Photos

Pool table makes a great seat, and learning about fuel efficiency is probably a good science project.

This was taken when Frank first got home in Oct and he was helping me finish this bathroom.

It is a new camera, or was, and I am still fuzzy sometimes. Frank is playing with the kids here (read-knocking over their blocks!)

Tad laughing at Nathalie as her blocks are knocked off!

The shower partly finished, I tiled this shower completely. It is now grouted and caulked.

Very fuzzy, Nathalie in "new" high heals." I wore a size 7 years ago, and when I was 15 my aunt bought these for me. I wear a 7.5 now, and Nathalie discovered these in my "get rid of"" pile. She was distraught that I would throw out such a memory! She was right, I moved them back to the keep forever pile, in memory of the balls. She donned them and claimed them forthwith.

And they fit her! They are actually 1 size too big but they are pretty stretchy. She wears these with camo!


Fuzzy picture of me tiling, Nathalie took this.

Working on the new truck. This was taken a few wks ago, they all 3 were under there checking on Knock. He is our friend, and he lives in the dashboard. He just knocks and we sometimes feed him snacks.


I like all of their brown boots sticking out.

I think Nathalie was doing more watching daddy than she was working. But I mean, I would be too!

Winter sewing

The army has packed the goods that we kept to ship to Ak, the things that I didnt sell. I kept out 1 sewing machine and 1 serger to carry in the RV with me and also because we dont have enough clothes for an Ak winter yet. I kept out a considerable amount of wool fabric.

Pants on the right are just pj pants for Nathalie, the piece was cotton terry, only big enough to make pants for her. She was wearing his pants anyway so I made new ones!

Pants in the middle are wool long johns for me. The only ones I own currently are boughten mens long johns and they are not very form fitting. This pair fits under my most fitted jeans so I will be much warmer. I have since then cut out a 2nd pr.

The last pair is my best. Tad told me that last yrs long johns "no longer fit in all areas." I said I could make bigger ones and he pointed out, that isnt the issue. The gender neutral fit doesnt work anymore mama... So, I made a tester pair of "boy" long johns out of some cotton and they came out great, I just used a strip of fabric in the center, no hole. These are a wool outer, thin cotton inner and have a hole on one side of the cotton, and opposite of the wool. He says they are a perfect fit!

Moving photos coming soon.

The new truck

This is our new truck, it isnt new just new to us. It is a 1997 F350, my favorite truck in the world. It has been for years! We couldnt find one when first shopping, nor did we have much money so we bought the old yellow truck which served its purpose.

Our 5th wheel travel trailer is behind the truck, will post pictures of that later. Frank and Eric put the bumpers on the 350 yesterday, these bumpers are just mean! We special ordered them a few wks ago, shortly after buying the truck. They are real bumpers, not a brush guard. They will be effective in saving the front of the truck and possibly us (in case of an animal going through the windshield) if we hit a moose. There are a lot of moose in Ak.

Last picture. We have new tires and cleaned up the inside, its a 14 yr old truck after all. Frank and Eric also installed a winch on the front, to pull ourselves out in case we get stuck. Pulling the big RV.

We sold every other vehicle we had. We have gone from 3 trucks, 2 cars, 1 tractor and 2 regular trailers to one travel trailer and 1 truck. We have packed the RV mostly and are almost ready to go.

Leaving

http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm

This is the best article I have read on the pros and cons of universal healthcare. It actually does present some decent pros. Most articles are either for, or against universal care. I am highly against it, for several of the NO reasons given here. Total loss of doctor/patient confidentiality. That is a pretty important part of our current medical framework.

I am in college and one of my classes has been topics in healthcare policy. I have learned many things through research on current and possible healthcare plans.

Other than that, I dont have any pictures because they are all on Frank's computer. I am finishing up 2 college classes (finals due the 19th-nearly there!), getting ready to go to our family's Christmas celebration in Tn, and getting ready to move to Alaska. We do not generally leave home for holidays but will this year due to all of my mama's other children being present, and us moving so far away.

Our house is sold (tentatively-these things can fall through), we have a signed contract and close in early Jan before we leave. We have our RV back, it was at a local shop being fitted with extra insulation, tank heaters and a inspection. Now are are further winterizing it ourselves.

We sold all of our vehicles (camaro, jetta, chevy 3500 and chevy s10), trailers x2 and our tractor. Much of our household goods were sold or given away, the remainder was shipped by the army or will go with us. We have a few things to give/sell to family in Tn that will leave next wk.

We paid a inspector to inspect our house, this is usually done by the buyer so that he/she can ask the seller to fix things. We chose the best inspector in the area, paid him to give us the list, we fixed the list and now hopefully there will be little on the list by the buyers inspector. We still have to have the septic pumped and the water tested.

I think we are all excited about the move, a little nervous (on my part) about living in a small space for a period of time. Even when we arrive, we plan on buying quite a small house that needs to be fixed up. We will continue to live in the RV while fixing the house. We are looking at foreclosures and short sales at this time.

The kids will have lessons in Ak, I have found teachers for dance, guitar, jujitsu and possibly art. There are many art lessons, but they are short and for large groups. Nathalie wants something a little more specialized. We will use the local library a lot at first because many of our books are packed and we will not have our goods delivered right away.

We are leaving a lot behind. I have left a lot behind in the past, this time feels farther. I am glad to move to Ak, there are less people, less rush. I was sad to leave my Sc homeschool group 3.5 yrs ago, very sad to leave my best friend who lived very close. Now I am sad to leave another very good friend living here. I have only a few good friends, and none of them live close except for Amanda and now we are leaving her.

We dont know where we will be long term, I dont promise I will even have this blog. It may go on the list of things to leave behind.

He's back!

We have him home, he has been home since last wed night. I thought I blogged this fact but see that I didnt. He arrived home at 11:32 pm last wed night. We went to the ceremony and sat for 2.5 hrs with the few other families that arrived early, some didnt arrive until a couple of minutes before the guys walked out. I should not say guys, there are women in the army as well. I know, I was! To me though, it still feels like "the guys" because mine is.

We have spent a lot of time just being together. Sleeping in, hanging out. We have worked on the house and we also bought an RV. A 40 ft 5th wheel toy hauler. Its lovely. It will be delivered here on fri/sat not sure yet, the owner is delivering it as we bought the truck 2nd. Yes, backwards. But we found the truck 2nd, it is in Co and we will be picking it up sunday.

Still working on getting the house done to get it on the market, getting our remaining goods listed for sale (tractor, trailers, 2 trucks and 1 car), lots of mechanic work is being done by my amazing husband. The car and 1 truck have broken down, thank goodness they waited for him to get home.

I have lots of pictures but honestly I dont have time to post them. He is working some mornings/afternoons and while he is gone we work on the house, do schoolwork, college, housework, dinner prep etc.

I will post photos and progress later, we have only a few more wks before we leave to drive the Alcon in the winter!

Oh these are random

Not many people photograph zip lock bags. Most people also do not decorate their yards with them. I wasnt doing either, well ok fine I took a picture of it but that was to show you that it was frosty.This was our first morning of frost and somehow there was a plastic bag in the yard. I didnt leave it there, that would be tacky.


Frost on the car. This was an early frost, earlier than other years past. It has been pretty cold some mornings!


Nathalie's vocano, there is a sandy area in the field and she created a grass and dirt volcano then took photos of it so that you could all see it.

I had a piece of purple stretch terry, my mom bought 20 yds of this, of 3 different colors. This is the last of 20 yds purchased 8 yrs ago. I made Nathalie some pj pants, and then made 4 wipes out of the rest. I sell these, give them away or use them. They are household cloth. The striped ones are "kleenex." I know that is a brand, but we use the word anyway. The stripey fabric was a pr of PJ pants that I have worn for 8 yrs, and they finally fell apart. I have mended/fixed them twice, and replaced the waist elastic last yr. This is all about recycling right? No. I miss my pants...


So he wasnt in a good mood and had some weird hair thing going on. This is a new jacket/pullover that I made for him. He loves the half zip, he uses it over his t shirts so he doesnt have to wear long sleeves. It is made of heavy weight waterproof/windproof Polartec fleece and has neat pockets!


The toggle and elastic in the hem allows for it to be pulled tightly, then add a coat and the wind going up a coat doesnt affect as badly. Since we are moving to Ak... The pockets are pretty neat, they look good and are very deep-the kids and I decided to seam up the sides halfway because it looks good and closes up the bottom of the pocket.


Nathalie's, once again not a great photo. The kids are super excited about upcoming events and are not into posing. Her jacket is a midweight-polartec waterproof fleece. Her doll has a matching one that I made.


Once again, the pocket and toggle. She says she needs 2 of these because we have it in lavender as well.


Nathalie was sewing during the same time, she was sewing and learning. We made patterns for her baby, dress, shirt and leggings. Oh and Nathalie made "sock" patterns which is basically 2 halves sewn up on one side, other side on a fold and its more like a baby's bootie only long. She makes them up to the knees so her baby is warm. The baby has on the socks here though they match her pants.

Cutting out her baby's dress, or possibly its a nightgown. Nathalie has a matching nightgown that I made 2 yrs ago. She still wears it despite the fact that it only reaches her elbows.


Her patterns and pieces all cut out. She has become quite the avid seamstress. She loves to sew and sews with or without help.

She learned to use the serger this summer working on a 4h project but is still more comfortable using the sewing machine. She is convinced the serger will eat her fingers or at least a thumb.

Finished product getting a trim. I still help with the neckline and she didnt hem the little sleeves. It was such a tiny hole. Using clear elastic was easier than making cuffs, so she just trimmed the sleeve ends.


We got new snow boots! These are Baffin, supposed to be one of the best rated brands for arctic wear. We want to be very warm. I can tell the difference in traditional LL Bean snow boots and these. These are almost like dirt bike gear boots. They are a bit stiff, though are easy to walk in. Heavy, and well padded. They have sort of a wool liner thing in them, 2 of them, that can come out if they get damp.


Kids boots are rated to -78 assuming they are wearing 1 pr cotton socks, and 1 pr wool socks. They are very nice boots, they should be for their cost!

These are mine, weird pic it was in the mirror. They look a lot like the kids boots. The site said do not size up, but I did by 1 size for each of us and I am glad I did. They fit fine with cotton socks, comfortably snug with 2 pr socks. They are a little heavy and will take getting used to but they are tall, warm and waterproof. I do not want cold feet, the few people that I have met who didnt like Ak, didnt like it because they had improper gear. We all have very good coats, wool long johns, wool outer clothes, lined pants/overalls, good boots and will also have good snow pants.


Nathalie sporting her boots while in PJs still, she is outside on a warm-ish day (60s maybe) in a short sleeve, jeans and these boots. She is in love. She says she loves the way they feel and they make her look bigger.

We are taking a short break on remodeling, my wrist and back need it. I have been sewing instead. Have completed many more sewing projects not pictured yet.

Janice

Janice was my mama's best friend. She was her best friend for a long time. She was killed yesterday by her estranged husband who then took his own life. My mama is truly suffering right now from a deep hurt, both from the loss of a best friend and the injustice of life. Janice was wonderful, she was beautiful and caring. She had children and grandchildren. She was young and had a lot of life before her. I have no words to express the hurt I that I know my mother feels.

-In Memory of Janice.

Efficient cooking

The photos are not related to cooking. I took a lot of pictures recently of a sunset, I will miss the Ks sunsets. You can sort of see Tad to the right of the photo.


The children are playing in my construction waste, bits of 2x4s, drywall, hardibacker, tile scraps. They set up little games for people and little animals and play their world for them. They spend their offtime doing this.


So onto the cooking. Between crock pots and a traditional oven/stove that is electrical-crock pot almost always wins. However, enter a gas stove top and it depends. They use a different measurement, and the price of gas isnt always the same. The biggest thing I have learned is this. If you have a fire pit/fireplace/wood stove and cast iron pots/pans/skillets-you are already prepared to cook in an efficient manner. My friend Amanda cooks this way for much of the winter. I have not known another person who could save money on gas/electric bill better than her in the winter, both for her heating and cooking. Her home stays very toasty and her stove top cooked meals are excellent and cost effective. This is the difference in frugal and stingy. I want a warm house and good food, not spend the winter frozen eating foods that use little stovetop.

We are moving to Ak, and we are making a lot of changes now and in route. We are selling most of our household goods and will be living on a much smaller scale. We have been recycling, gardening, preserving food, raising livestock, using washable vs throw away items and many other things for 8 yrs now. Not all of those things, the livestock was only 3 yrs. My children wore cloth diapers, and so would any subsequent children. I make most of our clothes, and try to buy on sale/used what I do not make. I recycle even our worn out clothes. The little things that I/we do are both for the environment and to avoid being wasteful of funds.

We are excited about some of our new ideas, we are adding on to the list of things that we already do and plan to drastically reduce the amount of money and space that we use.

Alphabettios

I have to say, we have bought a lot of packaged foods since I began our property and home remodel. I try to stick with (mostly) healthy foods. I generally make my own pasta sauce and we grind our own meat. We grind it from goat meat (we butchered this) or we buy whole turkeys on sale and grind it. Sigh... I am really tired and not on top of my game right now! This is our cast of characters for Alphabettios.


In my opinion, these were pricey. 1.99 for a bag of noodles! It made a HUGE amount though! Nathalie wanted Alphabet Spagettios when we were in the store yesterday. She did have a bit of a breakdown when I refused to buy them, she wont eat them but she says the letters are cute. She loves tiny cute things and honestly, she thinks small foods taste better than normal-large ones.


I figured if a cheap can of alphabet spagettios (alphabettios) was .69 cents and its truly horrible for her, then I could spend the 2$ on alphabet noodles, 1 $ on pasta sauce and 1.59 on the lb of turkey and make our own. She doesnt usually break down in the grocery store... just as a fact, nor do I wish to condone the breakdown. However, she is really at the end of her rope waiting on Daddy's homecoming. So as a treat, I found these noodles.


Nathalie loves to cook and is capable of making meat sauce (homemade marinara on seasoned ground meat usually) and the noodles, she even drains them herself which worried me at first. She can make and bake bread from scratch-so this was an easy and fun meal for her.


Here are our noodles-I didnt see any other brand of alphabet noodles and the da vinci brand are actually pretty healthy. We normally eat whatever the Sam's brand of noodles are...


And here is the finished product! She loved it very much and while some people do not like pasta that has been frozen, we dont mind it. We froze it in portions for her. I wanted to can it, but I havent canned pasta. I have canned meat so I know the protocol for that, but I am going to assume that canned noodles should only be al dente. They would otherwise get pretty squishy I think. I will read up on how to can noodles, chicken noodle soup and spaghetti would be great to have canned for quick lunches. We are trying to move more into food preservation that doesnt require electricity, we freeze meat and many other things but would like to can and dry more in the future.

Last Bathroom

This is the last one! The shower walls still need to be tiled, but I sort of wore out. I did lay the tile in this bathroom, I have photos of laying the backerboard and laying the tile but I dont have those for you yet...

I laid the tile, grouted then put the toilet back which did cause me some grief but here it is. No leaking! This is the 2nd toilet which I have put down alone! Its nice to have a toilet back.

More paint

You are tired of painting? Wow me too. This is the hall, I mudded all the paneling lines in here, primed and painted 3 x. Then, the lines cracked. Only a few of them, but still. So Eric and his son textured it. Then I had to prime, and paint. It looks wonderful! They did great job. I cut in everything first after priming, I cut in light switches, outlets, ceilings and door frames.


I lined these benches and stools up, well the children did, for me to cut in at the ceiling level. These are benches that my grampie made when my mama was a little girl. I have the matching table.


This was the first roll, so I didnt actually cut in the center but everything else I did. This is the front door area, also was paneling.


Why is this photo here twice? let me get back to you. I am not going to try to delete it.



Living room vaulted ceiling, and my way of rolling it! I borrowed Erics ladder, in a previous post you saw me cutting this ceiling in. Then I sent the ladder home, not considering the impossibility of me rolling that high with no ladder. At about 2 a.m. this idea seemed good, and I am still alive so I was right.



A dizzying view, I hate looking up this way it makes me feel as though I am spinning. However, here it is. The rolled spots are still light from being wet, but in actuality its all complete just not dry. It was done in different stages.


I went into the kitchen to clean up, and I found this. Nathalie's way of covering the tea... She forgot to put it in the fridge.