More canning

Just finished up canning 16 pints of green beans. Ate a yummy salad with broccoli, tomatoes and cukes from my garden. Had to buy the romaine though, my lettuce has not done well this year! Hopefully I'll have more of a crop this fall. It keeps getting pounded into the ground by the rain! Not all that much to report here. Naomi is bred now so she will kid around mid December. Then I'll begin breaking her to the milk stand. I will breed Tulip back around October and then breed Star probably in December. I should (crossing fingers) have year round milk this year without a break. If I can keep Tulip going until December, which at the rate she is producing now doesn't seem like it is going to be a problem.

Ellie is recovering nicely from her little mange situation......the other dogs are great as well. I'm having lots of fun riding Champ since I got Boss sold (although Champ isn't exactly loving it!) Champ is the type of horse that likes to stand over to the side and hope that you can't see him......unless you have horse cookies of course. Then he loves you until the cookies are gone. He has gotten more affectionate since Boss is gone, but that is to be expected as his horse herd is gone and all he has are us and the goats! I can't believe that I quit riding for almost two years! That was silly of me, but it's a pain when you've got a horse tearing around the pasture screaming their head off because of being left behind! I'm definitely a one horse gal!

Things are good here, hope they are good there as well!

Till next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

My demon......

He really really tries to wake up around that lovely time of the month that all of us lucky ladies have to deal with. He stretches, and yawns, and says to me...."Hey fatty......what's up? You are looking particularly disgusting today." He so loves to torment me. "You are so stupid and ugly........my goodness have you always looked like that?" He is evil, evil I tell you. That is when I use my powerful imagination to put the two of us in a boxing ring. Then I give him short arm punches to the face, followed by an uppercut and then finish him off with standing kicks to the chin that snap his head back until it pops off like Rockem Sockem Robots! That visual usually works for a few hours at least, until he shakes his head, rubs his jaw and starts in on me again! Oh how I want to kill him!!

On a brighter and less disturbing note..........today was weigh day! I lost another 2.8 pounds for a total of 7.4 pounds. Whoo hoo! Yaaay me! lol I've also lost 1.25 inches from my waist, 1 inch from my hips, 1/2 inch from my thighs (oh stalwart, sturdy thighs, you are always the slowest to go) 1 inch from my arms, and 1 inch from my bust. So that is really exciting! I am always scared to get on the scale. I'm following the plan just as I should and exercising, but I'm just always really scared to get on the scale. I know that there will most likely come a week where I won't lose anything and that terrifies me that I will quit. I've got to stay strong if that ever happens.

I will rely on my Lord and Savior to keep me strong.

Thank you dear Jesus for leading me to the WW program. Thank you for allowing me to lose weight and to begin to get my body healthy. I'm very thankful for the 7 pounds that I have lost and for the strength that You give me every day! I love you! Amen.........

Ps next week I will post an updated photo, because it will be one month since starting the program.

Till next time........I'm unTHICKIN and slowlyTHINNIN!

Things are good!

Tonight Shayla and I took a one mile walk (baby steps here baby steps) A mile is a nice jaunt for the two of us and we had a great time. We jogged a little bit and walked most of it. It was great to be out with my girly laughing, talking and encouraging each other!

I'm almost done with my third week and I can't even believe it. I do my third weigh in on Tuesday. I feel good and I'm not that concerned with what the scale says. Of course I'm hoping for at least a one pound loss, but I know that I'm exercising and eating healthy so what will be will be! I'm having a BLAST with the recipe builder feature on WW. I LOVE to cook so this is an awesome program for a gal like me. I can think about food all the time and work up new and exciting (and healthy) recipes and then try them, knowing that they are good for me.

Well not much to say. I want a treadmill and I asked EJ if I kept up with my exercising if he would buy me a treadmill for Christmas. He (being the weightlifting fitness buff that he is) said of course he would! So that's pretty darned exciting. I've wanted to run/jog my whole life, but never thought (for whatever reason) that I could do it. It's my goal to be running/jogging two miles by spring. I know that isn't a lofty goal, but it's a big one for me!

Hope you are all well and happy!

Till next time.......I'm unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN!

Program two...........

Oh how I hate you Program Two! You sick sadistic *&^&*$$&$^%*)!! I hate you so! Why can't you be more like Program One? Sweet gentle Program One........with her gradual resistance, but never ever much, no never too much resistance. Program One, who is kind and gentle and says "Hey it's ok if we don't sweat or breathe hard! At least you aren't on the couch eating peanut butter cups. Who cares if you can sing the Star Spangled Banner (if I could carry a tune without a bucket that is) without missing a note the whole time you are exercising, it's ok. Really.....it's ok." No not you Program Two. You are the sadistic drill sergeant who says "COME ON YOU FLABBY MAGGOT! LETS GO......MOOOVE IT!" You barely give me time to get on the silly machine before you have the resistance so hard that I can barely move the paddles! Then when I get in the rhythm of that you leave off some resistance and say "COME ON FATTY, FASTER, FASTER, FASTER!" I curse you the entire 30 minutes Program Two........but I know it is you that is making the difference. Program One is the sweet friend who would let you go out of the house with a booger on your face because she doesn't want you or she to be embarrassed by telling you. Program Two is the friend who would fall down laughing saying "You are going out like that?!!" Riddle me this.........if you are going on a job interview.........which friend do you want with you just before you walk in?? I hate you Program Two, but I'm thankful for you just the same!

Till next time.........I'll be unTHICKIN and totallyTHINNIN!

Canning this week

Yesterday I made dill pickles, today I canned green beans and made pickled mustard beans. Tomorrow I will be canning carrots. Our carrot crop was really wonderful this year! On Sunday morning EJ and I dug all the potatoes, most of the onions, and pulled the carrots. Now all that is left in the garden is broccoli, green beans, patty pan squash, peppers, tomatoes, and corn. Oh yes and lima beans and cucumbers.

The garden is in full swing, the goats are coming into season, and the rabbits are almost old enough to be bred! Things are busy busy busy here at Goodwife Farm!

Hope your homestead is bustling and busy as well!

Till next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

My second weigh in.......

Well well well..............I was very nervous to weigh in. I was laying in bed thinking that there was no free-cockin way that I was going to have lost weight. Every time I've lost weight in the past I've had to starve myself and I've been eatin good on the WW! So I was laying in bed thinking, alright if I don't lose any weight then I'll just have to cut back and stop using up all my points........

Weighed myself and I'm DOWN 3.2 LBS! WHOOO HOOO! Go me! Wow, I was on cloud nine! I looked like Miss America when they announce her as the winner. Pretty funny stuff actually! I had to rush to the phone and call Daddy P. Of course once again in Daddy P fashion he said..."Good." LMAO! He's such an emoter, just gushes all the time! It gave me the steam to get out there and get on that silly elliptical machine and get to sweatin!

Today I made it through the dreaded program two again and that was pretty awesome as well. I was ready to quit about 10 minutes into the 30 minute program but I "endeavored to persevere" and made it. Then I went out and rode Champ for some more exercise. Needless to say the horse isn't enjoying all this activity. As soon as he saw the halter coming he fled the country! Never fear, we bribed him with food (we are soul mates he and I) and he came back to the barn.

So anyway, things are going great. I've gotten a little discouraged once in awhile, but have managed to stay focused. Hopefully I can keep kicking my butt into line when I try to stray. It will help if all of you faithful readers send a few kicks my way as well!

Till next time........I'm unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN!

ps.......I've decided to just post the update photos once a month. That way hopefully we'll be able to see some changes!

I did it!!!

I finally made it through the entirety of program 2 on my elliptical. Oh dreaded program two, with your 30 minutes of extreme resistance alternating with almost no resistance but warp speed! I did it just now for the first time without having to stop and rest! lol..........YAY ME! It's amazing how little it takes to thrill me! I had to rush in here with sweat streaming to call my hubby and tell him the good news. He said (in typical Daddy P fashion)........"good"...........LMAO! He's an animated guy my hub-unit. Anywho, I'm headed out to ride Champ for a bit......just wanted to share with you, my faithful readers, that I made it through that silly program........I feel like I could conquer the world!

I pray that all of you that are struggling to get there like I am, can conquer your "program 2" today!

Till next time.........I'll be unTHICKIN and rockin the THINNIN!

Photos......

Till next time.............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Oh the horror!

My darling Ellie has mange! *gasp, snuffle, faint, swoon* Yes it's true, sad but true, I have let my dog get mange. Well lets face it, I didn't let her get it. It's not like I went to her and said "look, you're getting older now and it's time you went out and got scroungy and got the mange" no nothing like that. Actually she's had it since birth. It's demodectic mange which is the kind that all puppies get from their scroungy mommies, but most puppies outgrow it or never even manifest it..............great I've got a SPECIAL doggie! So now she has to get dipped by the vet every two weeks until she gets two clear skin scrapings......such joys with animal ownership!! And the best news is that all of her hair might not come back because of skin scarring! Hooraaay!



She's really a beautiful dog when she has hair..............











Till next time.........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

My husband got married this weekend.......

 Daddy P and I have been married for 13 wonderful amazing happy happy years. He wore a wedding ring for about the first 6 months. When we first got married he was a butcher. Within a few months of our wedding he was lifting a 50# box of meat and smashed that silly ring onto his finger so bad that he had to use pliers to get it off. I said...TAKE IT OFF! It's not worth you losing your finger to wear a ring and he hasn't worn one since. That has always been totally ok with me. I could have cared less whether he had a ring on or not, because marriage is in your heart, not on your finger. That said.......there is something terribly sexy about a rough, strong hand wearing a wedding ring.

Fast forward 13 years later.........Daddy P is Operations Manager for a major waste hauling company. He doesn't work with his hands at work anymore and could conceivably wear a wedding ring. I casually made that remark the other day (just because of my secret sexy thoughts of those masculane hands wearing wedding rings) and so while we were at wally world this weekend he detoured over to the wedding bands. (Yes I said wally world........ain't no way either of us is gonna pay over 300 bucks for a ring!!) He found a nice plain thin silver band that he liked for 48 bucks and we bought it.

So my hubby got married this weekend. Every time I catch sight of that rough hand with that band on it, my heart gives a flutter. Of course every time I look at pretty much any part of my man my heart gives a flutter, his eyes, his mouth, his biceps..........oh sorry, I could go on and on! It's nice to be ridiculously, stupidly in love with your hubby after 13 years. It's what I wish for my daughter and every woman I know. Our marriage is a gift from God that neither of us takes for granted.

Till next time, GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Mini Goal and week 1 pic

My first mini goal is to weigh 217.5 lbs. I'm not setting a time limit on this because if I do I'll be setting myself up to fail and I don't want that. I'm trying to think of a nice little NON FOOD reward that I can give myself when I acheive this goal.........




Anyway, here is the updated photo of me! Not much change, but it has only been a week for pete's sake!

Til next time............I'll be unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN!

Today's the day!

Ready.....................set...................................drumroll please......................................I lost 17 pounds! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!! Just kidding!


I just weighed myself a little bit ago and I weighed 227.8 pounds for a loss of 1.2 pounds. Not a huge loss, but a loss and it feels like an honest loss to me. I was a bit discouraged but trying to be positive about it. I came to my computer to track my weight on WW and read an article about why slow weight loss is better. It said that slowly but surely the weight comes off. THEN it said.........

"It's that kind of through thick and thin attitude that will take people from thick to thin for good"

Isn't that awesome? That's the whole title to my blog and that article about being frustrated with slow weight loss used that quote! Well it spoke to me anyway!


I can't post my photo yet cause The Youngun is gone at my sister's house and Daddy P is at work, but he will take a pic of me this evening when he gets home and I'll get it posted.


I still feel good, energized, and positive. I've kept up with my elliptical and my free weights, and I've even been riding Champ again (which feels great by the way and isn't bothering my back at all!) I got through the 30 minute program on my elliptical (ok, ok, so I had to rest a couple times, but I made it!)


Today I feel like Psalm 100 which says......... Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.


I highlighted the third verse in blue because it is the part that spoke to me that most. God made us. I'm thankful that my Lord did make me, and I'm thankful that he made me the way that I am. I'm very thankful to God that he has directed me to weight watchers and I'm thankful that he is there for me to lean on every day and in every way. I give God thanks and Glory for every thing in my life!


Til next time............I'm unTHICKIN and 1.8poundsTHINNIN!

Tomorrow is the big day!

My first weigh in! I am of course full of positive energy.......hopefully I won't have a horrendous fiery crash in the morning! I'm going to take a new picture and update my weight.....so stay tuned!

I feel great, really really good and I am not going to get upset no matter what the scale reflects. I feel good, healthy, energetic and empowered. It's good!

C-ya in the A.M.! Til then I'll be so unTHICKIN and totally rockin theTHINNIN!

Will it never end?

When will our government stop???? I just read an article that the Pentagon is considering banning smoking by all military personnel including ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIERS. So a man or woman can make the decision to sacrifice their life to defend our country...........but they can't make the decision about whether or not they should light up a smoke???? Are you kidding me?? I'm not a smoker and I enjoy going to a place to eat where I don't have to smell smoke......BUT and this is a big ole but..........if I don't want to be around smoke I don't go around it. I don't tell other people that they can't smoke. People this is getting really scary.

We as Americans have to stop this kind of stuff. Our rights are being stripped away from us. From people living in subdivisions where they tell you what color to paint your house, what color the backs of your drapes have to be, what kind of DOG you can have, and what your beverage has to be in if you are drinking it in your yard; to telling our hard working servicemen and women that they can't smoke in the single most stressful job in the world. And not to sound like a lunatic, but it begins with our children in school. They are indoctrinated not to ask questions. You must do it this way because I said so. That breeds a population that is very very malleable. Raise your kids to question authority.....raise them to do it respectfully, but tell them to ask WHY. And if they don't get the answers they want, tell them to keep asking. Yeah this makes our jobs as parents harder, but it will breed a stronger human being. A human being who won't follow along blindly. One who will know where they are going, and why they are going there, not a sheep or a lemming to follow blindly along wherever the crowd is headed. I'm sorry to say that our government has alot easier job (not to mention incredibly more power) when the populace sits there and says, well they can do this because they are the government. They must know best.

When I worked at the school I don't know how many debates I had with the principle and secretary about how my daughter is MY DAUGHTER and if I call her in sick to school that should be enough. If I say she won't be there it is none of their business why or where she is.

There was a story recently about a little girl that was strip searched to find an ibuprofen. STRIP SEARCHED.........without her parents presence. I was outraged to find this out. I brought the topic up at school and of course they had their justifications for it. I don't care if you think my daughter has a baggie of cocaine up her bum.........you'd better call me to be there while you strip search her underage body for it. She is my child. If this little girl wasn't so indoctrinated with; Well they are my teachers, I have to do what they say no matter what; perhaps she would have refused this search. After reading that article in the NEA magazine, I sat my daughter down and had a talk with her. I told her that if anything like this ever happened to her that she was to refuse to submit to a search. They can search your locker, they can search your backpack, they can tell you to take off your shoes and empty your pockets, but if it goes ANY further than that, you REFUSE. Tell them to call your mom. If they try to force you to submit to it, you refuse violently if you have to. They have no right to strip search you. NONE. I also told the principal of the school that I worked at to be prepared for my husband to come in and strip search HIM if he tried this with my child.

I remember a conversation with my 10 year old daughter a few months ago. She came home and told me that the teacher made them go to the bathroom and she didn't have to go. I said, "Well they can't make you go." and she said " Yes huh, they make us go." I took that opportunity to explain to her that they could tell the kids they have to go to the bathroom. They can tell you that you have to at least try to go, but they cannot MAKE YOU PEE! It's a funny little story, but my daughter was really distressed that they were MAKING her go to the bathroom when she didn't have to go. I just wanted her to try to understand that it isn't something someone can make you do. Just because they are an authority figure in your life they can't force you to pee. I also took that opportunity to explain to her that nobody could ever take her Jesus away from her because He is in her heart. Even if it ever happens that someone tells her that she cannot worship Jesus, nobody can stop her from it because Jesus lives inside us. You don't have to kneel down, you don't have to close your eyes. You can talk to Jesus all day long without anybody even knowing you are doing it if you have to!

Once again I say THEY ARE OUR CHILDREN. Whether at school, church, or the mall, she is my daughter and I will take responsibility for her actions until she turns 18. I guess a big part of the problem is that parents don't take parenting seriously. They don't want the hassle so they would rather the courts, or the schools, or the community raise their children.

This has turned into quite the rambling post, but it just outrages me that our rights are slowly being stripped away. I'm not sure what to do about it beyond raising my child to question authority and making our view heard. I know that we aren't the only people who feel this way.

Keep your kids close'; protect them, love them, nurture them, discipline them. Raise them to have smarts, and most importantly to USE them. Raise leaders, not sheep!

Till next time...........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM

Oh Sweet torment!

My darling hubs takes 4 homemade peanut butter cookies in his lunch every day. To that end, dear wifey has to bake cookies approximately every 2 weeks or so............I WANT COOKIE DOUGH!!! Sigh...............so unfair. Don't worry faithful readers.....I have resisted the evil temptress known as raw cookie dough and ate an apple and a glass of goat milk instead........I shall "endeavor to persevere" as my good friend from the Outlaw Josie Wales would say.

Forever unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN...............pray for me dear readers!

Day three!

Well it is day 3 of my weight loss journey.........if I live to be 82 years old that only leaves me 18,250 days to go! WHOO HOO! Just kidding, I hope to live to a nice ripe old age where I'm all wrinkled and Daddy P really wants to put me in a home, but he's just as old and wrinkled up as I am so we keep each other around because really after 60+ years of marriage it would just be rude to ship one of us off to the home without the other! Whew!

Well it's going really well! I've done my elliptical machine every day (three whole days in a ROW, I know I know it's amazing, save your applause for the end of the post, please) and I'm also doing some stretches that I found on the WW website. They are good for me cause of when I separated my ribs, my back still tweaks once in awhile and I'm hopeful that these stretches will help it out. I'm also going to incorporate some weight lifting into my exercise program cause I really really like lifting weights. I plan to do the elliptical on M, W, F, along with the weight lifting, then do the elliptical and stretches on T, TH, and see how that works out for me.

I'm still in the euphoric first days of my relationship with this new program, where I'm just certain that in a matter of a week I'll be buff like Jennifer Aniston and the photos will show it! LMAO! Oh how we lie to ourselves when we are Miss Pollyanna Happypants like I am. My big crash will come on Tuesday morning when I get on the scale and take my update photo! But that is the way it is. This is going to have to be a lifelong change, and I've got to suck it up (but not mashed potatoes, don't suck those up) and accept that I will have to be careful and work hard for the REST OF MY LIFE, but it is worth it to be as healthy as I can be. Now I know that I could get hit by a bus tomorrow (although not here cause I live in a very rural area and there's no such thing as public transpo and school is out for the summer) or my horse Champ could kick me in the head as I'm crouched underneath his belly putting his fly boots on (why stay on one side and have to get up and switch when you can just get square underneath and do all four at once??) and I could die. But I figure I should try to make myself as healthy as I can while I'm here. The most important thing for me to do is make myself right with God every day, and I do so strive for that! I fall, as we all do, but He lifts us up if only we will let Him in! I was reading my Bible after making this post and came up with these verses from Ephesians chapter 3 verses 17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

That verse spoke to me once again in describing the fullness of Christ's love. I love my Jesus so much but (I'm very ashamed to admit this) I tend to put FOOD first in my life. How sickening is that? I want to delete it, I don't even want it written down, but sometimes it's true. It's that demon that I talked about in my first post.....it is that that I must defeat! So I gird my sturdy (but soon to be svelte) loins with the power of Christ's Love and am determined to beat this once and for all!

Until next time! I'll be so unTHICKIN and totally THINNIN!

Big Ole Patty Pan!

This is a 1#11oz patty pan squash that I picked from my garden this evening. Isn't it purty!

The rest of my garden isn't doing so great! lol

It's been such a wet year and my tomatoes got mudded in, as well as my peppers. Zucchini is doing well, as well as the squash and cucumbers. Basically my tomatoes and peppers are quite the disappointment, but such if gardening.......you have good years and not so good years!

Hope yours is a good one!

Til next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

I think.......

I think what I wish more than anything else (in regards to my food issues) is to be like a normal healthy weight person. I wish that I didn't have to obsess over food.......am I really hungry? am I eating too much? am I eating enough (not that that one is ever too much of a concern)? is this what I should be eating? UGH!!!!!! I just wish that I was one of those people who could get hungry, eat something, and then forget about the whole deal until I was hungry again. Unfortunately I'm not one of those type people and I really don't think I ever will be because every time I've lost weight before, I've almost immediately relapsed. I've gotten to a healthy weight, then I've relapsed almost instantly. It's like a yo yo for sure, I hit that weight low and BOING......go right back up. I want to just see food as fuel and then forget it. I feel like that is probably what normal people do...........but I just can't do it. I OBSESS about food.........all the time. In the past when I've lost weight, I don't think about it all the time. I feel pretty normal about food........get hungry........eat something..........then go on. But that sly little demon starts to sneak back around.........he says "hey, you're a healthy weight..........it doesn't matter that you aren't hungry.......go ahead and eat that piece of birthday cake...it won't hurt anything." And then before I know it I'm over 200 lbs again! It is such a struggle. I know I can do it......I've done it before.........I just long for the day when it is second nature............if that day ever comes!

Thank you Lord Jesus, for making me. You created me...........You love me............You are my strength............if only I will rely on you. I love you.

The full soul loatheth a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Proverbs 27:7

This verse means to me that if my soul is full with the love of Jesus, then food won't even mean anything to me, but if my soul is hungry for Jesus, no matter what I eat will taste sweet, but won't fill the holes in my soul. Not sure if I articulated that well enough but...............

Til next time............I'll be unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN!

Picture of me........

Ok...........this is the first photo............first day of new plan..................please be kind...................it's not pretty!

Are you ready.............................here goes.......................................

This was just before I set out to do my elliptical machine................................(which I did for 20 minutes by the way, yay me!)

Deep breath...............................here we go............................

If you click on the picture you can see it in it's larger form..........if you are that brave! lol

Oh legs like stalwart oaks..........oh hips of padded glory................oh yea lovely flabby arms.............glorious double chin........................

Oh......whoops got carried away with my sonnet to myself there.............

Alright...................I'm ready to do this!

Lord, please give me the strength of character to turn my body into a temple that will be strong and healthy. You have blessed us so richly and we thank You for each and every day that we are alive to spread the message of Your Love and Devotion to us, Your humble children. Please forgive me where I fail You, as I am weak. I love you............

Til next time.........I'll be unTHICKIN and soTHINNIN!

The beginning..........

Ok.......I've decided to convict myself and come clean...........I'm a food addict.............no seriously...........I've got problems! I started gaining weight right after 8th grade. I'm not exactly sure why..........but I wound up a 230 lb high school sophmore. I'm only 5'3" tall and I weighed 230 pounds. Then later in my sophmore year my dad got diagnosed with diabetes. The whole family went on a diabetic diet and I (pretty quickly I might add) got down to 165 pounds! Yaaay me! That's not that a bad weight for me as I'm a farm girl and I pack some muscle. I wore size 12 jeans and boy did I ever think that was exciting. I used to thump on my collar bones because I'd never had them before! LOL! Then I began working in a deli in a grocery store.........yup.........crack-whore in the pharmacy let me tell you! I (again rather quickly) shot up to 175. That is where I met my wonderful beautiful amazing husband Daddy P and we got married two months later. I worked in the deli for about a year after that and when I quit there I think I weighed about 190. Then we moved and I started working at a department store..........much better for a gal like me! I got pregnant with my daughter and after working there for 1 year and 1 month.......had my little girl and of course didn't go back to work. When I delivered The Yougnun I weighed 260 pounds. After her birth I discovered a program that worked pretty well for me at the time and I QUICKLY lost well over 100 pounds getting down to 148 (the thinnest I've ever been in my life......gracious I think I probably weighed 148 pounds in the 6th grade!) However......as is typical with me.........as soon as I hit 148 I began creeping back up........until I hit 260 again only 3 years later!! I stayed that heavy for quite awhile..........until about 3 years ago when I once again got myself together and got down to 175 pounds. Then........crack whore in the pharmacy again..........I got a job as the cook at a high school. Yup you guessed it...........WHAM.......back up to where I am right now............229 pounds as of this morning.

I am a beautiful, passionate, sexy, loving, caring, wonderful woman who also happens to be overweight. I'm strong, intelligent, and FAT! I'm a great cook, a pretty fair housekeeper, a gardener, a fab-u-los-o wife and a pretty cool mom. I want to be HEALTHY. Right now I am.......no high blood pressure, no diabetes, nothing else, but I'm sure it's coming. I know that if I don't get this weight off and KEEP IT OFF, that I'll be just like my dad, my grandpa, my uncle and my aunts, who all have weight problems and all have health problems as a result.

So..........last night I joined Weight Watchers online, and this morning I'm starting this blog. I hope that the blog will help me to be accountable. I tend to hide........and I've got to face this demon head on! That is the only way that I'm going to whip it once and for all. I am a pretty darn together lady in all other aspects of my life. This is my failing..............food. I pray about it alot, but frankly sometimes I feel like God gets sick of my whining! JUST DO IT...........put the food last.........it is only fuel after all, nothing more. But I'm the type of person who really really enjoys food. I like to buy it, prepare it, cook it, and most of all EAT IT! I like to look at recipes, and make new dishes. I've got to get a handle on this.

In this blog I'm going to report to you....my faithful readers (of which there are NONE lmao) every day about how I'm doing. I'm going to be honest, so it might not be pretty every day especially the first few weeks.............months.............ok years! I'm going to report to you my weight, and a photograph, weekly (YIKES........this is really gonna be ugly) because I feel that if I do that then I can't hide. I will be putting it out there for all to see and I'll have to face my food addictions.

Ok so if I ever get any readers, than you in advance........and even if I don't get readers, this will be like my online journal of.............THICKIN AND THINNIN!

God bless you all in your journeys.........whatever they may be!

Soap Making......

Today I've been milling soap. That means I'm taking my basic block of soap (that I prepared a few weeks ago) and grating it, adding fresh goat's milk, and remelting it, thereby making a wonderful creamy, rich soap that makes our skin so very soft and silky! The first batch I added cornmeal and lemongrass essential oil. The cornmeal is a wonderful exfoliant (great for scrubbing garden dirt off of the hands) and the lemon scent is very very lovely! The second batch I'm adding wheat germ for a more gentle exfoliant and added skin softening. I love making soap. It makes me feel very good to use my own creation to get clean! I also don't have to deal with the yucky dryness that so many of us gals have to deal with on our arms and legs. I use my soap for shaving my legs and pits as well (not that you want to know about my hygeine practices) It works great!

The following photos show the steps that I use when milling my soap.

These are the blocks of basic soap......

Photo on top (below text) is me grating the basic soap............Photo on bottom is the grated soap with the milk added. You put it over very low heat and stir occasionally until the soap is nicely melted together. If you stir too much the soap will be full of little bubbles....not a big deal, but not what you want.

After the soap is melted nicely, you add your additives (scents or otherwise) then pour into a mold. I use a plastic shoe box type thingy. Then put the mold in the freezer for a couple hours and then pop the soap out onto butcher paper. Then cut into bars and let dry. That's all there is to it!

(Above) Top photo is the uncut block of milled soap. This batch has the milk, cornmeal, and lemongrass scent. Bottom is the cut bars of soap. These are ready to use now, but waiting until they are fully dry will make them last longer.

Well gotta go finish up supper!

Til next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Garden update, hubby's birthday, and a nice day trip!

This is a picture of our rooster Mr. Cackles with two of his hens patrolling the property for bugs, worms, larva, and other yummy chicken delicacies! That's our sweet corn crop in the foreground, it's disappointingly short this year as we have had a LOT of rain and it is also planted in newly broken ground. This fall we'll put lots of good horse, goat, and chicken poop on it and till it under, then next spring I'm going to plant my cool weather crops in that patch because it is in partial shade. It should be a great location for my lettuce, spinach, beets, peas, cabbage, and other cool crops. I'm not going to have enough corn to can this summer, but we will have lots of corn on the cob to eat fresh. Next year I plan to plant twice as much corn and hopefully the weather will cooperate. God knows what He's doing though and I'm not complaining. The rain and cooler temps have been wonderful for my onions, peas, and lettuce crops! I've canned beans three times for a total of about 36 pints. I've got lots more to do of course. Green beans are just about the only green veggie my hub-unit will eat so we have them almost every night! I need LOTS of pints of green beans!

This is a picture that my daughter took of myself and my husband on July 3 (his 36th birthday). We got him two shop lights with bulbs for his shop, and a new tow strap cause he already broke the one that we bought him for Christmas! He was pulling stumps out of the fence row and pop, broke it the first time he used it! lol. After he opened his birthday presents we went catfishing again, but didn't catch anything this time. :( We still had a nice time enjoying the beauty of God's world and being together as a family!














Here a picture of The Youngun and her daddy on his birthday!


















This is a picture of The Youngun with a Bald Eagle at the Bald Eagle exhibit at Dixon Mounds in Lewistown IL. Saturday was rainy, rainy, rainy so since we couldn't do anything outside, we decided to take a day trip to the mounds. We are very interested (as an entire family) in the history of our wonderful world. It's really exciting when you have wonderful historical elements right in your own state! Cahokia Mounds is very close to where we live and we've been there a few times, but had never been to Dixon Mounds.

It was a long drive but well worth the trip. We enjoyed perusing the artifacts from Illinois' prehistory. We love to imagine what our state looked like before power lines, litter, and modern buildings. I think it would have been amazing to have walked our state when it was pristine and unsoiled. That said, there is something for living in our modern times as the average age for a woman in the Mississipian culture was 35.........that leaves me 3 years to go! We finished our day trip with a wonderful supper at a diner in Central Illinois. Then it was on to home to get Tulip milked, eggs gathered and rabbits fed and watered!



Our town's Independence Day celebration was postponed due to rain so we went and watched fireworks on Sunday evening. EJ and I reflected on how so many people call it "4th of July" when it is and should be called Independence Day. That is the day that we celebrate our Independence..........an Independence that is slowly but surely being taken away from us. But that is a whole nother can of worms, isn't it!

Till next time................GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!