Another One Down

It is almost the end of January so I need to step up the progress of my indoor projects.

A coat of primer.

Two coats of white paint on the shelves and inside the cabinet.

Once I let the paint set up for a couple of days I added shelf paper and then it was time to load it up. I had already purged the cabinet so it was just a matter of moving a couple of things to a new spot.

I enjoy how bright and fresh the white makes the inside of the cabinet. Marking this off the list.. yay! Now it is on to another cabinet.

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Aww... Saturday!

After a difficult week I was happy to wake up early Saturday morning feeling refreshed. I was the only one up bright and early. I opened the front blinds to the dark world and then went into the kitchen to start breakfast. I am not a morning person naturally, but when I am up and moving I love the early morning.

Megan joined me while I was mixing up a coffee cake. I was happy to see she was feeling refreshed also. She was upset Friday when I told her we weren't going to dinner with friends. Then we had to tell her it was due to the passing of Grandma Barbara. Friday evening she was tired and grumpy. Death is a lot for a child to process. Really it is sometimes a lot for an adult to process.

Then it was time to putter around the house. Chuck worked on Megan's room.

A couple load of laundry were done.

In between loads I started working on my kitchen cabinets again.

While all of this was going on Megan happily played in the living room.

From time to time I sat down and played along with her.

At the end of the day we felt like it was a productive day. The ceiling is almost installed, laundry was complete and I had a project or two well under way.

The kitchen was tidy after dinner, family devotions were done, and we were ready to play a game and have some wind down time.

A productive, relaxing kind of day. Aww... Saturday... just the kind of day we needed!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Laundry Recipes

After this post I had several request for my recipes.

Laundry Soap - this is my original recipe.  Since then I have found that Zote works better for me then Fels Naptha.  I will sometimes add a color safe bleach to this in the summer. We are gardener and have an active 8 year old so there is more dirt and grass stains in the summer.

Stain Remover - the original recipe calls for baking soda. I found that it clogged they line in the sprayer so I have opted to leave it out. It still works well for me.

I couldn't find the link for the fabric softener.  It is 8 cups of warm water, 3 cups of white vinegar and 2 cups of hair conditioner.

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Joy in the Ordinary

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in the everyday... joy in the ordinary things.

It has been a chocolate kind of week. Grandma Barbara (Chuck's step-grandmother) had a heart attack Tuesday afternoon. The left side of her heart is dead and the right side has severe blockage. She doesn't want surgery, which is good, because at 91 the doctors said it wasn't likely she would survive. She is moving into hospise care and they are trying to manage her pain. She is a strong women who was still active and living on her own. It is difficult to see her suffer. We are praying that her pain can be controlled and they she will not linger and suffer. So like I said a chocolate kind of week.

Monday afternoon I helped Megan make a blanket for her favorite stuffed dinosaur.

The sun was shinning the first part of the week. It certainly lifts my spirit when the sun is shinning. 

I have been working on projects for Megan's room. I am in love with this color. It looks a little more blue in the picture then it is. It is more of a turquoise color in real life.

Megan had a it hurts to swallow kind of sore throat last week. My dad picked up her school work and we had school at home in our pajamas. I could get use to that!  

I received new dished for Christmas and then another set from my parents for my birthday. I loved my other dishes, but they weren't holding up well with young children. So many bowls had been broken or chipped that was becoming a problem. It is back to good ol'Corelle!

I think the dainty design is super pretty.

Sometimes life is rough. I find in those moments it more important to find joy in the ordinary.

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Homemade Laundry Revisted

I had been putting off making laundry soap. One Sunday I came home and went to start laundry and there was only enough for one load. Okay, okay... time to stop putting it off.

I might as well restock everything and while I was at it check my figures to be sure this was still the frugal thing to do.

Laundry soap calculated to be $0.03 a load.  I use a 1/8 cup scoop per load.

I made a double batch of fabric softer (about 152 oz)for $3.04. 

A container of stain remover was $1.32

Yup, making it myself is still the frugal thing to do.  A productive, money saving afternoon and my assistant was awfully cute and helpful!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

It's Time to Begin!

It is that time again to tackle those projects! The first project of the year is Megan's room. It still has the border that went with her crib bedding. It is time to give it a little update. Along with the update there is going to be a major purge.

The project started in the closet. Things were packed up and moved to our third room.

Sometimes these projects are hard because it gets a lot messier in the in between.

Remember all the time I spent painting in the garage?

Now is the time for those to be installed.

The new ceiling has been installed in the closet and given a fresh coat of paint. Now it is time to sort, purge, and put everything back.

While Chuck installed the ceiling I was busy with another project.

My oven was gross!  All of the Christmas baking and a pot roast that boiled over made it quite a mess.

It feels good to get back in the swing of things. I am looking forward to marking things off of the project list!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Feeling the Love

I celebrated my 44th birthday yesterday and felt really loved. School ended up being delayed for 2 hours due to some ice. I didn't wake up until the phone rang at 8 am. I was surprised when I looked at the clock and saw that it was so late. I then heard Chuck talking and knew that he had taken the day off. Sleeping in was such a wonderful gift!

Then my little men showed up with a sweet tea and some homemade magnets.

I was then given notes that Megan had written along with a package.

When I opened the necklace I cried. It is an extremely personal gift. Each night when we put Megan to bed I tell her I love her. Somewhere along the line she started to giggle when I say this and reply with a "I love you more." I will always cherish this gift.

If that wasn't more then enough the love didn't stop there. Chuck made me a flower planter that looks like an old toolbox. Have I mentioned that I love homemade gifts!

The evening ended with dinner out with the in-laws. I might have been a little spoiled yesterday and I sure felt love. I am grateful and realize that I am blessed beyond measure!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

Not According to Plan

I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish after Christmas. The only thing that has been marked off of the list is putting away the Christmas decor. I ended up not feeling well the evening of Christmas and we seem to keep passing it around. Nothing major... sore throats, coughs, stuffy nose... just the normal winter yuck. For me that means that it has settled into a lingering cough. I have barely left home. In fact we haven't been to church in two weeks and I am not sure if we will make it tomorrow. The plus side is that I don't feel bad; I just sound like I do.

Megan loves to fix things.  She had her chance the other evening.  We went to turn on the dishwasher and nothing happened. 

Thankfully there was only a wire that had come loose.  Chuck fixed it and then Megan put the dishwasher back together.  I love having a handy family!

The kids are still having fun playing with new toys. 

It has been very cold this week.  One morning I took Megan to school and the van was reading -4. Brrr! That means I have been making stick to your ribs comfort food.

Megan has always been helpful, but she is really showing initative lately.  She gently pushed me aside one evening and said she would load the dishwasher.  

No problem! 

I had great plans for getting things accomplished and blogging more.  Well, you can see that didn't go according to plan!  I am hoping for a week with less of the winter yuck and more energy to get some things done.  No worries... life is always good!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

  

What's New in the New Year?

It is that time again for a fresh start. As much as I love Christmas I am always happy, and maybe a little bit relieved, when my little home is put back together.

After the tree is put away it always looks simple and fresh.  Just what this girl likes!  So what is happening in the New Year?  Well.... we have some huge financial goals.

I won't go into them, but we have made step one toward those goals.  Do you know what the black and gray box is?

Why yes, that is an old fashioned TV antenna.  I have been gently talking to Chuck about how much we are paying for cable and planting the thought that we should cut the cable.  We received a new bill and it had increased by almost $50/month.  I called to try and get it lowered and they were only willing to lower it by $5.  Chuck was in the kitchen while I was having this conversation and he said cancel it.  He didn't have to tell me twice!

Honestly, we get more channels then I thought we would.  I am not missing cable one bit! Once we start reaping the financial benefit I know we won't miss it.

I am starting the New Year with a drawer full of new dish towels.

See, it really doesn't take much to make me happy! :)  My old ones were fraying on the sides and driving me crazy.  So I put towels on everyones list and thankfully that is the one item they all got me.

For the last couple of months there has been an ongoing conversation of what we want to see for 2015.  I think the word that sums up what we want most for this year is change.  We will be working on financial change, eating change (saying good bye to lots of processed foods),  and spritual change (digging deeper into God's word), and of course there will be plenty of home changes as we work through our list of projects.

I am looking forward to seeing what the new year brings!

On another note if you looking for an encouraging blog may I point you to this one.  I do not personally know Cari, but we have many mutual friends and we attend the same church as her parents. I have been reading her blog for a long, long time.  I stumbled across this blog and started reading not long before they lost their daughter.  Her faith has been tested many, many times.  Most recently with the loss of her husband.  So tune in and be ready to cry, smile, and be encouraged and uplifted.  She has shared some pretty heavy stuff, but because you can see that she not only talks the talk, but walks the walk, you are able to see past the hard stuff and focus on what an awesome God we have.

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!