Hi all! I apologize for the delay in posting here. I've been busy trying to catch up on my family blog, and had to leave this one put aside for a bit longer. Never fear though, I have some good ideas and I hope to be reorganizing and implementing them on this blog, soon!
God bless!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
On My Mind
On my mind today is the myriad of little things that I could do, that I tend to overlook. Things that could save me money, or save time or energy, or improve the comfort of my home. Little things add up to big things over time. I read a post of Rhonda Jean's the other day where she said that some of the immigrants to Australia paid off their mortgages earlier than others due to their having grown and preserved their own food in their own backyards. A $25-50 savings per week adds up to $32 - 65,000 over a 25-year mortgage (well, and it is more than that if you include the savings on interest!)
That spurred me on to look for more of the "little" things to do, to save, to change for the better.
It was such a gorgeous day today, the perfect temperature with the perfect breeze and perfect little white fluffy clouds bobbing across a perfect blue, sunshiny sky. And I was inside doing laundry. For a moment.
In the garage, all in a tangled mess, sat the clothesline, which was taken down two winters ago and not brought back out after the new baby's arrival. Today was the day to make that small change.
It really only took about ten minutes (and a speedy massacre of several hundreds of baby spiders) to locate the post hole, the post, and to get the line all untangled.
A quick wipe-down with a scrubby sponge to get the garage grime off, and the shiny beauty was ready for service.
But the laundry door needed attention also: not having been opened for a year or two, it was full to brimming with spider nests -- ewwwwww!!! So a sweep-down with the straw broom (at full-arm's distance, yuck) and a kickback of the wild grape vines (and poison ivy, but we won't mention that) and it was good to go. The gorgeous sunshine was in my laundry room, and I was out of the laundry room in the sunshine, hanging up my laundry.
Such a small insignificant thing, but you know what?
It made my day.
And it was a tiny useful thing that will keep adding tiny savings as we go along.
It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be perfect. It all counts.
Did you have a small challenge today? A tiny success? I'd love to hear about it. God bless!
That spurred me on to look for more of the "little" things to do, to save, to change for the better.
It was such a gorgeous day today, the perfect temperature with the perfect breeze and perfect little white fluffy clouds bobbing across a perfect blue, sunshiny sky. And I was inside doing laundry. For a moment.
In the garage, all in a tangled mess, sat the clothesline, which was taken down two winters ago and not brought back out after the new baby's arrival. Today was the day to make that small change.
It really only took about ten minutes (and a speedy massacre of several hundreds of baby spiders) to locate the post hole, the post, and to get the line all untangled.
A quick wipe-down with a scrubby sponge to get the garage grime off, and the shiny beauty was ready for service.
But the laundry door needed attention also: not having been opened for a year or two, it was full to brimming with spider nests -- ewwwwww!!! So a sweep-down with the straw broom (at full-arm's distance, yuck) and a kickback of the wild grape vines (and poison ivy, but we won't mention that) and it was good to go. The gorgeous sunshine was in my laundry room, and I was out of the laundry room in the sunshine, hanging up my laundry.
Such a small insignificant thing, but you know what?
It made my day.
And it was a tiny useful thing that will keep adding tiny savings as we go along.
It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be perfect. It all counts.
Did you have a small challenge today? A tiny success? I'd love to hear about it. God bless!
Luxury in the Morning
If I hadn't been up by 7 this morning, I would not have had nearly two whole hours of peace and quiet before the kids got up. I would not have had a short devotion and some space to think about it. I would not have had an unrushed shower, and I wouldn't have had time to slip a sweet, fresh-raspberry-strewn bread pudding into the oven -- made with my own homemade bread and eggs from my chickens. My morning chores would still be undone, and I wouldn't be relaxing here, in my room, with the windows and blinds thrown open, the sunshine streaming in over the green lawn and flower garden, and the birds exuberantly singing just outside.
I live in the lap of luxury, and I would have missed it if I hadn't been up on time.
Ideally, I'd be up well before seven, I'd be up before the sun. 5am or so. I know many, many admirable people who consider 7am an indulgent sleep-in.
So I could deal with the ideal, or I could deal with the real. By this stage in my life, I am beginning to know the difference, and I'm learning that perfectionistic attitudes get people stuck in a pit, sooner or later. So let's talk about what is real, and what is enjoyable, and live the best life in the best way for each of us. Blessings!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Back to Blogging
It is possible that I will be back. Possible, possibly even probable.
Taking a look at the challenges: hm, will have to rethink some of these and adapt, most likely. The way food prices have risen, I doubt very very much that I could possibly feed all 8 of us on eight dollars a day. But I might be able to do it on sixteen dollars. It isn't worth getting all perfectionistic on things and then throwing in the towel, so that nothing gets done, is it?
Today is Mothers Day. I slept in, then I read most of a book called Made From Scratch , which is a sort-of memoir, sort-of how-to. I am enjoying it and finding it motivating, even though I find that her fairly simple ways of providing for one person, would be fairly overwhelming when stretched to provide for eight people, while also taking care of the daily needs of those same eight people. But again...I do not need to be perfectionistic, I do not need to say "it is impossible" when some of it may be possible, that something may be learned, grown, established, improved, or even -gasp- perfected :-)
After my sleeping-in and reading, I went to the dining room for brunch made by my children -- a healthy baked oatmeal not too much like the sweet, buttery version I normally make; fresh strawberries and cool whip. Coffee. Mmm, coffee. Decaf. Trying to get off my recently-aquired caffeine addiction. Must remember to sleep. :-)
Since then, I have spent the afternoon catching up on many, many, many blogs I haven't looked at for aaaaaaages (still 3817 posts to go, but I don't think I will make it through them all!) and enjoying my new tablecloth, one I really really wanted! and watching the hatching of zillions of baby praying-mantises in my Japanese maple; and rescuing some passionflower seeds from my hubby who had planted them in the vegetable garden; and admiring the two-dozen paper flowers my six-year-old made for me; and drinking a whole pot of tea from my little yellow teapot in my china teacup, even with REAL milk, because today, I will risk the tummy-ache. It is Mothers Day, a special day.
We are about to make up some Easy-Bake mixes for an oven my sister and I found in a yard sale in Holmes County recently (ever yard-saled with Amish? Fun!) and bake with the littles. They are getting a little naggy, so I will have to run...but before I go, I will promise to come back with some recent thoughts and something of a bloggy resurrection post. I will try not to ramble like I have here. Happy Mothers Day, mommies!
Taking a look at the challenges: hm, will have to rethink some of these and adapt, most likely. The way food prices have risen, I doubt very very much that I could possibly feed all 8 of us on eight dollars a day. But I might be able to do it on sixteen dollars. It isn't worth getting all perfectionistic on things and then throwing in the towel, so that nothing gets done, is it?
Today is Mothers Day. I slept in, then I read most of a book called Made From Scratch , which is a sort-of memoir, sort-of how-to. I am enjoying it and finding it motivating, even though I find that her fairly simple ways of providing for one person, would be fairly overwhelming when stretched to provide for eight people, while also taking care of the daily needs of those same eight people. But again...I do not need to be perfectionistic, I do not need to say "it is impossible" when some of it may be possible, that something may be learned, grown, established, improved, or even -gasp- perfected :-)
After my sleeping-in and reading, I went to the dining room for brunch made by my children -- a healthy baked oatmeal not too much like the sweet, buttery version I normally make; fresh strawberries and cool whip. Coffee. Mmm, coffee. Decaf. Trying to get off my recently-aquired caffeine addiction. Must remember to sleep. :-)
Since then, I have spent the afternoon catching up on many, many, many blogs I haven't looked at for aaaaaaages (still 3817 posts to go, but I don't think I will make it through them all!) and enjoying my new tablecloth, one I really really wanted! and watching the hatching of zillions of baby praying-mantises in my Japanese maple; and rescuing some passionflower seeds from my hubby who had planted them in the vegetable garden; and admiring the two-dozen paper flowers my six-year-old made for me; and drinking a whole pot of tea from my little yellow teapot in my china teacup, even with REAL milk, because today, I will risk the tummy-ache. It is Mothers Day, a special day.
We are about to make up some Easy-Bake mixes for an oven my sister and I found in a yard sale in Holmes County recently (ever yard-saled with Amish? Fun!) and bake with the littles. They are getting a little naggy, so I will have to run...but before I go, I will promise to come back with some recent thoughts and something of a bloggy resurrection post. I will try not to ramble like I have here. Happy Mothers Day, mommies!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Ongoing Challenge #5 Moey -- Get Back On the Horse
Oh, I did have a week last week! It was just a sucky week, won't go into too many of the details, but the long and short of it is that I flunked on ALL the goals last week. So my new ongoing challenge to add today is, Get Back On the Horse.
Something is better than nothing, right? Keep on keeping on, and don't give up.
A brief update is that the garden is producing nicely for us at the moment in spite of borers and raccoons. My potato plants have made an appearance, so I need to learn to care for them so they will produce potatoes, and hope that it doesn't get too hot for them. It is definitely a much warmer summer than it was last summer, which is good in a way, because the heat is reducing the fungal problems we had last year (which killed the tomatoes and would affect my little potato plants too.)
I have borrowed more interesting books from the library, some of which I would like to share in a future post. Seems like the library is getting in JUST the books I am wanting to read lately, so I am sure to check the "New Books" section every time I go. I can not keep up with all the reading I am wanting to do.
As far as the Dollar-a-Day challenge, due to a few extenuating circumstances (needing some extra TLC in the form of ginger ale and sprite and easy-to-digest foods,) plus a general meltdown of the system, I have spent about twice what I had budgeted for on groceries over this past week. It is still a good total, but I can do better if I refocus.
I plan to go through the stock and pull together as many recipes as I can, using what we have on hand and utilizing what is currently ready for harvest. I really don't want to waste anything, because it does make a huge difference in a small budget. When I wasn't watching the budget so closely, it didn't really matter that much.
Something is better than nothing, right? Keep on keeping on, and don't give up.
A brief update is that the garden is producing nicely for us at the moment in spite of borers and raccoons. My potato plants have made an appearance, so I need to learn to care for them so they will produce potatoes, and hope that it doesn't get too hot for them. It is definitely a much warmer summer than it was last summer, which is good in a way, because the heat is reducing the fungal problems we had last year (which killed the tomatoes and would affect my little potato plants too.)
I have borrowed more interesting books from the library, some of which I would like to share in a future post. Seems like the library is getting in JUST the books I am wanting to read lately, so I am sure to check the "New Books" section every time I go. I can not keep up with all the reading I am wanting to do.
As far as the Dollar-a-Day challenge, due to a few extenuating circumstances (needing some extra TLC in the form of ginger ale and sprite and easy-to-digest foods,) plus a general meltdown of the system, I have spent about twice what I had budgeted for on groceries over this past week. It is still a good total, but I can do better if I refocus.
I plan to go through the stock and pull together as many recipes as I can, using what we have on hand and utilizing what is currently ready for harvest. I really don't want to waste anything, because it does make a huge difference in a small budget. When I wasn't watching the budget so closely, it didn't really matter that much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)