Can You Tell...?

..we have some hillbilly ingenuity in us?

Either that or I watched Goonies a lot as a kid?

The pool is set up and now comes the task of procuring more than 6,000 gallons of water to fill it!

It's supposed to rain all day, so we wanted to try and capture some of that rainwater and divert it into the pool.

See? Ladders propping up old gutters left behind in the pole barn.

Some old t-bars weighing down the first gutter, delicately sitting on the frame of the barn, with the sledge hammer actually keeping it from sliding! The gutter sits on top of the greenhouse and the t-bars keep it from sliding off.

That's hillbilly gravity-defying skill at it's best!

Water from the first gutter drips into the second gutter which is sitting atop a log and broken cinder block set into the first rung of the ladder.

 Water flows into the third gutter sitting on another ladder, finally dripping into the pool.

Not a bad set up. Looks crazy, but every drop helps to fill up the pool!

(pardon the mess. pretend you don't see anything but the pool and the hillbilly gutters! thank you.)

We are going to rig up a better gutter system around the pole barn so that all the water will flow into rain barrels, which will then be used for topping off the pool and watering the garden. We were pleased to see there were plenty of old gutters left in the rafters of the pole barn, much more than we originally thought. Looking forward to coming up with a rainwater-catching system using what we have!

*edited to add:

The hillbilly gutters added over 400 gallons of water to the pool! Obviously not enough to fill the pool, but 400 gallons!!  Whoa! 

We had the pool water guy come out and fill it; one trip = 2,000 gallons.

3 trips total for 6,000 gallons and he couldn't even put in the last bit because the gutter system added so much water-- way more than we ever expected!

We are now using the water collected in the rain barrels for topping off the pool and it's all working out great! Not once, have we needed to use the hose!

 

Hand-Me-Downs

It's almost that time of year again, when I take things to the children's consignment shop to sell. Friends recently gave us some clothing from their children, so it was time to sort through all the boxes to see what fit, what to pass down from one child to another, save for later, and finally, decide which to donate, use for rags, or sell.

This was an all day job! First I sorted through the boxes and separated by gender, then by size. Working with the girl clothes first, I had Evelyn pull everything out of her drawers and we took out all the too-small clothing, and then let her pick what she wanted from the pile of clothes in her size.  10 short-sleeves, 10 long-sleeves, 10 shorts/skirts, 10 pants/jeans. Repeat two more times for Gretchen, then Sylvia.

Clothing that Sylvia no longer wears is an easy decision-- most of those will go to be sold or donated. Clothes too small for Gretchen or Evelyn will be saved for the next year or two, until they are too small for even Sylvia to wear. I have quite the pile of clothes that are in good condition to sell, and some that I know won't pass the consignment's store inspection, but still have lots of good wear left in them, they'll be donated.  Clothes with holes and bad stains will be turned into rags. There are some bright colors-- I'm thinking of a rainbow rag rug with some of those...

Well, how about that? I actually followed through on my idea and started a rainbow rag rug!! I may do a double rainbow, since this isn't very big and I've only 2 more colors to do-- blue and purple. Using kid-sized clothes presents a challenge, since as it gets bigger, I won't be able to take the color all the way around. See the yellow? I barely made it one and a half times around. It's looking really nice, though-- the colors are kind of muted in the picture, it's much brighter in real life.

I didn't finish going through all the boy clothes yet. I hope to finish that this week.

 Another advantage of sorting the clothes is finding out what we need or are short-handed on.  It's nice to see that I won't have to buy any clothing for at least a year or two, except for shoes. We're well stocked on pretty much all articles of clothing, which is a nice feeling when one's husband is out of work and money is tight.

 We are so blessed to have such good friends that think of us, and lucky in that we don't mind hand-me-downs. We've always practiced what we preached to the kids, about buying used at the thrift stores or yard sales, saving money, and making do or do without. I'm glad to see that the kids are happy with what they have and no gumbling about it being "old" or belonging to some other kid. Thanks for thinking of us!

<3

Dropping In...

When I said I was going to take a bloggy break, I thought I would need all the way 'til Labor weekend. Turns out I am already itching to come back and I'm trying to decide if I should hold fast to my time-line or say the hell with it and start posting again. Maybe just writing this one post will be the release I need and I can hold off until Labor weekend.

A lot has happened around here-- some good, some bad. Nothing like a death in the family or a major illness, thank God, but definitely something that forces us to change and swallow our pride and to count our blessings even more. I know that things happen for a reason and what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I also know you don't judge a man before you walk a mile in his shoes and don't count your chickens before they hatch. The point is, life happens, and not always the way you want it to. It's the journey, not the destination.

Andrew was let go from his job not too long ago. It's been a blow for us, but we're honestly doing ok. We're already used to living on less and we don't live the high life and keep up with the Joneses. It just means we have to tighten the belt up another notch. Shopping with coupons like I do is a major bonus, our pantry and closets are well-stocked with food and supplies and the only thing we really need to shop for would be milk, meat and diapers (though diapers will soon be dropped from the list!). He's been looking and applying for work and hopefully something will come along soon. We're happy to have him home, though, and we've been enjoying the extra family time together.

We've been blessed with good friends that are passing on their children's clothes to us, so I won't need to worry about that. One family has 2 children, a girl a year ahead of Evelyn and a boy 2 years ahead of Peter. Another has 2 girls, both a year or two ahead of Gretchen and Sylvia. I'm lucky that ever since the kids were born, I've always shopped second-hand clothing for the kids, so they absolutely don't mind getting hand-me-downs and actually, they think it's normal procedure. Pretty much the only things they get brand-new would be shoes and underclothes, but even then, it's clearance prices and sales from the year before. I just bought clearanced flip-flops for the kids for next summer.

What really hurts with not having Andrew's paycheck is the gas money. Living in the country, we have to drive so far to get places, so we do a lot of consolidating with our errands and shop at stores that give us gas discounts. We recently filled up the van on gas that cost us $2.97/gallon thanks to gas points at the food store. That same food store also doubles coupons so it gives me more incentive to shop there.

New friends we've made that live nearby do a lot of volunteer work (they're retirees) and recently let us know that they dropped our name into a hat at the ruritan club that sponsors a few families and pays their way into the county fair. We hadn't planned on going to the county fair this year, because we cannot afford both the entrance fee and the rides for the kids, so it's really nice to know that we'll be able to do both and for once, we don't have to tell the kids "no" when they ask to go on the rides. They are even paying for our meal at the fair which always smells so good, but again, too pricey for a family of six. The kids are really excited about going to the fair and they all want to make something and enter it at the fair. Evelyn and Sylvia both embroidered their own designs and Gretchen wants to bake a cake. I embroidered something as well, and I plan to enter a few jams. Fingers crossed the girls all get blue ribbons for their efforts!

Total neglect of the garden and yet we are drowning in tomatoes!!  I feel so lucky! The kids love walking up and down the rows filling arms and buckets with tomatoes and bringing them into the house. I love that the girls eat tomatoes out of hand and sometimes they make a feast out of tomatoes for a snack. Peter doesn't quite understand just what is so great about tomatoes just yet, but hopefully, in time, he'll grow to love eating them, too. I don't hold much hope for the onions and the peppers-- the weeds have choked them out. I may be able to dig up a few taters, but I'm just not too sure about them.  I'm already imagining next years garden and I'm thinking this is the year I try for a fall planting for a winter garden.  I'd really like to try cold-weather gardening and see what that's like.

I recently lost a Speckled Sussex hen. She was one of the first 15 and I had only 2 left of the 6 Speckled Sussex I started out with. She wasn't looking so good for a day and I had a bad feeling when I shut the coop that night. Sure enough, the next morning, she was dead. Before Andrew was let go, I was thinking about ordering a batch of chicks. I'm tired of the Red hens and roosters and wanted to have some more colors in my flock, but that'll have to wait now. The Reds are not as friendly as the yellow Buffs and the Speckled Sussexs. They run and scatter when I come near and pretty much the only time I can handle them is when they're settled for the night in the coop. The Buffs and the Speckleds are super friendly and the girls love to hold them and enjoy their feathered company. I'll definitely order more of those two breeds next time.

I still have a bit of corn left from last summer's canning sessions. I hoped to plant corn this year, but that never happened. I hoped to score corn cheap from the food store like I did a few times last year, but it's been pretty pricey all summer long. I still have hope, though! Andrew's friend has a neighbor that recently complained he had too much corn-- eek!! Too much corn?!? How can that be??  I'm trying to get Andrew to talk to the nice man and convince him to sell his surplus of corn to us! After we've eaten our fill, I'll can the rest to enjoy during the cold winter months. Oh.. I hope so! I do love corn!

I think I'm done unloading the brain now. My shoulders feel lighter and my head doesn't hurt so much now. I'll stick to my original time-line and be back after Labor weekend.

~jenny

Recycled: Market Bag and Laptop Cover

I confess that I don't bring my own bags to the store and use the plastic bags they offer. I've always felt guilty about that but never really did anything about it. I don't like the cheap bags you can buy-- I find they tear easily ( my MIL passed some on to me ) and I don't want to spend money on something that I know will not last, even if it's only $1 (usually). I have the sewing skills to make some, but I'm either too busy or if I have the time, I don't want to spend it making a bag. In my defense, we DO bring the plastic bags back to recycle and we re-use plastic bags around the house as little trash bags for our smaller trash cans and for litter box waste.

I saw a post quite some time ago.. probably 2 or 3 years ago and it's never left my head. I looked for it but couldn't find it so I'm unable to share the link. Anyway, the person used a plastic bag as a pattern and the resulting bag ended up just like a cloth version. I really like the plastic bags that Target uses, so I used one as my pattern. I used a vintage pillow case which eliminated some sewing and reduced a little bit of my pillow case stash and I really like the final result:

Ta-da!!

I used bias tape around the handle and the opening of the bag and folded in the sides just like a plastic shopping bag. I like it, but I can see where I could use more improvements. Like the top of the handles are a little thick with the folded ends and then covered in bias tape. It makes the top pretty stiff and doesn't feel very flexible. I also used an unfamiliar sewing machine for the first time when I sewed the bottom and it totally messed up the stitches. grrr! I was too lazy to pick out the stitches so after I switched back to my usual machine I just folded over the ugly stitching, then sewed over it. It made the bottom a little stiff, too, but it works.

It holds 4 boxes of cereal easily with a little room to spare. I could probably fit 5 boxes in there, but I know if I were to take this in to the store, they wouldn't pack it tightly either.

I have since used another pillow case to make another bag, a few tweaks here and there, and it's better and worse at the same time. I improved on the top of the handle and it's not stiff, but I made the side opening of the handle a little too small. I also made the bottom of the bag boxy instead of folded in like a plastic bag is. I like it, it'll do, I think I can improve on it. It also holds 4 boxes easily and I have already used it at the store. There will be another bag in the works with more tweaks as soon as I can bring myself to give up another vintage pillow case.


I had a little bit of pillow case left over, the hemmed open part of it. I got to looking at it and thought it would make a nice cover for the laptop. I measured the length, cut, sewed up the side and length of the pillow case and it fits! Our laptop is not the traveling kind, it stays at home for use on the table or in the living room, so I just wanted a little slip cover to keep the screen clean when it's shut and put away. Since it's a vintage pillowcase and has been washed who knows how many times, it's nice and soft and lint-free.

I like it! Two useful items from one vintage pillowcase!

Big Van, Little Van

With 4 children, my Mom, my Husband and I, we can fill up our little van pretty quickly. It gets tight in there sometimes, and we have to pass up going places just because there is no more room in the van. We have a Mazda MPV-- we bought it when I was pregnant with Evelyn. Used to drive a Jeep Cherokee and I loved that thing-- but after babysitting 2 toddlers and putting their car seats in the jeep, I realized that it was going to be tight, so we decided to trade it in for a van.

Anyone familiar with the Mazda MPV knows that it's a mini mini-van. It has served us well for 2 kids, even 3 kids, but with 4 kids and their things, it gets stuffed. And now that Mom comes along with us, we are shoving 3 kids in the 3rd row and Peter gets to stay in his car seat next to Grandma. Had I known back in 2001 when we bought the van that we would have 4 kids and Mom would move in with us, we probably would have bought something bigger.

We've been searching for a larger van for a while now, weighing pros and cons of going larger: pros- more room; cons- more gas; versus keeping our old van: pros- paid for; cons- costly engine repairs. We go back and forth but the biggest deciding factor is money. Or lack of it, anyway. Don't have money to fix the van, don't have money to buy a van. ~sigh~

We could swing car payments if we really tightened the belts and with my extreme coupon shopping habits, we are left with a little more money at the end of every month than before. It's a question of: Do we really want to do that?

Another question: How big do we go? We've been looking at Ford E-150 passenger vans. Boy those are hard to come across in the used car searches. After talking with people, we found that people hold on to these vans, which makes sense to me-- these big vans are bought with a set purpose in mind, like large families or sports teams or church groups and those purposes don't usually change for a good long time.

After one slipped through our fingers last summer, when another E-150 popped up on carmax, we called up right away to check it out. Sunday, we went to take a look at it, give it a test drive and talk business with the Man. I don't know, maybe it's me, but I hate being in places where salespeople circle like vultures and I'm afraid to say anything in front of them for fear they'll pounce on what I say and twist it to make it sound right. I'll tell you though, carmax is efficient. Their system is take the van for a test drive and while you're gone, they'll appraise your old van, so by the time we got back, everything was good to go.

They had a playroom for the kids (nice!), so Mom stayed behind with the kids and Andrew and I took the new van for a spin. He drove first and because the salesman was in the van with us, I felt a little bit stifled-- I didn't feel free to fiddle around with the dash or turn around and "practice" yelling at the imaginary kids back there. My turn to drive and I don't like how there's a rubber strip-thingy right next to the tiny accelerator and every time I stepped on the gas to go, my foot got caught on the rubber strip. Made me uncomfortable. I know it's also a matter of adjusting to a new car and deleting old habits from the old van, but still... it didn't feel safe to me.

Another thing about the E-150, it was very high-- that would make it harder for my Mom to get in and out of. I had her get in it before we took it out for a test drive and I worried she was going to fall. And for all the extra space we'd get in the van, it was tight in the front. Hardly any floor space for the front seat passenger and I'm not a small girl-- I'm tall with long legs and I like to be able to stretch them out, I wouldn't be able to do that in that van. The seat was back as far as it would go and there just wasn't any space for my feet.

After we got back, the salesman had the results of the appraisal for our old van and I was very disappointed at the amount. Not even close to what I expected and at that price, trade-in value would barely make a dent in the purchase price of the new van. It was easy to say "no", but we should have asked the guy to leave the room and give us a few moments to talk, because we had some tense moments on the way home before we figured out what was bothering each other. We drove a long way to see the van, and had high hopes we would be driving a new (to us) van home. Plus, the kids were really vocal in their disappointment and that just rubbed more salt in the wound.

I'm not sorry we didn't get the van. We are still on the look-out for another van, but maybe this time, a full size mini-van instead of the big, super-sized vans. It won't be a whole lot of extra space, but compared to our little van, it'll be more comfortable and won't be so hard on the wallet with the cost of gas compared to a larger full-sized van. We can't afford to keep pouring money into the old van if it won't stay fixed and I'd like to try and sell it before it gets any older and loses more value.

The one good thing about the appraisal by carmax, was they told us our van is in good condition, good engine and good interior (with 4 kids?!? that's a surprise!), so we should be able to get a nice amount for it, just not what carmax offered. Their offer was so low because the van had been in an accident and the frame was cracked and repaired. Carmax will not sell cars with major repairs like that, since it compromises their integrity to sell "like-new cars". So, we'll take the van elsewhere to sell, and then find another van to purchase. That's the plan anyway.

Any recommendations for vans?? I'd love to hear from people who have 4 kids and what they drive. We're looking at the Honda Odyssey as the best bet so far.
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Table for 7 (or 8, or 9, or 10...)

With 4 children and 3 adults gathering for meals everyday, and Peter not content to sit in the high chair anymore, it quickly became apparent that we needed a bigger table. Andrew's grandparents' red formica table comfortably seats 6 with the leaf in and with guests, we had to squeeze in a couple of chairs in the corners. It was time to find something bigger.

I'd been keeping an eye out for a new table-- watching the sales ads, checking prices at stores, looking around at the thrift shops. I even considered making one by getting new banisters from the hardware store for the legs, and then using planks from one of the many sawmills around here and creating a farm-style table. It's been a few months since we started searching; new tables are out of our price range and the ones at yard sales haven't won us over.

I stopped at the local thrift shop a couple weeks ago, looking for something else when I spotted a table. Oh! I immediately fell in love with it, but there was another lady looking at it and I didn't want to rush over and push her into buying it when she sees another interested party. After she walked away (whew!) I moseyed on over and casually looked at it, pretending I wasn't really interested in it. But I couldn't resist, it was just perfect for what we needed. Damn! Andrew wasn't with me so I couldn't ask him, and I was 99.9% sure that he'd like it too, but still, I hate to buy something big without his input.

I asked the worker there if there was any way they could put it on hold for me, and she suggested putting down 25%, but it was non-refundable and if Andrew didn't like it, I'd be out that 25%. I pleaded a little bit, saying I didn't want to buy something large without my husband's approval and I'd send him right over as soon as I got home-- about an hour it'd would take him to get there: 30 minutes for me to get home and 30 minutes for him to come up. The worker called the manager over and she looked me up and down, perhaps assessing whether I was sincere or just wasting their time, but she agreed and said they'd hold it for me!! Eeeee!! I was so happy, I left in a rush, telling them that a bald-headed guy would be in soon, that his name was Andrew and thanked them several times before leaving the store.

As soon as I got home, Andrew came out to meet me in the driveway to help unload the van and I told him to get to the thrift shop as fast as he could. Bless his heart, he knows when I am serious and I would only tell him to go if there was something really worth checking out. He wasted no time, turned around, went back into the house and changed his clothes, got his wallet and keys and left.

It was still there-- they had put a 'sold' sign on it and just as I thought, he liked it too. He paid for it and brought it home and it's the perfect size for us, with a little room leftover for guests and no squeezing either! No chairs, so I am on the look-out for chairs, but for now, the old chairs we used with the formica table will do.

Not too sure what kind of wood it is, mahogany maybe? Something else? The leaf folds under for storage so no worries about where to store it if we didn't need it. It's not perfect, there's a spot where someone left a hot iron and you can tell there was a lace tablecloth on there once, since I can see a lacy pattern in the finish in some places. Someday I'll refinish the top, but for now, we are using a tablecloth to prevent any more damage to the top. Knowing my kids, there's bound to be spilled drinks and messy meals.

It has nice detailing on the corners, brings to mind the art deco style. And a neat feature is when you pull the top apart for the leaf, the legs don't move, they stay put. Much nicer than having to struggle with the whole table to pull apart or shut the top.

We put the girls all on one side and it's nice, they seem to be eating better than before. Like Gretchen sees her sisters eating something and she is more likely now to eat it rather than pick at it. We put Peter between Andrew and I and we can both encourage him to eat instead of just me, and I can actually eat my food before it gets cold because Andrew can help with his food, too.

We've already had 2 extra people eating with us for a total of 9 people, and there is still plenty of room for all of us to eat comfortably. I'm so glad we got this table and for the people at the thrift shop that made an exception and held it.

There is also a matching cabinet that goes with the table and we hated to separate them, so we got that too. It's in the living room for now, and still empty, until we decide what to do with it. I'm thinking of moving the games into the lower cupboard and then displaying some of our pretty things in the glass area. We thought about moving it into the foyer area, but the thermostat is in the way, so that's out. Just might leave it where it is, it's an unused corner anyway, so hmm... wait and see.

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Corn Woes

My corn isn't growing so well. I am frustrated about that-- I l.o.v.e. corn. The first year here, they hardly grew past a couple feet tall. Second year, they were growing great and we were just about to harvest the ears when raccoons beat us to it and left very little for us-- maybe a few dozen. Third year, I didn't bother. Last year, I got less than a dozen, and the rest of the corn stayed small. I wasn't going to plant any this year, but I had some seed leftover so I used that up. The corn is iffy-- some of it looks alright, some of it is still puny. I'm ready to throw in the towel on growing corn. Another part of me wants to keep trying, figure out what works and keep at it. Maybe with the chicken poop I'll be cleaning out soon, I can compost that and till it into where I plant the corn next year... I just might give it another try next year. I love corn too much to just give up on it.

Corn at the farm stands around here is pricey-- most sell for $5 a dozen. Ouch! As much as I hate to do it, I get my corn from the big chain stores, they sell for about $3 a dozen or less. We easily eat a dozen for one meal between the 7 of us. I asked around, trying to see if anyone would give me a discount if I ordered a large amount of corn, so that I can put some away for the winter. I'd like to try and not buy any metal canned foods from the store. No one is willing to cut a deal. So when the chain store has their corn on the cob on sale, I am buying a few dozen here and there to freeze and put away for the winter. I feel a little better when I know the chain store I am buying from gets their corn from a farm in Pennsylvania. Not exactly local, but closer to us than Florida or Georgia.

When freezing corn, I recycle the spaghetti jars and use those for the corn kernels. There's a certain brand of sauce that uses mason jars, a little less than one quart size and I buy those when they're on sale. (hopefully I wont have to buy any this winter with all the tomatoes I have about to ripen soon!) I use a mennonite recipe and the corn gets frozen in liquid-- water with salt and sugar added to it. I don't like loose frozen corn kernels, I think they taste tough, but after trying this recipe, the corn tastes as if I just put it in there! Very good and Gretchen, the picky eater prefers this corn over the metal canned ones from the stores.

My Mom gave me an early Christmas gift and bought me my very own pressure canner today! I was lamenting the fact that freezing the corn was taking up precious freezer space and I was going to have to limit it to about 40 jars-- one jar per week until the next corn season. But now, with the pressure canner, I am going to be able to can the corn and keep it in the pantry instead! I have 9 of those less-than-one-quart spaghetti jars in the freezer now, and I'll can the rest, so hopefully I can put away 100 quarts instead of only 40. I look forward to pressure canning my chicken broth and other things I normally freeze and freeing up space for other foods.

First, though, I need to get over my nervousness about using a pressure canner. I have heard enough horror stories about them, so I am a little worried, but I'll be sure to read, read and read again, the instructions on how to use it. I'll be pressure canning my first batch of corn tomorrow, so wish me luck!

Use #1,876 for Duct Tape

To fix your hearing aid when it breaks!

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