Sometime last week the pump died on our clothes washer.  We do three to four loads a day so this was not a good thing. Not at all.  We made do and tried to conserve on towels while we waited on the new pump to come. We were able to make it two days until Susannah just took a load of towels into the laundromat  Then on Wednesday I was in need of clothes, so I played around with the idea of washing them in the bathtub.  I didn’t want to hang out at the laundromat while my clothes were washing  Then I remembered that Daddy had bought a wringer-washer at an auction once, and it was sitting out in his shop!  The idea sounded like a lot of fun to me and Anna also got excited about it, so she went and grabbed her laundry, too

The first step was to carry twenty gallons of warm water from the bathtub, out the back door, down the sidewalk and into the shop  Anna and I took turns, but my, that was a lot of water!

We poured in the water and laundry soap, put in our whites,  figured out how to turn on the agitator, and watched it wash

Next, we loosely squeezed the water out of all the white clothes and put them in a basket

Did I tell you it was lots of fun?!

We put our dark laundry in next, in the same wash water (and added a little more soap) We didn’t want to go get another twenty gallons of water, and I figured they might have done it this way in the old days anyhow.  I know why, too!  That’s a lot of water to haul

 We squeezed the water out of the darks and set them aside, then we went for the towels  We don’t have any pictures of the towels…I guess we were too engrossed in watching the washer or reading our magazines while listening to the music we brought out to the shop for while we were waiting for the laundry to wash

We drained all the wash water out after the towels and Anna and I both couldn’t believe how dirty it was!  The regular washer never gives you the chance to see the dirty wash water  We then carried twenty more gallons of clean water to rinse the laundry in

Now this is the best part.  After we rinsed the laundry, we put it through the wringer. Anna and I were ‘fighting’ over who was going to feed the next item through the wringer  There is just something quite amazing about seeing your dripping wet laundry suddenly squeezed out and ready for the dryer  I told Anna that whoever it was who invented the wringer was one very smart person…but maybe not quite as smart as whoever invented the spinner.  There were a few times that the wringer took a sock for a ride, around and around before we stopped it to pull it out

Later when Anna and I kept telling everyone about how fun it was, Cassia was laughing and couldn’t understand what the excitement was all about.  She needed some laundry done, too, so I went out with her (along with two more loads of dirty towels).  We did the same thing as before.  Whites, darks, towels, and then rinsed them and started to wring them.  Cassia also got very excited during the wringing process and she suddenly knew why Anna and I liked it so much  (what can we say? we’re easily amused  you should try it sometime, then you’ll know why it’s so fun, too!).

I now have a new appreciation for what people had to do to get clean clothes in ‘the old days’  They didn’t have water already warm out of the faucet, and they also didn’t always have electric wringers  I also know why, before wringer washers, people sometimes had their laundry hired out, and the laundry woman had to be strong.  I was SO sore the next day from helping to carry all that water, then carry it again to dump it, and carry wet laundry back to the house to dry

  The wringer washer has a pump on it to drain the water out, and Anna and I left it on after we were done with the first round of laundry.  It was funny when Cassia and I started it up later on and I forgot the pump was still on.  I plugged it in and water started shooting out of the drain hose!  Thankfully we didn’t get the floor too wet!

And so that was the end of our lovely old fashioned wash-day   As much fun as all of that was, I am so glad to have a regular washer.  It is no wonder they used to have a whole day of the week devoted to laundry  The good news is, the new washer pump came in the mail yesterday, Daddy installed it, and we’re back to washing laundry in the house!

Leah, Susannah and I are playing in the Symphony of the Lakes this year for their Christmas program…and what a fun program it is!  If you happen to be near the Warsaw, Indiana area on December 17th, you should definitely come

Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for 13-18 year olds (and college students), and 12 and under are FREE!  You can get tickets at the website :here:

We are quite excited to announce a couple of coupons for this weekend  You can get 20% off your order all day Friday and free shipping if you shop on ‘Small Business Saturday’  :)  Happy Shopping!

Your ‘Small Business Saturday’ coupon

Quote of the Week

“Worry is looking to our own resources and feasting on them.  Prayer is looking to God’s resources and feasting on them.”  Stuart Greaves

The Bookshelf  

  Safely Home is a fictional story based on true stories of the persecuted church.  One thing we really liked is the eternal perspective you get while reading this book as you see Chuan’s father and grandfather in heaven and their conversations with Jesus   Things may look dark here, but there’s another side…a victorious side!

Videos of the Week  

This video was gave us neat insight on what it is like to be inside of an autistic person’s head   It is easy to think of people who can’t talk as dumb or not able to understand or feel the way we do which is not true at all.  Carly is an amazing girl!

Simon’s Cat: Scary Legs (some of us hate spiders so we laughed so hard at this!)

The German Language Compared to Other Languages

The Recipe Box  

Pumpkin Roll

Cassia has been making these delicious pumpkin rolls!  They’re so yummy for dessert (or even with breakfast )  You can also use sweet potato in place of the pumpkin.  We had an abundance of sweet potatoes from our garden this year so everything pumpkin is substituted with everything sweet potato!

Pumpkin Roll:

3/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. allspice

1/4 t. salt

3 eggs

1 c. white sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

2/3 c. pumpkin or sweet potato puree

  Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 T. butter, room temperature

1 c. powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 15×10 inch baking pan, line it with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment paper.

Pumpkin Roll:   In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt.  Using the paddle attachment on your mixer (you can use a hand mixer, too),  beat the sugar and eggs on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick, pale yellow and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.)  Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.  Gently fold in the flour mixture.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, evenly spreading the cake batter with a spatula or knife.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the cake, when light pressed, springs back.

Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, invert the pumpkin roll onto a clean dish towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Carefully remove the parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with more powdered sugar and roll up the pumpkin roll, with the towel, while it is still hot and pliable.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

Filling: Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and beat until smooth.

To assemble, unroll the pumpkin roll, spread with the filling, and re-roll.  Transfer to your serving platter.  Cover, and chill in the fridge overnight.  You can serve this cake immediately, but chilling it for a few hours or overnight sets the filling and makes it easier to slice.  Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 16 slices.

Farmgirl Favorites

Painters working on the Eiffel Tower in 1910, unharnessed.  Yikes!  via 22Words

Musical puns   (via)

Cute Quotes

The little boy we watch, Graham, once gave Jessica a picture he drew.  In the picture was a heart, “Because you have a heart in your ‘tomach, right?”

Isaiah was telling Jessica about birthday presents for Susannah and Leah.  Then he told her, “actually it’s not for L, because the car is all rooten out!”   We assumed he meant he had already written a card for Susannah about what he was giving her

Bekah was singing a song from our Christmas cantata, and part of the words were, ‘Everything changed that night!’.  Isaiah asked her, “Why does it say, everything changed their mind?!” 

   A friend texted Mommy and told her that the Today show was looking for a family that was most like the Sound of Music, and she said that she thought of us (thankfully she didn’t put our names in, lol!).  Isaiah overheard us talking about it and said, “So…they’re looking for us?”

The Seven Sisters Treasures is bi-weekly post where we share some of our favorite things. Hope you enjoy! ~the Farmgirls

One of our favoritest things to do this time of year is pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child    If you’ve never done this, you should…it’s SO MUCH FUN!   If you want to know more about it, click :here: to see what you can pack in a shoebox or you can pack a shoebox online.

We used plastic shoebox sized tubs from Dollar General because 1) they’re sturdier and will for sure come in handy to the child we’re giving it to and 2) they have a little more room than a regular shoebox and 3) we never seem to have any shoeboxes laying around   Then we filled and filled it with all kinds of goodies like candy, toothpaste, toothbrushes, pens, notebooks, fuzzy socks, small blankets…oh it’s so much fun!

And for fun, here’s a video of Uncle Si learning how to pack one    We watched Duck Dynasty for the first time last month when we went to Florida (another post on that trip!) and Uncle Si always has us laughing

Drop off week ends this coming Monday, November 25th.  Click :here: to find a drop of location near you