Enjoying a Windowsill Herb Garden

(Photo from Mega Gardening Articles)

Here's a tip:  Weave your basket around a cottage cheese container and then use the cottage cheese container to grow your indoor herbs.  I always have plants and herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill.  How about you?

Have a blessed Sunday,
Nancy

Keeping a Blessings Journal

A very nice thing to keep is a Blessings Journal. I bought a small monthly calendar at Big Lots a couple of years ago and altered the cover of it. It came with a plastic sleve. Each year I'm able to remove the calendar and replace it with one for the new year. I do my best to write down at least one thing daily that I am thankful for and that has in some way brightened my day. We have so many things to be thankful for both big and small. It is so easy to overlook the many small blessings that come our way and it is easy to forget to be grateful for them. (With raising two teenagers, almost three teenagers now, sometimes, many times the tension and stress level can be quite high at our house and I forget how blessed I really am.) The blessings journal is just one way to remind us to give thanks as we are all truly blessed.
BTW...This calendar shows one week on the two open pages. Each day has lines for notes so it is easy to write in.
You, my readers and friends, are a huge blessing to me. Thank you.
Nancy

This post links to
Someday Crafts
Blue Cricket Design
Women Who Do It All
Trendy Treehouse
Creations by Kara
Just a Girl
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Roots and Wings Co.
A Vision To Remember
Mom's The Word

Cupcake Baskets

Dear Friends,
My sweet blogging friend Cindy from Skip To My Lou made these adorable cupcakes during her Spring Blog Hop. She has so kindly given me permission to repost these from her blog. Skip To My Lou is full, Full, FULL of creative ideas. These would have been perfect for Easter but how about making them for Mother's Day. Please stop by her blog and say Hello. The specific post to these little beauties is HERE.
Thank you Cindy for letting me share these with my readers.

Nancy

Simply melt a little chocolate candy coating or chocolate chips. Place the melted chocolate in a zip loc bag. Snip off a tiny bit of one corner of the bag. Pipe the chocolate onto wax paper. I drew a handle shape on a piece of copy paper and place wax paper on top. It gave me a guide and I could slide the wax paper around using the guide over and over.



Allow basket handles to harden completely and then stick them into the frosting on your favorite cupcake. I used sugar flowers (from a cake and candy supply) for my basket, but you could easily pipe flowers or fill the basket with jelly beans or colorful chocolate eggs.

My Home is on a DIET

Dear Friends,

We all try to eat healthy in my home and I do my very best to cook nutritious meals. I'm so grateful that we've raised our children up NOT to be picky eaters. Mike and I try hard to watch our weight as it will easily increase, but this is not the type of diet I'm referring to.

My house has a waistline that is increasing. I feel in some ways we are bursting. My pantry and freezer are full. Our closets are full. Our garage and backyard storage shed is full. My craft area is really bulging. I know that this is a blessing so please don't think I'm not grateful for having plenty of food to eat and a variety of clothes to wear. (I'm a very frugal thrift store and garage sale shopper and it is hard for me to pass up some great deals).

It is also very hard for me to get rid of things. I was always raised to be frugal and to save for a rainy day. Yes I do clean and declutter, but not enough. I really need to say "goodbye" to some of what we have.

My first plan of action is to 'live on what we already have'. I'm not saying I won't buy anything, because there are things we need to live on. We need fresh milk, fruits, vegetables and bread. We have a few upcoming projects that we will need things for. That is fine. What I'm saying is that we will shop from home first. I'm notorious for buying surplus when it is on sale and sticking it away. Then when it comes time that we need some of the surplus, sometimes I forget that I have it and buy more! Argh!

My second plan of action is to 'reuse and recycle what we already have'. If I need something, how can I make it with what I have on hand. I have things stuck in closets that could be repurposed into something else if needed because they are just sitting in the closet not being used at all. Yet, I don't want to get rid of those items because they are in perfectly good condition and I might need them 'someday'.

My third plan of action is to be more ruthless with my decluttering. It is truly time to say goodbye to some things. I hope that over the course of a year our home waistline will whittle in size.

Have a beautiful day.

Nancy

My Lenten Resolution

Dear Friends,
Today is Ash Wednesday. It is an important day on the Christian calendar as it is the beginning of Lent. It is a time of preparation for Easter the highest of Holy Days. It is a time of repentance and prayer. Many people use this season to give up something as a sacrifice and to offer that sacrifice up to God. I teach religion, this year to first graders, and I speak to them about Lent and having a Lenten resolution. Those children can come up with some thoughtful answers. "I'm going to share my toys every day." "I'm going to help my mother every day with chores." "I'm going to pray every day." Some I'm sure have heard their parents speak about what they are doing for lent and will say, "I'm not going to watch TV," "I'm not going to eat candy," and so on. I really stress to them, and to my own children that this is a time not just of sacrifice, but a time to keep Christ first and foremost in our thoughts and in our actions. It is a time to work on becoming closer to Christ and becoming a better person.

I've given quite a bit of thought this past week as to what my Lenten resolution would be this year. For myself I've decided to truly be obedient to my husband and to put him first above myself. It is easy to say, "sure Honey I'll get to that," and it gets pushed to the bottom of the pile or is the task completed at the end of the day. I have decided that when he asks me to do something I will put it first, if at all possible, and do it right away or at least at my first opportunity. I will also do it with a glad attitude and happy heart. So when he asks me to help him with the taxes, ugh that's going to be the tough one for me, I'll smile and say "sure". It will be hard to have a happy heart for that task.

One thing I must confess is so far this year he hasn't asked me what my Lenten resolution will be and I haven't volunteered it either ;-) Not that he'd take advantage of my kind gestures, but I can see the potential where he might think he could have some fun with this. As long as none of you blab to him about my resolution I'll be in good shape. He doesn't read my blog unless I have something specific to show him so no worries about writing it here. Now if he asks me what I'm doing for Lent I will tell him, but otherwise I'm keeping my lip zipped.

My desire through this resolution this year is that I want to become a more Godly woman and I want my God light to shine.

Have you made a Lenten resolution? I'd love to hear what you chose this year.

with Love and God's Blessings,

Nancy

Make One Change

Make One Change


Do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness; to your godliness add brotherly affection; and to your brotherly affection add love. (2 Peter 1: 5-7)

Dear Friends,

There are times in life when everything seems overwhelming. I know these days certainly occur in my life.  There is so much going on you don’t know what to do first. You know in your heart this is not the way you want your life to be. You need to make one change.  Make that one change today. Through the scripture we see one of the very first things we are to do is to add goodness to our faith, add goodness to our lives. Start there. What is one thing you can do to add goodness in your life? Perhaps it is feeding your family healthy meals. Perhaps it is maintaining a budget so you are not stressed over family finances. Perhaps it is just maintaining the cleanliness and order of the kitchen. Perhaps it is just ensuring your family has clean laundry. Perhaps it is spending one evening a week with your children playing family games. Perhaps it is planning and taking the time as a family to go to church each Sunday.  Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps. What is it for you?

Do these things seem overwhelming and too great even to accomplish? If so then break it down. If the laundry seems too overwhelming then tell yourself you will do one or two loads each day until it is caught up rather than tackling the entire mountain of it. If the thought of planning three meals a day seems too overwhelming then let’s just look at breakfast. There are many healthy and easy foods that your family can have for breakfast rather than sugar laden cereal with artificial preservatives and colors.

Choose just one thing in your life and begin it today. Begin it now and resolve to stick with it. (sticking with it is a real key here)  Then in one or two weeks from today, you decide, add one more change for the better. All these changes which are for the better will aid in your self-control. Improved self-control will motivate and help you increase endurance. As you do all these things, do them to glorify God. This will increase your godliness, brotherly affection and ultimately love. 

For myself, I have a schedule written of household chores to be done.  It is a page I print off of the computer each day and it takes me room by room to check each area for potential clutter and piles.  I'll share this list with you over the next few weeks.  It is easy to get off track of that list and when I do, not only do the household tasks fall apart, but other areas of my life start to slip through the cracks.  This past week, I've been back 100% on my schedule.  It is amazing how much more smoothly my house runs as well as the attitudes of everyone in the family when I just keep my schedule.  I resolve to work hard to stick with my schedule each and every day.

It all begins with just one change.  Just ONE change and do it for the goodness of all in your family.  May that change be an action that will ultimately glorify God.

Do you have a change you are wanting to make?  Please feel free to share it with us here.

Love,
Nancy

Make Your Own Groceries

Good Morning Friends,

As you know I've been speaking about menu planning and trying to live more frugally and I ran across this book at our local Goodwill store last week. It's called "Make Your Own Groceries" by Daphne Metaxas Hartwig. It was published in 1979 but is chuck full of 256 pages of make it yourself ideas. Did you know you can make your own baking powder or your own vanilla extract? Now of course you do have to weigh time vs. money so I don't know that I'll be making those things, but I am interested in making my own salad dressings and seasoning mixes among many other things. One of the real benefits of doing this for me is with Emily and her fibromyalsia, along with medication we are eliminating some very specific things from her diet as well as ingredients in soap, shampoo, etc. to help decrease the pain. With making my own, the benefit is knowing exactly what is going into what we put into and on our bodies.

I've never tried making my own pasta, but that is on my list of things to try this week. I'll let you know how it goes. Remember Mike's birthday present HERE? We've been grinding our own hamburger from very lean chuck and it has been so easy. Now, it did make for rather dry hamburgers one evening, but when cooking up the ground chuck for casseroles and other dishes like burritos, it has been perfect and we've been pleased with the purchase of our grinder. It will soon have paid for itself.

Do you make your own groceries? I'd love to hear what you make from scratch.

Blessings,

Nancy

This post links with the following blogs:

Living a Minimalist Lifestyle and some Fun Blogs

Good Morning Friends,

I must confess, I don't read books like I use to. Instead I read blogs. Blogs have filled my need for books and for magazines for that matter. Every once in a while I run across one that is like a good story and I look forward to what will happen next. One such blog I enjoy is NATALIE. Natalie and her new husband Luke are such a sweet Christian couple enjoying life and young love. After being married 21+ years ourselves now and rather set in our ways, it is fun to read and enter into their lives and remember the freshness of young love and what it was like to have and plan your entire future ahead of you. Plus she takes some beautiful photography and has a creative bone in her body like me.

Another blog I recently ran across is miss minimalist. Her and her husband have taken a job overseas in the UK and I can completely relate to their downsizing. When we moved to Germany I had to do much the same (but not quite to her extent). miss minimalist also has guest bloggers who live a minimalist lifestyle. I don't know why but I find it fascinating that people can live with five or less pieces of furniture or live in a 10 x 15 foot apartment. I guess I really didn't realize people lived such a minimalist lifestyle by choice but I can understand and appreciate the benefits that it can have.

The care of all our "stuff" is something I've been thinking about for the past two or three years now. Every time we bring in more stuff there is more to store, more to dust, more to maintain etc. etc. etc. I really do like (love) my house. We have lived in this same house now over three years which is a long time for Mike and I. His job has moved us around quite a bit. I must say though that I hope we retire here and live the rest of our lives here because I'm quite happy. That said, after three years, we have accumulated and filled our space. With no plans on the horizon to move, this means it is time to go through things again. When we move it forces me to go through all we own and decluttering just naturally takes place.

It's been funny, not funny ha ha but funny interesting, I'll read a post from miss minimalist and then I've gone and purged something like the drawer in my nightstand, or our medicine cabinets, or a shelf in the closet. I could never live with just the very bare minimum, (I think an extra set of sheets is a necessity) but getting out some of the old and looking at the things we really use and enjoy has been a breath of fresh air lately.

One of the things about Mike and I and the kids is that we enjoy a LOT of different activities. I for example enjoy basket weaving, cooking and all things creative as well as gardening and camping. All these activities require "stuff". I'm trying to be inspired by miss minimalist and others like her who she interviews. I'm not going to strive to live with the very bare minimum, that's not my style, but I am going to strive living with only things we love and use. In going back to reading blogs vs. books and magazines, I must say that I'm rather proud of myself as even though last week I bought a couple books on fibromyalgia because of Emily, I haven't bought any books for myself since October when I got THIS book and I have let my magazine subscriptions expire and I only bought a couple before Christmas. Gosh I love to read, just add that to my list of hobbies.
Thank you, all you bloggers for fulfilling my need to read while yet helping to keep my home clutter free by reading about you on the computer and not in a book.

Do you have any special tips on how you handle all you accumulate?

Baskets of Blessings,

Nancy
This post links to:

Ta-Da List

Good Morning Friends,
Do you ever feel like you make lists and just don't accomplish what you would like on that list? It can feel discouraging, I know. Lelan over at Good Gravy has designed a free printable Ta-Da! list. How fun is that! You can print it off HERE.

This way, when you complete the year of menu planning that I showed you yesterday you can check that off your list!!!

Baskets of Blessings,

Nancy

Menu Planning - Part 5 - a Year's Wort of Meals Video

Here I am wanting to do a month's worth of meals at one time, take a look at this short video of a mom doing and entire year of meal planning. Amazing. As for my family, we thrown in a leftover night once a week to clean out the refrigerator.
Please enjoy this. I did!
Baskets of blessings,
Nancy

Menu Planning - Part 4 A Great Grocery List

A great menu plan goes hand-in-hand with a great menu and grocery list. I have been using a notebook for this purpose.
Thank you Kate for providing a wonderful downloadable menu and grocery list. Visit Design Sponge for this great tutorial with free downloads for the list. This is a fun and practical project.
Baskets of Blessings,
Nancy

Fastest way to Peel a Potato - Seriously

Never in my life have I seen such a fast way to peel a potato.

This video is just over a minute long and you will be amazed. It's going to save me a TON of time.

Blessings,

Nancy

Eat From the Pantry Challenge

For those of you who are menu planning with me, how are you doing?
For those of you who would like to menu plan you can read my posts HERE, HERE and HERE.

So far, I'm off to a good start. With the food we had over the holidays, I was able to freeze some of it and we often have leftovers for lunch. Breakfast is easy so supper is the only meal I have needed to really concentrate on thus far.

I wanted to let you know that over at Money Saving Mom and over at Life as a Mom you can join in their Eat From the Pantry Challenge. I don't know about the rest of you, but after all the holidays, my pantry floweth over with lots of extras and things we need to finish up. My pantry has lots of items in it that I only needed to use half a box or half a bag for a recipe. Also with my menu planning, I've stocked up enough for about two weeks of meals that I've planned right now. The Moms in the challenge want you to try and see if you can make it to the grocery store only three times that month. That is a challenge I definitely want to take on! I do NOT like to grocery shop. They also give suggestions as to what to do with your grocery savings. As for me, I think my savings will be put towards a new vehicle for me. It is seriously getting time for something new. My minivan, aka. taxi, is nine years old now and it is time. Following our mortgage, food is our next biggest expense in our family. I'm hoping by menu planning and now by the Eat From the Pantry Challenge, that this expense will be decreasing.

Let me know if you decided to do the challenge with me. We can support each other!

Have a wonderful day everyone. I don't know if I will be doing any weaving this week, but I do hope to get to some crafty projects that are sitting on the table waiting for me.

Blessings,

Nancy

Make Your Home a Haven

Good Morning Friends,

Today is a day of cleaning, straightening, organizing and the beginning of putting away the Christmas decorations. It is a day of making our home a haven. Our company has now gone and it is time to get things back in order.

I have read much about people making their home a haven and it is something I try and strive for especially while on a major cleaning and organizing spree such as today.

I'd like to share just a few tips I use and think about when trying to make my home a haven.

• Pray throughout each room and ask God to bless the room and those who use it. I try to make sure the items in each room are uplifting. May we all have positive attitudes throughout our house.


• 1st Corinthians 10:31 Therefore whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. As I go through each room I am doing this for God.


• Work on the house some every day. I'm a horrible procrastinator but I do try to do a bit every day so that things don't get out of control with the cleaning. Surprisingly I stay on top of our laundry without any trouble. That is one chore I don't mind. ;-)


• If I see things that cause my family stress, I try to deal with those things first, whatever it may be.

I want my home to be comfortable, clean, relaxed, inviting, and loving. Today I am making my home a haven. What tips do you have for making your home a haven? I'd love to hear them.

Blessings,
Nancy

40 Tips for a Better Life in 2010

This was passed on to me and I thought it was wonderful and wanted to share.

Author unknown.
Blessings,

Nancy
40 Tips for a Better Life in 2010
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Buy a DVR and tape your late-night shows and get more sleep.
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'
5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008.
7. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured IN plants.
11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds, & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk, and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, OR issues of the past, negative thoughts, or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.
18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. REMEMBER, GOD heals everything.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.
32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
35. Do the right thing!
36. Call your family often. (Or e-mail them to death!)
37. Each night before you go to bed, complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________.Today I accomplished _________.
38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life, so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
40. Share this with those you care about. I just did. May your troubles be less, May your blessings be more, May nothing but happiness come through your door!

Merry Christmas from My House to Yours

Menu Planning - Part 3 - Refrigerator and Freezer Organization

Julie from Deen Homestead Basketry sent me a couple of pictures to share with you. The top photo shows her refrigerator freezer. She uses plastic baskets to help organize her food.

In the bottom photo you are looking at a chest freezer. Julie uses the reusable grocery bags in here to keep her items separated. One bag holds chicken, another pork another green beans etc. She finds it much easier to lift the bags out of the freezer with the handles. I think it is very clever. I also know my mother would be pleased with this. You are adding an extra layer of protection to prevent freezer burn.

Julie has also shared with me a website; Cooking by Numbers. You enter the food you have on hand in your pantry or freezer and the website comes up with a recipe for you. How clever!

An organized freezer, refrigerator and pantry all aid in menu planning. Thanks Julie for the photos.
What are some other food organizational tips that you have? I'd love to hear and share them.

Nancy

Preparation for Menu Planning - Part 2

Over the past few weeks as I've been thinking about menu planning, I've done a bit of preparation for my resolution as well as the upcoming Christmas holiday. I might as well start menu planning now with company coming soon.

I've been:

1. Cleaning out the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.


2. Going through cookbooks.


3. Purchasing a small spiral book to take notes in.

The notebook is a weekly school agenda book that is divided into sections. It is going to be my right hand when it comes to my menu planning. I'll share with you the notebook in a future post.

Are any of you interested in menu planning with me? I'm not trying to twist anyone's arm here, but if any of you have some interesting web sites, tips and tricks with menu planning, I hope you send them my way.

For now, how about a fun photo. Can you all say ratatouille?

The rat's name is Cinnamon and she belongs to my nieces who we saw over Thanksgiving. I don't know if you can tell by my expression, but I was saying through my smile, "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF ME!!!" So what does my 12 year old son do? Tim takes the rat and drops it down my shirt! I was frozen. Do you know what little tiny rat claws feel like on your stomach? I was doing a little menu planning for some rat soup... I was!
Everyone had a great laugh.....except the mama.
Love and blessings,
Nancy

Benefits of Menu Planning - Part 1

I've been giving serious thought to a New Year's Resolution this year. As a child growing up, I always made a list of resolutions I wanted to accomplish. Usually I had broken at least several of those resolutions in the first week and most in the first month. About 15 years ago or so, there seemed to be a push 'against' making resolutions due to their very low rate of success. It seemed that the magazines stressed just make a list of goals or things you want to attempt. (well, that is sort of like a resolution) Then for about the past 4 years people have focused on one word or phrase to think about throughout the year. I did the word and phrase the past three years. Year one being the word "enough", year two "simple" and year three the phrase "keep ahead of the game".
This year I've decided to return to the good ol' New Year's Resolution. Difference being, instead of a list of resolutions, I have one resolution in mind. One resolution I intend to do for the year. One resolution to be successful with. That resolution is to "Menu Plan."

The way I look at it, Menu Planning gives several great results.

1. I eat healthier.
2. I feed my family better.
3. We save money.
4. I can possibly lose those stubborn 10 to 15 pounds. (It's 15 pounds now since Thanksgiving.)
5. Having a meal plan will aid in my organization.
6. Having a meal plan will save time in both cooking and fewer trips to the grocery store.

Now I have menu planned in the past. I've done planning for 1 week at a time as well as 1 month at a time. The trouble is that I don't do it consistently. That is where my resolution comes in. I intend to menu plan consistently. This is something that has been on my mind the past month. I CAN do this! If I can blog NaBloPoMo for a month, then I can menu plan for a year.

In up-coming posts I will show you some of the steps I'm currently taking in order for my New Year's resolution to be achieved.

Blessings,
Nancy

Living a DIY Lifestyle - My Life

Dear Friends,
One of my husband's favorite quotes throughout our 21 years of marriage has been, "It's not brain surgery." He would say this to anyone feeling self doubt about whether or not they could perform a specific task. He would encourage anyone to learn and figure out how to accomplish their project. "You can do it, it's not brain surgery or it's not rocket science."
This has saved us literally thousands of $$$ over the years. We've done all our own home and vehicle maintenance projects. We've built many things in our home and have done our own major remodeling projects. If we can avoid hiring out the project, we do so. Mike and I married at the early ages of 21 and 23. He knew and was never afraid of taking things apart to find out why it was broken and then to replace the broken part.
Bring this down to a more domestic level and I cook for my family and have done much sewing in the past although now it is more cost effective to purchase some ready made clothing for a couple of dollars than it is to buy fabric and a pattern along with zippers, buttons and other notions. I still sew most all the curtains in the house as well as other home decorator items and an apron as you saw HERE. As you all know, I enjoy basket weaving (of course) and scrapbooking as well as all forms of crafting.
I enjoy gardening and do what I can in my small space. (We live on just under 1/4 acre).
There are times when we know our limits and must hire out some work or the amount of time involved is just to great. Sometimes we don't have the proper tools to do a project.
Doing it yourself gives a great sense of accomplishment.
It is satisfying to say, "I did this."
Blessings,
Nancy