Back to blogging!

I have so missed my blog and writing.

Things have been busy and sort of crazy around here lately. But when aren't they anymore?

What brand of crazy have we been up to this time?

School. Which has been a harder adjustment than I expected and the financial aspect is becoming a heavy burden. I'm counting down to resuming homeschooling next year.

The munchkins:
A- Loves school. A bad day is one without homework, but she says the works too easy.
B- hasn't been getting enough sleep. In turn behavior issues are more frequent and more intense.
C- has been gluten free for 2 months, the improvement in her skin, GI issues and energy levels is amazing.
D- he's been having a lot of breathing problems, colds, possible allergy flares. His immune system is stressed.
E- quite the little lady! She amazes me daily with her ability to go from sweet as pie to evil Lucy in a snap!
F- walking, climbing, talking, stubborn little peanut! His size is slowly catching up with his attitude.

Rabbits. Are doing well. I've lost track of how many kits I've sold at this point. My mother found a fiber glass greenhouse on craigslist that we use as a bunny barn.

Goats. The girls are doing well. One of them delivered a stillborn kid and unfortunately I think that will be it for kids this year. However, in just a few days, I'm picking up a beautiful buck.

Chickens. These girls are funny, but not smart. However they have been hiding their eggs! So their free ranging days are coming to end once I finish building a chicken run.

Garden. Currently nothing. Soon I'll have 2 potato towers going in the bunny barn.

Canning. I have been canning like crazy! Spaghetti sauce, applesauce, apple butter, jams, pumpkin and anything else I can get my hands on are quickly filling the pantry. I've also made lots of apple chips and froze some corn and 35 quart bags of broccoli florets gleaned from a local farmer.

Work. I lost 3 jobs when I got sick. I've found 2 new jobs, but combined they still pay less than the lowest paying one I lost.

Things have been busy, crazy and blessed by His grace and mercy.

Short Farewell

Between the number of things I have going on right now and the painfully crappy internet service my phone receives, I have decided to take an official break from the blog.

I'll try to post occassionally and hopefully be back soon with wonderful news.

Simple Matters

First, let me apologize for missing posts. I had some technical difficulties. By that I mean, I can see the cell phone tower but it can't see my phone so I have no service. One of the many joys of technology and small towns.

We are going to skip the back to school post and the health care vs sick care one will be pushed back to next week.

I am a recovering packrat. Some may argue with that because,  well, there is still a tons of junk around my house! But I recovering, not recovered. It's a process.

It's a process that started with conviction for me. I spent so much time dealing with stuff, figuring out a stuff management system, working to pay for stuff and the list goes on.

It hit me. I had so much stuff to deal with that I wasn't spending nearly as much time with the Lord as I should have or wanted.

I'm not just talking about physical possessions. Hobbies, activities and even some good deeds can all be stuff.

I believe that the Christian life should be one lived of simplicity. The less stuff you're managing for yourself, the more you can do for Him.

I've been working toward simplicity.for a long time. Yet I'm still surrounded by stuff (mostly just physical stuff at this point) that can be cleared away to make more time for the Lord. Time to spend with Him and time to be His hands and feet to the world.

I'm going to keep purging that which is unrighteous and unneccessary from my life to make more room for what matters in eternity.

Heart of Stewardship

Stewardship is a topic many don't like to talk about. They hear "stewardship" and think of tithing and giving extra money. They think only of financial stewardship.

That is one part of it, but as a whole stewardship is taking care of and making good use of all that God as blessed you with.

That means your home, your car, your community, your family, your body, your time, the planet. Everything.

How you treat each aspect shows God your appreciation for what He has given you!

Just as important as taking care of each of these things is the heart. The heart may be even more important than what you do. Your heart is why you do it!

Do you help someone out of guilt or out of love?

Do you save (and serve) leftover food to save money or to not waste what so many aren't lucky enough to have?

This lesson plays out in our house a lot. My children are good helpers, they want to get checks on their stewardship chart and "win" because they have the most checks. 75% of the time, their little hearts miss the mark.

Last week I had a chance to explain it better to my oldest.

Cheyenne excitedly came running in to the kitchen and declared that she had not only made her bed, but everyone elses too.

We all went to look. She beamed with pride at her hard work. It was some of the best bed making she's ever done and I told her how proud I was of her and how sweet it was of her.

Alex, my perfectionist, looked around "but mom, she..." (I used the mommy face that says shut your mouth or you'll be grounded until you're twenty!)

When I was alone with Alex I asked what she was going to say. "She did it wrong mom. The blankets are bunchy and the pillows aren't straight and the animals are not tucked in."

Our conversation boiled down to one point. Cheyenne may not have done it the way each person liked, but she willing, lovingly and eagerly helped and was happy to do it. She helped with a glad heart.

It was an act of love.

That's what stewardship boils down to. Love. Love for the Lord who blesses us each more than we deserve.

Meal Plan Monday: Cleaning Out the Pantry

I am generally one to have a fairly large stockpile in my pantry. Which is good when money gets tight.

Except it's been tight. For 3 months. And I'm starting to understand how old mother hubbard feels!

That may be a little dramatic. The options and quantities are certainly smaller now, but I still managed to pull together a meal plan almost completely from the pantry. It's going to require a lot of baking, which I'd rather avoid in August, but our bellies shall be full.

Monday
B: pancakes and canned oranges
L: carrot cake and GF zucchinni brownies
D: twice baked potatoes

Tuesday
B: oatmeal or cereal
L: leftovers
D: spaghetti, garlic biscuits and GF apple pie

Wednesday
B: eggs and bacon
L: PB&J with applesauce
D: macarroni and cheese for the kids and I'll eat leftovers

Thursday
B: oatmeal or cereal
L: GF pumpkin bread
D: yams, chicken and mixed veggies

Friday
B: eggs
L: zucchinni burgers and sweet potato fries
D: leftovers

Saturday
B: pancakes
L: tuna and crackers
D: left overs and/or eggs

Sunday
B: cereal
L: PB&J with applesauce
D: pot roast with carrots and potatoes

Next week will be even more interesting. Heck, until I get another job things will be interesting.

This week I'll share my new favorite carrot cake recipe. I started with this one. I tried not to laugh at the word healthy in the name. I what I ended up doing was more like this...

4 eggs

1 cup applesauce

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cloves

4 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix it all up. Bake at 350° for 45 minuets. Once cool top with your favorite cream cheese icing.

Join me the rest of the week for...

Tuesday stewardship

Wednesday back to school

Thursday simplicity (and my room!)

Friday health care vs. sick care

Saturday waste not, want not

Fall garden

First of all, did anyone else notice.that I'm clearly struggling with my days of the week? Now back to the real originally scheduled blog post for today.

I had lofty dreams for my fall garden. Carrots and potatoes to over winter. Spinach, kale and broccoli. All in cold frames to extend the growing season.

Then I discovered the reality that is my garden bed. It's plauged with crab grass, red clover and an ugly rubbery ground cover.  I've pulled and pulled and pulled, but they keep coming back and choking out my plants.

I have come to a decision I don't like. I'm going spray it down with chemical herbac:ide and mulch it heavily for the winter. I won't use that bed again until 2015. I know some people will see no reason to wait that long and others will me appauled I'd even resort to this.

I've made my choice for the long term usability of the garden.

Over the fall and winter I will still be gardening, just differently than planned.

I will be working on my herb pots in the kitchen window.

I'll be trying my hand at an off season potato tower on my porch.

Expeiramemting with what edibles grow well indoors for us.

Hopefully I'll also be able to build at least one mini greenhouse over a small bed out back.

There will be plenty to keep me going and many ideas to attempt to see what works for us! Plus, during the fall and winter, I can work on my spring/summer garden plan!!

I'm dissapointed that year round gardening is going to have to wait a bit, but I'm hopeful to have more success with that garden bed after this since I will not longer be battling those noxious weeds.

Project Repurpose

This is actually proving to be hard for me to write. Not because I don't repurpose things, but because I have done these things so long that they seem normal to me now.

A lot of money and resources can be saved but repurposing things when they not longer are useful as they are now.

Here is just a small list of ideas I use...

Jeans become long denim skirts. I started with a tutorial similar to this one. The one I started with not longer exsists in cyber land as best as I can tell. Only difference is that I do the front and back the same (how they say to do the back) but I also prefer a roomier skirt to chase munchkins and wrangle goats in. Also, if you save the top of the second pair of jeans you can sew some cute gathered fabric around the bottom hem to create a drop waist skirt!

Candles. I love candles. I reuse the jars they come in for need candles. I use the left over wax in the bottom and add crisco (and sometimes bacon grease if we have a lot) melt it together, add a home made wick, fill jar and *ta da* cheap, long burning candles!

Plastic berry containers are not only awesome for when you pick berries, they make organizing craft items, puzzles, small toy set and even snack lunches super easy!

Yogurt cups all depend on the shape of the cup. The kids love using our Trader Joe's ones for small drinking cups. Most get a few holes drilled in the bottom and become flower start containers.

If you can crochet plastic shopping bags can be converted into reuseable shopping bags. It does not knit well in my experiance.

I love turning baby food jars into button jars with pin cushion lids. I'm going to use up most of the ones I have left to make a tree shaped advent calander.

Stray socks make great bean bags or (my favorite) sock dolls. One large sock for the body, smaller socks for the arms and legs. I add scrap yarn for very interesting hair and to draw attention away from the fact that they don't really have a head.

Coffee cans and milk jugs can be used to organize crayons and pencils or to grow plants.

Maple syrup bottles make a great way to make and share your own vanilla and other extracts.

Larger plastic containers like yogurt quarts, licorice bins, large spinach and kale tubs all make a good way to drop goodies off with a friend, need mom or anyone really. Add some cute festive ribbon to make it pretty and don't worry about getting your dish back!

Smaller plastic tubs like butter and sour cream come in are perfect for storing left overs and even better for sharing leftovers!

I really try to repurpose things until all the life has been sucked out of them. One, because (in case you were not aware) I am living below the poverty line with 6 kids in tow, it takes creativity to not feel as poor as we are (I'm okay with that, God gave me lots of creativity.) Second, I want to be kind to the planet and teach my kids to be. Third, I view it as a matter of good stewardship to make the most of what you have not matter what it is.