PJ Jonas – Page 106 – Teaching Families to Work Hard Together

Cow Butter

We’ve had a lot of people in Scottsburg very curious about what we are building. People have asked if we’re building a Cracker Barrel, a machine shop, a barn, a consignment store, and (my personal favorite) a daycare. We thought by putting up our sign, we would clarify things. Not so much. Since putting up…

January 23, 2013

Working (Out) in the Soap Room

I’m pretty vocal about how important I think exercise is. We do a lot to stay fit so we can stay healthy so we can feel good so we can work hard so we can enjoy life. See how simple it is? Simple, yes. Easy, not always. Because things get really busy around here, I’ve…

January 22, 2013

Emery’s First Strawberry Shortcake

We went strawberry picking this past summer. We cut up and froze all the extra strawberries. Since we’re going to be moving this upcoming summer, I’ve been working my way through our freezer and pantry, trying to dwindle down our supplies. When I came across the frozen strawberries, Emery volunteered to make strawberry shortcake. First…

January 21, 2013

Goat Milk Egg Nog

The reason that I first got dairy goats was so that we could have a source of healthy, raw milk. Later on I would use this milk to create our goat milk soap and launch Goat Milk Stuff. But in the beginning, the goat milk was simply a food source. We drank it, we made…

January 20, 2013

March Goat Milk Soap

We have about thirty soap types that we keep available year round. Because there are lots of other good scents, we rotate them in and out so they are available once a year. We refer to them as limited edition soaps. January’s limited edition soap is hazelnut. February’s limited edition will be chocolate (for Valentine’s…

January 19, 2013

Achieve Your Goals

Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast Episode 037. Many people regularly set goals. Yet they are often frustrated when they don’t reach them. It is important to set goals the right way as well as doing some work (after setting your goal) to help yourself successfully achieve them. During this podcast episode, I talk about some…

January 18, 2013

Playing at the New House

Construction has been underway at the new house for several months. We asked our builder to “switch gears” and get the barn done because we wanted to move the goats before they got too far into their pregnancies. Because of that, the crew is just now getting the roof on the house. The other…

January 17, 2013

Smoothie Boy

In a previous post, I mentioned that I do a lot to manage my stress level. But when things get crazy busy, I tend to stop taking care of myself when it is most important that I do so. To prevent this, I’ve learned to build some systems into our lives. When my workload explodes,…

January 16, 2013

Managing Stress

Let’s face it, most moms today are overwhelmed and stressed out. I say moms because I am one, but this applies to everyone – men, women, and unfortunately even children. Most people know how bad extreme stress is for our health. Yet we still live with it because making big changes (to remove the stress)…

January 15, 2013

Limiting Technology and Encouraging Creativity

Being a homeschooling mom, I work hard to make sure that my children reach their full potential. To me, that means giving them many opportunities to work hard, a wide selection of good books to read, and plenty of down time to be creative. Most of you are aware of the childrens’ roles in Goat…

January 14, 2013

Being Prepared To Leave

Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast Episode 036. Jim and I recently made a trip without the children to attend the New Media Expo in Las Vegas. During this podcast episode we discuss our trip, some of the things we learned, and the great time we had with the friends we’ve made. We also talk about…

January 11, 2013

Stay in the Moment

Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast Episode 035. In today’s world it is so easy to concentrate on what we need to do, that we lose sight of what we are currently doing. When this happens, we tend to let time go by and life happen and we don’t enjoy today. During this podcast episode I…

January 5, 2013

Birthday Goat

We normally try to have our goats freshen (have their babies) during the end of February and the beginning of March. Because Indigo’s birthday is February 23rd, for the past 2 years she has had baby goats born on her birthday. If you ask Indigo who her favorite goat is, she’ll tell you, “Valley is…

December 29, 2012

The Rewards of Occasional Spontaneity

Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast Episode 034. I find that the best way to (joyfully) survive being a busy Mom is to be very organized with my life, my family, my homeschool, and my business. But I don’t ever want our lives to be boring and routine. So I always make a point to occasionally…

December 28, 2012

Sometimes It’s Best To Say “No”

Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast Episode 033. Busy moms always have plenty to do. And yet, it seems like we’re always asked to do more. Sometimes it’s people outside of our family who are doing the asking. Sometimes it’s our spouses or our children. But quite often, it’s ourselves who are doing the asking. We…

December 20, 2012