And the Winner is...

Cindy Aiton is the winner 

of a FREE 3-month subscription to Conscious Box!

Congratulations, Cindy!

Disappointed you didn't win?  

Here's a code for a FREE Conscious Box all your own!

Just enter SECRETCODE when placing your order and all you'll pay is shipping.

When you get your box, please come back and let me know 

what your favorite product out of the box was - I'm dying to know!

How Much Can You Protect Them?

A young man was hit and killed by an oncoming train in our town on Friday.  He was just 16 years old.  Such a horrible tragedy that the whole community is still processing.  He was in the same class with my cousin.  While I would have preferred to shield my daughter from this altogether, rumors of what was holding up the train in town were already flying madly by the time I picked her up from after-school care.  

Preparing for the March of Dimes Walk for Babies

You may have read the other stories I shared about my passion for March of Dimes and the impact they have had on those around me.  If you haven't, please take a look and read the story below and consider how many people in your life may have been impacted for the better by March of Dimes and the work they do.

Giving Tuesday - Why March of Dimes Means So Much to Me
Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk
Nathan's Story - An Extreme Preemie
A Rare Story of Monoamniotic Twin Boys
My NICU Baby - Severe Chest Compression

Where are we at with our goals?
Our walk is on Saturday and we are still trying to reach our goals and do our best to "be the change you want to see in the world".  

The Work Has Begun!

The past week has been just a blur in my mind.  Tuesday we signed closing papers on the new house.

Wednesday morning I left for a work convention for 3 days and a crew started with demo on the front porch of the new house.

Thursday is rained cats and dogs so work was halted.  Friday it was rain, snow, and wind.  I got home Friday night and prepped for working on the new house while hubby headed over and got started on a few things.

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A New House!

After 10 long years of trying to do something with our house to replace it (the current house is an improved mobile home) or buy another house (we had 2 bought out from under us) and trying to buy the house next door after it foreclosed twice, today is CLOSING DAY!  

We were successful in buying the house directly next door and will be able to combine the two properties to use as one.  We are soooo excited to have the chance to turn this house into our own dream.  To be able to spread out and entertain larger crowds again.  

Picking Rocks

Picking rocks just isn't one of those chores a lot of people think about when they think about having horses.  They picture that beautiful, gleaming horse prancing around with mane flowing in the breeze in a perfectly pretty green field.  Reality is more like this...the kids and I out picking rocks that have surfaced after a week of rain and animals churning up the mud with their hooves.  

My daughter thought it was an adventure the first 5 minutes.  Then she got tired of bending down.  And bored.  And wanted to know whyyyy do we have to pick up the rocks.  So I had her put a pebble in her shoe and run a couple of laps around the round pen and asked her how it felt.  Obviously she was not pleased with this experience.  I showed her a particularly sharp edged rock I found on the ground and asked her how she thought it would feel to step on that.  That that's what it felt like to the horses and goat walking around the pen if we left the rocks there.  Suddenly her attitude got better and she did a pretty good job finishing with the rocks.

I laugh when I see the stories in the news about "working" punishment now being handed out to kids - in my family we've been doing this for so long.  Whenever my parents or grandparents ran out of responses to smart-mouthed kids, or the drama of girl-hood, or we complained about being bored there was always stalls to be shoveled, mulch to be raked, weeds to be pulled, dog poop to be scooped, rocks to be picked...

My First Giveaway - Conscious Box

I am soooo excited to be able to offer my first ever giveaway!  I promised you I would make sure products you hear about on this blog make sense here and Conscious Box definitely does.  This unique company puts together boxes of sustainable, natural, eco-friendly products by all kinds of companies and sends them to subscribers.  These boxes also make great gifts for Earth Day, Mother's Day, or your vegan and gluten-free friends!

Conscious Box has generously provided a free giveaway of a 3-month subscription.  The winner will get a different box each month jam-packed with unique eco-friendly products to try!

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So here is the deal - this giveaway is for a 3-month subscription to Conscious Box - a $59 dollar value!  Earn entries by completing items from the list of options below.  The contest ends on April 30th and the winner will be notified within 48 hours.  Good luck!

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One Room Schoolhouse

Some of you have commented on the mention in my profile about attending a one room schoolhouse and asked to hear more.  I often wonder with the tremendous number of families returning to homeschooling if the one room schoolhouse will make a comeback too - I think it should.

The shed is an old well house.  The Maypole and
half-buried tractor tire have been there as long as I can remember.

This little school is called Strange School.  While the brick school was built in 1879, the first school on this site dates back to 1844.  It is its own school district of about 4 miles square.  Residents in the area take great pride in it as a community fixture.  While several one room schools are found in the area, this is the only one still operating and the only one that has operated continuously since its beginning.  You can find some interesting historical facts and photos from the brick school's early history here.  The flag pole is an important part of every day with a different student assigned each week to be in charge of raising the flag each morning and taking it down and folding it to store inside each night.  In this Christian farming community, the American flag and state flag hang in the front of the classroom and the Pledge of Allegiance is said each morning - including "Under God"!

Ladies Only Project Day

What do you do when you keep finding yourself saying you have too many projects to work on to get together with the girls?  Well, my mom found the perfect solution - schedule a project day with the girls!  

We planned well ahead and found a Saturday when everyone was able to come with projects in tow and a couple of teenagers to babysit the little kids in the basement while we worked in projects.  

My mom had the coffee and cinnamon rolls going for the girls to come any time after 9 a.m.  For lunch she had homemade chicken soup going in the crockpot whenever people got hungry.  

My Recipe Featured at Earning My Cape!

I am super thrilled to learn that my 

Venison Medallions with No-Fail Sauce recipe 

was featured by Susie at Earning My Cape!

Susie has an awesome blog full of goodies 

like this crocheted blanket 

(which makes me think of my great-grandma and 

her fondness for bright colored yarns 

and the special blankets she made for each of us).

If you haven't been to her blog yet, 

please be sure to go visit and take a look around 

at her tasty treats and homeschooling posts as well - 

with six kids she is one busy and super-talented lady!