I think I may be nesting.

*laugh*

I've been feeling restless and impatient. I think part of it is a reaction to Tsu still being out of work, waiting for the first unemployment check to arrive after the severance package running out. Part of it is the weather preventing putting in my garden. Part of it is we live in a tiny house, and we are all pack rats, and I am sick to death of having so much STUFF make me feel so dang CROWDED. The more I do around here, craft and food wise, the more room I need and the more I get sick of the clutter.

At any rate, I've been on a rampage. I think I am making Tsu crazy. I'm pretty sure he can't find ANYTHING, which makes him pretty crabby. It's a big part of the mental hang up I have had about just plain reorganizing the house.... because it makes him crabby. Add that to the fact that I just plain hate this kind of busy work and it has made it hard to get started. But I got a huge case of the "I don't give a crap if it makes people crabby"s, lol.

Yesterday's big project was the kitchen counter and the cupboard under the sink. It's interesting how getting rid of the electric coffee pot has opened up the counter top. I have brought out the old dish drainer so i can put my milking items there to dry after washing them, rather than run them through the dishwasher every day, twice a day. I refuse to stop using my dish washer. I will hand wash my laundry and dry it on the line, make my own cheese and soap, and i am even thinking of trying to put together a hand baler to bale up some of my own hay (stop laughing, lol) but washing dishes? Until the apocalypse hits I'm using my dishwasher!

So hopefully we can get my hand-me-down counter and cupboards put in soon. It won't happen this weekend because they are having the big Memorial Day shoot at the gun club and Tsu is working the shoot, but we have the 2x4s for putting in the new wall so we can get started on that soon. Then I can get all my pots and pans off the folding table in the front room and into actual cupboards!! then I can finish the front room. The living room is about 80% done, I think we are going to entirely rearrange it once the new wall between the kitchen and living room is in.

Next project even before the wall and cupboards: clotheslines. I already have my lines and clothes pins, hehe. Who woulda thought some day i would be excited about clothes lines? *falls over laughing*

Big ol' batch o' beans...

It's a miserably rainy cold day for end of May. So I decided this would be the perfect time to cook up a huge batch of beans to freeze up to eat over the next several months. I had one HUGE bag of pinto beans and two small bags of black beans. I pulled out my stock pot and realized it was TOO SMALL. So I pulled out the big canning pot and filled it with my beans and a couple of chopped up onions.

Looks pretty gross at this point, lol.



After cooking for a few hours I added my last two cans each of venison stock and shredded venison, some chili spice, and several cans of store bought tomato stuff. Two of fire roasted tomatoes, two of tex-mex tomato mix, some tomato sauce. Now I just need to cook it down for several more hours.

Looking better!



I'll be packing it all into those Hefty containers and freezing it in single serving size packages.

The soap is looking better, the coffee soap is losing it's gross odd colour and turning a nice light brown with dark flecks. Both soaps are losing the lye smell and starting to smell good.

Ugly soap.

I used my wooden soap forms that my father-in-law made for me. I made two test batches from recipes i made up myself with stuff I had on hand using a lye calculator to make sure i got the right amounts of everything. Both batches were sorta too small for my molds, so there is a note to make to myself. The first batch was about 1/3 what i need, the second was about 2/3 what i need.

The first batch has beeswax, goat milk, coconut oil, vegetable oil, shortening, lye and ground coffee. Second batch has same basic stuff, lower percentage of beeswax, and allspice instead of coffee. My bars are funky sizes and shapes because they are not from full enough soap molds and because I am still getting the hang of it. I also got impatient and took them out of the mold and cut them sooner than i should have.... because i was impatient and wanted to get a look at the inside of the soap. lol.

So, here is my ugly soap.

coffee hand soap:



allspice soap in the mold:



All of it cut and curing on the rack:



Now we just have to wait 4 to 6 weeks to see if it works, lol. I made a tiny test batch about 6 weeks ago and have been using it for a week now, it works pretty well. I didn't add anything extra so it has no scent but it works. :-)

Well, I'm still here, how about you?

Yesterday we celebrated the pending apocalypse by having Tiff's boyfriend and one of their friends come over to hang out and set things on fire and eat pizza. So, either the predictions were wrong, or neither I nor any of my friends or family were among the chosen. Which I have a hard time believing. Not so much about myself (*chuckle*), but about several of my family members. I have no doubt that a bunch of them would be out of here, hehe.

I'd just like to mention once, for the record:

Jesus's (that looks wrong, IR fail at grammmmar and punctiations) words in the Bible make it clear that no one can know the date or time of the rapture. NO ONE! No one needs an advanced degree in biblical studies to interpret these verses. You just need to be able to read for comprehension. Of course if you don't believe in the Bible none of this matters, and if you DO then you should know better than to listen to goofballs like this guy.

In Matthew 25:13 Jesus said, “For you do not know the day or hour of my return.”

In Mark 13:32 Jesus said, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” (NLT)

In Matthew 24:3 Jesus’ disciples came to him and asked about the end times. He begins a lengthy answer with “Don’t let anyone mislead you.” (NLT)

So, um, not to make light of people's beliefs but.... the one time I can be absolutely SURE the rapture is NOT going to happen is at the moment when someone like this guys says it IS going to happen.

I've said it before, I will say it again.... THE WORLD IS FULL OF CRAZY PEOPLE!

To be honest, I don't feel sorry for the people who fell for this garbage. I DO feel sorry for the families and children of these people. I read a story about a family where the parents spent their three kid's college funds to pay for billboards. Ugh. Someone needs to kick those parents in the butt. Those poor kids.