The Christmas Decorating is Done!

The Library

Dad's office tree

The window in Dad's office

The Family Room Tree/Yes, i'ts fake!

The fireplace insert downstairs in the family room

The wrapping room upstairs

Our tree upstairs/yes, it's real!

The house looks festive! It just needs lots of little ones running around getting into things to make it perfect!

New curtains!

Before Dad left to go garage saling yesterday, he asked if there was anything specific he should look for. I said that new curtains for the kitchen would be great. So from down around the corner on Audubon he calls and says there are curtains if I want to come take a look. I went down but didn't see anything I thought would work. But throughout the morning I kept thinking about the curtains. So I went back and realized that these lace drapes would look great in the dining room and this lace valance would also be perfect for the kitchen. I paid a total of $1.50 for the the whole shebang! Pretty awesome, I think. 

Our lovely kitchen window!

And our dining room! Makes it look more open and fresh!

Dad's Very Busy Week!

I love, love, love my new sink. It looks great in the kitchen and gives me another inch of depth! 

So this is what the old lighting fixture looked like. Very old-fashioned and HUGE! I've been wanting this gone for a while but we didn't want to spend a lot of money on a replacement. We are really working to pay off the house! 

So at a garage sale last Saturday Dad sees this great light fixture. He texts me a picture and I of course say, 'buy it'. It's just what I want. It's simple and absolutely perfect. So Dad brings it home and tells me that when he first saw it, he noticed it was $10.00. Too much, he thinks. Then he begins to notice that there are a bunch of 1/2 price signs all around. Yessiree! He got this great light fixture for $5.00! Thank you very much! Even Dave Ramsey would approve!!!

Your Dad is amazing and I am so glad that we have passed our spendthrift gifts on to each of you! It doesn't take a lot of money to live life, only hard work and of course prayers to Heavenly Father to bless you with those things that you need!

What does Your Home Reflect about You?

Yesterday we had the people from Prime Pest come and spray. They come quarterly through the year and spray the outside of the house. I forgot that they sometimes will spray on the inside! But when Michael asked if I would like him to spray inside I said, 'sure'. Then as he began to go through the rooms upstairs and down, I began to panic. What did the rest of the house look like? When he returned to the living room where I was he asked, 'Are you lds?'. When I said 'yes we were', he said, 'I could tell by your house'. That gave me such a wonderful feeling! And as I began to look around I realized that he was right. Our home does reflect our lds values, from the plethora of family photos to the books and magazines, to the many pictures of Christ and of temples that are displayed upstairs and down. I hope that each person that enters our home knows of our love for the Lord and our faith in His plan. I hope that there is never a doubt that we believe that Christ is our Savior and that by living by His precepts we can find that joy and peace we all crave. May the Spirit of God always reside within our walls!

Just some highlights from an amazing summer!

It's Almost Fall!

September is right around the corner if you can believe it! And I go back to school this Friday! And then school begins! But that doesn't mean I will stop preserving our wonderful harvest. Holy Smokes, everything is doing so well. We went out to Grandma Joyce's again and brought home more green peppers, potatoes, lots of Amish corn and two boxes of tomatoes and a great amount of cherry tomatoes. Wow! Grandma Joyce also gave me about 6-7 squash. That would be Hubbard, crookneck, a dumpling squash and one that neither of us knew the name of! So what to do with this great food? Well, today I'm spending my afternoon at home because I'm waiting for the pest guy to come spray the house! And I looked at some of my favorite blogs and found a great and easy dish that used up a small zucchini and one of the crookneck squash. It's found on Melskitchencafe..com and it's called Skillet Zucchini and Yellow Squash. I just diced up both squash while I was heating 1/2 Tbls. oil and margarine and when the skillet was hot I put in the squash. Try to keep the squash level and then salt and pepper to your taste. Let it cook without stirring it for about 2-3 minutes. Then stir and let it continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes. I put a little bit of Parmesan  cheese on it too. Oh my goodness! This was delicious and super easy! If you can get your hands on some zucchini and squash try this dish. I think I may eat the whole skillet full before Dad gets home!

Hello Family!

For a few years now we have had to endure using dish-washing detergent that really didn't work. Ever since they took out that phosphorus that supposedly ruined the environment we haven't found a replacement that actually got the dishes clean. Tonight at dinner dad said, 'I think we should try making some homemade dish detergent.  So we got on the internet and quickly found a site where someone tried out 7 different recipes. We went with the one that she had the most success with and now the dishwasher is running and we're waiting to see the results! The recipe was very simple and because we make our own laundry detergent we already had two of the four ingredients. The recipe is:

1 cup Borax (used in our laundry soap recipe)

1 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda (used in our laundry soap recipe)

1/2 cup kosher salt

5 packets unsweetened lemonade packets (don't even want to tell you how old these could possibly be)

Mix it all in an airtight container (we used a quart canning jar) and go for it. So easy and it costs approximately 2 cents a load. Not bad! I'll let you know how it works. 

Your dad and I are trying to be as frugal as possible in order to pay off the house quickly. We're on track to pay it off by Spring of 2017. But if we pinch those pennies a little harder maybe by Christmas of 2016! That would be awesome! 

So anything we can do to save and scrimp and put away is our Dave Ramsey goal! We can become 'DEBT FREE'. 

I hope you don't mind my sharing our efforts to be more frugal. I do want you each to know that I believe that spending less and using up what we have is fun and entertaining. Call me crazy!

I love you all and hope you have an amazing and wonderful and restful week!

Mom

Old is Better!

Aunt Pattie gave me this desk to use in my office. The other desk I had been using was just a fold up table so this is heaven. and it includes a little side drawer on the top left that when you open it up you can set your 'typewriter' on it. Pretty cool! We continue to acquire vintage furniture in the house which I believe will probable outlive us. 

For those of you who didn't hear, your cousin Aaron, John and Marilyn's son died a couple of weeks ago. Such a sad time for them. Keep them in your prayers. 

Our ward experienced some boundary changes which resulted in our gaining about 40 families from on top of 5-mile! Hooray. Some old friends and some new friends are now a part of our ward family. We're super excited. We had a ward potluck on Friday and had a great turnout. And of course plenty of food. If any of you remember Dave Olsen, you will know that of course there was plenty of pizza!

We are so excited for April where we will see you all! Zach is riding down with us and we will arrive Wednesday night. Can't wait to get pictures and more pictures. We will have a combined family activity with Brian's family Friday night so be prepared for lots of fun. 

Did you know that you can freeze shredded carrots? I didn't but when I had a super abundance of shredded carrots after our Relief Society Dinner I discovered that if you blanch, cool and freeze them that you can use them in soups, stir-fry and other recipes. And I also discovered that you can do the same thing with sliced mushrooms. I love the internet! Well, for learning fun ways to preserve food anyway!

Life continues to be a blessing and a learning experience but that's why we're here, right? I hope that one day I will be able to say to my Savior, 'Thank you and I tried my best'. 

That's my hope and prayer for each of you as well. That you're trying and that when you stumble and fall, you will rise up and try again. And remember that He wants each of us to succeed. I think we forget sometimes that He is on our side, cheering us on, giving us guidance and lots of love!

Have a great week!

Mom 

Hello Children!

I can now upload pictures now that I've moved from Explorer to Chrome! I'm so happy!

Isn't that a great picture? Such an adorable couple.

So I wanted to share what's new at home! Due to a variety of reasons we have embarked on a healthier eating journey. The first reason is that although we don't look it, we are getting older and we want to remain healthy for our family and ourselves. Secondly, is that due to Patrick and Lindsay's example I have investigated the whole food eating plan and I'm hooked! My new favorite go-to website is 100daysofrealfood.com. It is an amazing place with recipes and meal planning ideas. And third,, my diverticulitis has been acting up and that needs to be addressed with healthier eating. Finally, as some of you know I have gone back to Weight Watchers and have thus far lost 17 of the 30 pounds that I had gained over the last two years. Eating healthier has helped me to lose the weight and I hope to lose more and then keep it off.

So with your dads cooperation we are eating a ton more veggies and fruits and a lot less processed foods and that includes chocolate. Yes, my dear children, I, your ever-chocolate-loving mom have so far gone without chocolate for almost 4 weeks! And the funny thing is that I don't crave it! I love the fact that I feel so much better and that the food that is going in my body for the most part is good for me.

I want to thank you dad for being so willing to try this with me. And when he gets a cookie craving he just goes in and bakes them himself! So for us this is working and we feel better and I know that I have more energy and stamina to keep up with the students in our class at school.

So glad to be back blogging and I look forward to sharing more of what's going on here at home! Love you all
Mom