Camping Preparations

Well, there is a lot of camping preparations going on in our household right now. We have borrowed a new horse trailer from a friend to see if we like it better than ours and so it was delivered here yesterday. He mentioned that it might need a little cleaning and how right he was.

I guess it is not really dirty, but it has been sitting all winter and it is in need of a spring clean. I will be washing down walls and counter tops as well as cleaning the floor and vacumming the bench seat covers today. I hope to mop the floor as well as it is a tile floor in the living quarters of it.

I also have to pack the food that we will be taking and I will also have to be packing clothes that we intend to wear. I normally have all our stuff as far as cooking supplies and other needed items in our trailer as we use it often in the summer. I keep a lot of ours in totes so it should be easy to move over into this one once it is cleaned.

I think that since the inside of this one is much larger than ours, it will be a better trip. We will actually have a table inside that we can use for playing games should it rain and we will also have more room to move around in. In our trailer, you can barely turn around, so this is better.

I am hoping that after this camping trip my husband will decide to either redo our trailer or he will decide to just buy this one as I believe that it is going to be for sale. I am planning to enjoy this trip , but first I must get off of here and get to work so for now, I am signing off and I hope to be back with a full fun filled weekend report next week.

Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July! Let Freedom Ring!!

4-H Create A Mix Project

As many of you know, my youngest daughter is signed up for several 4-H projects this year and one of them is a foods project. She had to take cake mix or some kind of mix and make something else out of it. She decided upon advice from her sister's boyfriend to make a Mountain Dew cake. This was the first time she had ever made this type of cake as well as the first bundt cake that she had ever made. For the most part, I will say she did well. It is a little darker on top than I would prefer and it is not quite even on the top,but for her first time I am quite proud of her.
The other projects are going well and we do have ideas for how the posters will look when we are finished with them. For the most part she is doing all of the work on her own as I will just be doing a few photos of her and her dog.
She is a busy girl as she is doing 6 projects for her first year. I am anxious to share with all of you how she does. We hope for at least one blue ribbon!

Content

As I was writing on another site today, I wrote something without giving much thought to what i was saying and then proofreading it, I realize how important what I had said was. It was a discussion about television remotes and how no one gets up to change the channels anymore and yet, we can get irritated if we have to change the channel with the remote to see something else.
I had commented that I grew up without a remote television and that I get irritated as my husband is constantly changing the channels or going to the guide to see what else is on as it is so convient with that remote. I also noted that I grew up without a washer and dryer so that I knew the hardship of doing laundry by hand and that I tried to always be thankful that I no longer have to do that and try not to complain about the laundry. Wow! Being thankful for laundry, I would never have thought that I would say that.
I personally really do not like doing the laundry as it is one of those chores that is required to be done almost daily in our home. However, after reading that comment that I made, I realized that I can't complain as I have a machine that really does the work for me. All I have to do is pour detergent and softner in and add the clothes. Then I move them to the dryer and then I fold them or hang them up. What do I have to complain about? Nothing when it comes to this subject at all.
I must add that I am thankful that God allows us to have these moments that we learn something so small to be thankful for and that He gives us the ability to be thankful. What are you truly thankful for today?

Life on the Funny Farm

Another week has whizzed by on the farm and I really do not know where so many hours go. Although, I know that we do a lot in the time we are awake, it seems that there are just not enough hours in the day. We have gotten many things accomplished this week that really needed to be done.

The barn that we have on a friends' property really needed to be cleaned up after we moved several horses from there this week and I am proud to say that Bridget and I have managed to get one stall cleaned out. We have put lime down and we will finish working in there this next week. That was a feat all on it's own. Plus, we cleaned all of the water troughs this week as well.

Vanilla, our colt from last spring, is learning quickly that we expect certain behavior out of her and she is slowly beginning to respect us and trust us. I believe that we will be putting a blanket on her several times next week and then I will be putting a saddle on her before much longer to see how she is going to act with it. Although, she is way to little to be ridden yet, it will be fun to begin the process that will eventually lead to that.

The new colt that was born Memorial Day is growing daily and is beginning to really pay attention to his surroundings. I am anxious to get him to the other barn to begin to do some work with him as well. I doubt that we keep him, but it will still be fun to do some of the beginning training with him.

The county fair is coming up quickly and we are busy planning projects and getting animals weighed in and so forth for the shows. Bridget is showing poultry, rabbits, as well as horse and pony this year. She is also going to enter two posters for horse class and dog class and she is doing a food project in create a mix. It is going to be a busy week and I hope that she enjoys it and wins some ribbons as I know she will be proud to show off.

In youth group, she is getting ready for a trip to Kings Island. This is always an exciting trip for the kids and will be here first time there so I am sure that she will enjoy it tremendously! I am not big on roller coasters so we usually do not go places like this as a family.

The Fourth of July is bringing a camping trip for us. We will be going camping at the local state park to spend five or six days with great friends and the horses. We will be doing lots of trail riding and eating a lot of good food! Good food, good friends = good times!

As a home school family, we are always finding time to read and since we are still working on some school, we are still working on finishing our language arts program which is based on studying literature that involves horses. We are currently reading, "Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West". We are really enjoying the book and the activities that come along with it. One of her activities this week was to draw a herd of horses, which she did do although she is not an artist.

I am finishing the series of chocolate mysteries that I have been reading this summer by JoAnne Carl. I am currently reading the " Chocolate Cupid Killings" . If you enjoy chocolate and mysteries, you really should read this series of books. I have also read the story of the Duggars, a family that is featured on the Discovery Channel. With many children in one household, some people might wonder how Michele and Jim-Bob Duggar keep their sanity, but they do it quite well and seem to really understand the important of family working together.

On Sunday , we celebrated Father's Day with my husband by spending the whole day together as a family. Tomorrow (Friday) we will celebrate his birthday, which is usually not a big deal as we try not to do much for the adult birthdays. We will probably do a cookout on Saturday with my oldest daughter as she will work all day tomorrow and not be able to spend the day with her dad.

My motivation for the week has been to keep Bridget motivated and upbeat with her reading skills improving as we work on those skills each day. I am sure that she is improving and will be back on track soon. She just seems to burn out when doing school and once she takes a short break then things seem to click again.

My wish for the week is that you are all blessed with good health and riches, whether it be material or spiritual riches.

French Onion Meatloaf

My husband loves french onion soup, which amazes me as he is a very picky eater. He also loves french onion dip with his Ruffles. Recently, we were at a small Amish grocery store and found a powdered french onion dip mix that you add to one 8 ounce container of sour cream to make chip dip with. On the front of the package, was a suggestion to add 1/2 cup of the powder to meatloaf.
Deciding that I would try it, I mixed up my meatloaf with 1 1/2 pounds of ground round with 3 eggs, some breadcrumbs, and about 1/2 cup of chopped onions along with my tomato sauce. Once this was mixed together, I decided to add the french onion powder to the mix as it suggested.
The result was a very moist and tasty meatloaf. The French Onion meatloaf was an excellent new recipe for us and something we will certainly be eating more of. It adds so much flavoring to the meatloaf and my husband said that it was like eating a bowl of soup.
I was also thinking that I might try the Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix next time as well. We eat it on pork chops that we grill and so I think that it would make a nice addition to the meatloaf as well.

New Goals

I have been thinking about the writing that I do online and I have decided that I need to make some new changes and set some new goals for myself. It seems as though I neglect this blog and so I am going to add it to my list of everyday goals. It is not hard to come on here and at least post something to this blog and I am hoping to add some recipes, like I suggested several times. My new goal for here is to be here daily and to add at least two recipes a week.
I must say that the farm is doing well and we enjoy the time with the animals. We have been downsizing horses as it seemed that we were ending up with too many. We now have two colts and although one is almost a year old, it is still taking up time to train.
I hope that all of you who read this will leave me a comment as to what I can do to stay motivated and how you motivate yourself to meet goals.

Still praying for Lauren

Just an update on the Lauren Spierer case in Bloomington, Indiana. friends and family are still concerned about the whereabouts of this special young lady. She has been missing since early the morning of June 3,2011 and someone needs to come forward and tell where she is. Her family, friends, and multitudes of searchers have combed the streets, woods, and places throughout the town that she could be,but to no avail. Her mother and father are heartbroken and deserve to know where their daughter is.
Police have video surveilllance now of a vehicle that they are considering could have something to do with the case, whether the person was involved or just thought that they seen something. They announced today that they were enhancing the video in hopes that someone might recognize the car or cars.
It is sad to think that in a college town students are not safe to walk alone, but with the way the world is these days, it is not ever safe to be alone. I would recommend that any parent that has a child away at college discuss this case with the child and stress to them how important it is to always be in pairs whereever they go.
I am still praying that someone will step forward and help solve this case and I pray daily for her safe return, but as the days slowly creep by I am sure that we are dealing with more than just a young girl appearing out of nowhere. Keep praying for Lauren Spierer and her family!

Missing Indiana University Student

For a week now, many people have been searching the town of Bloomington, Indiana for missing Indiana University student , Lauren Spierer. Spierer was last seen early on the morning of June 3 with a male acquaintance near her apartment near the IU campus.

Lauren is a fashion design student who was fun and full of life according to family and friends. She is from New York and just completed her sophomore year at the college. Her parents arrived in Indiana on Saturday June 4, 2011 to search for their daughter. Friends, college students, police, and volunteers from all over have been searching the Bloomington area as well as expanding searches out into other parts of the state near the IU campus for any signs of Lauren.

Lauren is 4'11" tall and weighs about 90 pounds. She is blonde haired as well. She was last seen wearing black leggings and a white top. Anyone with any information should contant America's Most Wanted or the Bloomington Police Department. Searches are being done at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. each day beginning on College Avenue near the Smallwood Plaza apartments where Lauren lived.

For a photo and information concerning this case, please click here. Please help find this beautiful young woman who has so much living to do and so much to offer the world. Her parents are doing all they can to bring her home and we should do what we can. If you have a blog, Facebook page, or Twitter page - Please post information about her there! The more that her photo is out there and the information is out there, the better the chances of finding her!