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I will no longer be posting here. Please make the appropriate changes in your Blog Readers, Blogrolls, Links, Bookmarks, etc. Thanks so very much! See you at Seasons of the Heart2.

Seasons of the Heart 2

I have created a new blog. Well, sort of. It's actually just a new layout with my old name, but with a slight addition. Please adjust your links accordingly. See you there!

School Days Gone By

I have a good friend who often gives me things that I can use for our homeschooling or that pertains to school. Her kids are already through with their homeschooling journey so from time to time, she stumbles upon things and saves them for me. I'm so grateful that she does too!

Amongst some of the items she recently gave me, I found an old paper place mat, folded in half. I'm not sure if she got it at a restaurant or just where, but it was fun to read & with our homeschooling year about to begin here, I thought it was appropriate timing.

School Days Gone By...

'Readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic... spelling bees and McGuffey readers... the school bell has been ringing since "way back when" but things were certainly different.

Cold in the winter... hot in the summer... that's what it was like in the one room schoolhouse. Supplies were few; some unruled paper and a goose quill pen with homemade ink, big brother's hand-me-down speller, and a ruler that Dad had made. When the paper ran out, children had to practice their letters by writing in sand spread over a plank stained black.

School days consisted of reciting passages from the Bible, practicing letters and a little arithmetic, getting into trouble, staying out of trouble, and recess. Of course, in a room with children of all ages, staying out of trouble could be the hardest thing to do. The punishment was often swift and harsh. For example, a child that played hooky was sometimes shackled to his desk to spend the night in the school alone... a scary thought but discipline was often maintained by sheer fright. Students, when reciting, had to "toe the mark"; they had to stand with their toes on a certain crack in the floor boards and not move while they recited their lesson.

Teacher's were poorly paid and traditionally "boarded around." Each family had the teacher as a houseguest for awhile to help pay for their child's schooling. Female teachers were also expected to obey rules like these.

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8p.m.-6a.m.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits, unless you have permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man, unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must: sweep the floor at least once daily; scrub the floor at least once a week with hot soapy water; clean the blackboards at least once a day; and start the fire at 7a.m. so that room will be warm by 8a.m.

Indeed... schools have changed with the times but one similarity remains-- part of the school day still consists of getting into trouble, staying out of trouble, and recess!

Author Unknown

Blogs that Inspire and Uplift

I wanted to take minute to let you know that I have just added two new links to my 'blogs of interest' list. I periodically find places that are interesting to me and I like to pass them on to you. This is the first time I've publicly announced any new additions. In the past, I have just added them with the word *NEW* in front of them and hoped that you might find them on your own. However, I thought better of it today. After all, how are you to really know unless I tell you, right?! :)

If you are interested in old-timey things, gaining motivation for a life of simplicity, frugality, and for days filled with encouragement and good feelings, you won't want to miss Rhonda's blog: Down to Earth & Amy's blog: Simple Folk.

After visiting with these dear ladies, I go away feeling motivated and invigorated. I hope you will be blessed by your visits as well.

Make Your Own Toothpaste

A long time ago we learned that fluoride is not as safe as we have been led to believe by the American Dental Association. Upon being educated on fluoride's harmful effects, we have been purchasing our toothpaste from our local healthfood store.

Now, anyone who shops for healthy products knows that if a product claims that it's healthy, it's going to cost you twice as much! Today I stumbled upon this toothpaste recipe that I'm going to try. I'm hoping that our family will like it, and in the long run, find that it saves us money. I'll keep you posted as to how well it works for us.

1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup salt
3 teaspoons glycerin
Flavoring for taste (wintergreen or peppermint oil)

Mix baking soda and salt together. Add 3 teaspoons of glycerin and mix thoroughly. Add flavoring to taste; five to 10 drops usually works, but find out what is best for you. Put paste into a squeeze bottle. Use as you would commercial toothpaste.

You can add a drop of food coloring to add a little color. Add a little more glycerin for thicker toothpaste.

© ThriftyFun.com

For more flavor ideas in homemade toothpaste, click on the picture.

Tomato Juice

This past Sunday I canned more tomato juice and this time I added some other vegetables to make a vegetable juice rather than just plain tomato juice. The directions for the recipe below are the traditional instructions for canning tomato juice as found in my canning book. I don't follow them exactly though. Years ago, I was blessed enough to get a Champion Juicer. I used it a lot when we first got it, but eventually the newness wore off and I stopped using it, then stored it out of sight. Last year when my husband saw all time and effort it was taking me to can our tomatoes, he asked, "Why don't you use the juicer"? The thought simply never occurred to me before, but the more I thought about his suggestion I said to myself, why not!? Thanks to my husband's brilliant idea I have been able to cut my canning time in half by putting my produce through the juicer rather than using a sieve this season.

After juicing my tomatoes and vegetables, I add the juice to a large stock pot and bring it to almost boiling. While I'm juicing, I heat the water in in my water bath canner and place my empty quart jars on the rack (in the raised position) so that when my juice is to the desired temperature, I can start adding it to the hot jars for processing. When all was said and done I wound up with 34 quarts.

Lisa and Ann asked me for the recipe that I use so without further ado, here it is.

22 pounds tomatoes
3/4 c. diced carrots
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped parsley
3/4 c. chopped celery
3/4 c. chopped green pepper
1 T. salt (optional)
Bottle lemon juice or citric acid

Wash tomatoes; drain. Remove core and blossom ends. Cut into quarters. Combine tomatoes and vegetables in a large saucepot; simmer 20 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Press mixture through a sieve or food mill. Stir in salt, if desired. Heat juice 5 minutes at 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not boil. Add 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid to each quart jar. Add 1 tablespoon or 1/4 teaspoon citric acid to each pint jar. Ladle hot juice into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 40-minutes, quarts 45 minutes, in a boiling water canner. Yield: about 14 pints or 7 quarts.

Yield Information

One bushel of fresh tomatoes weighs 53 pounds and yields approximately 18 quarts of canned tomatoes or 15 to 18 quarts of juice. Approximately 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds of fresh tomatoes makes 1 quart of canned tomatoes.

Process Carefully to Avoid Spoilage

The most common reasons for spoilage in home-canned tomato products are underprocessing and incomplete seals. Tomatoes that have not been processed long enough to destroy molds and heat-resistant bacteria may spoil during storage. One of the common spoilage organisms, Bacillus coagulans, is very heat resistant and causes flat-sour spoilage. The jar lid may still be sealed and the product may appear normal, but the tomatoes will smell sour because of lactic acid produced by the growth of B. coagulans in the product. Never use tomatoes or tomato juices with off-odors.

Molds can grow on the surface of improperly processed tomato products and may eventually reduce the acidity to a point where botulism-producing spores can grow and produce a deadly toxin. Because even minute amounts of botulism toxin can cause fatal illness, discard without tasting any canned products that show mold growth on the surface. Discard them where they cannot be eaten by other people or animals.

The processing times in this fact sheet are designed to ensure sufficient destruction of bacteria and molds. Where appropriate, processing recommendations for both water bath and pressure canning are given. In general, a pressure canner results in higher quality and more nutritious canned tomato products.

Back Home Again

Well, yesterday was my last day at my temporary housekeeping job. I feel relieved that it's over, but will really miss the money as it has been such a blessing to be able to afford the little 'necessities' that I had taken for granted, once again. For example; I have been using the same razor to shave with for about two months prior to being offered this cleaning job. I hope that the mention of it hasn't grossed you out too much, but as you ladies know, shaving is a fact of life. Having shaved legs and underarms is important to ones self esteem. Not to mention, you just feel cleaner-- at least I do!

We were also able to have our cell phones reconnected after almost three weeks of being without them. Not having them was an inconvenience at best, but nothing earth shattering. Another burden has been lifted for us, in that, we now have enough money to pay off our gas bill. Hopefully, the gas company will now allow us to get a full re-fill before the cold temps arrive. (November is just a few short months away you know.) According to the gauge on the gas tank, we have been surviving on fumes for the past two months. Praise God for His blessings and provisions in our time of need!

To be honest, I was really getting discouraged about our situation here. It's hard living paycheck to paycheck, but God is showing me that in all things I need to trust Him. My ways are not His ways and that's a hard lesson that I'm still learning. There is still one major thing that is staring us in the face, but I am confident that God will work that out too and my prayer is that whatever happens His name will be glorified through it all.

During the midst of our financial struggles I received a note in my in-box that gave me inspiration. It came from Nancy Carter. Nancy is the editor for This Old Schoolhouse, Homeschool Minute.
Nancy was sharing what a crazy week it's been in their home due to several things breaking down. I could definitely relate to that as our water softener decided that it just wasn't going to condition our water anymore.

I have mentioned before in a previous post that we have well water. Well, our water here is very hard and full of rust. Without the softener, our white clothes don't stand a chance. Another reason that the softener is so important to us is that without it, our water isn't exactly palatable. Fortunately, with some investigative work on the part of my husband, he discovered the problem and after ordering the proper part, was able to fix it. As it turned out, it was all due to a broken $5 filter, about the circumference of a dime. I couldn't believe how important that small little filter was to the successful workings of my water softener! It reminded me of this quote: "The importance of the little things is often underrated because they are small; but they supply much of the actual discipline of life. There are really no nonessentials in the Christian's life. Our character building will be full of peril while we underrate the importance of the little things." Christ's Object Lessons ch. 25 p. 356 How true it is!!

Through Nancy's troubles she focused on the following bible text: " ...for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." Phillipians 4:11 Ever since that day, this text has been a comfort to me and I posted it on my refrigerator as a constant reminder. God is so good to preserve His word throughout the centuries so that, even today, we might be encouraged and edified! May you each have a blessed Sabbath as you spend it with your family and the Creator of our universe.

Temporary Job Away From Home

I have been working away from home the past couple of weeks (cleaning apartments/houses) and have had very little time to blog. Yesterday I managed to can 26 quarts of tomato juice. However, because we had company and a birthday party to attend, I didn't get started as early as I'd hoped and was up until just after midnight to get it all done. When the alarm went off this morning, I DID NOT want to get up and go to work.

With all this working away from home business, I have a newfound respect for women who work full time and then come home to a family and house that needs attention. I don't know how they do it! By the time I get home I'm completely exhausted, my feet are killing me, and I have no energy to do anything for anyone. It's something that I'm definitely not used to. My KUDOS to all you super moms out there! Thankfully, my work will probably be completed by the end of this week and I'll be able to get back to being a full-time homeschooling mom/housewife. :)