12/14/12

“The shame and the downfall of a modern materialistic society is her inability to treasure, care for, admire, adore, cherish, value, revere, respect, uphold, uplift, protect, shield, defend, safeguard, treasure and love her children. I praise all the cultures of this world that naturally harbor and actively manifest these instincts. If a nation or if a population of people fails to recognize the excellent value and distinction of the lives of her children and is defective enough to have lost the capability of expressing and acting upon these instincts then there is nothing that can save that nation or those people. The prosperity of a people is not measured in banks, financial markets, economy and the death of its humanity is evident not through the loss of life but in the loss of love for its children.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

The Dumpster Christmas Tree

You read that right, I " rescued " this 7.5ft tree from the landfill it was headed for. It's fake and the lights do not work, but there were no funny smells and really that's all you can ask for. A string or 6 of lights and a store bought faux tree stand meant saving me from using our terminally ill tree. The one that everyone has made fun of because it looks like it has mange. I tried making a stand for this tree, but after 4 hours of leaning the tree couldn't take it any longer and it fell over. The young nuggets immediately sensed a danger and went right to the broken shards of Christmas decor, but I got there first.....jokes on you little nugget one and  nugget two. Luckily no one got hurt. 

 Every year our town has a Christmas parade and people can set up stands and sell their stuff. I read somewhere that last year 10,000 people came to the parade. I don't see how, but I won't argue with it.


 We buy honey pretty regularly now  where as before we never ate it. There is a bee farm really close to us that we go and get our honey fix from . "Mrs. Rudy" has always been exceptionally nice and more than helpful and fair with her prices. She had a  table set up with Honey, Creamed Honey, and any kind of  Beeswax product you could ever need. Once you have had honey from a local bee farm, you will never buy store bought again. It's not outrageously priced and worth it because it's good for your health. Rudy's Honey does have a website that you would be able to order from and I would recommend anyone to do so.

Rudy's Honey Beeswax Candles



My computer is not cooperating with me so I will have to finish this later . Peace  Out

Texas Renaissance Festival

This is going to be short because I am extremely tired, but really wanted to show some people a reason to get to this festival. It was my first time going and I couldn't have had a better way to spend my day with my family and friends .

No one wanted to acknowledge the Vader

 I have a conversation going on in my head for these two and it's pretty funny

                          Texas Renaissance Festival was awesome, but I am a nerd .  I don't care, it was still awesome!

Busy Day..a few weeks off my life.

This morning we woke up to heavy machinery  NOISES. We were lucky enough to have the famous Transcanada Pipeline going through our property. There are  so many issues, but really nothing we can do about it, especially at this point. Oh well.  Anyhow,  we had a fun filled morning of sorting out a mess of what was to be done with the timber on our land , hence the "....a few weeks taken off my life". Oh so much fun! I hate to say I would have really liked a drink at about 0900 .

However,  I did  enjoy carving a pumpkin even though after a while I really just wanted it done. I really wish I weren't like that, but I am .  These things are huge too! 

Ozzy the Rooster eating pumpkin guts!

 My husband then installed two duo ceiling combos. They are weird looking, but I like them and they function!

The before fixture and the new fan.

 When the construction guys left for the day we went to take a look at what they had cleared. It made me sad to think about how old some of those trees were and how long it had taken them to get to the size they were. I am a big hippie even though I hate to admit it; I am coming to terms with that.

                                                       

                     Then I saw this plant and said out loud " What the hell is that?". Seriously, what is it?Anyone know..?

 Now off to bed with my heating pad and a stiff drink in my system. I am a big stout girl , but those pumpkins were heavy .  Tomorrow is  melodious sounds of heavy equipment running and cleaning up all the mess they made today. Just grateful to be alive with a wonderful family, roof over my head and no poo storms in sight!

Been Gone

Okay, this isn't going to be so much about pictures just showing some of the stuff that has kept me drained, tired and without time lately.

We live beyond the point of being able to indulge in " city " water. Then again from all the  boil notices I see every week from different parts in this area I really don't think I want " city " water.

For a  many, many moons I have researched sustainable building and most of it's a lot of work with  more than one person attempting the build . Needing certain materials I can not get around because lack of material and/or lack of money.This was perfect for my situation. Ho hum .

So I saw these wonderful youtube videos using wooden pallets as a building material and all the cool things you can make . So far, I have made my son bookshelves and a porch swing out of pallets. Since I did those with the minimum amount of blood spilled and bruising, I thought I could build a structure for our  water well. The first year we moved here I had a 10 month old and no experience of living this far out by myself without any FREE help. I spent the better part of a miserable, cold  and very irritating 4 hours trying to thaw out of pipes on our well, even though I had insulated it. That winter was an exceptionally cold one( don't laugh you Yankees). I also hate looking at the  ugly old well, it's always photobombing the crap out of my pictures . So I decided that I was just going to build a little shack around the well.This girl waits on no man to get to the point of being nagged enough that they decide it's just better to do it to shut me up.  I haven't ever built anything like this before. Sure small things here and there, but never anything that was supposed to be useful . I have always wanted to and when I attempted to I was never really serious. This time I am.

Much need inspection from the man cub

Lots and Lots of sawing. 

It's looking less and less like a shack and more like an actual building. 

I can already point out what would have made certain things easier and what would have been better overall on the  build. It's a learning experience if nothing else so I don't see it as a waste even if it blew over in a week. With what little knowledge I had of building stuff I am pretty proud that I have gotten this far. All I know if from what I have observed from others, DIY network and Youtube. Yes, I  just patted myself on the back. 

Progress . Yay!

I think that is a certified  giving of a blessing on the whole ordeal.