Queen's Edge Farm

Saturday, December 12, 2009

James playing with Legos at Pizza Inn

We had a good day at the shoppe today. Good sales and I got a lot done. I swept and mopped all the wood floors using Murphy's Oil Soap. Cleaned the bathroom as best as I could. The former tenants left paint all over the tub, not sure how to get it off. Plus, they didn't have electricity, so used candles, and evidently stuck the candles on various surfaces and just let the wax drip where it sat. I have been scraping off dried wax. I started setting up one room as the resale shop, and the other will be "The School Room" where I plan to have home school curriculum and educational resources for sale. Still need to work on a complete inventory for each crafter, price merchandise and take a picture of the shop. A friend helped (actually did most of it) moved the washer and dryer into the playhouse/shed. I am so excited. It is so much nicer to wash clothes "inside" than outside. Plus, I was worried the washer/dryer would be ruined sitting out in the weather. Next on the list is to get the dryer hooked up, but until then I will be installing the indoor clothes line my mom sent me, plus putting my drying rack in there..I think with the heater going in the playhouse, the clothes should dry sooner than hanging outside in the cold, damp air. The washer/dryer fit wonderful in the spot I wanted.

April was headed to the local Christmas Tree farm with her son's GT class, so once we closed the shoppe, we headed on over. We had never been. I'd like to take the kids back so that we can do everything.

I took the profits from the day and bought two candles from the gift shop at the tree farm, plus four ornaments, one for each of us for the tree. Since all of ours were ruined, I've been picking up inexpensive ornaments. The tree farm had a good selection and they were inexpensive, but cute. I got a red,tin cardinal for me, a large painted jingle bell for James, Hannah picked a blue sled, and Lauren chose one with a cute little saying on it.

The tree farm is run by a local Christian family, and is EXACTLY what I had pictured in my head for myself. We'll see how it goes....

Afterwards we had dinner at Pizza Inn, their pizza is cheap, though not very good, but the kids didn't care. They put a few quarters in the game machines, and then the "littles" played Legos. James had a lot of fun, especially when he stole a building that Hannah made. He was excited and kept laughing, but Hannah was less than happy when I wouldn't let her take it back from him. She had a huge pile already, so she could share with him.

We arrived home for the night, and cleaned the bedroom, then settled in to watch a few movies. We have canceled our DirectTv service and are watching movies we check out from the library, Netflix, and every now and then Blockbuster. We have watched a few movies at www.hulu.com also, plus re-watched our library of DVDs. I'll miss a few of my programs, and I am sure the girls will miss the Disney Channel, but it will save a bunch of money each month, so is necessary at this point in time.

We are all snuggled in for the night, and the kids are sleeping. Need to run out and lock up the goats that way they won't make too much noise tonight or dance on my car in the morning.

2 comments:

Anne M. said...: Glad you had a great day =) we all need them from time to time!

I love hand crafted ornaments especially ones done by kids! I'm having the kids all do 1 this year - one for our tree and one to put up for their tree when they grow up.

Something that we're making good use of is used canning lids. You can paint just about anything on them, especially if you do a base coat first. And ribbon or lace can always be hot glued around the edged too. Some of them we're also gluing white sides together and making them 2 sided.

Also something I did when the oldest was about 4 but haven't done again was make ornaments out of a cinnamon dough which you dry/bake. It's been 12 years and those things STILL have a slight smell. You might want to google for a recipe. You might want to bag them to keep any critters away from them - never had a problem yet.

Here's a blog that is pretty good for ideas -->rootsandwingsco. blogspot. com They do alot on how things should be based on family traditions. Plus alot of their ideas/crafts are easy for little kids and for the most part cheap =)

Oh yeah and if you get any channels in on antenna try PBS out it's GREAT for kids and adult =) Also Saturday mornings on one of the networks they have cartoons and shows like Hannah Montana on - they are all re-runs but at least it's free!

Sorry to have wrote so much, just gabby tonight =); December 13, 2009 at 12:59 AM
Amy E said...: Thanks for the tips, I greatly appreciate it!; December 13, 2009 at 9:33 PM

Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.