Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New Granny Miller sites

I have been a huge fan of Granny Miller. I was so saddened when she ended her blog last year. But alas! She is back!!!! She is such an inspiration for me!

http://smallholdersdaily.blogspot.com/


http://homesteadgardenandpantry.com/


http://americanhomecanning.com/

Yay for Granny!!!!

How time flies and things change!

I know, it's been a LONG time since I have been here! I truly have wanted to post again, but I had a few things tying me down. Like the post title says, things change! So here's some explaining...

First off, the main thing that has changed in my life and that was holding me back from posting is that I became pregnant again! As of today, I am 16 weeks along. The first trimester does not treat me well. I have had long bouts of morning sickness that stayed with me all day long. When you feel that nauseous for 2 1/2 months it puts a damper on any plans you may have. I have struggled just to get basic housework done, let alone any computer time! Also during that stomach-turning time, I endured several sinus infections, strep throat, a kidney infection not to mention numerous holiday gatherings. That being said, it has also been a very exhausting time for me!
The nausea is over (except when I smell meat cooking), but I am still very tired most days. What a challenging several months it has been! Enough of the complaining - the pregnancy is actually going well. I have seen my midwife twice now, and each time the baby's vitals are well as are mine. I can't complain about that!! She has figured my due date to be July 7.

Winter has been here in full force. Not much snow yet, but plenty of cold weather. Makes me glad to have some food stored away! Looks like I need to update my gardening and canning columns on the right to show what I really put up this past year! And that reminds me, Andy built some wonderful shelves in the basement for some of our food storage. Those shelves have been such a blessing already! They are large enough that I have taken stuff out of our living spaces and stored them there. The next plan is to extend the canning shelves that we already have. I can't wait to have all that storage space! We live in a smallish old farm house. Anyone who has ever lived in an older farmhouse knows that there is no storage space! The basement was under-utilized so now it will be a great benefit to our lives. I will have to post some pictures of the shelves.

The outdoor wood-burner is working great. It is keeping us warm while keeping the mess outdoors. Since we are not bringing wood into the basement to burn, we have had only one mouse in the basement so far. Prior years, we caught many more than that by now. So glad to be rid of them! The basement is far cooler that it was when the furnace was housed there, but it is still warm enough to line-dry the laundry down there. Another added benefit, is that the stored food will last much longer in the cooler basement.

This is all the time I have for right now. I need to nap! Please be patient as I try to get back into posting and updating this blog.