Tennessee Preparedness

Regular readers know that I've talked quite a bit this year about Family Emergency Preparedness Planning - I have a tab at the top of my blog where you can find a quick listing for some of the topics we've discussed. As we've all watched the various happenings in our economy here at home and across the world the past several months, many have seen the prudence in preparedness planning, frugal living and the like.

Since preparedness is something we believe is very important, my husband and I have decided to participate in the American Preppers Network and are going to be helping to lead the blog for the state of Tennessee.

We'll be conversing about all things related to preparedness planning in general and specifically for those living in Tennessee ~ please come visit us! You can find the info here at Tennessee Preppers Network.

While you are visiting, be sure to check to see if there is a Preppers Network for your state. If not, you might want to gather up your prepared and frugal friends and get busy writing!

Just Missed It

Whew! We are SO fortunate to have missed the major ice storm that was projected for us here in Memphis. We watched all day yesterday while the ice storm raged around us in Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, Kentucky and North Western Tennessee.

We were projected to get at least a 1/2 inch of ice last night and I was dreading it. When I went to bed at 10:30 last night, we had torrential rain and a temperature of 33 degrees - I knew it was going to be bad and waited for the power to go out.

Awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow and we still have power - we are very fortunate.

We were well prepared for the potential storm as regular readers well know - we always have extra food stores, water, heat, light, communications ~ and my husband took the opportunity to do some educational review about preparedness with our 3 girls.

So, this morning before we started homeschool the girls spent a little time out playing in our rare snow fall, then it was homemade hot chocolate and onward with school time!

We're keeping all those that were hardest hit in our thoughts and prayers!

Getting Well ~ Finally!

For about the past 10 days or so, at least one person or more has been sick with a bad head cold. Nothing major, but somewhat lingering. Sore throat, slight earache, headache, stuffy noses - you know the routine.

We're finally turning the corner - the girls are all on the mend and I'm waiting for my voice to return to normal - which should hopefully happen in the next couple of days.

Catching up:

Archery is going great - we have our 3rd class tomorrow (Thursday). My daughter and I are both having a fantastic time and are getting better already!

We're well underway with our January beef processings - some has already been delivered and more beef is scheduled for delivery next week!

We're back into our groove with homeschool - concentrating on math, reading and writing.

4-H is going great - my oldest daughter is loving her sewing and photography. This past class of sewing they worked on hand sewing, which was a great break from working with the machine. I even let my middle daughter, who is 6, attend and she has decided that she really likes to do embroidery! So I've been working out patterns for her to practice on.

Next up in sewing for my oldest daughter - they are supposed to be making a shirt, skirt and pair of shorts before we end for the summer.

Our bees are surviving - we had some bitter cold temps last week that required us to cover them with some quilting and it worked - they're all surviving and going strong!

And my skin creams and lotions are doing well - I'm making a few sales every week and adding new products - so you guys need to start thinking about Valentine's Day!

Thanks for checking in to see how we're doing - more posts are in the making!

Archery Starts Tomorrow

My oldest daughter is joining the homeschool Archery Club and is having her first meeting tomorrow (Thursday). She is very excited about starting this sport. They will meet once a week for 3 weeks for safety meetings, then have meetings once a week for 5 weeks at a time that are actually part of the league.

They even have a few spaces for parents to join in who want to learn - I think I might join her, as we both got bows this year and it would be a neat thing that we could do together.

I'll keep our progress updated here!

New Year Underway

Well, our New Year is underway and has been a bit busy already. We've almost finished taking down all of our Christmas decor. Yesterday I had a giveaway at my Bonanzle booth and met some neat people and even made a couple of sales - yeah!

Today we worked cattle this morning and then did 4-H activities all the rest of the afternoon. This weekend I'm making more of my cosmetic products to fill some orders and we've definitely scheduled in some time for relaxing.

Monday we're working back into our homeschool routine and are going to a meeting to see about enrolling my oldest daughter in the archery club for the spring.

And our January beef processings are almost upon us.

Busy, but not overwhelming - how is your New Year shaping up so far?