Extreme Makeover!!

Well, it has actually been a few years since we bought

this little basket at the Goodwill. It had broken hinges

and so the lid was never connected, if I took it anywhere,

I had to carry it under one arm......

And it remained quite a mess for some time.....
All it needed was the hinge to be fixed!
How hard is that?!?!?

I decided to use fabric....looped it through the
remaining wire that was left....

then through the whole for wire on the

lid to the basket.....

Tied a nice tight bow and there you have it!!
A basket makeover!!

Things fit well inside.....
even room for extra fabric for my project....

even room for some crocheting.....

and the yarn!

I usually keep more than one project in my

basket in case i get tired of working

on one .... I can change. :)

Boy, a basket makeover, a bucket makeover...

what will be next?!?!?

The weekend is here, so will not be around

for a couple days. Finishing up planting seeds

inside and going to finish some that

go outside. My wonderful hubby

put pvc hoops over my raised beds,

so I will be turning those into

little cold frames.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Spring, Canning, Organizing.....

This is our usual Spring/April weather here

on the High Desert........

This is exactly why gardening in the spring can

be very challenging here. But...know what?!?!?

My garden is surviving!! Yay!

But in the meantime, while we wait for warm

weather I keep doing some canning for my stockpile.

Bought a 25 pound bag of Navy Beans to can Navy Bean

Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Pork and Beans and

anything else I think of with Navy Beans.....

I found the recipes in the Ball Blue Book. The Pork

and Bean recipe uses tomatoe juice boiled with

onions and spices.....mmmmmm.....
That recipe only had you boil the beans for about

3 minutes, boil the juice and pour over beans

in jars and process.

The Boston Baked Beans had to cook 3 1/2 hours,

so I had those cooking in my roaster pan in the back

room while I canned the others. Then when they

were done, I processed them.

A pretty full day, but don't you just love the results

at the end of the day when you can sit back

and enjoy the fruits of your labor.....

Soooo, all this canning lead me to organize my

canning pantry which is outside in a shed. Something

that I probably should have done first. :D

So, how about a bit of sillyness....

Designer Buckets!! LOL.

Yep! Someone gave me some old wallpaper

books....I keep forgetting to use up any

of the wallpaper....

So, how about this, it only took minutes!
You need a small bucket, this is my dishwasher soap

bucket from Costco. (Once I have used up all this

store-bought stuff, I plan on making my own:)

I chose the wallpaper strips that are trims.......

how about apples for canning??
Cut it to fit around the bucket then slit it
up 3/4 of the way as the bucket is not
straight.......

and Voila!!
Designer Buckets!!

I put them in the bottom of my canning

pantry to keep my jar rings in......

What a great feeling to get an area organized. :D

Springtime happenings....

Well, when life keeps going on, it sure is hard

to think a about blogging. Or rather, sit down

and do it.....I do think about it. :D

I had planted some cold hardy seeds outside

and am happy to say most came up. Here

in the High Desert, that is a big

accomplishment. I also have several seeds

that came up in my back room.

So far inside: Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant,

Roman Chamomile, St. Johns Wort, Broccolli,

Cabbage, Squashes, and maybe a couple

more things.

Outside things that came up are: Kale, onions, radishes,

lettuce, beets, maybe I see some

carrots and spinach. Our nights are in the

low 30's sometimes high 20's, so I am

pretty excited about these things working.

I am just trying to figure out now, with small

sprouts, do I keep covering them with plastic

or just straw or what?? Much experimenting

going on here. I knew from the beginning that

this is an experiment, so that if I do have

to replant anything I will not be too disappointed.

Today I am going to plant turnips and peas, these

could have already been planted and hubby is

going to make me potatoe boxes, so Iwill

plant potatoes today.

I have also been canning some more. I canned

Boston Baked Beans and Pork and Beans the

other day. Grama Belle where we crochet

on Tuesdays gave me alot of jars from her

shed, so I have been pretty busy just

running jars through the dishwasher

Very few real canning jars and lots of

odd ball jars. But I used to can with mayo

jars, so will try it again for fruit and applesauce.

Also, there are alot of jars with lids just

right for freezer jam, since I am always

short of plastic containers and plastic

lids can easily crack.

As I started canning and cleaning jars, it was hard

to get into my shed where the canning goes.

So, I decided to clean that first and get

it organized and hubby put in the extra

shelves I needed!! Happy day.

I had planned on doing something else and my daughter

said, Mum, do what you are passionate about

today, you will get more done that way.

And, she was right!! I made wonderful

progress on the shed.

I am sad to say that I do not have the pics of

all these doings yet. Something happened

awhile back and I cannot load my pics like

I used to, so I do not know how to do

it anymore and have to always wait

for someone to do it for me.

That is why my posts get so far apart.

It is my hope and prayer that wherever you

are and whatever stage of life you are in

you are enjoying peace and contentment.

Living life as shared above gives me a true sense

of contentment and inner joy and peace.

Knowing that with God's help I am doing all

I can do to make our home a shelter and

restful place for my family.

The Shed!!

Well, I cannot believe I am showing you this! But here goes.....I have a cute little shed that is supposed to be my craft "studio".....when we thought we were going to move to England, we went through all our belongings like crazy, willing to part with things we couldnt take but could replace...we thought we were going to be gone for a year long mission trip. Well, we did not go and some of those things I really need....Anyway, it all got piled high in my shed for a garage sale....

Today my daughters helped me unload it all out onto the grass to go

through for a sale this weekend.......

Sorting to see what we can really part with and what would be expensive to replace and that we can use.......so, my daughter from Seattle is down and helped.....what do you think?? Keep the hat???? :)

What a sweetie she is!

Now I am really pushing it....this is the inside AFTER we emptied everything out to the lawn!!! But, you can see the potential, right?!?!? Look at that nice desk for sewing and crafting, and all these shelves to be put in order!!

No, I do not watch TV in my craft room. My daughter likes to watch or at least listen to movies like Emma or Pride and Prejudice when she is sewing costumes from those time periods... :)

Ok, the fun thing will be to show you the

before and after......
Coming Soon! :)

Muffins Anyone??

Do you remember the "Barrel o'Muffins" recipe from way back in the 80's?? Well, I made that ahead and just scooped it out for our brunch that day.....easy, easy.

Barrel O'Muffins

2 C Boiling water

5 tsp soda

1 C shortening or 1 C oil

2 C sugar

4 beaten eggs

5 C flour

4 C All-Bran Buds (Kelloggs)

Optional: 2 C raisans or dates

1 C chopped nuts

1 Qt. buttermilk

1 tsp salt

Mix water with soda and let cool. Crem shortening or oil, sugar and eggs in large 10 qt. container. Add other ingredients and mix.

Put batter in lined muffin tins, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks (with shortening), about 4 weeks (with oil).....Scoop out and bake as needed!!

How easy is that!?!?!?

However, upon mixing this and buying the ingredients I did realize, I have seriously changed my families eating habits since that time and will have to experiement with some more natural ingredients and see how long it would last.....for example the Bran Buds have all kinds of junk in them I do not normally eat (high fructose corn syryp, hydrogenated fats, etc)....so would start with looking for a natural cereal alternative. I have already changed the shortening to oil which helps and I do not use white sugar, I would

love to try this with honey???

Now!!! I must get busy, very full day of tea prep......mmmm.....Peach Ice Cream, Raspberry Scone Dough, Boysenberry Tarts.....Rhubarb Jam to sell.....Oh My!! Better get busy!!!

Titus 2 Meeting.....

I and three other younger ladies have began meeting to encourage each other in the Spirit of Titus 2, share ideas and learn new skills.

We are reading through the book "Created to be His Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl, discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

Then we "DO" something!!

Our September theme: "End of Summer....Back to School / Easy Meal

Ideas for those Busy School Days!!"

So, first we talked about easy/make ahead meal ideas, then we made some very quick muffins. Easy/busy school day meals may be freezer meals or just quick and easy or even making ahead some bulk mixes to have on hand.

We ended our time with Brunch out in our "Outdoor

Dining Room"........

On the menu were Watermelon, Quiche, Bran Muffins, Cucumber Sandwiches and to top it off Cookies and Tarts all with Tea of course. :)

Next time (I am really excited about this) we are making aprons!! We will also assemble an "Easy Oven Lasagna" for our lunch. This can also
go right to the freezer.

I LOVE to encourage women in their homes. This is my passion.

There are some good suggestions and helps at New Harvest Homestead. Lisa will send you a Titus 2 Meeting Guide if you would like to do something like this. We meet twice a month, some only meet once a month.... Her link is off to the side here in my links. Check it out.

School Begins!!

Are you ready for the school year?

Some easy things to make your day go smoother:

Breakfast

Plan some easy but nourishing breakfasts.

Buy bulk grains for yummy hot cereal, make your

own bulk mixes for pancakes, etc.

(more on making bulk mixes later)

Lunch

Warm soup on those cool fall and winter days is the best thing ever!

Prepare Soup ingredients for the freezer.

(I just bought a very big bag of carrots from Costco and sliced some for

soups and grated some for muffins, bread and cake.)

Also, I will get some celery and onions chopped and frozen. That way they are ready to throw into any soup and you can just have soup simmering through the morning and it will be ready by lunch and smell soooo good.

Also buy in bulk beans and grains such as barley and pasta to toss in your soup.

Dinner

On those days where there is time to make dinner it is nice to do that and involve the children.

For those very full school days or the ones where you have been out.....be sure to have some freezer meals done up!!

(More on freezer meals later......)

Knowing what is going on the table before you start the day illiminates alot of stress, disorganized evenings and those nights when you have to eat out and really should not be doing that. Makes your dear sweet husband happier too!

One more tip today: Make huge batches of cookie dough and roll it into logs for the freezer. When needed, take a log out and slice and bake. :D

Hope school is going well for you today. I kind of miss those days........

Only God's way can make everything right in the end......

"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Proverbs 14:1

"A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit" or another translation puts it....."Gentle words cause life and health; griping brings discouragement." Proverbs 15:4

Plucketh - In Strongs this word is described as to pull down, break, destroy, beat down, overthrow, ruin..........

In the dictionary it says - pick, pull off, pull up....as in "tearing up a flower", just pulling it out by the roots.

House - referring more to family but also can be an "inside" place or home.

How many ways might we be destroying our families and homes on a daily basis? Do we build our husbands and children up or do we tear them down? Do we cause them to be discouraged by complaining? Are we so unorganized we are constantly busy trying to catch up and have no time for them? Are we willing to love them as Jesus Christ would have us love them?

Think about it.............most of us as mothers have a natural instinct to love our children, that comes naturally as far as caring for them and protecting them. But what about what is right for a child from God's perspective? That does not always come naturally. That love has to think first, then act in line with what we know is Biblical truth. The outcome being a more long range result. It is choosing what we know God says is right, not just going by what we think is right from our natural instinct. This is the love talked about in Titus 2, "teach them to love their children". In not doing so, are we by chance "tearing our house down"?

This kind of love must be learned!

There are many ways to make things work better for us at home, which often makes everyone happier and helps us in "building our house". Do your children help you around the house. They all can and should learn the responsibility of having to make a home run smoothly. I had a friend, who had 10 children, all homeschooled......as soon as the youngest could reach the bottom rack of the dishwasher it was their job to empty the dishwasher and just put them on the table. They were learning to help and they enjoyed it. I really think whether or not our children enjoy work is how they see us handle it. :)

There are many things I hope to share with you on this blog. Simple recipes, make ahead recipes for the freezer, making money by saving money, canning, many things that over the years have helped me be able to stay home. We have done without some luxuries, and cut back in areas that some people are just not willing to do...........but I have been home and able to care for my family. And, my children did not feel deprived or without....we had fun and they enjoyed life to the fullest!! I guess, I looked at it as "my childrens lives depended on it"....I did work out of the home when we first got married and I cannot imagine how I could have done that, raised children and kept my home. Some do, and do it well, it just was not what God has for all of us, so this is to encourage those who are home.

Now, in this new season of life, I have a bit more free time. I still choose to be home. I try to be more creative about how to help make money to make ends meet. Selling things in my Etsy shop, Prairie Day Camp in the front yard for homeschoolers, Keeper at Home classes in my home, where girls come and learn cooking and sewing or other hand skills. That way, it is income and I am putting into peoples lives.

Just to touch on one possible cause of "tearing our house down".......a few ideas I ran across recently in a very old magazine.....

Time Management Helps

1. Seek God and pray over your goals.
2. Do the worst things first.
3. Learn to say no!!!
4. Get rid of clutter.
5. Don't pile it, file it!!
6. Eliminate unproductive activities.
7. Make a list and stick to your list.
8. Rise early!
9. Get an answering machine or take your phone off the hook.
10. Include your family.
11. For housecleaning, each night have a 10 minute pick up before bed.
12. When you are feeling very discouraged, depressed, tired, and like lashing out in the evenings, you are probably tired............a good time to be quiet so we do not "tear down" all we have done in our day.

Of course, there is much to say about each of these points, perhaps another time.