Pardon our ashes...

DATELINE: December 30, 2014
Literally I am having a fireside chat with you today. Have my latte in hand and ready to chat...
First when I got home from work yesterday, we didn't have heat. So, what did I do? I called Mr. Perky just to let him know, Peter. LOL.
I tell you, Mr. Perky is amazing in my book. He came home and started a fire in the fireplace. After checking the fuses for the HVAC system and the fuse box, he checked the system. I think.
We were toasty through out the evening. Thankfully it is only about 25 degrees outside. We will be living through this with an extra layer of clothes and the fireplace and NOT making an emergency appointment with the HVAC repair people.

We have multiple sources for alternate heat: wood, electric and propane. Plus stored propane (we now have a large propane tank on our new property). 

 

But, the best thing is years ago Mr. Perky built in a convection system into the fireplace. That baby puts out some massive heat! So, I thought I'd share detailed pictures of the system. The piece on the top is a flat piece of metal. The pipes are attached to the metal to stabilize the system.The system was built on top of the fireplace grate.

 

He used a blower/fan and cut a hole through the fire screen

 
He fashioned a pipe that turns up into the long box, which runs along the front of the grate.

 





The open end of the pipes butt up against the box. The heated air rises through the tubes and flows out of the top and into the room, instead of straight up the chimney. This works so well, we often don't turn on the blower/fan. With the blower turned on to assist, this produces considerable more heat and sort of shoots it out of the top. 

Stay warm this winter...

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Taking the Next Step...How To Pressure Can

Amy has hanging out in our community for some time now, and got a pressure canner for Christmas!

She shared with me pictures this week of her first pressure canning adventure! This is what I am talking about, YOU taking the next step in your journey.

“Making my first attempt at pc (pressure canning) today! Bug wants me to can chicken. So I am canning some chicken breasts. So excited!”

 “Didn't want to do big batches till I did trial run. 4 pints chicken and chunky tomato sauce. Give me more to can! Love how easy it was. I did it on a glass top stove. “

I admire Amy so much. She is preparing & teaching for the future of herself and her son Bug. Bug was featured last year on the blog. A great young man who learns needed life skills. Here is his story: It's a Bug's Life (164)

Then there is Crazy Lady Survival-Grow it, Store it, Make it. She lives in Perth, Australia. Do you know how hard it is to get canning supplies across the pond? It is insanely expensive. Yet, she and others make it work. She is another gal who continues to do the right stuff. Check her FB page out. 

"Set up outside for the first time canning. Going to do potatoes mainly, maybe some carrots and asparagus as its in season." 

             

 

If you have every read the label of Dr. Bronners....

If you have every read the label of Dr. Bronner's Pure Castille Soap, you certainly remember it. Even if it was years ago.
That's what mom and I did before she left. She had never heard of Dr. Bronner's Soap, so we spent quite some time reading the label and then about his life.

Ethical Sourcing, Fair Trade, Certified Organic and gives 30% of their profits to help others. Plus, it is just good soap with a multitude of uses.
The products are great, the man very unusual.
                                                          
Read the Moral A,B,C's of Dr. Bronner 

Making Lip Balm (not Hand Cream)

Making Hand Cream Lip Balm

I am grateful you all follow me, but honestly I am not sure why. LOL. I make a lot of mistakes and I don't use/follow recipes. 

Like I mentioned, I found a recipe for making hand cream and purchased the ingredients to make some batches. I wanted to give some to my mom (and other family members). Then couldn't find the recipe I saw before. Someday I will learn to carefully bookmark something I really care about.

Anyway, so I found a similar recipe and being my silly self, I adjusted the recipe.

What I wound up with is really more of a lip balm & it is wonderful lip balm.
But, I am going to have to make another batch and this time I will follow the recipe and see if I come up with hand cream. Here is what I used:

4 oz. Natural Coco Butter

4 oz. Beeswax

2 T. Coconut oil

10 drops of Vanilla Essential Oil
(on the second batch, for the hand cream I increased the coconut oil to 4 T.)

                        

I placed the cocoa butter and beeswax in separate small canning jars (so I could use the measurement lines) and put them in a saucepan of water, heated until the items melted. Then added the coconut oil and vanilla essential oil and mixed them all together.

Carefully poured the mixture into this nifty little tins I have from last years Advent Calendar.

                          

 

My mother the pole dancer...

My mother is a kick. She will be 76 this month and is a consummate storyteller. I won’t do this story justice I’m sure, but I just have to relate it.

Her most recent job was gathering research data on people living in the inner city. 

One of the people she needed to contact lived in an apartment above an establishment called “Sassy Kat’s”. An almost neon pink building on a corner in the “hood”.
She found the office around the back of the building and spoke to the manager who offered to give her a tour.
When they walked in off the street, there was a large portioning wall. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room.
Round tables and chairs crowded the room. And along one wall there was a large square table, with chairs and a pole rising up in the middle.

This is the conversation that ensued...

“Oh, so you have dancers?”
“Well, yes…”
“Girls and boys?”
“No, only girls…”
“Are they all young?”“No, we actually have someone in here in her sixties…”
“Hmmm…”

Well, mom just loves to tell this story, teasing that this is probably going to be her next “job”. This cracks me up and embarrasses my brothers.

She had also decided she wanted me to take pictures of her at her various hang outs. She wanted to send pictures to her brother that chronicled her job.
We spent a fun filled day, driving around the inner city in her “hood” and taking pictures.
As she primped for her picture at “Sassy Kat’s”, here is what I saw in the viewfinder of my camera.

That's right. Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. Amateur Tryouts 8-10 p.m.

If you look closely, you are able to see we added "Happy New Year" to the photo and this is the cover of her New Year's card this year.




You would think this has nothing to do with preparing, except that fact that my mother is extremely keen on situational awareness. She spent 20 years as a case worker for adults and fragile children in the hard core inner city.
I have actually been blogging for about 9 years now. I had another blog that focused on stage designs and experiential worship experiences. This is an edited post from that site. 

Doncha' wish your mother was cool like mine?

Musings: Thinking ahead and family...

Mr. Perky is of “retirement age”. I can't ever imagine him not working.
Our plan is for him to stop working at his “job” at 70 (not far off), but as we speak we are amping up our “retirement home” location. We have added a garage for him to continue to work in and we going to create a backroom classroom for both of us to be able to teach classes.

Future Classroom
There is actually more room than this

FAMILY
Sometimes I think there is a caretaker gene. Some people have it and others don't. Others sometimes are forced into caring for the parent(s). I know there is a variety of family dynamics that play into this.

When Mr. Perky's mom got in trouble financially, his brother chose not to have her in his household. I think we have always just known that we would be the ones to take care of our parents, another reason I adore my husband.

I spent 10 years traveling back and forth to Indiana for each emergency with my father's heart problems. Months taking care of the situations, because I knew my brother's (who live there) couldn't handle the situation.
Mr. Perky's mom lived next to us for the last five years of her life. We had a hobby room, which happens to have a full bath, bedroom and kitchen set up added to our home. I am hoping this will be a big advantage when we sell our current location.

The hobby room

While we probably won't be able to add another hobby room for my mom, she has always been in our plans. We chose to make sure we had at least 3 bedrooms in our new home. She is cute, because she does know this and teases about it all the time.

Small room, but for mom

While we plan to be able support our children and grandchildren with our preparations if things go south; I don't foresee that our children will have those types of plans for me. I am 11 years younger than Mr. Perky.

But, I have a back-up plan for that also. Still working it out, but I have some time.

This journey is far more than being prepared for the end of the world as we know it. In the end I simply trust and continue to step forward into the journey where it leads me. 

Beans, bullets and band-aids baby!

Remember this? In October Mr. Perky got me this dust cover. 

Last night, I was sitting around in my jammies and he came home with my (old) weapon with my new dust cover. I was so happy. I was sighting on the t.v. LOL.

He does a lot of his own gunsmithing, but for some reason this was harder, I think he said it was because I am left handed. So he took it to the range's gunsmith. 
Again, my dust cover has this printed on both sides: 

"...and I will strike down upon thee great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers and you will know I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon you" Ezekiel 25:17

Beans, bullets and band-aids baby! He is so sweet.