Blessings From Home

Pay it Forward Giveaway

I know I haven't posted here in a long while, but I still check in here on you all at least a couple times a week, I do enjoy reading about what everyone is doing!

Anywho, I just wanted to share I'm hosting a pay it forward giveaway on my other blog, which you can find here....

Blessed Simplicity

Moved

I've started blogging over at blogger. I still love this homestead community, but learned that it is much easier to post pictures and change blog templates there, I may still post here occasionally, but mostly over there. Come and visit when you get a chance!

Blessed Simplicity

Love in Christ,

sara

Tuesday at Home and Cutting Expenses

A favorite picture of my then 3year old, now 7 year old daughter, Madelynn

     What a lovely day the Lord has given us! This is my most favorite time of year. The time of year you can wake up to the sounds of nature blowing in through your open windows instead of the sound of air conditioners or heaters. Not that I am not appreciative of both luxuries, but to be able to wake up to birds singing their morning song and to feel the coolness of the morning is such a blessing to me. 

     We had a wonderful evening last night. With my dear husband gone in the evenings we get very lonely at dinner time, so last night I made a big pan of chicken fajitas from some chicken breasts I had stocked up on several months ago when they were on sale. We had some homemade spanish rice, spinach salad, guacamole and chips, and even some custard for dessert. We invited my parents over and had such a wonderful time eating, chatting, going through family photos, and just enjoying each others company. In a time where I am really needing to stretch my food, I suppose I should have not invited 4 extra hungry mouths over for dinner, but my family cooks dinner for us quite a lot, and I know that if there is a need for food here before I am able to go to the store they will gladly fill it.

     As is usual, there is lots to do today. Schooling, cleaning, playing, loving. I am on day 4 of not going to the grocery store. As I said before, I will go later this week for milk, but should not incur any expense as we are blessed to have WIC. I feel no need to explain or apologize for using this kind of government assistance as at this time in our lives there is a need and we are only using what is needed.

We have cut  back on all other expenses, including cable, a big step for my dear husband. I have been wanting to get rid of cable for a long time, but could not persuade my husband of such a need until recently. Since doing so, such a peace has come over our home. I no longer have to worry about what filth my children may see even in passing to a proper channel. The commercials themselves have become so unbelievably improper and immoral, much less the shows that are on.

We have decided to cancel our landline after this week. We're waiting on some calls to come in before we do this. We each have a cell phone so we won't be lacking in communication capabilities. We will continue to hang on to our internet, we use it regularly for communicating to long distance relatives and for schoolwork, as well as many other uses, recipes, dear friends, etc, although we are looking for a cheaper plan.

We are drying our laundry outside, weather permitting, turning down our water heater, using our grey water to water the garden, have yet to turn on our air conditioners, turning off lights and opening window blinds, doing any baking or heavy cooking during the cooler temps of the morning or later evening, wearing some clothes more than once before washing them, composting, walking to the library, which is about 6 blocks away, walking to church, which is about a mile away, and so many more things that I'm sure I've forgotten. We currently have my husband's old chevy truck for sale sitting out front. We're hoping to get at least $500 from it. It runs, just not well.

I continue to constantly look for more ways to save, save, save. I also have been making birthday gifts for all the recent birthdays. Here's a picture of my little brothers birthday gift. I have a love for making dolls and teddy bears, and I had such a wonderful time giving this little guy a personality.

Well, my time is spent. I have much to do. For today's menu, we are having oatmeal for breakfast, corn dogs for lunch, and potato soup for dinner, all with sides of fruit, salad, and fresh bread. It's not exactly soup season, but I have some vegetables that are going out that need to be used and potato soup was just the ticket. I pray all of your days are blessed one!

Love in Christ,

Sara 

My Square Foot Garden and Clothesline

Here's a picture of my beloved square foot garden, my had I known gardening could be so much fun and so easy, I would have done it years ago. We spent the majority of yesterday after church working out in the yard, catching up after the abundant rain that we have been receiving over the last few weeks. Work, oh, yes, there's plenty of work to do, even in a square foot garden, like placing your SFG in a place you thought would get plenty of sun, but then realized once the trees got their leaves all grown in there was no sun to be found.

Then unloading, moving, and reloading your SFG with your dirt mixture, oh yes, plenty of work. I had to have hauled over 300 pounds of dirt yesterday. Then we transplanted our tomato starters and my strawberry plant that has been on it's death bed for the last year or so. And started the rest of our seeds, (a little late, but now maybe they won't dround.) I also bought a lavender plant to put in one of the squares in a few moments. The rest have got cucumbers, peas, green beans, marigolds, more tomatoes, and okra.

I've declared that this will be my garden learning year. I've gotten a garden notebook to record successes and failures for future reference. I pray that next year, I will come back bigger and better with lots more wisdom.

So while I'm at it, here is a couple pictures from around my yard.

My beautiful Rose bush. I've got two of them, one with petite pink roses and the other with beautiful yellow roses, both about ready to show their beautiful colors. I've counted over 35 blooms on each rose bush. What a blessing it will be to see that beauty in my own backyard.

The birdhouse. It's in need of some repair, but it is currently home to many of our birdy friends, so I will wait to repair it until they are vacationing in warmer climates for the winter.

My dear Chloe, the newest member of our family. A 5 month old rescue puppy that we adopted about a month ago. Her family had recently lost their home and two of their children to a house fire. So sad. But she is a sweet little girl who keeps my children thoroughly entertained with her playful antics. We believe she is a boston terrier mix.

And lastly my clothesline. My dear husband and I built this about a month ago from landscaping timbers. I still need to add the supports, but as you can see it's doing a marvelous job drying diapers and will soon be holding my sheets as soon as I get them out of the wash. Oooh, fresh sheets straight off the line, what a blessing that will be tonight when I finally am able to slip into bed.

I hope to make it back later and share more on my grocery challenge. I am doing well with it, but haven't had much time to share. My children are outside calling for me to come play for a bit. I pray your day is a blessed one! 

Goings-on and a Tight Budget Pantry Challenge

Here's my sweet 5 month old boy snoozing while doing his favorite thing, sucking his thumb. Not gonna let a toy get in his way. lol. Isn't he precious? Gotta love him!

Well, this is my attempt at coming back to blogging. I'm having an awful time making time to come on here, and even more finding something worth blogging about. I've been dealing with bouts of extreme fatigue and a bit of depression. Who knows why, I am truly thankful to the Lord for all the blessings he has given us, but at the same time, something is troubling me deep within.

A lot of good things have been happening. The children and I made it a priority to be at church as often as we can, which right now means Sunday mornings and evenings since we only have one vehicle during the evenings monday through thursday. And I finally made the commitment of becoming a member of the church and we've been becoming more active. I am currently praying over a couple of things that the Lord would have me do, one being the choir. I love to sing, and the pastor's wife asked me if I would like to join, and also about whether or not to start a keepers of the faith club with our church. We've been having club meetings here at home, just my kids and I, and it would be a big step starting an actual group, but oh what fun it would be.

I have also finally made the total switch to cloth in my home, with the exception of toilet paper, of course. I had been cloth diapering the baby, but only on a very part time basis. I finally made the commitment and even bought some nice prefolds and a few covers. I could have made them, but I honestly just didn't have the time. I am now cloth diapering full time, with the exception of Sunday at church.

And until the rain came in a couple of weeks ago, I have also been line drying all of our clothes. And we're one of the only ones around here that haven't turned the air conditioner on. Talk about money saver. So on to more money saving. Since my dear husband started his new job last month, we have been on a very tight budget, but we still had some breathing room with the leftover income tax money. We were made to believe that he would be getting 40 hours a week, and maybe overtime, well that hasn't happened and right now, I'm not sure he's even gotten more than 30 hours a week, that accompanied with the fact that we're spending about $50 a week on gas for his driving an hour there and an hour back, we're barely squeeking by. Thankfully I've been stocking up over the last few months. But right now, for the next 2 weeks, I have a budget of about $50 for our family of 6. Jacob doesn't really count, although he is eating baby food, It's not costing us much extra since I'm making homemade baby food.  I think I can do it, but it will help if I keep up a journal of sorts of my daily menu plan. I will be going to the store tomorrow for milk, eggs, cheese, things we receive on WIC and a few necessities, like toilet paper, some extra flour, a few extra canned goods. I can't spend any more than my $50 allowance for 2 weeks. I may be going to the store again for milk, but I may see if I can get enough to last us 2 weeks, because the less time spent in the store, the less money I'm likely to spend.

I realize that I haven't generally kept up with these challenges, but I really need to. In addition to this, I will be cutting all possible corners I can, continuing to hang laundry outside, cloth diapering, and using up what we have on hand.

For tonight's meal, we are having macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, (I know, so healthy, but with dear husband gone to work in the evenings, I don't cook too much, I save bigger cooking for the weekends), we'll also have spinach salad.

Tomorrow morning, we'll have cereal with toast, and sunny d, (we're not big Orange juice drinkers around here, but we all enjoy the sunny d, so I mix it half and half with the cheap frozen o.j.) Lunch will be ham and cheese sandwiches, pretzels, applesauce, and juice. Weather permitting we will have a picnic at the park. Snack will be animal crackers. And dinner will be at my parent's house. They invited us over to watch movies and eat dinner. Praise the Lord for a wonderful family who knows our needs and helps us out as much as they can.

I'm going to the store tomorrow and will post my list and amount spent as soon as I get the chance, probably Saturday morning. My main goal of this challenge is to go to the store tomorrow, spend no more than my $50 grocery allowance for the next 2 weeks, and not go back until hubby gets paid on the 28th.

Love in Christ,

sara

Menu Plan Monday

Here is my menu for the week of April 13 through the 19.

Breakfast-

~Boiled eggs (oh, you know there's going to be a lot of those, lol), toast with jelly, juice/milk

~cereal, toast, juice/milk

~oatmeal, toast, juice/milk

~malt-o-meal, toast, juice/milk

~biscuits and gravy, juice/milk

Lunch-

~Sandwiches-egg salad, pb&j, tuna salad, lunch meat, egg salad (I told you, LOTS of eggs), fruit, juice

~Ramen noodles, fruit, juice

~pigs in a blanket, fruit, juice

~leftovers, fruit, juice

Snacks-

~boiled eggs(ok, so we may never eat another boiled egg again after this week)

~animal crackers

~fruit

~carrot sticks

~raisins

Dinner-

~Pinto beans, cornbread, salad

~Chicken enchiladas, spanish rice, refried beans(from pinto beans), salad

~Polish sausage with baked potatos and sauerkraut, green beans

~Broccolli Soup, fruit salad, homemade breadsticks

~BBQ(freezer meal) over baked potatoes, salad

~Pizza, salad

~Pancakes, sausage, fruit

Our menu usually has the same pattern, we almost always have a pizza night, a breakfast for dinner night, and a leftover dinner night. I don't plan leftover night, because sometimes there isn't enough leftovers to go around because we eat a lot of leftovers for lunch. My youngest daughter's birthday is on Saturday and we'll be having family down. That's usally our pizza night, so we will probably do pizza for her birthday. Possibly homemade, but still not sure about that. Have a great week!

Blessings,

sara

A bit of what's going on

I know my blog posts have been a bit hodge podge and irregular. I abandoned my pantry challenge after just a couple of days, but in my defense our lives have been more than busy over the last few months.

My husband's parents were visiting from overseas for about 3 weeks, and we spend quite a lot of our time with them when they are here because we only get to see them once or twice a year. So a lot of our time was spent going out to there house that they own here. (They're from America, they just work overseas.) They were nice enough to take us out to eat a lot or cook for us. We all went to the zoo one day. Lots going on. We loved having them here, but quite honestly it's so much calmer now that they've gone back home.

My husband finished up his last 2 weeks at his old job and is starting a new job in the morning working for a walmart distribution center. I really don't love walmart, and prefer to not shop there for many reasons, but quite honestly this is the only job in our area that pays a decent wage and has fairly good benefits. So I guess you could say I'm caving in to the walmart drama, mostly out of necessity due to the need to save money but also because I want to support what my husband does.

We had a 2 day yard sale this past weekend and I was thrilled at how much stuff we got rid off. So thrilled in fact that I'm going to continue to bag up things a little at a time, only instead of having a yard sale, I'm going to haul our junk out to goodwill every week or two. I think getting rid of things a little at a time will be easier for the kids than getting it all out at once would be. They were quite willing to give up many of their toys for the yard sale, so hopefully this attitude will continue as they are able to see how much nicer it is to be able to find their toys. I also need to get rid of a lot of clothes still.

Something recently I have taken up is CVS shopping. I have seen all these wonderful thrifty moms sharing about their amazing deals at CVS and I've wanted to learn how they do it, but never took the time until recently, and I have to tell you, I am amazed at how fun it is. It's like a game. Working sales and coupons around until you find the best deal. It's such a blessing to be able to be a good steward of the money my husband works so hard to earn and we're able to buy "luxury" things for sometimes nothing that we normally wouldn't even think about buying. Things like shaving cream. I love the stuff but don't see it as a necessity, and therefore would never buy it when I could use a perfectly good bar of soap. But I was able to get it for something like 2.50 last week and got back around 3 dollars to spend on something else. For more info on learning how to shop deals at CVS please check out Money Saving Mom. She has got so much wonderful information.

Other things going on with us, Rus(that's my husband if you didn't know) and I heard an ad for a new schooling option they're offering in our state. It's an online virtual academy(public school). It's offered through K12. It's a free program that is provided through state funding. You're required to log in so many hours, take state mandated tests, and work with a teacher. Also there is no religous basis for the material, and I haven't heard yet, but they may try to teach science through evolution instead of God made. To be quite honest with you, I'm not too happy about this, but my husband is thrilled with the fact that it's totally free, and all the material( books, equipment, etc) is provided to your family at no cost. I prayed about this for a few weeks and we discussed it at length and my Rus decided that we should give it a try and the kids seem to be kind of excited about the idea even though it means more hours of work in the day for them than they usually have. We will start it in the fall and I promised my husband that I would try it out for at least 1 semester before I made any final judgements, if then, I still am not comfortable with the program we can go back to what we were doing. Until then we'll continue on using our mixed curriculum from rod and staff and keepers of the faith, which the kids seem to be really enjoying.

Our garden is started and we will be putting in a lot of our plants over the next couple of weekends. We're doing a Square Foot Garden. We tried our hand at starting seeds, and honestly the only thing that is looking hardy enough to transplant is a couple of my tomato plants. So we've decided to buy the rest of our transplants at a local nursery. I'm going to be building a cage to protect my plants from the local cats who think the world is their litter box, and also a frame for a green house to set over it when the weather is too chilly.

A few other things going on recently...

~My wonderful husband helped me build a 6 line clothesline, and I have absolutely loved using it!

~He also helped me build my square foot garden box.

~My honey also put up a nice metal storage shed in the backyard. (Man, he's been working hard.lol)

~My honey turned 30 last month. But to me he still looks like the 17 year old I fell in love with nearly 13 years ago.

~We also celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. (It's only been 10 years?)

~We're preparing for the girl's birthdays coming up this weekend and in another 4 weeks for my oldest daughter. They will be 4 and 7. Where does the time go?

~I've decided to finally become a member of the church I've been attending for the last year and a half. I had been waiting and waiting praying that my husband would choose to join with the children and I, but at this point he has not, and I have been feeling the Lord leading me to be more active in the church with the youth and/or outreach ministries, and I can't do that unless I'm a member there, so next Sunday, I will officially become a member there. Praise the Lord!

There of course has been lots of other things, smaller, less significant things, but this is the meat of what's been happening in our lives.

One important note, I'm so thankful to say that I'm finally beginning to have that relationship with the Lord that I've always wanted to have. That deep involvement that just draws you to Him everytime you get a chance. I find myself spending more and more time delving into His Word, and learning so much more. And what's better is that I'm seeing the effect it's having on my children.

As is usual for me, I am also working on getting my home more organized, getting things decluttered, and getting a home routine working in our lives. I have recently finished reading Managers of their homes (MOTH) and am about to finish Managers of their Chores, both which can be found here. They are having quite an impact on how I'm beginning to handle our daily lives and how I delegate chores to my children. I think this will be an answer to a prayer once we can put both of these learning/homemaking tools into place.

I'm hoping to be around a bit more as we settle into a bit more normal pace for us. We will be working on getting used to Rus's new work schedule and working on implementing a new MOTH schedule for the children and I at home. I also have lots of pictures I'd like to share of the kids and things we've done around the house. I don't know if I'll resume my pantry challenge, although I have a lot of groceries that I need to use up. My main goal of the next couple of weeks is to not eat out at all. It became such a habit to just get something quick to eat for lunch or dinner, while we were visiting with the "in-loves", and preparing for this yard sale last week, but it's a habit we must break. I will try to share my menu tomorrow and stay accountable to it for the week.

Our plans for tomorrow involve much catching up. We have some schoolwork to catch up on, laundry, billpaying, and general clean up from our busy Easter weekend! I must remember to schedule my Jacob for his 4 month check up. Man does the time fly! The only direct plans I know of for the rest of the week is our Ladies group meeting Tuesday night, which I am thoroughly looking forward to.

I think I've babbled on enough, I hope to post again soon and more often and also to share lots more pictures with everyone. I may also be doing some updates to my blog as I have time to learn and work on it.

Praying your Easter weekend was blessed,

Love,

sara

Curriculum for Sale

Day 2~Pantry Challenge

For those of you wondering, I'm following along with Money Saving Mom in her pantry challenge. From my post yesterday, I got some very encouraging comments and one not so encouraging comment. I'm not letting hateful comments bother me. Some people seem to think they know all about your life and how you should live it, well until they've walked a mile in my shoes, their comments have no merit in my books.

But onto the encouraging comments...Melanie, thanks for your comment, it's amazing seeing what has worked it's way to the back of your pantry, and finally getting to use it all up.

Morningsunshine-homemade pizza, that's a favorite around here as well! The other main reason for my doing this, is that I would like a clean start to begin stocking up. I was afraid if I started stocking up now, a lot of food would get wasted and end up having to be thrown away.

Our menu for today went as planned with one exception, we had our off brand fruity pebbles for breakfast, and our hamburger helper for dinner, but for lunch, there were some yummy breaded chicken patties that I had just calling my name, so we had chicken patty sandwiches for lunch instead.

Along with dinner, I went ahead and browned an extra pound of ground turkey for tomorrow night's dinner. On to tomorrow's menu...

Menu for 3-26-09

Breakfast-homemade maple and brown sugar oatmeal (although my son who is not a huge fan of oatmeal may choose to have the OFFBrand fruity pebbles instead), toast, milk

Lunch-We'll go ahead and have our mac n cheese with hot dogs, fruit, applejuice

Snack-hard boiled eggs

Dinner-Mexian Rice Bake, salad, tea/juice

You'll likely be seeing a lot of eggs, oatmeal, and peanut butter on my menu for a while as I'm trying to up my protein. Ever since having baby boy, and also since I'm exclusively breastfeeding, my hair is falling out in clumps. So in an effort to stear away from expensive protein bars and drinks, I'm taking in extra protein any other way I can. If anyone has some good high protein recipes, I'd love to hear them.

Have a blessed day!

sara

Easing back into blogging again with a pantry challenge

There are many updates to be shared but right now, I'm going to have to slowly ease back into blogging. My days overflow with so much that the last thing I have time for is blogging about it all. But the updates will come slowly and hopefully I will be able to get back into posting at least a few times a week.

But to ease myself back into the blogging world I'm following along in a pantry challenge with Money Saving Mom . I'm doing this for a few reasons....1. My husband is transitioning into a new job and we will be without a paycheck for up to possibly a month. 2.My freezer, icebox, and panty is overly full (praise the Lord), so much so that I don't have any idea what all is in there. And 3. It will be nice to have a fresh start in the pantry and then I may be able start shopping every 2 week or maybe even once a month.

The guidelines I'm setting out for myself in this challenge are...

~I will not go to the store at all, except when I need to use a WIC coupon before they expire. WIC will provide us with milk, cheese, eggs, and cereal. In these cases I will not be spending any money on food.

~I don't promise all of our meals will be the healthiest but I will do my best with what I have available.

~I will not eat out! This is a biggy and one you all should know has been very difficult for me with the stress I've been dealing with at home. But I know I can do this.

We just made a quick trip for a few grocery items tonight. And I will also share that there may be one meal that I may have to go shopping for in which we are having my husband's parents over for dinner one night this week or next. Right now I know I have most everything for that meal, but may need a few fresh ingredients.

I'm not going to specify the length that I will be doing this pantry challenge, because I'm not exactly sure how long it will go on. I'm hoping that it will go on until the cupboards are bare, but I guess we will see. I will be officially starting tomorrow, and will post my menu plan for tomorrow tonight, so here it goes.

Menu for 3-26-09

Breakfast-Fruity Pebbles, toast w/ jelly, oj

Lunch-mac-n-cheese w/hot dogs, peaches, kool-aid

Snack-marshmallows

Dinner-philly cheese steak hamburger helper, peas, tea/applejuice

As I said, my choices are not the healthiest or most creative, but I'm working towards not only using what I have but also easing back into cooking regularly again. Hopefully as I go along, I will have an easier time of cooking homemade, healthier, and more wholesome foods.

Pictures and Busy Days

I've been wanting to share more pictures here, not for everyone else really but for myself. It's been so neat looking back on past blog pages to see what's been going on in our lives. So much has changed since I started this blog back in 2007. So here are a few recent pictures and details about what's been going on in our lives lately....

My handsome fella. Gotta love that look. My precious boy is on the verge of 3 months. So hard to believe. We've had such a rough start with him. His first few weeks seemed to be nothing but tears and  no sleep, but things seem to getting a bit easier and we've even managed a few full night's sleep. Praise the Lord! I've been watching my diet since I am breastfeeding and I think that has been helping his disposition, as well as working on his severe eczema. It's a daily battle with that, but it seems to be slowly getting better. Here's another precious photo of my little man...

He's such a smiley baby! And such a blessing to his family!

Here's my other latest distraction, making diapers for this boy. I had a realization about why those Gerber prefolds can't hold more than a tablespoon of wetness, and ventured out to make my own. I'm working on making all his diapers from what I have on hand...including my husbands old tshirts, some of my dad's polo shirts, a bit of PUL, and a few goodwill sweaters. I am thrilled to say that the homemade prefolds and sweater covers are working beautifully. I've been taking lots of pictures and hope to have a blog post devoted to this subject including what patterns I used, how much it cost me, and the ups and downs of it all.

And here's my baby girl, Miss Emily and her goofy grin. I have found the wonderfullness that is T-shirt dresses. I LOVE them!!! I wanted so much to make the switch to dresses only for my girls and I had no idea how I was going to take all of these perfectly good yet immodest clothing and turn them into practical, feminine, modest dresses. This dress Emily is wearing literally took me about 20 minutes! I've also been taking their jeans and making denim skirts and adding fabric to them to make cute little tiered skirts. So as you can see, lots of sewing going on!

Other things going on around here lately....Hubby's job has taken him down to 32 hours, so money is getting tighter and tighter. He has an interview with a big company next week, as well as a couple applications in at various places. We just keep praying for the Lord's will here.

The older kids and I have started in with our new curriculum and I have to say I am really loving it. It's so much more laid back for us.  I liked what we were doing, but it was just boring us out of our minds some days. Now we're doing a lot more reading, hands on things, and just some good ole real-life learning. It's wonderful! We're doing more classical learning using books from Pathway, rod and staff, and keepers of the faith.

As usual we are working diligently on getting our home organized. I'm so upset at the fact that I worked so hard before Jacob arrived to have a spotless house, and now it's a wreck, I'd say worse than before. I'm considering doing the room a day thing again and getting it back in shape, although with a little one, I may have to do a room in 2 days instead. I've found a chore system that is working really well for my kids using 3x5 cards and a card file. The kids are doing so much more to help me, and I'm not having to remind them constantly. It's such a blessing!

We've gotten a good basic weekly plan that is working well for us and we're disiplining ourselves to stay home more. We had gotten to where we were going out nearly everyday. Now we are only getting out on Thursdays and Sundays. It's helping us stay on budget a lot more, because we're not out and about spending money on things we don't need. Well, I'm off to bed for now. I will hopefully have more to share as the days go by.

Many blessings,

sara

Goings on...

It seems ever since little Jacob came into our lives, I have been going non stop. So many things are going on in our lives right now that blogging and computer time has taken a back seat for now.

A few random things going on right now are...

~We are dealing with issues with my younger sister, and she may be coming to stay with us so that I can homeschool her. Right now we're still praying about that.

~I just ordered a new curriculum for the kids. Something cheaper and easier. I'll post more on that later.

~My husbands place of employment has been laying off and as of now my husband still has a job, but they are cutting his hours back to 32 hours  a week.

~The kids and I are starting our own keepers of the faith club. That's another post.

~The sock I started and shared with you all a few weeks ago is finished and it's the most special sock in the world, because it's the only one of it's kind. lol. I'll never get the other one finished. At least I know I can do it.

~We got our income tax money a couple of weeks ago, and we've done some stocking up on groceries and paid off our van loan!!!Yay! We also paid extra on our mortgage and student loans.

~I've been working diligently on making Jacob more cloth diapers. I'm working on using what we have, which at this time is some PUL, a couple wool sweaters, and way too many cotton t-shirts. I'm hoping to be total cloth by the end of this week.

~I've been doing some freezer cooking. I tried to do a once a month cooking day, but was overwhelmed, so it's working out better for me to just take a couple meals a week and double or triple them. This is saving us so much money, because I'm not tempted to say, I don't know what to cook, let's eat out!

~In addition to sewing diapers, I've been working on Christmas and other gifts to give this year, as well as making dresses for my girls and I so that we can make the total switch to dresses only. I found the wonderfullness that is t-shirt dresses. Don't know why I never thought of it before, but they are so easy to make and so inexpensive.

~Hubby and I are coming up on our 10th wedding anniversary on the 14th of next month, and hubby will be turning the big 3-0. His parents will be flying in for a few weeks to celebrate and spend time with us.

~I've finally found a chore system for me and the kids that is actually working for us. Praise the Lord!

~We're working on doing some major decluttering and simplifying and planning a yard sale as soon as we can.

There's much more that's been going on, but that will have to wait for another day. Have a blessed day!

Monday at Home

Good Day to all!

We have had a very uneventful weekend and the rest of our week looks to be much of the same. In fact, our daily lives as of late has been very quiet. I've been working on keeping things as simple as I can. We get out only twice a week, once for groceries and errands, and once for church. This last week we had 2 doctors appointments to go to. One was Jacob's 2 month check up at which he was declared happy and healthy with the exception of some eczema issues, and he weighed in at 13 lbs 6 oz.

The other appointment was for my final check up after having Jacob at which I was declared healthy as well. While I was up in the big city for my appointment I did a bit of shopping and bought some fabric for a new nightgown and some patterns for 99 cents at Hancocks. I wondered in to a sewing machine supply store while I was out and found a wonderful deal on a used serger. I had already talked to my hubby about getting one, and was so glad I found one for much cheaper than I anticipated paying.

This week I am working on getting into a regular routine with my kids. I'm trying to "babystep" as flylady calls it. I'm starting out with some basics, getting up, getting dressed, straighten my room, start some laundry, unload the dishwasher(did I mention I finally got a dishwasher?), and then get breakfast fixed and school started no later than 9am.

I'm also working on getting my kids more involved in housework, which is proving to be easier than I thought it would be. I'm ashamed to say that after all my work before baby was born has been totally undone. But we're working on getting it back.

We'll be getting our income tax money in this week or next and we've already got it spent, our plans are to 1)pay off the van loan, 2)pay off one of the student loans, 3)buy a storage shed, 4)have an attic door put in, 5) get started on once a month shopping.

Well, it's time for me to get the kids up! Have a blessed day!

sara

Wednesday babbling and goings on

Brrr, it's cold! We are experiencing our first snow/ice of the season with temperatures at or below zero in the night and nowhere above freezing during the day. Along with the cold weather, came sickness. I'm afraid I started it all, and it's still filtering it's way through the family. I think it's just a cold, but it's causing some major sinus problems.

I had several appointments this week and all of them have had to be cancelled until next week. The only one of us getting out every day is my dear hubby who has to go to work.

Jacob is getting so big. I decided to weigh him on my home scales the other day and he is roughly 14 lbs, almost double his weight. My little chunky monkey. Here's a picture we caught of him smiling the other day.

Little Cutie!

And here's a picture of my Emily wearing a hat I just crocheted.

It's a pattern from lionbrand yarn for a cape and cloche. I've got the cloche finished and am about halfway done with the cape. Here's what the finished product should look like. I'm hoping to finish it this week, but think I will need another skein of yarn, and won't be able to get out to get it until later this week or next week.

This is a beautiful cloak for the first chill of fall! The matching hat includes a fun decorative flower.

As far as that sock I was knitting, I'm still working on it. I'm at a point where I'm not sure if I will finish it. Yes, I may actually unravel the whole thing. It's not that it's not turning out okay, I just don't think I will ever finish a second sock to make a pair, so what's the point of having one. I just do not enjoy knitting like I do crochet. Oklamouse shared a website that showed how to make very nice crocheted socks, so I will try that out and see if they turn out like I wanted.

We're still working on getting things organized around here, mostly school, but also everything else. I feel a great need to simplify all areas of our life as well as save as much money as we can and stock up on needed supplies.

We are living in such uncertain times right now, and as it stands, I am totally unprepared for it. My husband may be losing his job at any time, the economy, in my opinion is steadily slipping into another great depression, and it's effecting everyone, not just the lower/middle class, but everyone.

Some of the goals that I'd really like to work towards or am currently working on are...

~Simplify our wardrobes, there's only 7 days in a week, and with the exception of the baby, we can only wear one outfit a day.

~Get rid of toys. My kids have way too many toys. How many dolls can one girl play with. We've been reading Little house books, and my kids actually think it's neat that they only had maybe one or two toys.

~Simplify meals. I enjoy cooking from scratch, but need to find shortcuts to make meal preperations easier.

~Get rid of junk. The less junk we have, the less I have to clean. Nuff said.

~We're planning a monstrous yard sale as soon as the weather is warm enough.

~With our income tax return, we will be paying off of our van, which will leave us with only a student loan and a mortgage to work on paying down.

~I'm going to start shopping at least every 2 weeks, and working my way up to a month. Buying more in bulk.

~Get down to the bare essentials on all bills, including cable, utilities, phone, etc.

There's a lot more I could add to this, but right now this is a start. And I have to get started or we'll never be prepared.

okay, enough rambling on from me!

Have a blessed day!

Friday at Home

Well, today seems to be a better day. Thank you for all your sweet comments and prayers, they were heard. It's so hard when you have your mind set to think that everything "has" to go one certain way. And how hard you fall when it doesn't.

I'm allowing myself to have goals, but letting it go if those goals aren't attained. I'm a flybaby at heart, and one of her biggest sayings is...babysteps. That's what I'm working on.

So far today, I'm up early, I'm dressed, no shoes yet, but I'm dressed, my face is washed, and I'm going to have to go back and finish my hair. After my shower last night, I rolled my hair up in rag rollers and slept in them and as thick as my hair is, it's still a bit damp. I needed to do something different with it, or else I was going to cut it all off. And I don't have time to curl it with a curling iron every day plus I love the look that rag rollers give. It only takes me 30 minutes to roll all my hair up, and I only have to wash my hair once a week, yes once a week, and the curls last all week.

I'm about to get the kids up and start school with them. Other than that I'd like to...

~Keep up with daily routines

~Clean out purse/diaper bag

~Clean out van

~Pet care-wash cat bowls, clean out hamster cage

~Straighten desks and homeschool area

~Straighten laundry room and put all clothes away for the week

~File papers for the week

~zone work-master bedroom

~laundry-whites and diapers

~Project-I'm working on making some feminine pads for myself and I'd like to get a couple more done today and I'm working on knitting my first pair of socks and I'd like to finish the first one.

For dinner we're having homemade broccolli soup and sandwiches. We have family coming in tomorrow, so we'll be busy through most of the weekend, I pray your day is blessed!

sara

Meltdown

Well, today I had myself a bit of a meltdown. I don't know exactly how to go about explaining this, but over the last year with pregnancy, going from homeschooling one child to two(actually 3, Emily wants to be right up there learning just like brother and sister), moving to a new house, and then new baby who wants to do nothing but nurse 24/7, I have slowly let things go. Things like routine, rules, housekeeping, discipline, homeschooling  etc. And I'm not talking about letting up a little on these things, I'm talking a downward spiral. And everything seemed to come to a head this evening.

With baby crying, (which he still does a lot), laundry piling high, and kids running amuck through a disasterous house, dinner not even started and it's nearing 8pm, and my husband, who doesn't even know where or how to help, (and I know he shouldn't have to), I blew up. I'm so ashamed. I lost my temper in a way that I haven't since before I had children. There was no hitting or anything like that, but I yelled, screamed, and yes, even stomped my feet.

It was at that point that I realized it was time for me to regain control. I can't continue on in the manner that we've been doing. There seems to be a trickle down effect that all starts with me not following any sort of daily routine. I'm not a schedule person, but even the simplest routines, it seems, my whole being fights against it. Little things like doing school at about the same time each day is something I just can't seem to do. Giving baths and putting the kids to bed at a regular time each day is beyond me.

Then what ends up happening is the children are running wild with no structure nor consequence, because I'm still trying to catch up. They've realized that I'm an easy target and run me down whenever they see the chance. For instance...I'm trying to console a screaming baby, and Madelynn asks me for the fifth time, can I play on the playstation/computer/etc? And after 4 times of saying no, because she's already been on there for more time than she should've been, I give up, and give in. I shouldn't, I know, but it's like I have no willpower left, and they know it.

I don't want perfection, in the least, and I realize that we are still in the adjusting period of having a new baby, but I just long to be able to give my children and myself some kind of structure and regularity to our day, and to be able to administer the proper discipline when needed, and to maybe have dinner on the table at a reasonable time, and my kids in bed at a decent hour, and maybe clean clothes, is that too much to ask?!

I'm facing the dilema of not knowing where to begin. I know the obvious answer would be start working on sticking to a routine, but I don't know if I can gather the willpower to do that. I'm so weak, mentally and physically.

As I sit here and type this, I know the place to begin at is by praying and asking for help, but I've done that, not in the way I should maybe, my thoughts are so scattered that I barely get a 'Lord, please help me' before I'm already asleep. Time for the Lord in my life has somehow escaped me, and I hate it. I just need help. 

Thanks for letting me get my frustration out.....

Thursday at Home

It is a bitter cold day, the coldest we've had this winter, I believe. We haven't cleared 30* yet today, which is mighty cold for Oklahoma.

We are still recovering from the holidays. We've got our decorations packed away already, but we still haven't gotten back to any kind of real routine on a daily basis. I'm having trouble getting school done daily with the kids, as well as trying to keep the house somewhat clean, and still nursing a 6 week old infant every 2-3 hours.

Today so far I've managed 3 full loads of laundry, and done a bit of straightening throughout the house, but that's about all. We haven't even started school and now my husband will soon be home, so we will likely make up today on Saturday.

I've got so many things on my to do list that I'm really not sure where to start. I guess I'll get the basics done, and then move on towards doing some of the more involved tasks.

For today, or at least the rest of the day, I'd like to...

~Finish up at least 2 more loads of laundry and put them away.

~Wash up the rest of the dishes

~Do a quick pick up in the family room

~Mop the kitchen floor

~My handiwork project for this week is some housesocks I'm knitting for my daughter. I'd like to finish one sock this week. I'm about halfway done. This is actually a learning project that I'm doing. Learning to knit socks.

Here's a picture of my progress so far, I'm working on the heel right now.

~And my sewing project for this week is some cloth feminine pads for myself. I'd like to make at least 5 or 6.

That's about all for me today.

Have a blessed week!

Blogger's Block

I am having trouble with having anything to say. I come on here to write something, anything, but nothing comes to mind. I have a case of blogger's block, I guess.

I could write about my children, how they're driving me near to insanity, or how I feel like I'm losing control in my own home.

I could write about how my husband is undoing any money I've saved by wasting it on things that are not healthy for him or for his family.

I could write about how my husband is trying to find another job before his current job lays off again or shuts down, and all the ones he can find are too far away, which either means a long drive for him, or moving for all of us.

I could also write about my wreck of a house which has no hope of being clean any time soon.

 or 

I could write about how big my children are getting, and how I love watching them play and learn every day. And how muchI look forward to those special morning hugs.

I could write about the fact that we have finally paid our van down enough to be able to use part of our income tax return to pay it off this year.

I could write about what a hardworking husband I have, and how he would do anything to allow me to stay at home and homeschool our children.

I could write about the fact that I've managed to get 3 loads of laundry done today and I can finally see the floor of my bedroom.

It's hard for me to write when I don't think what I have to say is positive. But sometimes it's nice to get those feelings out there, and then realize there really is something to be positive about. I'm learning daily to be thankful for the little things in my life, even when things are looking down, and I don't think I have anything to be thankful for. If you only look at the news stories that plague the t.v. and internet, you know that there is always plenty to thank the Lord for.

Blessings, sara 

Links about the new law going into effect-2-10-09

I forgot to add links about the new law that I mentioned in my last post. I'm amazed at how many people who have not heard about this. It passed, I believe sometime in August of '08,  but most everybody is just now really hearing about it, including me. It's like they kept it hush-hush until they had to tell everyone.

I'm sharing various links from information to different peoples perspective on the subject.

www.thesmartmama.com/bg/

weblog.xanga.com/gloryquilts

www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/cpsia-updates-and-calls-to-action-3157/

www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/01/03/hand-me-down-clothes-in-the-post-hand-me-down-era-consumer-protectionism-gone-too-far/

heartyworks.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-more-thrift-store-items-for-12-years.html

www.homesteadblogger.com/ThunderwolfRanch/123267

Please read up and contact your congressman! MJ at Thunderwolf ranch shared a link to a form letter to fill out that will go to your local members of congress here.

blessings, sara

Deer in the headlights and other rambling

My husband caught this picture of Jacob last night, I call it his deer in the headlights look. lol. And ya gotta love his little curly top. He's the first of my children to have curly hair, at least for now. Baby's hair often changes. Mine as a baby went from black at birth to white blonde by 1 year old.

It's hard to believe Jacob is already 4 1/2 weeks old. How time flys! He's still a fussy baby and wants to be held when he's awake, but that is not very often as he sleeps so much. I've got a front pack carrier, and a sling to carry him around in when I have to get things done. As much as I don't want to have to carry him around very much, I know this time is fleeting, and I realize I really don't mind.

We're settling back into routine here, starting back on schoolwork with the kids. I'm working on my home management binder this week trying to tweak it to make it fit us a bit better. I would also like to add a few sections to it for different things such as a garden section, animals section, and a goals section.

I've been in a bit of panic mode this week because of the new law going into effect on February 10. I buy 95% of my children's clothes at thrift stores. And there's certainly no room in my budget to buy new clothes, even when on sale. I'm praying heavily that there is some change to the law, but that may not happen. So I'm working on what we'll do when this happens. A few things that I've realized is that we, especially my children have entirely too many clothes as it is. Thinking back to books, such as little house on the prairie, children generally had maybe 3-4 outfits altogether. Three to wear during the week, and one for their "Sunday go to meeting" outfit.

I think it would be a good idea to have some kind of program like freecycle only a clothing exchange for children's clothing where you can post if you have say, boys clothes, size 4 that you want to get rid of, and you're in need of boy's , size 5. Hopefully we will be able to do something to that effect.

Otherwise, I will likely be switching to making most of my children's clothes, and paring down the number of outfits they each have. I'm so thankful I have at least a general knowledge of sewing. The clothes I see in stores, even if I had the money to buy new, are so immodest and distasteful, I wouldn't want to anyways.

Today I will be doing school with the kids, working on my HMB, and doing some general cleaning and laundry. For dinner we're having a pot roast with some carrots and potatos, and some drop biscuits.

I pray your day is blessed!

sara