Tornadoes

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop in quickly and ask for prayers.  Where I live in Missouri, in Jefferson County/St.Louis just got slammed by a series of tornadoes this afternoon.  At my home we were blessed with only loosing a few trees, but lives were taken by this storm, as well as the storm in Arkansas.  We even had a funnel cloud at the arch, that thankfully never touched down.  Anyway, I haven't had the time to download any photos as we have been cutting wood all afternoon... but the damage around here is severe.  So if you could please keep the families of my town in your prayers as many now are starting the new year without homes and family members. 

Thank you.

Thank You

I tend to look at Christmas as my "New Year" more so than the 1st, there's just something redeeming and refreshing about the birth of Jesus... something a change of the calendar just cannot give me. This time of year is when I begin my spring cleaning, both of my home and myself.  If only winter ended the day after Christmas, I'd be in real heaven, lol.

Anyhow, I just wanted to drop in for a minute and thank all of my readers and friends for their fellowship over the past year, and to extend many blessings for the new year.  If I get a moment to breathe there should be a give away coming soon to celebrate a year at this blog!  So again, thank you to everyone!  See ya next year <3

A Tour, My Home Journal

One of my items on my list of 101 things to do, is to re-hab my 'home journal' or what some call the control journal.  Today I started in on this task, following still the basic guidelines described at http://www.flylady.net/ but adjusting it to what suits me best.

On opening you'll find my basic tools... my favorite pink pens, highlighter etc.  Then I have a printed copy of Proverbs 31.  Nothing fancy or elaborate.. I'll spare you the page by page photos, lol.

After the basics I have my daily schedules, starting with the morning, afternoon and evening routines... followed by a Monday - Friday list.  I also have a page protector filled with daily docket printouts from http://www.simplemom.net/ in case the mood strikes me to plan ahead.

Next is my weekly section.  Here I have a list of things I hope to complete by the end of every week, and I have the detailed 'zone' instructions from Fly Lady.  This section still needs major tweaking as my scattered brain hates working on just one room every week... but it's a jumping off place.

Following my weekly section I have a yearly tab.  This is brand new to my journal so I have yet to place much more than a pretty piece of paper in it.  I plan on recording major tasks we do over the next year in here so I can better prepare for the next year.

After that I have a section for projects and tasks that I might come across or want to plan.  And that is followed by finances.  Normally in our house I stay far away from the finances and budgeting as it is not my strong suit... but recently I've slowly been taking over.  So I plan on using this section to just simply record the bills this year, so I can tackle a budget later on... after I have a better idea of what we do spend and so on.

And then at the back I have a full year of calendar pages printed out, for the obvious reasons.

I have yet to add in a menu and grocery section, that's still on my list of to-do's as are many other things.  But for now that's a quick look into my binder.. now it's time to go use it!

Luminaries

I stumbled upon another quick gift idea this morning, and had to rush right out and make it.  I think it's that cool, and of course I'm still working on gifts as well, lol.  I can still blame being behind on the baby... right? Anywho, for complete instructions on the RIGHT way to make these please visit Crafts by Amanda .

Now of course I did not read the full how to's before I hit the store, as my crafting tends to be but an after thought.  So I had to come up with my own way to make these with what I had on hand.  Hello Mr.Glue Gun, I think I might be falling in love with you.  So I madly globbed on the hot glue, rolled my jar in the salt, pressed firmly, and voila.  Again, you'll probably be better off following Amanda's directions. 

~5~

Our boy just turned five this week, this is a huge deal, because you know Now he is a big boy.  Now he says he can do all of those big guy stuff, like protecting his baby sister from bears.  I don't dare tell him that we don't really have bears (just don't get into that topic with the old guy at the corner, dang it, he saw one yesterday, lol), or that he couldn't possibly fight a bear bare handed... I'm just happy he wants to protect his baby sister, maybe we are doing something right.

I also don't dare tell him that I still watch him sleep at night, and will forever think of him as my baby, my firstborn... I'll never forget his first smile.

He's excited because now he's not 4 or 3.  Although he says he liked being 3, and that the next time he's 3 I can play with his three year old toys. 

He's been telling everyone he meets about his being five now.  He had an hour conversation with the waiter at Applebee's yesterday, that drew everyone around us to our table.  It started with him announcing that he's five and ended with him explaining that if Applebee's really wanted him to be happy that they would have blue smoothies.  He's never had one before, but he knows it would be really cool.  And by the way, he thinks they took too long making his food... which happened because he stopped everyone from working to tell them that he was five.

This year he knew exactly what kind of cake he wanted.  He wanted a train tracks cake, like when he was 3... or a stormy cake.  I wasn't quite sure what a stormy cake would involve, so we stuck with the train tracks... he said it was the best cake he had ever had in his life.  I love that boy.

Then we explained to him how you should make a wish before you blow out your candles.  He squinted his eyes tightly shut, let loose a huge grin, and said "I wishes that I gots the best mommy in the whole wide world!"  I REALLY love that boy, even if he's writing Santa a letter on how bad I've been. 

~Apron Love~

This year I joined in on my first ever swap done via the Internet... I think I might have a new addiction!  This one, a Christmas Apron Swap, was graciously hosted by Sue at Country Pleasures, please stop in at her blog, it really is lovely!

And this is what greeted me at my mailbox Wednesday...

My photo does no justice for this beautiful gift!  I was trying to experiment with my settings, and well, killed my batteries... the last of my batteries!

Is it not just perfect?!  Mandi from Whispering Christmas Dreams (please share some love with her beautiful Christmas blog too!) made this for me, and I couldn't be more excited!  And I also have a secret to admit, this is my first and only apron that I have, so the fact that it's not Christmasy is Perfect!  I truly could go on and on about this.  Thank you Mandi!
Now I must go off on a search for more swaps... 

I'm in Awe

A baby, a child, so small, so tiny.  Filled with burps, spit-em-ups and dirty diapers.  One day would grow to become our savior.  How much more Amazing could God be?


-obviously that picture is not Jesus, but my stinky Sophie...  I still find myself amazed everytime I hold her...

Semi~Homemade Soap

I have slight obsession with anything beautiful and handmade.  I thrive on making things from scratch, but I have realized that if it's not practical, meaning if I can't make it with what I already have, I won't make it.  After all I live out in the boonies, and my local stores are far from carrying anything beyond your basic grocery needs... so I have to adapt.  (maybe one day I'll jump on the Internet shopping bandwagon, maybe)

I fell in love with the look and idea of handmade soaps.  I mean after all they are gorgeous looking, but they're far from my idea of practical.  Hello lye, in my home... we'd all end up poisoned, somehow.  Maybe one day when my son no longer licks my counters, and I'm allowed more than 5 minutes of concentration on a project... maybe then I'll try the real stuff.  But for now I share with you my solution to getting that homemade soap fix.

You'll need:

• bars of plain Ivory soap, lots of them (shhhhhh!  This is the secret ingredient)
• an old crock pot or a microwavable bowl
• random herbs, scented oils and what have you to add in
• cookie cutters, empty pringles cans, empty and cleaned buttermilk containers and so on... you'll see...

1. Shred your Ivory soap.  You can grate it, chop it, or just widdle it down with a knife.  The more you break it down, the quicker the process moves, and the smoother your final product is.
2. Dump your soap into your crock pot (microwave instructions in a minute), adding in just a half cup of water or so... the more water you add, the smoother your soap, but the longer it takes to dry
3. Set the crock pot on high or medium heat, smooshing your soap until it resembles Vaseline.  Smooshing causes a better blend than stirring.
4. Add in your desired mix-ins.  I usually go with oatmeal, Rosemary and or basil.  I have added in tea tree oil, essential oils, and the oil from vitamins... basically what ever I already have in the house.  Smoosh some more.



you can slice off any rough areas later



Microwave:

1. Dump your shredded Ivory into a microwavable bowl, adding in about 1/4th cup of water.
2. Nuke for a minute, smoosh and repeat.  Watch for the soap to foam, it will boil over if you're not careful.  You can add in more water as you go if needed, just remember the more water you use, the longer it will take for your soaps to dry.
3. Keep nuking and smooshing until the soap is all melted and resembles Vaseline, then quickly smoosh in your add-ins.

Vaseline like stage

Finishing up:

1. There's several ways to set your soap.  If your mixture is thick, you can carefully scoop it into cookie cutters set on a cookie sheet.  Allow to set halfway, then carefully pop out your soap, then repeat.  This is best if you are using the crock pot method, since you can keep the rest of the soap warm as you wait.
2. Or you can pour the soap into a pringles can or an empty milk carton.  Pour it all in, then tap vigorously to remove all the gaps and air bubbles.  Allow to sit over night.  Then peel off the wrapping and slice into your desired sizes.




Be careful as you peel, your soap will still be soft and easily flawed.


3. You could also use soap, candle or candy molds... but I never have those on hand!

4. Allow your soap to fully dry before wrapping, or the moisture and add ins will grow mold!  Not that this has ever happened to me...



If you aren't happy with your finished product, you can always just chop it back up, and start over again... that's the beauty of it.  I discovered with this batch that I had not tapped it enough after I poured it.  You can see some air holes in my pictures, but I'm not so sure that I mind since I was going for a rustic look to start with.  To get the white stripes simply add in some slivers of un-melted soap at the very end.  Be creative! 

I also have to mention that I do not know the safety of making soaps in a crock pot that you may or may not want to use again for food.  But I would have to think if you're just using soap and herbs that you should be fine... but please use your own judgement there!

If you make this project I'd love to see your results and ideas, please feel free to link your project here!

I'm Working on Something

It's no surprise that I have a project in the works... I pretty much always have something I'm working on... but I didn't want to let my blog grow quiet as I worked away at my newest scheme.  I've been inspired by one of my new favorite blogs, http://www.thenester.com/ .  I'm overhauling my entire house, room by room and on the cheap.  Actually I'm not quite disciplined enough to go room by room, it's more like spot by spot.  A painted dresser here, a cleaned out closet there, but hey, it's progress... flylady would be so proud! 

But like I said, I'm doing it as cheaply as possible, shopping around my house instead of at the stores... and it's actually working out rather well!  Who cares if I use up that old can of exterior paint indoors... it was free to me! 

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited, but I still have tons to do (including finding my camera so I can share my progress).  So stay tuned for updates, and feel free to share your ideas and join in on my thrifty makeover journey! 

~Trimming the Fat~

I seem to have a few flaws... ok, ok, several flaws... one of those being randomness and the inability to stay on task.  Slide me through the 10 online medical test I somehow ended up at yesterday and they all claim I'm dyslexic too, go figure.  But anyways, this is not about on-line medical diagnosis sites (not that I put stock in them anyway).  This about the fact that I have 500 things going on in my life right now, and that I am choosing this time as a perfect time to schedule in a complete blog renovation.  Makes perfect sense right?  So please excuse my mess, as I delete, re-add then delete again content, links and so-forth.  Hopefully this won't take too long... (you may laugh now)

~101 Things to do~

Today I'm going to share with you my master list for 2011.  Somethings I'll be starting on now, others will be waiting for the new year to arrive.  The purpose of a 101 list is not so much the time frame, but more of a way to pat yourself on the back while getting things done around your home and in your life.  First of all it limits the amount of expectations you put on yourself while giving you reasonable goals.  After all a year has 365 days, surly one can get 101 things done in that time.  The second part is that you actually get to look back and say, dang I got all of that done! 

My list in no particular order:

1. Hannah's Blanket
2. Sophie's Blanket
3. Gabe's quilt
4. living room afghan
5. re-side the goat hut
6. paint the goat hut
7. re-fence the chicken coop
8. paint the chicken coop
9. scrub upstairs bathroom walls
10. paint upstairs bathroom
11. re-finish bathroom ceiling
12. paint the laundry room
13. re-read the bible from start to finish
14. de-clutter paper
15. fence the garden site
16. have a garden, lol
17. build compost fencing
18. enter a trial with journey
19. have an herb garden
20. order seeds
21. build a seed starting shelf with grow lights
22. purge clothes
23. organize closets
24. clear out and stock pantry
25. paint kitchen
26. re-hab dinning room light
27. seal basement stairs
28. start running again
29. buy chickens and keep chickens, lol
30. build a brooding box
31. find critiquers for novel
32. finish editing novel
33. find an agent
34. finish basement re-hab
35. make a rag rug for kitchen
36. learn how to and get wood stockpiled
37. open an online store
38. learn how to can
39. learn how to make bread, eh hem, learn how to make good bread, lol
40. do something with our fire pit area
41. cut bills in half once again
42. use up all of my current yarn stockpile
43. make a family quilt
44. purge basement junk
45. have a garage sale
46. put scrap books together
47. make birthday cards for the whole year
48. visit family in Minnesota
49. take a fun family vacation
50. find a church
51. plan and have date nights with the hubby
52. paint dining room
53. make curtains for the master bedroom
54. wildflower patch for fresh cut flowers
55. re-hab my blog
56. make dry mixes from scratch
57. put in screen doors
58. finish up the side flower garden
59. plant a strawberry patch
60. plan an orchard for the future
61. finish and use my control journal
62. finish and use a garden journal
63. make gloves for everyone
64. make hats for everyone
65. re-hab my 'desk' area
66. print photos
67. put up a ceiling fan and new lights in kitchen
68. build at least 3 raised beds in the garden
69. start research on keeping cattle and hogs
70. meet with vets in our area to promote my business
71. attend one dog show
72. learn how to paint
73. read at least 20 books
74. go camping
75. tour the wolf sanctuary
76. go fishing
77. go hunting with my husband
78. use menu planning
79. plan and plant a small rose garden
80. learn a new craft
81. update my cookbook
82. make dresses for sophie
83. set up a savings plan for a new car
84. purge laundry room closet
85. purge sophie's closet
86. make blankets for guest
87. start building agility equipment
88. make/buy dining room chair cushions
89. re-finish kitchen counters
90. be ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving
91. finish pond garden
92. plant more evergreens
93. clean out lean to
94. tithe
95. update all business paperwork
96. make painted plate decorations with kids
97. organize movies and books
98. learn how to cook with whole grains and beans
99. learn how to make candles and soap from scratch
100. clear out land around gas tank
101. I'm leaving this one blank to fill in later ;p

So that's my master list, filled with anything I could think of.  I hope you will join in as well.  Just take some time to write your list, adding in anything and everything you can think of.  There's no pressure and no hurry with this, it's all about doing what you can, when you can, and being proud of what you get to cross off.   Please feel free to leave a link here for your 101 list.

DIY Yarn Ornaments

I wish I could remember where I found this idea, I just love it!  If it was yours please let me know and I'd be happy to give you proper credit.  Such a quick and easy project, just perfect for using up extra yarn that's cluttering your stash! 

You'll Need:

• Yarn.  Any weight, any material, any color and length.
• Glue.  Any kind of craft glue. 
• Ornament hooks

Simply wind your yarn into a tight ball and secure the end with glue.  Let dry.  Then carefully tuck in your hook, or create a loop to hang them with using more yarn.  Voila!  You could even use them to top packages or gift bags, they're super easy and quick to make.