Old Man Winter Moved In

Old man winter moved in last night with a dusting of white magic to cover the grounds. He brought his gusts of wind with him & before he left he blew over the homestead outhouse tool shed. Leaving quite a mess to cleanup before feeding the creatures today. The containers of creature food were over turned leaving their vittles scattered about the inside of the outhouse. Oh but the creatures had to be cared for in spite of this.

The outhouse tool shed was stood back up before the days close & cleaned out. Cement blocks were put on the floor to help weight it down. All in a days work. Next on the chore list was to get gas for Lucas. I finished pumping the gas & got in the truck to get the cash to pay the store keeper. While shutting the truck door old man winter blew another gust of wind blowing the truck door shut faster catching my hand in the door as it closed. I can say it HURT. Not easy shifting the truck driving back to the homestead but I got there with hand swollen & thumb turning black. After pulling & tugging I got the ring off my thumb making the pain worse. As you can guess this put a wrench in my plans to work on my creations today. I am not a fan of winter so I was happy the white magic blew away so fast. The kids are all here tonight but I know soon Laken & her friend will be heading out. So I must be going to visit with them.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Things to be thankful for:
Were safe & warm.
Prayer answered for a precious little one
of a sweet blogger.

Creations In Progress

I visited the shop over the weekend to collect any fall creations that did not sell. While there we decided to remove all my creations that had not sold & start with new creations. I had this school bag made & a few stitcheries to show the shop owner. I left these creations with him & left with ideas for some new creations that his customers have requested. One being the primitive bonnets to hang on peg racks. This not being a creation that I have mastered yet. I am not happy with the pattern I purchased. It just ties & hangs. I want a pattern that will make a bonnet that can really hold its shape & be worn if one might just want to wear it to visit the garden to do some weeding or gather the eggs from the chicken coop. I will be taking the removed creations to the other shop. Rotating my unsold creations from shop to shop will keep both shops looking refreshed & give me a better chance selling.

An angel stitchery to bring a smile to someones face this Valentines.

I have not decided if this doll will be a female or a male. My first time to make this type doll. It has been a lot less work than my usual type doll. Clothes are yet to be made. I wanted to offer a new look in the shops.

I roasted a turkey today for what turned out to be a dinner for two. Lucas went away soon after he & Sam came home from school & Laken left right after she came from work. Laken is still using Moms truck for getting to & from work. So it was Sam & I who enjoyed the turkey dinner. With all the turkey & broth I think I will can it tomorrow.

The kitchen is clean & tidy for now. Time to light the fireplace to get warm & cozy while we watch a movie & I get back to my creations.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Festus Update

I took these photos of Festus today. The tips of his comb are hard & dry.

His comb has flopped to one side.
After much research & looking at photos of what some call frostbite or frostburn. I started treating his comb & wattles with neosporin. I read that the black areas will dry & fall off. I also read that I could cut the black areas off. Called dubbing on a chicken advice site. I am not sure I can do that to Festus. For now I have applied the neosporin to his comb & wattles in hopes they will not become infected. I read to prevent this to apply petroleum jelly to all the chickens wattles & combs. So I will be doing this. I checked the chicken coop just to be sure there was plenty of soft shavings. There was a least five inches of shavings but I added another two inches of fresh shavings before I gathered the flock to put them back in & feed them today after there roaming time about the homestead. The egg laying increased today. We had a very mild day today making it nice for the flock to wonder about & scratch while I checked all the creatures homes for bedding & cleaning needs.

Blessings til Next Time!
Lara

A Fast Question About My Roosters Comb & Wattle

The comb & wattle of my rooster Festus has turned black in a large area? They were bright red. I fear he has frost bite? So I ask if this is so? I am new to raising chickens. Festus & the hens were added to the many creatures living here at the homestead last spring. Dear fellow chicken keepers can you help?
Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

More Pitchures Added

Since Christmas I have taken the decorations down little by little as the days have gone by. Just the same speed they went up. I found this to be so much easier for me. All the tree ornaments have been put back in the cheese box containers for another year. The kitchen tree got dressed in hearts for valentines day.

I printed off two more pictures & added them to the gathering room wall.



My nails. I bet you thought I was going to show you my fingernails. Nope. There growing a little but not as fast as I would like. I hope to have them looking as nice as my toenails so i can paint them soon.

I am going to take some time to get back into creating over the next few weeks. I will be creating some spring creations to show off to a shop owner. I hope to really wow her with the creations. She asked me to bring some of my creations in when they are ready to give them a try in her shop. Her shop is closer for me to travel & her shop is a wonderful primitive shop. I am pretty hopeful this new adventure will be successful for her & I both. Laken is happy with her new job & I thank you for lifting prayer for her need of a job. She is still set in mind to not come home but to be on her own. Lucas is working less hours but this has given him some extra time to build himself a little camp site on the homestead grounds. This week he built his fire pit & gathered fire wood to burn. I told him he needs a little out building on his little plot of ground. Sam is content hanging out with Mom and the homestead creatures when not in school or playing his game system. So I will close with see you all soon.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

There Hung

It took some time but there hung. The shelf & blanket crane was not really working in bedroom so it is here with the new pictures. I need to do something about the electric smoke detector. It sure has yellowed over the years. It was not easy getting a picture of this wall. The room is not very wide. This is the room off of the kitchen that I am working on. It was never finished after the remodel started. Sam uses this room the most. His game system is on the desk & his talking deer head is on the wall. This & more will be moved into his bedroom later. Laken is still staying with friends & got the job today she interviewed for. I asked her today when she was going to come back home. I was hoping she would come back to the homestead soon but she wants to be on her own. I guess at twenty most do. She has plans of getting her own apartment with one of her friends soon. Sam wants to move into her room but I have been holding off on this. When that time comes if it dose Sam will be able to have his bedroom & game room all in one room. Then Mom can move the sewing machine & cabinet where Sam has his game system. No hurry. Lucas is still working. Not as many hours as before but enough. Lucas bought a truck a few days before Christmas. He has busy installing speakers & lighting inside the truck.




My dry sink is along the other wall. There will will be no major fixing up this room since things are not really settled as to our time period of living here at the homestead. I have not been served with divorce papers yet but all joint accounts have been dissolved. I have rented the kids & I our own post office box & started the process of changing our address. I checked into help for housing & was told there are 75 others ahead of me. I checked into child support & help with food but as long as I am in his house I will not get it. So far he has been paying the house payment & electric. For now we are warm & have well stocked cabinets. The Thursday before Christmas he left the homestead.

I read a post today that wrote a bit about nails. Well I have been trying to end the habit of biting & picking my nails. Once upon a time I had really pretty long nails. But as the ups & downs of life came & went so did my nails. So I was thinking if I shared the ugliness maybe I would stop so I could share the progress in growing nails once again. So here goes. Mary thanks & wish me luck. Off I must be going to pick Lucas up from work. Off I will be going in his truck. I am sure everyone can hear us coming home with his new speakers. I my need a hearing aide in the near future.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Relaxing & Playing

Starting off this first day of the new year just relaxing & playing has been fun. I brought the bunnies in to take a photo of them. My they sure have grown.

Sams little dog is curled up beside him while he is playing a game he got for Christmas. Can you guess what his little dog got for Christmas. Yes the big rawhide bone. He is not chewing on it but he sure is making sure he knows where it is.

My search for a picture of George & Abe is now over. After finding the picture of Washington at some shops & not Abe I looked for free images online. Sam is really interested in the history of Washington & thought it would be nicer to have Martha instead of Abe. I found images of both. Since I could not print them off any larger than the paper in my printer I decided to also print Abagail & John Adams. The wall I want to hang them on has a large open space & four will make it look full & balanced. I had these four frames already. I removed some stitcheries I had stitched. I am really happy with the results. Now to get them hung soon. Sam & Lucas will be going back to school tomorrow & Laken has a job interview Tuesday. When I get the pictures hung I will show you how it all turns out.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara