Sunday, April 19, 2009

33 days...a couple of milestones...and continuing education

Okay so we only have 33 days left until Kristen comes home from her mission!  I cannot believe it!  I'm excited to see what she is going to be like.  One thing's for sure...I have missed my sister and am SOO  excited to have her home!  This also means that Gage will be starting nursery next month! :)  I am so excited!  I still cannot believe how fast that went!  

As far as the mile stones go...Saige used the potty last night (without screaming)!  We are trying again this morning but so far we've had accidents.  No problem.  We will really focus on this this week and see what happens!  Also, Lonnie has been wanting me to shave Mason's head. Well, last night I did it!  Not like Lonnie's, but buzzed!  He looks so much older now!  It will surely be easier to keep up on! 

Many of you know that I have been really focused on food storage and preparedness lately. A couple of weeks ago I met up with this wonderful gal from our ward who is EXTREMELY knowledgeable!  She helped me determine which wheat is best, which flour is best, and even made my first batch of bread with me!  She rocks and her bread rocks too!  So yes, in this Durham home we are now eating homemade whole wheat bread (no more of that crap from the grocery store)!  I even attempted to can chicken.  Unfortunately, the pressure canner didn't work correctly, but no worries the chicken was still saved and frozen!  We will try again when it goes on sale as I have no more room in my freezer after the 40 pounds of chicken that I bought! I also met up with my good friend who taught me how to make home made strawberry freezer jam.  It is so yummy and was so easy.  I felt so bad that she came over as I probably waisted her time.  So, now I have 7 loaves of bread, 18 jars of homemade jam and some knowledge.  

There is another gal in our ward that sent out an e-mail and recipe on making your own laundry detergent.  It is SOO inexpensive and works!  I am completely sold and bought everything to make it.  I'm just going to use up what I have opened first!  

Along with all of this knowledge and know how you there are a couple of "gadgets" that make things easier.  So, I kind of got what will probably be my Christmas gift.  A Bosch mixer, a wheat mill, a masher (for the strawberry jam), and bread pans galore!

Poor Sagie, I hope she doesn't need to use her closet any time soon as I have moved all of our water into her closet!  It's amazing how much room it took up and I just bought 6 cases more and there will be more coming as we only have about 4-5 months of water on hand.  We will make room for it though, I am determined!

Thank you so much to all of you who have helped me learn!  I know that I have tons to still learn , but I feel like I've made a lot of progress.  It really is so much fun and I feel better knowing that my family and I are a little more prepared!  As I told Lonnie the other day we now have a years supply of three things...peanut butter, ketchup (it's only $1 right now at Bashas), and laundry soap!  We are getting there!  

6 comments:

Castle Family said...

Another great way to store food is to get a food saver with the mason jar sealing attachement. So far I have done 25lbs of brown sugar, 10 lbs of pancake mix and 12 brownie mixes. You can also do coconut, raisins, nuts, etc. They normally only have a 6-12 month shelf-life but when jarred it's 5+ years :) I also know how to jar butter if you would like to know.

Rae Lynn said...

Yes, please share!

Amie said...

you're doing great!

Camie Walworth said...

I am so impressed...you will have to call me next time you are going to have a little lesson...I would love to learn...Oh, and how many loaves of bread are you making????!!

Amber said...

That is so awesome!! Want to teach me!?!

heather said...

good for you!!! and I can't believe that it has been a year and a half since your sister left! crazy