I was saved by my little people. My two youngest are the little people at the moment. One of my little people is my 10 yr old son who is Mr Fix-it and an engineer in training. If there is no fix for something he will either create one or build a new whatever it is. He is amazing. He will also use any excuse to invent instead of doing his schoolwork, he is a very hands on guy. The storage shed and a couple tools are like a smorgasbord of creativity to him. Spare hardware delights him. Broken objects delight him. He is a rare but valuable bird. He is fixing the broken drawer on my dresser as we speak. So between several of us we made a huge dent in the mess. While we were busy inside my other daughters worked together training two different horses to trailer load. They finally got the most obstinate colts to get in the smallest trailer we have. In and out several times. That is a major accomplishment. So what is working at the Raine house this week? Teamwork.

That is works for me this Wednesday.

Filed Under: family, WFMW Tagged With: teamwork

back to the bad weather to do list

January 26, 2010 By Penny 5 Comments

Well, here it comes again, snow, sleet, ice. My Tackle today is to get ready for it.Living on a farm means teamwork.

We still have plenty of wood split but it needs to be stacked on the porches to stay dry. Then of course we need to take inventory of the pantry, and probably the freezer.

The last thing anything anyone wants is to not eat good when you are snowed or iced in.

And of course we need to prepare for the possibility of losing power. It happens often around here.

so here is my check list, can’t wait to see those checkmarks

stock wood in dry places
get weeks worth of hay from the barn and put it in a handy place
make sure we have enough kerosene for oil lamps
make sure batteries and phones are charged
make sure we have coffee and chocolate
take out turkey from freezer to thaw
make sure we have staples flour, sugar, oatmeal
convince that cow she needs to give more milk
do laundry ahead in case it freezes again
update the netflix queue
since it is getting near the end of winter things like gloves and hats need to be re-found
hhmm, go back over old lists

so how do you prepare for yucky weather?

want to see what others are tackling? check it out here…. 5 minutes for mom

Filed Under: current events, home sweet home, life in the country

normal TN weather

January 26, 2010 By Penny Leave a Comment

.. POTENTIAL FOR LATE WEEK WINTER STORM IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE…

A WINTER STORM IS FORECAST FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE LATE THIS WEEK… PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS. COMPUTER MODELS HAVE BECOME CONSISTENT WITH THIS FORECAST OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS… AND INDICATE THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM BY THE END OF THE WEEK. THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL DURING THAT PERIOD SHOULD REMAIN ABREAST OF THE LATEST WEATHER FORECAST.

THE TIME OF GREATEST IMPACT WILL BE THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT… AND THIS IS HOW THINGS ARE EXPECTED TO UNFOLD…

… FOR THURSDAY NIGHT… WE LOOK FOR A CHANGE FROM RAIN TO SNOW ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS… WITH A MIX OF RAIN… SLEET… AND FREEZING RAIN ACROSS THE SOUTH. SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE.

… FOR FRIDAY… SNOW CONTINUES ACROSS THE NORTH… WITH SNOW ALSO SPREADING INTO SOME SOUTHERN AREAS DURING THE DAY. MEANWHILE PARTS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE WILL CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE A MIX OF RAIN… SLEET… AND FREEZING RAIN. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW AND ICE ARE LIKELY.

… FOR FRIDAY NIGHT… MUCH COLDER AIR SPREADS IN… WITH SNOW EXPECTED OVER ALL OF THE MID STATE. MORE SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE LIKELY.

oh my

Filed Under: current events Tagged With: weather

online shopping

January 25, 2010 By Penny Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of CSNStores. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ok, so now I am seriously distracted and doing some window shopping online. But my brain is getting a little R&R and I am getting re-focused. I figured I would take a look at some online CSNStores to get more ideas of how I want to do my daughter’s site.That place is like a mall, you could get lost there forever, and have a great time doing it. I think there is a bit of everything. And then some. They also have a facebook fan page with all kinds of interesting things on it. I like to see products in action and looks like that is how they present things on the facebook page. Interesting idea. Sure makes me want to take a look. I do think I will become a follower.

One thing I have shopped for several times is kitchen faucets, it is just one thing a big family tends to wear out. Cheap ones can last less than 6 months, so it is worthwhile to get a good one. I thought since it is something I am used to shopping I would check it out on this site. Guess how many they had? 1497 kitchen faucets. That is quite a selection! Wow I think I have found a new place to shop