Whoo hoooo!!!

I just did 2 BOY push ups! I've wanted to be able to do real push ups since I was a kid and have never been able to! After 3 weeks of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, I can do TWO!!!!!!!! My goal at the end of this 6 month program is to be able to do at least one pull up...........and after this I KNOW I CAN DO IT!

I am woman.............can you hear me roaring??!!!!!

My Treasures!

So today The Man and I had to go do some Christmas shopping for his family. We are getting together with them on New Year's Day. After we got that bit of fun outta the way we went to my most favoritest place in the whole wide world.........THE ANTIQUE STORE!! Oh such a wonderful, happy, lovely place for a homesteader gal like me. It's my candy store doncha know! Today we went to a new place that we'd never visited before and what a faboo place it was! See I have to tell you a secret............I HATE collectors. I'm so terribly sorry if you ARE a COLLECTOR, but I really don't like you. You are the bane of a homesteaders existence. See the rich people who like to decorate their homes in the "primitive" style have driven the prices of those oh so useful tools up to ridiculously ridiculous heights, thereby making it very hard for little ole gals like me to buy the items that I want to USE. I don't want to hang them on my wall or set them on an old table that will never be covered in flour and homemade noodles, or use them to hold fake berries and twigs. Now don't get me wrong, I've got alot of antiques in my home, but I use every single one of them. Some of them I even have hanging on my kitchen wall, but I take them down and use them all the time, then wash them and hang em back up. So forgive me for this frightening turn down the lane of why I don't like collectors, and lets get back to the point of my post shall we? Ok then.....



This antique store was simply lovely. It was nicely laid out and the prices, oh how I could go on and on about the prices. There was a sign on the door that said, Our Prices are Firm, but They are Fair, and boy howdy were they right! Here are my treasures.....



The brown bowl was $3.25 and it holds about 2 cups or so. I washed it as soon as I got home and had a salad in it for supper. Pretty bowls make food so much more fun to eat, don't you think?



The larger of the two cast iron skillets was $8.95 and it was a real steal! I don't know what cast iron pans go for in your neck of the woods, but they are stupidly high around here. If you know anything about cast iron, a Griswold pan is the best of the best. The smaller one is a Griswold and it was $12.95. Now I could care less about the brand name, but there is a very important reason that a Griswold is the best. They are made different and the way that they are made makes the inside silky smooth. That's what makes a good cast iron pan. If you've ever tried to cook with cast iron and haven't had any luck, get a Griswold, season it well, and you will never ever want to use another type of pan. You can find nice smooth ones that aren't Griswolds, and that's what the larger one I found today was, but they are harder to find. If you look at a Lodge pan, they are ridged inside.....that's why food sticks. You just can't get them seasoned like you can a good silky smooth one. Ok.....I've veered off the blog road again.......sorry!


I was very excited to find that silly ladle. It made me want to rush right home and make a big ole pot of stew and serve it up on some grannyware plates!! It was $4.00 which was probably a little high, but I wanted it........good economics right?


Finally I got that lovely covered glass refrigerator dish. I don't like plastic bowls and the glass food storage bowls that you buy today are very fragile. This is a good dish that will last me a very long time. It was $4.00 as well.


The very bestest part about the things I bought today?? Every single one was made with pride in the good old U S of A.........of course they were made about 50+ years ago, but who's counting?


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

New Rules of Lifting for Women....

I have to tell you how much I'm lovin' this book! Wow! I'm on my 3rd week of workouts and I can't believe how much my strength has increased in those three weeks! I work out three days a week and just follow the program and it's amazing. In the beginning I must tell you I was a little concerned that I wasn't doing enough, but my strength is growing by leaps and bounds. I took beginning pictures, but am not anywhere near confident enough to show pics of me in a bikini! But....I can promise you that in June.........there will be a bikini pic on this blog!!

Merry Christmas from the Goodwife!

As some of you may know, my other blog is about life on our little homestead here. We call our place Goodwife Farm. I just wanted to take this second to wish you all a very Merry Christmas full of the blessings of God's love!

Today is The Youngun's last day of school, so I'm headed out there for the Christmas party. Then we are back home to bake sugar cookies for Santy!

May you get everything you want in your stocking, and not too much junk food in your bellies!

Till next time..........I'm unTHICKINandsoTHINNIN!

Getting set for CHRISTmas and the 11th Birthday of The Paintiff Child!

Things are good around the ole homestead. The tree is up, shopping is all done, packages are ready and waiting! The Youngun had the good fortune to be born on Christmas Eve so we always have alot of fun around here. Every December 24th my folks come down and the three of us take her to a movie matinee and then dinner at Ponderosa. This year we are going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. The Man seldom gets to join us on this little journey because he has to work. The next time that he will be able to go is for her 13th birthday! Anyway, after the movie and dinner we will come home and wait for him to get off work. The Youngun, Granny Bob, and I will play games while Pop Pop usually plays on the computer or snoozes! When The Man gets home we will have supper. This year The Youngun asked for hamburger roast, brown gravy, and peas with cream cheese brownies instead of birthday cake. Then she will open her birthday presents and we'll play more games till bedtime. Gotta hit the hay early so the fat man in the red suit can come!!

When our daughter was born, the very first night that we brought her home I was laying in bed saying my prayers as usual. I remember thanking God for blessing us with a beautiful healthy child. I told God that I was giving her back to Him that very minute. She wasn't ours, she was His, but we would do our very best to raise her up to be someone that would bring Glory to His Name. She has been a treasure every single day of her life! She knows Jesus and God and strives to follow Him in every way. I still pray for my baby girl every day, praying that she will never forsake Him, and will look to Him for guidance and leadership her whole life long. I also pray for her future husband (if it's God's will that she marry) that God will be with him, wherever he may be. I pray that she will have the good sense to wait for the man that God chooses for her, and that the young man will be a child of God. Life is alot more bearable when a husband and wife both walk hand in hand with the Savior. I'm very thankful that my husband and I both do, and I know the reason our marriage is so rock solid and strong, is because we have God at the head of our household. The Man is on one side of Him, holding on, and I'm on the other and it's a good good thing!

On a different note, we butchered nine rabbits on Sunday. My folks took 5 home and we kept 4. We boned most of our meat out, and then packaged up the bones to boil down for BBQ. I got 5 lbs of boneless meat out of 4 rabbits, so I was happy with that. Not sure how much meat boiled down off the bones, but I already pressure cooked 2 of them and got enough BBQ rabbit for supper Sunday evening, The Youngun had it for supper again last night, AND she took it to school for lunch today! That girl loves her BBQ bunny!! There is still enough in the bowl for at least a couple sandwiches as well.

Well I hope that your Christmas preparations are going well. May you keep the love of Christ in your hearts and on your minds not only during this time of year, but in every season, every month, every second of every day!

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

P!ssed Off and Mad About It.........

I'm mad today. Very very mad today. Actually have been since yesterday. As some of you may know the evil TOM affects me in different ways. The last two months he really didn't bother me at all. That always sends up alarm bells in my head, cause I know that sooner or later it will be awful. Well sooner or later is here. I am so furious that I feel as if I'm full of bouncing balls and they are pinging around inside my skin trying to get out. Notice that I didn't say that I was angry. Anger is a nice quiet civilized emotion. No, what I am is mad, p!$$ed off. I want to hurt somebody. I want to punch with my fists, kick with my feet, and lash out with the sharp sword of my tongue. I can be so very very mean when I feel like this. I'm a very direct person (I know, news to you right) but my directness is usually filtered by my genuine compassion and empathy for people. Not so when I feel this way. I've ripped that compassion filter to shreds and am standing here snarling, just daring anybody to mess with me. The mental picture that I have of myself is of a Tigress, pacing, pacing, pacing, growling, growling, growling.

There is a silver lining to this disturbed little narrative though. Two silver linings actually. Ok, if you prefer, a platinum lining (this one I've know for as long as I can remember) and a silver lining that's quite new and very nice. The platinum lining is this..........God loves me even when I'm a psychotic b!t'ch. He knows me, and He loves me, and I can call on His strength and His love to calm me down. I try to visualize the white light of His love and I picture myself inhaling it every time I breathe in, and exhaling the blackness that is my rage. This actually helps me. The silver lining is this: even though I'd like to take the person who decided there needed to be a stoplight just before and just after the railroad tracks in Carlinville and bash their head against the sidewalk until their brains splatter out, I don't want to eat! Whoo hoo! I'm p!$$ed off and mad about it, but I have no desire to stuff that emotion with food and that's a victory in itself.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go whip somebody's @$$, punch an old lady in the face, steal a quarter from a kindergartener, and possibly kick a puppy. C-ya!

Till next time.......I'm seriouslyunbalancedandunTHICKINandcheckinintotheboobyhatchTHINNIN!

ps.....blogging is fabulous and I already feel calmer and more centered, so please put down the phone. You don't have to call the guys in the white suits!

My Support System........

No I'm not talking about a good bra, even though that is terribly important! I'm talking about the people who encourage me, inspire me, lift me up, commiserate with me. The ones who just "get it" and the ones who even if they don't "get it" they are still there for me. I've got a good support system. My Lord and Savior, my hubs, my beautiful daughter, my friend Darling Deb, all of my WW's family, and my sister. This is about my sister.

We had Christmas with my folks, my sister and her family, and the three of us this past Sunday. It was very nice. We had a big ole pot of ham and beans, cornbread, and pumpkin pie. Then we opened gifts and after that my sister, my mom, and I played Scrabble and laughed and joked and teased each other and it was so fabulous!

We usually focus most of the gift giving on the two girls, my daughter and my niece, but we do get a little something for the adults. This year my folks got me a new scale! It is a much bigger gift than they normally give us and I was thankful and excited. Mom had asked me what I wanted and I told her I'd like to have that, but it was expensive (30 bucks), but she got it for me and I was very excited for today to get here so I could use it. It measures body fat, bone density, BMI, hydration levels, and of course your weight. This morning I weighed on my old scale first, then on the new one so I could see the difference. The new one weighed me two tenths of a pound lighter, so that's good that it's so close. I took the weight off of the old one this time but next week, I'll just weigh on the new scale and go from there.

I was very surprised when I opened the gift from my sister. I got a little emotional as I read the poem that she wrote just for me. I have this sitting right at my computer so that I can look at it several times a day, and as soon as I get it framed it will hang right next to my computer. My sister is so supportive of me. We are there for each other, and even though we are very very different, none of that matters. I love my sister. I've got her back and she's got mine and we are tackling our demons together, every single day. Some days she's the strong one and I call her for help, and other days I'm the strong one. Some days we are both a free-cockin' mess and on those days we just try to hold each other up! One thing will never ever change.......I love my big sister and she loves me!! This is what the poem says, in case you can't read it.

My Sister

If will power was a yellow orb

You would own the sun

If determination shined bright

You would own the stars

If perseverance was water

You would own the ocean

If triumph was the color blue

You would own the sky

If happiness was the night

You would own the moon

Do you see your wealth?

You own the world

I am so proud of you

Love, Susie

ps.....please don't steal this as my sister wrote this poem just for me! Thanks

Till next time..........I'm unTHICKINandsoTHINNIN!