What a Week

The week began with melted snow, rising temperatures and the most beautiful foggy morning. 

 

I spent Monday morning cleaning and putting away all of my Valentine decor.

Early that evening we were at the neighbors house helping them with ideas for their kitchen remodel. By the time we finished chit chatting it almost 6 pm. We decided to run out and get some dinner. While on our way to the restaurant we saw an officer from a neighboring town go flying by, and I do mean flying. Since he wasn't in his town, Chuck joked that he must have slipped away for his area and was about to get busted by getting a call. 

Later that night we found out that wasn't the case. An officer in that little community lost his life while responding to a domestic dispute. As sad as that was, the next morning we found out the officer is the cousin to our next door neighbor. (The neighbors house we had been visiting.) 

It's been a really hard week for our community and especially our neighbors. 

Playing in the Dirt

 I'm not sure if Christmas or seed planting time is the most wonderful time of the year! I do know that the joy of playing in the dirt gives me hope of warmer days. 

Before I began my planting I readied by garden planner. I wasn't happy with the cover I had last year, so the search was on for a replacement. 

I love it!

The kitchen is the heart of my home, especially the kitchen table. It serves many purposes, and hold so many cherished memories. It served as the perfect spot for this project. 

I had a mix of purchased and saved seeds. 

I'd love for all of my seeds to be saved, but that takes time and knowledge. Something to work toward. 

As I planted each group of seeds, I filled out a plant card. I found it very useful to look back over the cards from last year. 

I planted three types of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, two kinds of cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and four kinds of peppers. I knew from looking over the cards from last year that it was too early to start my other crops. 

All of my beauties under lights ready to germinate! At least I hope. *smile*

Last year was the first year that I grew most of my plants from seed. It brought me pure joy! I learned a ton and I'm looking forward to learning even more this year. Oh. and I'm also looking forward to warm soil, sunshine, and fresh vegetables. 

Wendi 

Day of Love

 Since Megan has to work on Valentine's Day, we started our celebration Friday evening.

I made cookies that afternoon and we enjoyed our traditional dinner of lasagna. 

We exchanged cards and candy. Of course, Chuck came home with flowers for both of his girls. *smile*

Saturday morning we fueled up with heart shaped chicken biscuits before running errands. 

We finished the day with homemade pizza and Chuck got me a piece of my favorite cake. Yum!

Although Valentine's Day is fun, I hope my family feels my love everyday. There has been a lot of loss around us lately. Be sure to give your peeps a squeeze and let them know you care, always. I hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

Wendi 

Joy in the Ordinary

Some ordinary, yet joyful moments from my week.

The cold snap finally ended. Even with snow still on the ground a 56 degree day calls for spending some time in the sun. 

 As of today there are large patches of grass showing. When I mentioned the grass to Megan, she said not grass, mud.  Although mud season isn't fun, I'll take it over snow and below freezing temperatures.

A trip to the feed store for the chickens. 

I saw that Menards had their seeds on sale for $0.10. Sadly, by the time I got there most of the vegetable seeds on sale were gone. 

A full fridge after a trip to the grocery store. I shoved everything here and there until I could sort it out. Having a full fridge is certainly joyful!

Dinner. Notice the heart touch as a nod to Valentine's week.

Me and my daytime buddy. *smile*

Katelyn is recuperating in the garage. Poor thing was found on the floor of the coop with a broken leg. Thankfully, she's on the mend. This is one of those moments when I'm choosing joy in the not so great moments! 

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in the every day, joy in the ordinary. 

Wendi

The Organized Home #5: Kitchen Cabinets & Drawers

 Another week and another organized area. This time I'm in the kitchen. I tackled the cabinets and drawers. Come on in and see what I've been being doing. 

Let's start in the cabinet that houses dishes and water bottles. 

My main focus was the top shelf. The water bottles were driving me crazy! You see I am not tall and I have to pull over the stool to reach this top shelf. Even with the stool I was still reaching as I shuffled the water bottles around to get the one I wanted. 

I saw a water bottle organizer and was hopeful that it would work. 

It works great! My short girl hack is that I will use tongs to help me reach items. Now that the bottles aren't stacked behind each other I can easily reach the bottles with my famous tongs.  *smile* My family likes to tease me about using them. But, hey, whatever works, right? 

Some the spaces only need a wipe out and then to have items straightened. 

It's crazy how many crumbs end up in drawers that only have clean items put into them.

At this point I'd reached the feeling of , "I made a mess, and now I have to clean it up stage." I'm sure we can all relate. *smile*

This is the cabinet that received the most decluttering and rearranging. If I had my way all of the plastic storage containers would be out of here. Now, hubby disagrees. I get his point, as he worries about breakage as he transports leftovers to and from work. 

I did move the glass storage bowls to make them more accessible. I also got rid of some containers that I was no longer using. 

Chrissy from One Season to the Next recently wrote a decluttering post where she mentioned her junk drawer.  Not a junk drawer, but a junk area! 

This area becomes the drop zone for anything and everything. Hum, like a toothbrush. Yikes! It needed to have the batteries removed and of course ended up in the junk area!

I took the time to put things back into their proper home and threw out a bunch of "junk." I'd like to say it will stay this way, but I'd be lying. I am going to try to be intentional about giving this area a reset more often. 

In the end these are the items that didn't make the cut. They have been bagged and will make their way to the donation center this week. 

There is one cabinet that I didn't touch. It's the baking/spice cabinet. It's getting a nice makeover and I will share that in a later post. 

I'm enjoying working toward an organized home. I'll be back next week to share the next area I tackle.

Wendi 

The Frugal Homemaker #3

 This is the place where I share how I've stretched a penny, saved a penny, and in many cases spent no pennies. 

I ran by Kroger to pick up a weekly digital deal. I had run out of spreadable butter and had to buy my last container at full price. The digital deal had the containers for $2.99. Not the best deal I've gotten, but since I haven't caught it on sale in a while I figured I'd better grab some. It's originally $4.49, so I saved $1.50 a container.

I needed some more pork chops and I found a great markdown. These $10 packages were marked down to $6.05. At $3.95 off per package I bought all four mark down packages. Into the freezer they went!

As I've been organizing I found a bunch of crackers hanging around. Most of them are ones Megan brings home when they order from a chili restaurant at work. 

I ground them up and figured I'd find a use for them. 

I used half of them to coat some chicken tenders and plan to use the rest for either meatballs or meatloaf. 

There was a tube of tomato paste about to expire. I squeezed on a cookie sheet and froze them. 

Now I can grab what I need from the freezer and drop into my pot. 

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. Proverbs 13:11

It's a great reminder that steady diligent, hard and honest work is the best way to tackle  our financial goals. 

Wendi 

Touches of Love

 Good Morning! I don't have a ton of time to chit chat this morning. We had a busy weekend. We have been working on a project. If you've been around for a while, you know, I love a good project!  It's not one that was wrapped in a day, so I will share it soon. 

I spent some time decorating for Valentine's Day this week. Come on in and take a peek. 

I've had this basket for several years. I love that I can change the items in the basket seasonally. I purchased a small floral wreath (which was less expensive compared to buying stems) and cut it in half.  I had the hearts leftover from another project. I painted them and glued them to skewers and wala I had a new decorative piece for the front door.  

Let's take a peek around. I pretty much used items I had on hand. 

I made the conversation heart banner and added conversation hearts to my faux cake. The candies that were left I added to the Mason jar. 

I like to keep the center piece on my table simple. I need to be able to easily slide it out of the way for toddler crafts and dinner. 

Nothing over the top, just a few touches here and there. 

Now I'm off to mop the kitchen before the little guy gets here. A dirty floor inside the door we use the most is one of the hazards of winter weather.  Have a great week, friends!

Wendi