The Waiting Game is Over...

and there are wonderful changes in the weather this week. It feels like spring is in the air. I've put away my winter decorations and tried to spruce things up a little with some spring decorations. It is surely mood lifting to see the sun shine and see the daffodils blooming. I've got a beautiful arrangement on my table and it just brightens up everything.

I'm so grateful for the warmer weather and the longer days. I wish this time of year could last forever but it will be here today and gone tomorrow.

Each season has it's own beauty to offer. The beauty of spring seems to be more vibrant after the darkest coldest days of winter. Time to let Mother nature nurture our souls, to take a deep breath and send the dark and cold of winter packing and along with it the feelings that sometimes plague us during that time. I'm going to give in a little this week to my spring fever. I'm going to let the dishes sit awhile, maybe feed my family take-out, put the laundry off, whatever it takes, to get me out of this house and out there enjoying spring.

A light exist in spring

Not present on the year

At any other period-

When March is scarcely here.

-Emily Dickinson

Grow your own Kitchen Help.

The one thing that makes me stumble most often in my frugal living journey is eating out. I have developed and found many easy to prepare quick meals but some days I'm just too tired to cook.

My frugal tip this week is really a very obvious one for most people, but something I was slow to catch onto. If you need help in the kitchen, grow your own! I finally caught onto the fact that teaching your children, and husband if he is willing, to cook saves you from resorting to expensive prepared foods or from calling the pizza man so often.

After my third child was born, and my oldest son entered the bottomless pit stage, I finally realized that it was prudent that I teach them how to cook. I had fallen into the same way of operating that my mother had used. I thought it was easier to do myself than take the time to teach the kids.

It wasn't until I started homeschooling that I got serious about teaching the kids how to prepare meals. I had always let them help with cookies and baking but I had not taught them how to prepare a full meal by themselves.

The first thing we did was choose a notebook for each of them that we started filling with basic recipes. I found it necessary to write each recipe out in detail with such simple steps as "peel the apples, slice and remove core" included. This became more apparent as we continued along and had a few real surprises like apple seeds in our Apple Crisps!

Pancake pic by Tyler. His first pancake of which he was very proud!

My goal was to have each of the kids able to fully prepare a meal by themselves or together. Each child chose their own speciality, so on weeks that I was sick etc. we didn't have to have spaghetti 4 nights in a row. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been fun. Results are still questionable sometimes. Now my oldest children are gone and I only have one left at home, so I have more time to spend teaching him his way around the kitchen. I'm hoping for even better things from him. It does feel great to sit down to a meal that you didn't have to lift a finger to prepare and not break the bank

How I add whole grains to our diet.

Dietary guidelines suggest that we need to increase the amount of whole grains in our diet for better health. My family has made the switch to whole grain breads without too much fuss. Since no one in our household has any problems with wheat I still try to find ways to increase the amount of whole wheat that we eat.

Whole wheat is ideal for cereals, soups, salads and main dishes. It can be cooked ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. I try to cook enough to last at least a week.

The usual proportions to cook are 1 part wheat to 2 parts water plus 1/2 to1 teaspoon salt. Wheat can be cooked many ways. It can be steamed, cooked in a pressure cooker or successfully baked in the oven. For the oven method: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Combine wheat and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover. Place in the oven and turn the oven off. Leave wheat undisturbed overnight for for 8-10 hours. This works well if you time it to go into the oven after the evening meal has been prepared.

I have two favorite methods for cooking wheat. The first is to place the wheat in a preheated 1 qt thermos. First boil 1 cup wheat with 2 cups water for 3 minutes. Place in the preheated thermos, seal and let stand overnight. My second favorite method is to cook it in the crock pot on low until done. The time will vary according to your crockpot.

Wheat which as been cracked in a grinder or blender first can be used for cereal, added to casseroles, to bread or cookie recipes. It can be added to chili, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, soups, stews, salads, sandwich spreads, etc.

Introduce whole grains gradually to your diet, you will need to experiment to find what your family likes and how their systems handle the dietary changes. Check out Shannons site for more great tips

The Great Ant War

Ants...I hate them. The word ant leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They scamper, crawl and creep into every crack and crevice. No matter how hard we try, short of poisoning the entire neighborhood, we cannot get rid of the disgusting little buggers. This year, much to my utter dismay, they have already started to invade my kitchen. Usually I have a reprieve from them until around May but not this year. I realize that I have to get started early if I want to stave off an all out invasion. I've decided to repackage every item in my kitchen that they might even consider leaving their nasty little footprints in. I have found them in almost everything that is boxed or bagged so my intent is to repackage everything that comes in a those containers. The key being that each item I use to repackage into must be free or almost free. The added benefit being that my cabinets and pantry should be much neater and nicer in appearance. I chose to start with my cabinet right next to my stove where I keep the most used items in my kitchen. Here is my before: And here is the after:

Granted, most of those items are not often bothered by ants, except for salt for some weird reason, but I wanted to start out with an easy to accomplish reorganization. I need some motivation to keep going, so I will try to post pictures of each area as I finish. My pantry is going to take awhile because it is a full closet size.

One tip I will pass on from all this that I find really helps. Sometimes ants are able to crawl along the grooves in the lid of a jar and get in even if the lid is on tight. To solve this problem I place a small piece of plastic wrap over the top of the jar before I screw the lid on. This adds an extra barrier to them.

Cheap containers are fairly easy to find. I repurposed a few, picked up a few at Goodwill, and put the word out to my friends that I'm looking for gallon, half gallon and quart size containers. I've already received a few. I printed out labels with my computer on regular paper and used clear tape to apply them. They are easy to replace when I need to. I hope to be able to finish my pantry and cabinets for very little money.

Amazing Grace

I want to see this movie. John Newton (played by Albert Finney in Amazing Grace) wrote the words to one of the most beloved hymns of all time between 1760 and 1770, while working as an evangelical pastor. Son of the commander of a merchant ship, Newton was captain of a slave ship for many years, until he underwent a dramatic religious conversion while steering his vessel through a storm. Repenting and regretting the misery he had inflicted on the thousands of slaves he had transported across the Middle Passage for many years, he devoted his life to the Church, and wrote the lyrics to many hymns which are still popular today. Newton continued to preach until the end of his life. He was a great influence on many and the movie is about the results of that influence. This video of Chris Tomlin singing Amazing Grace ( My Chains Are Free) is wonderful I hope you enjoy it.

Days in the Sun

Winter hasn't been that bad here in Tennessee but for some reason it has been harder to handle this year. I long for warm sunny days outdoors. My husband and I made a trip to our favorite place, Norris State Park, last weekend just to get outside. The wind was blowing and it was chilly but the sun felt so good. We walked along the Clinch river and watched the wildlife. There were lots of geese, songbirds and otters. But the thing I enjoyed most were the Herons. There were 3 that were chasing each other back and forth in front of the area where we were. I was lucky enough to get this great shot of one of them. Being outdoors for the day reminded me that each season has its charms. I shouldn't wish so hard for spring and in the process miss what winter has to offer. I think too often in life I do the same, wish for something to hurry and pass so that I can get on to something else and I miss what that time has for me. So from here on out my goal is to enjoy each season of my life more for what it is, good or bad, and learn the lesson it has to offer. I'll end with one of my favorite quotes from Rainer Maria Rilke: If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

Making Cards on the cheap

Valentine card for my daughter I got the idea from a group on Flickr, changed and adapted it for my purposes. We turned it into a plaque for her wall. Making cards can save money. But assembling the supplies and really getting into this hobby can be expensive. I have found ways to save dollars and still have plenty of goodies to work with. The first thing to do is open your eyes to the ways to use things you might otherwise pass up. If you look in the aisles of Hobby Lobby you see items for scrap booking and card making such as fibers and unusual papers or metal objects. If you look at the picture below you can see many of the items that I have used in making my cards. I find most of my items at the thrift store, dollar stores and even in my garbage can.

Supplies I've collected

I have bought old board games such as Scrabble for 50 cents to a dollar and use the tiles for unique wording on pieces. Sometimes I just lay the words out on my scanner and copy them, cut out and paste onto my cards. I buy old patterns at thrift stores and flea markets, copy the cover and cut out for unique artwork. I cut up old maps for backgrounds(travel brochures are great sources of free clip art) use the inside papers from junk mail envelopes, use old sheet music, use pages of print from local papers or magazines, ribbon and trims bought on clearance. I copy old family black and white pictures, use pages from books bought at yard sales for pennies. My favorite resource right now is the Dollar Tree. They have rubber stamps and other scrapbook supplies such as paper and punches for $1 each.

Card making is a fun and rewarding hobby and can be an inexpensive one if you use your imagination.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas.

This U2 video is so clever

I love it. It must have taken quite awhile to get it all the clips gathered and in sync.

Works for Me

One of my very favorite products to use is UnDo or Scrappers Solution, I have seen it sold under both names. It was made for Scrapbookers to use to remove stickers placed in the wrong place from scrapbook pages. The coolest thing about it is that you can put the sticker aside and let it dry and it will stick to the page again. I use it most often to remove stickers from presents that I am giving. It doesn't leave any oily spots or any marks at all. Just let it dry and there is no evidence of it at all. I have used it to remove stickers from very fragile packaging material such as tissue paper and it works great. It comes with the scraper that you see on the small bottle to lift the stickers. I always remove this from the bottle because the liquid is so thin it pours out and you only need about half what comes out of the bottle. Removing the scraper makes it easier to control the amount used. It is a little expensive but well worth the price because it takes such a small amount. Works for me

Happy Valentines Day

I'm posting this a day early because I'm not sure I'll be able to post tomorrow. I've been sick off and on since Christmas. Unfortunately more on than off. Usually we have our tree down by the first week of January but this year I was just too tired to do it. The middle of January rolled around and there it still stood. I got the ornaments off but the lights were still up. We used it as mood lighting! LOL. It became a joke around here that we would just throw a blanket over it and leave it until next Christmas. The end of January came around and still the tree loomed in the corner of our living room mocking me. One day my daughter came home from work with a mysterious bag and a big grin. She told me she had a surprise for me and pulled out two rolls of Valentine garland and told me that since the tree was still up we might as well make a Valentine tree out of it. So we proceeded to decorate the Valentine tree. I think it turned out really pretty. We used cardstock, paint and lots of glitter. Anyway, after tomorrow that tree is history. We joked that we would just leave it up and decorate it for every holiday but...no. Maybe if we had a den and a living room I might consider it but I am so sick of having this thing in my LR. The kids got a real kick out of it though and we had fun decorating it. Let me wish everyone has a Happy Valentines Day.

I laughed so hard at this!

Pray for this family.

A local family was devastated by a fire last night. They lost their 4 oldest children. The 911 calls were all over the news today and it was truly heartbreaking. I'm sure that the family would welcome the prayers of everyone so please keep them in your thoughts.