Tina...

My friend Tina came to visit for the day awhile back. Tina goes way back with me. She used to live 5 miles away but I didn't know that until I met her at a homeschool gathering. By then she was getting ready to move to New Hampshire. We became phone friends for years. When Isaac was ill she call everyday without fail to get an update. Well, here she is. She now lives back in ND but about 80 miles away. We see each other more often and talk a little less than everyday but at least every week she still calls. She's a great encourager. We ended up having a common bond. These two kids were born on the same day, two rooms apart at the same hospital but we didn't see each other or know each other that day. We both remember the girl who came in about 2:30 a.m. screaming in labor. We were on either side of her.

Here are two of her girls with two of mine.And her youngest Katie with Moriah.

Some finished projects...

Here is our family room in the basement. My friend Val came last week and painted the floor. The room has shrunk in size because the wood stove is going in the far right corner and we are trying to separate the room from the rest of the basement. It worked great for a movie night and devotions Saturday. We want to put pine siding on the far white wall so that isn't finished at all. It was the last carpet in the basement and it was covered in mold when we took it out. It is a relief to have it done (well mostly). We tried to get to it all winter.
Here is our finished flag. We finally got the stars painted and Kevin used caulk to stick them to the building. Now if the birds will quit building nests under the eaves and dropping things everywhere!

We have five days to clean and make food for the graduation. It feels like a million things to do. Today we have some specific cleaning projects and some baking. It rained this morning and forced us inside. That is a good thing for me because when I start weeding or working in the garden I find I can't leave. It forced me to tackle some indoor projects. I've got little girls washing walls and doors and such and normally I would be too obsessive/compulsive to let them do it for fear they wouldn't get it quite right but I'm not going to let that bother me even though someone tipped over a bucket of water on the carpet! :(

10 days to go...

We have ten days until the party. My house is a disaster and I'm sure I need a month to get it in order. I was tying up tomatoes today, mowing in the rows of the raspberries (my tiller gave out on me), mowing the neighbor's yard, cleaning for someone in town and nothing to help get my house looking ready. Thankfully, my friend Val came yesterday and painted the last room in the basement needing painting and painted my front entry. She called the night before and I told her that she didn't need to come. We would get it all in but she wouldn't accept no for an answer and I was blessed by her kindness. Her daughter Renae helped Emily wash most of the windows. Wow! I didn't realize we couldn't see very much out of them until they were really clean. I think I've washed windows in this house once in the ten years we have lived here. They are temperamental and difficult to do. Tomorrow's a busy day but Friday I hope to get that basement put back together and we can start cleaning the house. Jordan has been busy making buns and cookies for the party and got the strawberry shortcakes all done last week and in the freezer. It's coming together. My kids have been great! I'm so pleased to see them being helpful without attitude this last week!

I like cherries...

Lena said, "I like cherries." at lunch today. We got our Azure order and had wonderful cherries for lunch.


Everyone thought it was a great treat. I wish I would have gotten more so I could can some.

Sharon, if you read this, I apologize for not staying and visiting with you. The dog barking was just too much and I couldn't think straight. Since Monday last we have been up to about 2 a.m. every night butchering chickens and last night we went to fellowship in SD and got home real late so I am sensitive to noise and light and everything. One more night of chickens and we will get some rest, I hope. We still have dozens of things to do to prepare for the grad party.

More butchering...

Here is Kevin skinning the chicken. It's a bit like taking off the chicken's coat.
It comes off in about one piece. It saves dipping them in boiling water, putting them in a plucker, plucking the rest of the feathers that the plucker didn't get and then scorching them with a torch.

While Kevin does that I pull out the insides and then take them and wash them really well. We wash them twice before bagging and freezing them.

Butcher time...

I tried to take a picture of the finished chickens but my camera batteries are dead. We got 10 chickens done this morning. At about 11 a.m. Kevin finally left for work. I should have had more ready last night and then we wouldn't have spent an hour getting buckets and water ready and knives sharpened. We decided to opt out of plucking this time and Kevin is skinning them. I was going to but I just couldn't stomach it for some reason. Now, the weird thing is, I had no trouble gutting them. No queasiness at all :) Once we were in a pattern it worked well that I did that and cleaned them and by the time I had one done, Kevin was ready for the next to be done. We are going to do 10 more after swim lessons tonight. Oh what fun life is:)