Preparing for a Weather-Induced Power Outage

Flat-head shovel and car clearing tool brought inside.

All of the laundry is clean.

The dishes are all clean.

A fairly useless tub cleaned so it can hold water for

dishwashing, toilet-flushing, handwashing, etc.

Electric Coleman lantern charging

(and all other flashlight batteries refreshed).

Fetching of cast iron cookery for use in fireplace.

Spare blankets and sleeping bags in proper storage area.

Containers collected for holding extra drinking water.

Mediocre Ingenuity: tap water in gallon-sized ziploc bags,

separated by cardboard in an effort to keep them for

freezing into a wrinkled-together mess.  These went into the

freezer and will be used for cooking water as I can't stand

the plastic-flavor for drinking water.  If all else fails they

can be used for ice packs, etc at a later date.

Split wood stacked inside for when a fire needs to be started.

A well-stocked freezer.

A well-stocked pantry--stocked with food we actually eat.

Draft pillows in place for areas of the house that are

closed off during outages (to concentrate fire heat).

The generator has fuel and did a trial run this afternoon

(charging the camper batteries) to make sure all was

hunky-dory prior to need.

We're all set for the ice.

Our Annual Historic Gingerbread

We were introduced to the gingerbread house contest at the Carolina Inn last year thanks to some friends of ours and decided to make it our holiday tradition to enter a historic gingerbread house each year.  This year the kids wanted to do something with trains, and after some research we found out about the Historic Burgaw Depot.

The Burgaw Depot is the oldest train station in North Carolina and one of two surviving antebellum depots.  At the time it was built it was on the longest railway in the world, and was involved in the Civil War as part of the supply line between Wilmington and Richmond.  The Depot was expanded in 1898, 1916-17, and 1941.  We had found some awesome sites and info online at the time that we were doing our research, but I cannot relocate most of them now that I'm finally doing the blogpost--one of them was a pdf of the Civil War Trail sign outside the Depot.  In looking for those pages and sites, however, I found out that they had their Grand Opening after recent renovations shortly before we had stopped in to do physical research for the gingerbread house!

Because of our size constraints for the competition (18"x18"x18") we decided to not do the platform; as it was we had to scale it to approximately 1-inch per 9-feet and put it at an angle to fit.

The perimeter on parchment, with the base board.

Eldest working on preparing gingerbread for cutting.

Wee-one doing his part.

The base of the warehouse section with its surrounding platform/walkway,

ready to bake in the oven.

Stacking the layers.

With the base of the roof.

Gingerbread railroad ties.

Royal iced sides, dried green onion for grass,

food-colored dried minced onion for railroad gravel.

Layers of yellow cake for the roof.

Roof over waiting rooms and baggage room.

Progress continues....

All gussied up and ready to go!

The circle of fondant was for writing the entry number on with

an edible marker.  Last year they had an issue with the entry

number placards being migrated about by visiting school

 children so the pictures of the winners did not match

the info for the winners.

We added another bit of fondant that indicated the Depot

was being shown circa 1916/1917.

We really enjoy doing historicals because it provides us with a finite opportunity to learn a little something extra, but unfortunately it's difficult to compete with the whimsical imaginations of the other entries.  They always have a fabulous turn-out!

This year's winner in the adult category was Amalia Bolivar.



Drumroll Please

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Child Labor

I haven't stopped by for quite sometime, but Nony at A Slob Comes Clean had posted once about doing a detailed cleaning list for her kids.  I finally sat down and did one for mine.  I started with their bathroom, which I'm horrified our guests have to share with them, and then I divied the tasks between them throughout the week.  Because of the disgusting nature of their bathroom, and the fact that it's the one available to company, it will be receiving more frequent attention than most might give to any given area of the house besides the kitchen.

Then I added other household tasks that they should be, or will be, taking care of.

I'll post a pic when I get them printed out (have to fetch ink, and I also have to turn on DH's computer to access the printer through the router).