Busy, Busy, Busy

We finally finished out the garden, I think just in time. Its getting hotter, and hotter. We had to transplant our tomatoes and they're not looking all that great - I sure hope they do, I have a lot of plans for them. It took us about 2 weeks to build our planter boxes but I think it was well worth it. In one planter box we have just pumpkins and cantaloupe and in the other we have tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, carrots, onions, lettuce, and chilies. I planted what I mostly like to use in my salsa. We also have a pot with green beans, because Kayla wanted them, and strawberries. We have our first red strawberry just coming in. Then we also have a box with nothing but herbs, parsley, oregano, basil, chives, cilantro, and oh I guess that's it. We also just got 3 fruit trees, lemon, orange and grapefruit. We are have a lot of fun and we hope we have a lot of success with it.
I just had to put these in. Ashley was so tired and was watching TV when she fall asleep. She is so cute.
And Kayla and Austin having fun with they new sunglasses. They're so silly!

Tank Day

Craig and Austin went to go see the tank today. They had the tank open this morning to help raise money for the 4th of July. Austin loved it and I think Craig did too. I don't think they've had the tank opened for a few years but I know it was a big hit and I think Austin had a fun time with just him and his dad.

CANNING AT HOME

I got this new can sealer, so I can, can my food storage whenever I want at home. Today I needed to finish my sugar so I decided to take a few pictures to show everyone how I do it. First I get myself organized and gather all the proper items I will need to can.
Then I get my #10 can and line it with a plastic bag, then pour 6LBS on sugar inside each can, then measure. I measure everything because I have a computer program that calculates my food storage for me, but I do need to know how much everything weighs. Its actually a really cool program. I have a basic and an advanced version, so if anyone would like a copy of it just let my know and I can email it to you or maybe I can try to put it on my blog site.
After I weigh everything, I label my cans (I put my labels upside down for a reason), its so when I finish sealing the can the pressure of the product will help ensure the seal and knowing if its a good seal or not. I know there are other reasons as well but I can't think of them at the time.Well, that pretty much does it. Then I box them, label them and put them on the shelve. And then I'm that much closer to getting my year supply of food storage. I actually really, really close to having it and it definitely brings Craig and I much peace knowing that we have it.

GARY's GETTING MARRIED?!?

Well, it's confirmed Gary and Chanell are unofficially engaged and I mean their not officially engaged but have set a date for May 23, 2009. WOW, what short notice, his mom and I just found out last night. I guess, we'll see how everything turns out.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Have Food Storage

by Wendy DeWitt

10. My neighbors have a TWO year supply! No, they don’t. They don’t have any food. Did you know that 85% of the members of the church don’t have any food storage at all? If your idea of food storage is to eat someone else’s food………..this is a really bad plan.

9. I’ve paid tithing for 20 years…the church can give me a little food. Many members believe that when the times get hard, the church is going to come through like Joseph in Egypt. Absolutely not true. All the church storehouses and welfare farms across the country would only feed 4% of the members of the church. The church has been asking YOU to store food for 75 years. They’re NOT storing food for you. Thus, another bad plan.

8. I’m moving in with my children / parents! Really….that’s just a bad plan all by itself. But it points out that most members don’t have a year’s supply because they’re PLANNING on eating someone else’s food! Of course, since no one HAS any food, we have yet another bad plan.

7. I have a year’s supply…and the bullets to go with it! I’ve heard time and again, “How dumb is that to go to all the time and expense of getting food…just to have some guy with a gun come and shoot my family to take it away?” Here’s a better question. Are you afraid of the guy with the gun? Or are you more afraid of BECOMING the guy with the gun? What would you do if your children were starving to death? Would you lie? Cheat? Steal? Would you shoot your neighbor for his food? I guarantee….if you were watching your child starving to death, you would do anything you had to to keep them alive. If you don’t have your year’s supply, you are putting yourself in danger of losing not only your temporal salvation, but your spiritual salvation as well.

So far, all the reasons we don’t have our food storage involve eating someone else’s food. Please, don’t put your family’s temporal salvation in other people’s hands. No one is storing food for you. Not your neighbors, not the government…not even the church.

#6. The boat and the 4 wheelers are taking up all my storage space! (priorities!)

#5. 3 letters….Y2K. Ok, that’s 2 letters and a number….but they’re always making way too much out of everything! This is never going to happen!” (Every prophecy that has ever been given WILL happen.)

#4. If anything DOES happen, the government will be here within hours! (insert laughter) Did you know the government has been telling us that we need to have food storage? They’re actually CALLING it food storage! We now have the government telling us to store food, water, medicines…whatever we will need to be able to stay in our homes for several months.

#3. I can’t afford scrap booking AND food storage. The average food storage can cost as little as a dollar a day. We live in the richest society in the history of the world, and while there are cases where money may be a problem, most of the time it is a matter of priorities. We have chosen bigger homes, nicer cars, more tv’s, computers, vacations …everything is more important than our food storage. If I asked, “Who has a cell phone?” most of you would say yes. You pay at least $30 a month to have a cell phone….that’s about a dollar a day…the cost of one year’s supply of food for your child. Is your cell phone really more important than your child’s temporal salvation? You have to make food storage a priority.

2. I’m waiting for the cannery to sell Papa John’s dehydrated pizza! Food storage has always had a stigma attached to it. If it’s not wheat, beans and powdered milk, it’s not food storage. With the system I use, food storage can be sweet and sour chicken, tamale pie, chile and cornbread, beef stew, shepherd’s pie, minestrone…even chocolate chip cookies! Your imagination (and your pocketbook) are the only limitations you have.

And the #1 reason why I don’t have my year’s supply of food? A year?? I thought it was 72 hours!!

You KNOW you should have your food storage. You WANT to have it, but it can be so overwhelming! How much do I buy? Where do I store it? How do I cook it? It seems like an impossible task…. but it’s not. It doesn’t matter if you use my system or just start buying extra food, the important thing is to do something. Good luck in your efforts! Wendy DeWitt

Catching You All Up

WOW! I have been sooo busy the last year. Let me see if I can update everyone on what, and where we're at. We are still in Overton and have been HERE for the last year and a half. Craig is still working valet at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, working the swing shift - Ya! He wants to go into Forensic Science as a CSI and has applications in 5 different places and is on the eligible to hire list, but with the economy, we're just waiting for a response. So in the meantime we help his mom around the house with yard work, we just got done landscaping the front yard - and I have to say it look pretty darn good! We've been also remodeling the inside of the house - well mostly painting, we did knock down a wall and built shelves in the storage room and converted it into our food storage room/sewing room. Its huge and we love it. We also planted our first garden, I am definitely enjoying it. I mostly have stuff to make salsa but we working on expanding it sometime soon. I think most of my time gets spent on all my church callings. Craig and I are the Ward Activities Chairmen, we actually just got done having our Easter Activity. It was so much fun and if anyone know Overton 1st Ward, we had an awesome turn out. But now were planning our next one maybe sometime in the summer. I also am the Food Storage Specialist,... WOW what an overwhelming calling. I didn't think it would be but it is and I'm loving every minute of it. Sometimes Craig gets after me about it but I know the members are counting on me, but I think they're definitely coming around. And my last kind of, sort of calling is doing the Relief Society Newsletter. But despite what everyone says I love all of them. Oh, I also have a part-time job working down at Radioshack, I love learning about all the stuff that I usually let Craig worry about, but its fun. Oh, I am also working on getting my Real Estates license, so if you know anything who is thinking of buying a house in the next couple months, just let me know. Kayla is in preschool, she loves it and is always excited in come home and tell me with she did. Austin, what can I say, he is so much fun. Loves to be outside and doing all the boy things like playing in the dirt riding his bike and 4-wheeler and just causing nothing but trouble. Ashley or Rae-Rae, she is such a doll. She just had her first birthday last week on the 1st. We love her so much. I forgot to mention, did you know Craig has lost over 30 pounds. He looks awesome and I'm so proud of him. He mostly just changed his eating habits but man, it sure paid off. So the next time you see him, just let him know that you know that he lost some weight. Well I think that it for know. Hopefully, I can keep this up.