A giveaway--and choir music...

I wanted to let my readers know of a blog giveaway that a relatively new friend of mine is doing over at her blog, "Girlish Musings". She is giving away a very cute apron that she sewed--an apron with a beautiful bow! You can visit her blog HERE and enter for a chance to win, but you'll have to hurry, as the drawing ends in just a couple days...

A package came in the mail today, a package containing music for 2 songs that are going to be sung by home school students/young adults at the home school convention in March. Andrew will be the only young person in our family who's able to participate, as he and my mom are planning to leave a day earlier than the rest of us to take in the events of Thursday, and then he'll be able to practice with the other members of the choir. I saw this cute video of a song my brothers and I grew up listening to on "WeKids", and as it also has something to do with a choir, I thought I'd post it here...

On second thought, HERE is a link to the song, seeing as my computer won't let me post it for some reason.

My dad drove over to our hayfields by Hazelton to get a sample of our Organic alfalfa hay this afternoon. He will mail the samples to a place where they test the quality of hay, then we will know what we have to work with. My dad has talked to a potential buyer already, an Amish man whom another Organic farmer friend of ours recommended. How exciting this will be if it all works out---our dream of selling Organic hay will finally come true!

Dad has also talked to buyers for grains and has sold some of our corn and wheat recently. Our goal is to sell directly to consumers, but until we are all set up and have enough people buying from us, we need to sell our grains to the "Middle men".......

I have more I could write, but it's getting late and I must get up earlier than usual to milk the goats tomorrow morning, as we have plans for an outing tomorrow. :)

Odds and ends...

I took the time to import my camera pictures today and, consequently, have a few to post from last week. :)

This is a sewing project I'm working on, a little dress to either go to friends or to be tucked away in my hope-chest (I haven't decided which yet!)

My piano, with it's shining job... (and my music and crocheting project stacked up on top!)

Andrew, fixing up computers to sell...

Anyone want to swing? Be sure to bring your tall snow boots!

As Winter goes along, we watch this big tire tank sink deeper and deeper into the snow... It's a good thing that Spring is coming. :)

I think Millie's looking forward to Spring too. (She likes to sit on top of the bench we have out on the deck, which happens to be right outside of our kitchen window. She's surprised me a couple times already when I turned to see her looking in...)

This was a present we found in our mailbox yesterday. It had a note written on the outside wrapper: "Thanks for pulling me out when I got stuck. Your mailman."

Anytime, Mr. Mailman. ;)

Mom mixed up a wonderful batch of blueberry muffins on Friday and they disappeared so quickly,

that I decided to make some more today!

Oh, and this picture was taken the day that the tractor broke down and the guys had to figure out some way to unload the bales so they could go get another load of hay and then bring the other 9030 loader tractor home.... (Can you see Millie and Lady in this picture? How about my dad and Andrew?)

I gave Lady a bath today and she took it very well. I think my mom got some pictures, so those may get posted here sometime...

We also separated milk/cream again today and have 5 quarts of cream on hand. Yummy!

After our noon meal was over, we all sat down and read and discussed the home school bill that's being proposed...

Also, as a FYI, all North Dakotan home schoolers are being encouraged to attend the "Home School Day At The Capitol" this Thursday! I was able to trade days with a coworker (at my CNA job in town), so I'm planning to be in Bismarck and hope to see many of my ND readers there as well! Click HERE to learn more.~

And that's about all I have for tonight.

Blessings to you all as you do the things the Lord has for you to do this week.

"How do you socialize your children?"

I just saw this on a friends' blog tonight and knew it would bring a smile to many of your faces (as I'm sure many of you have heard this very common question if you're a home schooler or where home schooled!), so I just had to share it. :)
Enjoy~~~



PS. Cattle working went well, as far as I know anyway. I had to leave for town when we were half done, but my dad's cousin was here to help, so I think all should have gone well. I'll have several pictures to share tomorrow....

The alarm's going to sound...

...at 5:30 in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep! Tomorrow, and the next couple days, I'll be learning what the DRH (Dining Room Host) does at the nursing home, in case they ever are short of help in that department. I got to come home a little bit earlier tonight, so as to have another hour or so of sleep before heading back into town. :)

Jacob had his CAT (California Achievement Test) done this morning, so he's happy to have that out of the way for another couple years.

Andrew made his annual payment on his grain cleaner today too, so it's been a good day!

~On the twelfth day of blogging....~

~On-the-twelfth-day-of-blogging, my-conscience-said-to-me,


"Will you keep on blogging???


Praise God for his gift,


This is the life!


You almost missed posting...


Wow, what a sunburn!


You've got to hurry,


Post something practical...


You--are--so--blessed!


Will you share God's peace?


Can you share God's joy?


Are you waisting time,


And can you blog-and do it hum-bl-y?"


This is my 12th-day-of-blogging anniversary, you know. Hooray! What do you think...? Should I continue blogging?

In honor of this special day, I thought I'd post another variation of "The 12 days of Christmas" that our family enjoys and that inspired me in my posting here... This little video is about common questions that get asked of a home-schooler. If you home school or were home schooled, I think you'll really like this, and if you aren't familiar with home schooling, perhaps this will help to answer some of your questions and concerns? I really enjoyed being home schooled and, if I'm ever blessed with a family of my own, I'd like to home school my children too. Here is the movie:

By the way, thanks to everyone who voted on cheesecake toppings! It looks like cherries took the lead, with "Other" coming in close behind. Now I'm curious, what else do people put on cheesecake? Strawberries, peaches, caramel??? One of my brothers tried putting peanut butter on top, but informed us that it was better without!

Well, I'd best get the day started. I hear my dad started the tractor already....