Sorry I posted so many videos at once, but I wanted Brad to be able to see what went on for Christmas. There are ones of the Christmas party also, so you might need to go back a few pages. Reacher cracks me up when he was arguing with me and Izzy was doing some cute stuff. The kids enjoyed Christmas and I wanted to share all the fun videos that I got to enjoy, with all of you.
Love you all very much and wish you all a Happy Upcoming New Year.
Love, Mom
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Ten Things Every Dog Owner Should Know
http://www.wagreflex.com/2008/09/ten-things-ever.html
I found this link quite interesting on learning more about dogs behaviors.
I found this link quite interesting on learning more about dogs behaviors.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Grocery Sale Cycles-When do Things Go on Sale?
http://www.livingrichlyonabudget.com/grocery-sale-cycles-when-do-things-go-on-sale
This is a link to Grocery Sale Cycles. It should be very helpful to help you with sales items.
This is a link to Grocery Sale Cycles. It should be very helpful to help you with sales items.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Make your own Laundry Fabric Softener-another money saver
6 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups hair conditioner
Mix water, vinegar and hair conditioner in a 1 gallon container. Stir. Do not shake it; it will cause foaming. Use the same amount you normally use in a rinse cycle or spritz it on a wash cloth and throw in the dryer.
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups hair conditioner
Mix water, vinegar and hair conditioner in a 1 gallon container. Stir. Do not shake it; it will cause foaming. Use the same amount you normally use in a rinse cycle or spritz it on a wash cloth and throw in the dryer.
Rotating can racks for food storage
Here are some websites I found on how to make your own rotating can racks for canned foods.
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/16/build-your-own-can-rotating-rack/
http://i-refuse-to-recede.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-build-self-rotating-can-rack.html
http://foodstorageandbeyond.com/2010/07/feature-frugal-friday-homemade-rotating-can-racks/
http://www.canracks.com/
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-Food-Shelf
http://www.canorganizer.com/
I have the plastic ones in pantry and they are $20 a set. The first website makes canning rotators out of cardboard. They should be pretty inexpensive to make. You can get tons of boxes from your local liqour store. (That's the only time I think you should be visiting them, for boxes. LOL.)
Love you guys,
Mom
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/16/build-your-own-can-rotating-rack/
http://i-refuse-to-recede.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-build-self-rotating-can-rack.html
http://foodstorageandbeyond.com/2010/07/feature-frugal-friday-homemade-rotating-can-racks/
http://www.canracks.com/
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-Food-Shelf
http://www.canorganizer.com/
I have the plastic ones in pantry and they are $20 a set. The first website makes canning rotators out of cardboard. They should be pretty inexpensive to make. You can get tons of boxes from your local liqour store. (That's the only time I think you should be visiting them, for boxes. LOL.)
Love you guys,
Mom
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Canning Butter for a rainy day!
Dad and I canned our own butter last year. Generally I freeze my butter or margarine, but that does take up quite a bit of room if you are trying to store for long term. Now I will have some margarine in the freezer, but butter on my fruitroom shelf. Dad and I needed some butter last Sunday and rather than go to the store, I grabbed a jar off the shelf. I have found this is easy to do and would make a great family home evening and working on your food storage at the same time. NOTE: you need to use real butter, not margarine.
I am going to try to grab some everytime I go to Costco for a while so I can stock it up.
Heat pint jars (without bands) in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes. (A dripper pan workds well for this.) One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. While the jars are heating, melt the butter slowly (in a large kettle) until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to prevent scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Place the jar lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving to simmer until needed.
Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a or measuring cup with spout and handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar.
Wipe the tops of the jars, then place on hot lids and screw on the bands tightly. Lids will seal as the jars cool. The butter will separate into three layers: foam, oil and milk solids. Once the lids "pop" and seal, shake the jars to mix your butter. Do this every 15 minutes or so, until the butter retains more consistency throughout the jar. (This may take up to an hour our longer.) When just slightly warm, move jars to the refrigerator for an hour.
Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool dark shelf.
Note: It does not need to be refrigerated once opened, if used within a reasonable amount of time.
Hope this is something you will do in your family to help with your food storage.
Love,
Mom
I am going to try to grab some everytime I go to Costco for a while so I can stock it up.
Heat pint jars (without bands) in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes. (A dripper pan workds well for this.) One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. While the jars are heating, melt the butter slowly (in a large kettle) until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to prevent scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Place the jar lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving to simmer until needed.
Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a or measuring cup with spout and handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar.
Wipe the tops of the jars, then place on hot lids and screw on the bands tightly. Lids will seal as the jars cool. The butter will separate into three layers: foam, oil and milk solids. Once the lids "pop" and seal, shake the jars to mix your butter. Do this every 15 minutes or so, until the butter retains more consistency throughout the jar. (This may take up to an hour our longer.) When just slightly warm, move jars to the refrigerator for an hour.
Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool dark shelf.
Note: It does not need to be refrigerated once opened, if used within a reasonable amount of time.
Hope this is something you will do in your family to help with your food storage.
Love,
Mom
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Almost Halloween
Here it is almost Halloween. I finally got a few decorations up Saturday for the Grandkids and neighbors. We bought a skeleton this year, pretty dead like. (life like) Pretty sad to decorate just a week before Halloween. It has been so incredibly warm here in Utah, but today it was a little cooler and the leaves are starting to fall off the trees. I'm not ready for winter, but I enjoy the cooler weather.
Saturday dad and I put the finishing touches on winterizing the yard stuff (hoses and such) and put the yard decorations away. We've been drying apples, onions and herbs and freezing tomotoes to make salsa sometime later. I ordered more trays for drying fruits a few weeks ago and they came yesterday which really allows me to be a super dryer.
I'm going to hate it when the time changes in two weeks. I always have such a hard time when the clock changes. I am excited about the first of the year becuase then we don't have to go to church so early. I loved my Saturday afternoon nap last Saturday, except then I didn't go to sleep until after midnight. I really need to quit doing that.
I found a place that had #10 cans of Jello on sale so I bought a few cans of one flavor. The company sent me the wrong flavor so I called them. They said it was their error and that they would send me out what I ordered and I could keep the two cans that they accidently sent me. That was an awesome deal. I love good deals like that.
Saturday dad and I put the finishing touches on winterizing the yard stuff (hoses and such) and put the yard decorations away. We've been drying apples, onions and herbs and freezing tomotoes to make salsa sometime later. I ordered more trays for drying fruits a few weeks ago and they came yesterday which really allows me to be a super dryer.
I'm going to hate it when the time changes in two weeks. I always have such a hard time when the clock changes. I am excited about the first of the year becuase then we don't have to go to church so early. I loved my Saturday afternoon nap last Saturday, except then I didn't go to sleep until after midnight. I really need to quit doing that.
I found a place that had #10 cans of Jello on sale so I bought a few cans of one flavor. The company sent me the wrong flavor so I called them. They said it was their error and that they would send me out what I ordered and I could keep the two cans that they accidently sent me. That was an awesome deal. I love good deals like that.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Home safe and sound
Okay, so Quincy is home from his 3 week stay at the hospital. Emily and I spent a lot of time taking turns with him. In between my visits I got tomatoes, and grape juice put up and dried some herbs.
We are very happy to have Quincy safely home and recovering.
It is now time to dry apples and onions. I borrowed dad's food drier to help me with this rather large task. The grandkids love jello sprinkled on the apples and then dried. I found this recipe yesterday that sounded really good and I might try it.
4 apples
1/4 pineapple juice
1 TBL sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Peel apples. Cut into 1/4" think rings or slices. Dip slices in pineapple juice for 1 minute. Place dipped apples on your dryer tray. Mis together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of apples. Dry for 6 to 10 hours at 135 degrees F. until crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container.
Larry made his famous apple pie the other day and took some over to my dad. Boy was dad excited to eat it. It's always a treat when Larry makes pie.
I like my little part time job. It's enough to give me a little spending money, but not enough to take a big chunk of my day.
I have been released from the Relief Society Presidency along with the other sisters I served with. It is kind of nice to not worry so much about other people, but that does not mean I will not think of others, I will just go back to doing it my way. Silently.
I want my children to know how much I love and appreciate all of them. I am in the "need to get back on top of things mode". This may take several weeks. I have been working most of the day to get the house put back together since I've been gone so much the past 3 weeks. Maybe when I feel like I am in control of my life again, my headaches will go away.
Anyway, I love you all tons. It was nice to see Brandon, Elysha and Izzy today. She is a little cutie.
Love, Mom
We are very happy to have Quincy safely home and recovering.
It is now time to dry apples and onions. I borrowed dad's food drier to help me with this rather large task. The grandkids love jello sprinkled on the apples and then dried. I found this recipe yesterday that sounded really good and I might try it.
4 apples
1/4 pineapple juice
1 TBL sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Peel apples. Cut into 1/4" think rings or slices. Dip slices in pineapple juice for 1 minute. Place dipped apples on your dryer tray. Mis together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of apples. Dry for 6 to 10 hours at 135 degrees F. until crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container.
Larry made his famous apple pie the other day and took some over to my dad. Boy was dad excited to eat it. It's always a treat when Larry makes pie.
I like my little part time job. It's enough to give me a little spending money, but not enough to take a big chunk of my day.
I have been released from the Relief Society Presidency along with the other sisters I served with. It is kind of nice to not worry so much about other people, but that does not mean I will not think of others, I will just go back to doing it my way. Silently.
I want my children to know how much I love and appreciate all of them. I am in the "need to get back on top of things mode". This may take several weeks. I have been working most of the day to get the house put back together since I've been gone so much the past 3 weeks. Maybe when I feel like I am in control of my life again, my headaches will go away.
Anyway, I love you all tons. It was nice to see Brandon, Elysha and Izzy today. She is a little cutie.
Love, Mom
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Suffering was my decision
This is a paper I wrote for my English class this semester. I wanted to share it with my family because this explains some of the experiences I went though in the army. Some of this was very tough for me to write.
Suffering Was My Decision
by: Brandon Fowler
It was my decision to suffer. Nobody forced me to do it. I was driven to become a nurse and in so doing; I suffered. My suffering did not happen as a result of my chosen profession, but rather on the journey to my profession. My journey begins on March 4, 2009 when I raised my right hand and agreed to everything the United States Army was willing to throw at me. This adventure included mental and physical suffering. Some is still ongoing today.
On November 26, 2007 my family gathered watching with love and respect as our grandmother and mother quietly passed away after a very long and laborious battle with bone and breast cancer, I watched the hospice nurse administer morphine to ease her pain. This wonderful nurse kept Gramms comfortable so that she would die with the least amount of agony and ignominy. This nurse handled the arrangements for the mortician to come and insisted of total respect for Gramms body; all the while comforting us and spreading her love to our family. It was at this moment that I made the firm decision to become a nurse. To offer myself to my community in a way that I never thought about and to honor the memory of Gramms by helping those that are sick or dying was my chosen destiny.
Within a year of her passing I found a job at a convalescent center as a CNA. My hope was to get my foot in the door of a medical facility, any medical facility would do. I thought that if I could get a job in anything medical that I would be able to make the right contacts and gain the knowledge I needed to pursue the education I was seeking. While I was working for Avalon I became friends with Jeff, a nurse that was sensing my troubles with deciding how to proceed with my education. He told me how he became a nurse by joining the Army. Jeff explained that it will take me about a year and a half of training before I would become a nurse. I would get paid to learn nursing and I would also get a bonus for doing it. I had never heard of such an offer. As far as I knew, people had to pay for an education, not get paid for one. I made the decision to talk to a recruiter.
After some discussions with a recruiter I went to the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Command) station in Salt Lake City and raised my right hand to Uncle Sam swearing to uphold my duties as a United States Soldier. At this point I was proud of my decision and excited to embark on a new adventure. My next stop was basic training at Ft. Sill, OK. It was a rough ride with people I had just met yelling at me and making me do things like push ups, sit ups, and running. For the next nine weeks it was a constant physical and mental battle. As I was graduating from basic training I figured that at this point I would get treated like an adult instead of a four year old.
I boarded a plane and went to Ft. Sam-Houston, TX where I quickly discovered I would not be treated like a four year old anymore, but rather like an eight year old. At this next stage of training on my journey I still suffered more physical punishment by way of exercising and more yelling. This was a sixteen week course on becoming an EMT and a Combat Medic. We were given a little more freedom and were allowed to go where ever we wanted while not in class as long as we were back by the 10 pm curfew. The homework and tests were brutal. Despite the difficulties I was learning much and I knew it would help me later when it really counted.
My next course was nursing. I thought I had finally arrived at what was going to be some of the best training I would ever receive in my life. I was partially right, and yet a little bit wrong. This section of training was divided up into 2 phases. Phase 1 was the purely didactic portion of my nurse training. There was still some physical punishment involved such as having to run in circles with eighteen inch diameter logs in the middle of the night. Physical training, and the occasional yelling session still persisted. Things were better at this point and much easier to feel human again. As long as we showed up to class and passed our tests, we were pretty much left alone to live as we pleased. We remained at Ft. Sam-Houston for phase 1 of the LPN course which lasted 8 weeks.
For phase 2 my class was sent to Ft. Lewis, WA where the real training began. This portion of training was the final 44 weeks of this year and a half experience. We were allowed to live off post and were completely free to do as we chose except that we had to be to class unless properly excused. Still passing our tests was mandatory and failure to do so would mean expulsion from the course. We did lose a few people that just couldn't or didn't want to put forth the effort. We studied anatomy and physiology, pharmacy, nursing theory, and many other subjects that are necessary.
I spent some time in surgery where I saw inside of a womans abdomen, witnessed a c-section, and a knee reconstruction. Other areas of the hospital a spend time was labor and delivery where I got to deliver a baby, pediatric ward, med/surg, nicu, picu, and pacu helping people recover from surgery. I felt very fortunate to get more training then the standard nursing student.
Upon graduation we were officially nurses that were permitted to practice in any military hospital freely, or with the proper transference of our license, we could practice in our home states. I chose to move back to Utah to serve my community the way I decided to a few years prior. After a few months of looking I found a job as an office rat for a home health agency. A few months after that I managed to convince the head nurse at the VA nursing home to hire me full time.
Along the way I had some other trials such as figuring out how to get back to Utah to get married during the course. Finding housing, and moving back to Utah at the end were also some big challenges. I have struggled with meeting an “ideal weight” since I was 21, and that was something I tried working through in the Army but never succeeded with. This weight issue haunts me to this day as I am still in the reserves and still can't pass weight. I did struggle from time to time with learning and passing tests due to the intense nature of the course. I would occasionally find myself burned out and struggled to concentrate. While there were many times that I felt I suffered physically and mentally, I am thankful that I made the decision to join the Army in an effort to serve my country, my community, and my family. Everyday that I go serve my patients is a tribute to Gramms and her positive attitude while she battled cancer. She very rarely said anything negative about her situation. Because of her example, I go everyday with a positive attitude and the drive to cheer people up who perhaps are having a bad day, or are saddened because of their situation.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Crafting time with Sidney
Sidney (my daughter) and I like to craft which is no secret. Usually we are crafting greeting cards, but one day I decided I wanted to break the norm and modge podge a vase with tissue paper. As Sidney and I were planning what we were going to do, our line of thinking changed and I decided I wanted hanging thingies out on my trees. Then we decided we needed to make something to represent each member of our family. We gathered our baby food jars, tissue paper, glitter, modge podge and anything else we could find and this is what we came up with.
Mom and Dad's
Brandon
Reacher
Emily
Quincy
Amber
Brad
Jade
Sidney
Charlie
Seann
Isabelle
Elysha
Just one that I liked and wanted to hang out.
We just wrapped wire around the top, and added wire hangers on the top.
More chicken info
Winnie's Mini. Winnie is our newest layer. That is a quarter laying next to her egg. In time her eggs will catch up in size to the other chickens in her flock.
 |
| I've had trouble with my chickens canablizing each other. I talked with a representative at IFA and he suggested "Rooster Booster". It helps heal the wounded area and tastes nasty to ward off the aggressive behavior. He also suggested "Flock Block" which is a big blog of seeds, and a nutriant based product (not to be replaced with for thier other food). This is used to give them some variety as chickens get bored. I have noticed if the chickens are allowed time out of the chicken run they do better. I also spray the ground down with water in the chicken run to help cool things off for them outside. They seem to enjoy this. I had noticed they were playing in their water bowl and assumed they were feeling the heat. I let the girls out 2X a time to give them a break and space. |
Neighborhood lawn mower race. Sept. 2011
The racers are getting thier machines ready for the starting line up.
Andrew, Larry J. and Larry F.
Jerry, the ex cop.
Ex cop's lawn mower.
We decided we had better gather everyone in our yard to have a prayer before the big race and then discuss the rules of the race.
All racers are now lined up, and are off running.
If you look closely in this video, Emily is throwing a bucket of water on dad. There was a big dispute as to who's idea it was. Nobody (Quincy or Emily) wanted to take reponsibility for it. :)
We had over 50 neighbors in our front yard enjoying a great potluck dinner.
My handsome cook. (Larry)
Debbie's handsome cook. (Scott)
Amber's handsome cook. (Joe)
I really appreciated the Shelby's help in hosting this event and all of the wonderful food and support that people shared with the group. It was a great success.
Larry J. took first place in the race and also the best decoration. I wonder if any one noticed it was deer horns on his lawn mower and not cow horns. (LOL)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
What's going on with Grandma's farm.
This is our first planting of corn. I have since planted 2 more.
There are two pumpkin plants.
We have about 30 tomato plants.
This is a 4' X 8' box full of green beans. There is a picture of a big silver bowl below. It is full of beans from this garden box. I am now sun drying the beans from this box.
9 Bell Pepper plants.
6 cucumber plants.
4 Cantelope plants. There are to cantelope out there right now.
These are baby watermelon. We also have onions and strawberries.
This is the garlic that came from our garden. Garlic needs to be planted in your garden in October, and it is harvested around the end of July. I had lots of it.
Mali with the days harvest.
Drying Parsley. I'm using the same method to dry the green beans.
Our new nesting box. The Chickens did'nt like the real ones.
This is Buffy. She lays the biggest eggs.
This is Buffy's big egg. It had two yokes in it.
Another day at the pool
Come on Seann, share your cheese stick with me.
Seann is cold and warming up in the foot bath water. 
He's still cold. 
This is what happens when you go to Grandma's house to swim and have to go to the bathroom with a wet swimming suit on.
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