“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Happy Valentine's Day 2014!
We meticulously made the beginnings of our Valentines.
(Watered down glue and tissue paper scraps)
And I was going to cut hearts out of them and send Valentines.
But he refused to let me cut them.
He said we should take a picture to show all our Valentines.
So that's what we did.
And there you have it, a homemade, just for you Valentine from Audra and Adrian.
Happy Valentine's Day to you!
A Doll Dress. Why not?
It's a new thing-sweet girl wanting to have a baby around regularly. And it's not just any 'baby'. It's this baby...which so happens to be one I made her. (Find it here).
Well, remember the dress I made her recently? (Find it here).
As I was putting the scraps away, I thought they would be perfect for a doll dress. Somehow just random cutting, no pattern, I ended up with a dress for her 'baby'.
A dress that matches hers perfectly. She checked it out.
And determined she loved it!
And, naturally, a miniature mama can't be far from her baby.
And then he NEEDED to be in more pictures. Gladly!
I think I might be needing to make more matching dresses, she loved it so. Happily, sweet girl, I'll happily sew for you.
Well, remember the dress I made her recently? (Find it here).
As I was putting the scraps away, I thought they would be perfect for a doll dress. Somehow just random cutting, no pattern, I ended up with a dress for her 'baby'.
And determined she loved it!
And then he NEEDED to be in more pictures. Gladly!
Homesteading Where You Are: Save
Week five in the series:
Week one: Intro
Week two: Make
Week three: Grow
Week four: Preserve
This week is "Save".
There's no real rules around this series. Just a one word prompt that we each reflect on.
Where I go first with the word "Save" is money. I could talk to you all day long about saving money and debt free living. I already bombard you with my thrifted deals all the time. We walked the walk before we had kids-paying cash, cutting costs, making our own, dumping debt. We followed Dave Ramsey's plan and met our goal and became debt free (except the mortgage) before we had kids. (Random tidbit: We were even on Dave Ramsey's show on the Fox Business network to tell our story!). Saving money, although grand, isn't what I'm thinking about today.
"Save" also makes me think of saving seeds and such. I have a whole box saved for next year. But saving seeds isn't want I'm thinking about today either.
When I think of the word "Save", I think of that which is most important to me. Time. That's right, Time. I want to save more time. Life is busy, surely, but I work at saving time for that which is most important to me.
What is most important to me? What are the things I do focus on carving out time for every week?
God and my church.
My husband and children and family.
Good, healthy, homegrown and homemade food for my loved ones.
Exercise for me. (I currently squeeze in ~3 days, would love to save some more time for more).
This blog and connecting with my readers. (Would like to save more time for responding to my readers.)
Time to create.
Time to read. (Although it tends to be more magazines lately, but I hope to save more time for books.)
Notice on this list, I don't have errands listed. No grocery shopping, post office, bank and the like. Because those are things that I try to NOT carve out time for every week. In fact, those are the types of things I try to skip as much as possible. (No judging if errands are the types of things you enjoy, though! Everyone's list will be different-there will likely be things you enjoy and things that you don't as much.)
Why are errands not my thing?
Because these are the types of things that take away from that which I really want to be doing.
Think of this. Say you grocery shop weekly. Say it takes about an hour to write a list, go to the store, shop, come home and put the groceries away. If that takes you an hour every week, you spend 52 hours a year just going to the grocery store.
But, if you can go every other week, eating fresh the first week, frozen the second, you'd go to the store 26 hours a year. This gives you an extra 26 hours that you can spend doing that which you like! That's a pretty good chunk of time.
I think like this for all my errands. Do I really NEED to go? Is it something that HAS to be done straight away? Can it be done electronically or remotely?
I find that I run errands so much less than before now that I'm mindful of how I want my time to be spent. I don't want to waste hours of my year doing needless things when I could be saving those hours for that which is on my list above. Saving those hours for that which is important to me.
What else do I do to "save" time for that list?
Going to grocery store every 2 1/2-3 weeks. Pharmacy/toiletry type runs only a few times a year. Not scheduling my family/kids with too many activities/social events. Making double batches and freezing. Stocking up on staples. Create something from nothing by looking through the pantry. Elicit my family to help do the chores that need to be done. Sometimes, even ignoring the to do list all together.
Point is- time goes quickly. Make a list of that which really matters. Can you save some time for that list every week? If not, can you shorten your errand list to make time for your personal loves? Or what else can you do?
Although I work hard at saving time for that which I love, I know I could always do better. Without doubt though, I am thankful for each minute I save to spend with them. Because this is what I want to save my time for. This is what matters to me.
And do check out these other fantastic Homesteaders. They will surely have lots to tell you.
Daisy, at MapleHill101, currently homesteads with her family in the suburbs of Central Florida. Her vision is to move to a more rural property in North Carolina later this year and continue fostering a self-sufficient lifestyle, which includes chickens, a large garden and a permanent clothesline.
Mary, at Homegrown on the Hill, lives in Southwestern Ohio with her family on a 5 acre homestead. Their goal is to be as much self sufficient as possible. In helping with this goal, they raise a big garden and keep chickens, rabbits, and cattle for food.
Sue – at The Little Acre that Could, shares her body with an auto-immune disease, and life with her husband. They live in a once-working Victorian farm cottage now bordered by a modern subdivision. She has dreamed of homesteading as long as she can remember and continues to strive toward that goal in rural Atlantic Canada.
Week one: Intro
Week two: Make
Week three: Grow
Week four: Preserve
This week is "Save".
There's no real rules around this series. Just a one word prompt that we each reflect on.
Where I go first with the word "Save" is money. I could talk to you all day long about saving money and debt free living. I already bombard you with my thrifted deals all the time. We walked the walk before we had kids-paying cash, cutting costs, making our own, dumping debt. We followed Dave Ramsey's plan and met our goal and became debt free (except the mortgage) before we had kids. (Random tidbit: We were even on Dave Ramsey's show on the Fox Business network to tell our story!). Saving money, although grand, isn't what I'm thinking about today.
"Save" also makes me think of saving seeds and such. I have a whole box saved for next year. But saving seeds isn't want I'm thinking about today either.
When I think of the word "Save", I think of that which is most important to me. Time. That's right, Time. I want to save more time. Life is busy, surely, but I work at saving time for that which is most important to me.
What is most important to me? What are the things I do focus on carving out time for every week?
God and my church.
My husband and children and family.
Good, healthy, homegrown and homemade food for my loved ones.
Exercise for me. (I currently squeeze in ~3 days, would love to save some more time for more).
This blog and connecting with my readers. (Would like to save more time for responding to my readers.)
Time to create.
Time to read. (Although it tends to be more magazines lately, but I hope to save more time for books.)
Notice on this list, I don't have errands listed. No grocery shopping, post office, bank and the like. Because those are things that I try to NOT carve out time for every week. In fact, those are the types of things I try to skip as much as possible. (No judging if errands are the types of things you enjoy, though! Everyone's list will be different-there will likely be things you enjoy and things that you don't as much.)
Why are errands not my thing?
Because these are the types of things that take away from that which I really want to be doing.
Think of this. Say you grocery shop weekly. Say it takes about an hour to write a list, go to the store, shop, come home and put the groceries away. If that takes you an hour every week, you spend 52 hours a year just going to the grocery store.
But, if you can go every other week, eating fresh the first week, frozen the second, you'd go to the store 26 hours a year. This gives you an extra 26 hours that you can spend doing that which you like! That's a pretty good chunk of time.
I think like this for all my errands. Do I really NEED to go? Is it something that HAS to be done straight away? Can it be done electronically or remotely?
I find that I run errands so much less than before now that I'm mindful of how I want my time to be spent. I don't want to waste hours of my year doing needless things when I could be saving those hours for that which is on my list above. Saving those hours for that which is important to me.
What else do I do to "save" time for that list?
Going to grocery store every 2 1/2-3 weeks. Pharmacy/toiletry type runs only a few times a year. Not scheduling my family/kids with too many activities/social events. Making double batches and freezing. Stocking up on staples. Create something from nothing by looking through the pantry. Elicit my family to help do the chores that need to be done. Sometimes, even ignoring the to do list all together.
Point is- time goes quickly. Make a list of that which really matters. Can you save some time for that list every week? If not, can you shorten your errand list to make time for your personal loves? Or what else can you do?
Although I work hard at saving time for that which I love, I know I could always do better. Without doubt though, I am thankful for each minute I save to spend with them. Because this is what I want to save my time for. This is what matters to me.
Daisy, at MapleHill101, currently homesteads with her family in the suburbs of Central Florida. Her vision is to move to a more rural property in North Carolina later this year and continue fostering a self-sufficient lifestyle, which includes chickens, a large garden and a permanent clothesline.
Mary, at Homegrown on the Hill, lives in Southwestern Ohio with her family on a 5 acre homestead. Their goal is to be as much self sufficient as possible. In helping with this goal, they raise a big garden and keep chickens, rabbits, and cattle for food.
Staci, at Life At Cobble Hill Farm, was bitten by the homestead bug
in 2006 and although she began her homesteading ventures in a rented
condo, is now homesteading on less than an acre in Upstate NY.
Sue – at The Little Acre that Could, shares her body with an auto-immune disease, and life with her husband. They live in a once-working Victorian farm cottage now bordered by a modern subdivision. She has dreamed of homesteading as long as she can remember and continues to strive toward that goal in rural Atlantic Canada.
Finding the perfect buttons.
I've had a couple projects as of late that have needed buttons. I have multiple jars of miscellaneous buttons and finding buttons used to be an activity I enjoyed. But now, the time when both kids are sleeping is very fleeting. Spending an hour sifting through hundreds of buttons didn't seem like the best use of time given there's laundry, dishes and the like needing attention too. Night after night went by and I just hadn't gotten those buttons out.
The other day I had an epiphany. Why was I wanting for them to sleep to check it off my list? Wouldn't they enjoy it too? I've let them play with my buttons before. Why did I forget that?
Sometimes I get so focused sometimes on the end goal that I forget how marvelous the process is for new learners. Of course they'd enjoy organizing buttons! And likely they'd enjoy other items on my to do list. Sure, I try to involve them in as much as possible, but sometimes it's so tempting to get things done quickly while they sleep. It takes half the time, as you can imagine, doing things alone. But, you know what's magical? It was a task I needed to check off my list. But when I slow myself down and do such a task with the kids, I end up enjoying the process as well as the result.
End result? I narrowed my selection. And did so with a smile, in good company. A win all around.
My pal, Jennifer, over at The Deliberate Mom, just wrote a list of "Real Learning Activities" for toddlers (Check out her list here.). Real learning really is the best type of learning, let us not forget.
The other day I had an epiphany. Why was I wanting for them to sleep to check it off my list? Wouldn't they enjoy it too? I've let them play with my buttons before. Why did I forget that?
Sometimes I get so focused sometimes on the end goal that I forget how marvelous the process is for new learners. Of course they'd enjoy organizing buttons! And likely they'd enjoy other items on my to do list. Sure, I try to involve them in as much as possible, but sometimes it's so tempting to get things done quickly while they sleep. It takes half the time, as you can imagine, doing things alone. But, you know what's magical? It was a task I needed to check off my list. But when I slow myself down and do such a task with the kids, I end up enjoying the process as well as the result.
End result? I narrowed my selection. And did so with a smile, in good company. A win all around.
My pal, Jennifer, over at The Deliberate Mom, just wrote a list of "Real Learning Activities" for toddlers (Check out her list here.). Real learning really is the best type of learning, let us not forget.
Miniature Mouse Playset
Introducing, our new little mouse playset.
Randomly put together with no plan or pattern. This little mouse was born after I sort of felt a little guilty for celebrating when another mouse was found drowned in a water bucket. Living in an old farm/farmhouse, mice have done their share of destruction and I have sort of lost a little patience with them. Okay no 'sort of' about it at all. I'm through with mice. They need to stay our of our house/barn...thankyouverymuch. I may have sang a little "Another one bites the dust..." when I found the last one and was busting a couple moves when my sweet Adrian looked up at me and said, "Why do we want mice to die, mama?"
Nothing like a 3 year old to snap me out of celebration mode. I don't really want them to die. I just want them to communicate amongst their community about safe and not safe zones and abide by the rules I set. Stay out of my house, barn and garage are the only simple rules I have. And since they have not been successful at getting the message across, I need to take charge when they cross the line into our living zones.
Okay, I'm not winning any argument here. Mama fail.
And so I create this little playset. Now one mouse is allowed in our house and it is this one.
If you can get past their obnoxiousness, they really are a little bit cute, I guess.
This one is perfect for us, because we can read him little books, tuck him in bed, snap the lid shut and there he sleeps until we're ready to play again. Nothing is damaged in the process.
And so I introduce to you: The only acceptable mouse in our house:
He's got a house, quilt, pillow and two books.
The box is a jewelry box. The books are scraps of leather from an old leather coat.
So cute.
puppy playset:
bear playset:
horse playset:
BOG Made: Horse Drawn Cart
Another BOG made toy.
It joins these other homemade toys for the kids, all made by the BOG:
trains,
trucks,
car,
airplane
barn,
dumptruck.
bunny pull toy
Kids table and chairs
tow truck.
Tractor
Square Baler and Wagon
This was my horse from childhood. Unfortunately the foot broke during transit, but it still stands. The BOG made the cart.
As usual, beautiful workmanship.
They love it! As do I. Thank you, BOG.
It joins these other homemade toys for the kids, all made by the BOG:
trains,
trucks,
car,
airplane
barn,
dumptruck.
bunny pull toy
Kids table and chairs
tow truck.
Tractor
Square Baler and Wagon
This was my horse from childhood. Unfortunately the foot broke during transit, but it still stands. The BOG made the cart.
They love it! As do I. Thank you, BOG.
From the Outside, Looking in.
There's that country song that talks about looking in from the outside. Sometimes, I stop what I'm doing and just look at what's going on around me. Makes me forget my pesky to do list and appreciate what I have.
And of course, when I stop to look, I have a companion who is right there with me. Thankful for our dog, Kammie, who is so incredibly calm, faithful and loving.
Aim of the weekend-to not let that to do list take over.
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