Cold, Crafts, Photos, and Goats (!)

This fall has been abnormally cold here in North Carolina.  Wednesday morning it was FREEZING in our house.  That didn't seem that odd since it is a very old house and we turn the heat low at night to save money.  But this particular morning it only 23 degrees outside AND our heater was broken.

Brrrrrrrrr ...

Coldness just seemed to ooze out of every inch of the house.  Thankfully we have a wood stove in the living room and Frank had a fire roaring in it before he left for work.  It felt good when we sat right in front of it.  (It isn't very good for heating more than just that room.)  Thankfully we also have base board heat in the house.  We never run it because it is ridiculously expensive, but I was thankful for the option.  So the house wasn't too frigid after awhile.  Reading right in front of the wood stove was the best place to be:

 A heating repair guy came out that morning.  MORE to be really thankful about!  Hunter bundled up and followed the repairman outside, to watch the repair while talking the man's ear off.  What a great homeschool lesson.  :)  It turned out the man that did the repair was the one that put the unit in for this house, a bit over 20 years ago.   He got the heater running - it needed a new circuit board.  Hunter got to keep the old one and studied the thing for hours.  (The man was a real quiet talker that mumbled, but he did say clearly how impressed he was with the kinds of questions Hunter asked and what he seemed to know already!)

I am SO THANKFUL to live in a time of central heat!  I was so, so cold Wednesday morning and I kept thinking what a wimp I was.  When our house was built in 1907 - the original owners had no electricity.  The only heat they had was from their fireplaces and a large cook stove in the kitchen.  People in the past were obviously a lot tougher than I am!  Of course maybe it helped not knowing any better.

On a different note, I recently found a book that we just HAD to buy at the thrift store.  It is called Thank You Solomon by Charlotte Lundy. 

Of course my Solomon "had" to have it.  And then when I opened the front cover, I couldn't believe the inscription - it started "Dear Hunter!"

I got a book with both Solomon and Hunter in it for less than $1.00.  Oh, and the story is good too.  It is about a boy that gets a puppy and his dad tells him a story about King Solomon in the Bible to teach him about responsibility. 

Last week, Tabby wrapped up an online colored pencil techniques class ("Drawing with Colored Pencils").  She took it from Craftsy.com.  This is a really neat site that offers over 500 classes at really reasonable prices.  (They often run great sales!)  Classes are on all sorts of "crafty" things in the categories of:  sewing & quilting, cake & cooking, yard & fiber arts, aft & photo, home & garden, jewelry, papercrafts, etc.  What's nice is that you can watch your class any time, and review it as much as you like.  You can also ask the instructor questions and they reply promptly. 

Here is one of Tabby's projects:

Tabby also likes drawing with regular pencil.  Here is the collection of Star Wars drawings she has done recently:

Last week, a friend sent me a link to a blog of a mom of 14 children, who had a post on "How to Organize Digital Photos."  (On my blog, in one post, I had asked you all how you handled this daunting task, and have posted some ideas people gave me in another post.)  I thought this mom had some good ideas.  One of which has really stood out in my mind is that she takes 10-15 minutes - every week - to keep up with photos.  That makes photos seem so much more manageable, doesn't it?  Another technique she uses is called "Project Life."  I only found out about it a few months ago, and am very interested.  It is a way to easily scrapbook your photos - simply by slipping photos and memorabilia into pocket photo pages and adding journaling cards where you want to.  I still haven't tackled my own photo backlog, but am really hoping to this winter.

Nutmeg - our only goat that has never had a kid

We are about to undertake a new adventure with our goats.  I am watching CraigsList, looking to buy a buck.  (A Lamancha or Nubian.)  We are hoping to breed our three goats this winter.  Once they are all pregnant, we can re-sell the buck.  (The family we got our goats from did this successfully - via CraigsList - for 3 years.)  It will be so fun to have lots of little goats running around this spring.  (We would then sell the kids when they are old enough.) 

Goats remind me of goat milk.  Which reminds me of goat milk soap.  Recently, The Goat Chick (aka Tabby) and I made peppermint scented goat milk soap.  It smells divine!  I can't wait to try it.  Right now it is curing but will be done mid-December.  We will be sell it for $4.00/bar.   :)

Peppermint Goat Milk Soap - still in the molds

This Barred Rock hen may look pretty and innocent.  But watch out ...

She is a STALKER!  (Hence her name - "Stalker.") She follows us everywhere in the yard.  She used to peck at me but now just follows closely.  Very strange chicken ...

"[I]n everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18