Surviving

Ok, so one week later the house is mostly ready to show. Sweetheart is still stretching carpets which will be cleaned in the morning. I spent naptime painting the front porch with more to do tomorrow. We have touch up painting to do inside as well just little spots here and there. We pushed back the listing a few days as some stuff has just taken longer. We should be ready to roll on Thursday!
I have taken a few pictures along the way. Big changes. I don't have time to post them right now. :) I am just taking a second to write in between stirring dinner.
I am more than a little bit tired, but trucking along. Sweetheart has sold three + tons of machinery from the garage with more to go, but at least it is going! I am hoping to keep on working in the basement after the boys go to bed tonight. Big job.
Ugh. This must be the lamest post ever and more than a little disjointed. Like me. Hope you are all doing well. Thank you so much for your sweet comments! They are SOOOO encouraging!
I think keeping everyone fed through this is one of the hardest parts! But the ricotta is now separating and cooling and the dough will be rising in a few minutes for calzones. Yum. So it is time for me to go.
Much love to you all!

Hello & Goodbye for Now

The last few weeks have been whirlwind, but today we made some decisions. We are going to sell our home. That's hard to write, especially not knowing where we will be going. We met with a Realtor today are are planning on listing our home as of the first of April. That gives me ten days to get ready.
Ok, if you have read this blog for any length of time you may understand my slight (!) feelings of overwhelmedness. This could be why I am blogging at 4:30 in the morning. I don't know. We love our home and we have decorated it to suit us.
What does that mean? We have a lot of treasures. Otherwise known as stuff to other people. I basically need to make it look like we don't live here. Not that I am packing up everything, though that will begin soon enough. I am packing up all my pretty little things leaving out only the more...stylish...pieces. We'll also be moving out some of the furniture pieces to make everything look not as crowded. Holycowwhyarewedoingthisnow?
One reason is that there are several home buyers' tax credits that end soon and because now is the time of year people are buying and selling in our area. We would like to sell while we can.
We are not entirely sure what we will do when it sells, but we may rent for awhile close to Sweetheart's job to cut down on quite a bit of our monthly expenses to save up and pay off all remaining debt (one vehicle and student loans.) We may see about purchasing an inexpensive place if we can find one in that area instead. I just don't know.
All of that is a decision for another day when we have a better idea of what is out there. This also helps us decide on a midwife as we will be heading north and closer to one that will be fine. That decision takes a load off as well.
Knowing I won't be planting my garden this year is hard, but since I knew canning wasn't going to happen too much with the baby arriving in September it does become one less thing to have to try to keep up with. I will miss it though.
So, while I may pop on here now and again just to take a break a blow off steam, I will simple not be able to be on the computer and still be able to do all I need to do. I will also not be visiting others until this is done. I will check emails and comments, so feel free to write if you are so inclined. I didn't want to just disappear and have anyone wonder why.
This is such a huge deal for us. We love our home. We have a lot of wonderful memories. We live close to Grandma. I finally have friends here. There are a lot of good things about moving too, and I think this is a good decision for us as we work towards some of our goals, but at the moment I am sad.
So, I have a big job ahead of me. If you think of me, please pray. I'll be needing it.

"How?"

How an average suburban mom has transformed her average life to one of simple joys and basic living. Or, how I became sewing, canning, gardening, organic eating, flour milling, cracker cooking, bread baking, deodorant, hairspray, lotion and lipbalm making Mama.

Awhile back I wrote about the changes we have made to simplify our lives. That post is here with an update here. Those posts are more about what we've changed and why. This post is more of the how. We have continue to grow and change and add more things to our lives, usually in the way of removing something else. In others words, instead of buying things we are making more and more ourselves.

So much is so different than even two years ago. If you had tried to talk to me then about canning or preserving food, or simple cleaning products, I would have smiled and been clueless. I even remember a mom speaking at Mops around then of all the natural things they did and used. I only half listened, one because I was holding my newborn and two because I thought a lot of the ideas were too different. I didn't know anyone doing those things, wasn't raised that way, didn't much care, and generally was just busy doing my own thing.

We figured we were doing fine happily raising our family doing a lot of what we saw everyone around us do. Not having television and having babies at home had already set us apart from a lot. For us, when the change came, it came quick and took over.

I've been asked several times about how we started doing all these things. By "all these things", it is usually meant all the things I make here at home. So much of it has been just absorbed into my daily routines I hardly notice it until someone mentions it. Then it is sorta funny to me to remember that not everyone is excited to preserve 120 pounds of apples, 80 pounds of tomatoes, 40 pounds of peaches, nor pickle at least two bushels worth of cucumbers. Not everyone loves an afternoon of making healing balms, lip balms, lotions, and deodorant. Not everyone thinks about how many loaves of bread should be baked, or what style of bread we'll need for the next week or so.

I'm not writing this to say look at all I do! I write it to see if someone will come help with the dishes. No, not really. I write this to encourage and maybe inspire others to look at the type of life they want to live and to see what they can do to begin achieving it right now. I'd love to live out on forty acres in the country. To have a cow, some goats and a flock of chickens. I'd love that. I'd love to have an orchard, for the boys to have room to run and play and build and grow. Reality is that I live in an American suburb and I drive a minivan.

Some of my favorite blogs lately have been trying to field the question of how to begin living more simply. Most write a lot about baby steps and the need to not get discouraged. That's great. One thing I think that is important to realize is that a simple life is not necessarily an easier life. It would be easier to drive through Mc Donalds. It would be easier to live at the mall, or to just stay in my air-conditioned cocoon. It is a lot of work to plan ahead for a handmade Christmas, to all the gardening and preserving, to try and live according to the rhythms God has made in our world.

I sometimes think it is more of a natural life than a simple one. And it has become a foreign one in this country. Taking a step back is hard and sometimes lonely and more than once I've felt like a total dork because I have no idea what everyone is talking about that happened on the television the night before!

But, aren't we supposed to be different? To be in the world, but not so wrapped up in it? Now, I believe salvation is through faith alone in Christ Jesus. I am not going to spend eternity with Him because I live like this. Living like this though, helps me to draw closer to Him in this everyday life.

Slowing down, living at a gentler pace, allows me to stop and listen. To praise Him while I'm working in the garden. To worship the wonder of His creation as I kneel, humbled in the dirt. Thanking Him for His hand in all I see. Looking at the absolute variety in something as simple as the lettuces, or the bugs. Cupping a frog in my hands and staring at its ugly, amazing face. Tuning out the other sounds to focus on the birds, or the rustle of the breeze in the cornstalks. To feel the golden autumn glow, gently warming my back as I dig up yet another weed.

To understand the verse that says, “Unless a seed falls t o the ground and dies....” and seeing how dying to myself and my constant struggle to pour my life out for others when all I want is to be left alone. It is in that dying I will live.

Lessons appear not just in the garden. “Give us this day our daily bread,” somehow means more when I'm praying while kneading that bread. The rhythm of grating the soap to make detergent is relaxing. Knowing that He has made plants for us to use for healing and finding them to mix into a balm that will soothe a scrape, or a rash, is amazing to me.

So, how do you get started? For me it was looking at all I was buying and seeing what I could make myself. Google is an amazing resource. I would see something I knew we used or ate a lot and started looking up directions and recipes and adapting these to fit us.

Reading blogs from other women who were trying new (to me) things and learning from them has been an enormous source of wisdom. It wouldn't have occurred to me that laundry detergent or deodorant was even something you could make at home if I had not read about someone else doing it! I always figured everyone used shampoo and conditioner until I read about several women who don't and who explained how to use baking soda and vinegar instead. Their promises that I wouldn't walk around looking like an oil slick or smelling like an Easter Egg made me willing to try it for myself.

Rhonda has oodles of amazing ideas for homemade cleaners using mostly baking soda and vinegar as well. She's just full of easy tips and shares her knowledge in such a wonderful way that you feel as though she is just across the kitchen counter, not around in the world somewhere in Australia. Her Co-op pools great posts from all sorts of writers globally who love to share the things they do in their own lives. They write about what works and sometimes even more importantly, what doesn't. A few of the writers are not as interesting to me, but overall there are some wonderful articles.

I look up things on You Tube as well. There I learned how to easily peel tomatoes for canning, and how to sew bias tape without cursing. (Thank you Amy Karol!) I am not linking to You Tube, nor endorsing it for random viewing. I am jut suggesting it for those of us who need to see something to get it. Although, I still haven't managed to follow the video on teaching myself to crochet.

If something helps, I do it. If I can find an easier way to do something, or a simpler recipe, I switch. I've grown to not be afraid of failure. An awful result is rarely permanent.

So a batch of body butter isn't right? Remelt it and add more stuff. A seam seems wrong? Get the seam riper and remove it the right way and do it again and again if necessary. Stuck on a project? Stop, make a pot of tea and then try again, or try another day when things are better. Bread doesn't rise? Eat it flat and next time make sure the yeast is fresh, the water warm enough, the dough is kneaded longer. Whatever. Don't be afraid of failure! You can learn a lot, certainly a lot more than if you had never tried in the first place.

I already enjoyed baking French bread for dinners, so it made sense to expand that to making sandwich bread. That done I moved onto pita bread, tortillas, flat breads, and crackers. Why keep buying the frozen Eggo waffles Sweetheart ate every morning? Find a recipe, bake huge batches and toss them in the freezer so he can happily toast what he wants each and everyday.

Making all these things requires a lot of flour. Why keep buying it in 10 pound bags? We bought a mill and I started milling the wheat myself. When the price of wheat went up at the grocery store by 70% in one month, we found a local source of 50 lb bags of wheat berries and stocked up.

I read a lot and the more I've read the more I thought about the food we buy. Our organic farm up the road led me to pay attention even more to how our food is grown and all the chemicals and pesticides on it all. So I began to seek out alternatives. I found a store that sold a lot of organic foods and natural meats. They have a wonderful bulk food section as well. I now drive across town every few weeks and load up. All the bulk purchases led to the next thing and I sewed up a ton of cloth draw string bags for all my produce and bulk things. Those little bags are also great to use instead of ziplocs and I also fill them with all sorts of little things whenever I need them. A quick trip through the wash with the homemade detergent as needed means they are always ready to go, either waiting by the front door or in the van with all the cloth shopping bags.

I grew extremely sensitive to smells and chemicals when I first became pregnant. That sensitivity has remained. When we began to change our food I knew it made no sense to eat organic and then continue to turn our house into a chemical vat every time I cleaned something. First, I transitioned to more natural cleaners having read about several people using Mrs. Meyers . Her products do work well and because of their concentrated nature ended up not being any more expensive than the regular things I had been using. As I ran out of things though I decided to see what else I could use their place. Though better, I still found them somewhat irritating.

After more reading and Googling, I've found that I can clean almost anything with vinegar and baking soda. I just pour white vinegar in a spray bottle. To clean the bathrooms I just spray pretty much every surface with the vinegar and wipe everything down. I poured baking soda and salt in a canning jar and had Sweetheart drill some holes in the lid. I shake the powder onto any surface that needs scouring. It works great on porcelain, laminates, and even stainless steel. You can add essential oils to both for fragrance, but I usually use them plain. A shaker jar, like for parmesan cheese, works, too. I just use what I have on hand. Arm & Hammer does sell a plastic container with holes in the lid, but it is not reusable and costs a lot more.

So far, I have been very pleased with my natural cleaners. I stopped using regular furniture polish because the aerosols bothered me. I used half olive oil and half lemon juice in a jar for awhile. Most of the time it worked great, but I did find that if I used too much olive oil the wood was a bit sticky. It isn't always perfect and that's ok.

I share these links and ideas knowing that some people will find them useful and some people will find them pointless. Maybe someone will file the ideas in the back of his or her mind for later. Maybe you will run out of something and not want to go to the store and decide to try to just make what you need. I hope this inspires you!

My goal is never to make someone feel bad for what they do or don't do. NEVER! I am just sharing my life because I have found ideas and inspirations from others sharing their lives. I tried to link to a lot of the directions for things, but if you are not finding what you are looking for, try the search box in the right column, or leave a comment and I will hook you up.

I wrote out most of this blog awhile back, but knew I needed to edit it and add the links. Today seems like the right day to just call it done and publish it. Maybe it was all the driving around in the country this weekend looking at farms, or maybe it is just because I am starting a new year today, but I want to get this out there.

If you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave them and I will get back to you. Also, do you want to read more along these lines? Are tutorials helpful? Any ideas strike you as something you would try? I am just curious. :)

This Week

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat yesterday.
It was nice and strong sounding.
*
Still challenging after last time, but I am trying to just relax and enjoy this.
*
I think I will be a bit easier when I find a midwife.
Just wanted to ask for prayer as I interviewed two these last two days, but still need to decide what to do.
I am not sold on either one.
*
Wisdom. I need some.
Peace. I need some of that, too.
*
Thanks for listening.

****
My coffee is brewing this morning as I type. It will be another day spent out. It needs to be done though I may lock us in the house for the weekend! ;) Hope you are having a lovely day. It is sunny right now and I think I will take my coffee and Bible to the porch when it is ready. Have a great day.
I'll be stopping by to visit the other Company Girls this weekend to see what you all are up to.

Notes on the Week

I just loved this bit of color in the kitchen the other morning. That's my blogging chair amongst other things. There is some green popping up in the garden after last week's sunshine. Weeds are green. :)

Yesterday was a whirlwind with a party last night at a friend's. Fun, but I find it a bit disconcerting to be gone on a Monday. I should have done all my chores this morning, but we ended up surprising my mom and visiting with her for awhile. A much better choice as we haven't seen her a lot lately and she is heading back out of town this week. Of course, this afternoon would have worked for chores, but I slept.

I am looking forward to that 2nd trimester energy kick. It should be starting any time. Now would be good.

Tomorrow and Thursday mornings are filled with appointments meeting with midwives. And Friday will be filled with the plans I had had for Thursday. I am hoping to make a decision this week!!!! The midwife I wanted to use that we had for my last, albeit shortened, pregnancy moved to Idaho. I was just planning on using her until I found out she moved that I am running a bit behind on getting this done. Yikes. I feel fine though.

I don't know what midwives are like in other areas. Maybe it is just our proximity to Planet Boulder, but wow. I just want to have a baby the most natural way possible and have no interest in "finding my inner lioness/goddess", having emotional therapy as part of my prenatals, or doing yoga, or having anything done with my aura.

Well, I am guessing that since I am typing I should probably be doing my chores instead. So good-bye for now! Please feel free to pray as I try to decide on the midwives this week. Thank you!

What have you got going on this week?

Happy Friday!

After several wonderful days of sunshine and warmth we are expecting rain and fog today. That's okay as those few days have made me feel like I have absorbed the sunshine in my soul and can carry it with me through the cloudy days. I am glad that we spent as much time out as we could this week.

Today will be spent at home. I have some baking to catch up on. On the list for today are whole wheat tortillas, a variety of crackers, and a batch of meatballs. I'll make pitas if I have time and energy.

The picture above shows one of our little rituals around here. We are sharing a green smoothie. I usually make them with several (3) cups of spinach, frozen berries, and water. I just run it in the blender for awhile adding more water if needed to keep it all smooth. Depending on the day, I may add vanilla yogurt and bananas. I just load up whatever is on hand.

Then, I pour it in the glass and grab three straws. Yes, we each have our own color for the straws. Less arguing. It is a race to the bottom of the glass! Lots of kisses happen at the same time as well.

Yesterday I whipped up a blenderful and poured it into a quart-size canning jar. I tucked in our straws and put the lid on the jar and tossed it in my ever-present basket. We enjoyed it next to a fish pond at the gardening center we went to. I think next time I will wait to add the straws until we are ready to drink it as it did make it a bit messier!

It is an easy way to load up a few more servings of fruits and veggies and we all love it. Speaking of fruits and veggies, I picked up some seed packets for this year's garden. I ordered most of my seeds last year from catalogs, but found in mid summer the best gardening place in Denver. Paulino's is amazing. I got my batch of tomato plants there and planted them fourth of July weekend and still ended up with close to 100 lbs of tomatoes.

What else? Feel free to comment on the Jane Austen discussion from yesterday's post. Also, this list of substitutions in cooking from Aspiring Homemaker looks really helpful. I had no idea about some of these! Loved this post from Muthering Heights. I think we'd be friends in real life. Also, I am wishing one of my real friends-who I met through blogging, Janna, a very Happy birthday today!

Hope you all have a wonderful end to the week! Thank you to the other Company Girls for stopping by!

All That's Left

I just finished Northanger Abbey a few moments ago. As I have been reading all the Jane Austen books these last few weeks, I am down to my least favorite, Emma. I cannot think of why I don't like it more, but there it is.

Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility are always fun to revisit, of course. And I really enjoy Persuasion and Northanger Abbey quite a lot. Though Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are not as popular, or as well read I think them both delightful and highly recommend them.

Mansfield Park is nice though I find Fanny a bit...lacking. I wish she had a bit more spunk. Lady Susan's letters are well written and convey quite a story in fewer words than most Austen stories. My only regret is that there are not more to enjoy once I am done with Emma.

What say you? What of Jane' stories have you read? What do you like the best, or even least? What do you think of Emma?

Sunny Day!

We had plans for friends to come over this morning, but they had to cancel. We loaded up and took off to a nearby park. We walked around the frozen pond watching the geese and then headed to the playground for awhile. The sunshine felt so good. Our whole week should be beautiful like this and I am so glad.

Ahh! At Last!!!

Spring has arrived in Denver, at least for a few days!! The boys and I are loading up and heading out to enjoy a day in the sunshine. Maybe we'll get to the zoo later this week as well. Sunshine makes me happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was looking at some old pictures last night and had to share this one. Hasn't he grown!!

Banners, Beauty & a Boy

I redid my banner last night following these easy instructions from Clover Lane. I just picked out a few pictures I had on hand when I had a few minutes last night. I think I will be making more of these soon!

I still need to work on some template ideas and to see about designing my own. Maybe after a nap!

I am terribly excited about this as well! Too cute!